Showing posts with label bias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bias. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Six Battalions, the United Nations, ' - - - and it is the Fault of the Jews'

Israel has an ancient history - but it's a very new country. The most recent diaspora was a very long one. Descendants of Abraham and Israel didn't manage to re-establish a national government until the mid-20th century, after a hiatus of nearly 1,900 years. Quite a bit happened in their absence, and the current government is a new entity, not a continuation of what was around when the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire.

I think some problems in the Middle East stem from a domestic dispute that happened about 7,000 years after Jericho's founding, and 4,000 years before our time. (October 8, 2007) Israel's current government is new: the area Israel is in is anything but.

Israel isn't America

"Israeli politics in tailspin over Iran"
Jon B. Alterman, CNN (May 2, 2012)

"Israel, by necessity, has developed one of the most able security and intelligence apparatus in the world. There has been no necessity to develop a world-class political apparatus, however, and it shows.

"In a single week, the Israeli army's chief of staff, the former head of internal security and the former head of external security have all publicly questioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judgment on Iran. While the current army chief spoke narrowly about the Iranian government, the former security officials directed their fire at Israeli politicians. On Friday, the former internal security chief told an Israeli audience, 'I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings' -- and he was speaking not of Iran, but of Israel.

"Last week was Israel's independence day, traditionally an occasion of pride and celebration. Instead, Israelis are in a deep funk...."
America has a two-party system that's lasted as long as it has because folks in both parties have been moderately competent at appealing to a fairly wide swath of the voting public. My opinion.

Not all countries have a stable two-party system. When folks from the 'Dental Floss Party,' the 'Union of Thatch Roof Owners,' and whatever other outfits have enough backing to get a foot in the local equivalent of Congress: politics won't look like politics in America. But I think a system like that can work. Take France, as an example.

Israel doesn't have a generations-deep tradition of two-party politics. On top of that, America is over three and a half times as old as Israel's current government. We've had time to thrash out a modestly adequate system. When the country I'm in was as old as Israel is now, filibusters were new; war with Mexico was brewing; a major internal war wouldn't come for a couple decades: and that's almost another topic.

I think it takes time for a country to work out a system as comparatively practical and SNAFU-free as what America has.

I realize that CNN has to attract readers, and that criticizing the way foreigners run their country is a perennial crowd pleaser. Oh, well.

The United Nations is "Appalled" by Israel: Again; Still

"UN 'appalled' by Israel treatment of hunger strikers"
Yolande Knell, BBC News (May 2, 2012)

"A UN expert has said he is appalled by the 'continuing human rights violations in Israeli prisons', as Palestinian inmates continue a mass hunger strike.

"Special Rapporteur [!] Robert Falk said Israel had to treat hunger strikers in line with international standards.

"Israel's Prison Service says some 1,550 Palestinians in jail are on strike.

"Doctors have expressed serious concern about two men who have been refusing food for 63 days in protest at being detained without charge or trial...."
"Without charge or trial" may or may not be a valid complaint.

The hunger strikers, who decided to be hunger strikers? I suppose Israel's government could force them to eat. Which could be showcased as appalling indifference to the hunger strikers' conscience, or religious feelings, or whatever.

Given the sort of knee-jerk 'blame the Jews' reaction to unpleasant realities I've come to expect from the United Nations and other 'civilized' folks: this latest complaint sounds like more of the same.

'The Jews starve people' is another perennial favorite in some circles. (April 19, 2008)

Moving on.

Sinai Peninsula: Remarkable Coverage

"Tel Aviv boosts troops at borders with Egypt and Syria"
RT (May 2, 2012)

"Israel is to deploy at least 22 reserve battalions on its borders with Egypt and Syria, claiming the growing instability in the two countries makes it necessary to be ready for possible external security threats.

"The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been given an approval of a call-up of additional force by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee although they exceed the average. Reservists from six battalions have already received their orders, even though many of them are soldiers who have already completed their annual reserve duty.

"Israeli generals say these troops are needed to deal with security threats which are coming from Israel's borders with Egypt and Syria, and also because of growing instability in those countries.

"The situation on the Sinai Peninsula which borders Israel is becoming unmanageable, RT's correspondent Paula Slier reports from Israel. Since the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, she said, Sinai police have been attacked more than 50 times by local Palestinian jihadist groups, as well as by the local branch of Al-Qaeda which is operating in the region. ..."
RT's coverage is remarkable, I think, for not trotting out 'experts,' 'concerned citizens,' and the United Nations being appalled, for the usual 'and it is the fault of the Jews' show.

Maybe they're part of that vast conspiracy of Jews we keep hearing about. Or, not.

The Wall Street Journal: 'Well! What Do You Expect?'

"Israel Fortifies Border Fence With Lebanon"
Associated Press, via The Wall Street Journal (May 1, 2012)

"Israel has begun fortifying a fence along its volatile border with Lebanon, reinforcing an especially dangerous section that has been susceptible to sniper fire and other threats, military officials said Tuesday.

"The military said the project was strengthening a half-mile (one kilometer) section of an existing fence in Israeli territory, and no modifications to the route were being made. Even so, to avoid friction, it said construction was coordinated with the Lebanese army and the U.N. peacekeeping force in the area, UNIFIL.

"Israel has no diplomatic relations with Lebanon. The two countries have been in a state of war for six decades.

