"A peace agreement between Israel and Syria could be reached within 35 minutes, former U.S. president Bill Clinton told the Lebanon-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper in an interview published Sunday," reports the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.
Bill Clinton was president for 4,207,680 minutes, which is enough time to broker more than 120,000 35-minute peace agreements. Granted, a man has to sleep and tend to other basic necessities of life, and the president has tons of responsibilities, so eight years isn't as much time as it sounds like. But Clinton's time wasn't that tight. Consider these footnotes from the Starr report:
135. Currie 1/27/98 GJ at 35-36 (testifying that Ms. Lewinsky and the President were in the Oval Office for "[p]erhaps 30 minutes."). . . .
136. Ferguson 7/17/98 GJ at 23-35 (alone for approximately 45 minutes). . . .
138. Fox 2/17/98 GJ at 30-38 (alone for approximately 40 minutes).
139. Bordley 8/13/98 GJ at 19-30 (alone for approximately 30 to 35 minutes). . . .
141. Byrne 7/30/98 GJ at 7-12, 29-32 (alone for 15 to 25 minutes).
By our count, that is between 160 and 175 minutes Clinton spent . . . well, at this late date there's no need to rehash what he was doing. Point is, if he had managed his time better, he could have arranged a peace between Israel and Syria, and who knows what other great things he might have accomplished in the remaining 125 to 140 minutes?
Posted by: Mike ||
04/17/2007 00:35 ||
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#1
Middle East peace or a blow job from a fat girl?
Ah think Ah made the raht descision...
Posted by: William Jefferson Clinton ||
04/17/2007 9:33 Comments ||
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#2
On the plus side, it was said that after making him wait for 15 minutes, Clinton came outside and said, "Welcome to the White House, Yasser. Have a cigar!"
#1
Heres the thing. A few days ago I mentioned the purposeful strategy of leveling Germany that was pursued by Churchill and FDR. Churchill in particular understood that the love of war needed to be pummeled out of these ultra-racist, warmongering people so that we would not have to do this again. There would be no conditional truce. They would be pounded into submission, until they begged for it to stop. And thats what happened.
Substitute "the MME" (Muslim Middle East) for "Germany" and I do believe we've got something.
Many attacks in Iraq have led to more human injury than the suicide bombing inside Iraq's parliament earlier this week. But few have produced the distinct horror that no area in Iraq not even the highly protected International "Green" Zone is safe from attack. The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization of Islamist groups that is likely to include al-Qaeda in Iraq, declared responsibility.
Militant Sunni Insurgents Don't Like 'Extremism' of Al Qaeda
"We categorically reject the style and method of the Islamic State of Iraq just as we oppose the current Iraqi government, because it is a product of the occupation."
Among those who expressed dismay at the attack were Sunni insurgent groups, whose primary stated aim is to eliminate the American presence from Iraq. Nine of these groups held a meeting this week to coordinate their efforts against the Islamic State/ Al Qaeda. According to IraqSlogger, the meeting's coordinator stated the groups' opposition: "We categorically reject the style and method of the Islamic State of Iraq just as we oppose the current Iraqi government, because it is a product of the occupation."
Indeed, some insurgent groups blame Al Qaeda for the occupation. As reported in the Washington Post,
Khalid Awad, a commander of the Jamiat Brigades, another insurgent group in Anbar, said: "We must confess that if it was not for al-Qaeda, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan would have been occupied. For al-Qaeda has awakened the American ogre against the Islamic nation after the September 11th events, and it is still causing disasters."
The Islamic State of Iraq has responded to the emerging split with threats. Al Hayat (Arabic)) reported Al Qaeda's threats this week to "cut off the heads" of opponents. According to the newspaper, Abu Suleiman Utaybi, the legislative head of the Islamic State of Iraq warned Iraqi insurgent groups that, "we'll cut off their hands and beat their necks" if they oppose the ISI.
