Spot on

Moral Dilemma to run by Spot On readers. Advice needed.

Here goes. Ok, about two years ago my mom wanted to go to Paris for her birthday and though both previous times I had been in Paris I had swore they would be my last, my brother and I went with her to the land of 'cheese eating surrender monkeys'. We were going to spend two nights in one part of Paris and two nights in another part. The first two nights went swimmingly. Our small hotel was beautiful and the staff was friendly(!!!) and helpful. We moved to our next hotel for the remaining two nights. This hotel is a huge one, 5 star, an internationally known brand name hotel. Our stay was, to say the least, atrocious. The staff was rude and slow. The service was awful. The hotel had something like 500 rooms but one computer for public use. I asked the conceirge about getting tickets to see Moulin Rouge for my mom's birthday and she said there were no tickets available. Then I said 'ok, what about Lido' (another Moulin Rouge type show). Her reply was 'well, you didn't ask about Lido did you?' O-k.

When I returned to the states I sent an email detailing my problems with the hotel to the company's customer service office. They did not reply. I then resent the email with a comment about how absolutely outraged I am at their lack of care for their customers. They wrote back and sent me two free nights at the hotel in Paris. I had no urge to return to the hotel but thought it was a fair deal. The hotel was closed for renovations for 2002 and recently re-opened.

So here is my dilemma. I have been boycotting French products as best I could for most of this past year (sometimes a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-pape sneaks through). I think France has always been, and today is no exception, at the forefront of any Jew hating movement. I am distressed at the way the multiple firebombings of synagogues is handled (usually with a comment like 'boys will be boys' and no investigation or arrests). I do not feel safe wearing the Jewish star in Paris. I have been groped and harrassed in Paris and have received the following advice from a friend who lives there: 'don't look up as you walk, the men think you are interested if you do.' In short, I have no urge to return to Paris but feel that I also can not let the hotel get away with their poor service and French manners. I also know that I talk A LOT of shit about France and the French and wonder if going will be hypocritical. My boyfriend and I have devised ways in which we would spend no money during our two nights in Paris. I just feel like the hotel should pay and the only way for them to do that is to accept the two free nights offer and go to a city I despise.

What do my readers think?
# Posted 1:41 PM by Karol

Sometimes words just aren't needed.

Via LGF.
# Posted 1:23 AM by Karol

I know I sometimes write about music and when I do I get emails saying you guys like that. Well, I can honestly say that I didn't care one way or the other when Joe Strummer, singer of the Clash, died a few days ago but I've gotten two emails asking why I didn't mention it. If you are dying to see it commented on and want to comment yourself, I direct you here.
# Posted 2:40 PM by Karol

Jonah Goldberg on 2002's biggest losers and winners. My favorite part of a very funny article:

Other big losers in 2002: France, which has been on the loser list so long it should start receiving its mail there, once again boiled down its geopolitical interests to behaving like the school kid who won't play at all unless he gets to be team captain.

Canada, once a staunch and valuable ally in war and peace, has been exposed to have the military might of the Rhode Island National Guard, thanks to a liberal government intent on impressing the United Nations by bad-mouthing the United States.

Saudi Arabia spent millions on a PR effort to dispel the popular perception that the desert kingdom supports terrorists, teaches hate and lives in the Dark Ages. The effort has failed largely because the Saudis do in fact support terrorists, teach hate and live in the Dark Ages.
# Posted 2:27 PM by Karol

Andrew Stuttaford on that not at all biased BBC:

APPEASEMENT WATCH

As I sit here listening to the radio, commentators on the BBC's Radio 4 PM show are discussing the North Korean crisis. The spin? Pyongyang may have been driven to this by the 'axis of evil' speech.

It's sometimes difficult to avoid the conclusion that some of these clowns might have seen Churchill's (admittedly rather more eloquent) pre-war speeches about the Third Reich as 'unnecessarily provocative'
# Posted 2:13 PM by Karol

I was at my boyfriend's mom's house yesterday for Christmas. She is a huge Norman Rockwell fan and has his prints all over her house. The last time I was there I was fascinated by the one called 'Freedom from Want' which depicts a family sitting around the table at Thanksgiving being served a huge turkey. I thought it was an excellent name for the piece. I felt it is really all we should aim for-not riches but freedom from want.

Yesterday, I was really taken with the picture above. Freedom of worship. The words at the top of the picture read 'Each According to the Dictates of His Own Conscience.' It is a beautiful shot of people in prayer. I know that people think Rockwell is hokey and maybe what I'm about to say is hokey too. I left Russia as a small child because my family, being Jewish, were constantly persecuted. My relatives could not get certain jobs or go to certain universities. They could not travel and they certainly could not worship as they chose. We came to America with the idea that whatever happens, persecution based on our religion was never going to have to be a worry again. I feel really fortunate to live where I do and I felt it even stronger yesterday, celebrating Christmas with my Catholic boyfriend, his Catholic brother and his Jewish mother. You can be anything in America, that freedom is promised to you. Of the other three Rockwell prints that go along with this one (Freedom from want, Freedom from fear and Freedom of speech), only Freedom of speech is also guaranteed to you in America.

