The Distant Ocean

It's the same straw!

Are you ready to have your mind blown wide open?  Well, if you're not, prepare yourself.

"The straw that broke the camel's back."

"That's the last straw."

It's the same straw, people!

It's as though this signal incident of excessive-straws-on-camel-loading was being observed by two different homespun philosophers, and they each produced their own subtly unique twist on the lesson they felt it illustrated--one camel-centric, one straw-centric.

Though my natural sympathies lie with the camel, I can't help but wonder about the straw.  Clear or opaque?  Straight or bendy?  We may never know.

UPDATE: The unification of straw adages stands on its own, of course.  But perhaps this can shed further light on the subject of straws more generally (via):

Or maybe not.  But, hey, funny.

Some questions for Lee Bollinger

I've sent the following to Lee Bollinger:

From: John Caruso
To: Lee Bollinger
Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:01:54
Subject: Do you have any comment on Musharraf's imposition of martial law?

Dr. Bollinger,

You famously said that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad exhibited "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator."  By contrast, when you were discussing Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, you said things like "rarely do we have an opportunity such as this to greet a figure of such central and global importance," "it is rare that we have a leader of his stature at campus," and "we at Columbia are eager to listen" to him.

Ahmadinejad, as you know, was democratically elected--unlike Musharraf, who seized power in a coup.  Ahmadinejad also wields little genuine power in Iran, in contrast to Musharraf, who has had control over the government and military of Pakistan for years.  And now Musharraf has suspended the Constitution, dissolved the Supreme Court, blacked out communications and news sources, and has already jailed about 500 opposition party figures, lawyers, and human rights advocates.

So I have two questions for you:

1) Given your willingness to suggest the word "dictator" to describe the democratically-elected Ahmadinejad, do you feel that the term should be applied to Musharraf as well?

2) Assuming that the answer to the previous question is "yes", and given that this is just a reprise of actions Musharraf had taken in the past, do you have any regret for your previous fulsome praise of him?

Thanks in advance for your time.

In my experience, the chances of getting a response to a message like this hover somewhere around .067%.  In the unlikely event that I do hear back, though, you'll be the first to know.

A crisis for Lee Bollinger?

Given Columbia University president Lee Bollinger's love affair with Pervez Musharraf, I can only imagine the long faces in the Bollinger household over this news:

Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Saturday, ahead of a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his future as president, thrusting the country deeper into political turmoil as it struggles with spreading Islamic militancy.

The government blocked transmissions of private news channels in several cities and telephone services in the capital, Islamabad, were cut.

Seven Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency, which suspended the current constitution. Police blocked entry to the Supreme Court building and later took the chief justice and other judges away in a convoy, witnesses said.

Let's try to be positive here: maybe they were just being taken out for a fun and informative tour of Islamabad.

You'd almost be tempted to say that Musharraf is exhibiting "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," wouldn't you.  But that would just be piling on.

UPDATE: Democracy marches on in Pakistan:

The government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, making no concessions a day after seizing emergency powers, rounded up leading opposition figures and said Sunday that parliamentary elections could be delayed for as long as a year.

Security forces were reported to have detained about 500 opposition party figures, lawyers and human rights advocates on Sunday, and about a dozen privately owned television news stations remained off the air. International broadcasters, including the BBC and CNN, were also cut off.

Again, can't we try to be positive about this?  Parliamentary elections are very complex and time-consuming, so it's not at all surprising that it might take a while to hold them.  And perhaps Musharraf just wants to have a series of encounter groups with these 500 "detained" people, in order to brainstorm a democratic transition plan for Pakistan.  And as for cutting off CNN--c'mon, who can't relate to that?  A few minutes of Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs is enough to put anyone off of television news for a lifetime.

Viva España!

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero became a hero of mine when he followed through on his pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq--and particularly when he dressed down John Kerry with such patient assurance, like an adult ignoring a tantrum as he teaches a simple but crucial lesson to a pouting child:

The other day Kerry urged Zapatero not to appease al Qaeda by withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq. Yesterday, the Scotsman reports, Zapatero responded by telling Kerry to buzz off: "Maybe John Kerry does not know--but I am happy to explain it to him--that my commitment to withdraw the troops goes back before the tragic, dramatic terrorist attack."

I can't imagine a clearer demonstration that Zapatero has more integrity in the microscopic particles of skin that slough off onto his pillow each night than Kerry has in his entire body.

But withdrawing troops from Iraq was just one of a steady stream of exemplary accomplishments for Zapatero--and one of the most important of these has just come to fruition:

Parliament condemned Gen. Francisco Franco's nearly 40-year dictatorship Wednesday in historic legislation addressing a dark chapter of Spanish history that had been largely off-limits.

The bill sponsored by the Socialist government and passed by the lower house of parliament also makes symbolic amends to victims of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. It formally denounces Franco's regime, mandates that local governments fund efforts to unearth mass graves from the Civil War and declares as "illegitimate" the summary military trials that led to the execution or imprisonment of thousands of the general's enemies.

The legislation orders the removal of all Franco-era symbols such as streets and plazas named after him or generals who fought for him. There are dozens of such symbols in Madrid alone.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose grandfather was among the tens of thousands executed by Franco's forces, had made the legislation a top priority and cobbled together an agreement between his ruling Socialists and several smaller parties.

On our side of the political spectrum it's easy to feel like the forces arrayed against us are overwhelming, and that the ideals we believe in have no chance against them.  It's easy to lose hope.  But this is a genuinely beautiful, transcendent moment.  It's proof that given enough time, our principles will win out.  We should take the time to savor that, and to understand what it signifies.  This is a great day not just for Spain, but for people throughout the world who believe in justice and human rights.

So congratulations once again to Zapatero for having the courage of his convictions, and for being able to turn those convictions into concrete results.  I can only imagine what it must feel like to live in a country that produces mainstream politicians like him, and--more importantly--that has an electorate with enough sense to put him in high office.

History's most prolific killer dies

Paul Tibbets, an American citizen who personally ended more human lives than any other individual in history, died today at the age of 92.