Odd Bedfellows: Iraqi Insurgents and the Americans?The hostility between Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda linked groups focused on regional expansion may lead to an oddly cozy relationship between the Americans and the (anti-American) insurgents. Tribal leaders in Western Iraq have already made the decision that the Americans are a better bet than Al Qaeda, and nationalist insurgents may follow suit. Ibrahim Al Shammari, the spokesman for the Islamic Army, another insurgent group, confirmed this week that Al Qaeda has been killing members of other groups. He also indicated, according to Al Hayat, that the group would welcome negotiations with the United States, mediated by Russia or Turkey, or the EU. The Islamic Army is alleged to have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
This article starring:
ABU SULEIMAN UTAIBI
Islamic State of Iraq
IBRAHIM AL SHAMARI
Islamic Army in Iraq
KHALID AWAD
Jamiat Brigades
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Islamic Army
Islamic State of Iraq
Jamiat Brigades
Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Real counter-insurgency success in Iraq would consist of managing to help AQI and the "nationalist insurgents" kill each other off. I don't see the Iraqi Sunni rejectionists as any less pernicious to Iraq's future or our security than AQI. As I said from the start of "Sunni engagement", sounds fine as long as it includes lots of airpower and artillery.
By P. David Hornik
Zeev Schiffleft-of-center, not a hawk, and considered by many to be Israels foremost military analystcites security sources as saying those Qassams that Islamic Jihad has been raining on Gaza-bordering communities during the ceasefire with Hamas are in fact supplied by Hamas.
Hamas, the sources said, while maintaining a front of abiding by the ceasefire, is actually emerging as the lynchpin of Palestinian terrorist activities against Israel. That is believed to include providing Islamic Jihad with Russian-made 16-kilometer-range Grad rockets, already used last year to target the town of Ashkelon with its strategic facilities.
An analysis last month already warned that Hamas is improving its rocket capabilities while seeking to build anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems that will neutralize Israels current ability to easily penetrate Gaza.
The deteriorating situation in the south led Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Tzvika Fogel, formerly chief of staff for Southern Command, to warn on Israels Channel 10 that Israel faces two choices: to continue its ostrich-like stance until the Gaza terror forces mount a surprise attack, or to launch a full-scale preemptive attack of its own.
Meanwhile, shifting the lens to the north, last week the head of Israeli Military Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, reported to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Syria is purchasing massive amounts of ground-to-ground and anti-tank missiles from Russiaa country whose name tends to turn up in these contextsand that, while there is a low probability that Syria will initiate a war against Israel, Syria could launch attacks in the Golan Heights even though it could lead to war.
Another report gave an even more ominous picture of an unprecedented military buildup in Syria, including the deployment of 300 home-manufactured Scud missiles just north of the Golan Heights, the establishment of new commando units, and a spike in training for urban and guerrilla warfare.
A source in IDF Northern Command said that Syria saw the difficulty the IDF had during the fighting inside the southern Lebanese villages [last summer] and now . . . wants to draw usin the event of a warinto battles in built-up areas where they think they will have the upper hand.
And over in Lebanon itself, the fallout from last summers war is just as negative and the prognosis no better. In his same testimony to the Knesset committee last week, Maj.-Gen. Yadlin noted that up to several hundred Al Qaeda members have arrived in Lebanon with the aim of attacking UNIFIL and other Western targets; and that Hezbollah remains entrenched in southern Lebanon and keeps amassing large quantities of arms from Syria and Iran.
Rounding out the circle by returning to the south, Yadlin also said some Al Qaeda operatives have infiltrated Gaza as well, and that Hamas is gaining financial and political strength while its members receive training in Syria and Iran.
Overall, the MI chief stressed that Iran continues to provide funding and weapons to Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah, and has close military and intelligence coordination with Syria. Add Russia to the mix and the picture is complete: a Shiite-Sunni-Russian terror-military axis seeking to surround, pressure, and harass Israel and ultimately eradicate it.
Tragically, this is happening at a time when Israel has a government hobbled by incompetence, unpopularity, scandals, infighting, and delusory dovishness, and that, apart from stepped-up training for some IDF units, is essentially doing nothing about the growing threats. It does not help that Israels U.S. ally keeps obsessively choreographing diplomatic dances with the likes of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Saudis, and the Arab League with which Israel dutifully compliesachieving nothing except to further project weakness to Israels enemies and lull the parts of the Israeli public that are eager to be lulled.
As Schiff points out in another analysis, it was the reluctance to enter a two-front war that led Israel to allow Hezbollahs major military buildup in southern Lebanon in the first place. After Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000 against the advice of most of the IDF top brass, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon found themselves facing a Palestinian terror onslaught mounted from the West Bank and Gaza and did not want to further complicate matters by doing something about Hezbollah in Lebanon.