I've been thinking lately that there are only two ways that our current world struggle can turn out. We can accept radical Islam as our faith, we can dress our women in burkahs, ban alcohol and dancing and stone people for stealing. Or, we can resist. We can see the enemy for what it is and we can see clearly what their goals are. They want the world to be Muslim. The attacks yesterday, on Christmas day, should hopefully erase doubts had by people as to what the fanatics see as their ultimate goals. We can either make excuses and pretend that nothing is happening or we can stop walking on eggshells, stop pretending religion plays no role in this conflict, stop pretending that these lunatics' full intentions are not to take away our freedom of worship.

# Posted 3:53 PM by Karol

It's because the US is arrogant.

It's because the US supports Israel.

It's because the US stations troops in Saudi Arabia.

It's because the US does not abide by the Kyoto treaty.

Just don't say that it is because you are the wrong religion. Just keep pretending that we are dealing with a rational force that we can dialogue with and reach agreements with and eventually live with.
Merry Christmas.
# Posted 7:12 PM by Karol

I've got some shocking news. The Palestinians will not, after all, hold general elections in January. They have postponed this vote indefinitely. The reason they cite is that it is too 'difficult to hold a vote while Israeli forces continued to occupy West Bank cities.' Of course. It's the Jews that leave them with a terrorist for a leader. That's a great reason. Or as James Taranto puts it: 'Democracy is also indefinitely on hold in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the vast majority of other Arab countries. What's their excuse?'
# Posted 4:31 PM by Karol

When I moved back to New York in 1999, after a few years of living in Boston and Scotland, I was amazed at the lack of political diversity in the New York media. To be fair, I didn't have a television so there was one medium that was completely absent to me. The New York Times drove me crazy on a daily basis. My father, a Republican, would read it and gush about it. He thought it was the epitome of intelligence to read that left wing rag. I couldn't stand it, their editorials posing as facts and their opinions pretending to be real journalism. I had liked the Village Voice in my youth and though I didn't agree with their politics, I found it refreshing that they were so blatant about their opinions. I still read it but mostly to roll my eyes at.

One day, I was leaving Kims on Bleeker Street when I picked up a newspaper in a green box. I intended to kill some time reading it while waiting on a friend. It was the New York Press and I fell completely in love with it. It was everything I wanted in a newspaper. It has a Republican founder, Russ Smith, but has writing representing every political angle or no political angle at all. It was so well written, funny, interesting, edgy. I started picking it up every Wednesday and it was a big deal to me every time I met anyone who knew anything about the paper. My boyfriend shocked and impressed me on one of our first dates by having the NY Press with him. The people who I met who read it were the type that went out of their way to seek out good writing and different opinions. The New York Press has wacky rightwingers (well, had anyway before Taki ran off to be a wacky rightwinger elsewhere), nutty leftwingers, completely nutty leftwingers, the best horoscopes ever and a blind guy who writes more often than not about being drunk.

I had heard Russ Smith speak several times and one thing that he said about the newspaper was that it didn't have to fit into any preconceived notion, it didn't have to be anything at all. The reason? Most of it's readership picked it up for the escort services that advertised in the back and the classifieds.

I'm writing all of this today because I got a sad email from Spot On reader Dan linking to an article in the New York Times about how the New York Press has been sold to a group of investors. Their first order of business was to fire John Strausbaugh, the editor. The investors say that they have no 'immediate plans to change the paper's editorial mix' but this whole thing still worries me. I have the New York Sun now on a daily basis to provide me with the conservative perspective on New York politics, but for sheer running of the political gamut, New York Press is by far on top. I hope that the investors understand what a great paper they've acquired and I hope they don't change it too much.
# Posted 2:41 PM by Karol

Where pretending that all sides are equal gets us:
Palestinian radical was guest of US ambassador

Azzam Tamimi, an associate of a senior Hamas official, was invited to the official residence in Regents Park by envoy William Farish in an attempt to build bridges following the September 11 terror attacks.

I'm so glad we're building such bridges.
# Posted 12:28 PM by Karol

I can not motivate you enough to go read the latest phenomenal piece by Victor Davis Hanson. Go. Now. Really.
# Posted 12:16 PM by Karol

First they came for the Christmas trees but I wasn't a Christian (and I kind of liked seeing the dominant group in this country suddenly marginalized) so I did nothing. Then they came for....
# Posted 4:38 PM by Karol

U.S. Billionaire George Soros Found Guilty of Insider Trading

No wonder he has been so vocally against repealing the death tax. If you're scamming and stealing while you're alive, who cares what happens to your money after you are dead. You will have stolen enough of it to cover the tax.
# Posted 11:37 AM by Karol

Well, it's over. Lott is stepping down as majority leader. This is a good thing for Republicans and for the country.
# Posted 11:24 AM by Karol

On the O'Reilly Factor two days ago, Bill O'Reilly showed a clip of Susan Sarandon on the Phil Donahue show. She said (rather hysterically): 'my children are afraid we're going to get thrown out of this country because I am speaking out!!!!!!!!!!'

