Egypt, Opinions, and Cautious Optimism

Mainstream news from Egypt is like most old-school journalism: death; bloodshed; more death; "the center cannot hold;" and all that.

Now and then a journalist decides that talking to folks who aren't trying to topple a regime, or struggling to hold power, might be a good idea. In this case, I think the results are encouraging:

"Muslim Brotherhood's bid to scapegoat Christians failing, say Egyptians"
Lisa Daftari, FoxNews.com (August 25, 2013)

"As their nation descends into violent chaos, Egyptians are increasingly blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, despite attempts by the Islamist group to scapegoat Christians and the military, according to several sources who spoke to FoxNews.com from Cairo.

" 'The Muslim Brotherhood has lost all sympathy with their points due to their violence,' said a Long Island, N.Y., Egyptian-American, who is in a Cairo suburb for a family wedding.

"The man, a Coptic Christian who asked that his name not be used until he and his family are safely back in the U.S., told FoxNews.com he arrived in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis last weekend, just days after Muslim Brotherhood supporters began clashing violently with security forces. Since then, nightly curfews, angry mobs and closed roads that cut off supplies to restaurants and groceries have made his homeland unrecognizable...."

One Man's Opinion

I could say that this Egyptian-American doesn't count, because he doesn't live in Egypt. Besides, he's a Christian: so I could pick from a broad range of stereotypes.

More to the point, that's just one man's opinion.

I don't blame him for keeping his head down until he was out of Egypt. There's quite a bit of trouble in that country, ever since Egypt's military decided that Egypt didn't need a rogue president. Folks who like the way President Morsi was 'protecting' Egypt from those who disagreed with Morsi's brand of Islamist rule were understandably upset, and by now the body count is over 1,000.

One Woman's Opinion

I do not think that the trouble with Egypt is that they've got Muslims there. I've run into too many folks who follow Islam and think terrorism is a bad idea:

"...A Muslim woman named Nina told FoxNews.com most citizens - Christian and Muslim - are solidly behind the military, which has been criticized by the west for its decisive crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters.

" 'I am Muslim and I am against terrorism and I support the revolution [which ousted Morsi] and I support all the decisions of the Egyptian army forces,' she said. 'We love Egypt so much and we hope the foreign countries stop misunderstanding about us and the situation now in Egypt.'..."
(Lisa Daftari, FoxNews.com)

Well, that's just one woman's opinion.

Let's see what one of those 'religious' people say:

Another Man's Opinion

"...Even at mosques, the tide seems to be turning against the Muslim Brotherhood, according to one man who spoke from Cairo.

" 'They gather around mosques, from five to 100 of them, to show they are important and the goal is to go and cut off the roads and rally to get more supporters,' he said.

" 'Sometimes during Friday prayers, the sheikh wants to push people to support the Muslim Brotherhood, but modern Muslims are dominant and not deceived anymore with fake words that defending the Muslim Brotherhood is defending Islam,' he said...."

Some Muslims probably still keep themselves isolated from the rest of the world. I think a few folks from any large selection of humanity are trying very hard to stay ignorant. Many of us, though, seem to be willing to learn what's going on outside our neighborhood.

Yet Another Man's Opinion

Finally, Osama el-Quossi, a "former jihadist and Salafist cleric," said that the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to blame Egypt's Christians for the current trouble. True, Egypt's Christian minority didn't support Morsi: but quite a few Muslims weren't behind him, either. 'Blame the Christians' doesn't seem to be working:

"...'The Brotherhood lost everything, politically and economically,' Osama el-Quossi told MCN. 'They lost the citizens' sympathy, so they used religion to gain support of ordinary people. '"
(Lisa Daftari, FoxNews.com)

Living in a Big World

Lisa Daftari probably could have found four other folks in Egypt who would obligingly chant "death to the great Satan America," or whatever slogan is in fashion this year. Although I'm fairly sure that she decided to focus on one among many attitudes held by Egyptians, I strongly suspect that she's reporting what many folks feel.

I think many, probably most, folks don't like being shot at or blown up: preferring to raise their families, go to work, and get on with their lives.

Egypt has around 200,000 Internet hosts, 2,000,000 Internet users, and upwards of 83,000,000 cell phones. Since there are about 85,290,000 Egyptians: folks living there are rather well-connected to the rest of the world.

My guess is that many Egyptians, and Americans, and folks around the world, know too much to believe the old fears about 'foreign threats.'

I'm quite certain that the next few decades, and probably centuries, will be difficult. But I'm also cautiously hopeful that the emerging global civilization will be an improvement over the mess we've had so far.

Related posts:

• "Egypt and an Uncoup"
  (July 4, 2013)
• "Business (not) as Usual in Egypt"
  (December 9, 2012)
• "Egypt, America: Change, Freedom, and Other Threats to the Status Quo"
  (November 23, 2012)
• "Information Technology, People, and a Changing World"
  (February 23, 2011)
• "Iraq's Soft Surge; Pakistan and the Taliban: Weekend News and History"
  ()

Boston Marathon Bombing: Sauntering Through the News

Maybe I'd get more attention if I picked some position, and harangued endlessly about it.

Rattling on About Rosicrucians

Maybe I should post daily, warning anyone who reads this blog that the Boston Marathon bombing was engineered by the same cabal of Illuminati, Rosicrucians, and space-alien lizard men who really run the CIA and NBC, control our brains with radio waves from cell phone towers, and are responsible for annoying television commercials.

Somebody might believe that tripe, though, and I don't want to be responsible for increasing the world's nuttiness.

On the other hand, maybe I'm really a shape-shifting lizard man: and have hypnotized myself into believing that I'm human.

No, I don't think so.

News and Routine

There's been something in the news more-or-less daily since the Boston Marathon bombing: mostly the routine sort of stuff that news services do when there isn't a significant change to report.

That's about what I expected, since American law enforcement usually takes investigations of serious crimes in a frustratingly methodical, rational way.

There are exceptions, of course, like the infamous Steven Hatfill and Richard Jewel fiascoes. (February 15, 2011)

Students and Life Lessons

It's likely that at least one of the three college students arrested this week got a terrible shock:

"Boston bombings: Suspect's classmates appear in court"
BBC News (May 1, 2013)

"Three college classmates of the Boston bombings suspect have appeared in court, accused of hindering the police investigation into the attacks.

"Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev - both from Kazakhstan - threw away Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's laptop and backpack, police say.

"Robel Phillipos is accused of lying to investigators. None of the three are implicated in plotting the attacks...."

Maybe all three knew that they were helping terrorists. Maybe not. The young men from Kazakhstan are 19. That's 'old enough to know better,' but young enough to lack the common sense some of us eventually acquire.

I've never attended college in a foreign country, but can imagine that if had, and a buddy of mine asked me to throw a backpack and laptop away I might agree. Maybe not after I saw what was inside the backpack: but I'm nowhere near as nice and trusting a chap as some.

I won't rant about how America should drive all 'foreigners' out and not let anyone in. That, in my considered opinion, would be silly, wrong, and downright self-destructive. I'll grant that I'm a bit biased. All my ancestors were 'foreigners' here not too long ago.

Russia and Secrets

Maybe Russian security officials had a good reason for not telling their American counterparts about a potential terrorist.

Maybe they were simply being the sort of bureaucratic nitwits that add fuel, knowingly or not, to weird conspiracy theories.

Or maybe the FBI is on the verge of uncovering a conspiracy of space aliens and immortal brush salesmen, disguised as Russian officials. No, I don't think so.

"No evidence Boston bomber radicalized before first FBI interview, sources say"
Catherine Herridge, FoxNews.com (April 30, 2013)

"Investigators have found no evidence -- so far -- that Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was radicalized before the FBI interviewed him in spring 2011, two sources tell Fox News.

"The FBI investigation ran from March through June 2011 after the bureau was contacted by the Russian Security Services, which said Tsarnaev and his mother were followers of radical Islam.

"The two sources, one within the intelligence community and the other a congressional source, both of whom would not discuss the investigation on the record, emphasized that the U.S. went back to the Russian authorities three times seeking more detail on the elder Tsarnaev brother, but it was only within the last week that Russia's wiretap evidence was presented to U.S. authorities.

