Why do they hate us?

The Redhunter brings up some excellent points in this post on Condi Rice. I don't have much to add to what Tom has said (go read the post), but I especially want to highlight his observation

We need to hold the Administration to their word; reform of Saudi Arabia and the various gulf states is just as important, and perhaps more so, than dealing with Syria and Iran. It is not by accident that the most pro-American population can be found in Iran, and the most anti perhaps in Saudi Arabia. The most popular explanation that I have seen is that the Iranians appreciate American opposition to their hated mullahs, while the Saudis hate the U.S. for proping up their corrupt leadership.

The BBC, of course, has it exactly backwards; Rice doesn't represent the "same old" State Department, she represents a new and tougher one, and one that's closer to the President's views. The fact that she also has more personal charisma than Powell makes her that much stronger as a stateswoman - and it is exactly this subtle strength that will be needed when dealing with the Europeans.

(Can anyone say "soft power"?)

How an Italian Blogs

This just in, courtesy of Stefania:
One of the Italians held hostage by terrorists - along with the heroic Fabrizio Quattrocchi - has started his own blog. It's in Italian, but be sure to drop by (even if your Italian is rusty) and pass on this link to your friends:
Salvatore Stefio


And don't forget to drop by Stefania's blog, which is bilingual.

"Death To America" Day

Iranian freedom activists marked the anniversary of the islamist revolution in Iran with civil disobedience:

Millions of Iranians inflicted, today, another heavy slap to the face of the shacky and unpopular Islamic regime by boycotting its "celebration of the 26th anniversary of revolution" by staying home or afar from the official gatherings.

In Tehran, the regime was not able to bring more than 70 or 80 thousands of professional demosntrators or forced employees of the government. The Capital's inhabitants are over 12 Millions.

Thousands of homes had shut off their lights from 09:00 PM on Wednesday while hundreds of maverick Iranians sized the occasion in order to get into the streets and bring down many of the regime's electrical propaganda tools in southern, western and eastern parts of the Capital and in cities, such as, Shiraz, Hamedan and Esfahan.

Slogans were shouted from roofs against the regime and its leaders by calling an end to the rule of the Islamic regime.

Iranians will be shuting off again their home's lights this evening from 09:00 PM.

SMCCDI had called for such Civil Disobeidance Actions in a statement read by opposition radios, such as KRSI, and during a NITV special program, with the presence of the Movement's Coordinator and responsibles of other opposition groups, such as, Payvand e Iranian, Marzeporgohar and Iranian Jewish Federation. The NITV special long programing took place just few hours before and ended by 05:00 PM of Wedenesday.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera-on-the-Thames gave its version of events:

Tens of thousands of Iranians have braved blizzards to attend rallies marking the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The government had urged people to turn out to show support for its nuclear programme amid pressure led by the US. ...

North Korea Says It Has Nukes

CNN reports:

World leaders expressed concern on Thursday that North Korea will quit six-party nuclear disarmament talks and will "bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said North Korea is risking further world isolation "because everyone in the international community, and most especially North Korea's neighbors, have been very clear that there needs to be no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula in order to maintain stability in that region."

More on this as it develops.

Bush's Mystery Bulge: Hearing Device or Defibrillator?

Emily at Strangechord cites an article about the unidentified bulge in President Bush's jacket during the television debate. Robert Nelson, an imaging specialist, told the New York Times he thought the pictures of Bush looked suspicious, and offered to help the Times investigate. The Times ultimately dropped the story, saying it could not take the story beyond "speculation".

I think it's pretty clear that there is something under Bush's jacket, and I wish the White House had been more forthcoming with its explanations. For my part, I think the "hearing device" theory is a bit farfetched, partly because it would be foolish for Bush to do something so rash (and risk exposure), and partly because the President's lackluster performance during the debate didn't give the impression that he was getting any kind of expert help. But I would like to know the story behind that bulge.

Another possibility - and I think a more plausible one - is provided by this thread, citing (of all things) Indymedia. This scenario has the President wearing something called a LifeVest portable defibrillator. Look at the photographs of the LifeVest and at the pictures of President Bush - especially the one taken at Crawford in 2002, where the President is wearing a T-shirt and is nowhere near a debating podium. (By comparison, the shape of the hearing device shown in the other story is a poor match for the shape of the bulge under the jacket.)

