Family Secrets

Last night after I got home from work, I changed clothes quickly, The Feared Redhead and I grabbed a bite to eat, and we headed to a church just outside Eugene, to attend a Christmas cantata. The cantata was performed by a choir and orchestra composed of individuals from three churches, including the church where my aunt and uncle worship. After the cantata, we stayed to visit with my aunt and uncle for a few minutes. The central theme of the ocnversation was the fact that the church where the cantata was performed (not their church) is the church that my parents and I attended when I was but a wee lad of four. During the course of the conversation, some interesting information came to light. Apparently I have two relatives, including a direct ancestor, whom I have never met, because of a family rift. And apparently, they once lived in this very community, even though my father's family is primarily Californian.

My father's maternal grandfather, and my father's maternal uncle are at last report still alive and living in the Pasadena, California area. They have never had contact with us, in part because the grandfather's second wife wanted nothing to do with her husband's son, my paternal grandfather. But my grandfather and his still living brother did live in Eugene for awhile and in fact built three houses that still stand on Willamette street. I'll have to go look at them.

I'm not sure how I feel about this new information. My father never spoke of his great grandfather, and though I remember him mentioning his uncle, I don't recall him ever telling me they were still alive. It may have hurt him too much. My father's mother died when he was only 5, and his devastated father took to the bottle and to the road, dragging his kids up and down the west coast from one temporary job to another. He was a skilled carpenter and had a voice like an angel, from what I have heard, but alcohol destroyed him. He would go into bars on weekend nights and sing for tips, but then he'd spend it all on drinks for himself and the other patrons, and little of it ever went to help the family. It wasn't until my father was an adolescent that a family here in Oregon took him and my uncle in and gave them some semblance of a normal life. Eventually, my father attended Bible College, then served in the Navy, and became the man I still look up to today, 3 years after he left this Earth.

Ever since his death, I have been obsessed with knowing as much about him as possible. But now that I have learned something completely new, I don't know what to do with it. I'm curios to know what his grandfather and uncle are like, but I have nothing in common with them. they may as well be strangers.

Part of me wants to know more, part of me wishes I had never found out.

UPDATE:

My mother emailed me in response to this blog entry. She provided me with further insight. Some of what she wrote:

The old biddy (your grandfathers stepmother) never accepted them as part of her family and kicked your grandfather out of the house with his brother when they were 13 and I believe 9 or 10. The younger brother had some type of physical problem. I beleive it was like asthma or epilepsy - I cannot remember exactly. Needless to say, he learned how to travel from one place to another, picking up whatever job he could from an early age. I do know that he took care of his brother until he was grown. You can begin to see why he was so devastated when he lost his wife. Life had dealt him some pretty hard deals from the time he was a child.

...

The Pasadena people are your grandfathers' stepbrothers family. Your dad visited them a couple of times when he was in the navy - before we met. His only comment to me was that they looked down their nose at him and he did not want to have anything to do with them.
[Works for me too.]

The comments that were made to me were that this woman was from Old Eugene Family and that she ruled the roost. That your dad's grandfather pretty much let her decide what went on and that he did not resist when she decided to put his children out of the house. I believe that she was an Aubrey and that Aubrey Park was named after that family.

As you can see, these people, except for marriage, had no relationship with your dads family. And as far as I am concerned, could not supply you with any information that would not be pretty tainted. However, at the end of your dads life he was doing as much as he could to try to gather family information and I do not blame you for doing whatever you need to do the same.

Interesting stuff. At least, for me. But I think my mom's right, these people have nothing I want nor need, and I really don't see much use for them, knowing what I've learned.

An Open Letter to the Troops

Thanks for the Memory to Lord Spatula at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

SlagleRock has fired up his second annual Christmas Letters to the Troops campaign over at his Blog, the Slaughterhouse. I think it's a great idea. Here's how it works:

If you're a blogger, write your letter to the troops as a post on your blog, then trackback to Slagle. If you don't have a blog, post your letter as a comment to Slagle's post. Keep it addressed generically to any serviceman. He'll print out all the letters and they will be delivered by a friend of Slagle's who is being deployed.