"When Tsarnaev from his six months in Russia, in July 2012, the following month he established his own YouTube channel with links to known Islamist groups, including the Caucasus Emirate. According to the two sources, no evidence has been found that Tsarnaev 'created his own media, including video recordings,' which is seen by the intelligence community as an indicator or marker of radicalization...."

What this news item seems to indicate is that American law enforcement is acting the way they usually do: and so, sadly, are their Russian counterparts. (February 19, 2010)

In the news:

• "Boston bombings: Suspect's classmates appear in court"
  BBC News (May 1, 2013)
• "No evidence Boston bomber radicalized before first FBI interview, sources say"
  Catherine Herridge, FoxNews.com (April 30, 2013)

Related posts:

• Judgment: good and otherwise
  • "Snap Judgment and Ricin"
    (April 23, 2013)
  • "Boston Marathon Bombing: Sincerity isn't Truth "
    (April 20, 2013)
  • "Boston Marathon Bombs"
    (April 15, 2013)
  • "Who Needs Facts? Cultural Assumptions and Politics"
    (July 24, 2009)
  • "Anthrax Letters: Dotting the 'I's, Crossing the 'T's"
    (September 17, 2008)
  • "Cool Heads, Lukewarm Brains, And Dr. Haneef"
    (July 30, 2007)
• Living in a big world
  • "Still Coming to America"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 28, 2013)
  • "Egypt, America: Change, Freedom, and Other Threats to the Status Quo"
    (November 23, 2012)
  • "Remembering September 11, 2001; and Looking Ahead"
    (September 11, 2012)
  • "Guinea, Military Rule, and Terrorism: Beware Hasty Judgment"
    (December 29, 2008)
  • "Two Cultures: Two Responses"
    (October 21, 2007)

Algeria, the Amenas Gas Facility, and Harsh Realities

Quite a few folks stopped living rather abruptly in Algeria a few hours ago. Some of them were hostages, killed by their captors. Others were the killers.

I'm not happy about that. It's a tragic situation. But I'm not surprised, either.

People: Nice and Otherwise

I think that most folks are decent enough people, who want to raise their families, earn a living, and live with some degree of security. They're no more likely to take over an industrial facility and kill hostages than I am.

On the other hand, some folks simply aren't nice. They don't behave well, even if they're asked politely. When they behave badly for personal reasons, we often call them criminals. When their motives are more ideological, news media tends to call them "militants." Another term is "terrorist." Either way, they're - - - simply not nice.

There have been relatively tranquil eras. This isn't one of them: Particularly for a place folks have been calling Algeria recently.

North Africa: Background

Folks have been living in that part of north Africa for upwards of 1,800,000 years, but our records start much more recently: around the time that king Gala had ties with Cathage, and king Syphax sided with Rome. You hardly ever hear about Massylii and Masaesyli these days, and that's another topic.

Carthage, Chlodowech, and All That

Roughly two millennia after the Carthage-Rome wars, Chlodowech's successors invaded and held this territory. By that time Chlodowech's Franks had taken over a good-sized chunk of Europe: what we call France: and that isn't quite another topic.

Recent Centuries

About two centuries ago, France took parts of north Africa from the Dey of Algiers, who ran part of the Barbary States, which was a sort of client of the Ottoman Empire - a whole lot more topics.

France lost control of Algeria about a half-century back. These days, Algeria's called (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبي, or Al Jumhuriyah al Jaza'iriyah ad Dimuqratiyah ash Sha'biyah, or the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. I'll stick with "Algeria" for the rest of this post.

Folks in Algeria, along with just about everyone else in that part of the world, have had their hands full: sorting out the mess left from centuries of colonial rule and the Versailles treaty. More topics.

The Last Few Hours

(FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)

A few hours ago, Algerian troops attacked forces holding hostages at the Amenas gas facility. The 'militants' killed their remaining hostages before being killed by Algerian troops.¹

Ideally, Algeria's President President Abdelaziz Bouteflika would have politely asked the militants to please let their hostages go: after which Mokhtar Belmokhtar and company would have released them. After, of course, resolving whatever misunderstanding had prompted the raid in the first place.

Crime, Death, and Other Unpleasantness

We don't live in an ideal world, and that's not how things work.

The United States government tried acting as if taking hostages, blowing up airliners, and similar activities, were crimes: the sort of thing we generally let the police force and social workers deal with.

I think the deaths of assorted athletes, tourists, diplomats, and travelers, helped America's leadership decide that their 'let the police handle it' attitude wasn't working. (January 22, 2010; August 5, 2007)

Eventually, America's policy became 'we will never negotiate with terrorists.' As I recall, this happened during the Reagan administration. What we're supposed to remember about that president is Oliver North, so maybe it was somebody else. Or, not.

"Never" and a Grain or Two of Salt

Particularly where national policy is concerned, I take terms like "never" with the proverbial grain of salt. Anything involving human beings is going to get very complicated, very fast, and "never" is a fairly simple idea.

Even so, I think the basic idea is sound. Folks who run outfits like Al Qaeda are very unlikely to change their minds about killing anyone who doesn't agree with them. Given the circumstances, I don't think it makes sense to "negotiate" with them in hopes that they'll start behaving nicely.

It's fairly easy for me to have that opinion, since I don't know anyone who died as a result of what those "militants" did in Algeria. If I did - well, that's a hypothetical situation: one which I hope I never face.

I gather that this particular run-in with "militants" was handled by the Algerian government. Even so, a spokeswoman for the American State Department repeated what's been this country's policy for a few decades: "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists." (FoxNews.com)

Harsh as it may seem, I think it's still a good idea.

More:

• "Algeria"
  CIA World Factbook (page last updated January 14, 2013)
  
• "France"
  Wikipedia
• "French Algeria"
  Wikipedia
• "History of Algeria"
  Wikipedia
• "Numidia"
  Wikipedia

Related posts:

• "Algiers in the News: The War on Terror is Global"
  (June 24, 2008)
• "American Government Intercepts, Reads Private Correspondence!"
  (October 5, 2007)
• "January 22, 2010 Arkansas Recruiting Center Shooting, the Right to Remain Silent, and War"
  (January 22, 2010)
  Particularly
  • If We're Nice, Won't They be Nice, Too?
• "Cyber-Attacks 'No More Harmful than Spam' - So Far"
  (July 11, 2009)
  Particularly
  • It's a Crime
• "The Subway Project and 'Why Islam?' - Terrorists in the Subways! Or, Not"
  (July 23, 2008)
  Particularly
  • With Friends Like This - - -
  • People, Please! Check Your Facts!

---

¹Excerpts from today's news:

"Algeria crisis: 'Captors and hostages die in assault' "
BBC News (January 19, 2013)
"Algerian troops have ended a siege at a gas facility in the Sahara desert killing 11 Islamist militants after they killed seven hostages, Algerian state news agency APS has said.
"The hostages were summarily killed as the troops tried to free them, it said.

"Foreign workers were among the hostages, but the nationalities of the dead are not known.

"UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the crisis was over and that lives had been lost.

"At a joint news conference with his US counterpart Leon Panetta, Mr Hammond said the loss of life was 'appalling and unacceptable and we must be clear that it is the terrorists who bear sole responsibility for it'.

"Britain was pressing Algeria for further details, he added.

"Mr Hammond said the kidnappers' leaders would be 'held to account for their actions'.

" 'The full force of the UK and US and other allied countries will bear down upon them,' he said.

"The militants had been involved in a stand-off since Thursday after trying to occupy the remote site.

"Clearing mines

"On Friday, 573 Algerians and about 100 of 132 foreigners working at the plant were freed, Algerian officials said...."

---

"One American dead in hostage siege in Algeria"
FoxNews.com (January 19, 2013)

"Algerian authorities gave no indication of how many people were still captive at natural gas complex in Algeria the day after an American worker was found dead at the plant and the U.S. sought to secure the release of Americans still being held by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists.

"Frederick Buttaccio, a Texas resident, died of a heart attack during a raid by the Algerian military to end the standoff, Fox News confirmed Friday. The general manager of the complex, Mark Cobb, also of Texas, was able to escape with members of his Algerian staff and is safe....

"...It was not immediately clear whether Buttaccio was the only American killed in the hostage standoff....

"...Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she spoke by telephone with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to get an update on Americans and others in danger at the sprawling Ain Amenas refinery 800 miles south of Algiers. She said the 'utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life.'...