"The project is taking place near the spot where an Israeli officer was killed by a sniper two years ago. The shooting took place as the Israeli army was clearing brush that it said Lebanese guerrillas could use for cover...."
This Associate Press article, on The Wall Street Journal's website, is another fairly calm discussion of what sadly is business-as-usual in the Middle East. I suppose a dedicated conspiracy buff could be convinced that 'the Jews' really control the AP and The Wall Street Journal - and the Internet - and the brains of everybody who doesn't have aluminum foil inside his hat.

A bit more seriously, I don't like the way Egypt is developing, now that the old strongman got booted out. Still, it could be worse. A lot worse. Iran is a case-in-point.

If I seem indifferent or unconcerned: sorry about that. What's been happening for the last several decades in that part of the world is not good news. But what I've seen in the news recently, although reason for concern, isn't all that different from what I've been seeing for most of my life. I'm not going to go ballistic over 'more of the same.'

Related posts:
Background, the United States at 64:
A tip of the hat to Patty Garza, on Google+, for the heads-up on news from the Egypt-Israel border.
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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Noted: New York State Education Department: "The Military ... Doesn't Count"

This isn't, quite, about the war on terror. I think the New York State Department of Education's policy comes from an attitude that's - regrettable:
"Schools rip DOE's military disservice"
Susan Edelman, New York Post (March 4, 2012)

"City principals are up in arms over a new plan that gives bonus points this year to high schools based on graduates going to college - but doesn’t count those who join the military.

"Department of Education officials met with a group of principals last week to explain changes in Progress Reports coming out this fall. Schools that send more kids to community or baccalaureate colleges within six to 18 months will get extra credit.

"When a principal asked about points for grads who choose to enlist in the armed forces, he was shot down.

" 'The military isn't college. It doesn't count,' the group was told...."
This looks like more of the bias that's plagued American academia for decades.

In one sense, I don't blame folks who say that "the military isn't college. It doesn't count...." They may sincerely believe that the American military is drafted from the oppressed classes in America: poor, uneducated, minorities. Or that soldiers are brutish thugs who go around torturing and killing all the time.

On the other hand, folks who determine education policy for a state should, I think, know something about education - and today's America. At least those aspects of American culture that relate to education.

Bias: An Equal-Opportunity Issue

Politically-correct education bosses aren't the only sort of folks who can be biased.

I'm just as dissatisfied with 'regular Americans' who seem to regard all Muslims as 'Arabs,' and all Arabs as "Towlheads." Then there's that infamous "they're all Muslims" crack.

If there's a practical reason for penalizing schools that allow students to consider military service: maybe the New York State DOE decision makes sense. Maybe.

It's hard to imagine, though, that discouraging schools from letting students know about military service, which involves practical training and experience, isn't rooted in simple bias.

'Does it matter,' if schools are penalized for allowing students to consider getting out of the classroom before they enter the cubicle? I think it does. Among other things, a young adult who decides to enter military service instead of going straight into college will be exposed to a new culture. And a set of values that is arguably more firmly rooted in reality.

Me? I went straight from high school to college - and stayed there for years. In the '60s and '70s. I eventually figured out why academia didn't always make sense: and that's another topic.

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

American Terrorists and Getting a Grip

Home-grown terrorists, folks who were born in America and have decided to kill Americans for 'the cause' are 'obviously:'
  1. White supremacists
  2. Muslims
  3. All of the above
  4. The 'other guy'
  5. None of the above
The answer, I think, is 'D' (The 'other guy') - and both 'C' (All of the above) and 'E' (None of the above).

My point is that folks from any group can exercise free will and do - really stupid, destructive, evil things. In my opinion.

I also think that it's a mistake to assume that, because one member of a group commits a vile act: all members of the group commit vile acts. That's certainly, I think, less than appropriate when dealing with large, broadly-defined groups.

It was a mistake to assume that Americans with Japanese ancestors were threats to national security, during WWII. I think it's also a mistake to think that 'the other guy' is a threat today.

Trying to identify disagreement as disloyalty may be a very human thing to do. But I think it's a huge mistake: bad, in the short run, for whoever is demonized; bad in the long run for the views of the demonizer.

Here's what got me started on those ideas:
"Usama bin Laden dethroned as top terrorist threat to the United States?

"That's the assessment of Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who testified Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee at a hearing on Islamic extremism.

"The committee's new chairman, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, cut right to the chase, asking which Al Qaeda leader poses the greatest threat to U.S. national security.

" 'Would you say that (Anwar) al-Awlaki is at least as severe a threat today as Bin Laden?' King asked.

" 'I actually consider Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with Al-Awlaki as a leader within that organization probably the most significant risk to the U.S. homeland,' Leiter responded.

"Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical cleric, has been on the national security radar for nearly a year and is the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list. Now believed to be hiding in Yemen, Awlaki is part of the new breed of digital jihadists who use the Internet to inspire their followers to launch lone-wolf or small-cell attacks that are nearly impossible for law enforcement to prevent.

"Asked if Awlaki is one of the most successful as far as radicalizing through the Internet, Leiter did not hesitate: 'I think Al-Awlaki is probably -- certainly is the most well-known English-speaking ideologue who is speaking directly to folks here in the homeland.'

"The committee was told that there are three threat streams: Bin Laden and Al Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan; affiliated groups in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa, as well as homegrown plots....

"...Also of note was Leiter's statement about the Fort Hood shooting. The alleged shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan exchanged at least 18 e-mails with Awlaki. Leiter said the shooting that left 13 dead and 32 others injured fit the definition of terrorism – a politically motivated act of violence....."
(FoxNews (February 9, 2011)
I've discussed the Fort Hood shootings, Nidal Hasan, and al-Awlaki before:
More of today's posts:
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

'Everybody Knows' That Americans are Arrogant

Is this help-wanted ad really so surprising?

