Iraqi Elections

It is odd how conservatives can coarsen discourse and still claim to be so moral. Here, the gesture of an Iraqi voter is interpreted as 'giving insurgents the finger':

Click on cartoon to visit the source page, filled with ads for speculators in the Iraqi currency and 'thank-yous' to Tony Blair for joining the Coalition of the Willing.

'Giving someone the finger' used to mean 'flipping someone off', i.e. using the middle finger in a very rude gesture. Obviously, the Iraqi voter is not flipping anyone off; she is proudly showing that she voted. A positive gesture is transformed by a witless cartoonist into a negative gesture so the 101st keyboarders can have a good chuckle.

By the way, it was no surprise that Shia Muslim Iraqis voted in large numbers. The dis-empowered Sunnis are another matter.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Victimless Crime Meets Welfare Reform in Germany

Libertarians are fond of calling prostitution a 'victimless crime.' About two years ago, Germany legalized prostitution. Read what happened when the welfare system was reformed: 'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'by Clare Chapman (Daily Independent, UK)

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services" at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners-- who must pay tax and employee health insurance -- were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job -- including in the sex industry -- or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

The government can't distinguish between bars and brothels? Well, these days we cannot make exception to anything on moral grounds, I suppose. We wouldn't want to appear to be narrowminded and prudish. If this doesn't illustrate the moral bankruptcy of government compulsion (welfare reform), I don't know what does.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Islam is not a religion of peace, Saudi edition

The Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House, the human rights organization originally founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, has released a new report, "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques," [PDF, 535 Kb] The report compiles examples of Saudi-government-sponsored propaganda distributed in mosques in the United States.

The report is arranged in topical chapters:

1. Christians, Jews and Other "Infidels"
2. Jews
3. Other Muslims
4. Anti-American
5. Infidel Conspiracies
6. Jihad Ideology
7. Suppression of Women

Here is a selection from the chapter on jihad ideology:

One example [Document No. 28] is a book for third-year high school students published by the Saudi Ministry of Education that was collected from the Islamic Center of Oakland in California. The text, written with the approval of the Saudi Ministry of Education, teaches students to prepare for jihad in the sense of war against Islam's enemies, and to strive to attain military self-sufficiency:

"To be true Muslims, we must prepare and be ready for jihad in Allah's way. It is the duty of the citizen and the government. The military education is glued to faith and its meaning, and the duty to follow it." [Document No. 28]

Strength is defined in this textbook in physical, spiritual, and material terms, namely men, beliefs, and the latest advances in military technology:

"Preparing the weapons for war and possessing them; even better than that is building special factories for manufacturing military vehicles, tanks, rockets, planes, and other things needed in modern warfare." [Document No. 28]

The text then assures students that the Kingdom does not concentrate only on defensive capabilities, but also on building an offensive arsenal to face,

“the dangers of communism and the Crusades from the East and the West, and in the first cause for all the Arabs, the Palestinian cause and the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque; the cause of Muslim Afghanistan and the causes of persecuted Muslim minorities around the world.” [Document No. 28]

The bibliographic reference to Document No. 28 reads "Reading. Riyadh: Ministry of Education, 1995. Collected from Islamic Center of Oakland CA, 12/18/03."

Many of the documents cited are from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s--I wonder if there has been any change since 9/11/2001? I also wonder if there was bias in the selection of the 200 documents used for this study. The impression I get from reading this report is that Wahabbist Muslims should not even be allowed in any democratic country.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Valentine memo to myself

Remember to send a valentine to be re-mailed from Loveland, Colorado to my wife.

Instructions:
To have your valentines re-mailed, enclose your pre-stamped, pre-addressed Valentines with return address in a large 1st class envelope to:

Postmaster
Attn: Valentines
Loveland, CO 80538-9998


This is the 2003 Loveland Colorado Valentine cachet...what will this year's cachet look like? source About 50 volunteers work for the first 2 weeks of February processing about 300,000 valentines! Thank you for all that work! (I'll post a scan of the cachet and/or postmark when we receive it.)

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Italian detective honored with new postage stamp

I am amused whenever conservative American stamp collectors complain about United States stamps portraying 'anti-Americans' or 'Communists.' (Recent examples include Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and African-American activist Malcolm X.)