"...Clinton talked to reporters after the Obama administration confirmed that Americans were still being held hostage, even as some U.S. citizens were being flown out of the country for recovery in Europe. The Algerian state news agency reported that 12 hostages had been killed since Wednesday's start of an Algerian rescue operation, and world leaders steadily increased their criticism of the North African country's handling of the attack....

"...Clinton, however, defended Algeria's action. 'Let's not forget: This is an act of terror,' she told reporters in Washington. 'The perpetrators are the terrorists. They are the ones who have assaulted this facility, have taken hostage Algerians and others from around the world as they were going about their daily business.'...

"...Still, the U.S. flatly rejected an offer by the militants -- led by a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot known as the Masked Brigade -- to free two American hostages in exchange for the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheikh convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Both are jailed in the United States.

" 'The United States does not negotiate with terrorists,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said...."

Eman al-Obeidy: Alive, Still in Libya

Eman al-Obeidy is in the news again. She's the woman who showed up in a Tripoli hotel with rope burns, heavy bruising, and a claim that the Libyan colonel enforcers had raped her. (March 26, 2011)

She'd been talking with journalists, when "Security forces moved to subdue the woman," as CNN put it. The official line was that she was "mentally ill" and being taken to a "hospital." After the "security forces" broke one of CNN's cameras.

That was March 26, 2011. Today:

"Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who said she was raped by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, is no longer in government custody and has spent time with family in Tripoli, she told CNN...."
(CNN)

Apparently there'll be an interview with her tonight, on Anderson Cooper's AC360 CNN blog.

Perhaps I'm being overly-cynical or pessimistic: but my guess is that, since she and her family were still in Tripoli, Eman al-Obeidy will downplay her previous rape accusation.

Maybe she'll even explain that she tied herself up and fell down a flight of stairs.

Or, maybe not.

Bottom line, I'm glad - and relieved - to learn that she's still alive.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Libya: Not a Good Week for the Colonel"
  (March 31, 2011)
• "Libya, News, and Change"
  (March 26, 2011)
• "Ivory Coast, Cote d'Ivoire: Bodies in the Street"
  (March 19, 2011)
• "Beer, Basketball, the War on Terror, Today's News, and Me"
  (March 10, 2011)
• "Libya, the Human Rights Paragon: You Can't Make This Up"
  (February 28, 2011)

In the news:

• "Alleged Libyan rape victim no longer in government custody"
  CNN World (April 4, 2011)

Ivory Coast, Cote d'Ivoire: Bodies in the Street

Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and assorted other places in north Africa and the Middle East aren't the only places with trouble:

"At least 25 people were killed in what the United Nations called Friday a shocking escalation of violence in Ivory Coast, wracked by an electoral crisis that many fear is sliding toward another civil war.

"Doctors Without Borders treated 66 people with gunshot wounds and injuries caused by shell explosions in the wake of the attacks, according to a news release from the medical aid group. Women and children were among those injured, the statement said...."
(CNN)

If "Ivory Coast" doesn't ring a bell in your memory, you may know the country as the Cote d'Ivoire. (CIA)

That "electoral crisis" happened because the territory's boss, Laurent Gbagbo, likes to be called "president." He had an election recently, and the wrong candidate won: Alassane Ouattara, who had the unmitigated gall to get more votes than the boss.

Naturally, Gbagbo had his people say that the election was no good - and that Gbagbo was president. I'm simplifying what's been in the news considerably - but that's what it boils down to, in my opinion.

There wouldn't have been a crisis, if it weren't for the folks in Cote d'Ivoire who voted for the wrong man insisting that the idea of an election was to see who gets the most votes. Interestingly, a considerable number of national leaders around the world agree with the non-Gbagbo folks.

Which is taken as proof of colonial oppression, among other things - and that's almost another topic.

I live in a country where we have elections at regular intervals: followed, in recent years at least, by lawsuits in which some judge decides who won. It's not a perfect system, but it works. I'm hoping that lawsuits - and the circumstances which sometimes make them necessary - will become less common, and that is another topic.

I think that elections can be used to determine which people form the leadership of a country. But it's not the only system that can work. I've discussed that before. (December 29, 2008)

Trouble in Africa: So What?

I've got a few reasons for writing this post.

The World, Beyond 'Today's Top Stories'

First, what's happening in Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire is terribly important to the folks living there. I like to highlight what isn't the top news of the day now and then.

That's partly because I think that the world we live in is complicated. What's going on in Libya and Japan this weekend is important, particularly - again - to the folks living there. But I think it's a good idea to remember that what news editors decide is top-priority isn't necessarily everything that's significant on any given day.

Which is one reason that I depend more on written news resources, than radio and television news. And I'm wandering off-topic.

'Simple' is for Sitcoms

Also, the Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire mess lets me sound off on a few points that I think are important. In my opinion:

1. Where you've got human beings, you've got trouble
   • Every national government is run by human beings
     • No matter what, you'll have trouble
     • The trick is to keep it below the bodies-in-the-street level
2. Folks in Africa aren't having a good time
   • Due in part to clueless nation-building almost a century ago
   • And see point #1
3. Allegedly "democratic" governments and "elections" are no guarantee of good leadership
   • Again, see point #1

I'm not going to do the conventional hand-wringing about racism and oppression and class struggle. First, you've probably heard it all before. Second, I think the cliched slogans tend to encourage seeing events like the killing in Ivory Coast as overly-simplified 'good guy/bad guy' stories.

Sort of like the 'commie plots' and 'red menace' of the mid-20th-century. It made for some funny stories about Frank Burns on M*A*S*H, but what makes a good sitcom doesn't often, I think, make a good way of looking at the world.

Looking Beyond 19th Century Values

I don't think the Treaty of Versailles did a good job of getting folks whose homes had been colonized headed for independence: and I know it wasn't the only botched opportunity in history. (December 27, 2008)

But, just as I don't think the Victorian-era notions about 'civilized people' and 'natives' made much sense, I don't think it makes sense to put a new coat of paint on "the white man's burden," and assume that Western civilization is solely responsible for the world's ills.

Change Happens

Something that Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire, Libya, Bahrain, and Tunisia have in common is that relatively long-established regimes have either ended, or are being threatened by folks who got fed up.

In a way, I'm not surprised. One of the few constants in the human experience is change. And it's been that way for a long time:

"Nothing endures but change."
(Heraclitus, 540 BC - 480 BC)
(from October 29, 2009)

What I'm hoping we'll see in old-school autocracies is not a return to 'the good old days' when some little circle of people - or a single man - decided what everybody in the country should do. Even if it was 'for their own good.'

Does that mean I think every country should be a republic with strong democratic traditions? (Small "d.") With a bicameral legislature and a taste for hamburgers, apple pie, and potato chips?

No. That's worked pretty well for America, in my opinion: but I'm inclined to believe what I've been told: that not all countries are just like America. Which is just as well, I think. It'd be a pretty dull world if everybody was alike.

On the other hand, I think we'd all be better off in a world where leaders didn't try to instill loyalty by killing their subjects. Or regard the folks they're serving as subjects, when it comes to that.

Related posts:

• More-or-less-connected to the Ivory Coast mess
  • "Zimbabwe, Where Watching the Wrong Videos is Treason"
    (February 25, 2011)
  • "Today's News: Now What?!"
    (December 3, 2010)
    Particularly
    • Ivory Coast, Africa
  • "Bombs in Uganda: Islam, Martyrs, and Making an Impression"
    (July 12, 2010)
  • "Rwandan Genocide Priest: Terrorism is an Equal-Opportunity Destroyer"
    (October 22, 2009)
  • "The War on Terror: Yes, Who Wins Does Matter"
    (July 30, 2009)
• My take on what makes sense, and what doesn't
  • "Divisiveness, Cultural Chaos, and the Monkey's Paw"
    (January 30, 2011)
  • "Fear of Right-Wing Extremism: Commie-Hunting in Reverse"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 19, 2009)
  • "Religion isn't Bad?"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 12, 2010)
  • "Guinea, Military Rule, and Terrorism: Beware Hasty Judgment"
    (December 29, 2008)
  • "Pakistan, India, Mumbai, Nuclear Weapons, and Pashtunistan: Simple This Isn't"
    (December 27, 2008)
    Particularly
    • Pashtunistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

In the news:

• "Aid group: Women and children casualties in Ivory Coast market attack"
  Edition: International, CNN (March 19, 2011)

Libya: Not a Good Day for the Colonel

This has not been a good day for Libya's Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi.

