Tristero

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Saudi Politics  

A very good overview of the complications of Saudi politics. Basically, there's a power struggle between Abdullah's desire for reform and Nayef's desire to keep things as they are, which means that sometimes he sides with the Wahabbist priests, sometimes against. Both al Qaeda and the priests swim in the same direction to oppress the Shiites while Abdullah is open to changing the situation and giving them more rights. So Nayef cracks down on terrorism but only enough to return to the status quo ante, not to change it.

In short, it's a profoundly complicated affair in which ignorant Americans intercede at their peril.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 6:14 PM

Fair And Balanced  

(Hat tip to The Left Coaster for the original cover art.)
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 5:54 PM

Open Letter To Matt Grill  

Mr. Grill questioned Dr. Dean's faith in Jesus here. I wrote him the following letter:


I can't thank you enough for criticizing Howard Dean's religious faith. Good going! Because by making Dean's religious beliefs an issue, you have demonstrated what can only be called intolerance for religious practices you disagree with. Therefore, you would be the worst sort of hypocrite if you now objected to someone criticizing your religious beliefs, or of Bush's.

Now if history is any judge, soon we'll get arguments like this one, a rather sprightly discourse that has been repeated countless times o'er the many long centuries of Christian History:

"I'm the better Christian. "

"No, you're not ! I am! "

"No you're not. You're no Christian at all!"

"Yes I am. "

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am!

"Off with your head, you vile heretic! "

"Off with yours, you filthy perverter of the True Way! In the name of Christ, begone to hell!"

So I say, Bring it on, dude, keep making Dean's faith an issue! Religious tolerance is a core American value from the earliest days of our history, so you're setting Dean up for a slam dunk.


Love,



Tristero
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 2:12 PM

Democrats: The Gloves Can Come Off, Now  

And not a moment too soon. An intolerant blogger decided to take Dean to task for his religious beliefs. Fair enough. Now we can go after Bush's "beliefs."

via Atrios
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:30 PM

Gulf War Song  

A beautiful mp3 by Moxy Fruvous, a Canadian band.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:23 PM

Soldier Killed in Attack on U.S. Base in Iraq  

Casualty reports are starting to drop off the front page of the print edition of the Times:

Insurgents hit a U.S. base in central Iraq with mortar shells, killing one American soldier and wounding two others, a U.S. military spokesman said Saturday.

The mortars struck a base of the Army's 4th Infantry Division near Balad, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad on Friday night, Sgt. Robert Cargie said.

One of the shells exploded near a trailer used as a bedroom by troops, and a soldier standing in its doorway was killed. Two other soldiers were struck by shrapnel and taken to a combat support hospital, where they were in stable condition, Cargie said

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 12:09 PM

Kalevala  

The Kalevala is the national epic of Finland, a great masterpiece assembled from folk sources by a scholar in the 19th century. The traditional melodies are in 5 and the accents are very unusual for those of us not used to the Finnish language. Sound & Spirit has an excellent program that will introduce you to this wonderful music and literature. Requires RealPlayer, doggone it. Some of the modern interps on the show square off the melodies and veer into new age hokey-ness (can we please ban the mixolydian mode for the next fifty years, thank you very much?) but you'll get a good sense of what Finnish folk music sounds like, occasionally something like Irish/Celtic, occasionally like Bulgarian music, but again, the accents are totally different.

I love Finland, one of the greatest countries I've ever visited, not without its problems of course, but the people, and the land...so marvelous. When I was there, friends of mine told some great stories about the current president, Tarja Halonen (accent always heavily on the first syllable).

Early in her career, despite the fact that she is quite straight, she was elected president of the national gay rights organization because she was the most persuasive and trustworthy politician around. Around the time she was elected president of Finland, Halonen published her autobiography which included some sexually explicit passages about her relationship with the fellow the press referred to, euphemistically, and awkwardly, as "the next door neighbor man." Finally, after she was elected, Halonen took pity on the press and married the guy. [UPDATE: Spelling of "Halonen" corrected.]

You gotta love a country who'll elect a president like that. In addition Finland prizes sauna, salmiakki (a spicy licorice candy), woodlands, lakes (over 200,000), technology (Nokia and Linux come from Finland), and the composers Sibelius and Rautavaara. You can learn more about the country whose press is considered the most free in the world here.

Näkemiin!

[UPDATE] I can't resist adding a plug for some of my favorite pop and rock performers from Finland.

