The Flashlight, Sept. 21-28, 2007
THE FLASHLIGHT, September 22-28, 2007
Iraq
PBS 9-21. The State Department has begun a full investigation of security contractors in Iraq. 9-27. NY Times. Accusations of irresponsible violence are twice as frequent against
Blackwater USA as against other contractors in Iraq.
Comedy Central TV 9-21. Steven Colbert suggested that Blackwater change its name to Drinking Water in order to make itself more acceptable to the Iraqis. He “praised” Market Forces in Iraq which have given the Iraqis al-Qaeda, the Mahdi army, the Sunni insurgents, and now Blackwater. “Never have the Iraqis had so much choice of ways to get killed.”
PBS 9-26. Defense Secretary Gates said there are 7300 security contractor personnel in Iraq.
Iran
CNN 9-24, a.m. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican leader, condemned Columbia University for allowing President Ahmedinejad of Iran to speak there. President Ahmedinejad was also invited to New York to speak to the UN General Assembly. The Senator called him a “megalomaniac with a megaphone.”
NYTimes 9-25. Helene Cooper reporting. [She was born in Monrovia Liberia, is a naturalized US citizen, and has many years of experience reporting on the Middle East. FCNL in Washington refers Friends to her column, “Just World News”. She was hired by the New York Times in 2006.]
The President of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, introduced Pres. Ahmedinejad with a ten minute speech in which he called his guest a “petty and cruel dictator.” He deplored the latter’s denial of the Holocaust. He said that Iran was a sponsor of state terrorism and is fighting a proxy war against the US in Iraq. He said that Iran failed to adhere to international standards for disclosure for its nuclear program.
For this Pres. Bollinger received much applause. The reporter estimated that 70% of the audience was hostile to Ahmedinejad, and 30% friendly.
Ahmedinejad began by saying that “In Iran tradition requires that when you invite a person to be a speaker, we actually respect our students enough to allow them to make their own judgment and don’t think it’s necessary, before the speech is even given, to come in with a series of complaints to provide vaccination to the students and faculty.”
On nuclear weapons he said, “If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and are testing them already, who are you to question those who just want nuclear power?”
He said that Iran could not recognize Israel “because it is based on ethnic discrimination, occupation, and usurpation and it consistently threatens its neighbors.”
He called 9/11 a “tragic event.”
He said that even if the Holocaust did occur, the Palestinians should not pay the price for it.
When Dean John Coatsworth told Ahmedinejad to stop rambling and dodging, and to answer questions yes or no, the latter said, “Is the Palestine issue not a question of importance? Yes or no?” For that he got a round of student applause.
NY Times 9-25 Editorial. “We are dismayed by the behavior of some of New York’s democratically elected representatives who denounced and threatened Columbia University for inviting the Iranian leader to speak there yesterday.” The Timees said that he New York Sun reported that Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, had warned that legislators “might now take a different view of the capital support it provides to Columbia.”
Myanmar (Burma)
ABC 9-24. Buddhist monks are leading a revolution against the military junta that seized power nineteen years ago. The c. 100,000 demonstrators are unarmed. PBS 9-26. Armed repression has begun, with killings and arrests.
CNN and PBS 9-27. The military junta has arrested hundreds of monks et al., and today other dissidents and students demonstrated in their place. Tear gas and gunfire have been used to clear the streets. There are calls for the release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991, under house arrest for twelve years. No tally of casualties is available. No journalists are allowed into Burma. An anonymous European diplomat said that army violence is escalating. So far international pressure against the junta is ineffective.
United States CNN 9-21. Dr. Sanjay Gupta campaigned against the US “Killer Diet”, which is heavy on fats and carbohydrates. He blamed the federal government for subsidizing corn and soy bean growers instead of producers of fruits and vegetables. Corn is used to make corn syrup, a widely used sweetener, and soy beans are used to produce trans-fats, which are bad for the circulatory system.
9-21 CNN. Senators Feinstein and Lugar proposed a new diplomatic effort to broker peace in Israel/Palestine [The Holy Land]. [FCNL supports their resolution, SR 321].
NYTimes 9-22. At Stanford University a coalition of professors, staff, students, and alumni – 2100 so far – protested the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a distinguished fellow of the Hoover Institution. They said that the appointment is incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested inquiry, and concern for the opinions, property, and lives of others.
[In the picture that accompanied this story we see our own Professor Eric Roberts!]
NY Times 9-25. The Bush Administration invited Syria to the Middle East peace meeting in November.
PBS 9-21. Ken Burns introduced his new fifteen-part series on World War II. He said that this supposed “good” war was actually horrible, the worst ever.
CNN 9-25. Warren Jepps, polygamist leader in Arizona/Utah, was found guilty of being an accessory to rape. He forced a fourteen year old girl to marry her nineteen year old cousin against her wishes. Jepps may get a life sentence.
NYTimes 9-26. The Episcopal Bishops of the US rejected the demands by leaders of the Anglican Communion with regard to the status of homosexuals. [There is an openly gay US Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, who is unacceptable to African Anglicans.]
