Reaching for their revolver

In a time when willfully ignorant people seem to wish us into endless war with Islamic countries, one might think that what we need right now in America is a greater understanding of both Arabic language and Islamic culture.

One might think so.

One would evidently be wrong:

On the July 25 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity previewed a discussion of plans to operate an Arabic language and culture school in Brooklyn, New York, by saying that "if you live in New York City, guess what? Your tax dollars could be going to fund a madrassa," and that "the city that fell victim to the biggest terrorist attack in world history challenges the separation of church and state and using tax dollars to fund an all-Muslim school."

Opposition to the school is being led, evidently, by a group called Stop the Madrassa Coalition, on the surface a group of New York citizens concerned over the lack of feedback they've gotten from the NYC Department of Education over the school opening, but are in fact, well, yet another bunch of wingnuts who've decided that anything associated with TEH EVYL MOSLIBOLSHIFASCHONAZIS must be part of a plot against our precious bodily fluids:

To date, despite numerous requests, the City has provided no explanation to members of the coalition or the public at large about the precise nature of the curricula, the text books that will be used, the publishers of those texts, or the lesson plans. Further, no one from the City has provided information about the selection process of the teachers for the “Arabic” and “Middle Eastern” subjects, whether they will be certified, and if not, how they will be effectively supervised. We demand to know why.

'Cause, you know, if someone from DHS isn't monitoring those classes constantly, next thing you know they'll be full of shreiking ululating jihadi fanatics learning how to strap bombs to themselves. 'Cause that's what "madrasa" MEANS, y'know.

(Actually, it doesn't. It merely means "school". Nothing more, nothing less. Don't tell 'em "talib" is the word for "teacher"!

Then again maybe we should before the school opens, so when the fink from DHS DOES hang around outside the class door and hears the word, people don't jump to stupid conclusions.

Then again, I think we're way beyond that point these days.)

Of course, bless their lil' paranoid hearts, they see nothing wrong with learning Arabic, at least, if it's FOR THE RIGHT REASONS:

We may want to learn Arabic, and to have our children learn it, for patriotic reasons first - to defend the country as a soldier, to help in diplomacy but never appeasement, to reach out to apostates and reform Muslims under siege by extreme Islamists in the U.S. and abroad, to help Arabic Christians and Sephardic Jews who are persecuted in their nations or as refugees.

So it's okay to learn enough Arabic to say "Stop, Hadji!" and "End your nuclear program NOW", and I guess to read the Koran to pick out the parts that reinforce your dismal view of Islam, but any more than that and you're in serious danger of contamination! Arabic should be handled like Ebola virus, I guess - in carefully controlled secure environments, by experts.

One might well ask, where are they getting their information from? And, inevitably, the Routine Suspects pop up like weevils in batter:

Our citizens coalition continues to investigate and protest the school by all possible means, including our New York City chapters of the United American Committee, NY-ICE, Gathering of Eagles, the Center for Vigilant Freedom, and a wide variety of neighborhood groups, online forums and individuals.

The "United American Committee" is a "anti-jihadi" fear group who, for example, want to keep al-Jazeera from broadcasting in English (way to "monitor our enemies", guys - let's not know what the Arab world has to say about us! Better to get it from MEMRI, I guess. Ebola and all that, remember), "NY-ICE" is yet another immigrant paranoia group who welcomes the Minutemen and protested in front of a Socialist bookstore in Manhattan "to bring illegal alien supporters out of the shadows" (what the one has to do with the other I dunno, but whatever floats your boat, folks), "Gathering of Eagles" is the dozen or so wingnuts who show up at anti-war rallies and accuse liberals of treason, and the Center for Vigilant Freedom (they MUST stay up all night thinking up these names!) are part of the "910 Group", which features geenyouses like the folks over at Gates of VaginaBacon & Playdoh who fight the good fight by fretting over streets named after Islamists and printing REALLY BAD drawings.

And as far as the blogs go?

We were also supported in this fight by many well-known blogs such as KesherTalk, Jillosophy and AtlasShrugs amongst many others.

Um, let's see - that's one right-wing Likudnik-type, somebody-or-other ("well-known"? Is this some strange definition of that phrase I've never encountered before?), and the shining star, the wingnut crown jewel herself, Blogs-While-Soused. Whee!

Thank god luminaries like that are protecting us all from the threat of learning about Islamic culture (like, for example, a holiday where you're expected to give to the poor! How crazy and anti-American is THAT?) and that "qaratu" means "I read".

Look out for those goalposts

Whiz! There they go again!

WASHINGTON - Iraq is a nation gripped by fear and struggling to meet security and political goals by September, U.S. officials said Thursday from Baghdad, dashing hopes in Congress that the country might turn a corner this summer. One general said not to expect a solid judgment on the U.S. troop buildup until November.