I am turning off comments for this post only. If you like this idea, then go to Slagle's and post a letter there. If you don't like the idea, well, I don't want to hear from you to begin with. The deadline is December 17, so get cracking. This post will stay at the top of my blog until that day. And now, without further ado, MY letter:

Dear U.S. Soldier, Sailor, Marine, or Airman,

I don't know whether I should begin by thanking you or by wishing you Happy Holidays, because you deserve both. It is the season to celebrate Christ's birth, and that is the reason for this special letter. But without the extreme efforts of men and women like you over the last 230 years, I would not be free to write this letter, and so thanks are equally in order.

I will not speak long of the deprivations you voluntarily suffer for the sake of my freedom, because you know them all too well and I have no way of understanding them. Instead, I will address my hopes, wishes, and above all, prayers for you.

I hope that you know you are not forgotten. I hope you realize that those who truly appreciate freedom hold nothing but honor for you in our hearts.

I wish you didn't have to be over there this season. I wish that everyone would pay you the honor you are due.

I pray for your safe return. I pray that you and yours would be blessed by God for your service.

Keep your heads down while over there, but hold them high when you return. And in the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and a Happy Hannukah.

God Bless,

Brian B

I've Got a Job for the Rifleman

Whatever happened to the Rifleman?
I've got a job for the rifleman.
He really knew how to settle the score,
Mercy knocks on the devils door,
when I pray for peace and I revel in war,
but I always wanted a shirt like Mark wore.

- The Rifleman, a song by The Choir

Thanks for the Memory to B.C. over at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

The song I quoted above was one of my favorite Contemporary Christian Music songs back in my college days. It explored the dichotomy between the Biblical admonition to forgive our enemies and what the songwriter viewed as a cultural obsession with personal vengeance. At the time, I was contemplating becoming a Christian Pacifist, much in the same vein as most Quakers (my mother was first introduced to the Faith at a Friends Meeting House). eventually I resolved these issues by coming to an understanding that vengeance and justice were separate things, and that my response as a Christian towards those who persecute nme for my faith, and the response of the state towards that same individual did not have to be the same.

Now comes a story that really stretches my ability to delineate between personal vengeance and public justice:

Amber Alert issued after fetus removed from mother's body

(CNN) -- Missouri authorities issued an Amber Alert for an infant who may have survived after a woman was slain and a fetus removed from her body.

Bobbi Jo Stinnett, who was eight months' pregnant, was killed Thursday afternoon in her home in Skidmore in northwestern Missouri, the Nodaway County Sheriff's Department said.

The initial Amber Alert said that "the fetus was extracted from the victim."

A statement from the sheriff's department said the fetus was removed by the same "person or persons" who killed Stinnett.

Authorities said Stinnett was killed at around 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET).

The alert said that the suspect "has blond hair and [is] possibly driving a red vehicle."

It advised people to look for bloody clothing or towels and said the infant could have health issues and would have a freshly cut umbilical cord if alive.

Authorities said that Stinnett was a white woman and the offspring also was believed to be a white female.

My heart is breaking. I mourn for the woman killed, and I pray, with what little hope is left, for the safety of the baby (that's right, I call it a baby, not just a Fetus). I also extend my condolences for the family of the victims.

But beyond that, I'm feeling emotions I don't like at all. As the husband of a pregnant woman, this his close to hime. This has me in a dark, deadly mood. Of course in theory I should say that I hope the person who did this is caught and brought to justice. But my gut-level reaction is to hope all sorts of cruel and violent retributions upon him, things I can't begin to fathom, let alone elucidate. I have a hard time even viewing such a villain as human, I question whether such an individual could possible have anything left for a soul except for some fetid, shrivelled offal. I desire retrubition, punishment and eternal damnation for such a wretch.