Iraq
PBS 9-21. The State Department has begun a full investigation of security contractors in Iraq. 9-27. NY Times. Accusations of irresponsible violence are twice as frequent against
Blackwater USA as against other contractors in Iraq.
Comedy Central TV 9-21. Steven Colbert suggested that Blackwater change its name to Drinking Water in order to make itself more acceptable to the Iraqis. He “praised” Market Forces in Iraq which have given the Iraqis al-Qaeda, the Mahdi army, the Sunni insurgents, and now Blackwater. “Never have the Iraqis had so much choice of ways to get killed.”
PBS 9-26. Defense Secretary Gates said there are 7300 security contractor personnel in Iraq.
Iran
CNN 9-24, a.m. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican leader, condemned Columbia University for allowing President Ahmedinejad of Iran to speak there. President Ahmedinejad was also invited to New York to speak to the UN General Assembly. The Senator called him a “megalomaniac with a megaphone.”
NYTimes 9-25. Helene Cooper reporting. [She was born in Monrovia Liberia, is a naturalized US citizen, and has many years of experience reporting on the Middle East. FCNL in Washington refers Friends to her column, “Just World News”. She was hired by the New York Times in 2006.]
The President of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, introduced Pres. Ahmedinejad with a ten minute speech in which he called his guest a “petty and cruel dictator.” He deplored the latter’s denial of the Holocaust. He said that Iran was a sponsor of state terrorism and is fighting a proxy war against the US in Iraq. He said that Iran failed to adhere to international standards for disclosure for its nuclear program.
For this Pres. Bollinger received much applause. The reporter estimated that 70% of the audience was hostile to Ahmedinejad, and 30% friendly.
Ahmedinejad began by saying that “In Iran tradition requires that when you invite a person to be a speaker, we actually respect our students enough to allow them to make their own judgment and don’t think it’s necessary, before the speech is even given, to come in with a series of complaints to provide vaccination to the students and faculty.”
On nuclear weapons he said, “If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and are testing them already, who are you to question those who just want nuclear power?”
He said that Iran could not recognize Israel “because it is based on ethnic discrimination, occupation, and usurpation and it consistently threatens its neighbors.”
He called 9/11 a “tragic event.”
He said that even if the Holocaust did occur, the Palestinians should not pay the price for it.
When Dean John Coatsworth told Ahmedinejad to stop rambling and dodging, and to answer questions yes or no, the latter said, “Is the Palestine issue not a question of importance? Yes or no?” For that he got a round of student applause.
NY Times 9-25 Editorial. “We are dismayed by the behavior of some of New York’s democratically elected representatives who denounced and threatened Columbia University for inviting the Iranian leader to speak there yesterday.” The Timees said that he New York Sun reported that Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, had warned that legislators “might now take a different view of the capital support it provides to Columbia.”
Myanmar (Burma)
ABC 9-24. Buddhist monks are leading a revolution against the military junta that seized power nineteen years ago. The c. 100,000 demonstrators are unarmed. PBS 9-26. Armed repression has begun, with killings and arrests.
CNN and PBS 9-27. The military junta has arrested hundreds of monks et al., and today other dissidents and students demonstrated in their place. Tear gas and gunfire have been used to clear the streets. There are calls for the release of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991, under house arrest for twelve years. No tally of casualties is available. No journalists are allowed into Burma. An anonymous European diplomat said that army violence is escalating. So far international pressure against the junta is ineffective.
United States CNN 9-21. Dr. Sanjay Gupta campaigned against the US “Killer Diet”, which is heavy on fats and carbohydrates. He blamed the federal government for subsidizing corn and soy bean growers instead of producers of fruits and vegetables. Corn is used to make corn syrup, a widely used sweetener, and soy beans are used to produce trans-fats, which are bad for the circulatory system.
9-21 CNN. Senators Feinstein and Lugar proposed a new diplomatic effort to broker peace in Israel/Palestine [The Holy Land]. [FCNL supports their resolution, SR 321].
NYTimes 9-22. At Stanford University a coalition of professors, staff, students, and alumni – 2100 so far – protested the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as a distinguished fellow of the Hoover Institution. They said that the appointment is incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested inquiry, and concern for the opinions, property, and lives of others.
[In the picture that accompanied this story we see our own Professor Eric Roberts!]
NY Times 9-25. The Bush Administration invited Syria to the Middle East peace meeting in November.
PBS 9-21. Ken Burns introduced his new fifteen-part series on World War II. He said that this supposed “good” war was actually horrible, the worst ever.
CNN 9-25. Warren Jepps, polygamist leader in Arizona/Utah, was found guilty of being an accessory to rape. He forced a fourteen year old girl to marry her nineteen year old cousin against her wishes. Jepps may get a life sentence.
NYTimes 9-26. The Episcopal Bishops of the US rejected the demands by leaders of the Anglican Communion with regard to the status of homosexuals. [There is an openly gay US Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson, who is unacceptable to African Anglicans.]
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 4:40 PM
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