doing the right thing.. ... and interpretations thereof. what exactly is the right thing? the anti-defamation league derides the members of the un general assembly, and especially the european union for not being able to "muster the courage to do the right thing". a resolution calling on israel to abstain from its avowed action against yasser arafat passed 133 to 4, with the nays coming from israel (but of course), the united states (ahem, but of course), micronesia and the marshall islands. apparently the whole world is wrong except israel, the us and m&m, just like the time they wanted the iraq war. i don't even understand this new found obsession with yasser arafat, can anyone honestly claim removing him, be that assassination or expulsion, will solve or even begin the process of solving the israel-palestine issue? will it heal the situation in any manner? the problem, of course, is far more deep rooted, the solution does not lie in getting rid of an almost spent symbol, rather it does in the streets of palestine and israel. the israelis are wasting their time on arafat, and making no progress toward peace, they are helping worsen a situation that has been way out of hand for years now, these actions will in no way deter another generation of palestinians from pursuing a messed up sense of martyrdom, rather it is likely to drive them toward more violence.
dave barry takes a hilarious potshot at the california recall tar pit. via winterspeak.
illruminating via the always illruminating, illruminations, this story from israel, an excerpt,
What was it that drew me back
there? It was something undefined and awful; an evil, whose ripples forced me to return and take a second, more focused look at what was happening: The old man, a tall Arab of about 70, wearing a traditional white keffiyeh and with an expression of disorientation and meek acceptance on his face, was standing on the narrow part of the sidewalk, his back to the stone wall of the old German cemetery, whose iron gates are always locked, and the three Border Police soldiers
were leaning on the banister separating the sidewalk from the road. One of them was holding the documents the Palestinian had handed them - he came from Hebron and had no permit to be within the Green Line (1967 border) - and was talking on her mobile phone about personal matters, while the two others chatted and laughed, going on with their personal affairs.
salam pax has talked about the raid on his house in baghdad, riverbendblog/baghdad burning a lady iraqi blogger talks about them too, this is evidence of the americans' continued blotching of their task in post-war iraq, excerpts,
Yes, we know all about the ‘raids’. I wish I had statistics on the raids. The ‘loyalists and terrorists’ must include Mohammed Al-Kubeisi of Jihad Quarter in Baghdad who was 11. He went outside on the second floor balcony of his house to see what the commotion was all about in their garden. The commotion was an American raid. Mohammed was shot on the spot. I remember another little terrorist who was killed four days ago in Baquba, a province north-east of Baghdad. This terrorist was 10… no one knows why or how he was shot by one of the troops while they were raiding his family’s house. They found no weapons, they found no Ba’athists, they found no WMD. I hope America feels safer now.
[...]
I gripped at the gate as my knees weakened, crying… trying to make sense of the mess. I could see many of the neighbors, standing around, looking on in dismay. Abu A.'s neighbor, Abu Ali, was trying to communicate with one of the troops. He was waving his arm at Umm A. and Reem, and pointing to his own house, obviously trying to allow them to take the women inside his home. The troop waved over another soldier who, apparently, was a translator. During raids, a translator hovers in the background inconspicuously- they don't bring him forward right away to communicate with terrified people because they are hoping someone will accidentally say something vital, in Arabic, thinking the troops won't understand, like, "Honey, did you bury the nuclear bomb in the garden like I told you?!"
Finally, Umm A. and Reem were allowed inside of Abu Ali's house, escorted by troops. Reem walked automatically, as if dazed, while Umm A. was hectic. She stood her ground, begging to know what was going to happen… wondering where they were taking her husband and boys… Abu Ali urged her inside.
The house was ransacked… searched thoroughly for no one knows what- vases were broken, tables overturned, clothes emptied from closets…
By 6 am the last cars had pulled out. The area was once more calm and quiet. I didn't sleep that night, that day or the night after. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Abu A. and his grandson L. and Reem… I saw Umm A., crying with terror, begging for an explanation.
Abu A. hasn't come back yet. The Red Cross facilitates communication between him and his family… L. no longer walks down our street on Fridays, covered in chocolate, and I'm wondering how old he will be before he ever sees his grandfather again…
the riverbendblog is an excellent perspective on the american occupation and life in baghdad these days, perhaps not as famous as salam, but incisive nevertheless, pay it a visit.
the nincompoop confessions i've just found out i'm grossly incompetent, stupid and have been spectacularly ill equipped to recognize how unbelievbaly low on the intellectual scale i've stood in the twenty three years of my life. this article i ran into recently talks about how how easy it is for stupid people to think they are smart for the rather simple reason that they are not smart enough to realize they are stupid, which is a paradox, but anyway. so well, the time i locked myself out of the car, with the engine running, was not a sign of absent minded forgetfulness, it was, horror of horros, clear and simple evidence that i AM STUPID. and the reason i don't have a job yet is that recruiters and hiring managers knew all along what i'm only just starting to realize, my years in school, college and university have been an absolute drain, not only on my father's hard earned money and my teachers' well worn patience but also on my worthless brain that has resisted all efforts to develop the metacognitive ability to recognize my own limitations. apparently the reason i don't get a thousand hits a day is not because people don't have the intellectual acumen to understand my very literal and absorbing posts but that my posts are neither very literal, nor absorbing, in fact, i've begun to suspect, i'm the classic, much feared and loathed, bore. i've obviously over estimated my sense of humor for it is often that i say something hilarious and people start looking at each other uncomfortably, searching for a cue perhaps to laugh or whine. or kick me out of the room. it is further evidence of my stupidity that after reading this fairly revealing bit of research, and realizing what an incompetent nincompoop i am, instead of hanging my head in shame and shutting up forever, i'm making another abortive attempt at humor. sigh! some people never learn...
