Can't we all just get along?

There are two sides to every story, and sometimes they're both right.

Mike Silverman at Red Letter Day has a great point about the tendency of certian "activists" to be anti-semetic. I have heard the language he describes as unacceptable and been very pissed-off by it. You can't say Israel is unfairly persecuting the poor Palestinians and then turn around and unfairly persecute Israelis. It makes you sound just like Ann Coulter.

Also, the particular brand of trendy, shout-in-the-streets protesting he seems to be referencing has always annoyed me. I remember during my wild college years encountering a "Free Tibet" protest on campus and thinking "All you're doing is making me late for class and getting on the local news." I'm sure the people of Tibet really, really appreciate that some white kids are dancing around, shouting, and waving giant banners in my face while they labor under Chinese opression. (For a good bit about these sort of irritating screaming young adults, see this post at Tapped.)

However I have also heard the language he describes as acceptable immediately decried as anti-semetic. See here (and several personal examples from my own experience). Also, I take issue with a particular point he makes.

Be specific when criticizing Israel's policies and avoid hyperbole. Acceptable: Israel's policy of demolishing the family homes of suicide bombers is wrongheaded and inflames the situation. Unacceptable: Israel's policy of demolishing the family homes of suicide bombers is a horrible war crime and proves how violent and evil Israel is.

Punishing people for the crime of being related to a criminal is not just "wrongheaded" but morally incorrect. Saying that the actions of the Israeli government are amoral doesn't make one anti-semitic or condone the actions of suicide-bombers. I might say that I feel the actions of the American government are consistently screwing over everybody else in the world, but that doesn't automatically mean I hate all Americans and think they should all die. Again, it's toeing the Ann Coulter boundary.

Salon also has an article on anti-semitism today, if you have their premium subscription. (I don't. Someone tell me how it ends.)

Expect two big posts in the next few days, one about Islam and the other about women. I want these to be good ones, so I'm taking some time to mull them over.

This is why I love America

Anyone concerned about the pressing need our current administration seems to have to declare war and generally tell everybody to piss off should consider participating in the upcoming Open Letter Blogburst. If you have a blog, or even if you don't, this is a great way to get your voice heard.

Remember, in our country we have the freedom to express displeasure with our government. That's one of the things that makes us great.

On a Personal Note

I'd like to take a brief moment just to tell the world that scratchy, dusty old vinyl LPs are so much better than compact discs it's not even funny.

My husband and I went record shopping in a thrift store this week, and came away with armloads of dusty, slightly scratched treasures. I love all of them. I love the way Patsy Cline's voice sounds even more plaintive through the pops and fuzz of the old Decca Records 45 we bought, not to mention the sound of the seriously dusty Gold Dust Woman. I love the copy of The Velvet Underground's Andy Warhol with the bright orange disc. I love the poster we found in Sgt. Pepper. I love the four-disc box set of Die Zauberflote from 1941 that I found for 2.99.

But most of all, I love the way Mom-Cat stared in amazement at the spinning records in the player, moving her head around in tight little circles.

I encourage everyone to go to their nearest Goodwill and buy a beat-up old record player and a stack of dusty old records. Make sure the covers have that giant circle scuffed onto them that old record covers get. You'll thank me.

That's it, I'm moving to Canada

The U.S. continues to take baby-steps towards becoming the Taliban. It's a slippery, slippery slope.

The board of Georgia's second-largest school district voted Thursday night to give teachers permission to introduce students to varying views about the origin of life, including creationism.

The proposal, approved unanimously by the Cobb County school board, says the district believes "discussion of disputed views of academic subjects is a necessary element of providing a balanced education, including the study of the origin of species."

Uh-huh. Full store here.

It's Banned Book Week

Everybody stop shouting about who's going to blow up whom and read this or this or this.

And for more info on banned books go here.

Yeah, yeah I know...

If Saddam Hussein tried to kill my father, I'd be just as upset. But it just doesn't sound...professional when your president refers to his "dad."

With(out) a little help from our friends

William Burton has some great things to say about the way the Bush administration handles its foreign policy.

