Rim Shot

The protests in D.C. today were pathetic and off-target. The protesters are completely lost, imho, in terms of what their goal should be. They stated this week that they intended to disrupt rush hour and "bring the city to a standstill". Instead, most of D.C. took the day off, except for the police, who apparently outnumbered the protesters.

Protesters are complaining of bad treatment by police, who didn't allow them to move around the city. Here's why: when you stage a protest that attracts so many people that you spill out into the streets and snarl up downtown, that's legitimate. You get exposure, you look passionate, and ultimately your message gets aired. However, when your method of protesting is to try and make people's commutes longer, then they're no longer going to listen. Instead of seeking to help the world by bringing the evils (and there are evils) of globalization to light, they've devolved to simply trying to make a bigger disruption than the last anti-globalization protest.

Rim shot.

Et tu, Pedro?

Bambino's Curse meets Bloggus Caesari in an admirable piece by the inimitable Ed Cossette.

Red Letters

Matthew 4:7 In response to Satan:
“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Quoting Deut. 6:16, Christ responds to Satan’s non-contextual use of scripture. Christ basically refused to show off his powers as an idle show of force. This is clearly an example for us; don’t abuse any power God gives for non-kingdom purposes.
***

4:10 In response to Satan “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”

Now quoting Deut. 6:13, Christ resists Satan’s offer of world domination in return for homage. Christ’s mission is to gain exactly that, but the ends do not justify the means. The passage extends the Deuteronomy prohibition of idol worship to demon or angel worship. Again drawing analogy to modern missions we can never sacrifice our standards to gain an objective. When the church focuses on goals instead of God primarily it tends to succumb to this temptation, i.e. by lowering standards to increase membership or converts.

Rev-o-lu-tion

The Sox have been eliminated, the Patriots play Sunday, and in the meantime it's time to go overboard for the (give it up, folks) NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION!!! The doughty Rev's will start the playoffs second-seeded after a three-game win streak at the season's end propelled them on in their worst-to-first turnaround. With enough fan support we may witness them going farther than they have in past playoffs. I believe this is the first time they've led the East division; however, with 8 of 10 MLS teams going to the playoffs it's not hard to make the playoff cut. Actually, if MLS wants to inject any suspense at all into their season, they need to decrease the number of playoff teams to at most 6, if not 4 or (better yet, IMHO) - 2.

What A Day!

My supervisor being unanticipatedly out sick and the mail server crashing in the same day... well, it's all good but I'm exhausted, and I've worked two and half hours overtime... whew!

With the President of the Dominican Republic coming tomorrow, we're busy! I tried to track down and contact Dominican media to try and get press coverage, and I worked endlessly digging up info about a certain Jerry Dupuy, who taught English in the D.R. from '62 to '64. One of his students was a certain Hipolito Mejia, a well-off young Dominican (actually, that part might be apocryophal). He married a Dominican girl from a wealthy family who was also a longtime friend of Hipolito's, and remained on the island to become a well-known agro-industrialist. When his longtime friend Hipolito became President a few years ago, "he offered to Jerry any position in government he wanted. Jerry declined saying that he preferred the freedom of being an unpaid advisor. Jerry recommended that the country create a Ministry of Environment, and it was done under Hipolito. Jerry recently retired from his agricultural businesses [tomatoes, other vegetables; he helped pioneer growing vegetables under modern practices on large farms] and from the Barcelo Rum company." That's according to the head of the returned Peace Corps volunteers' organization "Friends of the Dominican Republic." It's an interesting story, but it was an adventure to track down media documentation (largely in Spanish) without our email server.

A Biblical Perspective on September 11

I wrote this over the last month for my school newspaper. I'll have to see whether they publish it or not.

Many readers will recall, shortly after last year’s tragedies, the media flurry surrounding the comments by a few Christian pundits who said that the events of the 11th of September were “God’s judgment on America”. As an evangelical Christian, I would like to take the opportunity of the first anniversary of the tragedies to refute those who would speak for God in contradiction to His revealed word, the Bible.