Now, I hope Susan Sarandon's children aren't like 20 or so because then I would just have to say 'well then your children are dumb.' If they're young, though, then you know whatever corrupt information they have come by is the fault of their parents. If they believe that America is the sort of country you can get thrown out of for speaking out, then that idea must have been placed their by their parents. I find that shameful. If Sarandon can't contain her hatred for this country that is one thing. If she passes this hostility and paranoia on to her children it is quite another.
# Posted 12:10 AM by Karol

Quote of the Day:

"I received your letter and I do not agree with you. Were all human ideals to given to me on one hand and Israeli security on the other, I would choose Israeli security, because while it is good that there be a world full of peace, fraternity, justice, and honesty, it is even more important that we be in it."- David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel, in a letter responding to a letter written to him by Yishayahu Leibowitz complaining that innocent Palestinians may be killed in Israeli operations.

From the January 2003 issue of Vanity Fair.
# Posted 12:05 AM by Karol

I'm not a big fan of PBS. I would say that I actively stopped watching it when the story broke that PBS, a government sponsored television station, had exchanged donor lists with the Democrats. Nice.

Yesterday, I was at my friend's place and we were flipping channels and came across the PBS documentary called Muhammad: Life of a Prophet. It was the story of Muhammad interspersed with clippings of Muslims today. I'll admit right now that we didn't watch the whole thing but the parts that we did see had the narrator praising polygamy and saying that Muhammad's marriages were "an act of faith, not of lust." Of course they were. As Daniel Pipes writes:

The heart of the film consists of nine talking heads competing with each other to praise Muhammad the most extravagantly. Not one of them criticizes him......

What Muhammad did for women, viewers learn, was "amazing" - his condemning female infanticide, giving legal rights to wives, permitting divorce and protecting their inheritance rights. But no commentator is so impolite as to note that however admirable this was in the 7th century, Muslim women today suffer widely from genital mutilation, forced marriages, purdah, illiteracy, sexual apartheid, polygamy and honor killings.

And of course, the double standard:

PBS ignores an ongoing scholarly reassessment of Muhammad's life that disputes every detail - down to the century and region Muhammad lived in - of its film. This is especially odd when contrasted with the 1998 PBS documentary, "From Jesus to Christ," which focuses almost exclusively on the work of cutting-edge scholars and presents the latest in critical thinking on Jesus.

One of the narrators explains that "Muhammad had nothing against the Jewish people per se, or the Jewish religion. The Koran continues to tell Muslims to honor the People of the Book." Not so, and it isn't a fan of Christians either, writes David Klinghoffer:

God is quoted by prophet as saying, "The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures." "…those that disbelieve Our revelations and deny them are the heirs of Hell." Of the Jews in particular: "God has cursed them in their unbelief."

As to how one is to deal with such unbelievers, the Koran's message is vigorously expressed. "Muhammad is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another." "If you do not go to war, He will punish you sternly." "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them." "Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. They are friends to one another."

The clips of the modern Muslims were so icky to watch and seemed typical of the pet-like way that liberal programs treat people of different religions and nationalities. Look at the Muslims, aren't they cute and just like us? My friend, SMFA, was singing 'Muslims, meet the Muslims' and I promise you he is no conservative. The whole thing just seemed in bad taste and was obviously so one-sided, making it just painful to watch. Criticism of Islam, just like criticism of any religion, should not be a political correctness issue. To gloss over the past is to rewrite it. I, for one, don't think the government should be sponsoring that.
# Posted 12:32 PM by Karol

Terrorists in Scotland? Say it ain't so.

It's alarming to me what a nonevent catching terrorists has become. Neither Drudgereport nor Yahoo headlines mentions it. I think it is as important to publicize successful captures as it is to talk about the attacks. People need to know that real work is being done to protect them and the terrorists need to hear that they are not safe anywhere.

Thanks to Spot On reader Bobby for the link.
# Posted 12:06 PM by Karol

I further can't believe that GW Bush has won Yahoo's coveted 'Person of the Year' award beating out the likes of Britney Spears, Eminem and Howard Stern. What will that man accomplish next?
# Posted 12:04 AM by Karol

I can't believe the Iraqi government has betrayed Sean Penn!!!!! This is so unexpected.
# Posted 12:03 AM by Karol

Quote of the day:

Affirmative action is based upon the assumption that blacks cannot compete with whites. But if I say that blacks can't compete with whites, I'm a racist. Why should the law say something racist?
-Jonah Goldberg
# Posted 2:31 PM by Karol

Damn it. My plan has always been to write a post detailing how Eminem is a Republican (and no it's not because you may think he's a mysogonist or a homophobe-it's because he's wildly individualistic, into personal responsibility and all about family values) but someone has beat me to it.

Via Andrew Sullivan.
# Posted 12:51 PM by Karol

We're not terrorists, says Hezbollah after being banned in Canada. But banning us is a 'grave mistake' and 'what the Canadian government did, the Canadian government will be responsible for.'