Some of his air force pilots were told to bomb protesters. Two of them got in their jets, took off, dropped under Libyan radar, and headed for Malta. Looks like at least one of them asked for asylum there.

However that works out: two of Libya's military jets are now on the ground in Malta, along with their pilots. Killing protesters doesn't seem to be working as a way to win the minds and hearts of Libyans.

At least Qadhafi's isn't the only old-school regime that's unraveling: on the 'misery loves company' principle.

Qadhafi? Qaddafi? Gaddafi?

The Libyan colonel's name comes out in English as Qadhafi, Qaddafi, Gaddafi, by the way: and probably other ways as well. I've discussed what happens when words get transferred between languages that don't share the same writing system. (January 25, 2009) Even when both use a phonetic system, like Arabic and Latin alphabets, it's tricky - and that's another topic.

'Looks Good on Paper'

Libya is one of those countries whose government looks good on paper. How it's actually run - I'll get back to that.

Here's an excerpt from a backgrounder on what probably seemed like a good idea at the time:

"Libya

"background:

"The Italians supplanted the Ottoman Turks in the area around Tripoli in 1911 and did not relinquish their hold until 1943 when defeated in World War II. Libya then passed to UN administration and achieved independence in 1951. Following a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI began to espouse his own political system, the Third Universal Theory. The system is a combination of socialism and Islam derived in part from tribal practices and is supposed to be implemented by the Libyan people themselves in a unique form of "direct democracy." QADHAFI has always seen himself as a revolutionary and visionary leader....

"...conventional long form: Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

"conventional short form: Libya

"local long form: Al Jamahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah al Uthma

"local short form: none

"Government type: Jamahiriya (a state of the masses) in theory, governed by the populace through local councils; in practice, an authoritarian state..."
("Libya," CIA World Factbook (last updated January 25, 2011))

I think one of the problems with governments whose leaders say they want to let 'the masses' lead - is that 'the masses' often don't agree with the leaders.

Back to what's happening in Libya.

Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya: Career Crises for Autocrats

The Libyan colonel may take some solace in the knowledge that he's not alone. Tunisia and Egypt's people have swapped out their leadership, and quite a number of other countries in that part of the world may be doing the same in short order.

Short-Term Outlook: Uncertain

In the short run, I'm a bit concerned about who's going to grab power in these previously-'stable' countries. Iran's ayatollahs may have some new friends soon. Or enemies. These self-styled defenders of Islam can't seem to agree on just what 'Islam' is supposed to be - and that's yet another topic.

I'd be mildly surprised if old-school socialist/Marxist/communist 'people's republics' came out of the mess. I could be wrong about this: but I think that too many folks in too many places have found out just what a 'workers paradise' was really like.

I'm pretty sure that there will be a few dedicated folks who won't give up on the idea of a Marxist/socialist/whatever state that works: just as I'm pretty sure that a few dedicated folks here in America will keep on assuming that 'the commies' are to blame what they don't like.

The rest of us, I think, have moved on.

Problem is, some folks have moved in the direction of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and like-minded outfits. And that isn't another topic.

For the next few years - maybe decades - I think there's a real chance that some bunch of self-assured fanatics will grab control of Libya, or another of the countries that's melting down today.

Long-Term Outlook: Even More Uncertain, As Usual

A few hundred years from now? I think there's a real chance that some of these countries will have found a way to pull their culture, tribal and national identities, and economies into the Information Age.

And by then, we'll all be dealing with some other set of troubles. No great surprise there: The one thing I'm fairly confident about is that change will continue to happen.

On the 'up' side, life probably won't get boring. Not any time soon.

Related posts:

• "Bahrain, Libya: My Take on the News"
  (February 19, 2011)
• "Bahrain and the Information Age"
  (February 19, 2011)
• "Egypt, Iran: It Can't Happen Here?"
  (February 10, 2011)
• "Today's World: Not Boring; Not Simple"
  (February 10, 2011)
• "Divisiveness, Cultural Chaos, and the Monkey's Paw"
  (January 30, 2011)
• "Tunisia: 24 Hours, Three Presidents"
  (January 15, 2011)

In the news:

• "Source: Libyan pilots defected to Malta"
  This Just In, CNN blog (February 21, 2011)
• "Libyan military launches air strike on protesters: Report"
  The Hindu (February 22, 2011) (it's 'tomorrow' there already, it seems)
• "Qaddafi's Hold on Libya Weakens in Protest Wave"
  Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (February 21, 2011)
• "Two Libyan pilots defect, say ordered to bomb protesters"
  Edition: US, Reuters (February 21, 2011)

Today's World: Not Boring; Not Simple

I'm writing a serious of posts this evening - mostly about my take on what's been happening in Egypt, a little about events in Iran, and a lot about my take on freedom of speech. I'll be getting to all that in a bit.

First, a little about assumptions I make about the nature of reality. I haven't done this for a while in this blog. Please be patient: this shouldn't take long. (Famous last words?)

Nice is Nice, Real is Real

Essentially, I think it's a good idea to let folks express opinions - without fear of losing their jobs, freedoms, or lives. I even think that it'd be nice if we didn't need to have any secrets.

I could also think that it'd be nice if nobody every got sick, everybody was as handsome/beautiful as movie stars, and everybody had a satisfying, fulfilling career. Realistically, that's not gonna happen.

I'm not even sure that having a "career," in the contemporary American sense of the word, is all that desirable a goal. And that's another topic.

The point is, simple happens in some spy novels and political campaigns. The real world is - not-simple.

You Like Simple? Look Elsewhere

Things aren't simple. Not when human beings are involved. I've written that before. (September 18, 2009)

Information Gatekeepers

If you've been following this blog - thank you! And, more to the point of this post, you know what I mean by an information gatekeeper. I've written about that before too:

• "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
  (August 14, 2009)

Briefly, information gatekeepers are the folks in a society who are in a position to decide what the rest get to learn. In America, that used to include news editors, media executives, teachers, librarians, and publishers.

Happily, many of those folks thought they believed in freedom of speech. Some followed through - and allowed those who didn't agree with them to get published. Others: well, I've discussed political correctness before, too. (January 7, 2010, November 10, 2009, February 19, 2008, for starters)

It's Not Always 'the Other Guy'

It's not always 'those liberals' who prefer to silence dissenting opinions. I remember the trailing edge of McCarthyism. I think that, instead of assuming that everybody who doesn't agree is bad - - - wait, I've written about that before, too.

• " 'Rush Limbaugh Shot Giffords!?' Opinion Polls, Tuscon, and Loughner's Mind"
  (January 12, 2011)
  Particularly
  • 'The Other Guy's' Opinions are Hate Speech?

Egypt, Iran, and dissent:

• "Egypt, Iran: It Can't Happen Here?"
  (February 10, 2011)
• "American Terrorists and Getting a Grip
  (February 10, 2011)
• "Saudi Arabia and Propping Up Mubarak"
  (February 10, 2011)
• "Iran, Dissent, and Threats to National Security"
  (February 10, 2011)
• "Shutting Down Egypt's Internet: A Responsible Act?!!"
  (February 10, 2011)

More:

• "Report: Egypt Shut Down Net With Big Switch, Not Phone Calls"
  Ryan Singel, Threat Level, Wired (February 10, 2011)
• "Report: Iran blocks reformist sites, detains opposition figures"
  Reza Sayah, CNN World (February 10, 2011)
• "Exclusive: Saudis told Obama to back Mubarak"
  Hugh Tomlinson, The Times (UK) (February 10, 2011)
• "3 People Reportedly Dead in Clashes in Southern Egypt"
  FoxNews (February 9, 2011)
• "Awlaki Tops Bin Laden as Top Terror Threat To U.S., Counterterrorism Official Says"
  Catherine Herridge, FoxNews (February 9, 2011)
• "Egypt on Day 16: Where are we now?"
  CNN World (February 9, 2011)

Jared Loughner, Sarah Palin, James Eric Fuller, and Getting a Grip

"America: Love it or leave it."

"If you don't like it here, why don't you go back where you came from?"

If you remember when those were familiar parts of American culture, you're about my age or older: or it's being taught in whatever they're calling 'social studies' these days.

I remember the 'good old days' fairly well: and they weren't which is another topic.