If you tell people You're not important; I couldn't give a rat's ass what you think; no, we're not gonna help you with your own problems (which was the Bushie attitude towards the world before Sept 11th), it makes it a hell of a lot harder to get cooperation when you really want it....Why don't we try to do all the symbolic stuff that may be a pain in the ass, but doesn't really hurt (like ratifying the UN treaties on the Rights of Women and the Rights of Children); then we can do stuff that only hurts us a little but helps others a lot (like loosening trade rules for textiles with Turkey and Pakistan); then we'll get a lot more smiles thrown our way when we really need something.

I've always thought the basic role of the president in foreign policy matters was to be national schmoozer. Shake hands, have tea in front of the oil painting of a founding father, smile for the cameras, make a little business deal. This has to be the thing the Bush administration is the worst at.

Okay, you caught me

So I went to bed last night instead of posting more.

So sue me.

Several things, to get me warmed up.

Okay, kids, seems I have a case of blogger's block, so I shall need to get warmed up today

First, apparently there's more to that child beating live on tape! that I first thought. Now, not only are we sensationalizing a family in crisis, but we're maligning a minority culture as well!

Next up, Slate sets it straight about the Rosa Parks comments in the new film Barbershop. Seems two young proto-riolgrrls protested the "back of the bus" policy months before Parks did.

And also, I think the fact that so many states are removing stupid, horrible laws from their books and stupid, horrible wordings from their constitutions is a wonderful thing. It may seem trifling and uber-P.C. to some, but it's the right thing to do.

And Finally...

I saw this on MSNBC (okay, you got me, I did watch it) the other day, and am glad that it's been deemed worthy of a "Bushism":

We need an energy bill that encourages consumption...

Now, that's the problem with America, we just don't consume enough!

See the Bushisms here.

Plucky Punk goes Homer Simpson

Michael Kinsley said something in a recent Slate column that literally made me say "Woo-hoo!"

If the great essential truth about terrorism is that some people just hate the United States, the obvious next question is, Why?

God forbid anyone ask that question. Because, you know, we might just have to (gasp) consider the actions of our Great Nation and how they affect the world! Kinsley goes on to say:

If the subjective basis for terrorists hating America is off limits for consideration, that would seem to leave the objective basis: Is it something we did, or didn't do, to them or theirs?

D'oh!

Kinsley's piece is focuses on a very silly book-ette by William J. Bennett, but the general points he makes about what a cop-out it is to explain away the cause of terror as "evil" make it worth reading in general. See it here.

Better late than never

Almost exactly two years too late, Al Gore has regained his moxie.

Now far more damaging, however, is the Administration's attack on fundamental constitutional rights that we ought to have and do have as American citizens. The very idea that an American citizen can be imprisoned without recourse to judicial process or remedies, and that this can be done on the sole say-so of the President or those acting in his name, is beyond the pale and un-American and it ought to be stopped.

If Gore can take this spitfire and run with it, perhaps the next election he's in won't be nearly so close as the last one was.

I don't know nothin bout profilin no races!

Denials of racial profiling on commercial flights are starting to sound more and more ridiculous. Take this story about a Indian-born doctor Bob Rajcoomar, a naturalized citizen and former U.S. Army major, who was detained on August 31, for the crime of upsetting air marshals with his looks.


Rajcoomar said the marshals came over to him. "One of these marshals came down to me and said, 'Head down, hands over your head!'"

Rajcoomar said he was given no explanation for why he was being held.

"One of the marshals said something like, 'We didn't like the way you look,'" he said.

Read more here and here. Links via Google.

America, As Seen on TV

People in this country only care about something if they see it on television.

I know that's not exactly big news, but it struck me this week while seeing and reading about that Indiana woman who beat up her kid live on tape! Yes, it was horrible. Yes, the woman is probably a bad mother.

But guess what, folks, it happens every day! How many people who sat in front of MSNBC's Live Coverage would have done anything if they saw someone beating their child in a parking lot? Right now, someone is doing to their child what Madelyne Gorman Toogood did to hers, and there isn't any footage of it. Who will help that child?

Okay, so that was a little maudlin, but I'm feeling kind of weepy today. Anyway, anyone in the Albuquerque area who might want to help can help out this place. It's pretty cool.