While I'll be glad to concede Emily's contention that the New York Times is hopelessly biased in favor of Bush, I think they made the right decision in holding off on the story. There does seem to have been something under the President's jacket in that famous photo, and Bush's critics were justified in asking questions - but as even the Fair piece tacitly acknowledges, there's very little to suggest that the bulge was caused by a listening device.

In fact, I think the Indymedia report is probably true ... and no, I never thought I'd find myself saying those words either.

They shoot journalists, don't they?

While some in the American MSM fantasize about being the targets of assassinations, for Iraqi journalists this threat is all too real.

Abdul Hussein Khazaal was gunned down by masked terrorists on Wednesday - along with his three-year-old son. Khazaal was a television correspondent for al-Hurra ("The Free"), the US-backed, Arabic-language voice of freedom in the Middle East. Although some islamist clerics have denounced the station as "propaganda", President Bush sees the station as a way to "cut through the hateful propaganda that fills the airwaves in the Muslim world".

The name of Abdul Hussein Khazaal should be rememberd among the rolls of freedom's martyrs.

CNN: Abdul Hussein Khazaal

The Doctor and the Greedy Chief

Many thanks to Jeff Strang, and old Green Party comrade of mine and a Peace Corps veteran, for forwarding this story.

His name intrigues people, his story inspires them.

Introducing 'Doctor' Abio Ayeliya, 23, an Eastern Oregon University freshman from Ghana.

His is a story of perseverance and the selfless concern of a former teacher Izaak Edvalson, a 1998 graduate of EOU.

Ayeliya attends Eastern because Edvalson, a former teacher in the Peace Corps, has given him the chance of a lifetime. Edvalson donated $15,000 of his own money and has raised another $10,000 to cover Ayeliya's first two years of expenses at Eastern.

It is a remarkable story, one that started when Edvalson met Ayeliya while working in the Peace Corps in Ghana from 1999 to 2001. There, in the northern village of Chiana, Edvalson received the type of attention he was not used to.

As a teacher Edvalson was bothered by students who were constantly asking him for things. They did so because they think Americans have everything, Edvalson said.

Villagers nicknamed him Wolongope. Translation: the greedy chief.

Ayeliya was among those who came around. However, he was different. ...

Read the rest here: Club Ghana.
Then go here: Wolongope.

Trina Schart Hyman

Trina Schart Hyman, who died last November, was my favorite illustrator growing up, and come to think of it, she still is. She used to do cover illustrations and border art for the children's magazine Cricket, which my sister and I read as kids. (The margins had a delightful cartoon called "Cricket and Ladybug".) Fortunately, my parents saved all the old copies of Cricket, and I was able to salvage them from the basement last year - they're sitting in a box by my desk right now, more than 60 issues dating from 1974 to 1979.

Trina created a rich and seductive fantasy world for such classics as "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Saint George and the Dragon", "Peter Pan", and "The Golem". I never outgrew my enjoyment of children's books, and especially her art. It's passionate, frightening, romantic, and magical.

This bio gives a little background about her life:

Trina was born on April 8, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Margaret Doris Bruck and Albert H. Schart. She grew up in a rural area of Pennsylvania learning to read and draw at an early age. She credits her mother for instilling in her the joy of books by reading to her from the time she was an infant. She spent a whole year wearing a red satin cape that her mother had made for her because her favorite story was Little Red Riding Hood. 
“I figured out at four years old that somebody had made the pictures in my books and though I didn’t know what these people were called, I knew I wanted to be a book illustrator. . . . I began to make books from my own stories and drew pictures to illustrate them. “

“It was always very clear to me—and to everyone else, too—exactly what I would do when I grew up. I would be an artist, and I would be the sort of artist who made pictures that told stories. It wasn’t until the seventh grade that I learned about the word illustrator, but when I heard it, I knew that that was me.”

... Although she skipped first grade, Trina never felt like she was a good student, preferring to doodle rather than do the assigned work. It wasn’t until she enrolled at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art in 1956 that she blossomed. 
“Suddenly, I was not only allowed to draw all day long, I was expected to! I was surrounded by other artists all day, and we talked, ate, lived and dreamed about art. It was as though I had been living, all my life, in a strange country where I could never quite fit in—and now I had come home.”

In 1959, she married mathematician and engineer, Harris Hyman, and they moved to Boston where he had gotten a job. She continued studying at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts.