First of all, if you haven't heard Leningrad Cowboys, now's the time to hunt down some of their awesome music. Imagine polkas composed by Frank Zappa mixed with rock and roll and that's for starters.

Next up is Apocalyptica (remember, the cool kids put the accent on the first syllable, so it's pronounced AH-pocalyptica). This group is comprised of four electric cellos who play heavy metal, especially Metallica covers. It is fantastic music making by kids who know how to rock and can play anything. I think Inquisition Symphony is their best album.

Finally, my buddy, Jonna Tervomaa does straight ahead rocknroll that sticks in the craw forever. Her hit single, "Suljettu sydän" can be found on her first album which has one great track after another. I've seen her perform live at a Finnish rock festival and she's great, as is her band. I have my own ways of getting her cds, but perhaps her website can help you find her music.


posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 9:26 AM

Friday, January 02, 2004

Robert Novak Is The New Daniel Ellsberg  

Rove has outmaneuvered his critics again. Not only has the right wing, in the public's perception, co-opted the Democratic issues of Medicare, education, and maybe even the environment, but now it looks like wingnut reporters are about to become saints in their "principled" refusal to kowtow to an "Ashcroft witchhunt." Bob Novak, Champion Of A Free Press, the headlines will read:

FBI investigators looking into the criminal leak of a CIA agent’s identity have asked Bush Administration officials including senior political adviser Karl Rove to release reporters from any confidentiality agreements regarding conversations about the agent. If signed, the single-page requests made over the last week would give investigators new ammunition for questioning reporters who have so far, according to those familiar with the case, not disclosed the names of administration officials who divulged that Valerie Plame, wife of former ambassador Joe Wilson, worked for the CIA.

via Atrios, who has a different take on this. But I, cynical as I am, can only look at this as a win-win for the Bush administration and its fellow travellers. If Novak refuses to name his source, he's a free press hero. If he does name him/her, Ashcroft's Justice Department has proven itself to be courageous and non-ideological.

Nixon was an amateur, folks. And we have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to sheer, ruthless manipulation of the press and the political process.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 8:14 PM

We Knew They Were Ignorant Before The War  

Here's a great essay by Nina Burleigh from February, 2003, one I don't think I've seen before. People were trying, desperately, to raise the alarm that Americans didn't know enough to invade Iraq and be successful:

The invaders' stated aim was to liberate Arabs and spread democratic ideals in the Islamic world. If they brought back a little plunder, surely the vanquished owed it to the conquerors in exchange for their liberation.

The invaders' stated aim was to liberate Arabs and spread democratic ideals in the Islamic world.

The year was 1799. The setting was Egypt and the leader of the expedition was Napoleon Bonaparte. He and his 34,000 men were bringing republican principles to Islam, liberating Arabs from their Ottoman rulers and teaching them the notions of liberté, egalité, fraternité.

The grandiose plan failed utterly. A deceptively easy conquest of Cairo was followed within months by an urban insurrection. The westerners beheaded rebels in public streets using sabers, leaving severed heads in gutters as warning. It had no effect. Jihadi fervor remained, fomented from afar.

Within a year Napoleon was back in France pretending victory while his men sweated it out in the desert for two more years, until the British agreed to ferry them home in exchange for a complete surrender and all the goods they had plundered, including treasures like the Rosetta Stone...

In the United States, administration members like Wolfowitz, Rice and Perle, and pundits like Friedman and Kristol, have sold the President on the notion of turning Iraq into a Middle Eastern democracy experiment. But nothing about these people's educational backgrounds, political interests or personal experience promotes confidence that they know anything more about the Islamic world than Bonaparte and his men did in 1799. The fact that the vaunted, expensive United States intelligence system was not able to protect 3,000-plus Americans from being murdered en masse by a gang of Arabic-speaking criminals should give at least pause to the idea of American preparedness to invade and then administer—democratically—an entire Muslim country...

On the "American street" you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone taught even the rudimentary history of European expansion efforts into Islam—let alone the disastrous results.

Because of 9/11, the American public might be more aware of exactly where Afghanistan is located on the world map. And thanks to the endless war build-up, Americans might even have stopped confusing Iraq and Iran -- although that could be asking a lot. That's about it for understanding the Muslim world.