Yet I know that my Saviour teaches me that even such a soul is not beyond his power to redeem. I am just as separated from God without Christ, and this criminal is just as reconcilable to God with Christ.

But I can't help hating this person. I'm not that good a Christian yet. and the fact that this event makes me see that, just makes me resent the scum all the more.

Now I know what Paul meant when he called himself a wretch.

UPDATE:

The baby's been found alive(Thank God for that!), and they have suspects in custody. (Thanks for the Memory to Darth Apathy)

One Tree Too Many

Thanks for the Memory to Vonski at Ya Think So?

Remember when I complained about the naming of the Tree at Pioneer COurthouse Square? My main complaint was that by removing even a reference to "The Holidays" from the name of the tree, just for the sake of inclusiveness, it had been rendered meaningless.

Well apparently, not everyone disagrees with me. At least not in the case of Bellevue, Washington's "Giving Tree". Apparently, even THAT is too "Christian" for some:

Sidney and Jennifer Stock are atheists.

They asked the city council to remove the tree because it represents Christmas which is a Christian holiday.

Stock says city hall should "Act as a place where everybody feels welcome. It is impossible for everybody's religious belief to be displayed and non-religious belief to be displayed, so therefore, no religious beliefs be displayed."

By that reasoning, NO holiday decorations of ANY kind should be displayed, and no holiday vacations granted for public empoyees whatsoever. After all, whether it's Hannukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Solstice, they are all related to a specific religious belief. Without them, there's nothing special about the season, and no valid reason to decorate, celebrate, or vacate. It's just another month, right?

It still floors me that people think the only way to not exclude anybody is to exclude everybody.

Vonski raises an amusing point: "He has a problem with trees. Which, doesn’t make sense, since he lives in the PNW."

Furthermore, for once, someone in the media here in the Northwest makes some sense:

Ken Schram Commentary: The Grinch Has His Head Where?

Where Credit's Due

Lately I've become a lot less concerned about my status in the TTLB Ecosystem than I used to be. I'm aware that I've slipped from what were for me once lofty heights. But frankly, when it comes to recognition, I find myself more concerned with whether or not anyone is bothering to leave comments.

But a post today by Blogfather Rusty regarding his own status piqued my curiosity, so I went over and peeked at my status. And I learned something interesting and shameful. The blog Baldilocks, a blog of which I've been aware but not read much, is responsible for the third largest number of links TO this blog. That means she is a significant factor in what little respect I do get from the ecosystem.

And yet I've never linked her, let alone blogrolled her.

That's just not right.

And so I am doing the right thing, and doing both today. She does write well, and I should have done this for less reciprocal reasons, but for now, at least I'm making amends.

So the maybe one or two people who might have actually read this blog without ever reading her, please, help me do right by her. Go take a peek.

A Letter to Michael Moore

Thanks for the Memory to Sheep in Wolf's Clothing.

He got it from Michael Graham at radio station 630 WMAL:

Mr. Michael Moore
XXXXX
New York, NY 10XXX

Dear Mr. Moore,

No doubt about it: The American soldier has done a lot for Michael Moore.

Hundreds of thousands of them are serving right now in Afghanistan and Iraq- two wars you opposed-defending you from a terrorist threat you claim does not exist. As you frequently point out, more than 1,000 of these soldiers and Marines have died, and thousands more of them have been injured.

These soldiers have also made you quite a bit of money. The most powerful scenes in your film Fahrenheit 9/11 feature soldiers and their families, specifically those servicemen who were wounded or killed in battle. Your new book, Will They Ever Trust Us Again–a collection of letters you’ve received from members of the military who served in Iraq-will likely gross hundreds of thousands of dollars for you and your publisher.

As I said, America’s soldiers have been very good to you. Most of them don’t like you, but they’re prepared to die attempting to protect you from terrorism so that you can continue to crank out your profitable propaganda.