Hmmm....doesn't sound the least bit threatening.

Via BlueStarBlog.
# Posted 12:22 AM by Karol

I have been so caught up in Lott-mania that I forgot to mention anything about Al Gore. Reading a friend's site just now made me remember that there once was a man named Al who was going to be President. Now, I'm not entirely shocked by his dropping out of the race. Al (and his big brother Bill) are poll watchers in a way that few others are. I'm not going to say that Republicans don't keep a close eye on what people are saying, but the Clintons and Gores always took this to new levels. The polls right now call George W. unbeatable in 2004 by any of the current candidates presented on the left side. The fact that we're still not at war with Iraq (and assume that war will happen at some point in the near future) coupled with the fact that Republicans are seen as being more 'serious' on the war on terror, leave the Democrat candidate likely to lose. Al does not like to lose. So he'll wait for 2008 and maybe have the double satisfaction of beating Hillary! in the primary.

The one thing that I really don't understand about his dropping out of the race is the myriad of public appearances that are accompanying it. He's everywhere-he was on Saturday Night Live for goodness sake- but no, Al is not running. I guess the polls are telling him that people like him around as long as there is no threat to him trying to be their president.

Thanks to Ari for the reminder.
# Posted 12:51 PM by Karol

New York Times credits conservatives with keeping the Lott story going. Has hell frozen over? My favorite part:

The responses by conservatives have provided a marked contrast to the contention — put forth most recently by former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore — that the nation's conservative news media acts as a monolithic Republican support system.

Gee, ya think?

The article also mentions the surreal Bill O'Reilly episode I wrote about on Dec.11th in which a white conservative was saying Lott should step down while a black Republican was saying that too big a deal was being made over this whole issue.
# Posted 11:57 AM by Karol

I am, in case you weren't completely aware by my site, a total political junkie. So a week or so into the Lott story I was still riveted while those around me were saying 'this is so overblown.' For the record, the 'overblown' comments were not coming from right-wingers who just want to put this mess behind us. They were coming from my moderate and lefty friends who couldn't understand what the big deal about Lott's comment were. Now I understand, they have a lower threshold for being badgered with the same information over and over. It has been a slow new cycle and Lott IS IT. I realized this last night as I watched a very important debate on Crossfire about 'which city is better-NY or DC?' Still, it didn't keep me from hurrying home with my boyfriend to catch Lott on BET for the replay of his interview. I could only watch the interview in spurts because it was so embarrasing it made me want to hide, but from what I saw Lott is ready to change his entire position on affirmative action just to remain Senate majority leader. Last I checked, the majority that Lott is leading is and has been against race based affirmative action. This is precisely why Lott must go. He can no longer be a strong leader. Every decision he makes, rightly or wrongly will be measured against his words at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. There is no more apologizing he can do. As Jonah Goldberg writes in a post called 'Lott: What's next':

Perhaps the Congressional Black Caucus should put a dunce cap on the guy and march him around Tiananmen square. Lott's "rehabilitation" is becoming Soviet in its unseemliness. I want the guy to step down, but this serial apologizing and appeasment is becoming shameful. The notion that Lott must support affirmative action to prove he isn't racist is outrageous. The idea that Nickles is "unacceptable" (codeword for racist) because he voted similarly to Lott is outrageous. I heard a report this morning on C-Span that one black official (couldn't catch his name) says that aplogizing isn't enough, approving of affirmative action isn't enough, no Lott must support an extension of unemployment benefits to prove he's not a segregationist. I have little sympathy for Lott since he got himself into this and is willing to debase himself to get out of it. But good lord, this is becoming Kafkaesque.

We can't have a leader who so blatantly bows to any single interest group. Lott has lost his power to lead through his stupid comments and now he is trying to sacrifice the conservative platform, one that seeks to discount race in all decisions, to save himself. Richard Lowry writes:

Every day that Lott continues to be majority leader will be just such a rolling surrender to the NAACP and other grievance groups.

Lott must step down.
# Posted 11:37 AM by Karol

Lileks cracks me up.
# Posted 6:52 PM by Karol

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda:
Clinton Says He Had Plan to Attack North Korean Reactor in 1994.
# Posted 12:07 PM by Karol

Carter Willing to Mediate Peace Talks

Thanks Jimbo! Do you think you can do AS good a job as you did with North Korea?
# Posted 11:53 AM by Karol

While the National Review is calling for Trent Lott to step down in big, bold letters and Opinion Journal has published a slew of editorials condemning Lott and calling for his resignation, The New York Times has this to say:

'It's about the political choices Republicans made in the 1960's to "go hunting where the ducks are" — code language for winning over white segregationists who abandoned the Democratic Party in the South. It's about continuing to benefit from racial prejudice through subtle and not-so-subtle sound bites that play to the Republican Party's far-right base.'

