Thursday, October 24, 2002
Dr. Paranoia finds the solution - look way down in the article
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This week's article was to be about a peaceful walk on the West Side, but then came a note from Dr. Paranoia:
"No doubt, you have been worrying about the events in rogue nations, and the assassinations. North Korea has admitted transgressing the 1994 agreement and has continued to work on nuclear weapons. When plutonium was denied, North Koreans enriched uranium, with tools from Pakistan (then under a different government), obtained in return to supplying the Pakis with rocketry to defy India. This story emerges after a visit from Japan's President Koizumi and the release of five Japanese, when the NorKos admitted the kidnaping 20 years ago. Dr. P. agrees with South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung, who suggests that the dictator Kim Jong Il is doing a Bush-like threat, and offering revelations, to force negotiations and get concessions from the West. Kim wants to shed the Axis-of-Evil label and get an energy plant.
"The Bush plan for Iraq is working well, maybe too well. The US Congress has authorized him to use force if he thinks it appropriate and necessary, should the UN efforts to demilitarize Iraq fail. In the UN, France, Russia and China want no military action. All Muslim countries protest it, even Kuwait and the emirates where we have bases that would serve as launching posts.
"The terrorist protesters, al-Qaida inspired, have been active. In Kuwait American marines have been attacked and assassinated. On the 2nd anniversary of the USS Cole explosion in Yemen that killed 17 and injured 33 sailors, terrorists in Bali blew up nearly 200 tourists and injured hundreds more. It was the 9/11 equivalent for our Australian friends, and a blow to Indochina's fragile economy and government. The big Jemaah Islamiyah sect appears involved, and the Indonesian government is scared to name them, although the identification was made by senior minister Lee Kuan-Yew of Singapore, a country that has experience with Jamaah's terrorist faction. Jemaah's leader Abu Bakar Bashir points to the CIA and Israel as the probable culprits, just like the al-Qaida propagandists did after 9/11, then talking of the spurious 4,000 Jews (so did more recently the Poet Laureate of New Jersey, Muslim convert, revolutionary Marxist and sometime hater of whites, Imami Amiri Baraka, nee LeRoi Jones, of whom more later).
"In Zamboanga, the Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf organization blew up six people and injured 144 more. If this does not make the Muslim world take a deep breath and reconsider, I do not know what will. The Washington, DC area sniper who has shot at 12 innocents and killed nine, is definitely too well organized and scheduled to be a maniac acting solo. If the tarot card clue is to be trusted, the language of "Dear Policeman I am God" is non-idiomatic American and points to a MidEastern ethic.
"The Muslims have also been reacting politically. Before the outburst of terror, Pakistan's militant Islamist parties, normally attracting a low vote, elected a sizable minority to the Parliament, a warning to the apathetic Pakistani middle class to protect their interests, or face a radical change. The Musharraf- led Army remains still in charge, and there is a thaw in the Kashmir situation, after a horribly bloody election.
"In Iraq's "referendum," 100 percent of the 10.8 million voters cast ballots, some of them signed with blood from needle-pierced fingers, giving 100 percent of the vote to Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi spin doctors ascribe it to the voters' unanimous desire for peace, assured by their beloved leader's rule. Apparently the 3/10 of one percent of voters who cast negative votes seven years ago (that would be 30,000 people) have been eliminated or have escaped abroad. Saddam has executed massive numbers of non-supporters, according to Amnesty International. In his elite Republican Guard of 80,000 troops (not to be confused with Iran's Revolutionary Guard) the dictator has put to death a dozen generals and over a hundred of other officers. He has a group of 20,000 young executioners who have sworn to die in his defense. Nevertheless, Iraqis have blinked, offering to admit UN inspectors everywhere they want to go, including the palaces.
"Where does all this leave us, the US? Is the entire world against us? Does that make us enemies of the people? The answer is that there is the fear of war and death throughout the world. If this gets through to our enemies, the secret creators and hoarders of weapons of mass destruction, we will succeed in disarming them. Our friends will come back. Joschke Fischer, foreign minister of Germany (and a former terrorist himself) wants to visit and make peace. The MidEast dictators want us to win but are afraid of their street people. As for Israel, Dr. P. is less sanguine. Mark well, the Muslim world will change only when their women become emancipated and assume their rightful place in the world. A development that needs strong fostering.
"Coming back to the Poet Laureate, Imamu Amiri Baraka, the former Beat poet LeRoi Jones, whose "Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note" (1961) earned him first notice, he is not a terrorist associate. His early style dealt with suicide, death and self-hatred. A play, "The Dutchman," earned an Obie. Baraka, with his first wife Hattie Cohen, founded Yugen, a major lit journal, and Totem Press. With Diane di Prima he ran the Floating Bear newsletter (1961-69). He organized a Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BART/S). After the murder of Mohammed Ali he withdrew, divorced, became a Kawaida Muslim, moved to Harlem, and embraced revolutionary Marxism. At 68, he is a distinguished man of letters, with a wife, poetess Sylvia Robinson (Amina Baraka), and five children. But the revolutionary fervor seethes and occasionally breaks out, crying for notice. So there, judge for yourself. How about these Southern preachers bad-mouthing another faith ex cathedra? Named are Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and particularly Jerry Falwell, whose TV characterization of the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist caused Indian-Muslim riots and nine deaths. Jerry apologized and his apology was accepted in Cairo, but not very likely in Peshawar. And Harry Belafonte, who calls Colin Powell a "house slave." There is no dearth of old fogged minds and old warped ideals vying for attention."
Thank you Dr. Paranoia. Some good news on the new, economics and news fronts. IBM is performing better than expected, and the New York Times' Styles supplement is beginning to tell both interesting and important stories. Fashionistas, take notice, your "Nero fiddling" styles might get revealed as irrelevant and boring.