I wonder how liberal Italian stamp collectors feel about this: Luigi Calabresi is being honored with a new Italian postage stamp. [Gibbons Stamp Monthly]

The Luigi Calabresi postage stamp.Source 

Pictorial First Day postmarks for the Luigi Calabresi postage stamp
Read what right-wing Italian politicians have to say about him:

• Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu
  

  the many Italians who will see the serene face of Luigi Calabresi on a stamp can read on it a lesson of civic dedication and pay homage to his heroic experience as a servant of the State, to a man whom we must not forget.

• Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri:

  a true Italian hero. [source: Gibbons Stamp Monthly]

Who was this heroic servant of the Italian State? He was the police official who was widely believed to be responsible for the death of anarchist Giuseppe Pino Pinelli in 1969. It seems that Italian intelligence and fascist army units were conducting terrorist bomb attacks and blaming them on anarchist groups. While in police custody, Pinelli "somehow" fell to his death out of the 4th floor window of Luigi Calabresi's office. [Calabresi was later cleared of any wrong-doing. Click here to read [in Italian] that Calabresi wasn't near his office when Pinelli was 'suicided.']

Less than 3 years later, Luigi Calabresi was assassinated by three extreme leftists, Adriano Sofri, Giorgio Pietrostefani, and Ovidio Bompressi. [source (scroll down)]

Now some Italian Communists think that if Calabresi is worth honoring with a postage stamp, perhaps a stamp honoring Pino Pinelli should also be issued [if I am reading the Italian correctly]:

Ora nessuno ha niente da dire sul francobollo per il commissario Calabresi. Noi sappiamo che Calabresi era un giovane commissario, dicono che fosse molto bravo, aveva moglie e tre bambini piccoli. Ha perso la vita da servitore dello Stato, ucciso ingiustamente e barbaramente da dissennati e fanatici terroristi: è questa è la motivazione per dedicargli un francobollo. Vorremmo però - lo diciamo senza polemica - che si dimostrasse la stessa sensibilità e riconoscenza per l'anarchico Pino Pinelli. Era un servitore dello Stato anche lui, faceva il ferroviere, lavorava sodo, faceva politica onestamente e con passione, senza ricompense e senza doppi fini, ed è stato ucciso ingiustamente dalla polizia. Non vi sembrerebbe giusto se lo Stato lo risarcisse, seppure con immenso ritardo e con un gesto simbolico infinitamente Piccolo, dedicando anche a lui un francobollo?

Here is a song dedicated to Pinelli:

Quella sera a Milano era caldo
ma che caldo, che caldo faceva,
"Brigadiere, apri un po' la finestra!",
una spinta ... e Pinelli va giú.

"Sor questore, io gliel'ho giá detto,
le ripeto che sono innocente,
anarchia non vuol dire bombe,
ma uguaglianza nella libertá".

"Poche storie, confessa, Pinelli,
il tuo amico Valpreda ha parlato,
é l'autore di questo attentato
ed il complice certo sei tu".

"Impossibile!", grida Pinelli,
"Un compagno non puó averlo fatto
e l'autore di questo delitto
fra i padroni bisogna cercar".

"Stai attento, indiziato Pinelli,
questa stanza é giá piena di fumo,
se tu insisti, apriam la finestra,
quattro piani son duri da far".

C'e' una bara e tremila compagni,
stringevamo le nostre bandiere,
quella sera l'abbiamo giurato,
non finisce di certo cosí.

E tu Guida, e tu Calabresi,
se un compagno é stato ammazzato,
per coprire una strage di Stato,
questa lotta piú dura sará.

Quella sera a Milano era caldo
ma che caldo, che caldo faceva,
"Brigadiere, apri un po' la finestra!",
una spinta ... e Pinelli va giú.

English translation, by Davide Turcato

That evening it was hot in Milan
how hot, how hot it was,
"Brigadiere, open the window!",
a push ... and Pinelli goes down.

"Mr. questor, I told you already,
I am repeating that I am innocent,
anarchy does not mean bombs,
but equality in liberty".

"No more humbug, confess, Pinelli,
your friend Valpreda talked,
he is the author of this bombing,
and you certainly are the accomplice".

"Impossible!", shouts Pinelli,
"A comrade couldn't possibly do that
and the author of this crime,
must be sought among the masters".

"Watch out, suspect Pinelli,
this room is already full of smoke,
if you persist, we'll open the window,
four floors are hard to do".

There's a coffin and 3,000 comrades,
we were clasping our flags,
that night we swore,
it won't end this way.

And you Guida, you Calabresi,
if a comrade was killed,
to cover a State slaughter,
this fight will just get harder.