Oh that's right. The soundbite that calls Lott's remarks 'particularly shameful coming from a leader of the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, and the party that supported all of these essential steps forward far more vigorously than the Democratic Party, which at the time was the home of Congressional southerners committed to white supremacy' (by Republican member Abigail Thernstrom U.S. Civil Rights Commission) is one example. President Bush condemning Lott's comments as 'not reflecting the spirit of our country' is another.

The wonderful editorial goes on to accuse Reagan of slyly pandering to racists by calling for states rights. Let's review the Republican position for the writer of this piece: Republicans are against a large government. Reagan in particular was for minimizing the size of the hands that reach into your pockets. He coined the phrase "the scariest words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" The Republican view has always been that the more power states have, the less the federal government has. I wouldn't expect the writer to understand any of this. He has his hands firmly over his ears screaming 'racist!' at white people as they pass.

I'm not surprised that the New York Times sinks to calling Republicans racist when every Republican in view is loudly condemning Lott (louder and quicker that Democrats had. Daschle was going to let the whole thing slide until he realized it might be a big story). The so-called 'paper of record' has degenerated into such a state long ago.
# Posted 11:27 AM by Karol

Something I heard last night which made me laugh and laugh.

On Marxists:

'I'm just waiting for neo-nazis to proclaim themselves Hess-ites.'

-RL
# Posted 10:34 AM by Karol

If there is one major reason that online shopping for the holidays is going to catch on in a major way in the next few years, then that reason is Christmas songs. Now, I know what you are thinking: 'you're Jewish! By your very nature you hate Christmas and Christmas songs.' Not so. I am a big fan of Christmas, more so even than many Christians I know. I am an equally big admirer of Christmas songs. However, I can't take the incessant way they are played in certain department stores. The versions are undoubtably always modern ones ala Justin Timberlake sings 'Jingle Bell Rock' or Gloria Estefan puts her personal spin on 'I'll be home for Christmas'. It's enough to drive a person mad and make them buy themselves moisturizer and shoes and forget to buy presents for anyone else. Not that this happened to me today or anything. Sigh.
# Posted 5:08 PM by Karol

Some sad news.

It looks like I may have been at the last Guns N Roses show ever.

Pandavox, who sent me the link, has additional sad music news on his site.
# Posted 1:41 PM by Karol

Awwwww what a nice gift!
# Posted 8:15 PM by Karol

Want to see something surreal? Try to catch the first few minutes of the replay of the O'Reilly Factor tonight on Fox at 11pm EST. A black guy from something called the African American GOP Council is defending Lott, while a white guy from the (couldn't possibly be more conservative) Family Research Council is attacking him.
# Posted 8:15 PM by Karol

Are you still not sure where you stand on going to war with Iraq? I direct you to two excellent pieces over at Pandavox laying down the case with perfect precision. I dare you to argue with him.
# Posted 2:45 PM by Karol

Fuck.

US Says It Releases Ship with Missiles for Yemen

I was going to write about the genius of George W. Bush for naming North Korea part of the axis of evil, especially in light of the recent news that North Korea has an active nuclear program and the news that they are selling missiles to Yemen. But now, in Clintonian fashion ('we can't capture bin Laden, that would violate the sacred International Law that our European allies expect us to uphold!') it turns out that we are unable to stop the missiles from reaching their destination due to 'international law'. Last I checked the highest law of the US is our Constitution and it doesn't say that we can't stop terrorist countries like Yemen from getting weapons. When is America going to learn? Fuck world opinion. We have to do what we have to do to stop these kinds of arms trades or next time it won't be scud missiles, it will be the nuclear kind and maybe we won't be lucky enough to find and stop that ship. Europe is going to call our President a cowboy and a renegade no matter what he does so let's take the opportunity not to cower to the opinions of the elites who would be lost without us to demonize and let's do something real. Let's stop pretending that a ship filled with missiles on their way from North Korea to Yemen is no big deal. Let's fucking roll.

Thanks to 'Spot On' reader SMFA for the link.
# Posted 1:39 PM by Karol

Quick Quiz.

Who said: "One of the key factors that . . . arouses intense feelings of animosity in the world is the festering problem in the Holy Land, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the inability of Israel to live in peace with its neighbors."

Was it:

A. A Hamas spokesperson?

B. A CAIR spokesperson?

C. Former President Jimmy Carter?

If you guessed A or B you were pretty close. It's actually C.

As James Taranto notes:

In his acceptance speech, however, Carter seemed to take another dig at the Jewish state: "Today there are at least eight nuclear powers on earth, and three of them are threatening to their neighbours in areas of great international tension."

It seems likely that India and Pakistan are two of the countries that "are threatening to their neighbors." Here's a list of the remaining six nuclear powers: America, Russia, China, Britain, France and Israel. Guess which one of them Carter had in mind?

