Be prepared to pull out your driver's license on your next visit to the dentist. And don't be surprised if a retailer asks for a birth date or mother's maiden name if it's giving you credit for your big-ticket purchase.
They're just following federal rules to protect consumers from identity theft. Beginning next month, a wide range of businesses auto dealers, cell phone companies, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, utilities and health care providers must start complying with "Red Flag Rules."
The rules are meant to stop fraud before it happens by requiring certain businesses to look for signs that customers might be imposters and, if there are signs that they are, to take action.
"People will notice more requests for verification for their identity, and some people will feel insulted or annoyed," says Anne Wallace, president of the Identity Theft Assistance Center.
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 required financial institutions and businesses to establish identity theft programs. Banks and other financial institutions have had to comply since late 2008. But other businesses some of which had no idea that the law applied to them were given until this June.
Whether businesses must comply depends on their billing practices and roles in credit decisions. The rules apply to those that provide services upfront and let customers pay later or in installments like a dentist who lets you spread out the cost of pricey inlays, says Rebecca Kuehn, an assistant director with the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees business compliance.
Businesses must also comply if they help arrange loans or credit, such as debt collectors and retailers offering financing. Companies that accept credit cards or hospitals paid by insurance don't come under the rules, Kuehn says.
Those who fail to comply face legal action, penalties and greater regulatory oversight for years, Kuehn says.
While consumers are expected to benefit, not everyone is happy about the rules.
#3
No, no. It's only racism when you require someone to show ID when they vote. When they get on a plane, buy something on credit, go to the doctor's office, and on and on, it is business as usual. However, when people vote, suddenly they don't have ID and can't be forced to show it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/08/2010 6:56 Comments ||
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#4
Wonder if the new rule applies to illegal immigrants ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/08/2010 7:51 Comments ||
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#5
Don't be silly - laws don't apply to illegals.
Laws automatically become racist when applied to illegals.
A retired U.S. Marine who runs a high school ROTC program in Worcester says he faces the boot for refusing to pay local union dues, leaving the 58-year-old father of two crying foul and school administrators bewildered.
It just seems crazy that they're gonna fire me over $500,' said Maj. Stephen L. Godin, senior naval science instructor at the Naval Junior ROTC Unit of North High School. Everyone's talking about finding good teachers - I haven't missed a day in 14 years.'
Indeed, North High School Principal Matthew Morse praised Godin yesterday as an excellent' instructor who has turned his program into a top junior ROTC academy.
Godin, a 20-year Marine veteran until 1994, who flew F-4 Phantoms and was deployed five times, said he refuses to join the union because he receives all his benefits, including health insurance and half his salary, from the military. Unlike other teachers, he doesn't earn a stipend for after-school activities, such as the hours he spends coaching the high school's regional champion drill team. His salary is dictated by the U.S. Military, not labor negotiators, Godin said.
Officials from the Education Association of Worcester did not return repeated calls, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association declined comment.
State law requires certain public employees to join unions as a condition of employment or pay a so-called agency fee, which goes toward the cost of collective bargaining. But Godin said he shouldn't have to pay the $500 fee because he receives no benefit from the local union. He provided a letter from the local union demanding he join or pay the fee by the school year's end. Godin said in 14 years of teaching in Worcester public schools, he's never been asked to pony up for the union.
I've always worked hard,' he said. I'm a loyal Marine. Now they're chasing me away.'
Worcester schools superintendent Melinda J. Boone said she has asked the district attorney to investigate a way to keep Godin on board, but added, this is really a union matter.'
#5
Public Unions should be banned. I see no need for a 'teachers union' except to protect the bad teachers from being fired. It isn't like the school district has been abusing teachers before unions came along.
And requiring membership (like in Washington State) should also be banned.
#6
His salary is dictated by the U.S. Military, not labor negotiators...
Which is a key part. Who funds the paycheck. IIRC its the feds. The Junior ROTC program is a Title X United State Code institution and therefore is outside the authority and purview of the union.