As for the 'love it or leave it' thing: I think it's significant that folks are trying to break into America, and that's another topic, too.

Change Hurts, Change Happens

'love it or leave it' and 'back where you came from' reflected, I think, the frustration that some Americans felt when confronted with folks who didn't look like them, or - more to the point of this post - didn't agree with them.

I sympathize, a very little, with the red-white-and-blue-blooded 'real' Americans of my younger days. Their world was changing, fast, and they were rapidly losing the influence and status they'd enjoyed. That sort of thing can be, I think, traumatic.

Politics and Getting a Grip

This isn't, as I've written before, a political blog. Sometimes I discuss politics, since the War on Terror - or whatever the conflict is supposed to be called - is affected by politics.

And although I am generally not on the same page as America's liberals, I'm not, quite, "conservative." But I don't mind when someone identifies me as a conservative.

I think quite a few folks assume that there are only three possible philosophical positions in today's America:

• Liberal
• Moderate
• Conservative

Four, counting apathy. (A Catholic Citizen in America (May 12, 2010) of those three - or four - stances are seen as the only possible options, "conservative" is often the least-unlike my views.¹

Even if I was a conservative, moderate, or liberal in the contemporary American sense of the words, I hope I'd still want to make sure that:

• My assumptions were based on facts
• The facts were accurate
• I distinguished between the two

Shooting Victim Arrested?

When I saw that an Arizona shooting victim was arrested - victim, not perpetrator, I thought I might be looking at a proofing glitch.

Upset? Understandable - Nuts? Maybe

Six people were killed and many more wounded in Tuscon, Arizona, Saturday before last. One of the victims of that shooting is under arrest. And undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

The Tea Party is involved.

If you're among those who assume that the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and other 'traitors' are responsible for Gabrielle Giffords being hospitalized, you probably won't like this post.

Happily, Americans who don't agree with the establishment don't have to chose between staying quiet, exile, prison, or execution. That's one of the things I like about this country. And that's not another topic.

Assumptions, Facts, and Telling the Difference

I make assumptions fairly often. I think most folks do. I assume, for example, that when I go to sleep I'll wake up again: generally in about eight hours. So far, that assumption has been a fairly close match with reality.

I try to be careful about distinguishing assumptions from facts. Partly because of my experiences.

Warning! Old Coot Reminiscing

I remember when the 'love it or leave it' bunch ranted about commie plots, rock music, and those 'hippies-college-students-and-flag-burners.' As I wrote earlier, I think some of that came from feelings of frustration. America was changing. A lot.

Time passed. I'm pretty sure that some folks in America are still quite serious when they identify those they don't like as commies. For the most part, though, I think we've moved on. I see no serious indication that America is likely to get caught up in hysterical anti-communism again. Not any time soon.

'Those crazy college students' moved on, too. Some found careers in the business world, some went into politics, and some never left campus. I'll get back to them in a bit.

Growing up in the '50s and '60s, I developed a preference for thinking with my central nervous system and feeling with my glands, not the other way around. Maybe it was all the crazy slogans I heard.

Definition Time

In the context of this post, "assumption" and "to assume" mean:

• Assumption
  • A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn
  • A hypothesis that is taken for granted
  • The act of assuming or taking for granted
    (Princeton's WordNet)
• Assume
  • Take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof
    (Princeton's WordNet)

Arizona, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Jared Loughner, Facts, and Assumptions

I'm like the fellow who said, 'I only know what's in the papers.' Given what I've read in the news, it seems wildly improbable that Jared Loughner didn't pull the trigger outside that grocery in Arizona. Those dead bodies, and testimony of folks who got the gun away from him, all point to Mr. Loughner being guilty.

That people died after being perforated by bullets is, sadly, a fact. At least, I think it's extremely unlikely that reporters, politicos, and law enforcement officials lied about people being killed.

Until some whacking great piece of evidence - or a plausible alternative explanation for the facts as released - comes along, I'm assuming that Jared Loughner is guilty.

But - and this is important - that is an assumption. I don't know it as a fact.

I've discussed the assumption that conservatives are to blame for the Tucson shootings before.(January 12, 2011)

I've also discussed information gatekeepers; and the degree to which reason is in play when emotions run high:

• "What is an Information Gatekeeper?"
  (August 14, 2009)
• "Emotions, the Frontal Cortex, The War on Terror, Anarchists, and the Illuminati"
  (December 23, 2008)

Sarah Palin Said 'Kill Gabrielle Giffords?!'

Pima County's Sheriff Dupnik isn't the only person who assumes that conservatives - the ones who aren't decently silent about their opinions, anyway - are responsible for a half-dozen people being gunned down.

I think I may understand why so many folks assume that Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and others like them, are rabble-rousing traitors and a threat to America. For that matter, I think I may understand why another lot assumed about the same thing about 'commies, pinkos, and fellow-travelers.'

'Understanding' isn't the same as 'agreeing.'

I certainly do not agree, for example, that Sarah Palin "should be incarcerated for treason for advocating assassinating public officials." But I think I can understand what's behind that remark.

Disagreement isn't Treason

It's very easy, I think, to assume that someone who doesn't agree with you does so out of malice. Particularly if you spend most of your time with folks who do agree with you.

Remember those 'hippies-college-students-and-flag-burners' from the '60s? They're roughly my age - and a fair number have been America's information gatekeepers for quite a while now. As I said elsewhere, "boy, has 'the establishment' ever changed." (A Catholic Citizen in America (January 12, 2010))

I'm sure that there are east coast news editors who occasionally visit places in that vast expanse separating Newark and Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and Seattle. Just as I'm pretty sure that a fair number of college professors listen to something besides NPR.

But I'm also pretty sure that it's been fairly easy for someone with solid liberal credentials to stay inside their comfort zone: associating with like-minded individuals; and reading chiefly those publications with the right - or, rather, left - point of view.

No wonder, in my opinion, it's been so easy for folks steeped in America's dominant culture to "accept without verification or proof" the idea that Sarah Palin is to blame for the Tucson shootings.

Back in the '60s, I learned that someone can disagree with me and not be evil incarnate. As I said in the heading: disagreement isn't treason.

Definition Time, Again

• Disagreement
  • A conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters
  • Difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions
  • the speech act of disagreeing or arguing or disputing
    (Princeton's WordNet)
• Treason
  • A crime that undermines the offender's government
  • Disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
  • An act of deliberate betrayal
    (Princeton's Wordnet)

It's not always called "treason." Back when political correctness was in flower, disagreement was often labeled as "hate speech" or "intolerance."

That was then, this is now.

America is changing. Just like in the '60s. And, just like in the '60s, folks who have gotten used to things the way they've 'always been' don't like it. In my opinion, anyway.

Not All Liberals are Crazy - In My Opinion

Tempting as it is to claim that James Eric Fuller is a 'typical liberal,' I don't think that's true. I hope not, anyway. He was forced to undergo psychiatric evaluation after making some - remarkable - statements:

"Arizona shooting victim James Eric Fuller remains under psychiatric observation following his arrest Saturday for threatening a Tea Party leader at a town hall meeting....

"...Pima County Sheriff spokesman Jason Ogan told FoxNews.com that Fuller -- who was charged with disorderly conduct and making threats -- is still at an undisclosed facility in Tucson, Ariz....

"...Fuller, ... said Palin and other media figures had 'definitely' had an impact on the Tucson shooting. He also said Palin 'should be incarcerated for treason for advocating assassinating public officials.'

"...'If you are going to scream hatred and preach hatred, you're going to sow it after a while if you've got a soap box like they've got. We've got a surplus of demented dingbats, wackos.'...

"...Fuller appeared to become enraged and allegedly started threatening Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries at a town hall meeting being taped for an ABC News special.

"Fuller ... snapped a photo of the Tea Party leader and yelled out, 'You're dead.'..."
(FoxNews.com)²

He also stated that folks at the Tea Party meeting were "whores."

Apparently, at least under current circumstances, law enforcement in Arizona is able to impose a sort of 'time out' for someone who behaves as Mr. Fuller did. Allegedly, as the article put it.

Disagreeing With the President isn't Treason - It's Disagreement

I remember the 'good old days,' when 'regular Americans' often assumed that disagreeing with them was treason to motherhood, flag, and apple pie. A lot has changed since then.

And, in some ways, not much has changed.