"EXCLUSIVE: Help Wanted -- 'Arrogant Americans' Need Not Applyhttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586342,00.html"
FOXNews (February 17, 2010)

" Looking for a job? Well, if you're an "arrogant American,' you had better search elsewhere.

"An information technology staffing firm based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., posted an advertisement for a technical writer that warned that an 'arrogant American' would not flourish in the position.

" 'Exelon is looking to provide these proposals to Chinese businesses, so someone who is respectful and understands Chinese culture is preferred. An arrogant American will not work well in this role,' the listing read.

"The ad, posted by Viva USA, an information technology consulting firm, has since been removed. Varuna Singh, the company's development manager, told FoxNews.com it received the language from its client, Exelon Nuclear Partners, and the wording somehow got past a 'junior recruiter' who posted the advertisement on CareerBuilder.com...."
Now that they've been caught, the recruiting outfit is taking down the ad. Commendable.

You don't have to believe this, by the way. The story ran on the FOX News website: and 'everybody knows' that FOX News lies. They're arrogant Americans, remember.

America isn't Perfect: But The Anti-American Fad is Seriously Dated

Back in the sixties, being anti-American was kind of now, kind of wow. You know, like, groovy.

Forty years later? The idea that Americans - all Americans - are arrogant, insensitive capitalist imperialist warmonger running dogs has gotten rather old.

Oh, well: I'm an American, myself. And 'everybody knows' what we're like.

How Divisive of an Upstart News Service

I've written about information gatekeepers before. ("What is an Information Gatekeeper?" (August 14, 2009))

And, I'm rather glad that we live in a time when "divisive" news items like this can get published. Even if old-school editors at The New York Times and broadcast networks' news departments don't feel like letting 'the masses' know about items like this.

Related posts:Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred.
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Monday, January 11, 2010

Nidal Malik Hasan: 'We've Got to Promote Him'?

Back in the sixties I didn't think that who a person's ancestors were should matter, when it came to deciding who got promoted and who didn't.

I didn't think it should matter in the eighties, and I still don't think a person's ethnic background should be a factor in deciding who gets what job.

Except in a few special cases. I mean, Chan Kong-sang (Jackie Chan) is a pretty good actor: but can you imagine him in the role of Martin Luther King? Which is another topic.

Open Minded Shouldn't Mean Empty Headed

It's looking more and more like the multiple homicide at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, could have been avoided.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan is the [alleged, as contemporary mores dictate] Fort Hood shooter. He [allegedly, again] killed 13 people.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan is quite obviously not a New England Yankee, or any sort of WASP.

And yes, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is a Muslim.

I certainly don't think that Major Nidal Malik Hasan should have been excluded from the armed forces, or promotion, because his ancestors aren't Anglo-Saxon. Or because he's a Muslim.

I do think that it's quite natural that over 1,100 soldiers in the United States Army are Muslim. (November 6, 2009) As of 2007, about 0.6% of Americans were Muslims. ("CIA World Factbook," United States) With a population of very roughly 300,000,000 - about 18,000,000 Americans are Muslims. It'd be a bit odd, if a few weren't in the military.

But I do not, emphatically, think that Major Nidal Malik Hasan should have been promoted and given glowing evaluations because his ancestors aren't Anglo-Saxon, and in deference to his Muslim cultural heritage.

It's getting increasingly difficult to believe that political correctness wasn't a factor in Major Nidal Malik Hasan's remarkable military career.
"Fort Hood shooter's superiors ignored their own concerns"
News roundup, USA Today (January 11, 2010)

"A Defense Department review of the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, has found that doctors overseeing Maj. Nidal Hasan's medical training repeatedly voiced concerns over his strident views on Islam and his inappropriate behavior, yet continued to give him positive performance evaluations that kept him moving through the ranks. The picture emerging from the review ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates is one of supervisors who failed to heed their own warnings about an officer ill-suited to be an Army psychiatrist, according to information gathered during the internal Pentagon investigation and obtained by the Associated Press...."
That's it: the entire story in the USA Today News roundup.

Don't be surprised, if you don't see this in your paper. The little matter of Major Hasan's apparent immunity from logical consequences probably won't be in the evening news tonight, either. But, I could be wrong.

The USA Today News roundup paragraph did not give many specific facts, so I looked for more detailed information. That phrase, "obtained by the Associated Press" gave me a sort of handle for my search.

If you don't like what you see next, you are free to assume that it's all lies. The AP article was published on the FOXNews website. And, in some circles, 'everybody knows' that FOXNews lies. All the time.
"In Hasan Case, Superiors Ignored Their Worries"
The Associated Press, via FOXNews (January 11, 2010)

" A Defense Department review of the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, has found the doctors overseeing Maj. Nidal Hasan's medical training repeatedly voiced concerns over his strident views on Islam and his inappropriate behavior, yet continued to give him positive performance evaluations that kept him moving through the ranks.

"The picture emerging from the review ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates is one of supervisors who failed to heed their own warnings about an officer ill-suited to be an Army psychiatrist, according to information examined by investigators conducting the study.

"Hasan, 39, is accused of murdering 13 people on Nov. 5 at Fort Hood, the worst killing spree on a U.S. military base.

"What remains unclear is why Hasan would be advanced in spite of all the worries over his competence. That is likely to be the subject of a more detailed accounting by the department. Recent statistics show the Army rarely blocks junior officers from promotion, especially in the medical corps...."