They’ve done all this for you. I’m writing to give you the opportunity to do something for them.

My radio station, 630 WMAL, is leading a fundraising effort o­n behalf of the Fisher Houses here in the Washington, DC area and the Fisher House Foundation. Given your obsession with the costs of the War o­n Terror, you are no doubt familiar with the magnificent work done by the Fisher House o­n behalf of wounded soldiers and their families.

These families are struggling with the emotional consequences of a battlefield injury and its treatment. Fisher House helps solve some of the short-term financial and logistical challenges for the wives, children and parents who have wounded loved o­nes receiving treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital or Malcolm Grow Medical at Andrews Air Force base.

The message of your books and films is that the American soldier is a victim. The soldiers I’ve spoken with at Fisher House vehemently disagree with you, as do the majority of my active-duty military listeners. However, we all agree that the soldiers who have been the victims of Iraqi terrorist violence (I think you call them “the true patriots, the Minute Men") deserve our support.

Therefore, I am writing to challenge you to give back just a small portion of the money you have earned as a critic of their mission. Your film Fahrenheit 9/11 has grossed around $150 million. Our entire goal for the Fisher House this holiday season is a tiny percentage of that amount.

Though I am a confirmed right-winger, I believe there should be no partisan divide when it comes to standing by our troops. My fellow WMAL employees and I are dedicating our time, efforts and money to that proposition. The question, Mr. Moore, is whether or not you will do the same.

Many Americans feel that you have exploited the injuries of our soldiers for partisan purposes but have no real concern for them or their families. o­n behalf of the Fisher House, I would be thrilled to receive your generous donation as evidence that we are wrong.

If you feel, however, that the money can be better spent o­n yet another trip to France, nobody will be surprised.

You can send your check made out to the Fisher House Foundation, care of 630 WMAL, 4400 Jenifer Street NW, Washington, DC 20015.

Thank you for your time.

Michael Graham
630 WMAL
Washington, DC

Don't hold your breath waiting for a reply.

Uff Da!

Thanks for the Memory to The King of Fools.

Apparently, thanks to Minnesota's Democratic Electoral College Representatives, John Kerry will lose by a slightly bigger electoral margin than was anticipated:


Vote for Edwards instead of Kerry shocks Minnesota electors
Dane Smith, Star Tribune
December 14, 2004

Voting irregularities were few in Minnesota this year -- until it really counted.

Defeated Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry likely is going to get one less electoral vote nationally than he should have -- 251 instead of 252 -- because of an apparent mistake Monday by one of Minnesota's 10 DFL electors.

One of the 10 handwritten ballots cast for president carried the name of vice presidential candidate John Edwards (actually spelled "Ewards" on the ballot) rather than Kerry.

"I was shocked ... this will go in the history books," said Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, who presided over a ceremony that normally is uneventful.

Kiffmeyer said she was unaware of any other such apparent mistake in Minnesota, although there have been cases in other states of "faithless electors" casting ballots for candidates other than those to which they were committed.

There was stunned silence after the announcement that Edwards had gotten a vote for president, but none of the 10 electors volunteered that they voted for Edwards as a protest, nor did anyone step forward to admit an error[Let's be frank -- would you admit it if you had made that mistake?].

"It was perhaps a senior moment," said elector Michael Meuers, 60, a Bemidji marketing consultant for a health care firm, the second-youngest member of the Minnesota delegation to the Electoral College.

Meuers said he was certain that the Edwards ballot wasn't his, but he noted that "both the candidates were named John, and the ballots looked pretty much alike."

This year's DFL Party electors were typical -- senior party activists typically chosen for their long years of service. They ranged in age from 52 to 83.

"These are not paid political professionals," said Bill Amberg, the DFL Party's communications director. "It was clear that everybody thought they had voted for Kerry, and all 10 of these folks were for Kerry during the pre-nomination period. There is no sign of protest."