So Israel, Schiff notes, never once struck at the convoys transferring the missiles to Lebanon, and never struck even one Hezbollah missile warehouse, or even the short-range rockets near the border. The end result was that Israel found itself at war on two fronts anywaywhen Hamas attacked from Gaza and kidnapped a soldier last June, and Hezbollah followed suit the next month with an attack and kidnapping from Lebanon; and now faces the prospect of a further two-front war against enemies with enhanced capabilities.
Hope resides mainly in the interim report later this month of the Winograd Committee, set up to investigate the failures in last summers war and also expected to address the whole period of 2000-2006. Sufficiently harsh conclusions against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could lead him to resign or cause other political ferment leading to new elections. As time goes on and Israel, aside from antiterror policing work in the West Bank, remains almost entirely passive against the growing threats, it does not appear that Olmerts government has the will or ability to do anything about them, and its continued tenure appears to spell disaster.
If there is a chanceapart from a strike on Iran that would alter the regions strategic balancefor Israel to avoid another two-front entanglement, it lies mainly in regaining its deterrence by making an effective move in Gaza. A hard-enough blow to Hamas and its friends there could make Hezbollah and Syria think twice about starting more trouble in the north. But there may be little time left, and such an outcome requires a functioning government in Jerusalem. It also calls for a Washington able to look past short-term diplomatic concerns and give Israel the backing it needs.
#2
Tragically, this is happening at a time when Israel has a government hobbled by incompetence, unpopularity, scandals, infighting, and delusory dovishness, and that, apart from stepped-up training for some IDF units, is essentially doing nothing about the growing threats. It does not help that Israels U.S. ally keeps obsessively choreographing diplomatic dances with the likes of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Saudis, and the Arab League with which Israel dutifully compliesachieving nothing except to further project weakness to Israels enemies and lull the parts of the Israeli public that are eager to be lulled.
How did this awful thing happen? The media and the blogosphere are full of all sorts of variation of this question.
It happened for two reasons. A young man chose to commit murder. And it happened because dozens, if not hundreds, of people chose not to defend themselves.
Just who did they think was going to save them?
In the time that it took for this murderer to roam the halls and shoot nearly 50 people, was there not time to formulate a plan, take action and end the rampage? Were there not objects in every room that could be used as weapons? Was there no one larger, stronger, faster than this murderer?
How many of the victims were shot in the back? Shot running away?
As we learn more, there will be stories of courage and self-sacrifice that will emerge, just as they did in the Columbine story. Will there be any stories about people fighting back? Virginia Tech has a Corps of Cadets, 732 members strong. Where were they and what did those future officers in our military do?
We were all inspired by the tale of Flight 93 on September 11. There is a lessons in that story that many seem to have neglected to learn. That same lessons was demonstrated by the firefighters of New York City as they ran into the burning towers, and the men and women of our military at the Pentagon.
When you are in danger, sometimes the morally correct thing to do is to run towards that danger, and try to make a difference.
During the time that the murderer was shooting people, the police were coming. By the time that they were in position and confronting him, he had killed about 30 and wounded over a dozen. Just who did they think was going to save them?
Is it too much to expect, since this is twenty-first century America, that Americans will defend themselves? Is it too much to expect that young men and women, smart and healthy, some with military training, would act to preserve their own lives as well as those around them? Is the courage of Flight 93 so "last century"?
#1
Blaming the victims is very sick, Chuck. The cadets are about 3% of the student body and they are unarmed. I don't know if you've seen college classrooms lately, but there's not a lot of loose stuff that can be used as weapons, especially against a heavily armed gunman. One professor died defending a doorway while students escaped out windows. Shame on you.
#2
At least one student, a Palestinian, moved toward the shooting while recording on his cell phone camera. He was turned back by police before he got close enough to do anything, but he was not running away. Who knows but that the phone pictures could have turned out to be critical.
While I don't 'blame' the victimes, I do believe we in America must change our mentality or we shall all be victims.
#4
I do not believe anything Chuck wrote "blames the victims". He is asking why so many people - and to my mind especially so many young men - chose to become victims. Is it their fault they were attacked? No. Is it their fault if, as has been reported, so many allowed themselves to be slaughtered? Yes. Hell, yes. To claim otherwise is to make a mockery of those reported to have fought back; to have given their own lives for others.
Yoni Tidi put it best on the Hugh Hewitt show yesterday: There may come a moment when all you can do is choose to die on you feet or die on your knees. Our entire civilization may be faced with that choice.