That's ok though, at least for Republicans. Americans understand, now more than ever, that the threat Israel faces is the same as ours. Islamofascists seek to destroy us and them. The more Democrats can't contain their displeasure with Israel, the more votes will come over to the Right. Keep it up Carter, you were always a bit of an embarrassment to your party (shame about those hostages you weren't able to free that were then freed the day your more able successor became President) and now you do nothing but assist mine. Thanks!
# Posted 12:38 PM by Karol

The CounterRevolutionary writes about a group in Britain called The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament that is going to court to block the Brits from disarming Iraq's nuclear weapons. Got that?
# Posted 5:10 PM by Karol

Ok, here is one for everyone who has ever accused me of being an unbending partisan: I think Trent Lott should step down as Majority Leader.

For those not in the know, Lott made some really absurd comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Thurmond had run for President in 1948 under the big issue of maintaining segregation between the races. Lott celebrated the man by saying:

'I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.'

Lott's office is saying that he didn't mean the comments to be praise for segregation or racism but somehow that doesn't make me and others feel any better. Seeing that glossing over the issue of his stupid words wasn't enough, Lott gave another statement on Monday saying:

'A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embrace the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement.'

Ah. Discarded policies. As Robert George writes '"Discarded policies" — that's a quaint, benign quaint phrase that effectively sidesteps the real horror that was Jim Crow.' George also writes about why the focus is on Lott's comments instead of Thurmonds actions: 'Most people don't expect a 100-year old Thurmond or an 85-year-old Robert Byrd (D., W.V.) to completely escape their racist pasts. But Trent Lott is an adult baby boomer, of the same generation as the current and previous presidents.'

Conservatives have a bad enough time trying to prove they don't eat children for breakfast without the added headache of having a leader who says such outrageous things. He doesn't speak for all Republicans and removing him from his leadership post would prove that. For the record, I have seen a great deal more outrage from the conservative press on this than the liberal sphere (maybe because the New York Times can't break its fascination of writing about elite golf courses) and I see that as a true indication of where 'my side' stands on this. Lott has to go. We can not tolerate this kind of idiocy in our leaders.
# Posted 11:33 AM by Karol

How is this a News Headline?: Key WTC maintenance records feared lost

I think we're also missing some people from the upper floors. And I think both buildings are gone too.
# Posted 8:05 PM by Karol

Long quote of the day:

President Bush declared war not on militant Islam but on a faceless enemy he has variously called "terrorists," "a radical network of terrorists," "terrorists in this world who can't stand the thought of peace," "terrorism with a global reach," "evildoers," "a dangerous group of people," "a bunch of cold-blooded killers," and even "people without a country."

The establishment media has been complicit. With the notable exception of CNN's Lou Dobbs, who talks about "the war against radical Islamists," it unthinkingly echoes the government's line that the conflict has nothing to do with religious motives. It's as though Franklin D. Roosevelt, after Pearl Harbor, declared war on surprise attacks rather than on the Japanese empire.

- Daniel Pipes
# Posted 7:54 PM by Karol

While strolling with my uber-hipster boyfriend in one of New York's 'coolest' record shops (which shall remain nameless but know that if you don't buy the right thing you can expect a look of disdain from the clerks), I came across a sticker with the words 'Jewcy.com'. The 'w' in the word was made to look like the Jewish letter 'shin' and this intrigued me. The site is a little limited but seems to be pretty new so can be excused. It seeks to 'celebrate kosher-style fabulosity.' and is 'aimed at today’s members of the Tribe.' I just bought myself a cute t-shirt with their logo on it and am looking forward to wearing it on my trip around Saudi Arabia and Yemen this summer. Just kidding, kids. Go check out Jewcy.com, it's Jew-a-licious.
# Posted 2:21 PM by Karol

Ohmygosh! Ed Koch and I are agreeing! From Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus:

Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York — and about the most delightful and knowledgeable and interesting politician around — has made his New Year’s resolutions. Wanna hear a few of them?

“I will avoid France as a place to vacation. France leads those countries in the Security Council that are the enemies of Israel. [Same goes for Mexico — says Koch.]

“I will not support National Public Radio in any way. NPR’s reporters and management delight in unfairly attacking Israel.

“I will not watch ABC’s World News Tonight anchored by Peter Jennings. For many years, Jennings has specialized in vicious and unfair portrayals of Israel intended to injure the Jewish state and lionize Palestinians. Also, the BBC News is horrifically anti-Israel, and I will shun it completely.

“Susan Sontag will occupy the Ninth Circle of Hell for her outrageous assaults on Israel. I will no longer read her works.”

How you like them apples?

This may sound like a dumb question/comment but I never even realized Koch is Jewish, if indeed he is (someone please confirm or deny). I saw him once on a Delta shuttle between Boston and New York and smirked in his direction. I didn't think he was a particularly good mayor and I was a young college brat who would not be impressed by the presence of someone famous (especially someone who had just written a negative book about my hero Rudy Giuliani). He was wearing a tux and gave me a warm smile that made me feel kind of bad. I take it back Ed, let's be friends!
# Posted 12:04 PM by Karol

My heart skipped a beat when I signed on to Iraqi blogger Salam's site to find it down. I found out what happened from Letter from Gotham's site but not before my mind had run over all the possible, horrible scenarios.