[snip]

Petraeus' deputy in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, later told reporters he would need beyond September to tell if improvements represent long-term trends.

"In order to do a good assessment I need at least until November," he said.

You know, I've been wondering what the hell was going to change SO MUCH in the next month-and-a-half or so that would enable Bush to pull Iraq out of the cellophane. Now I know - just keep shifting the date back a couple months until January '09, when someone else will get to clean up his mess like always. Whee!

Oh, and it gets even BETTER this morning! Turns out Nixon didn't go far enough - EVERYONE from the White House is above the law:

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

It's really too bad Clinton didn't know about these SEEKRIT SPECIAL POWERS, but I guess maybe they only work for warmongering illiterate mushmouthed Republicans. Kinda like Blue Kryptonite only affects Bizarros, or something.

UPDATE: The precedent claimed for this invocation of executive privlege is a case from 1984 involving the EPA - and mirable dictu, who made this arguement but "the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, headed at the time by Theodore B. Olson".

That would be this Ted Olson:

Underlying the dispute is the role Mr. Olson played, along with his wife, Barbara, during the Clinton presidency, when both engaged in harsh, even vituperative criticism of both President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mr. Olson has never denied being a leading figure in anti-Clinton circles, but the dispute has involved his connection to a specific venture at The American Spectator known as the Arkansas Project.

No WONDER Clinton didn't know about the seekrit powers. Q.E.D.

UPDATE #2: Ooooh, somebody evidently got a talking-to:

White House press secretary Tony Snow said that despite widespread skepticism in Congress, there have been significant results one month after the U.S. completed a buildup of 21,500 additional combat troops. He said the administration was not trying to move the goal posts for assessing the buildup, from September until November.

[snip]

But on Friday, Odierno clarified his statements.

"There is no intention to push our reporting requirement beyond September," he said. "Nothing I said yesterday should be interpreted to suggest otherwise. My reference to November was simply suggesting that as we go forward beyond September, we will gain more understanding of trends."

So why state the obvious that way? My guess is the Lt. General got told "THOU SHALT NOT CONTRADICT THE PRESIDENT IN A TIME OF POLITICAL CRISIS". Which means, for this White House, pretty much "never".

...and speaking of "degeneracy"

Who cares if they're unarmed, who cares if they're fleeing, hell, who even cares if they're merely "suspects"?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Border Patrol agents should be allowed to shoot at fleeing drug traffickers, a Republican senator suggested Tuesday.

The patrol's deadly force rules were questioned at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning the conviction of two agents who shot a fleeing, unarmed drug trafficker and covered it up.

"Why is it wrong to shoot the [trafficker] after he's been told to stop?" asked Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma.

Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said the Supreme Court has ruled that using deadly force in that way is illegal. Agents also may not know if the fleeing person is a trafficker, he said.

Hell, they're FURRINERS, after all! Why not pump a few bullets into 'em to slow 'em down? Evidence? Guilt? Trial? Why, those are just SO pre-9/11. That guy might be a TERRORIST, after all! Better to kill a few innocent Messicans rather than let a crazed drug-dealing hopped-up terrorist across the border.

(Me? Snarky? Oh, JUST a tad.)

Today in History

June 19, 1937 - the Entartete Kunst exhibit opens in Munich, Germany:

Degenerate Art was also the title of an exhibition, mounted by the Nazis in the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 1937, consisting of modernist artworks chaotically hung and accompanied by text labels deriding the art. Designed to inflame public opinion against modernism, the exhibition subsequently traveled to several other cities in Germany and Austria.

What did they object to in art? Abstract art in general, but see if these particular descriptions posted next to the displays sound somewhat familiar today:

Insolent mockery of the Divine under Centrist rule

An insult to German womanhood

Deliberate sabotage of national defense

While modern styles of art were prohibited, the Nazis promoted paintings and sculptures that were narrowly traditional in manner and that exalted the "blood and soil" values of racial purity, militarism, and obedience.

Xenophobia, militarism and jingo patriotism. Thank god things are NOTHING like that these days.

Hey, look at all the dust!

I guess I have to face the fact that this blog is going to be intermittent; I just don't have the drive that motivates an Atrios or The Great Orange Satan Who Tells Us All What To Think (regardless of the fact I never READ Kos as it is!). Maybe I should start doing "Glass Teat Fridays" again.

Special "haven't been keeping on top of events" bonus: a new blog in the blogroll that I think only I ever access: The Randzapper. Ayn Rand's "philosophy" and defenders eviscerated before your very eyes, in full living color. Whee! As someone who came too close to being a Randroid myself, I appreciate the service.