"...In telling episodes from the latter stages of lengthy Hasan's medical education in the Washington, D.C., area, he gave a class presentation questioning whether the U.S.-led war on terror was actually a war on Islam. And students said he suggested that Shariah, or Islamic law, trumped the Constitution and he attempted to justify suicide bombings, according to the information reviewed by The Associated Press.

"Yet no one in Hasan's chain of command appears to have challenged his eligibility to hold a secret security clearance even though they could have because the statements raised doubt about his loyalty to the United States. Had they, Hasan's fitness to serve as an Army officer may have been called into question long before he reported to Fort Hood...." [emphasis mine]
Around this point in the article, I remembered Frank Burns, that red-white-and-blue-blooded all-American idiot doctor from the "M*A*S*H" television series. When Larry Linville's character was written out of the script, the hopelessly incompetent Dr. Frank Burns (if my memory serves) went AWOL, chewed the buttons of a nurse's uniform - then promoted and transferred to a stateside hospital.

In a television sitcom, that's perfectly okay.

When the real army seems to be acting the same way, I get concerned.

Back to excerpts from that AP article.
"...in July 2009, Hasan arrived in central Texas, his secret clearance intact, his reputation as a weak performer well known, and Army authorities believing that posting him at such a large facility would mask his shortcomings.

"Four months later, according to witnesses, he walked into a processing center at Fort Hood where troops undergo medical screening, jumped on a table with two handguns, shouted 'Allahu Akbar!' — Arabic for 'God is great!' — and opened fire. Thirteen people were killed in the spree and dozens more were wounded...."

"...After the Fort Hood shooting, Gates appointed two former senior defense officials to examine the procedures and policies for identifying threats within the military services. The review, led by former Army Secretary Togo West and retired Navy Adm. Vernon Clark, began Nov. 20 and is scheduled to be delivered to Gates by Jan. 15...."

"...Hasan's superiors had a full picture of him, developed over his 12-year career as a military officer, medical student and psychiatrist, according to the information reviewed by AP.

"While in medical school at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences from 1997 to 2003, Hasan received a string of below average and failing grades, was put on academic probation and showed little motivation to learn.

"He took six years to graduate from the university in Bethesda, Maryland, instead of the customary four, according to the school. The delays were due in part to the deaths of his father in 1998 and his mother in 2001. Yet the information about his academic probation and bad grades wasn't included in his military personnel file, leaving the impression he was ready for more intense instruction.

"In June 2003, Hasan started a four-year psychiatry internship and residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and he was counseled frequently for deficiencies in his performance. Teachers and colleagues described him as a below average student.

"Between 2003 and 2007, Hasan's supervisors expressed their concerns with him in memos, meeting notes and counseling sessions. He needed steady monitoring, especially in the emergency room, had difficulty communicating and working with colleagues, his attendance was spotty and he saw few patients.

"In one incident already made public, a patient of Hasan's with suicidal and homicidal tendencies walked out of the hospital without permission.

"Still, Hasan's officer evaluation reports were consistently more positive, usually describing his performance as satisfactory and at least twice as outstanding. Known as 'OERs,' the reports are used to determine promotions and assignments. The Army promoted Hasan to captain in 2003 and to major in 2009.

"At Walter Reed, Hasan's conflict with his Islamic faith and his military service became more apparent to superiors and colleagues, according to the information. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, a trip expected of all Muslims at least once. But he was also cited for inappropriately engaging patients in discussions about religious issues...."
(The Associated Press, via FOXNews) [emphasis mine]
Dr. Frank Burns was funny.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, not so much.

The AP article doesn't say that Major Hasan's ethnic background or religious affiliation was involved in his remarkable immunity from the results of incompetence.

Maybe Nidal Malik Hasan's superiors like the way he looked, or the way he played poker.

Or maybe they were concerned that dealing with him the same way they would with some blue-eyed nitwit from Massachusetts would leave them open to the charge of Islamophobia.

Given the core values of America's dominant culture over the last few decades, I think that a sincere desire to avoid the appearance of Islamophobic, racist behavior is more reasonable than the poker hypothesis.

I could be wrong.

But Nidal Malik Hasan's substandard, disturbing, performance; and his continued promotions; remind me of the eighties, when political correctness was in flower. I was 'lucky,' as American culture expresses the idea. I could get out of the academic racket and get an honest job.

Those 13 people at Fort Hood: they won't be able to get on with their lives.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

News Stories You're Not Supposed to Know About

This post isn't about the War on Terror (which, apparently, no longer exists - officially (March 30, 2009)), so much. It's about what people - Americans in particular - are supposed to know about national and world events.

If you feel, right down to the bottom of your heart, that The New York Times really does print all the news that's fit to print (October 21, 2008), that Big Oil and the military-industrial complex control America, that the CIA blew up New York City's World Trade Center, and that America is to blame for whatever's wrong with the world: stop reading. You won't like this post.

Still with me? This is your last warning: If you really believe that FOXNews is part of some kind of plot, or at least is a mere tool of the Republican party, you're not going to like this post.

News That Wasn't Fit to Print, 2009

FOXNews put together a list of 9 stories that - as far as old-school traditional news media was concerned - were non-events that never happened.

To be fair, outlets like The Associated Press sent information out on the wires - but outfits like The New York Times and CBS news were free to feature the stories as top news, filler for the back page, or to ignore them entirely.