#7
When military people are hassled by civilians, they need to go to the military to sort things out for them. There are a LOT of military bureaucrats who live for these sorts of fights, and like their combat brethren, they are not in the habit of losing.
#8
State law requires certain public employees to join unions as a condition of employment
That is simply unthinkable in France: public employees are recruited through a collective examination and the written parts are proofred under anonimity (ie examintaor doesn't know who is the candidate). Of course for the oral part exmainators have more leeway but 80 to 90% of candidates don't make to the oral part. They are eliminated in the written part of the examination.
BTW: forcing someone to pay 500$ to an organization isn(t it the same than what the mob did to shopkeepers for "protection".
BTW: forcing someone to pay 500$ to an organization isn(t it the same than what the mob did to shopkeepers for "protection".
Here in the US, there is a large amount of overlap between the staffs of unions and mobs.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/08/2010 14:16 Comments ||
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#11
I'm not an attorney but it seems like this Marine might have a law case; e.g. discrimination or unlawful dismisal. These laws requiring union membership for a job ought to be tested--again and again if necessary. There is probably some former Jag officer working in private practice who would take such a case pro bono. There are most likely a lot of people who would support this Marine financially in his cause.
This weekend, the Dr. Demento Show will have its final broadcast on KIYU, KLOO, WLVQ (QFM96), WRKH (The Rocket) and KOZT (The Coast).
This was a very painful decision for the Doctor...he really hates to let it go after almost 40 years...but he has come to agree with his manager and his family that it's necessary. The broadcast has been losing money for some time.
THE GOOD NEWS -- Dr. Demento intends to continue producing new shows every week for www.drdemento.com for the foreseeable future. A new one will be available Saturday morning, June 12, and more new shows will be posted every Saturday thereafter.
Also...if you live in or around Amarillo, TX, you're in luck...by special agreement and due to contractual considerations, a version of the internet show will be heard weekly on KACV-FM there, at least through the summer.
The Doctor wishes to express his grateful appreciation to everyone who's been listening in Alaska, Oregon, Ohio, Alabama and California, and hopes all of you will give the www.drdemento.com broadcast a try.
Stay deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemented! It's staggering to believe that the Dr. Demento Show was heard on Armed Forces Radio Network during the Vietnam War, and is (was) still heard on AFN South Korea.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/08/2010 9:46 Comments ||
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#5
The good Doctor has helped to preserve the sanity of generations of US military personnel, and to lighten their load. Even when the rest of AFN was downright dreary, he was the one bright spot they could look to on their radio dial.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the Organisation of American States to readmit Honduras, which was suspended last year after the overthrow of president Manuel Zelaya.
How nice of her, after the State Department pushed so hard to get Honduras suspended in the first place.
Mrs Clinton said the new Honduran President, Porfirio Lobo had shown a strong commitment to democracy and the constitutional order.
What magnificent condescension she displays, to be sure. One can almost see her patting the gentleman on the head as she said it.
She was speaking at the OAS General Assembly in the Peruvian capital, Lima.
Most South American nations do not recognise Mr Lobo's government.
Although he came to office in elections scheduled before Mr Zelaya's removal, the vote was organised by the interim government that replaced the Zelaya administration.
Mrs Clinton said the region had seen Honduras elect Mr Lobo in "free and fair" elections and watched him form a truth commission to look into the events behind Mr Zelaya's removal from office.
But Brazil, which sheltered Mr Zelaya in its embassy in Tegucigalpa in support of his claim to return as president, urged OAS members not to rush into readmitting Honduras. "Honduras's return to the OAS must be linked to specific means for ensuring re-democratisation and the establishment of fundamental rights" Brazil's deputy foreign minister, Antonio de Aguilar Patrioto, said.
"It is essential to create conditions for former president Zelaya to fully participate in the political life of Honduras", he added.
