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Here's the Problem: Update
You know, the furor over this cartoon is based in the idea that Islam forbids representations of Muhammed, in order to prevent idolatry. And yet, ironically, these very folk who are supposedly rebelling against this representation of Muhammed are, by definition, engaging in idolatry, in that they are clearly blindly and excessively devoted to their cause. Not to mention, they seem to be worshipping the prophet Muhammed much like a god. It just struck me as ironic, that's all.
Spying
Whatever your feelings about President Bush's authorization of spying on American citizens, I think Jon Stewart made the best point of all. We've got plenty of information. We had the information that said there was going to be an attack on the World Trade Center. The problem isn't getting more information. The problem is sorting through and making sense of the information we've got. And I don't see them working on that problem at all.
Admittedly, wiretapping could lead to further corroboration of leads. For example, they might have caught wind of the plans for 9/11 and been able to verify or at least find other pointers to the possibility of an attack.
Still, I think they are focused in the wrong area.
Aside from the fact that there's no need for wiretaps without oversight. There's a perfectly functional, super-secret court already set up for the purpose, just waiting to validate warrants. I'm not sure why they refuse to use them. My guess is, they were probably just lazy, figured it wouldn't matter and/or they wouldn't get caught. And, now that they are caught, this administration is so fucking vain and weak, they can't possibly admit they are wrong, ever, ever, ever. (With the exception of the debacle surround hurricane Katrina's demolition of the Big Easy.)
I find it interesting that from a "moral leader" of a supposedly moral-centered administration, the only defense we hear is that it's "legal". Yes, but so is abortion, you rampant right-to-lifers. Funnily enough, this is the same argument that they chose to use to support their use of torture. Not that it was morally acceptable, but that it was "legal" under the Geneva Convention. So is prostitution in Amsterdam and Nevada. So's riverboat gambling. So was temperance. So was slavery. So is the oppression of political dissidents (in China and Cuba, not here).
If you have to fall back on the law to justify your actions, you should think twice about what you are doing. You need to ask yourself, not "Is it legal?", but "Is it right?" In this case, I don't think so. It violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the law and the constitution. Anyone who argues differently is clearly missing the point of the founding of our whole freaking nation.
File Under: Things I Never Expected I'd Hear Myself Say
"Hey, stop stabbing your penis with the fork!"
Babies are weird.
Here's the Problem
Somebody printed a political cartoon in a Danish newspaper, showing the prophet Mohamad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse. In response, armed militants stormed hotels and embassies, looking for foreigners to kidnap and/or kill.
It's an inconceivable behavior for us, in a country where whole races of people were denied their basic rights, and only a meager few threatened to take up arms. Instead, thanks to the leadership of Dr. King, we managed to resolve our difference peacefully, for the most part. Where today, many believe that 40,000 murders happen in abortion clinics every day. But all but the most fanatical believe that two wrongs don't make a right; that you must fight evil with good, not more evil, or you risk smearing the very thing you aim to protect.
Remember the furor over Piss Christ? Or Last Temptation of Christ? These people were outraged that the core symbol of their church was being defamed. They marched and chanted and wrote letters and made their voice heard. Most of us agreed that Piss Christ was stupid, and the Last Tempation of Christ was, at best, a mediocre movie made out of a vaguely interesting "what-if" consideration.
These things passed, we made our peace and went on our way.
Imagine if, instead, the Christian populace of the nation took up arms, stormed art galleries and movie studios, kidnapping artists and patrons, actors and directors, threatening to kill all involved unless somebody made a nationwide apology.
Most of us would look at that sort of behavior and write them off as cranks, even terrorists in this day and age. I mean, isn't that the same sort of ideologically driven behavior that led to the Oklahoma bombings?
Once you decide that it's okay to commit a sin to avenge or rectify a sin, you've lost the moral battle, and, I think, the good will of the general populace.
At least over here.
It's amazing to me that it's okay, applauded, even expected that these hooligans behave in such an immoral fashion. That somehow they are viewed as being "in the right".
I can't wait until we get ourselves off oil so we can get out of that godforsaken land and leave them to blow themselves up all day long.
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