Tea Party of God

I wrote pages and pages of thoughts on the events that occurred in Washington DC today, some of them as I was walking around the Mall, wondering how we as a nation had reached this point. Hundreds or thousands of other people wrote on these events, too. What I can give is only a personal perspective and a few photos and videos that no one else has because I can't do anything to change these people since irrational people cannot be reasoned with.

I didn't last 20 minutes before I felt the need to get away from them. Everything that is wrong with America gathered on the National Mall today, and curiosity prompted me to put on my Obama shirt and trek down to the Lincoln Memorial. I never should have gone.

This is how much these people care about America. This massive quantity of garbage is near the Vietnam Memorial, which so many of them "solemnly" walked by without a thought in their heads about how they are responsible for the deaths of more than 5000 American troops because of their voting patterns. Their votes = murder. Not to mention the murder of more than 1 million Iraqis and Afghanis their votes are responsible for. Not that they'd give a damn about the deaths of Muslims.

It didn't feel like a rally of any sort. It was more like a giant picnic. These people just sat there in their foldable chairs next to coolers. They brought coolers and chairs to a political rally. Seriously. They were carrying massive quantities of crap for a four hour political rally. And they had to have chairs because they, well, how can I put it nicely? More of them were obese and sickly looking than not.

Some illegal politicking by Batshit Crazy Bachman's token black guy makes me wonder if we can gather enough evidence to have these people penalized for violated IRS regulations. The charity this non-political rally was supposedly for was one I've never heard of, and while I have no problem with giving scholarships to kids of veterans, this charity seemed like an afterthought. In fact, I couldn't figure out what the hell this rally was supposed to be about. There was a lot of religious nuttery - it sounds like Glenn Beck wants to turn America into a theocracy. But do his followers understand what Mormonism is? How would Beck's belief that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are brothers sit with them? Or that Mormons belief in multiple gods?



So why do us educated folks let these teabaggers get under our skins?

Well, they have an equal vote with people who actually know...something.

These are irrational folks who would scream at you that the sky is red if you told them it was blue but you held a different world view than they did. This is the most frustrating thing about them. The Obama birth certificate is a perfect example. 40% of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the US, or at least think it is possible he wasn't despite the fact that it is readily available and well-publicized in many places. These people can't distinguish from belief and reality, and what's worse is trying to reason with them.

They detest intelligence. There are two possible explanations I can come up with for this. First, intelligent people make them feel insecure, so railing against education and knowledge is a defense mechanism. The second could be that because their intelligence is limited, they can't grasp the idea that other people are capable of knowing more than they do. I think it's mostly the first one.

The fact that they are proud of their ignorance and call people who are smarter than them "elitists" only compounds the problem. Why do they do that?

Because they're told to. And they vote how they're told to without bothering to learn anything for themselves.

They're also arrogant folks. You can hear Fox News rail against Mr. Rogers telling kids they're special and all, yet Fox watchers must have taken his advice to heart, because they all think very much of themselves. First, they think they're better than other people in the world simply because they're Americans. Most of them have never left the country and have no idea what it's like anywhere else. Many of them think Arabs live in tents, for example. Instead of counting their blessings that they weren't born into a dictatorship, they proclaim their superiority over other people despite the fact that none of them chose to be born in America. Compare this to saying you're better than someone because of your skin color. It's the same thing. And they think that, too.

Oh sure, they claim to not be racists, but that's only because they don't understand modern racism. (Well, some of them are proud racists.) Because they aren't that bright, they tend to view the term racism as lynchings and firehoses, something that doesn't happen these days. What they refuse to understand is the institutionalized racism - the psychological and sociological impact of this nation's history with race. The fact that they deny racism exists is in itself a form of racism.

They also think they're somehow entitled to America above others. This is why they rail against immigrants, despite the fact that they are descendants of immigrants themselves. Take this guy, a model citizen for the Foxcist Movement of America. He had his propaganda down. You can't get much more racist than that. Devil costume, anti-Latino slur. Good job, Hans. Sieg heil!

But they can't walk more than a few blocks without having to sit down to rest. This is due to the fact that they all come from places where they drive everywhere. Walking is reserved for the refrigerator.

They were everywhere. They invaded my cafes, my bars - some of them actually were hogging up space in a non-Barnes and Noble bookstore. I couldn't get away from them. And the looks of hatred they had in their eyes, and the comments they made upon seeing my shirt, well, I came home and threw darts for a half hour.

I think the teabagger "movement" can best be summed up by this photo, a brochure for the Vietnam Memorial tossed on the ground.