"...WALLACE: What do you think of Barack Obama's presidency so far?

"PALIN: He has some misguided decisions that he is making that he is expecting us to just kind of sit down and shut up and accept, and many of us are not going to sit down and shut up. We're going to say no, we do not like this... ..."
(FoxNews.com)²

Not sitting down and shutting like a good little American is not, I think, treason. Even if the person who refuses to be silent doesn't agree with the President of the United States. Or me.

It's disagreement.

And, in my opinion, we're in big trouble when folks who do not agree with the establishment are seen as traitors. I didn't like that attitude in the '60s, and I don't like it now.

Related posts:

• " 'Rush Limbaugh Shot Giffords!?' Opinion Polls, Tuscon, and Loughner's Mind"
  (January 12, 2011)
• "Rebellious Youth, Protests, and The Establishment: in 2010"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 26, 2010)
• "Who Needs Facts? Cultural Assumptions and Politics"
  (July 24, 2009)
• "Pentagon Equates (Violent) Protest to Terrorism: Leaves Out Critical Explanation"
  (June 18, 2009)
• "Army Report: Big Mistakes in Iraq!"
  (June 30, 2008)
  • Mistakes happen
    • The trick is to learn from mistakes
    • Not ignore them
      • And hope they'll go away

News and views:

• "Arizona Shooting Victim Remains Under Psychiatric Evaluation Following Arrest at Town Hall Meeting"
  Jana Winter, The Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (January 17, 2011)
• "TRANSCRIPT: Fox News Sunday Interview With Sarah Palin"
  FoxNews.com (January 7, 2011)

---

¹I'm a practicing Catholic, which makes me 'obviously' conservative or liberal, depending on the issue: "Conservative? Liberal? Democrat? Republican? No, I'm Catholic," A Catholic Citizen in America (November 3, 2008).

² Excerpts from recent news and views:

"Arizona Shooting Victim Remains Under Psychiatric Evaluation Following Arrest at Town Hall Meeting"
Jana Winter, The Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (January 17, 2011)

"Arizona shooting victim James Eric Fuller remains under psychiatric observation following his arrest Saturday for threatening a Tea Party leader at a town hall meeting....

"...Pima County Sheriff spokesman Jason Ogan told FoxNews.com that Fuller -- who was charged with disorderly conduct and making threats -- is still at an undisclosed facility in Tucson, Ariz.

"On Friday, Media Matters touted their interview with Fuller, who said Palin and other media figures had 'definitely' had an impact on the Tucson shooting. He also said Palin 'should be incarcerated for treason for advocating assassinating public officials.'

"In the interview Fuller said: 'If you are going to scream hatred and preach hatred, you're going to sow it after a while if you've got a soap box like they've got. We've got a surplus of demented dingbats, wackos.'

"The news program 'Democracy Now' also featured an interview with Fuller who said that after being hospitalized for his wounds, he stayed up most of the night, writing down the words Declaration of Independence to help him try to calm down. The 63-year-old disabled veteran was shot in the knee and back in the shooting.

"But on Saturday Fuller appeared to become enraged and allegedly started threatening Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries at a town hall meeting being taped for an ABC News special.

"Fuller -- who was sitting in the front row -- allegedly became agitated when Humphries suggested postponing gun control conversations until after all six shooting victims had been buried.

"Ogan said that Fuller snapped a photo of the Tea Party leader and yelled out, 'You're dead.' Fuller also began ranting, and as he was being escorted out, he addressed the audience as 'whores,' according to Ogan...."
(FoxNews.com)

---

"TRANSCRIPT: Fox News Sunday Interview With Sarah Palin"
FoxNews.com (January 7, 2011)

"CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Governor Palin, welcome to FOX NEWS SUNDAY.

"SARAH PALIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you so much.

"WALLACE: How do you see yourself as a member of the Tea Party movement or a member of the Republican Party?

"PALIN: Oh, I think the two are and should be even more so merging because the Tea Party movement is quite reflective of what the GOP, the planks in the platform are supposed to be about. Limited government and more freedom, more respect for equality. That's what the Tea Party movement is about, so I think that the two are much entwined and I'm happy about that.

"...WALLACE: You say you are happy to be or proud to be a part of it. Some people think you want to be the leader of the Tea Party movement.

"PALIN: No, I would hope that the Tea Party-ers don't believe that they need some kind of well-oiled machine, some kind of replicate of the GOP or the Democrat Party and instead they remain a movement of the people uprising and saying, listen to us, we have some common sense solutions that we want our politicians to consider and to implement and this is much bigger than a hockey mom from Wasilla....

"...WALLACE: What do you think of Barack Obama's presidency so far?

PALIN: He has some misguided decisions that he is making that he is expecting us to just kind of sit down and shut up and accept, and many of us are not going to sit down and shut up. We're going to say no, we do not like this...

WALLACE: Wait, wait, where's he saying sit down and shut up?

PALIN: In a general just kind of general persona I think that he has when he's up there at, I'll call it a lectern. When he is up there and he is telling us basically, I know best, my people here in the White House know best, and we are going to tell you that yes, you do want this essentially nationalized health care system and we're saying, no, we don't....

"...WALLACE: Let's talk about national security. During the campaign, you said this about Mr. Obama. 'Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.' The president has escalated the war in Afghanistan. He has launched more drone attacks in his first year than George W. Bush did in eight years. Given what he's done as president, do you take back palling around with terrorists?

"PALIN: No, I don't, because his associations with Bill Ayers and with others, he never really has, I think, adequately addressed why in the world he would have a relationship with a type of person like that, who had such disdain for America that he would want to bomb, harm, hurt, kill, Americans.

"WALLACE: But has he done a good job in protecting the country?

"PALIN: So the things that he has done right now as president in protecting the country, more power to him. We appreciate that he kind of went there fully with the commanders on the ground asking for more reinforcements in Afghanistan. Couldn't get there all the way with these guys, but kind of went there. Good, more power to you. And I speak as a military mom, too, saying thank you. You're giving me a little bit more of a secure knowledge that you're looking out for our troops and the things that their commanders are asking for. I'm thinking kind of, of my son in this situation. Thank you for doing that. However, there are many things that he is doing today that cause an uneasiness in many, many Americans, I'm one of those.

"Who looks at the way that he is treating the trials of these terrorists and kind of as gosh, they're on a crime spree right now. No, we are in war. These are acts of these war that these terrorists are committing. We need to treat them a little bit differently than an American who is worthy -- an American being worthy of our U.S. constitutional rights. I don't think the terrorists are worthy of our rights that people like my son fight and are willing to die for....

"...WALLACE: Let's turn to Sarah Palin, because there are some questions quite frankly I've wanted to ask you for a while now.

"In your book, 'Going Rogue,' you said that when you first heard that you were pregnant with Baby Trigg, you wrote this: 'I'm out of town.

"No one knows I'm pregnant. No one would ever have to know.'

"You made the choice to have Trigg, and it obviously -- you were showing me earlier pictures of him -- it was the right choice for you. Why not allow all women to make their own choice?

"PALIN: Well I believe that these babies in our womb have the right to life. And that's what I stand on. And I did. I -- I honestly, candidly talked about that in my book when I said, "I can understand the sensitivity of the issue," because I've been there.

"I've -- I've understood why that fleeting thought would enter a woman's mind.

"And then when I found out that after ultra sounds, after tests, that Trigg would be born with Downs Syndrome, of course that thought occurred to me again. Wow, this is why a woman would be fearful of less than ideal circumstances, and maybe think that a quote, unquote, 'problem,' could just be swept away....

"...I want women to know that they are strong enough, and they are smart enough to be able to do many things at once -- including carrying a child. Giving that child life. And then perhaps if they're in less than ideal circumstances or they're carrying a child while they're trying to pursue career, or avocations, or -- or education opportunities -- less than ideal circumstances.

"Giving that child life which it deserves, and then perhaps looking at adoption, or looking at other circumstances after. But not snuffing out the life of a child....

"...WALLACE: ... with 17 months left in your term. You said, 'I wasn't going to run for reelection. So I was going to be a lame duck.' You said that the state was being paralyzed, because all of your opponents were filing these lawsuits." Didn't you let your enemies -- your opponents drive you from office?