Kiffmeyer, a Republican and the state's chief election official, said that there apparently is nothing that can be done once the secret ballots are cast.

"It's not that important, since we're not at a 269-to-269 tie in the electoral vote,"[Thank God. Imagine the uproar if that had happened. Not to speak of every lawsuit in every red state in the country, this would be one more think for the left to grab onto for dear life.] said DFL Party Chair Mike Erlandson. "This isn't the biggest story in America today. It's the recount in Ohio [the crucial battleground state that helped carry the nation for President Bush] and the questions that so many people have over voting machines."[The voting machines that have been proven mathematically inconsequential even if they WERE truly suspect instead of just a ruse? Nice try.]

Minnesota's electors typically cast their votes in the Governor's Reception Room at the State Capitol, and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Kiffmeyer appeared with them in the morning to thank them for their services.

Several of them acknowledged that their duty was perhaps an archaic formality but that it was nevertheless a significant and solemn step in the process.

"It's the symbolism of it, the fact that I am now representing the entire 4th Congressional District and the will of its majority," said elector Matthew Little of Maplewood, an 83-year-old activist and a longtime Minnesota civil rights leader.

Little, born and reared in North Carolina, came to Minnesota in 1948, the year Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey, then running for the U.S. Senate, delivered a historic civil rights speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Little later became the top official of the Minnesota NAACP.

Although the electors expressed regret that Kerry did not win nationally, most of them also said they took pleasure in casting the votes that keep Minnesota in the Democratic column for the eighth straight presidential election, the longest Democratic streak of any state.

The Feared Redhead is a Minnesotan. You can bet she won't hear the end of this. :-)

Blog Problems

I've had some feedback that my blog isn't showing right, but it looks fine when I view it. Can anyone describe the issues they're encountering or email me a screen shot of the problem? Thanks!

That's Not Very Knife!

Thanks for the Memory to Darth Apathy.

Vic refers us to his friend Nicki over at Armed Females of America, who writes an excellent and scathing critique of British attempts to reduce violent crime by banning knives.

That's right, knives.

First, guns.

Then, knives.

Has it ever occurred to them that the problem is not the availability of weapons, but the predisposition of certain individuals to commit violent acts with whatever's at hand? Anything hard or sharp can be a weapon in the hands of the wrong person.

Oops, I'd better keep quiet, or soon they'll be banning anything harder than a habit or sharper than cheddar cheese.

Ow

I'm currently sporting a Butt-kicker of a headache. It's exacerbated by two things: I'm trying to cut back on caffeine, and I'm jonesing a bit, and I currently have a missing filling that hurts like a %&%^*^%#. I wonder if these might also explain my inability to post much worth reading lately. But The Feared Redhead has finally managed to badger me into printing out Dentists' phone numbers. The only thing I fear more than that Dentists drill (to me it combines the soothing sounds of nails on a chalkboard with the gentle tickle of a Bowie knife being shoved into my jaw) is her wrath. So hopefully soon I'll be fix... er.... healed.

Quote of the Week

Mild he lay his Glory by,
Born that men no more may die.
Born to raise the Sons of Earth,
Born to give us Second Birth!

- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Oregon Rain

Man, it's really coming down out there. I mean, the kind of rain someone from the coast would be used to. Kinda makes me wish I could be out in it.

I'm Not Swallowing It

I'm a huge fan of the Food Network. I especially love watching Good Eats with Alton Brown. I also enjoy Unwrapped, which is an educational program to watch if you're interested in regional cuisines.

But lately Unwrapped has been repeating a meme that I have to address. They keep repeating the claim that there are only three fruits native to North America: Cranberries, Concord Grapes, and Blueberries.

Now, as it happens, Oregon is a state where you will find two of these, the berries, and is in fact a major source of them. Most of the time, however, when Unwrapped makes reference to them, you'll be watching a section of the show on New England. And the people in New England being interviewed are even quicker to point out this "Only Native" claim, since all three fruit are native to that region.