In a passage eerily reminiscent of September 11, Jesus speaks about eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell, and a group of Galileans who were murdered while offering their sacrifices (Luke 13:1-5). Rather than blame the victims, Christ says “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus’ answer to the tragedies of His day should be the modern Christian’s model for our response to September 11. The Bible is clear that suffering is a natural consequence of sin, either our own or sin against us by others. The blame for the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocents last year falls squarely on the shoulders of those who planned and executed the massacre; not on the victims. Furthermore, we are warned in Matthew 7 not to judge those around us, but to look first to the “log in our own eye”. Christ’s word of caution - “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” - exhorts us to be mindful of our own mortality and sinfulness. Though we may be not be guilty of wreaking terror or even of blaming the victims, the Bible is clear that each of us must seek forgiveness for his or her own sin or be held accountable for it (Matthew 25:31-46). Those responsible for the deaths of Galileans and World Trade Center victims will all be called to account for their misdeeds, and likewise will you and I be judged for our actions during our lifetimes, be it long or cut short by tragedy. The good news is that Christ Himself provided a way for all of us to be pardoned, substituting His own death in place ours. Thus, the Christian response to tragic death is to sympathize with the victims - not to blame them - knowing that, like us, they were loved regardless of their deeds by a God whose goal is to see every one of His children come to repentence and forgiveness.

Red Letters

Matthew 4:4 In response to Satan:
“…Man shall not live by bread alone…”
Quoting Deut. 8:3, re. manna and faith.
The motto of fasting. Christ resists the temptation of temporality, a temptation emphasized when fasting but subtly present the rest of the time.

Resisting the desire for comfort, security and the rest of normal, daily life must be subordinate to God. “Seek first the kingdom of God… and all these things will be added to you.”

Red Sox Eulogies, Recriminations

Number crunching (I love this stuff).

Nomar criticized for being critical... Nomar begs to keep his job. Hey, I don't blame them all for being a little bitter - every Bostonian who hasn't turned the Pats on yet is.

Red Letters

Over the past year I've been (very slowly) going through the book of Matthew, and writing a bit about everything that Jesus says in that book. It's been a fascinating study, and I learn by writing, so I've learned quite a bit, considering I'm in the middle of chapter 10 and I've written 22 pages so far! I hope you're interested in reading some of my comments, interpretation, and analysis; because you're going to be subjected to it whether you're interested or not. Not all 22 pages at once, of course, but one or two verses a day for a long time. May the Lord add blessing to the reading of His Word, and quicken it to our hearts.

Matthew 3:15 In response to John the Baptist’s refusal to baptize Him “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”
Christ’s kenosis and humbling make it appropriate for Him to submit to His inferiors “at this time.” His humbling was the “fitting” way to fulfill, complete, accomplish righteousness for all men.
Similarly as Christians we must humble ourselves. Though humility can be defined as “being known for who you really are,” Christ’s humility and ours at least at times involves being known as lower than we actually are. Don’t always assume that you are entitled to what you are entitled to.

Insider Information

From my placement deep inside the Peace Corps, I know a lot. Such as...the director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention would like to do a cooperative program with us. And FOX, I think, has plans for a reality-TV-show based on the lives of a few Peace Corps volunteers. They're allowing us to maintain enough control over the project that we're actually pretty receptive to it. Interesting stuff, I'll tell ya!

Faith in Ourselves

Great piece on Mute Troubadour - "even if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself".

Prayer: Lord, I will not trust in my testimony of faith, for there are vast tracts of my soul that are not yet faithful, even rebellious against your Lordship. Enlighten my mind and spirit that I may be fully embraced by you. Amen.

...And we no stay huhu wit dem...

“God, you our Fadda.
You stay inside da sky.
We like all da peopo know fo shua how you stay,
An dat you stay good an spesho,
An we like dem give you plenny respeck.
We like you come King fo everybody now.
We like everybody make jalike you like,
Ova hea inside da world,
Jalike da angel guys up inside da sky make jalike you like.
Give us da food we need fo today an every day.
Hemmo our shame, an let us go
Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you,
Jalike us guys let da odda guys go awready,
And we no stay huhu wit dem
Fo all da kine bad stuff dey do to us.
No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff,
But take us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us.
Cuz you our King.
You get da real power,
An you stay awesome foeva.
Dass it!”


The Hawaiian Pidgin New Testament. Get yours today an give all da respeck to da Lord guy. Via Braunpau.

Smarter Saudis

The Saudis are playing their cards right - rather than sideline themselves from the Iraq debate, they are now saying that they will cooperate if the United Nations Security Council authorizes the attack. This stance gives the U.S. more to gain by using the U.N. as opposed to unilateralism, and makes the U.S. look more hard-line if we don't play ball. Ultimately, authorization from the U.N. is exactly what we need, and I think if Bush has patience, he should be able to get it before his term ends.