I know Harris; as it happens, we go to the same shul - although I haven't been going as regularly as I should lately, or I probably would have learned of Trina's passing earlier. They had a baby girl, Katrin, in 1963, and went their separate ways in 1968. Harris is a nice fellow, and he and Trina remained on good terms; Harris told me his daughter (from a later marriage) would refer to Trina as her "fairy godmother".

Trina was a low-tech kind of person:

Distrustful of technology, Trina proudly admits to not owning a “mind-destroying, soul-sucking” television, or any other convenience remotely technological. Making a solemn vow at the time of her daughter’s birth, she chose instead to fill their home with hundreds of good books and took the time to read them. She credits this practice with teaching her daughter to read at the age of four.

Good for her! My parents didn't forbid television, but they did ration it strictly. Most evenings we'd sit in the living room, all four of us, and read aloud. "Family reading" was a sacred institution in our house. We'd each take a turn reading from a young-adult book, or, later, a regular novel or classic. This did amazing things for our reading, speaking, and listening skills, and I'll always consider it one of the biggest gifts Mom and Dad gave us. My father, I remember, had an excellent reading voice. (In his later years, I believe he spent some time as a volunteer reader for some kind of audio books. So perhaps even now someone is out there listening to my father read.) We read Lucy M. Boston (the Green Knowe books), Susan Cooper ("The Dark Is Rising" series), Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, and Stephen King. (Yes, really. Mom was a big Stephen King fan.) There was a lot more, too, but those are the ones I remember.

I've always had a bit of a luddite streak myself, although plainly I have a geeky side too. I'll always trust the intimacy of tangible objects - books, handwritten letters, and so on - in a way that I will never feel comfortable with electronic communications. But enough about me; back to Trina.

Moving beyond drawing European characters, Trina went on to illustrate "The Fortune Tellers" (set in her son-in-law's native Cameroon) and "The Serpent Slayer: Stories of Strong Women". In her later years she suffered from arthritis, which made it difficult for her to work; and from cancer, which finally claimed her life on November 19, 2004.

I never got to meet Trina, although I did mail her an enthusiastic fan letter as a young adult, which she was kind enough to answer. (I still have Trina's letter, along with the autographed copy of her autobiography, "Self-Portrait: Trina Schart Hyman" that she sent me.) After selling my parents' house last year, I splurged a little and bought an original of one of her works from Child At Heart Gallery - a woman with piercing eyes and flaming red hair, holding a glowing sphere in her hands and standing against a dramatic, dark background. I like to imagine that it represents the secret, Divine spark, which we all share, but which too often we keep hidden. When we hold it the right way, it shines.

Trina Schart Hyman links:
Child At Heart Gallery
Trina Schart Hyman biography
tribute from Open Fields School
Cricket Magazine
Reading Room: Remembering Trina Schart Hyman
The Horn Book: Trina Schart Hyman
LiveJournal: Trina Schart Hyman thread
Powell's Books: The Sleeping Beauty


Thanks to my dear friend Blanche in San Francisco for passing the news.

Morning Report: February 8, 2005

Sabah: Support for woman president in Iraq. In the February 7 English edition, al-Sabah reports: 'In unprecedented, bold and democratic step, political and diplomatic sources expected that candidate of presidency for coming stage is a woman. Meanwhile, political sources confirmed that the real winner of elections is Iraqi people, who got rid of Saddam's hegemony and dictatorship. ... As-Sabah's ran a poll on choosing Iraqi woman for presidency position stemming from democratic concept in newborn Iraq. Nominations concentrated on three names: Naziha al- Duleimi , who occupied minister position for a first time in Iraqi history . She was within Iraqi government following events of 1958 . In the meantime, Safiya al- Siheel nominated herself for presidency position in the coming Iraqi government. She is now an Iraqi ambassador to Egypt. Son Col Jabook nominated herself for position of minister of defense in the interim government.' (Al-Sabah English)

Sharon, Abbas call truce. News media reported that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a truce at today's (Tuesday) summit at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt: 'Abbas said: “We have agreed on halting all violent actions against Palestinians and Israelis wherever they are.” Sharon made a similar pledge: “Today, in my meeting with chairman Abbas, we agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere, and, at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere.”' Debka points out that Hamas has rejected the accord: 'Hamas leader Osama Hamada in Damascus: We are not bound by Sharm declarations.' (MSNBC, Debka)

Rice honors Holocaust dead, ignores Arafat's tomb. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Yad VaShem, Israel's memorial to the victims of the Nazi regime, but had no time in her busy Mideast tour to acknowledge the dead terrorist leader Yasser Arafat. Unlike many previous political figures, 'Condoleezza Rice made no acknowledgement of Yasser Arafat's grave when she met the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah on Monday before concluding a whirlwind trip to Israel and the PA' according to the Jerusalem Post. However, as Arutz Sheva reports, Dr. Rice 'opened her Israel visit today with a tour of the Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial.' She also called on Israel to make "hard decisions" in choosing its future course in its relations with the Palestinians. (JPost, Arutz7)

We said we'd go. We didn't say we'd be nice.