But here's the interesting thing. That claim of those three being the only fruit native to North America?


NOT TRUE:

They are overlooking at least three berries, all native to the Pacific Northwest, all edible:

Oregon Grape

Salal Berries

Salmonberries

Oregon grape is, unsurprisingly, the State Plant of Oregon. Salmonberries are the same shape as a blackberry or raspberry, but their color makes them look just like a cluster of salmon eggs. Salal berries were a chief staple of the diets of coastal Native Americans in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

All three are native.

Next on Unwrapped: Recipes for crow.

Ironically Enough....

Right after posting on my concerns about flooding, I feel compelled to post an apology for the Blogging Dry Spell. I just haven't had any inspiration lately. I still care avbout political matters, but haven't had much of a chance to follow them, between work, holiday preparations, and baby preparations. The Feared Redhead's condition hasn't improved or deteriorated, and we haven't passed any prepartum milestones, so there's nothing to report there. There's always plenty about my beloved home state upon which I could blog, but I'm at a loss to pick a specific theme. I supposed something on the holidays would be in order. I'll think of something. I promise I haven't forgot my loyal readers (EITHER of you)!

Rising Concern

The last couple of Days, as I've crossed the Willamette River on my commute, I've noticed that it seems pretty high for this early in the year. That's not a good sign, but I'm no expert and I haven't lived in the Willamette Valley long enough to judge from experience. Hopefully I have at least one reader who is or who knows a hydrologist who can interpret This Data for me, particularly the info for the Willamette at Eugene.


UPDATE (12/15/04):
I spoke to a friend of mine about my concern, and she gave me some information that allayed my flooding fears but raised other concerns. Apparently there's almost no snowpack up in the Cascades, which means that while the rivers are swollen with winter rainwater now, come spring there will not be much of an additional increase, so flooding isn't as much of a concern, Drought, on the other hand....

Flew Flees Atheism

Thanks for the Memory to Ricky V at Ya Think So?

An interesting AP Article:

One of the World's Leading Atheists Now Believes in God, More or Less

The thing I found most interesting in the article was this note:

Flew first made his mark with the 1950 article "Theology and Falsification," based on a paper for the Socratic Club, a weekly Oxford religious forum led by writer and Christian thinker C.S. Lewis.

Given the conclusions he has now reached, and how he reached them, there's a serendipity, almost a symmetry, to this connection to Lewis, which will be apparent to anyone who has read Lewis' autobiographical Surprised By Joy. Lewis made a similar journey through Atheism and Agnosticism to Deism, then to Theism and eventually Chrisianity. In the end, he converted because he concluded that Christianity was the truth. As Lewis writes in the book,

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.

Signs of Intelligent Life

Thanks for the Memory to King of Fools.

First, there was Alawi offering a handshake to the Israeli ambassador in the UN General Assembly. Now there's this from the Jerusalem Post:

Used Israeli buses end up in Iraq

Dan Gerstenfeld,
THE JERUSALEM POST
Dec. 9, 2004

Some 150 decade-old buses from Israel were sold to Iraq in recent months, general manager of Shasha Tours & Transportation Udi Shasha told The Jerusalem Post.

Shasha, who is part of a trade delegation visiting India, said that his company was approached less than a year ago by a Jordanian company asking it to buy dozens of used Israeli buses for Iraq.

"They called us and said they need as many buses as possible immediately," he said. "They were looking specifically for 10-year-old Mercedes 303 buses as they have spare parts for those buses in Iraq."

Shasha has managed to buy some 70 buses, which were exported to Jordan through the Allenby Bridge and were driven from there to Iraq. An additional 70 buses were acquired by the Jordanian company directly from Israeli Arab car dealers.

The buses, which were originally used by Egged, were purchased from different tour companies. Shasha said he has also sold four or five other buses from the same model that could not be fixed, for spare parts. The buyers have asked for more buses, but Shasha said there were hardly any such buses left in Israel.