Go read Bill Whittle (I'll wait). Most of us are sheep. Very few are sheepdogs. We sheep generally believe in the law and believe that if there is a problem, a police officer will come along and take care of it. Events like Columbine, V-Tech, etc are notable because 1) they are horrible tragedies and 2) they are very rare, compared to what we encounter in our daily lives.
Sure, the young students could have rushed the attacker -- if they had the presence of mind to do so, and if they had had some previous training to help steady their nerves and will, and if they had recognized what was happening prior to the gunman bursting into their classroom.
In other word, if they had been sheepdogs and not sheep.
Glenn Reynolds remarked on his blog yesterday that he'd never had any training whatsoever on what to do in such a situation on campus. I'm also on the faculty at my institution, and I also have never had one lick of training.
Despite my growl and seeming fierce demeanor here on the Burg, deep down I suspect I'm just a well-educated sheep. I suppose I'd 'know' the right thing to do if a gunman burst into my clinic or classroom.
But Lordy, you wouldn't want to depend on me.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2007 14:51 Comments ||
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#6
Fair enough. But all this is to say I "blame the victims" not for their behavior on the day but for not preparing themselves in advance. It is not as if we have not had prior warning. That goes triple for anyone reading Rantburg.
#7
The difference is that those on Flight 93 did not have the options of barricading doors, shielding behind furniture, or jumping out windows. They were surely going to die if they did nothing. That said, all of you armchair heroes who are blaming the victims would also have probably chosen a door or window in lieu of defenselessly charging a heavily-armed gunman who would surely spray you with bullets.
Posted by: Flomble Prince of the Leprechauns4277 ||
04/17/2007 14:56 Comments ||
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#8
Will there be any stories about people fighting back
As Jews worldwide honored on Monday the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust, a 76-year-old survivor sacrificed his life to save his students in Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech College that left 33 dead and over two dozen wounded....Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.
Librescu was sent to a labor camp in Russia as a child and saved by the townspeople. His father was deported by the Nazis.
As a scientist working under Nicolae Ceaucescu's oppressive regime, Librescu was forbidden to have any contact with sources outside Romania. He defied the ban, continuing to publish scientific articles secretly.
His Zionist affinities eventually caused him to be forced out of his job. In 1978, the Librescus emigrated from Romania to Israel, where they raised two sons. In 1986, the family moved to Virginia for Librescu's sabbatical. While they only planned to stay in the United States a year, but have lived there ever since.
#9
When 30 people are shot by a man with a .22 pistol and a 9mm pistol, yeah, I might blame the last few victims. This guy was not heavily armed. His weapons needed reloading at some point.
Erasers, pointers, desks, hell, it was an engineering building. Lots of metal things. It's not the object that makes a weapon, it's the will of the man with that object.
God bless that Israeli professor. Following my thesis, it's extremely sad to think that a 70 ish man had to do this when younger and far faster and numbler people did not.
Steve, you've handled emergencies just like this. Haven't you ever had a violent patient? God knows, I have.
The notion that having a gun makes you unbeatable is just that, a notion.
#10
It is human nature to flee if you don't have a ready way to fight back or anything to defend. The west has encouraged this behavior because people depend on police protection. 90% of the time, this will be ok since the person just wants the material goods and as little fuss as possible. 9.9% of the time the victim will be hurt since it is a rape or other violent crime. The other .1% is really where you need to do something or you will die.
So, what happens when a society, bred for docility is faced with a fight or flight situation? Flight, or surrender. This is why the gunmen can rack up kills. It isn't the victim's fault, it isn't even society's fault. It just is. Not many people know what they will do when facing a loaded gun and a killer behind the trigger.
I think this is why it is necessary to have people with concealed guns on campus. Not only that, but the people that have them are trained again and again for these types of scenarios. There will be screaming, people running and bullets cracking through the air and if you aren't trained, you will not do well. This is a good part of the reason soldiers fight well and policemen react quickly. The training immediately kicks in and you do what you need to do. As one of the Greek philosophers said (don't remember which one), "Courage can be taught as a child is taught to speak."
#11
Despite my growl and seeming fierce demeanor here on the Burg, deep down I suspect I'm just a well-educated sheep. I suppose I'd 'know' the right thing to do if a gunman burst into my clinic or classroom.