Ecuador and Venezuela are also opposed to Honduras's readmission,
In China, cracks are appearing in the neighbourhood of the massive Three Gorges Dam, the country's great prestige project, and also in the Great Internet Firewall of China, enabling the ominous news to leak out. Three years ago stories were already emerging in the Chinese media about landslides, ecological deterioration and accumulation of algae further down the river. And less and less effort seems to be made to plug the leaks.
Recent media reports tell of a series of landslips, minor earthquakes and cracks appearing in roads and buildings along the central section of the Yangtse, between the dam and the city of Chongqing. Almost 10,000 dangerous sites' have been identified, but many of the people living near them cannot be relocated for lack of money. Two years ago thousands of children died in Sichuan Province because their schools were not resistant to the earthquake which hit the area; in the town of Badong near Chongqing children are attending school in buildings which have been recognised as far more vulnerable. What else can they do? The local authorities can't afford a new one.
So the construction was forced through without even what passes in China for proper debate. The number of local people who had to be relocated came to 1.4 million equivalent to the obliteration of Birmingham. Now it looks like another 300,000 will have to be shifted add Coventry to that. This, in China, means getting a few weeks' notice to quit and putting up with wherever the authorities see fit to put you. On top of that a large number of historic sites from one of the most ancient cradles of Chinese civilisation had to go.
#4
not too mention crappy chinese construction if it's built like everything else they make. IT's gonna be a washout wonder how much this will cost us?
Posted by: chris ||
06/08/2010 10:58 Comments ||
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#5
Three Gorges Dam holds 32 million acre/feet of water. One acre/foot is 326,000 gallons. Two acre/feet fills an Olympic sized swimming pool.
North Korea named a brother-in-law of leader Kim Jong-il to a powerful military post on Monday and sacked its premier in moves seen as consolidating Kim's grip on power and paving the way for his youngest son to succeed him.
Kim attended a rare session of the rubberstamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, to personally name Jang Song-thaek as vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, the North's KCNA news agency said.
The commission, headed by the "Dear Leader" himself, represents the pinnacle of power in the hermit state.
The second assembly session in two months came amid growing momentum in the international community to punish Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean navy corvette in March that killed 46 sailors.
Jang, who had once fallen out of Kim's favor but has since returned to his inner circle, is the husband of the leader's sister, and is viewed as the key figure for ensuring a smooth transfer of power from Kim to one of his sons.
"Jang would be the most trustworthy person to Kim who can establish the foundation for succession to Jong-un," said Park Young-ho of the Korea Institute for National Analysis.
"This is a signal that they will be moving on existing power structures, no innovation or openness or reform."
The parliament also sacked the country's premier, who is considered the top economic official, and replaced him with Choe Yong-rim, a member of the old guard and another confidant of Kim's family who has been in key economic posts.
#1
WMF > CHINESE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE ORDERS PLA 39TH ARMY, SHENYANG MR PLAAF UNITS ON COMBAT READINESS ALERT AS PER THE DPRK-ROK CRISIS + CHEONAN INCIDENT. PLA SECOND ARTILLERY CORPS UNITS IN LIANNING TO STRIKE AT SEOUL, YOKUSUKA, + OTHER USFJ MILBASES;PLA SECOND ARTILLERY CORPS UNITS IN XICHANG TO STRIKE AT GUAM BASE + NAHA.
* SAME > TWO CHINESE KILLED AS NORTH KOREA OPENS FIRE AT ALLEGED CHINESE SMUGGLING BOAT ON THE YALU RIVER. JAPAN + SOUTH KOREAN MEDIAS CLAIM YALU ATTACK ILLUSTRATES HIGH TENSION ON BORDERS BETWEEN NORTH KOREA + CHINA.
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, wewell intehwesting, so IIUC KIMMIE = NORTH KOREA is now "ISRAEL" ATTACKING THE "CHINESE" TURKISH-PA [Turkey = NATO Ally] GAZA AID SHIP???