"I believe that the buses are used by the American army to transfer civilians in Iraq," Shasha said. "I don't think there are private merchants in Iraq who have enough money to buy so many buses."

The buyers have instructed Shasha to strip the vehicles of all Hebrew signs and to take out the video screens from the buses that had them.

"They were under real pressure to buy the buses and they didn't even check them before the delivery. Any bus that was moving was taken right away," he said. "We managed to send them all the buses within four to 30 days."

The buses were sold for $25,000 apiece, some 20 percent above their market price in Israel.

Shasha said he had received a request earlier this week to try and locate Volvo buses manufactured in 1990-93 and he believes they would also be sent to Iraq.

Passionate Support

Thanks for the Memory to my friend Lisa.

Apparently Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ has been nominated for a Peoples Choice Award, and the American Family Association has launched a campaign to get out the vote for Mel.

I can't think of a film this year I'd rather see win this. Lisa pointed out to me that Passion and Fahrenheit 911 will probably be going up against each other for the Oscar. Given the attitudes of the Hollywood crowd, I have my theories about how that will turn out. But the People Choce Awards gives us as regular people a chance to let our voices be heard BY Hollywood. They're so keen on free speech, let's sow them how it's done.

You have two options:

You can register with the AFA so they can track the success of their efforts,

or

You can go directly to CBS's site and vote there.

Either way, I encourage you to vote.

Who Hates Whom?

Thanks for the Memory to Andrew Sullivan.

I know, I know, the referenced blogger is persona non grata among many conservatives. And to be honest, I'm not a big fan either -- I usually don't even bother paying attention to him. But when someone says something worth considering, the reasonable thing to do is consider it. Ironically, I only stumbled across the entry in question by following a link from another blogger (who shall remain anonymous) who was disparaging Sully. But this day, AS had posted an intriguing quote from a Jerusalem Post article. Admittedly, this is a source with a specific slant, but it raises some very good points:

WHAT IF IT'S NOT ISRAEL THEY LOATHE?
by Amir Taheri
Jerusalem Post
December 2, 2004

In his recent foray into Ramallah, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw identified the Palestine-Israel conflict as the most important issue between the West and the Muslim world. Straw was echoing the conventional wisdom according to which a solution to that problem would transform relations between Islam and the West from what is almost a clash of civilizations to one of cuddly camaraderie.

But what if conventional wisdom got it wrong?

I have just spent the whole fasting month of Ramadan in several Arab countries, where long nights are spent eating, drinking coffee and, of course, discussing politics.

There are no free elections or reliable opinion polls in the Arab world. So no one knows what the silent majority really thinks. The best one can do is rely on anecdotal evidence. On that basis, I came to believe that the Palestine-Israel issue was low down on the list of priorities for the man in the street but something approaching an obsession for the political, business, and intellectual elites.

When it came to ordinary people, almost no one ever mentioned the Palestine issue, even on days when Yasser Arafat's death dominated the headlines. When I asked them about issues that most preoccupied them, farmers, shopkeepers, taxi drivers and office workers never mentioned Palestine.

But when I talked to princes and princesses, business tycoons, high officials, and the glitterati of Arab academia, Palestine was the ur-issue.

The reason why the elites fake passion about this issue is that it is the only one on which they agree. In many cases, it is also the only political issue that people can discuss without running into trouble with the secret services.

More importantly, perhaps, it is the one issue on which the elites feel they have the sympathy of the outside world. For example, I found almost no one who, speaking in private, had any esteem for Arafat. But all felt obliged to hide their thoughts because Arafat had been honored by French President Jacques Chirac.

When some Arab newspapers ran articles on Arafat's alleged corruption and despotism, other Arab media attacked them for being disrespectful to a man who had been treated like "a hero of humanity" by Chirac.