Our state of education about the rest of world is abysmal. Until now, perhaps, we haven't believed we needed to know much more.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 7:12 PM

New Year Starts With Troop Killed In iraq  

And conflict in the North:

A U.S. military helicopter crashed today after coming under fire west of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding another. Elsewhere, Arab gunmen shot and killed a Kurd amid rising ethnic tensions in the northern, oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Also, a minor Baath party official was assassinated in an apparent revenge killing, and an oil tanker in a U.S. convoy was set ablaze in an attack by anti-American insurgents.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:26 PM

Seraphiel's Daily Cartoon Roundup  

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posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 11:25 AM

The Kingdom Of Silence  

In The New Yorker this week, Lawrence Wright has a must read article about his experience working in Saudi Arabia at a newspaper before, during, and after the Bush/Iraq War. It is not online yet, so get thee to a newsstand or a library and read it to get a sense of how seriously awful life in Saudi Arabia is, especially for women. Meanwhile, if you are chained to your computer, go read Wright's superb earlier article, a biography of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who is bin Laden's second in command. It is an unforgettable portrait of radicalization.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 7:17 AM

That's Dr. Dean To You, Paul  

Other than that, what a great op-ed:

Most Democrats feel, with justification, that we're facing a national crisis — that the right, ruthlessly exploiting 9/11, is making a grab for total political dominance. The party's rank and file want a candidate who is running, as the Dean slogan puts it, to take our country back. This is no time for a candidate who is running just because he thinks he deserves to be president. 

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 7:05 AM

Thursday, January 01, 2004

Happy New Year!  

And let's make sure it's a happy one by electing a president this year instead of appointing one. And let's make sure that president is a Democrat.

Sorry for the dearth of posts. I've been at Renaissance Weekend, having a grand old time. Since it's public knowledge, Howard Dean visited us, as did some other candidates. But since the Weekend is off the record, and we are recovering from the sybaritic frivolities of last night and have to pack, we'll be blogging more in the days to come.

Meanwhile, let's hit the New Year running and let's fight not only to get our country back, which should be easy, especially compared with coming up with ways to make our country a better place.

Oh, and let's have a real blast doing both!!

Love,

Tristero
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 9:21 AM

Afghan Constitutional Convention Adjourned  

This really should surprise no one because, despite the upbeat reports in the US press, there were serious problems being reported elsewhere:

Afghanistan's marathon constitutional convention was adjourned until Saturday in a desperate bid to bridge divisions after a boycott by opponents of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 9:20 AM

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

The Right And Everyone Else (Part Two)  

Part Two

A few days ago, I discussed the basic differences in ways of knowing that distinguish the right wing from everyone else. Briefly, the right Knows what is true at a very deep level and, when presented with evidence to the contrary, dismiss it as faulty or incomplete because it contradicts their deepest Knowledge. Everyone else monitors their experiences and adjusts what they know to be true due to their experiences.

(From here on, I'll denote the right's deep sense of knowing what is or must be right by capitalizing the word, eg, Know, Learn, etc. The more common sense meaning of knowledge -information and beliefs subject to change - will not be capitalized.)

As mentioned, I am oversimplifying the complexity of human epistemological styles in order to shed light on what otherwise appears to be the very puzzling, indeed bizarre, behaviors and attitudes held by the right .

All of us, even the most objective of scientists (say, Weinberg) or the most flexible of political animals (Lincoln) cannot entertain an entirely contingent world view. There are some things that all of us Know simply cannot be. Then, we all use - more often than we realize - not entirely logical rationalizations to project the veneer of rationality. Likewise, all of us, even the most uptight and rigid of conservatives, cannot avoid being sensible. Even someone whose view of reality is as blinkered as Bush will cut a deal with Communists at the expense of a struggling democracy.

However, it is the case that in general, the right, believes that you Know is far more important than what you know. That's because those who Know deep down what is true don't need to rely upon new and possibly unreliable information which might change their inner conviction of what is right. These people clearly are the right kind of people to lead the country, be it conquering Iraq, addressing teenage pregnancy, or protecting the US from terrorists. Therefore, why should Bush read a newspaper? He already Knows how to respond to whatever he might encounter.

For everyone else, what you know, ie, what you've learned, and continue to learn, is paramount. So, it follows that the president would be, as Clinton often was, the best read and most informed person in the room.


So what kind of differences in actions and beliefs can we expect from someone who is convinced s/he Knows the answers as opposed to someone who simply knows what s/he believes is the right thing to do?

There are numerous differences and I will discuss one of them below and more in further posts.