The list:
  • Van Jones
    • "White House Green Jobs adviser Van Jones resigned from his post in September after weeks of pressure over his radical past. A former self-avowed Marxist and anarchist, Jones signed a 2004 petition that suggested the U.S. government was involved in the Sept 11. terrorist attacks...."
  • ACORN Tapes
    • "Filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, went undercover to the offices of the community organizing group ACORN in the summer. They secretly videotaped employees instructing them in how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 'very young' girls from El Salvador whom the pair said they wanted to import to work as child prostitutes...."
  • Science Czar John Holdren
    • "President Obama's 'science czar,' John Holdren, floated a number of lethal policies to shrink the human population -- including compulsory abortions and other Draconian measures -- in science textbooks he published in the 1970s...."
  • Climate-Gate
    • "Hackers broke into the servers at a prominent British climate research center and leaked years' worth of e-mails onto the Web, producing what some skeptics of man-made climate change said was 'smoking gun' evidence of collusion among climate scientists. One e-mail referenced a plan to 'hide the decline' in global temperatures, as another lamented the 'travesty' that temperatures had not increased over the past decade. Prominent climate scientists discussed blackballing skeptics and admitted to dumping data to avoid public scrutiny...."
  • Politicizing the NEA
    • "A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts encouraged artists to promote President Obama's political agenda in a conference call he organized with the White House. The NEA's communications director Yosi Sergant eventually resigned in August amid accusations that the grant-making organization was becoming politicized...."
      • This is hardly news: ideological requirements for acceptance in American academia - NEA included - are part of the reason I left the racket, back in the eighties.
  • Chas Freeman
    • "Chas Freeman, the Obama administration's appointee to chair the National Intelligence Council, had major conflicts of interest with the Saudi and Chinese governments as a private citizen. He referred to Tibetan Buddhist protests against the communist government in China as a 'race riot,' and said the Chinese had been 'overly cautious' in killing hundreds of protesters in the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989...."
  • Tea Party Protests
    • "In the wake of the bank bailouts and the federal stimulus package, some critics of the Obama administration's economic crisis plans urged citizens to mail tea bags to their congressmen as a form of protest, recalling the Boston Tea Party and unjust taxes imposed by the British before the American Revolution. The Tea Party movement grew to include massive protests, as tens of thousands of Americans joined in on Tax Day...."
  • Kevin Jennings, Safe Schools Czar
    • "President Obama's 'safe schools czar,' Kevin Jennings, is a former schoolteacher who advocated promoting homosexuality in schools and was forced to admit he had poorly handled an incident in which a student told him he was having sex with older men. Jennings has since been tied to a pornographic suggested reading list...."
  • Democratic Stimulus
    • "A December study from George Mason University showed that Democratic districts have received nearly twice as much stimulus money as Republican districts -- and the cash has been awarded without regard to how badly an area was suffering from job losses or income problems. Blue districts garnered the majority of the $787 stimulus package, getting an average of $439 million per district...."
    (FOXNews)
If you don't like the list - or find it a little unsettling - you can do what some of the self-described best and brightest in all the land do. Tell yourself that it's FOXNews, and that they always lie. Especially about the dear president.

Me? I don't think that news organizations lie. Not very often, and even less often when they're aware that what they're saying is false. That goes for The New York Times, FOXNews, CNN, and all the rest.

On the other hand, I know that news organizations filter the information they have, selecting what their editors think is important and rejecting the rest. Otherwise, we'd be flooded with everything from stories about jaywalkers, convenience store robberies and fossils in Kenya to weather reports from Poughkeepsie: with information about national events buried between them.

I think the problem that many old-school, traditional news editors have is that they live in a relatively small community. Although, in my opinion, Atlanta is becoming a major news media center: New York City, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles remain as the great centers of old-school journalism in America. With contemporary telecommunications and air travel, it isn't necessary for people living in these places to make contact with outsiders. Unconsciously, I think, they form a closely knit community of like-minded people.

Nothing wrong with that.

The problem, as I see it, is that editors often don't realize that their preconceptions and preferences about the world and how it should work aren't necessarily widely shared outside their little urban enclaves - and, in my opinion, are sometimes at odds with objective reality.

Being somewhat uncritical of improbable reports that fit their preconceptions can be downright embarrassing: like the time a major American newspaper printed a fake letter. (December 22, 2008)

Old-school, traditional news editors generally pass along reports on things that actually happened: quite possibly unaware of how their assumptions and biases affect which facts they select and which they reject. Sometimes, news media reports events that never happened. (August 7, 2007)

Don't Read the News: Study It

With traditional news media's track record for turning a blind eye to deficiencies in the workers' paradise and by-products of the Third Reich's efforts to establish lebensraum (October 21, 2008) it's hard to tell when news articles are tongue-in-cheek, and when they should be taken at face value. (October 30, 2009)

Which, together with the way that major events (in my opinion) are ignored if they don't fit in with what old-school journalists feel that the masses should be allowed to know, is why I don't read the news. I study it.

Related posts: In the news:
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Haiyang Zhu Pleads Guilty in Decapitation of Xin Yang: Which Goes to Show Something

In some circles, "everybody knows" that America is a hotbed of racism and hate and intolerance and always lynches black people and communists and stuff like that.

Oh-kay. Let's take a deep breath, and look at America in 2009. Not Harlem during the riots in 1935 or 1943. Or Selma in 1965 - that was a protest march.1 This country's not perfect. (July 3, 2008) But it's no septic tank of big-bellied sheriffs and small-minded bigots, either.

Yes, you'll encounter the occasional law enforcement official with a weight problem and personality disorders. And there are people whose minds are made up - and they don't all dress funny and have broad southern-redneck accents. Some, in my opinion, are considered "tolerant" only because they despise the 'right' people and support the dominant culture's views. (August 5, 2008)

Haiyang Zhu: A Case in Point

Haiyang's guilt plea yesterday is big news in Virginia - and made both America's national news and the international news.