"PALIN: Hell, no. Thankfully I didn't. What's -- what we did was we won, because the state today -- it's not spending millions of dollars to -- to fight these frivolous lawsuits, and -- and frivolous ethics charges. Ethics charges like me wearing a jacket with a snow machine logo on it. And getting charged for an unethical act for doing such a thing.

"Little piddly, petty things like that that were costing our state millions of dollars. And costing me and my administration -- my staff members -- about 80 percent of our time fighting those things. 'No,' we said, 'We're not going to play this game.'...

"...PALIN: I don't think that they think I -- look it. I'm sitting here talking to Chris Wallace today. I think some of them are going, 'Dang, we thought she'd sit down and shut up after we tried to do to here what we tried.'...

"...PALIN: I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'F-ing retards.' And we did know that Rahm Emanuel, it's been reported, did say that. That's a big difference there.

"But again, name calling, using language that is insensitive by anyone -- male, female, Republican, Democrat, it's unnecessary, it's inappropriate and let's all just grow up....

"...WALLACE: Handicap the 2012 GOP presidential race for us. Who's the front-runner?

PALIN: No idea. I have no idea....

"...PALIN: As I say, I could name a whole lot of them but we don't have a whole lot of time. But I'm very impressed with many of the characters, the personalities of those with great intelligence in this party and I can't wait to see who rises to the surface, after hopefully some very competitive, contested primaries.

"I'm all about competition. I'm all about, even on our local level and state level, I want to see contested primaries where we are forced via competition to work harder, produce better, be more efficient and that's what these contested primaries that I look forward to will produce.

"WALLACE: You talk about rising to the top. There's a new poll out this week of Republican voters across the country and it shows someone named Sarah Palin leading the 2012 race by five points over Mitt Romney. Aren't you the front-runner for the nomination?

"PALIN: Nope. Don't know who conducted that poll and I know that polls are fickle and heck, after this interview, Chris, we may see a plummeting in the poll numbers. Who knows. These are fickle. I can't comment on what the poll numbers mean today....

"...WALLACE: I know that three years is an eternity in politics. But how hard do you think President Obama will be to defeat in 2012?

"PALIN: It depends on a few things. Say he played, and I got this from Buchanan, reading one of his columns the other day. Say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran, or decided to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do. But that changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, I do not think Obama would be re-elected.

"But three years from now things could change if on the national security threat --

"WALLACE: You're not suggesting that he would cynically play the war card.

"PALIN: I'm not suggesting that. I'm saying, if he did, things would dramatically change if he decided to toughen up and do all that he can to secure our nation and our allies. I think people would perhaps shift their thinking a little bit and decide, well, maybe he's tougher than we think he is today. And there wouldn't be as much passion to make sure that he doesn't serve another four years --

"WALLACE: But assuming he continues on the path that he going on and we don't have that rally around the flag (ph) --

"PALIN: Then he's not going to win.

WALLACE: Not going to win?

"PALIN: He's not going to win. If he continues on the path that he has American on today -- and here's the deal -- that's what a lot of Americans are telling him today and he's not listening. Instead he's telling everybody else, listen up and I'll tell you the way it is.

"Well, we have a representative form of government in our democracy.

"And we want him and we want Congress to listen to what those things are that we are saying. And that's what the Tea Party movement is about, too. It's not a well-oiled beautiful machine.

"It's the people saying, please hear us. Congress, you have constitutional limits and we want you to adhere to those. We have free market principles that built out country. Mr. President, we want you to remember those. We want you to look back on successes in history, like what Reagan did in times of crisis. And, could you repeat those things because they are proven to succeed.

"WALLACE: Word is that you're getting $100,000 for this speech this weekend. True?

"PALIN: I'm not getting it. They're writing a check -- a $100,000 check. And as I've said from Day One on this, I'm turning right around and being able to contribute it back to the cause. That means to people, to events --

"WALLACE: So you're going to use your PAC and contribute it to candidates?

"PALIN: I don't know if it's going to go to the PAC or if it goes to some non-profit or what.

"Bottom line, I'm not personally benefiting from this. And the funny thing is, as I've had a lot of people, including a couple of talented people and talent at FOX say, funny thing about these type of speeches, Sarah you're an anomaly. Nobody ever has asked, are you getting paid for this? Or, what are you going to do with the money?

"But, this is the new normal I think when it comes to me, is people wanting to have me under a microscope and figure out every little detail of my life, including speaking fees.

"Bottom line, Tea Party movement, I'm giving the money back to the cause.

WALLACE: Finally, regardless of whether you ever run for political office or not. What role do you want to play in the country's future?

PALIN: First and foremost I want to be a good mom. And I want to raise happy, healthy, independent children. And I want them to be good citizens of this great country.

And then I do want to be a voice for some common-sense solutions. I'm never going to pretend like I know more than the next person. I'm not going to pretend to be an elitist. In fact, I'm going to fight the elitist because for too often and for too long now, I think the elitists have tried to make people like me and people in the heartland of America, feel like we just don't get it and big government is just going to have to take care of us.

I want to speak up for the American people and say, no, we really do have some good common-sense solutions. I can be a messenger for that...."

I left out quite a bit of the Wallas/Palin interview: including comments about Regan as a role model for Palin.

I can see how this person - this woman - who won't do the decent thing and keep quiet when her views aren't proper: is so heartily disliked. She simply does not know her place. From the establishment point of view, anyway.

'Printer' Bombs, Yemen Mail Service, and 'Good Old Days' That Weren't

It's the 21st century, and things aren't any simpler now, than they were in the 'good old days.' I'll get back to that.

From today's news:

"Yemen Mail Bomb Could Have Exploded Over Eastern U.S., British Authorities Say"
Associated Press, via FOXNews (November 10, 2010)

"A mail bomb intercepted last month at an English airport could have exploded over the East Coast of the United States, British police said Wednesday.

"Forensic evidence showed the device, originally sent from Yemen by way of Cologne, Germany, was timed to be detonated about six to seven hours after the cargo aircraft carrying it left the U.K. for the U.S. The package was removed by police in Britain during transit...."

"The UPS cargo plane intercepted in England left the country without the package at 11:20 p.m. ET on Oct. 28, two hours after landing, police said. The device was timed to be activated at 5:30 a.m. ET, said British police.

"Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic said they only narrowly thwarted the plot, in which terrorists in Yemen hid two powerful bombs inside printers and shipped them to addresses in Chicago aboard two cargo planes. The printer cartridges were filled with PETN, an industrial explosive that, when X-rayed, would resemble the cartridges' ink powder...."

"White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said: 'We greatly appreciate the highly professional nature of the U.K. investigation and the spirit of partnership with which U.K. authorities have pursued this matter.'

"He praised the efforts of intelligence and law enforcement professionals in the U.K., the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the United States, and said they will continue to work together "to address and counter the threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.' "

---

"Bomb Could Have Struck East Coast, British Say"
John F. Burns, Europe, The New York Times (November 10, 2010)

"A package bomb from Yemen removed from a cargo plane in Britain on Oct. 29 could have exploded over the American East Coast, Scotland Yard said in a statement on Wednesday that offered the clearest sense so far of the danger averted.

"The bomb was one of two dispatched from Yemen to fictitious recipients in Chicago, with powerful plastic explosives packed into toner cartridges inside computer printers . The second was intercepted in Dubai...."

---

"Plane was over Canada when police say mail bomb was timed to detonate"
The Canadian Press / The Associated Press (CP) (November 10, 2010)

"A mail bomb that was intercepted in England last month would have been in Canadian airspace when authorities say it was timed to detonate.

Data from Houston-based Flightaware show that UPS Flight 232 from the East Midlands to Philadelphia was about 257 kilometres northwest of Quebec City at 5:30 a.m...."

"...Flight 232 makes daily flights but not always along the same route.

"Had the plane taken its alternate route, straight across the Atlantic, it likely would have been over the U.S. when it blew up...."

No matter where the thing went off, it would have killed people.

That would, in my opinion, have been a bad thing. Not good. Very bad.

Ah, For the Good Old Days?

I've been described as "an elderly gentleman." For good reason. I'm old enough to remember the 'good old days' of the fifties, when everything was rosy. In the Happy Days series, anyway.

I don't pine for 'the good old days,' because I remember the fifties.

Despite what folks with various biases might think, the fifties were not an idyllic time when children were perfect and wives knew their place and there was a car with tail fins in every carport. Economically, it was a pretty good decade for white men who had served in WWII: and that's another topic.