#2
OOOPSIES, forgot WMF > CENTRAL MILITARY COMMISSION DEFENSE SECRETARY LIANG ASKED US SECDEF GATES diplomatic letter] IFF THE TRUE MISSION OF THE "USS GEORGE WASHINGTON" NIMITZ-CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIER IN THE DPRK-ROK "CHEONAN" CRISIS WAS TO CONDUCT SATURATION AIR STRIKES AGZ NORTH KOREA IN THE YELLOW SEA [East China Sea].
A Polish law that can force some rapists and paedophiles to undergo chemical castration has come into effect.
The legislation, passed by Polish MPs last September, applies to men who rape children or immediate family members.
The procedure has been tried elsewhere, but usually on a voluntary basis.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk proposed the measures after a series of high-profile paedophilia cases last year.
Under the law, prisoners would be forced on their release to take drugs to reduce their sex drive, but courts are required to consider the opinions of psychiatrists before ordering it.
According to Polish politicians, the country now has the toughest legislation towards paedophiles in Europe.
Amid ongoing concerns over the eurozone debt crisis, euro has plummeted to its lowest level against dollar in the last four years.
In Asian trade on Monday, euro plunged to 1.9 dollars, the lowest level since March 2006. It also stood at 108.47 yens, hitting its lowest level in eight years, AFP reported.
The news has ruffled EU leaders with Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn expressing concern at the speed of the fall in the euro's value.
Rehn, commenting ahead of talks with the finance ministers of eurozone nations in Luxembourg on Monday, said the speed of the plunge is much more concerning than its level.
The concerns over EU financial woes have worsened following the possibility of an emerging financial meltdown in Hungary and fears that Germany may refuse to commit itself to Greece's rescue package.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced that his country, which was once bailed out by the EU and International Monetary Fund in 2008, may again face a Greece-like financial meltdown.
Markets, on the other hand, are still upset over the uncertainty of Germany's commitment to the Greek crisis. Analysts fear that the German constitutional court may block the contribution to the loan.
A multibillion loan has been destined to be granted to Greece to bail it out of the enormous debt crisis, which is threatening the health of the entire eurozone and global markets.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/08/2010 00:00 ||
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Another liberal idea to try to breathe life into this tool that they depend on and owe everything to.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering several ways to help the struggling newspaper industry, but Americans strongly reject several proposed taxes to keep privately-owned newspapers going. If they can't find a good business model, they need to go the way of the dodo bird.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 84% oppose a three percent (3%) tax on monthly cell phone bills to help newspapers and traditional journalism.
Similarly, 76% oppose a proposed five percent tax on the purchase of consumer electronic items such as computers, iPads and Kindles to help support newspapers and traditional journalism. Seventy-four percent (74%) oppose the proposal to tax web sites like the Drudge Report to help the newspapers they draw their headlines from.
Each of these ideas was suggested for consideration in a recent FTC report.
Only 10% favor the tax on monthly cell phone bills to help newspapers and traditional journalism. Sixteen percent (16%) support the tax on consumer electronic devices, and 18% of Adults favor placing an additional tax on Internet news sites.
Seventy-one percent (71%) oppose the creation of a taxpayer-funded program that would hire and pay young reporters to work for newspapers around the country. Fourteen percent (14%) support such a program, while 15% are undecided.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 6-7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
One of the FTC's central concerns is that the quality of local news reporting is suffering as financially struggling newspapers tighten their belts. Yet while Americans continue to see their local newspapers as more reliable than online news sources, they also have consistently questioned government assistance to keep those papers in business.
Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Americans are confident that online and other news sources will make up the difference if many newspapers go out business.
Democrats are more supportive of all three taxes than Republicans and adults not affiliated with either party are. But solid majorities oppose such taxes across all demographic groups.
Thirty percent (30%) of those ages 18 to 29 like the idea of a taxpayer-funded program to hire and pay young reporters. One-in-five Democrats (20%) favor it as well. But again adults in all demographic groups strongly oppose such a program.
In April 2009, 37% favored government subsidies for struggling newspapers, but 43% said it was better to let the papers go out of business.
