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April 24, 2006
Very interesting exchange
Just look how far we have advanced since the days of the Renaissance:
Humanism is the term generally applied to the predominant social philosophy and intellectual and literary currents of the period from 1400 to 1650. The return to favor of the pagan classics stimulated the philosophy of secularism, the appreciation of worldly pleasures, and above all intensified the assertion of personal independence and individual expression. Zeal for the classics was a result as well as a cause of the growing secular view of life. Expansion of trade, growth of prosperity and luxury, and widening social contacts generated interest in worldly pleasures, in spite of formal allegiance to ascetic Christian doctrine. Men thus affected -- the humanists -- welcomed classical writers who revealed similar social values and secular attitudes.
From a FEMA camp outside the ruins of New Orleans in 2006. You can listen here:
AMY GOODMAN: That was Donna Azeez, speaking to us in Renaissance Village in Baker, Louisiana. As we traveled around, the security guards told us that we had to leave. These were security guards from C.S.S. of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hired by FEMA. That's Corporate Security Solutions. These were guards, a number of whom had been in Afghanistan and Iraq. The residents, though, of Renaissance Village, seemed surprised that they weren't allowed to speak in their own community, and one man asked if he could talk to us. And this is what happened.RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Deception. Lies. A famine. A shortage.
AMY GOODMAN: Wait, don't stop.
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Everything. And it ain't no good to be here.
SECURITY GUARD: Turn it off.
AMY GOODMAN: We were going in the car, and he said, "Please interview me."
SECURITY GUARD: Yeah, he -- he can't. That's not his privilege.
AMY GOODMAN: He's not allowed to talk?
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: What's wrong? What's wrong?
SECURITY GUARD: You can go -- get that -- you've known the deal since --
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: No, I don't know the deal. Tell me. What is the deal?
SECURITY GUARD: You can go get interviewed as long as it's off post. Otherwise, you, like I said, I can call the 800 FEMA number and have them come in --
AMY GOODMAN: You mean, he has to come off of the property?
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: What is -- there's a problem being interviewed?
SECURITY GUARD: Turn it off.
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Turn it off, man. I don't want no problems.
AMY GOODMAN: Okay.
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: 'Cause I don't know anything about not being able to be interviewed.
SECURITY GUARD: You -- no, you can be interviewed, as long as it's off the installation.
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Well, okay, we can move over there.
SECURITY GUARD: Other than that that [inaudible].
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Okay, we can move over there. `Cause I was sitting out here reading my Bible. But I didn't know anything about -- we will not being interviewed, because --
SECURITY GUARD: Yes, you can be interviewed --
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Okay.
SECURITY GUARD: -- if they had a FEMA representative with them, but since they don't and do not have an appointment --
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Oh, okay. `Cause I know they do it all the time.
SECURITY GUARD: Yes, they have the FEMA public relations officer with them.
RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Okay, well, I didn't know.
SECURITY GUARD: I'm not mad at you, Red. You know that.
AMY GOODMAN: As we drove off of Renaissance Village, we were chased by the guards in golf carts, who said they would be taking down our license plate and that we couldn't return. This was the day after FEMA had ended the free meals that they had been providing to the more than thousand people, anyone who wanted to take advantage of it in Renaissance Village, again, about an hour away from New Orleans in Baker, Louisiana.
Posted by Mike at 11:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 15, 2006
Damn it all to fucking hell
Surely this is a prelude to Armageddon:
RENO, Nev. - A federal judge gave a ninth-grader permission Thursday to recite a poem at a state competition that his school objected to, claiming it contained profanity.The words "hell" and "damn" in W.H. Auden's "The More Loving One," do not constitute offensive language that could disrupt the school's educational priorities, said U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval.
He issued a temporary restraining order sought by Jacob Behymer-Smith, 14, after school administrators at the Coral Academy of Science told him he could not use the poem in future competitions.
The teen intends to recite it April 22 during Poetry Out Loud, a contest sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
In granting the injunction, Sandoval said there was "a total absence of any evidence" that the school's prohibition was legal under the U.S. Constitution and that the teen likely would be able to prove his First Amendment rights were being violated.
