I tend to avoid discussion about the Middle East conflict(s) because there are too many variables and I can't argue ANY of them intelligently, but can someone explain to me how this statement makes sense?:
Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al Zawahri warned his group would not stand by and watch Israel bombard Lebanon and the Palestinians, calling on Muslims in a video aired on Thursday to fight attacks on their countries......"How can we remain silent while watching bombs raining on our people," he asked. "Oh Muslims everywhere, I call on you to fight and become martyrs in the war against the Zionists and the Crusaders," Zawahri said in the statement which was entitled "The Zionist-crusader war on Lebanon and the Palestinians."
Okay, so...if I'm judging the context of the entire article correctly, he should suggest that people living outside the Middle East should throw things into a clusterfuck in their otherwise peaceful countries to pressure their governments to become involved and create a fucking world war? THAT SOUNDS SO FUCKING SMART. Yes, we Americans are touchy about body count and if some outside group comes and and tries to wreak havoc on our peace, we're going to drop some bombs...but not on ourselves or the Israelis, so I don't see how their tactics are very bright.
Besides that, do disperate Muslim groups even like each other enough to be raising up in arms against people? My limited understanding is that Sunnis and Shi'ites, at least those in Iraq, aren't even chummy-chummy enough to stay off of the evening news for a couple of days.
I'm sick of this shit. When you're young and preoccupied with yourself and your ego prevents you from being concerned with what's going on in the larger world, these things stay off your radar. Then you reach a certain age where you feel "Shit, is the world coming to an end or something?" and the more you think about it, the same level of idiocy has been going on forfuckingever, just in different locations.
So, the Tar Heel state finally gets a lottery. This makes us the 42nd state in the country with state-sponsored gambling. Governor Mike Easley has been trying to push an education lottery into law since he took office a bazillion years ago, however because we still have one foot in the bible belt the idea was pooh-poohed.
There have been all kinds of arguments against it; my personal favorite is that lottery tickets are a tax against poor people who can't help themselves from gambling because they're uneducated and don't know how to handle money.
Personally, I don't care one way or the other. I don't plan on sinking any money into scratch-off tickets in the near future. I do hope that the lottery doesn't get eaten up in administrative costs so badly that the educational institutions that are supposed to be benefitted by it never see a cent.
Condoleeza Rice couldn't answer a question directly if her life counted on it, but I think she has enough gumption to do the job well...and she's certainly smart enough. My only concern is that she'll not be vocal enough in expressing the need for the administration to become more focused on domestic policies.
I have a political wishlist the length of my arm that I want to send to her with a "Hey, woman power! Solidarity, my sister!" post-it stuck to. But I'm a realist.
Okay, see, I don't really like Dubya, but Pam has a point. Why does everyone start jumping down our throats as soon as a disaster occurs?
Not to be insensitive here (I'm very sensitive, mind you. So sensitive that I bleed butterflies and moonbeams), but the U.S. has been plagued by all sorts of natural disasters over its history. The Southeast rarely goes a year without torrential rainfall and devastating hurricane winds. Entire towns in coastal communities have been evaucated for weeks at a time because of flooding.
The West Coast has its ingrained fear of earthquakes, fires, and mudslides. Remember all those people who lost their homes in California a couple of years ago.
Midwest: hello tornadoes?
I could go on, but it's pointless. Granted, our death tolls have never reached close to 100,000 at once, but let's consider population density. Had a tsunami hit mainland China, or even Long Island (heh), we'd be dealing with the same phenomenon. I'll resist making any jokes about overcrowded countries.
You see, flawed that we may be as a country--we deal with our own shit on a state level. If a state (i.e. Florida) needs additional help, well the feds will step in. Or maybe not. There are still some poor hicks out in the boonies of NC that never got disaster relief after that trio of storms hit the mountains over the summer.
I can understand sending some money for food and water, but it's not our responsibility to help them rebuild their entire coastlines. Isn't that what the UN is for? I can't believe I actually heard some Indian man on the news (in translation) saying "America will help us. America should send money now."
It's a funny thing being hated and needed at the same time. We must be the Mafia-Country. Next thing you know we'll be leaving horse heads on foreign ambassadors' beds.
Anyone who's been reading Blown Fuse for a while knows that I rarely discuss politics. Occasionally, some things occur that make me want to throw my clogs right at someone's dumb forehead. For example, this news item that I've been following for the past few months kind of sets my rage a'boilin'. I can't stand pandering.
Granted, Chapel Hill has had its share of roads and edifices named after some really bigoted people: North Campus at UNC as an example. Not only have black students tolerated these icons there for fifty or so years, however most accepted the fact that true, "I live in a dorm named after a racist asshole. However, racist asshole or not, he did contribute an obscene amount of money to make the University what it is. I chose to attend this school." Those racist assholes would be turning in their graves to see how liberal the school has become. Not liberal enough for my taste, but whaddayagonnado?
I'm not saying it's okay for racist assholes (subsequently referenced as RAs) to forever live in infamy, however it's not doing anyone any good by purging history and changing names and places. What happened still occurred. We need to talk about that as much as what Dr. King did. The road name that would be affected is Airport Road, which is named after a municipal airport that used to be active down there. As far as I know, there's nothing contentious about the airport that would require a renaming of the street it's on.
Another issue in this that particuarly bothers me is that there are already at least two throughfares in the Durham-Chapel Hill area that are named after Dr. King. One, unfortunately, is a short street in a residential area populated by minorities. That obviously falls into the stereotype that "only black people live on streets named after Martin Luther King," and under most circumstances should be reconciled by an effort of everyone concerned.
HOWEVER, not only does Durham have one long and parkway named after King, I'm sure many other surrounding counties do as well. The county seat in Chowan, where I'm from, as one of the oldest towns in colonial America has always had a pair of parallel roads named Queen and King street. Quite obviously, they were named that because of the pre-Revolutionary War history of the area. So tell me what asshole decided that by re-naming King Street Martin Luther King Street a few years ago? I drove down 17S one day and saw that the name had been changed and was uncomfortably pissed off at the idea. Edenton has had it's share of race riots in the high school, but Jesus Christ, you can't slap a BandAid on it thirty years later.
Dr. King isn't the only black person that comes to mind that did something for race relations. Odd that you never hear big hoo-ha made about roads named after white Freedom Riders. The fact that Dr. King wasn't from Orange County further detracts from any arguments for the situation. As far as I know, he's never even been near here. Do correct me if I'm wrong.
Nobody owes the black community anything. That's the same thing the black community will be saying regarding the Latino community now that they've become the minority of choice. "They have to pay their dues," they'll say. No white person is going to run and hug every black person they see just because another road has been named after King. In fact, those that live on Airport Road will probably shun discussion of it at all.
The NAACP's scare tactics just don't do it for me. There have to be better ways to get people to discuss their thoughts than rubberstamping Martin Luther King's namesake on every county in the country.
People need to stop being so concerned with retribution and use that energy finding ways to move on.