Haiyang Zhu has been held in the decapitation death of Xin Yang, a graduate student in the Au Bon Pain restaurant in the university's Graduate Life Center on January 21in January. Yesterday, he pleaded guilty.

Since the account is in English-language news, at least, around the world; and with a world population somewhere upward of 6,000,000,000; the odds are that someone, somewhere, thinks that Haiyang Zhu is the victim of white racism, American imperialism, or shape-shifting space-alien lizard people.

To paraphrase the proverb: When the only intellectual tool you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Me? I think that Haiyang Zhu killed Xin Yang and cut off her head: There were witnesses to the murder, and Xin Yang was in two pieces when law enforcement arrived. I also think that killing someone because you feel like it, even if you don't cut off the victim's head, is generally an illegal act in America.

American law and custom call for a formal trial in cases like this: which is what happened. The guilty plea may - or may not - be part of an effort to ratchet down the legal sanctions Haiyang Zhu will experience.

That's my opinion. But then, I'm not inclined to see everything I don't like as the work of commies, the military-industrial complex, crazy professors, or Islamic terrorists.
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Friday, December 11, 2009

Anti-Islam Porno Posters in St. Cloud, Minnesota: "Unacceptable"

A little background: Quite a few Minnesotans came here quite recently, from Somalia. They came here for the same sort of reason that brought my ancestors to the new world: probably, if you're an American, and your ancestors weren't already here here when Columbus landed, yours, too. these sincerely non-Norwegian-Minnesotans came to America because conditions here are better than they are in Somalia.

Which, lately, doesn't take much. I hope that Somalia recovers, but right now it's a mess.

Somalis come to Minnesota because this is one of America's major poultry producers. All those birds need to be processed, and that's a job where you don't need fluency in English. It's great for immigrants.

Which, let's remember, is what most 'real American' families were, not all that long ago.

St. Cloud's Porno Anti-Islamic Cartoons

Somebody went to a bit of trouble - and walked through the recent snowstorm - to put "graphic, sexually explicit cartoons...on utility poles in the 10 block of Second Avenue Northeast and the 300 block of Fifth Avenue South...." (St. Cloud Times, print edition, December 10, 2009)

From the national news:
"St. Cloud police investigate anti-Muslim cartoons"
USA Today (December 10, 2009)

"Police in the central Minnesota city of St. Cloud are investigating anti-Islamic cartoons found on at least two utility poles.

"The St. Cloud Times reports the posters included hand-drawn and digitally-altered photos derogatory toward Muslims. It says they included depictions of the Prophet Mohammed and a swastika, among other images.

"Five of them were found posted Tuesday on a pole outside a store that caters to Somalis...."

"St. Cloud authorities say posters may be hate crime"
(St. Cloud Times print edition (December 10, 2009))

"...St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization Executive Director Mohamoud Mohamed said it appears the images were downloaded from the Internet. Some of them were written in multiple languages.

" 'It's an insult to our religion,' he said.

"Someone spent a lot of time downloading the images and putting them together, Mohamed said. Then the person spent time walking through Tuesday's snow and cold to post them.

" ' It's very scary,' he said.

"Mohamed said the community needs to come together and say it will not tolerate such behavior from 'a few very bad apples.'

" ' It's unacceptable,' he said...."

"...Anyone with information or who found similar images elsewhere can contact police at 251-1200 or Crime stoppers at 255-1301"
(St. Cloud Times (December 10, 2009)) [phone numbers are for St. Cloud, Minnesota, residents or visitors]
I'm no great fan of the idea of "hate crimes," since prosecuting such crimes can be a matter of criminalizing ideas.

That said, the sort of harassment and - arguably - intimidation that these "graphic, sexually explicit cartoons", some of which depict "the prophet Mohammed and a swastika" (USA Today, St. Cloud Times), are, in my opinion, "unacceptable." (Mohamoud Mohamed, via St. Cloud Times)

What's an American Doing, Defending Foreigners?

First of all, someone doesn't have to be melanin-deficient, with ancestors from somewhere in northwestern Europe, to be a Minnesotan. Or an American. Quite a few of these Somali-Minnesotans are American citizens. Whether or not they've become citizens on paper yet, they're all living, working, and raising their families here.

That still seems to come as a shock to a few red-white-and-blue-blooded Americans.

Some of 'Those People' are My Cousins, Nieces, and Nephews

I have no complaints about my ancestors. They were, for the most part, peasants in Norway, Ireland and Scotland. These days, that's no problem. Happily, the 'good old days' of "Irish Need Not Apply" signs are gone. America's having survived an Irish president's administration helped a little, I suspect.

That was then, this is now. I've got cousins who are Oglala Sioux1 the way I'm Irish, and the extended family has roots in the southwestern Pacific. Even if I were so inclined, the kinds of folks I can call 'those people over there' gets smaller by the generation.

As American as Tacos and Pizza

America's still getting new waves of immigrants: bringing fresh, new ideas; the sort of energy and enthusiasm that some families lose after the first few generations; and new customs to America. I like it. But then, I don't mind living in a country where pizza, hamburgers, and tacos are all "American" foods.

So, why do I hope that whoever put those "unacceptable" posters up gets caught? And, that people in St. Cloud make it clear that they don't, as a rule, treat their neighbors that way?
  • Somali Muslims living in Minnesota are Minnesotans
    • Like me.
  • I appreciate it when people don't trash my religious beliefs.
    • And so I need to at least say something when someone else is the target of that sort of disrespect.
  • It's the right thing to do.
    • I know that sounds corny: but there it is.
  • I have some experience, having religious beliefs which are not shared by the majority.
    • I'm Catholic.
    • One of 'those people.'
A German pastor, Martin Niemöller, made the point I'm trying to make. Quite a few times, it seems.