That evening it was hot in Milan
how hot, how hot it was,
"Brigadiere, open the window!",
a push ... and Pinelli goes down.

[note: I may have to update this post if the accents do not show up properly, but I'm getting too tired to fix it tonight.]

UPDATE 29 JAN 8:25 AM

I have corrected the accents. I have no idea whether acute or grave accents are correct; I have kept them as they were in the original sources.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Stamp collecting--an avocation, not a passion

While in the library researching Upton Sinclair's 1934 campaign for governor of California, I ran across this on the "Topics of the Day" page of the August 25, 1934 Literary Digest:

Stamp-Collecting And an Old Story
Home-loving philatelists with a proper sense of proportion who believe that stamp-collecting may be fascinating enough, but that it has its place, were somewhat shocked to learn that one of the brethren recently "sold" his wife for $700. The $700 he used to buy more stamps.

Police uncovered this disturbing little drama in Hoboken, New Jersey, where, it seems, Richard Rost, postage-stamp dealer, and not much of a romanticist, turned over his wife, Hildegarde, thirty, and ten years her husband's junior, to a gentleman named Paul Herman, a stationary engineer. He first held out for $900, but Herman beat him down to $700. The three signed a legal document in a notary public's office, and all three were reported happy until Mr. Rost discovered, so he has charged, that his wife had stolen $175 worth of his stamps from him. It was this charge that landed all three in the county jail.

Mrs. Rost was bitter when her husband demanded that she return with him until the $175 was paid. She denied the charge that she had stolen the money and when Mr. Rost told her to go with him, she said, rather hysterically:

"I won't go back with you. I hate you! I hate you! You sold me!" Which, apparently, settled that, until Rost went around to the police and demanded satisfaction. The police then interviewed the neighbors and heard the story of the sale of Mrs. Rost.

All of which suggests that stamp-collecting may be more of an aid to domestic felicity as an avocation than as a passion.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

News Flash: Iraq a breeding ground for terrorists, replacing Afghanistan

Now it's official: a new CIA National Intelligence Council report concludes that Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground/War Created Haven [Washington Post, registration required]:

Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of "professionalized" terrorists, according to a report released yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank.

Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. "There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries."

Low's comments came during a rare briefing by the council on its new report on long-term global trends. It took a year to produce and includes the analysis of 1,000 U.S. and foreign experts. Within the 119-page report is an evaluation of Iraq's new role as a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists.

[snip]
The report, titled "Mapping the Global Future " [link PDF, 6.69MB], highlights the effects of globalization and other economic and social trends. But NIC officials said their greatest concern remains the possibility that terrorists may acquire biological weapons and, although less likely, a nuclear device.

Here is a link to the part of the report that deals with terrorism. The relevant portion:

The core al-Qa'ida membership probably will continue to dwindle, but other groups inspired by al-Qa'ida, regionally based groups, and individuals labeled simply as jihadists--united by a common hatred of moderate regimes and the West--are likely to conduct terrorist attacks. The al-Qa'ida membership that was distinguished by having trained in Afghanistan will gradually dissipate, to be replaced in part by the dispersion of the experienced survivors of the conflict in Iraq. We expect that by 2020 al-Qa'ida will have been superceded by similarly inspired but more diffuse Islamic extremist groups, all of which will oppose the spread of many aspects of globalization into traditional Islamic societies.

* Iraq and other possible conflicts in the future could provide recruitment, training grounds, technical skills and language proficiency for a new class of terrorists who are "professionalized" and for whom political violence becomes an end in itself.

* Foreign jihadists--individuals ready to fight anywhere they believe Muslim lands are under attack by what they see as "infidel invaders"--enjoy a growing sense of support from Muslims who are not necessarily supporters of terrorism.

Of course, the true believers among the neo-cons will dismiss the CIA as a nest of 'liberals' that are really soft on terrorism.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Ghost Town Orange Wraps

Here is Ghost Town Orange's favorite bag lunch recipe. I call them Ghost Town Orange Wraps.

Ghost Town Orange Wraps
For each wrap you will need these ingredients:

• 1 burrito-size tortilla or wrap


• ~2 Tablespoons sesame tahini


• parsley flakes (fresh parsley would be good!)


• black pepper


• ~1/2 cup leftover steamed vegetables (California mix is very good: brocolli, cauliflower, and carrots)

Procedure: Spread the tahini on the tortilla; sprinkle with the parsley flakes and black pepper to taste; spoon the vegetables onto the tortilla and roll up like a burrito.
Left-over stir fry vegetables taste good too, but not too heavily spiced and not too many onions--you want to taste the tahini!