The fifties wasn't a time when the yellow peril and commie menace were beaten back by stalwart red-white-and-blue-blooded Americans who exposed pinkos in the State Department and cleansed Hollywood. In my opinion, we're still digging our way out of the mess left by the 'black lists.' Which is yet another topic.

The fifties also weren't a time when militaristic capitalistic warmonger oppressor classes tore food from the bleeding lips of oppressed classes, only to be exposed by the inexorable march of people's liberation. Which is the flip side of McCarthyism, sort of. And yet again another topic.

There were a whole lot of folks back in the 'good old days' of the fifties who didn't have quite the same experience as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. And that helped set up the sixties. I was around at the time - and despite the Timothy Leary/Jimi Hendrix insanity (we lost a lot of brilliant, talented people like Hendrix then), some of the changes were long overdue. In my opinion. And still another topic.

You Like Simple? Watch a Bond Movie, or Happy Days

We live in the real world: where everybody with an eastern European accent isn't an evil spy, cutthroat, or cold seductress (yes, the stereotype existed); where everybody living in the Middle East isn't a terrorist (some are - stereotypes exist for a reason); and all threats to America and other places where people are allowed - at times grudgingly - to speak their minds and make money don't come from the Middle East. Or, in my view, from foreigners.

One lesson from the latest near-miss is that terrorists really do exist.

Another is that there are leaders in the Middle East who seem to have, for whatever reason, decided that it's not a good idea to let terrorists operate with impunity.

I think Iran's Ayatollahs have helped make cooperation with the West seem less unpalatable. And that's emphatically another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Al Qaeda, al-Awlaki, Yemen, and a Wake-Up Call"
  (November 6, 2010)
• "Faisal Shahzad, Times Square, and Responsibility"
  (October 5, 2010)
• "British, American Courts: Plodding, Frustrating - But Consider the Alternatives"
  (July 7, 2010)
• "So: He Set His Shoe on Fire? Excitement on Flight 663"
  (April 7, 2010)
• "China, Paper on How to Bring Down USA Power Grid: All a Big Misunderstanding?"
  (March 20, 2010)

In the news:

• "Bomb Could Have Struck East Coast, British Say"
  John F. Burns, Europe, The New York Times (November 10, 2010)
• "Yemen Mail Bomb Could Have Exploded Over Eastern U.S., British Authorities Say"
  Associated Press, via FOXNews (November 10, 2010)
• "Plane was over Canada when police say mail bomb was timed to detonate"
  The Associated Press (CP) (November 10, 2010)

Guatemala, Dr. John Cutler, Tuskegee, Nürnberg, and Learning

I must be crazy: On the whole, I like living in America.

Despite the fact that this country systematically discriminates against my ancestors.

The Irish ones, anyway. Discriminates something fierce. Why, you'll see "Irish need not apply" signs in employers' windows!

Oh, wait: which century am I at?

The year is 2010. This is the 21st century. There's been an Irish president, for crying out loud. The Irish, by any sensible measure, are now accepted by America as a whole.

That's one reason why I like living in America: This country has a track record for learning from mistakes. Eventually. It took a major war to sort out the slavery issue - and the War Between the States involved other issues, too. That's another topic.

Guatemala, STD Experiments

Disgusting medical experiments conducted in Guatemala by Americans have been in the news. The experiments were criminal by today's standards.

Seriously: What was done by the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory of the Public Health Service was not good. It was bad. It was wrong.

An excerpt from yesterday's news:

"PAHO Statement on STI Experiments in Guatemala"
PharmaPro (October 1, 2010)

"1 October 2010. We have just listened to a press briefing by Dr. Francis Collins, Director of NIH, who discussed experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s, in which prisoners and other vulnerable groups were intentionally infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Collins said these experiments were 'deeply disturbing' and 'reprehensible,' and we agree. We join the US Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of State in deploring these experiments.

"This research was conducted by the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory of the Public Health Service and venereal disease experts from Guatemala, with funds given to the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (PAHO's precursor) by the U.S. Institutes of Health, and with some cooperation by Guatemalan authorities. Dr. John Cutler, who conducted these experiments and worked on the infamous Tuskegee experiments, was then a Public Health Service medical officer.

"We are just learning details of these experiments, and the US Institute of Medicine is now conducting an investigation.

"The Organization has established strong ethical standards for research it sponsors or is associated with to prevent such abuses for many years now...."

What that agency of the American government did in Guatemala was bad. It was not good. It was wrong. They shouldn't have done it.

Those experiments occurred in the 1940s.

Now that an official (and long-overdue) apology has been made, my guess is that the appalling lapse in ethics will be discussed in news media - and may be added to the litany of American offenses taught in American schools.

America is Not Perfect

Make no mistake: bad things have been done in America. Sometimes by the American government.

I'm glad that systematic treaty violations of the 19th century are being sorted out in American courts: but those agreements with the first nations on this continent should not have been broken in the first place.

I do not approve of the way that the government of Hawaii was overthrown and the territory taken.

And I'm not all that crazy about some of what's being done in today's America.

Still, I'd rather live here, than any other place in the world. That's not the knee-jerk emotional reaction of a chauvinist. I have, from time to time, over the decades, been so fed up with what was happening in this country that I started looking around for someplace to go.

I discovered that there wasn't a country around, for example, that provided the kind of safeguards for its citizens' rights that I enjoyed here. Perfect safeguards, no: generally adequate, yes. There's more - but the point is that I chose to stay: after looking at the alternatives.

I'm not the only one who likes it here. One of the major issues these days is how to deal with folks who are in this country illegally. On the whole, I think it's prudent to follow the rules of a country you're emigrating to - but I think it says something for America that we're one of the places people try to break into.

America Learns

About that "litany of American offenses taught in American schools" I mentioned earlier: I think that the American educational system is overly-enthusiastic in portraying America as a cesspool of racist, sexist, homophobic bigots out to destroy the environment and rip crumbs from the bleeding lips of the oppressed.

That said, I also think it's a good idea to make sure that each new generation knows about what went wrong before. And what went right.

Both are important.

Knowing what worked in the past may keep folks from reinventing the wheel - and crying out for some new law, when there's a neglected one on the books that needs to be enforced. And that's yet another topic.

Knowing what America has done wrong might keep this country from making a similar mistake again. I can't prove it, but I think that one reason we don't have concentration camps for Muslims in this country is that the American government (finally) acknowledged that locking up Japanese-Americans was a bad idea.

There are other ways of running a country - which is why I don't plan to move.

Turkey, for example, seems to be trying to cover up atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire. Which strikes me as silly, considering that the current government was set up by folks who overthrew the Ottoman Empire. And yes, that's an oversimplification.

Japan is doing a little better: but there's an effort by some folks in that country to rewrite the history of WWII - without the details they don't like.

I sympathize with folks who don't like some parts of their country's history. As I wrote, I'm not at all crazy about some things that America has done. But I think it's vital to remember errors: so that we will learn, and not repeat them.

I think it's important to remember triumphs, too: like the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the repeal of the 18th Amendment. Not to maintain a puffed-up jingoistic pride: but to remember why it's important to not repeat errors.

America's a great place to live, we've got a lot to lose: and if we don't keep learning we may do just that.

Related posts:

• "A Very 'Lucky' Man - One Way or the Other"
  (March 24, 2009)
• "Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, Dead Armenians, and Learning from Mistakes"
  (February 28, 2009)
• "America, Racism, and What Didn't Happen at Virginia Tech"
  (January 22, 2009)
• "United States of America: 232 Years in the Freedom Business"
  (July 3, 2008)
• "Chantix and Veteran's Affairs: Who Needs Consent? We Got 'Em, Let's Dose 'Em"
  (June 17, 2008)
  Particularly
  • A Lesson from Nürnberg: Get Informed Consent Before Experimenting on People
• "Japanese Court, Okinawa, Kenzaburo Oe: There's a Lesson Here"
  (April 5, 2008)

In the news:

• "PAHO Statement on STI Experiments in Guatemala"
  PharmaPro (October 1, 2010)
• "Studies show 'dark chapter' of medical research"
  Elizabeth Landau, CNN (October 1, 2010)
• "U.S. apologizes to Guatemala for infecting prisoners with syphilis"
  Olivia Ward, thestar.com (October 1, 2010)