This week's article was to be about a peaceful walk on the West Side, but then came a note from Dr. Paranoia:
"No doubt, you have been worrying about the events in rogue nations, and the assassinations. North Korea has admitted transgressing the 1994 agreement and has continued to work on nuclear weapons. When plutonium was denied, North Koreans enriched uranium, with tools from Pakistan (then under a different government), obtained in return to supplying the Pakis with rocketry to defy India. This story emerges after a visit from Japan's President Koizumi and the release of five Japanese, when the NorKos admitted the kidnaping 20 years ago. Dr. P. agrees with South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung, who suggests that the dictator Kim Jong Il is doing a Bush-like threat, and offering revelations, to force negotiations and get concessions from the West. Kim wants to shed the Axis-of-Evil label and get an energy plant.
"The Bush plan for Iraq is working well, maybe too well. The US Congress has authorized him to use force if he thinks it appropriate and necessary, should the UN efforts to demilitarize Iraq fail. In the UN, France, Russia and China want no military action. All Muslim countries protest it, even Kuwait and the emirates where we have bases that would serve as launching posts.
"The terrorist protesters, al-Qaida inspired, have been active. In Kuwait American marines have been attacked and assassinated. On the 2nd anniversary of the USS Cole explosion in Yemen that killed 17 and injured 33 sailors, terrorists in Bali blew up nearly 200 tourists and injured hundreds more. It was the 9/11 equivalent for our Australian friends, and a blow to Indochina's fragile economy and government. The big Jemaah Islamiyah sect appears involved, and the Indonesian government is scared to name them, although the identification was made by senior minister Lee Kuan-Yew of Singapore, a country that has experience with Jamaah's terrorist faction. Jemaah's leader Abu Bakar Bashir points to the CIA and Israel as the probable culprits, just like the al-Qaida propagandists did after 9/11, then talking of the spurious 4,000 Jews (so did more recently the Poet Laureate of New Jersey, Muslim convert, revolutionary Marxist and sometime hater of whites, Imami Amiri Baraka, nee LeRoi Jones, of whom more later).
"In Zamboanga, the Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf organization blew up six people and injured 144 more. If this does not make the Muslim world take a deep breath and reconsider, I do not know what will. The Washington, DC area sniper who has shot at 12 innocents and killed nine, is definitely too well organized and scheduled to be a maniac acting solo. If the tarot card clue is to be trusted, the language of "Dear Policeman I am God" is non-idiomatic American and points to a MidEastern ethic.
"The Muslims have also been reacting politically. Before the outburst of terror, Pakistan's militant Islamist parties, normally attracting a low vote, elected a sizable minority to the Parliament, a warning to the apathetic Pakistani middle class to protect their interests, or face a radical change. The Musharraf- led Army remains still in charge, and there is a thaw in the Kashmir situation, after a horribly bloody election.
"In Iraq's "referendum," 100 percent of the 10.8 million voters cast ballots, some of them signed with blood from needle-pierced fingers, giving 100 percent of the vote to Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi spin doctors ascribe it to the voters' unanimous desire for peace, assured by their beloved leader's rule. Apparently the 3/10 of one percent of voters who cast negative votes seven years ago (that would be 30,000 people) have been eliminated or have escaped abroad. Saddam has executed massive numbers of non-supporters, according to Amnesty International. In his elite Republican Guard of 80,000 troops (not to be confused with Iran's Revolutionary Guard) the dictator has put to death a dozen generals and over a hundred of other officers. He has a group of 20,000 young executioners who have sworn to die in his defense. Nevertheless, Iraqis have blinked, offering to admit UN inspectors everywhere they want to go, including the palaces.
"Where does all this leave us, the US? Is the entire world against us? Does that make us enemies of the people? The answer is that there is the fear of war and death throughout the world. If this gets through to our enemies, the secret creators and hoarders of weapons of mass destruction, we will succeed in disarming them. Our friends will come back. Joschke Fischer, foreign minister of Germany (and a former terrorist himself) wants to visit and make peace. The MidEast dictators want us to win but are afraid of their street people. As for Israel, Dr. P. is less sanguine. Mark well, the Muslim world will change only when their women become emancipated and assume their rightful place in the world. A development that needs strong fostering.
"Coming back to the Poet Laureate, Imamu Amiri Baraka, the former Beat poet LeRoi Jones, whose "Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note" (1961) earned him first notice, he is not a terrorist associate. His early style dealt with suicide, death and self-hatred. A play, "The Dutchman," earned an Obie. Baraka, with his first wife Hattie Cohen, founded Yugen, a major lit journal, and Totem Press. With Diane di Prima he ran the Floating Bear newsletter (1961-69). He organized a Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BART/S). After the murder of Mohammed Ali he withdrew, divorced, became a Kawaida Muslim, moved to Harlem, and embraced revolutionary Marxism. At 68, he is a distinguished man of letters, with a wife, poetess Sylvia Robinson (Amina Baraka), and five children. But the revolutionary fervor seethes and occasionally breaks out, crying for notice. So there, judge for yourself. How about these Southern preachers bad-mouthing another faith ex cathedra? Named are Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and particularly Jerry Falwell, whose TV characterization of the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist caused Indian-Muslim riots and nine deaths. Jerry apologized and his apology was accepted in Cairo, but not very likely in Peshawar. And Harry Belafonte, who calls Colin Powell a "house slave." There is no dearth of old fogged minds and old warped ideals vying for attention."
Thank you Dr. Paranoia. Some good news on the new, economics and news fronts. IBM is performing better than expected, and the New York Times' Styles supplement is beginning to tell both interesting and important stories. Fashionistas, take notice, your "Nero fiddling" styles might get revealed as irrelevant and boring.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 3:28 PM 