Hezbozos

The headlines read:

“Senior Hezbollah Member Killed in Beirut Clashes”

The first line read “Clashes erupted between Shiite and Sunni groups on the streets of Beirut…”

But the argument allegedly started over the lack of a parking space. The guys who wanted the space happened to be a Hezbollah official and a Sunni from Al-Ahbash. There was, as far as we can tell, no political reason for the parking space; it was simply a squabble – a daily occurrence in Beirut due to the dearth of space for parking – that escalated into death. The tribalism that characterizes much of the planet took over from there – a family was pissed that someone killed a member and sought to exact revenge on the killers. The story is as old as time – think Montagues and Capulets. The only difference between this situation and one of the McCoy-Hatfield American variety is that RPGs are regularly available in Lebanon.

Yet the media somehow turned this into a battle of Hezbollah versus a Sunni sect, as if using “Hezbollah” had any relevance. This is the same type of ignorant paranoia that blinds the West every time it deals with Lebanon. It is the same reason Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Howard Berman ordered a hold put on US military aid to Lebanon out of fear it would fall under Hezbollah’s control. Not once did anyone take into consideration that Iran would rush to fill the need or that without that aid to the Lebanese military, it is weaker to counter Hezbollah. Everything is HEZBOLLAH, HEZBOLLAH, HEZBOLLAH! Give it a rest.

The same blind mentality that the West uses in dealing with Lebanon is also the same blind mentality that Hezbollah and likeminded militia idiots use in sticking to their retarded ideologies. Yes, resistance against Israel is needed. But it shouldn’t be up to the undereducated morons that populate the ranks of Hezbollah, morons like Mohammed Fawaz who are stupid enough to die over a parking space.

Combating Corruption in Lebanon

Via the Center for International Private Enterprise

Bourdain returns to Beirut

The first time I ever saw No Reservations was a rerun of the 2006 Beirut episode. I was as angry about the invasion when I saw it as I was when it was first happening. I'll never forget the day the war began. I went screaming through the office halls and said some pretty nasty things about Israel, all well-deserved. And there I was, safe and sound in Washington, DC. It was a totally helpless feeling.

I didn't know back then how much Lebanon would become a part of my life. Now I know Beirut very well and have many friends in Lebanon. I am just as repulsed by Israel aggression as I was back then, but I know, too, that Lebanon is not innocent.

I'm looking forward to this episode - I even set my alarm so I don't forget. I hope he didn't stick to the overpriced, overrated pretentious restaurants but really got some of the local flavor.

Spotlight Series: Silat Wassel

SFUSA: Silat Wassal is using art as a tool for conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Could you tell me a little bit about that? Are you focusing on a particular area? What is that area like?

Silat Wassel: We mainly have our activities in the north; right now we are taking part of a project called the Middle East Expedition (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon) and soon we will work over all the Lebanese territories on the same website project. It aims to activate the dialogue between different sects of society through artistic, cultural, social and environmental activities. It also aims to create an atmosphere of non-violence through events and workshops with different age groups in marginalized communities.

SFUSA: I understand that you have just recently gotten NGO status, so you must be pretty new. Do you have a website? If not, do you have plans to establish one? It would be great to see some of the art even if we are across the ocean!

Silat Wassel: We are working on creating LNCA (Lebanese Network for Civic Achievements), a network that should be formed by youth NGOs working in the north and then maybe expand it to the other Casas of Lebanon.

Concerning the website, we are preparing to launch a big interactive website by the end of the summer. This website will be used by youth to create advocacy groups in their local governments, municipalities, etc.

SFUSA: Where did you get the idea for using art as a tool for conflict resolution?

Silat Wassel: I, myself, am an artist and two other members are also artists. We figured out ways to use art as a tool to fight violence, and we also do social training, capacity building, and public awareness workshops.

SFUSA: What do you envision for the future of your organization? Do you think the international community could do more to help peacebuilding projects in Lebanon?

Silat Wassel:The Together We Live project is a series of workshops to establish a culture of dialogue between youth of different backgrounds.

As for what could the international community do concerning the peace building projects, we think there should be some sort of sustainability in projects; for example, we trained for the past couple of years around 700 participants from all over the north on conflict management and citizenship, thus we had an idea that we should keep on seeing them and working with them and so we created an idea of (Center for Public Awareness (CPA).

Paris September 2010

Thirty-eight days. Actually, it's only 36 until I leave, insha'allah. I have to wait until payday on Friday to get my ticket. I saw Dulles-CDG for $579 yesterday, and I am praying that one of those fares is still available on Friday. The rest were outrageous, but I'm going to Paris no matter what, even if I have to survive on the sugar packets I can get in the office coffee room.

It's been ten years since I've set foot in the City of Lights, ten long years in which I have seen the city as a tiny Lego town from an airplane window more times than I can count. This time, the plane is landing, and I am taking the bus into the city. These last ten years have been peppered with moments in time when my desire for Paris has been overwhelming. I can remember the time I vowed I would go to Europe at least once a year for the rest of my life. That was in 1999, the third year in a row I was in Europe. I made it one year after that until I broke down and went to Eastern Europe in 2007. But it wasn't Paris.