Academy attorney John Ohlson said Sandoval's ruling was not unexpected. He had argued the issue was not about free speech, but the schools' ability to set educational standards.
Behymer-Smith selected his poem from an anthology of preapproved works by contest sponsors.
A day after he recited the poem at a district contest April 5, academy human resources dean Steven West reprimanded his English teacher and others for the performance. West then told the teen to select another poem because the Auden work contained profanity, according to court documents.
In a hearing Wednesday, the teen told the judge he's practiced the poem twice a day for two months, and that forcing him to choose another would be unfair.
Posted by Mike at 02:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 14, 2006
Ode to Communism
Only in the Chinese news service, would this be a front page item:
Stars with their brown hair
Now feeling sufficiently patriotic and well - inspired - I can return to emailing my Chinese co-workers, as soon as I clean out my office.
I wonder if they have a filter for blondes?
Posted by Mike at 12:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
And then there were six
Unfortunately, the problem with this administration is that just because someone resigns, it is not clear you'll get anyone better.
A group of retired generals who want to oust Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resumed their offensive against the embattled military boss on Friday."He went to war with a flawed plan. He didn't account for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime," retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who served as an infantry division commander in Iraq for 2½ years until last November, said on CBS News' The Early Show.
"We also served under a secretary of defense who didn't understand leadership, who was abusive, who was arrogant, who didn't build a strong team," Batiste added.
Batiste is one of six former commanders who served under Rumsfeld who now say he should be dismissed. The defense secretary has become a lightning rod for criticism of the way the war in Iraq has been run, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.
Major Generals Charles Swannack and John Riggs, both retired Army, were the latest to call for Rumsfeld's resignation. Retired Marine General Gregory Newbold called in Time magazine for "replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach." And last month, Army Major General Paul Eaton wrote in The New York Times that Rumsfeld is "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically."
Other calls for Rumsfeld's replacement have come from Batiste and retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni.
Riggs told National Public Radio that Rumsfeld fostered an "atmosphere of arrogance." Swannack told CNN that Rumsfeld micromanaged the war. "We need a new secretary of defense," he said.
Posted by Mike at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 10, 2006
Did someone mention a distraction?
I wonder what Lt. General Newbold is referring to here?
From 2000 until October 2002, I was a Marine Corps lieutenant general and director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After 9/11, I was a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq--an unnecessary war. Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots' rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. But I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat--al-Qaeda. I retired from the military four months before the invasion, in part because of my opposition to those who had used 9/11's tragedy to hijack our security policy. Until now, I have resisted speaking out in public. I've been silent long enough.
General Newbold has been quoted previously describing his concerns about Iraq planning, including in "Cobra II," a book by Michael R. Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times, and Bernard E. Trainor, a retired Marine lieutenant general who is a former military correspondent for the newspaper. In the book General Newbold is described telling fellow officers that he considered the focus on Iraq to be a strategic blunder and a distraction from the real counterterror effort. He is also quoted as expressing concern about Mr. Rumsfeld's influence on war planning, in particular his emphasis on assigning fewer troops to the invasion.
"Hey," Newbold said in his best take-notice voice, "I've got a real tough problem for you. The secretary's going to ask you to start looking at your Iraq planning in great detail - and give him a new commander's estimate.""You got to be shitting me," Renuart said. "We're only kind of busy on some other things right now. Are you sure?"
"Well, yeah. It's coming. So stand by."
The current Iraq war plan, Op Plan 1003, was some 200 pages with 20-plus annexes numbering another 600 pages on logistics, intelligence, air, land and sea operations. According to this plan, it would take the United States roughly seven months to move a force of 500,000 to the Middle East before launching military operations. Renuart went to see General Franks, who had received only a vague indication there had been discussion in Washington about the Iraq war plan. Renuart now had more detail.
"Hey, boss," Renuart said, reporting that a formal request of a commander's estimate was coming. "So we'd better get on it."
Franks was incredulous. They were in the midst of one war, Afghanistan, and now they wanted detailed planning for another, Iraq? "Goddamn," Franks said, "what the fuck are they talking about?"
Posted by Mike at 11:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)