I hope you are ok Salam and I hope you are back to blogging soon. I still owe you a mix tape. I'm listening to Coldplay and thinking of you.....
# Posted 11:47 AM by Karol

Quote of the day:

Now what I find fascinating about all of this is that it mirrors one of the central plot points of the antiwar "movement" today. "Movement" gets quotation marks because these people aren't really going anywhere. Their white-knuckled grips on their little islands of obstinacy have kept them out of the flow of history for decades now.

-Jonah Goldberg
# Posted 8:51 PM by Karol

I don't get it. Does Britain or does Britain not have free speech? When I asked back in August how it is legal for a man to pass around pamphlets urging the murder of American tourists, my comment section filled up with Brits deriding me for not understanding the concept of free speech. So, let me get this straight: material provoking violence is ok but a commercial making fun of George W. is not? Someone please explain.

Via Andrew Sullivan.
# Posted 11:29 AM by Karol

I went to see Guns N Roses tonight. They were incredible. They were 50 times better than I thought they would be (and probably 350 times better than you'd think they'd be). I've been to a bunch of shows this year and have seen many different performers. I've seen Belle&Sebastian, Wilco, Talib Kwaleed, Bob Mould, Sigur Ros, Stratford 4, Clinic, The Shins, White Stripes and a slew of smaller bands. Some were great, some were boring, some had decided to leave their punk roots and jump headfirst into a techno only understood by people his age. None were anything like I saw tonight. The energy of Axl, the songs, the awesome talent of the new band, it was incredible. If you saw the MTV award performance try to put it out of your mind. I was worried after seeing them play at that show. Axl seemed out of breath and not hitting some notes. None of that was happening at Madison Square Garden tonight. The place was dancing and moving and even the 'I escaped from Staten Island for this and I plan to live it up' crew sitting behind us couldn't possibly hamper an excellent night. If you were ever a GNR fan and are worried about seeing the new line-up, don't be. It was greeeeeeeeeeeat.
# Posted 12:58 AM by Karol

Quote of the day:

Americans are a problem-solving people. They want to save the rhino from extinction, famine-threatened people from starvation, Venice from sinking, Southeast Asia from going communist. I think this problem-solving instinct contributed much more than liberal masochism to last year’s “why do they hate us?” stories. Arab and Pakistani Muslims don’t like us? We’ll change their minds!

-David Frum
# Posted 1:52 PM by Karol

I have mocked and scoffed and generally made no secret about my feelings on the 'Islam means peace' crowd. Jonah Goldberg, as always, puts things in perfect perspective. He writes about the want by him (and me and everyone else who questions the peacefulness of the Muslim faith) to believe that there are peaceful Muslims that abhor the violence done in the name of their religion. He also gives a little background of the Islam hasn't always meant peace kind:

The first few generations of Christianity were marked by suffering and oppression. The first few generations of Islam were marked by conquering. In its harshness, I suppose you could say Islam resembles pre-Christian Judaism in some ways. Jews, too, believe in the importance of geography and the use of the sword to protect it. Of course, they believe in holding onto only one narrow strip of it. (Prediction: Jewish militants will never claim, say, Cleveland as rightfully theirs.) And, it should be said, many Jews do not see modern Israel as the fulfillment of any Biblical or religious imperative — lots and lots of Zionists are very secular. And, it should be noted, Jews haven't spent most of the last two millennia ruling empires and conquering land so much as being brutalized, oppressed, or — at best — tenuously tolerated.

Anyway, Muslims tend to believe that once a strip of dirt becomes Muslim it's gotta stay Muslim for ever and ever. And if a burg's population becomes majority Muslim, it must be ruled by Muslims (see Kashmir for details). This is one of the primary understandings, historically and religiously speaking, of "jihad." "Until fairly recent times," writes Bernard Lewis, "[jihad] was usually, though not universally, understood in a military sense. It was a Muslim duty — collective in attack, individual in defense — to fight in the war against the unbelievers. In principle, this war was to continue until all mankind either embraced Islam or submitted to the authority of the Muslim state."

According to Islamic tradition, the world is divided into the House of War and the House of Islam — and once real estate is brought into the House of Islam, there's no getting out. And, eventually, the House of War will be brought into the House of Islam too. That's why Osama bin Laden says that he won't rest until he gets most of Spain back. And this is partly, though not entirely, why — as Samuel Huntington noted — "the borders of Islam are bloody."

He also makes the point that I and others make constantly: where are the moderates?

Human beings draw conclusions from what they see. All around the world, Muslims are declaring, in the name of Islam, that they are at war with the West. More important, all around the world self-declared Muslims are actually waging war on the West. They may be a tiny minority of the global Muslim community. I have no doubt that's true. But if the decent and peace-loving Muslims of the world sit on their hands and do nothing, you can hardly fault many in the West who draw the conclusion that Islam is anything but peaceful. Why is it so hard to find, for example, a Muslim "leader" to condemn the death sentence against the journalist who wrote about Mohammed and the Miss World pageant — without some moral-equivalence weasel words about how she should have known better?