44 - 7

Pats over Jets. Need I say more? And yes, we were considered underdogs. As we will be next week against Kansas City. Right now we're on a streak of at least 6 (maybe more?) games in which we've upset the odds in our favor... song of the week in Vegas: "Where have all the flowers gone?" [The refrain goes: "When will they ever learn, When will they ever learn?"]

Welcome Instability

There was a new kind of instability in Palestine today: Arafat's once-stranglehold on the Palestinian Authority is now only a weak and perhaps slipping grip. The Post reports that Arafat was forced to accept the resignation of his entire cabinet under pressure from the legislature. Hopefully this showdown and the resulting power shift will give candidates other than Arafat a chance in the scheduled presidential elections, and force Arafat to clean house a bit. On the other hand, it could just mean that Arafat will spend a little more money and buy more support, entrenching rather than purging the rampant corruption. Nonetheless, "'this is a positive step toward the division of authority and the rule of law'", in the words of a Bethlehem legislator.

"Arafat hasn't been subjected to this degree of accountability before," said George Giacaman, general director of the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, located in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "This is an important precedent. Their main message is that they're seeking reform and they will not be willing to simply rubber-stamp any cabinet."

"I hope today will be viewed as a landmark in Palestinian people's history," said Saeb Erekat, Arafat's minister of local government until this afternoon. "The Palestinian people have chosen democracy, accountability and transparency." Always the statesman, Erekat stands by his government even as it kicks him out. A reasonable, urbane accomodationist, he's been a U.S. and Israeli favorite to negotiate with. He's too compromised and uncharismatic to stand a chance in a presidential election, but I certainly hope he doesn't fade from the Palestinian scene.

Coming soon: Will the Israelis allow the elections to be held??

Search & Destroy

More search results:

#9 for "nude graveyards".
#4 for "benazir sexy photos".
#1 for "HOW TO TELL IF A FLIRTY TOUCHY WOMAN IS ATTRACTED TO MY SPOUSE". Hey, everybody's an expert in something.

Better

They aren't too clear on the source, but the NYTimes seems to know quite a bit about Bush's preparations for a speech at the U.N. today. And, based on what they say, Bush is taking precisely the right track. Rather than merely bluster about how bad Hussein is (we all know) or America's right to preemption (a very dangerous concept), he's putting the ball in the U.N.'s court. "President Bush plans to challenge the United Nations today to enforce resolutions it has passed since 1991 requiring Iraq to "unconditionally accept" the destruction of its chemical and biological weapons and nuclear research facilities, according to administration officials. He will warn that if the United Nations fails to act, the United States will step in to force Iraqi compliance."

"Heeding the call of allies that he must operate through the United Nations, aides familiar with the speech said Mr. Bush planned to put the onus on Mr. Hussein and the United Nations itself — and to portray the United States as a reluctant sheriff that will step in only as a last resort." Much, much better. He should have taken this tack from the beginning. Hopefully U.S. allies in the U.N. will see the logic in Bush's rhetoric, and work together to twist Saddam's arm until he coughs up the weapons. Honestly, I still think that from the beginning the Bush administration has had no desire to go to war, and would much rather put a feather in their cap for scaring Saddam into obedience.

Training Day

I'm now working for the U.S. Peace Corps, and underway on my second day of orientation. Right now we're being introduced to the NT's, and the "old folks" are learning how to use a mouse, minimize a window, etc. There are about a dozen people in my training group, including five interns. My supervisor is cool, an easygoing young woman, and there are going to be four other interns, though I'm the only full-timer.

I'm living for the time being with my aunt and uncle in Northwest, and it's gone very well.

I stayed up late last night watching the Patriots thrash the hapless Steelers at brand-spanking-new Gillette Stadium. Respect for the Patriots is in the mail, but I enjoy beating the spread day in and day out -- and I'll bet New Englanders are making plenty of cash off of easy bets in Vegas.

P.S. I love that new guy Branch - I don't know much about football, but he certainly seemed to get himself open with regularity, and always seemed to have control of himself and the ball. Great showing for a rookie in any case!

Love, Fatah

The League of Arab States has a new and sexy website, though it's still a little short on content. Among the cool features: you can write an email to the secretary-general or one of the ambassadors, and there's a letter from Fatah and Tanzim (two of the broadest Palestinian organizations) that was going to be released to a major western newspaper a month ago, but wasn't because of some Israeli action or other. It's a little bit melodramatic, but that's characteristic of Arab writing, and it's definitely worth a look.