I once gave a half-hour speech at a weekend retreat, and one of my themes was "the cell phone call from God." That's when you find yourself in a situation where someone else needs you to do something that you'd rather not do.
Happens all the time. Sometimes, the necessary deed is momentous; sometimes, it's less so.
All you need, really--though it's quite a lot--is the determination to take the call. It's OK to ask Him for it in advance.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/17/2007 16:50 Comments ||
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#12
Personally I don't look at this type of discussion as blaming the victims. It obviously needs to be discussed because the only people who took ownership of their situation were a Palestinian and an Israeli. There is no polite way to ask the kind of questions that obviously need to be asked to get people to think along constructive lines that may lead to a better outcome next time. If these "now" questions are avoided, lessons will be overlooked, and the next time a similar situation happens there will be similar results. For most people, now is the time to ask these questions while the meaning and impact are fresh and real. Discussing it at a "polite" distance in time or in whatever other "politically correct" means some people have in mind is not a whole solution, it is only the second half. It has to be looked at with all due respect to the real victims, but these questions have to be asked. Perhaps calling it "blaming the victims" is an accurate description for some points of view, but these folks represent the lowest common denominator and we shouldn't pander to them. I think the majority know darned well it wasn't their fault, but quicker thinking could have contributed to a better outcome.
People who shy away from "blaming the victim" probably imagine that it's the majority's point of view and actually do blame the victim themselves whether they say it or not. I guess I'm glad I didn't even think of it that way until I saw it mentioned elsewhere.
The "don't blame the victim" mentality may well feel out of control.
The big thing I take away from this is that our society is so emasculated by the Barney the Evil Purple Dinosaur mentality that the kids we raise in it actually have to be taught to get over it. Pathetic. Talitubbies are evil, too. Too many of these kids probably weren't even aware of the concept of dying on your knees vs. dying on your feet, and those that were probably couldn't count on the backup needed to make it work. How could they effectively deal with this kind of situation? And furthermore, how could they be expected to understand terror and what needs to be done to stop it? There will come a day when you and I are living in nursing homes and depending on these kids not to sell out our country on us.
At the same time the response will have to be a measured one. We shouldn't go too far the other way.
#13
As some/most of you may know I work security for LBNL, but have worked security for other large campuses and institutions as well. There are a few things you pick up on right away when working security.
Most people are sheep. Even people who are attempting to do something wrong are really sheep when you catch them at it. Some will try to intimidate you, but if you stand your ground or even get in their face a little bit, 99% of them will back down real quick. It's the ones that won;t that you have to look out for. This includes your fellow officers if you're in security.
A person in trouble or in an emergency situation is 23 times more likely to have a security officer respond first to the situation than a police officer or paramedic. One reason is that there are a lot more security officers around than there are cops when an emergency situation arises. Another is that we are, generally, trained to act as observers and to move towards an emergency rather than away from it. Only in that manner can we provide help to our customers. However, most people seem to think of security as little more than "rent-a-cops" and not as their most likely first responders so we, as a rule get little respect. In most cases, people are right to think that way.
Now with both of the points made above, I have to say that there's not 1 in 10 security officers that I trust on my own site to guard my back because of that last part above. As I said, most people are sheep and that extends to security personnel as well. The few, the very few people that I trust to guard my back and help out in an emergency situation, are also the ones I trust most to know what the hell they are doing and stay out of my way when I'm working. The list of people I'm not sure of, BTW, includes at least one person who is retired military. He'll go right up to the point of doing traffic control for fire and police responders, but will not enter the building with them or before them. He's a good officer and knows his job, but he won;t go that extra mile. Most security people are just going through the motions of a day job.
Some people though move into emergency situations, fires, ambulance responses, emergency medical situations, accidents, apprehensions of intruders, etc., etc. in addition to moving towards them. There's a difference. Something clicks in their heads and they just start acting and think about the consequences later. Everything is suddenly real clear, real calm, real sharp and in focus.
Not everyone thinks this way and not everyone is capable of thinking this way. Most people's minds sort of shut down and leave them unable to think clearly in an emergency or leave them panic-stricken. It is not natural to move towards trouble and especially it's not natural to move into trouble. Most people simply can't do it. It's not in their natures.
So, while we can stand here and pontificate all day about the victims acting, most of them probably were not capable of acting or even thinking of acting. The few who were, well, they were able, voluntarily or otherwise, to throw that switch in their heads.