Last summer, former CBS newsman Dan Rather proposed the creation of a White House commission to help save journalism jobs and find ways for news organizations to survive. Twenty-five percent (25%) like the idea, but 55% oppose it. If liberals make up about 50% of the population, then why the low numbers? Maybe because liberals don't understand the bias inherent in media.
Question: What is the last thing a fish discovers?
#1
You subsidize the newspapers then you start making political decisions as to which newspapers qualify for the subsidies. Sweet. You get the taxpayers to pay the government to decide what news people can read. Genius! Then even the male reporters are throwing their undies at Him.
#5
It's time for the amateur historians* to glean Jefferson's writings for an obscure reference that the State and Press should be separate in the manner of State and Religion so we can get the judicial caste to ban it out right. Separation of Press and State.
*you really think the socialists academics/professionals are going to find the means of killing this?
#6
Just make sure lefties know that Fox News will be getting lots of subsidies and they'll let this die.
Sorry, but FOX actually makes a profit. Could be related to this: Jan, 2008 - Americans Slam News Media on Believability By four-to-one margins, Americans surveyed see The New York Times (41.9% to 11.8%) and National Public Radio (40.3% to 11.2%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative.
By a three-to-one margin, Americans see news media journalists and broadcasters (45.4% to 15.7%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat conservative.
And, by a two-to-one margin, Americans see CNN (44.9% to 18.4%) and MSNBC (38.8% to 15.8%) as mostly or somewhat liberal over mostly or somewhat
conservative.
Just Fox News was seen as mostly and somewhat conservative (48.7%) over mostly or somewhat liberal (22.3%).
The most trusted national TV news organizations, for accurate reporting, in declining order included: Fox News (27.0%), CNN (14.6%), and NBC News (10.90%). These were followed by ABC News (7.0%), local news (6.9%), CBS News (6.8%) MSNBC (4.0%), PBS News (3.0%), CNBC (0.6%) and CBN (0.5%).
Posted by: ed ||
06/08/2010 19:42 Comments ||
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Israeli groups mull sailing toward Turkey to "remind the world of Turkish hypocrisy."
Although most of the recent talk regarding flotillas has revolved around ships sailing toward Gaza, at least two plans have emerged for reverse flotillas' from Israel toward Turkey to highlight what organizers have labeled the Turks' shameless hypocrisy' in their criticisms of the Jewish state.
The most ambitious of the two plans has been devised by members of Israel's National Student Union, who this week announced their intention to set sail toward Turkey, in an effort to bring humanitarian aid to the oppressed people of Turkish Kurdistan' and to members of the Turkish Armenian minority.'
Student Union chairman Boaz Torporovsky, who has been leading the reverse flotilla charge, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday, Hundreds of people have volunteered for the flotilla, and many more are contacting us all the time for ways they can help.
Our plan is to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance to the Kurds of Turkey, who by the way outnumber Israelis and Palestinians combined,' he said.
And to show that Turkey has its own issues when it comes to the treatment of its minorities, which they should consider before criticizing us.'
Torporovsky added that the National Student Union members had two separate flotilla ideas, both of which they hoped to embark on soon. The first was a flotilla of private yachts that would head out to sea if additional Gaza-bound flotillas entered Israeli waters.
We would like to greet them at sea,' he said. And explain to them, peacefully we don't want any violence what it is that's really going on here.
We'd like to show them the truth and help them understand that the reality here is not what they've been told.'
Torporovsky said that many yacht owners had already volunteered for that phase of the plan, and that he and his colleagues were preparing for the arrival of a number of Gaza-bound ships, of European or even Iranian origin.
The second phase of the National Student Union members' flotilla plan would be the more ambitious journey to Turkey, though Torporovsky admitted they were hard-pressed when it came to funding it.
We need three things to pull this part off,' he said.
Money, logistical support and balls and we've got the last two things covered.
But it's here that we really get into the shameless hypocrisy of the Turks, because while they criticize us day and night, they are oppressing the Kurds and silencing the world when it comes to recognition of the Armenian Genocide.'