My Apologies

To anyone who has had the traumatic experience of trying to view this site using Netscape. If that's the way you look at the world, please give us a chance in IE - we look way better that way!

Search & Destroy

After a period of very few search results, Instant Replay has had a flurry of them - and apart from the obligatory poor deceived soul searching for "instant replay", they're largely entertaining. In the last two days, we've had visits from: "nigeria dating" - where IR is the 738th result... somebody is desperate. I got results for "Bassel Sawaya", where I'm #6, and for "Salim Furth", where I'm #1. I just wonder who was searching for me?

And this week's crown jewel? "student life is boring. speech paper", where the indefatigable google explorer slashed and hacked his way through 111 search results before finding IR!

Not Guilty

I received a long overdue letter from the Township of Edison, New Jersey, site of my $7,000 car crash this spring. The wheels of justice do indeed turn slowly, but I finally know the verdict on the charges of reckless driving spuriously leveled against me!

Joe Average for President!

I followed a link to this page, and found a link of all the people who may run in 2004 as independents/write-ins. As far as I can tell they're serious; the rest of the web site seems quite serious. I guess there are enough people out there whose ego-to-brains ratio gets so high that they think it would be wise to run for President.

A Bicycle Built for Four

Pakistani Politics

Based on the little I know of Pakistan's internal power struggles, this article notes what I think is a watershed event in the current political armwrestling. The thrust of the article - former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto being barred from coming elections by the military dictator, U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf - comes as no surprise: who would expect a military dictator under fire from all sides to allow his #1 opponent to hold office? He's vowed to arrest her if she enters the country. However, the big news to me is that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has thrown "his support behind Ms. Bhutto", his longtime rival.

For the uninitiated, Pakistan has had a revolving-door since its 1947 independence, cycling through corrupt elected leaders and military reformer/dictators. Benazir Bhutto's father was hanged in the late 1970's after he lost a war in which India aided East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in seceding. Benazir was an undergrad at Harvard at the time. My mother worked in the Harvard Bursar's Office at the time, and remembers young Benazir coming in and saying that she could no longer pay tuition, given the coup against her father. My mom's boss let Benazir finish school for free.

Benazir became Prime Minister with the help of the powerful People's Party of Pakistan machine - "They could run a donkey here and it would win" - and ran one of the most corrupt regimes of the 1990's. Her corruption alienated Pakistani's, who still consider corruption a prime issue, according to the NYTimes article. Until just recently Sharif and Bhutto, longtime rivals, were jockeying for position to take over from Musharraf in the event of free elections. Now Sharif is willing to step aside in order to help oust Musharraf, who is actually probably a lot better for Pakistan right now, in my humble opinion. Anyway, read the article - it's very informative.

Living Dead (Sea)

Israel and Jordan have unveiled a scheme to save the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea, one which has been feeding the unfounded-rumor mill for years. The plan is a lot more complicated from the political angle than the engineering angle. The cost is quoted at $800 million, and would involve laying a pipe from the Gulf of Aqaba 300 miles across the desert to the Dead Sea, which is 400 feet below sea level. The highest elevation in the valley between the two is, I believe, 300 feet, so the pipe, once it starts flowing, can easily siphon water from the Gulf to the Sea with no pumping. My father, the engineer, said it'll be up to the designing engineers to figure out the friction coefficient and make sure that the height drop will overcome that and maintain a steady rate of flow.

The politics isn't that cut and dried. On the bureaucratic level, Israel and Jordan don't have as much experience in cooperation as most neighboring countries, and will have to deal with giving out contracts, locating the pipeline, and other potentially thorny issues jointly. That, however, is a challenge I think the Israeli-Jordanian relationship can ultimately overcome, and this project could benefit both politically as well as environmentally: high-profile cooperation sure can't hurt in the rest of the world's eyes! However, one part of the rest of the world might not be so thrilled, and that's the main political danger involved: if the other Arab states and Jordan's Palestinian majority pressure King Abdullah enough, he may be forced to put the project on hold periodically to "punish" the Israelis. Jordan would be harmed more, but the project has the potential to become just another symbol of the breakdown of the Arab-Israeli peace process. A classical tragedy it would be if two sides claiming rights to holy land ended up destroying that very land by their bickering after peace had seemed so close.