Sometimes those people get killed. Sometimes they become heroes. Sometimes both happen.
That's my experience anyway and my not so humble opinion.
#15
Chuck: yes, I've dealt with violent patients, usually those with a psychiatric or intoxication problem. Different situation --
1) in the ER or hospital, a place I know well.
2) lots of backup.
3) a clearly defined situation that we knew how to handle in advance (hell at County these were called 'Code Browns')
But I have to say, if I had been in the ER on call and someone had pulled a couple of pistols and started shooting, my first rational thought would have been "where the hell is security?"
And I hope FOTSGreg would have been there.
I admit it: I'm a sheep. I read here, I comment, I try to understand. I have medical training and I'll go to an injured person anytime, anywhere.
But I don't have the training to jump a shooter, and I suspect that in the second or two I'd have to make that decision I'd lock up. If I was still alive I'd hope my brain would start working again and I'd do something that could help, but those two seconds might well mean I'd be lying there on the classroom floor in a puddle of my own blood.
That's not a happy thought to contemplate. None of this is.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2007 18:27 Comments ||
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#16
I'm single (divorced) - 47 - kids grown - don't think I could live with myself if I didn't do something - I think I'd do it....and I'd probably be dead
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2007 18:33 Comments ||
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#17
Agreed Frank. My point is that we any of us would probably be dead either way. And that is one point the Oprah-speakers saying "don't blame the victim" have yet to assimilate. My second and related point is that knowing what we know there is no excuse whatsoever not to be as prepared as you possibly can be in your home and your workplace. Whatever pissant earlier in this thread was throwing around accusations of folks being "armchair heroes" for facing the obvious is exactly the sort of man I would not want watching my back. In my training, it is the whiners and the hysterics we have to evacuate first so they do not get in the way people who are immobile or infirm.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2007 19:13 Comments ||
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#20
I was informed at work today that one of our Co-Op students from last year was killed yesterday. Her name was Maxine Turner. These were young people, for the most part. I talked with her, if only to say Good Morning or How are you doing. She asked about my horses. Just a young, full-of-life kid who was greatly looking forward to getting her degree and "changing the world". Nothing in her life could possibly have prepared her for this. Not much in ours has, either, unless we have been militarily trained or police trained. We want so much as parents to keep our children safe that we sometimes fail to teach them the World is full of evil people who have no empathy for others. It's an ugly side of life that we wish to spare our children. It's also often hard for our young progeny to truly believe there is evil out there. Their whole lives have been lived not expieriencing any such evil. It's the stuff of movies and television, not Real Life. But it IS real life.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/17/2007 19:56 Comments ||
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#21
don't think I could live with myself if I didn't do something - I think I'd do it....and I'd probably be dead
there are worse things than dying.
Being haunted by memories of personal inaction in the face of murder and death would be among them.
My girlfriend and I were walking towards a shopping mall and witnessed a woman attempting to lower an elderly wheelchair-bound woman over a very tall curb (+16"). The wheelchair slipped from her grasp, scooted forward and keeled over backward.
The sound of the elderly woman's head striking the pavement was audible. Being trained in first aid and CPR, I rushed to the woman's side and began checking her vital signs. She was very anxious and probably felt quite exposed laying there in the middle of the parking lot's roadway. I instructed some of the bystanders to summon security and dial 9-11.
I asked her some questions to make sure she was lucid, checked her pupillary response to make sure there wasn't a severe concussion and then proceded to take her pulse. People who had gathered around were muttering how she should taken out of the roadway.
As I attempted to place my fingers on the woman's carotid artery they encountered an obstruction. I looked closely and saw that she was wearing a cervical collar.
Finally, some security people arrived and began speculating about moving the injured woamn. I instructed them in no uncertain terms not to move the patient. Absolutely none of these people bothered to notice that this woman had a pre-existing neck injury and I doubt many of them understood that moving someone with cervical or spinal injuries can kill them.
I gave security and the woman by business cards and instructed her to have her insurance agent call me. When the mall's insurer phoned some weeks later I told them that they should have had a railing or barrier around that very high curb to prevent such an accident that that they most definitely dd not want me coming into court to testify about it. I'm sure they settled promptly seeing as how I never heard from either party again.
The story's moral being that quite often, people actually can pose a greater danger by "trying to help" than by remaining clear of a situation. They certainly might have paralyzed the eldery woman if they had moved her.