This is one of those great pieces that is worth reading. Do yourself a favor and click the link above and read it in its entirety.
# Posted 1:35 PM by Karol

Quote of the day:

"Watching Al Gore make his re-entry into the public arena after nearly two years out of the public spotlight, I can say with confidence there is a substantial group of people who want him to run for president again in 2004. They’re called Republicans."-The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman

Via Mugger
# Posted 1:22 PM by Karol

Be wrong but strong, Bill Clinton urges the Democrats

Clinton also said that "Al Qaeda should be our top priority," said the two-term president. "Iraq is important, but the terror network is more urgent in terms of its threat to our security."

No word on what the top priority was during his administration.
# Posted 10:37 AM by Karol

I am still great friends with my ex-boyfriend. He is brilliant, disheveled, hilarious and weird. He is so cool in fact that I am planning to recommend him to other girls on a new website that lets ex-girlfriends do just that. Why did we break up then, I hear you ask? Because he wasn't for me despite his excellence. My current boyfriend (who will be my last boyfriend if I can help it) is very much for me. Why the prolonged description of relationship? Just for reference in the story I'm about tell.

Early this morning I had a very vivid dream. I read somewhere that talking about dreams and acid trips are the two most boring things to discuss, and I agree heartily, but bear with me. In my dream, I was walking with my current man and my ex. We were going to my ex's apartment because he had a photo album of mine that I wanted to pick up. We walked into his building and approached the elevators. One of the elevators was about a foot off the ground. I said that we should wait for the next one to arrive as I didn't feel safe getting on the one that was there. While we waited the building started to slowly move, to sway from side to side. My boyfriend and I looked at each other and decided to get the hell out of there. My ex, the kind of person who worries about nothing, said we were overreacting and that he was going upstairs. I grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the building and onto the street outside. He was giving me this exasperated look he gives me when he thinks I'm overreacting. We crossed the street as the building tipped over and collapsed. We could see people scrambling to get out. We could see bodies.

I called my ex as soon as I woke up and we discussed the dream. He came up with the idea that it represented that I didn't agree with his lifestyle. I thought that it meant what it seemed to mean: that he would never know that danger was upon him until it was too late. He agreed that yes it could be that too.

Do you see what I'm getting at with this dream? No? Ok, I'll explain. I think that post September 11th there are two types of people in America. There are those who know that we are threatened and there are those who just don't believe it. In the latter category tend to be the people that were not in New York or D.C when the attacks happened. My ex was visiting his family in Cleveland and was due back in New York on the 12th. He's not scared of future attacks. While at Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend's family, his hippie cousin from the west coast was saying something about the media breeding fear in people, making people afraid of future attacks. I was on my best behavior and so I didn't want to start an argument but my feeling is that if anything, the media is playing down the threat to us. Immediately after 9/11 there were articles about what to do in cases of emergency, how to handle yourself, where to go for help. The articles have completely ceased by now and though our government tells us we're at risk all the time, the media tends to almost make fun of the fact that we have no specific information. Being scared is ok and it is necessary. Like in my dream, I am now the kind of person who exits a building when an alarm goes off instead of waiting to see if it's a false one (you would not believe how many of my collegues sitting on the top floor of New York's second biggest skyscraper do not make moves toward the door when an alarm rings). And I wish that my ex and others that I care about would do the same. You can't force people to be afraid of course, and that isn't my intention. It's an awareness that comes through fear that I hope that they have.
# Posted 2:14 PM by Karol

Blogger was down all morning but I didn't care because I have the day off and I'm listening to the new Sigur Ros album that my boyfriend gave me for the fourth night of Chanukah and the music is all dreamy and I'm looking out my window at a New York that is peaceful and sunny and beautiful.
# Posted 1:19 PM by Karol

Tim Blair makes me laugh out loud. And I'm not just saying that.

In addition to the funny post linked above, he writes about a poll in Britain that says Brits like Americans more now than at any time in the last 15 years. They like us, they really like us!
# Posted 9:46 PM by Karol

Sorry to break up the 'Islam means peace' party but I find the following press release by the Miss World organization even more outrageous than the words of the usual apologists for slaughter in the name of Jihad:

The Miss World Organisation and all of the Miss World contestants were shocked and deeply saddened by the appalling comments made in the Nigerian Newspaper "This Day" that led to such a tragic loss of life.

The comment that Muhammed himself would have found the Miss World contestants beautiful caused people to riot and murder. Now, let's think about this. Did this innocent comment kill people or did people who are fanatics about their religion kill people? These people went into a rage and went out into the street and looked for Christians to kill. To say that the newpaper comment caused this tragic loss of life is disgusting. We need to stop pretending that everything is ok and that outside factors influence the breeding of this fanaticism. Islam does not mean peace and has seen nothing but violence in its name for some time. To blame the newspaper is to wear blinders and allow the Islamofascists to have to have a seat at the victim table of the world. I'm not having it and you shouldn't either.

Via Andrew Sullivan.
# Posted 9:59 AM by Karol