Conventional wisdom also insists that the US is hated by Muslims because it is pro-Israel. That view is shared by most American officials posted to the Arab capitals. But is it not possible that the reverse is true – that Israel is hated because it is pro-American?

When I raised that possibility in Ramadan-night debates, I was at first greeted with deafening silence. Soon, however, some interlocutors admitted that my suggestion was, perhaps, not quite fanciful.

Let us consider some facts.

If Muslims hate the US because it backs Israel which, in turn, is oppressing Muslims in Palestine, then why don't other oppressed Muslims benefit from the same degree of solidarity from their co-religionists?

During Ramadan, news came that more than 500 Muslims had been killed in clashes with the police in southern Thailand. At least 80 were suffocated to death in police buses under suspicious circumstances.

The Arab and the Iranian press, however, either ignored the event or relegated it to inside pages. To my knowledge, only one Muslim newspaper devoted an editorial to it. And only two newspapers mentioned that Thailand was building a wall to cordon off almost two million Muslims in southern Thailand – a wall higher and longer than the controversial "security fence" Israel is building.

Muslim states have never supported Pakistan on Kashmir because most were close to India in the so-called nonaligned movement while Pakistan was a US ally in CENTO and SEATO.

When Hindu nationalists demolished the Ayodhya Mosque, no one thought it necessary to inflame Muslim passions.

Nor has a single Muslim nation recognized the republic set up by Muslim Turks in northern Cyprus. The reason? Greece has always sided with the Arabs on Palestine and plays occasional anti-American music while Turkey is a US ally.

When the Serbs massacred 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica 10 years ago, not a ripple disturbed the serene calm of Muslim opinion. At that time, the mullahs of Teheran and Col. Muammar Gaddafi of Libya were in cahoots with Slobodan Milosevic, supplying him with oil and money because Yugoslavia held the presidency of the so-called nonaligned movement. Belgrade was the only European capital to be graced with a state visit by Ali Khamenehi, the mullah who is now the Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic.

And what about Chechnya which is, by any standard, the Muslim nation that has most suffered in the past two centuries? Last October the Muslim summit in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, gave a hero's welcome to Vladimir Putin, the man who has presided over the massacre of more Chechens than anyone in any other period in Russian history.

Right now there are 22 active conflicts across the globe in which Muslims are involved. Most Muslims have not even heard of most of them because those conflicts do not provide excuses for fomenting hatred against the United States.

Next time you hear someone say the US was in trouble in the Muslim world because of Israel, remember that things may not be that simple.

UPDATE:

Maybe I should bother to weigh in with my own take on what Amir has to say. I'm not 100% in agreement. I highly doubt that Muslims hate Israel because of their friendship with the US. And I'm sure that our friendship with Israel does little to endear us to Islam. However, I'm equally sure that if relations between the US and Israel were to suddenly and sharlpy decline, God forbid, the Impact on Israeli-Arab relations would be negligible at best, and furthermore, the improvement of America's image in the eyes of Muslim extremists would be similarly less than significant.

If Amir is right, as I suspect, and the hatred of the US and Israel ARE separate issues, there may be another reason that those in the know and in power in Islam want to maintain the facade of a relationship between the two: As long as the perception is that it's our support of Israel that makes us hated, there will always be those here in America who will push for the US to abandon Israel. But as soon as we realize that the Muslim Extremists hate both countries on their own merits, the relationship between the US and Israel is strengthened -- the Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. It is in the best interest of our mutual enemies that we view each other as liabilities. As long as Israel is viewed as the source of Muslim hatred for the US, she will be viewed by some as a liability. As soon as she is recognized not as the cause of that hatred but as a fellow target, she ceases to be as much of a liability.

My First Halting Steps

Towards Computer Nerddom....

My employers have a fairly liberal policy regarding software. I've been growing weary lately of having IE crash on me every 17.8 seconds or so. So last night, I downloaded & installed Firefox, which is what I'm using right now.

Daddy Like.