Your Sunday Bible Reading

It's Sunday and fellow blogger Ianism provides us with this pithy bible quote from the Old Testament, on the importance of Ishmael the son of Abraham and the current Arab Israel conflict over nationhood. Not a biblical quote you will read in a Michael Coren column.

The muslims view themselves as followers of the book, the Old Testament, thus they and the Jews are descendants of Abraham.

Call Me Ishmael.

Is the opening line of the Great American classic novel; Moby Dick. Showing that in the 19th Century Orientalism, was present in American literature.

The Great White Whale is of course a metaphor, one that could be applied to the current situation of the US in Iraq.

apocalyptic components of Melville's novel to the foreground. A novel that uses the Pequod as a microcosm of American diversity-in terms of class and race-ends with the destruction of that symbol. Furthermore, as Lakshmi Mani proposes in The Apocalyptic Vision in Nineteenth Century Fiction, Melville's apocalyptic ending relies on the vast ocean as the site of imperialist conquest and its failure, The Cold War's "undigested apple-dumpling": Imaging Moby-Dick in 1956 and 2001,


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Moby, Dick, Melville, Imperialism, Orientalism, Literature, Ishmael, Call-Me-Ismael

Give em an inch

And they will think they are a ruler.... in this case Israel feels it can act with inpunity in violation of the current cease fire.....Hezbollah 'foils Israeli raid' and in illegal actions in the occupied terroritory of Palestine....Israel Abducts Palestinian Deputy PM

Of course this is all acceptable in the war on terrorism, except that these actions occur against democratically elected politcal parties; Hamas and Hizbollah. It is interesting to see how the American press interpreted the illegal actions of Israel in the occupied territories; Israel arrests Palestinian PM

When is an abduction not an abduction, when it is an arrest. This is kidnapping by any other name. This is the kettle calling the pot black, Israel who is guilty of war crimes, violations of UN resolutions, a nuclear threat to the region, etc. arrests a democratically elected Palestinian politician.

Hmm if we are going to use that standard, perhaps the UN should authorize the "arrest" of Bush and Blair for their illegal war in Iraq. After all they too were democratically elected and authorize state terrorism.

Aso See:

Israel




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A Hospital Named Ralph

The Edmonton Journal is reporting that the PC's ( Party of Calgary) wants to name a Calgary hospital after King Ralph. For all his, failed, efforts to privatize health care in Alberta. How about this hospital...

Implosion of Calgary's General Hospital

When the Tories blew it up in 1998, for reasons of debt and deficit hysteria, not only was it unneccasary but it created a public health risk, that was little reported at the time.

And it is still is controversial;

Taft accuses the provincial Tories of gutting the Calgary Health Care systems."We are experiencing the terrible consequences of that decision. Blowing up the Calgary General Hospital was a catastrophic mistake and somebody needs to be held responsible. Same with the Holy Cross."

Of course if the Tories really wanted a Klein legacy they could name an airport after him.....Alberta buys new planes for gov't fleet

Also See:

Ralph Klein

Alberta

Health Care

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Pyrrhic Victory

Israel alarm at UN force members
Israel says it would be "difficult if not inconceivable" to accept nations which do not recognise its right to exist as part of a UN force in Lebanon.

They may be the only volunteers available for the UN Lebanon border patrol. Call this a pyrrhic victory for the IDF. Call it ironic.

A Pyrrhic victory is so called after the Greek king Pyrrhus, who, after suffering heavy losses in defeating the Romans in 279 B.C., said to those sent to congratulate him, "Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone."

Aso See:

Israel

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Six Week War for Nothing

Zionist apologist Warren Kinsella claims that the Israel Lebanon War was not about who won but who lost. Of course he contends Hezbollah lost, while in Israel Ha'aretz says otherwise.

The IDF carried out three operations in Bint Jbail during the war, and did not conquer it because of its sprawling urban character. The public are not alone in not understanding the army's plans; the officers are hard pressed to comprehend them too. Since the passing of the favorable resolution, Israel is having to withdraw from the territory it has occupied, following heavy losses; but Hezbollah continues to hold the ground and maintain that it won. ANALYSIS: A new 'Mini-Iran' is emerging in southern Lebanon Ha'aretz

Aso See:

Israel

Zionism

Kinsella

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Shatner Roast

Canadian comedian and self-promoter; William Shatner will be subject to a Roast on Comedy Central, but this incident won't make it on the show. Come on you didn't think his portrayl of James T. Kirk was serious drama did you.


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More Terrorism Propaganda

9/11 emergency services tapes released

Convinently released as the Bush regime pushes the panic button over international terrorism.

This falls on the heels of the Cheney comments made after Lieberman loss and the UK terrorist panic.

Some folks are saying the UK panic appears to have been a deliberate and calculated plan by the US and UK authorities.

It's the politics of fear in an election year.