But before continuiing, a brief observation. For those of us who are not right wingers -those of us who I refer to as "everyone else"- the mindset I attribute to the right will surely elicit responses like, "yeah, that's how they appear to think, but that's crazy." I urge you to delay your judgment and instead, try to imagine what it is like to cleave to such a different way of knowing and responding to the world. Why should you bother? Because if you, and I, can understand how these people come to know what they know, we may be able to find ways to combat the actions they undertake in the name of that knowledge.

It's The Words, Stupid.

The right, especially Bush, uses language differently and for different reasons than everyone else. Until we understand this, it will be difficult to develop a strategy that combats it.

Someone who Knows simply states what has to be True. Logical argument is beside the point ("Whats the difference?" says Bush). If you really Know the Truth, then it is not the logic that convinces but rather the inner certainty of Knowing that persuades. Furthermore, those who Know often assert a Truth then later refer to these assertions as proven facts - a common Bush tactic prior to the war. Indeed, they really are facts because they were spoken from a position of Truth. Often, these assertions refer to character (the evil nature of Saddam) and they have a reified, changeless air about them; human character is seen literally as tangible a thing as a slab of concrete.

Those who Know often employ biblical or spiritualized language, aligning themselves with the texts that deliver eternal Truth. And they may also be wholly inarticulate, for it is not the power of the words that persuades but the power of the inner Knowledge (Moses is the holy man; Aaron is merely the speechwriter.)

Reasonable disagreement among those who Know is an incomprehensible idea. If you Know, then you are already in agreement. Thus, someone who contradicts a Knowledgeable One is by definition unqualified to hold an opinion; it is pointless to listen to them. (Of course, those who Know might differ somewhat on emphasis or tactics, such as how to fight off gay marriage, but it is indisputable that gay marriage is an evil idea.)

By contrast, everyone else, - whose perception of reality changes with new information - employs an altogether different attitude towards language. When an assertion is made it is backed up with solid logical reasoning or impartial evidence; otherwise, we see no compelling reason to accept the assertion as anything more than an opinion.

No matter how emotionally compelling an orator, everyone else is expected to reason effectively and to deploy a solid arsenal of facts. One seeks to persuade others not by affirming the goodness of your character, but rather the logic and elegance of your argument.

To say the least, such arguments don't mean a hill of beans to the right. Whatever Clinton said was wrong because Clinton said it. Whatever Limbaugh says is correct because Limbaugh's heart is in the right place.

More soon.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:54 PM

Monday, December 29, 2003

Seraphiel's Daily Cartoon Roundup  

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posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 5:03 PM

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Blowin' In The Wind  

WaPo:

"Despite the myth that the American public is casualty-averse, the nation has traditionally accepted casualties if the public thinks that the cause is just and there is a definable end state," said retired Marine Col. Gary W. Anderson, a consultant to the Pentagon on Iraqi security issues.

But support for the war could erode dramatically, defense analysts and public opinion experts said, if casualties continue at a relatively high rate next year and start to have the effect of undermining public confidence in the mission.

Yes'n, how many deaths will it take til the people will know that too many people have died?
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 10:20 PM

Why Doesn't Ashcroft Tout Domestic Terrorist Arrests?  

Dave Neiwert, in another brilliant post hazards a guess as it isn't pretty. Basically, most domestic terrrorists, like McVeigh, are Christianist terrorists. There is little political gain to be had from arresting them, as many fundamentalist Christians, while not in any way violent, hold views similar to the terrorists. On the other hand, the arrest of terrorists who use a religion that is a minority one in this country, such as Islam, reaps considerable political gains without getting many Americans uncomfortable.

Dave's post is detailed, carefully argued, and pulls no punches. Go thou and read.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 10:10 PM

Seraphiel's Daily Cartoon Roundup  

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posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:54 PM

Hallelujah!  

I've been waiting 20 years for someone in power to say this:

"Let's get into a little religion here," Dean said at a morning meeting with voters in response to a question about his beliefs. "Don't you think Jerry Falwell reminds you a lot more of the Pharisees than he does of the teachings of Jesus? And don't you think this campaign ought to be about evicting the money changers from the temple?"

Dean, 55, who is a Congregationalist, has run a largely secular campaign to date, rarely speaking about religion except to offer support for separation of church and state.

But in an interview last week, Dean said he planned to share his religious views on the trail more frequently, particularly as his campaign moves south into states like South Carolina, which holds its primary Feb. 3.

Yesterday, Dean said, "So we can talk a lot about religion, and you're going to find out that there are a lot of people who are religious in this country and not every one of us feels obligated to talk about it all the time."

Thanks to corrente for the link.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 1:49 PM