None of this changes what Frank said. Inaction in the face of iminent and grave peril is far worse than death.
Having gone to art school and spent some time in my youth convinced of how brilliant I was because I was "An Artist", I can say with some confidence that most of what passes for art these dayespecially cutting-edge, avant-garde artis not art. It is self-indulgent, pseudo-intellectual, emotionally-arrested posturing that is usually fixated on bashing authority and religion and celebrating self-gratification. Which brings me to "Christ Killa," the creation of "multi-media artist" Eric Medine, whose gallery, Niche L.A., describes it as follows:
Described as the ultimate arbitration between politics and Christianity, Christ Killa is a video game linked to video projectors and television monitors. A first person shooter in which the player shoots hordes of homicidal Jesus Christs, the game landscape is filled with Googled images of Christian propaganda posters, religious shrines such as St. Peters in Rome, and clichéd representations of Christ who constantly mumbles messages of tolerance and compassion.
The audience is invited to participate in the carnage by playing the video game and watching short videos of the game in action. The winner with most Christ kills will be awarded with a trophy at 9:00PM.
Medine's site has the following info:
The year: 2099.
The place: the planet earth.
The end of the world has come and gone. The entire population of Earth has been swept up into heaven, sinners and virtuous alike, leaving a ruined landscape devoid of life. In a last effort to save humanity, a lone scientist clones Jeesus H Christ from a piece of the Shroud of Turin in the hopes that he can repopulate the earth and create a new civilization. But something goes terribly wrong...
Your task: to rescue Earth from being completely over-run by a horde of murderous Christs.
Your weapons: a few crappy guns.... But can a hail of bullets stop the Son of God?
Your name: Christ Killa!
Michelle Malkin dares Medine to make a similar video game featuring some other major religion:
You want edgy? Go ahead and create "Mohammed Killa." Replace the Homicidal Jesus Christs with Homicidal Mohammeds mumbling cliched messages of peace from the Koran. Fill the "game landscape" with Googled images of Muslim propaganda and sacred mosques while the Homicial Mohammeds blow themselves up in crowded schools, restaurants, buses, and markets.
Put that on exhibit. Go ahead. Be a maaaverick "artist." Show us how brave you are at offending all people of faith.
Double dare you, Mr. Medine.
He won't do it, of course. Not because he isn't irreverent enough. Based on personal experience, I'd say that Medine and "artists" like him aren't interested in mocking or making "statements" about religions they don't know anything about. Rather, they have some sort of personal, emotional relationship with Christianity, and they are clawing and scratching, like angry rats, at what they perceive to be a threat to their (choose one) way of life, thought, politics, ideologies, etc. Plus, they know that the Christians won't come hunt them down and kill them, so they get the emotional high of "speaking truth to power" and "sticking it to the man" completely risk free. If they were to pull a similar stunt insulting Islam, they'd be running a non-trivial risk of actual violence (see, e.g., Salman Rushdie).
Consider, too, that the hallmark of a bully is that he only fights people who are not capable of beating him.
Did I mention that this sort of "art" is an emotionally-arrested posturing that is fixated on bashing authority and religion and celebrating self-gratification?
Posted by: Mike ||
04/17/2007 07:13 ||
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#1
Ho-hum. Been done, seen it. You want to be edgy? Make a game that you take a pig and fire shit at Mohammend. That's edgy.
#2
Ooooooooh, Eric! It's marvelous! So...cutting edge! And "Killa"! Incorporate the black thing! Fabulous! Simply fabulous! So...street!
Are the Christ's made out of chocolate?
#3
Back in college I was dating an English major, and at her request went to a few "poetry readings". In the truest sense of friendship, my roommate and a couple of other friends went along, too.
After a couple "performance art" pieces, a scruffy fellow read a poem, dedicated to his girlfriend, titled "Melissa in Capitalism". Afterwards, my roommate leaned over, and in a stage whisper, asked "Did he just call his girlfriend a whore?"
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/17/2007 10:21 Comments ||
Top||
#4
You can "mod" Half-Life (and HL2) quite easily.
might be fun to have Exploding Zombie Mohameds V Civilisation mod.
#7
Tasteless infantile pap. What do you expect from someone whose big achievement is a video game? Just because you have a right to do something does not make it the right thing to do. This lesson seems to be lost on a generation whose sole claim to fame is offending for offense's sake.
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