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Four or Five Corners of Luxembourg?

This morning the Grand Dutchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg died. [story in French] She was the mother of the current Grand Duke Henri and the sister of Belgium's King Albert II. Here is a picture of a First Day Cover celebrating her marriage to Grand Duke Jean in 1953:
1953 First Day Cover
The source of this picture is this website on Luxembourg Philately by Gary Little, which has pictures of almost all stamps ever issued by Luxembourg. (It hasn't been updated for about two years. For more recent stamps, go to the Luxembourg Posts and Telecommunications philately webpage.)

Here is a 2003 stamp celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the royal couple:
source: timbremania.lu 

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is currently holding a 6-month term as president of the Council of the European Union. To celebrate, Luxembourg Post will issue a special booklet of stamps on January 25, 2005.
"The Colours of the Four Corners of Luxembourg" booklet  

Since the booklet is entitled "The Colours of the Four Corners of Luxembourg," I wondered if Luxembourg has four corners. Is it shaped like Wyoming or Colorado? I surf over to the Perry-Castañeda Map Collection at the University of Texas to look at some CIA maps of Europe. Here is the Ghost Town Orange cut-and-paste where-is-Luxembourg-and-what-is-it-shaped-like? map:
The somewhat pentagonal shape of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. 

The Four Corners of Luxembourg, according to these stamps:

1. The Capital, representing the services sector.


2. Echternech basilica, representing small towns and villages.


3. The Moselle, representing the countryside.


4. Rust, representing the iron and steel industry in the southern part of the country.

UPDATE 7:37 pm CST

I noticed that accents and the n with tilde characters aren't showing up properly in my browser, so I used the table found here to find the correct number codes to use. I may place a link to this table on my sidebar...

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren
This is a day of new beginnings, 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Uncancelling a project

Found at Mcgees.org:

What would you do if your employer cancelled the project you were working on and your employment contract ended? Ten years ago, Ron Avitzur decided to "uncancel" his part of the project--and kept showing up for work, hoping no one in management would notice what he was doing. Read more here: The Graphing Calculator Story.

Six months of unauthorized, unpaid labor raises some questions:

Was I doing this out of bitterness that my project had been canceled? Was I subversively coopting the resources of a multinational corporation for my own ends? Or was I naive, manipulated by the system into working incredibly hard for its benefit? Was I a loose cannon, driven by arrogance and ego, or was I just devoted to furthering the cause of education?

I view the events as an experiment in subverting power structures. I had none of the traditional power over others that is inherent to the structure of corporations and bureaucracies. I had neither budget nor headcount. I answered to no one, and no one had to do anything I asked. Dozens of people collaborated spontaneously, motivated by loyalty, friendship, or the love of craftsmanship. We were hackers, creating something for the sheer joy of making it work.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren,'This is a day of new beginnings,' 1978, alt.
(1st 2 verses)

Useless web addresses

Why do companies put web addresses on their products and then fail to provide any meaningful content at those web addresses?

Today I found two examples in the parking lot:

1. Maisy Goes to the Playground stickers by Stickopotomus.
   
   Click image to go to EK SUCCESS LTD., which apparently does not know who Maisie is.  


2. A card inviting people to join club whatever.
   Click image to see the Test Page for Apache Installation:

   If you can see this, it means that the installation of the Apache web server software on this system was successful. You may now add content to this directory and replace this page.
   
   Seeing this instead of the website you expected?
   
   This page is here because the site administrator has changed the configuration of this web server. Please contact the person responsible for maintaining this server with questions. The Apache Software Foundation, which wrote the web server software this site administrator is using, has nothing to do with maintaining this site and cannot help resolve configuration issues.

    

But I should not complain; some people might say that Ģħǿŝţ T́òẅn̉ Ớŕảṇǵê is a useless webpage. Or is that Ġh̉ọs̀ṭ Ţōẃn̉ Ổŕầṇg̃ễ? More diacritical nonsense can be generated here.

[While at mcgees.org, check out the P̣òšt̉ằl̉ Ĉāńc̉ềl̀ Ẫřt̀.]

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

--Brian Wren, 1978, alt. (1st 2 verses)

I saw a blog with a hit map

...and I had to get one!
It's over on the right side under the Sitemeter visitor counter. Sometimes I peak at the Sitemeter stats to see where visitors to Ghost Town Orange are from. Now I'll have a map to look at.

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God's mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.