The US attended an "anti-terrorism conference" in Saudi Arabia, but refused to put on a friendly face for representatives of the IRI regime in Tehran. In fact, Frances Townsend had some harsh words for the islamist entity. This Agence France-Presse story reports that

Delegates from the United States and archfoe Iran engaged in a "heated" exchange at a counter-terrorism conference in Saudi Arabia, the local media reported but a US official insisted the encounter was "professional."

(Hat tip: Little Green Footballs, which turns 4 today. Happy birthday LGF!)

"The exchange that took place in the first general assembly was a professional one reflecting differences in views between the US and Iranian delegations," a US embassy spokesperson in Riyadh told AFP. But the English-daily Saudi Gazette said the Iranian and US delegations at the closed-door conference were reportedly "locked in a heated exchange... when the issue of what constitutes terrorism arose." Diplomatic sources told AFP that Saturday's address by US Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend had prompted the head of the Iranian delegation to give a speech in response. There were no details on the content of his speech.

Read the whole thing at the link. Go Frances Townsend!

Morning Report: February 7, 2005

Erekat: Israel, Palestine to announce cease-fire. A recent news report from CNN states that Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has said Palestinian and Israeli leaders will announce a cease-fire at tomorrow's (Tuesday) summit at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt. 'Under the agreement, Israeli troops will halt incursions into Palestinian territories and Palestinian officials will urge all Palestinian factions to halt their attacks on Israel, Palestinian officials said. Erakat's statement came hours after leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to travel to Washington for separate meetings with President Bush. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- after talks with leaders from both sides -- said this is the most promising time for Mideast peace in years.' Debka reports: 'Rice announces Abbas and Sharon to go to White House in spring. At Ben Gurion airport, she disclosed a US security coordinator Lt. Gen. William Ward will be deployed to work with Palestinians, Israel, Egypt and Jordan on improvement of security in region. Rice ended two days of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah Monday. DEBKAfile adds: General is former head of stabilizing force in Bosnia.' The BBC profiles Ward: 'Gen Ward gained a master's degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University and a bachelor's in political science from Morgan State University before he was commissioned as an officer in 1971. His military service includes several overseas tours. He was a brigade commander in Mogadishu, Somalia, when two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. Nineteen US soldiers died during the now infamous subsequent rescue operation. For a year until October 2003 he commanded the Nato Stabilisation Force in Bosnia-Hercegovina. He has also toured in South Korea and Germany.' (CNN, Debka, BBC)

Debka: NATO to begin presence in Israel. Also from Debka: 'DEBKAfile’s Eilat sources report visit Sunday by NATO naval officers at Israeli Red Sea port and neighboring Aqaba in Jordan and inspection of their naval base installations. Sources expect NATO warships to begin docking in Eilat early next month, first instance of NATO sea cooperation with US as well as Israel and Jordan in Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba.' (Debka)

ITM: New tyranny "not that easy". Refuting earlier reports of an alleged statement by Sistani endorsing Shari'a law in Iraq, Omar reports: 'I chose to wait until the next news hour and of course until I chill out a little bit after the disturbing news and then I heard this update on the story "Haider Al-Khaffaf, a senior Sistani's aide says that no such statement was released". And going back to Friday's news, another senior aide of Sistani said from Kuwait that "the future constitution of the country is an issue that is left for the National Assembly to deal with".' Omar (agreeing with Baghdad Dweller) also sees a parallel with last year's infamous Resolution 137, which would have imposed Islamic law, and which was soundly rejected by the Iraqis. Omar also points to a system of checks and balances: 'there are rules and regulations that govern the writing of the constitution and these were agreed on by almost everyone (with a few reservations though) but there is a general agreement on these rules, and anyway, passing any legislation will require the approval of 2 thirds of the assembly's members.' The Belmont Club's analysis concludes that 'The question of whether it was right to deal with Chalabi or Allawi may in the end be dominated by the issue of whether it was right to trust the Iraqi people to select its leader. If that judgement is correct it is possible to be wrong in all else; if wrong nothing will avail.' (Iraq the Model, Belmont Club)