Torporovsky said his group had already found a captain for the vessel, a retired Israel Navy sailor, but the ship itself was proving harder to acquire.
It's not easy to find a large, sea-bound vessel,' he said.
But we're looking, and we're raising funds, and as soon as we're able to do it, we will.'
But the reverse-flotilla talk hasn't stopped there.
Another sea-bound venture is being organized in an effort to draw attention to Turkey's own controversial policies this time to Cyprus, to call for an end to the Turkish occupation' of the island's northern half and is being organized by Meretz activist Pinchas Har-Zahav, and his son Haim, who has also signed on for the voyage.
The group is also set to include Alex Goldfarb, who was an MK with the Tzomet and Yiud parties from 1992 to 1996, and is being subsidized by an unnamed wealthy Israeli.
Speaking to the Post on Monday, Haim Har-Zahav said the goal of the voyage was to remind the world that Turkey is not innocent.
If Uruguay or Iceland were the ones criticizing us so harshly, it might be a different story,' he said. But we're talking about a country that only seven years after [the Six Day War and the beginning of Israeli control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank] began occupying Cyprus.
We're talking about a country that has systematically killed the Kurds and refuses to acknowledge their role in the Armenian Genocide,' he said.
And so no, we will not accept this. The hypocrisy has to stop here.'
Har-Zahav added that the ship's passengers were not looking for a violent confrontation and if told to turn back, they would.
But we feel that it's important for us to show and remind the world that Turkey is not a righteous country, but a near-rogue state, and that we, the Israeli people, are not suckers.'
#1
Its not easy to find a large, sea-bound vessel, he said. But were looking, and were raising funds, and as soon as were able to do it, we will.
They should start a fund drive to get the Kitty Hawk or Iowa.
#2
Cypress is the right target as it can be accessed by sea and is the closest to the Gaza situation. Yeah its not perfect but better than the Kurd or Armenian situations.
Seeing your mother-in-law about to back off a cliff in your new Mercedes.
The dilemma now facing the Turks and whomever else will be that they will want to permanently seize any decent boat that folks in Israel send their way. Of course, that will invite similar retaliation.
[Al Arabiya Latest] "I am a Phoenician, not an Arab," asserts 20-year-old Lebanese student Rebecca Yazbeck when asked to define her identity, with nothing more than conviction to back her claim.
But fellow Lebanese Shehade Seqlawi feels differently.
"There is no question that we are Arabs," says the 50-year-old chauffeur. "We live in an Arab environment."
A debate over national identity has raged in Lebanon since the start of the 20th century with many Maronites, the dominant Christian sect in the multi-confessional country, claiming direct ancestry from the Phoenicians in a bid to stand apart in the largely Muslim Middle East.
The Phoenicians were an intrepid seafaring people and tradesmen largely credited with creating the first widely used alphabet.
With the onset of the civil war in 1975, the debate over identity became more acute as the term Phoenician started being bandied about as an ideological weapon and a means to differentiate Christians from Muslims.
But various scientific studies in recent years have served to debunk the idea that Phoenician ancestry is related in any way to religion or a specific nationality.
"You can be Muslim or Christian and carry a Phoenician signature," said Pierre Zalloua, a Lebanese scientist who has carried out research to trace the genetic origin of Middle Eastern peoples.
He notes that populations across the eastern Mediterranean coastline -- Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories -- share much of the same genetic makeup.
"The Phoenicians lived before monotheistic religions and geopolitical divisions," said Zalloua, whose research has been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics and Annals of Human Genetics.
At least 30 percent of Lebanese, regardless of religion, have a genetic "stamp" that bears the mark of the Phoenicians, he told AFP.
"It was very surprising to find that after thousands of years there are still so many traces of Phoenician genes," added Zalloua, who collects DNA samples to trace genealogy.
"This shows that we are all not so different from each other."
But no science will convince some Lebanese, like Yazbeck, that they are anything other than Phoenician.
"Of course I am first and foremost of Phoenician origin," insists the green-eyed blonde.