He's credited with writing a poem. Several, actually, all with the same general message. Here are a few:
"When Hitler attacked the Jews
I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church --
and there was nobody left to be concerned."
(Niemoller's address to the U.S. Congress (Congressional Record,
October 14, 1968, page 31636), Martin Niemoller poem and address on Hitler and the Nazis)
Or maybe it was
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me." (MARTIN NIEMÖLLER: "FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE SOCIALISTS...", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Or
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
(Martin Niemöller's famous quotation: "First they came for the Communists"..., a page by Harold Marcuse, UC Santa Barbara)
The version you ran into probably isn't there. Some are rather politically correct, some were edited from a more conservative point of view. Although I don't quite agree with the UC Santa Barbara professor's assumption that the guy from the Small Business Administration was subverting the pastor's message ('everybody knows' what those capitalists are like?), the professor's page is one of the best resources I've found online, for studying Niemöller's remarks.

Between Islamic crazies and white supremacists, there's a whole lot of hate - concentrated in, I trust, "a very few bad apples," but dangerous nonetheless. "My end of the boat isn't sinking" is not a prudent attitude.

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1 Or, if you like, Oglala Lakota. The family has been saying "Sioux," which was the term most Americans would have understood up to a few decades ago. Turns out, "Sioux" is the Anglicized version of the Chippewa word for "snake." Euro-Americans had apparently asked the (Chippewa) American Indians (that's probably not PC today, but you know what I mean) what the people living a bit west of "here" were called. The Chippewa, who weren't on the Lakota "A" list any more than the Euro-Americans were, said that those 'people' over there were snakes. "Sioux."

The name stuck.

Sort of like "Yankee," but that's another topic.

I've learned that, possibly because we're all supposed to feel warm fuzzies about each other, that the folks who lived around here and points south and east (if memory serves) didn't call the foreigners to the west "snake." Could be.

And, that "Oglala" isn't PC any more. No surprises there. What's politically correct and what's not shifts.
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Friday, October 30, 2009

Imperialist American Aggressors Attack Poland?

The headline: The lead paragraphs:
"Shots were fired form the destroyer USS Ramage as it was leaving the Polish port of Gdynia on Wednesday (October 28), Polish media reported.

"A witness working in a port warehouse told news channel TVN24 he heard rounds hitting a wall and video shot on Thursday (October 29) shows marks on the building's exterior...."
(Reuters)
The rest of the story:

A crew member on the USS Ramage was cleaning a machine gun. It was loaded. Three rounds were fired. The Polish military police boarded the Rampage. The Rampage's crew cooperated fully, according to American Navy authorities.

Nobody, thank God, was killed - or, apparently, injured.

The Lesson

I think this is a good reminder
  • Don't stop reading at the headline
    • Or the lead paragraphs
  • See if other news outlets give the same story
  • Remember generic words like
    • To fire on
    • Shell
    • Mark
A "shell," for example, could be anything from something coming out of a 22 caliber deer rifle, to something weighing more than a Cadillac. In the context of that news article, a "mark" could be anything from a square inch of chipped brick to a gaping hole.

That Reuters story wasn't inaccurate: but it can be seen as misleading. I'd be willing to write off a single instance of this sort of reporting, if there weren't a pattern.

Back when I was in college (one of the times: I'm a repeater), someone pointed out how unfair it was that, for a while, anyone with an eastern European accent was the bad guy in films.

I doubt that this dramatic shorthand was quite as universal as it was made out to be, any more than the 'bad guys always wear black hats in westerns' stereotype. But after reading that assertion, I paid attention to films of a particular period, and sure enough: A whole lot of people from eastern Europe were bad guys: more than you'd expect.

The point is that 'eastern European accent = evil intent' was so solidly planted a cultural assumption, that filmmakers could use the association.

These days, most people - I hope - realize that quite a few people from eastern Europe aren't deranged assassins, sinister spies, or mad scientists.

And some day - I hope - most people will realize that America is not the source of most of what's wrong in the world. But I'm not holding my breath.

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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Somali-Americans Rally Against Extremism Tomorrow: But Who Cares?

That's unfair - but quite honestly, the Michael Jackson funeral and falling stocks seem to be crowding an upcoming protest off the front page, and often right out of the news. The Somali-American protest/rally planned tomorrow afternoon in Minneapolis isn't being completely ignored, though.
"Somali-Americans in Minnesota will protest a rash of suicide bombings in their homeland at a rally Friday in Minneapolis.

"Somalia has been at civil war for the past two decades, but suicide attacks began to surface only recently. Last month, the radical Islamic group Al-Shabaab struck again, killing a number of Somali government officials and tribal leaders...."

"...Shaair said [Shirwa] Ahmed's alleged role in the October attack is all the more reason why Somalis in Minnesota must condemn the violence. Shaair said many Somali-Americans were angered when they heard the news.

" 'They're wondering why would a Somali who's here and who came here to find peace and a safe haven would go back to commit these acts of terror? It doesn't represent us,' Shaair said. 'The community is against suicide bombings.'

"Some Somalis in Minnesota have been personally affected by the violence of their homeland. One Twin Cities woman lost some of her close relatives in a bombing last month in western Somalia...." (MPR)
Shirwa Ahmed is the Minnesotan who dropped out of sight in his home state, and showed up in Somalia: there were pieces of him large enough to identify by DNA analysis, which may have been some comfort to his family. What could be found of him was shipped back to Minnesota and given a decent funeral.