Barney Frank on Eason Jordan. Michelle Malkin recently spoke with Rep. Barney Frank (D - Massachusetts) on CNN official Eason Jordan's questionable allegations regarding US troops and reporters. Malkin writes: 'Rep. Frank said Eason Jordan did assert that there was deliberate targeting of journalists by the U.S. military. After Jordan made the statement, Rep. Frank said he immediately "expressed deep skepticism." Jordan backed off (slightly), Rep. Frank said, "explaining that he wasn't saying it was the policy of the American military to target journalists, but that there may have been individual cases where they were targeted by younger personnel who were not properly disciplined." Rep. Frank said he didn't pay attention to the audience reaction at the time of the panel, but recalled that Sen. Dodd was "somewhat disturbed" and "somewhat exercised" and that moderator David Gergen also said Jordan's assertions were "disturbing if true." I have a call in to Sen. Dodd's office and sent an e-mail inquiry to Gergen.' (Michelle Malkin via Instapundit)

France bans Iranian anti-regime rally. Iran Focus reports that French authorities have withdrawn their approval for a pro-Iranian rally in Paris, under pressure from the islamist regime in Tehran. 'Iran's main opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued a statement today condemning the French government's decision to ban a peaceful protest by Iranian exiles in Paris against the dictatorship ruling Iran, despite prior approval. ... The NCRI revealed from sources from within Iran that France gave into the demands of the Iranian regime to secure economic deals for French companies, adding that Tehran was spreading its dictatorship thousands of kilometres to the heart of Europe.' (Iran Focus via Free Iran)

Update

Wednesday night I got to watch the President's State of the Union speech with some folks from College Republicans and the Washington County (Oregon) Republicans. There were a couple dozen of us there: women in skirts and neat makeup, men in neckties and crisp haircuts, and, well ... me. I don't get a chance to go to the CR meetings on campus because they're on Thursday nights and they conflict with my yoga class; so this was a too-rare chance to hang out with other Republicans, which I did. A very nice young woman named Lucy gave me a lift there and back, as I'm still wheel-less for the time being.

Thursday I got my Physics exam back. Didn't do quite as well as I'd hoped, but still scored 10 points above the class average. I had a screaming headache on the day of the exam and made a lot of dumb mistakes. (Memo to self: the static charge on the INTERIOR of a conductor is zero. On the surfaces, it'll gravitate toward wherever there's an opposite charge nearby ... grrrr ...)

Thursday night I went out with a couple of friends and met the artist Shahna Lax, who does amazing work in what she calls "Judeo-Islamic art", combining Muslim and Jewish motifs. She's based near Taos, New Mexico. We met up at the coffee shop at Powell's Books, made a lot of noise, and then went on to the Blue Moon for a drink and a bite to eat. Of course I didn't bring up politics; I'm "out" as a Republican to my friends, but with new acquaintances from the left-leaning arts crowd I leave it alone. (It doesn't exactly enhance my dating life, either. But I digress.)

Friday I picked up a box of "business cards" with my name and address, along with this blog's title and URL. So now I have something to give out to friends when I casually let it drop that I "keep a little web page". The cards look really sharp - Office Depot did a nice job on these.

I'm working my way through the BBC's 'Hamlet' on DVD for the second time, and I'll probably view it a few more times this week. See, the Beeb are good for a few things! This production is 3 hours and 42 minutes long, but it's worth every minute. Amazing how every time you watch Shakespeare, you can feel as if you're watching it for the first time. I like the way Prince Hamlet channels his dead father, with Ophelia playing the same role to him that Hamlet himself did for the elder Hamlet's ghost. Hope to post something on Hamlet later.

My latest obsession is Myst, the classic computer game now in its fourth installment. Each new Myst game is prettier, fancier, and gloriouser (yes, dammit, that's a word) than the last. I've played the first game (now out as RealMyst, with real-time movement), Myst 3 "Exile", and Myst 4 "Revelation", which is just incredible. Still haven't gotten Myst 2 "Riven" yet, but that's only a matter of time. And of course there are the books!

And on a much less glamorous note, I've got to get some more housecleaning and, yes, homework done today. Will post again soon. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, go check out Jeff's post about a world that lives very close to ours.