It was, well, I don't even know when it was that U2 announced they would be performing in 2010 - sometime in late autumn, or maybe December. I can say with a straight face that those two shows in NYC in September 2009 were two of the greatest nights of my life. It was a natural high, and totally worth getting sick after because I went without food or drink and stood up for basically two days straight, even though I was sick for the DC show a few days later (but that didn't matter so much because the suburban zombies who pass for music fans in DC made the show suck a little.) When the band announced a few more dates in 2010 and they gave us U2.com subscriber folks (that's what they call a fanclub these days) a chance to get tix, well, something came over me, and I did. And what city would I choose but the subject of my urban lust for a decade.

Of course, at the time, there was no North American announcement and I thought now here's the chance to get to see them two years in a row after thirteen years of having to wait four or five years between shows. But logically I knew they'd come back to North America, in one of those many, many layers we sort of generically label as the human brain.

So, ten years. I left Paris in February 2000 after spending a week in France - Dijon and some tiny town in Bourgogne I can't remember the name of but it was the best France experience I ever had because, well, it wasn't Paris, and the French get a bad rap because Americans, the few who actually go to France, usually only go to Paris, and, well, Paris is a city, and in cities, people are less friendly to tourists because tourists are SO FREAKING ANNOYING. Believe me, I know. I have lived in DC for most of the last seven years, and my tiny town of 600,000 swells to 1,600,000 on any given summer day. Although I gotta give props to the parents who bring their kids to DC instead of Disneyland. You're doing something right.

Paris is definitely a city of the past. I once wrote something somewhere about how it seemed like Paris was the past, London was the present, and Berlin was the future. (I was 22. Give me a break.) I don't mean Paris is a city of the past in a bad way, and I know Parisians hate when people say this, but Paris is a giant outdoor museum to European history. Frankly, I think they should be proud of this. (And come on, Americans - without the French, there would be no America. They helped us beat the limey asses across the channel to get our independence. One of my favorite quotes of all time is Patton's quote on D-Day: "Lafayette, nous sommes arrive." It was a thank you. I'd much rather have a "special relationship" with France than with those folks up north.) But Europe is "Europe" now, and should always remain so, because they figured out a way to stop fighting (and if I prayed, I'd pray the EU sticks together, but they really shouldn't have expanded so quickly, and they shouldn't make those retarded laws they are prone to do, like German barmaids can't wear sleeveless shirts because they might get sunburn.)

I love Paris for its past, especially for its literary past. Not only did they have great thinkers and writers roaming those cobblestone streets, but the best in all the world roamed there. My personal favorite, James Joyce, did most of his writing there in the same places as some of my other favorites, like Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald. It's a place where thought once roamed, like New York.

But it's been ten years. I'm afraid. Please don't have a Charmucks on every corner.

A Blackberry Eye for Lebanese Democracy?

Last week, the UAE and Saudi Arabia decided to block Blackberry services due to what they cited as security concerns. India, which had been considering such a move because Blackberry is what the Mumbai terrorists had used to communicate, decided against such a move. Blackberry’s encryption technology is such that users actually have privacy when communicating with Blackberry devices.

Both UAE and Saudi Arabia are non-democratic regimes and have strict censorship laws, so it is understandable that they would seek to block any communications service they can't intercept. It’s just quotidian life in most of the Arab world.

But Lebanon?

Today the Lebanese Telecommunications Ministry announced it would review Blackberry services over “security” fears. This comes on the day that the U.S. State Department released its 2009 Country Reports on Terrorism, in which seven designated terrorist organizations were mentioned along with Hezbollah.

Do we really believe these considerations are for “security” purposes?

The Blackberry “discussions” are just the latest in a series of anti-free speech developments in Lebanon. These include the recent passage of an e-transactions law that creates an all powerful governmental body to oversee internet transactions and the arrest of four people who posted anti-Sleiman messages on Facebook.

This is not to mention Lebanon’s woefully inadequate internet infrastructure, which also affects Blackberry information services. The government has paid lip service to infrastructure improvements, agreeing in principle to buying more bandwidth but somehow finding a way to keep that bandwidth from reaching people.

Yet, I find it difficult to believe the Lebanese government is motivated by the same authoritarian impulses of its UAE and Saudi counterparts. No, Lebanon may have just a shadow of a real democracy, but the Lebanese government is not really seeking to control the communications of its citizens. Rather, it seeks to control the flow of money resulting from its citizens needs and desires for information and communications technology. It does this by passing go and collecting its $200 again and again and again and again.

We can only hope Research In Motion, the company that makes Blackberry devices, does not cave in to non-democratic regimes across the world and alter their devices so that governments can monitor the lives of their citizens. We all know how Google, Yahoo, and other tech companies have succumbed to the dictatorial commands of such authoritarian regimes as China (fortunately, Google changed its mind early this year.) Hopefully in the Blackberry case, human rights will triumph over the Almighty Dollar.