As for the "alleged role" - there was forensic evidence that Shirwa Ahmed had been the star in a suicide bombing. (March 10, 2009)

I discussed editorial preferences, unpleasant realities, and traditional journalism in another post. (July 1, 2009)

At least Minnesota Public Radio is giving some pre-event publicity to the protest: albeit with the old-school 'minority misunderstood and suspected by the FBI' angle.

Somali-Americans in Minnesota Apparently Don't Know Their Place

I suspect one reason why Somalis in Minnesota aren't getting as much press coverage of the rally is that many of them don't know their place.
"...Last week, Jamal participated in a protest accusing Minnesota’s only Muslim civil rights organization, the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) of impeding an investigation into the missing Somali youth. The protest was organized by Abdirizak Bihi, Jamal’s colleague and an uncle of Burhan Hassan, one of the missing Somali young men.

"I, unfortunately, know Bihi all too well. When I ran for Mayor of Minneapolis, I caught Bihi, who was working for McLaughlin’s campaign, running around the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood telling Somalis not to vote for me because “she is a lesbian.”..." (Star-Tribune)
I could be wrong, but I think that black people - even if they're foreigners - who have the audacity to speak against an established civil rights group like CAIR, and have ideas which are distinctly not politically correct is something that traditional American journalists would rather not deal with.

And, judging from that Star-Tribune article, some of that uppity sort are making their voices heard.

For some people with long-standing traditional views, it's troubling times.

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Sunday, June 7, 2009

Another Minnesotan Dies in Somalia: Not Your Stereotype African

The Abubakar As-Saddique Mosque in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is in the news again.

And, there's another Minnesotan who (very likely) is dead in Mogadishu, Somalia. He's Burhan Hassan, 17, a senior at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. His family hadn't heard from him in about two weeks.

Then, this Friday, Burhan Hassan's family got a very disturbing phone call.
"...'Someone who claimed (to be) a member of al-Shabaab called Burhan's mom Friday (afternoon) and said Burhan died Friday morning,' [Burhan Hassan's uncle Osman] Ahmed said. 'Burhan's mom got shocked and (threw) the phone when she heard the story.'

" 'Al-Shabaab assassinated Burhan and shot (him in) the head,' the individual said, according to Ahmed.

"A law enforcement official told FOX News on Sunday that one of the Somali-American men was recently killed in Somalia by artillery fire, but the official declined to release the man's name...." (FOXNews)
Burhan Hassan isn't the first Somali to return to the old country and then turn up dead. There was enough of Shirwa Ahmed left, after he starred as a suicide bomber in Somalia, for DNA to identify who he was. At least his family got to give him a decent burial. (December 4, 2008)

Mr. Ahmed was the first naturalized American citizen to be a suicide bomber, a detail which started U.S. intelligence people looking at Somalis in America. They seem to have arrived at some conclusions:
"...The potential recruitment of young Somali-American men has been made possible by 'a number of factors that come together when a dynamic, influential and extremist leader gains access to a despondent and disenfranchised group of young men,' Andrew Liepman, deputy director for intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center, said earlier this year.

"Many refugees, he said, 'lack structure and definition in their lives' and are 'torn between their parents' traditional tribal and clan identities, and the new cultures and traditions offered by American society.'..." (CNN)
At least Mr. Liepman said "Many refugees."

Let's look at the "despondent and disenfranchised" young man whose family got that disturbing phone call. His uncle, Osman Ahmed, had a few words to say about Burhan Hassan. (I don't know if he's related to Shirwa Ahmed. "Ahmed" isn't all that uncommon a name in America (U.S. Census).)
"...'(He) was a brilliant student with straight A's and on top of his class,' Ahmed testified at a Senate hearing in March focusing on recruitment efforts by al-Shabaab. 'He was an ambitious kid with the hope to go to Harvard University to study medicine or law and become a medical doctor or a lawyer.'

Ahmed accuses a local mosque of helping al-Shabaab recruit his nephew and others in the Minneapolis area.

'Like his peers, Burhan Hassan was never interested in Somali politics, or understood Somali clan issues,' Ahmed said during testimony. 'These kids have no perception of Somalia except the one that was formed in their mind by their teachers at (a local mosque). We believe that these children did not travel to Somalia by themselves. There must be others who made them understand that going to Somalia and participating the fighting is the right thing to do.'..." (FOXNews)
The "(a local mosque)" appears to be the Abubakar As-Saddiqu mosque in Minneapolis. It's been connected with missing Minnesotans before. (March 22, 2009)

I hope that American officials realize that not all Americans who were born in Somalia, or whose parents emigrated to this country, fit the "despondent and disenfranchised" description given by Mr. Liepman. And that not everybody from Africa is so mired in "traditional tribal and clan identities" that they can't manage in an up-to-date, civilized country like America.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Genocide! Racism! Down With Columbus Day!!

In today's news:
"University denounces legendary explorer's legacy"

"Providence, RI (WPRI) - Brown University will no longer celebrate 'Columbus Day.'

"This week, the faculty voted to do away with the holiday, after students raised concerns about Christopher Columbus' treatment of Native Americans.

"Last fall, students submitted a petition with more than 700 signatures to the University denouncing the explorer's legacy, and accusing Columbus of genocide and racism...."
(WPRI)
No surprises here.

For people who really believe that all whites are racist, and that Professor Ward Churchill is right about the "little Eichmanns," this is another glorious victory. For the rest of us: it's more of the same.

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.