UK terror plot vindicates Bush

London Fog: Doubts Hang Over Terror Plot

The politics of the latest terror scare



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Nuclear Threat In the Middle East

Nope its not Iran, it's Israel. With the help of their German pals.

Israel enhancing nuke-capable submarines

German engineers the past few weeks have been in Israel working to improve three advanced, nuclear capable attack submarines it provided the Jewish state last year, security sources tell the Galil Report.

Many here have estimated the vessels can be used both as a strategic, second-strike nuclear deterrent or for conventional use during any large-scale confrontation.

Military officials say the submarines are not needed for Israel's current campaign in Lebanon. The officials said Israel recently has discussed with foreign governments travel and refueling routes so the submarines can reach the Persian Gulf – within firing distance of Iran.

The submarines usually patrol in the Indian Ocean. But the Galil Report has learned one is currently stationed in the Mediterranean off the coast of Haifa and another off the coast of Lebanon. Both submarines are being serviced. The Galil Report was not provided with the location of the third submarine.

Aso See:

Israel
Zionism

Macho Kinsella

Ouch That Hurts

The Iranian View

Making Iran Nervous

American Sabre Rattling Blogger

US and Iran Allies

The Real Nuclear Threat In The Middle East

Clintons War

Nuclear Paradox

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Dolphins Say Scientist A Dim Wit

A scientist in South Africa is claiming Dolphins are dumber than goldfish.

An examination of cetacean brain structure with a novel hypothesis correlating thermogenesis to the evolution of a big brain

Paul R. Manger

Biological Reviews, Volume 81, Issue 02, May 2006, pp 293-338

Of course he is from a country that once said the same thing about blacks.

I guess you could call this species profiling.

Was his research published in Science or Nature? Nope it was published in the obscure journal; "Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society".
Which warns its authors that; "articles are aimed at non-specialist biologists". In other words 'generalists'.

"Conclusions about the nature and magnitude of dolphin intelligence have not yet been reached. There are many different species of dolphin (see the cetacea article for a full list) and generalisations can be easily misapplied; cognitive differences between dolphin species may be as marked as differences between humans and the great apes."

Most researchers agree that bottle-nose dolphins exhibit a level of intelligence greater than that of a dog and even comparabole to that of some primates--but NOT humans.


"Intelligence" is a term with many definitions and interpretations. It's difficult enough to measure in humans let alone other animals. Large brains are traditionally associated with greater intelligence, and the brain of the adult bottlenose dolphin is about 25% heavier than the average adult human brain. Generally though, larger mammals tend to have larger brains, and so a more accurate estimate of brain power comes from the ratio of brain size to body size - the "encephalisation quotient" (EQ). While river dolphins have an EQ of 1.5, some dolphins have EQs that are more than double those of our closest relatives: gorillas have 1.76, chimpanzees 2.48, bottlenose dolphins 5.6. The bottlenose's EQ is surpassed only by a human's, which measures 7.4 (Australopithecines - hominids that lived around 4m years ago - fall within the dolphin range: 3.25-4.72). But we don't know enough about the workings of the brain to be sure of what these anatomical measurements truly represent. Today, most scientists share the view that it is behaviour, not structure, that must be the measure of intelligence within a species.Guardian Unlimited | Life | Deep thinkers


A Comparison of Primate and Dolphin Intelligence as a Metaphor

Kenneth W. LeVasseur - Dolphin Intelligence & Captivity

Proof of whale and dolphin intelligence


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Trial By Media

The alleged killer of child beauty queen JonBonet Ramsey has been arrested in Thailand, home of the sex tourist industry. Liberal Catnip has published; The Resume of Suspected JonBenet Killer: John Mark Karr

This is a clear case of trial by media, which found the Ramsey family, father, mother and brother quilty. The media replaced the police and the courts in this case and publicly vilified the family whom they judged quilty.

Of course apologies will not be forthcoming by those who profited from the families loss.

The subtext of the media's slur campaign was it's moralistic revulsion towards JonBenet's mother who had made her into a teeny tiny beauty queen. A clone of her mother, who had also been a beauty queen.

The hypocrisy of America, it promotes the expolitation of girls and women through beauty pagents, and then turns around and is morally repulsed by those who participate. They equate child beauty queen's with child exploitation, yet they accept and promote these pagents.

The real child abuser and exploiter who murdered JonBenet was always dismissed as a fantasy until now. The irony is that while the media 's morality play was that of outrage over the exploitation of JonBenet as a child beauty queen, in death she was exploited by them even more.

JonBenet Ramsey murder case, an investigative analysis

The first images of JonBenet Ramsey that were broadcast to the world showed a pretty little girl in heavy make-up and flamboyant costumes parading across a stage. At the time, the media described her as "a painted baby, a sexualized toddler beauty queen."

From the day in 1996 when JonBenet was found dead in the basement of her home in Boulder Colorado, the Boulder police and a large proportion of the world's media believed that her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, were responsible for her death.

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