"I don't think the Lebanese are Arabs," she adds. "Civilizations have evolved, but we have been here for centuries."
An article in the Lebanese constitution drafted in 1943 stipulated that Lebanon was a country with an "Arab face." This was replaced at the end of the civil war in 1990 with an article labeling it "an Arab country."
The ancient Phoenicians traversed the seas as early as 1200 BC, passing through what are today Lebanon, Spain and Morocco via Cyprus and Carthage, a thriving city which they founded in modern-day Tunisia.
The Lebanese port city of Tyre was the main city-state in Phoenicia, which covered roughly the same area as modern-day Lebanon. Among the other main centers of the civilization were Byblos, Sidon and what is now known as Beirut.
Historian Boutros Labaki argues that while the Lebanese today agree on the fact they are Lebanese, they differ as to whether they share a common identity.
"The decades-old debate over how you define yourself as a Lebanese persists," he told AFP.
"In order to promote its own political project, each community has sought to legitimize itself by forging an identity to mobilize its supporters."
This means that while Yazbeck and Seqlawi agree they are both Lebanese, they differ as to their origin, giving rise to wry comments and bemusement among Arab states and other countries.
Even Syrian President Bashar al-Assad quipped in an interview recently that he was surprised that some Lebanese still refer to themselves as Phoenicians.
For Marianne, a friend of Yazbeck who refused to give her last name, there is no two ways about it.
"We can't deny our Arab identity," said the 22-year-old. "But we're not really Arabs.
"We're more open than others."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
No bibliography cites? What's next, the AP lifting news from bloggers? Oh, wait, never mind.
#3
The Phoenicians are mentioned in the Bible as very early Seafarers with ancient archaological inscriptions claiming to be Phoenician found near Paramaribo, Suriname. Hiram of Tyre was Solomon's master builder and shipmaker for trade around the world, aiding in constructing Israel in the glory days. The expansionist Arabs, from the Arabian peninsula of modern Saudi and Yemen, were identified as enemies of the Jews biblically when they disrupted the rebuilding of the wall in Nehemiah's time following Babylonian exile. Claiming territory not their own is ancient news and there is still friction about the bossy outsiders taking over in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.
#6
While I was in Lebanon (69-73) I heard plenty of debates about that.
Christians had the tendency to side with Phoenicians and Muslims with Arabs.
The Tanakh would be a good source for pre-muslims' era.
And by the way what is the definition of "Arab"? Is it a race, a religion, a country, what? Or just a language.
O
#7
Egypt has a long pre-Islamic history yet most of them consider themselves Arab by this point. On the other hand...
Arabs and Sephartic Jews are both Semites so there is a case to be made that ethincally identical but cultural or religious differences can justify a new name.
The Defense Department officially opposes renaming the Department of the Navy the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps, according to an official DoD letter sent to Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In our view, the renaming of the Department is unnecessary, would incur additional expense of several hundred thousands dollars a year over the next several years and would not enhance the standing or reputation of the Marine Corps,' wrote Jeh Charles Johnson, DoD's general counsel.
Every year since 2001, Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., has spearheaded an effort to rename the department. Slow to gain support in its initial years, the bill passed the House this year with a record-breaking 425 co-sponsors.
A sister bill in the Senate, authored by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has been referred to the Armed Services Committee. The bill has yes to receive widespread support from the Senate, although this year it has an all-time high of 28 co-sponsors.
#7
Renaming is protection from Army take over of Marine Corps...and the Air Force taking Marine Air Wings...
Note also,Gates wants Marine Corps to cut back on amphib equip,..etc..
#8
Why not? the DoN already spent a sh!tload of dollars on digital uniforms for the current active duty folks. seems kind of stupid, more of a 'me too' to keep up with the Aarmy, and Marines with the latest in camoflague. I can picture it now: the enemy, whilst sweeping a nearby flattop with binoculars turns to his second in command and remarks that the navy ship is there without a single sailor on it.
spend the money on something useful; like more F-35s
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
