Category: Current Affairs

Rosie and the Axis of Evil

Combining Rosie O’Donnell’s decision to be the first public figure to question whether or not 9/11 was ‘an inside job’ and ABC News’ revelations concerning the US role in supporting the Iranian Jundullah this may go down in history as the week that the wheels permanently fell off the Bush Administration. Even though it’s been clear for years to all but the most loyal defenders that this has been a profoundly poor presidency, it may take this kind of focused, negative attention to cement in contemporary society the same kind of horrific image of Bush the history books are certainly going to provide.

TP

Chocolate Jesus

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/chocolate.jesus.ap/index.html

I would be very surprised if the artist were not a Catholic. Whether he was molested by a priest or just feels that he was duped by a manipulative system more concerned with its own power and preservation than the people who support it, there’s clearly lots of painful emotion here. Damn.

Realistically, though, I think this kind of artistic rendering is only important because of the response it generates. No one would do an image of Mohammad this way because the response would be violent. If the artist portrayed Matthew Shepard, MLK or a young child this way, the response would be a firestorm of negative attention. The Catholic church is a very available target now, MUCH more so than when Sinead O’Connor began attacking it. so this artist gets to make the statement, get lots of publicity and will have a built in excuse for anything that ever goes wrong in his career.

Hey, what can I write about that will put me in this kind of fail safe position?

TP

Ron Mix and gays

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=mix/070329

Wow. An incredibly good article from former pro football player Ron Mix on homosexuality in team sports. Tremendous thoughtfulness with surprisingly personal revelations.

Any response?

TP

Pat Tillman and My Lai


Okay, maybe I’m a bit dense for not noticing this before but isn’t the Pat Tillman situation something that could become a defining moment in the anti-war movement that is currently happening? Might it not eventually go into the history books alongside My Lai or Dresden as one of the most deeply embarrassing moments in US military history?

1 You have an NFL player, the most significant sporting event for American males, leaving an all Pro career. In his prime no less. At a time of exploding wealth for football players. People who know about military protocols knew about Tillman before he enlisted. He was already in their heads.

2 He gives all that up and enlists as a Ranger, a particularly dangerous assignment, and requests to be sent to Afghanistan with his brother. While on a patrol he is repeatedly shot and killed. By Americans in his unit.

3 Then given a Silver Star for bravery (great way to keep people quiet by the way, I mean, who would risk their son no longer being valorized as a war hero in the traditional sense) and the military instantly creates a story they design to be the standard hero narrative allowing Tillman to be the poster boy for the war.

4 It takes his divorced parents years to begin uncovering the truth about their son’s death. Other Rangers are embarrassed about their roles in Tillman’s death and the military changes its story multiple times in a deliberate attempt to quiet the parents and quash the story.

Simply amazing. Definitely My Lai potential.

TP

The Silence That Kills

Although Tom Friedman’s NYT article is ‘behind the glass’ it is worth finding. He indicts the silence of the Muslim world regarding Iraqi violence. He also makes the point that America has no moral authority to comment on it.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/opinion/02friedman.htm?hp

It seems clear that the most critical battle for the future of the Middle East really is the battle of ideas. It takes a great deal of commitment to choose death over life but that is the choice several people in the Middle East make every single week.

Perhaps the best we can hope for long term American engagement in the region is that it will eventually result in a modern day educational Marshall Plan. In that plan, I might envision a frenzy of school and hospital building with young, cheap volunteers interested in making a service commitment and changing the world. Young people from all over the world would be willing to serve in a program like this, maybe with the carrot of an American visa dangling before their eyes. Perhaps this will be the Powell Plan and our currently embarassed general/Secretary of State can restore his standing by being the point person for this kind of long term building process.

Without some serious, concerted effort at actually engaging the Muslim world in an important fashion, nothing critical will change and the choice of death over life will continue to be applauded while the rest of the world sits in stunned, stupid silence.

TP