Month: March 2003

Pot, Meet Kettle at the Boston Globe

The Boston Globe recently ran a column by Ellen Goodman pointing out the more egregious nonsense that comes out of talk radio. But this seems to be a case of throwing stones in glass houses.

Apparently the Globe hopes people have forgotten about its own columnists, Patricia Smith and Mike Barnicle, who stole others’ ideas, outright plagiarized and, when that didn’t work, simply made things up.

When Smith was discovered fabricating things, she was shown the door almost immediately. But Barnicle was (and is) a celebrity and the Globe ran interference for him for years despite plenty of evidence that something was wrong with Barnicle’s too-good-to-be-true columns (columns which other newspapers easily debunked).

As this page about Barnicle notes,

Barnicle spent 20-plus years inventing lies, injuring people, engaging in invective and lowering the tone of many of the debates he was involved in. He made up a vicious lie about a gas station attendant and the Globe paid damages. He wrote an inappropriate column about Alan Dershowitz that may have contained a vicious lie and the Globe paid damages. He stole from Mike Royko and George Carlin. He referred to people in his columns that exhaustive searches by Boston Magazine have never turned up and that he has never produced.

And had he not simply swiped one liners from Carlin and tried to pass them off as his own, he might still be making things up despite the Globe’s legal settlements.

So excuse me for being unimpressed when the Globe gives Goodman a stage to attack one of its competitors for sloppy standards. That’s a bit like China complaining that the U.S. application of the death penalty is unfair.

You Don’t Say

Henry Hanks points to this New York Post story which relays the obvious,

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday said Iraq violated its agreement with the United Nations if the missiles it fired at American troops were Scuds.

“I’m very interested to know whether they used Scuds,” Blix said in an interview with the Fox News Channel. “If they’re firing [Scuds], of course that shows that there’s a violation,” he said.

Imagine that. Blix also admits that even months more of inspections might not have been enough to turn up hidden Scuds,

Even though he wanted more time for inspections, Blix said yesterday that he didn’t know if he could ever be sure that Iraq wasn’t hiding the illegal missiles.

“I could not guarantee that we would come to clear conclusions even after some months more,” he said.

Anti-War Protest Pictures

These are some pictures I took of an anti-war protest that took place at the
university I work at last Wednesday:

About 50-60 people showed up. It seemed evenly divided between students and
non-students, but still a rather small turnout for such a gorgeous day (anti-war
protests for the first Persian Gulf War often attracted 200-300 in much worse
weather).

The guy with the bullhorn was interesting until he started going off about
how women are the peacemakers and would bring about peace, etc., etc. Has he
read the polls showing a majority of American women in favor of war with Iraq?

Maybe, but it will likely be non-state terrorism. Military intervention clearly
scared Libya into toning down its support of terrorism, the war in Afghanistan
has removed that country as a haven for terrorists, and replacing the regime
in Iraq should do so as well. The only way to deter terrorism is to cut off
the oxygen these groups receive from rogue states.

If the United States is establishing an empire, it is a very odd sort of empire.
The U.S.-Japan relationship is more characteristic of how the United States
has treated nations that it has conquered militarily. Iraq should hope to be
as well off and free as Japan was less than 30 years after suffering a humiliating
military defeat at the hands of the Americans.

Apparently the U.S. Civil War that ended slavery and the Allied invasion of
Europe that helped turn the tide against Germany were not the answers. Several
million Holocaust victims might have begged to differ.

Note: As a public service, I’ve included all of the photographs I took of the protests on March 19, 2003 here. These are free to use for any purpose provided you credit me, Brian Carnell, as the photographer. Take them, edit them, republish them, whatever.

Iranian Authorities Crack Down on Illicit Love

In Iran, where conflicts between religious authorities and reformist student movements seems to be growing, authorities have been cracking down on illicit contact between men and women, including anything that smacks of decadent Western values — such as Valentine’s cards.

In February, Iranian police ordered shops to remove Valentine’s cards and decorations and in some cases confiscated “corrupt materials” being sold to promote the holiday.

According to the Associated Press, the crackdown appeared to be limited largely to northern Tehran, a wealthy area where exposure to Western culture is more common than in other parts of Iran.

In March, meanwhile, a Basij militia (religious police) commander told Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency that 68 men and women were arrested in Tehran for running a web sit where young men and women could meet to talk and arrange meetings.

IRNA quoted General Ahmad Rouzbehani as saying,

Some people were using an internet site to allow girls and boys to talk and arrange meetings in a place in north Tehran where they had illegal relations.

According to the BBC, the Basij regularly raid parties and gatherings where both men and women are present, but this is the first time it has targeted an Internet site.

Sources:

Iranians arrested for net dating. The BBC, March 3, 2003.

Iranian cops curtail Cupid’s canoodling. Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press, February 12, 2003.

The Dixie Chicks

To be honest, what Natalie Maines thinks about anything either positive or negative is largely irrelevant. But what is striking about her comment was how dumb it was. And I don’t mean they it was dumb because I agree or disagree with her stance on the war in Iraq. But if you’re going to criticize a politician, what does the fact that he is or is not from Texas have to do with anything?

I mean, I could understand if she’s opposed to the war and says she’s embarassed that the United States is going to attack Iraq or whatever but a comment like, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas” just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense other than to make Martin Sheen’s anti-war arguments suddenly seem a lot more cogent.