Re: how to compare living standards


"tonyp" <tonyp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:tumdnZQ0ZdkptJvZnZ2dnUVZ_tqdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx

"Jim Blair" <jeb@xxxxxxxx> wrote

And none of the "functioning clocks" (non-FOX?)
ever have the right time? I mean did anyone else
show any of those cartoons?


Add the Bush administration to the non-FOX covey. They're not in the
publishing business (well, except for leaks) but the Bushies' line seemed
to
be that we must respect Muslim sensitivities.

Hi,

But that is his job. I mean if I were President, I would mouth some knid of
"I feel your pain" platitude.


Here in Madison, only the "conservative" Badger Hearld
printed one of them. The "Progressive" Capital Times,
Radical Leftist Daily Cardinal, and moderate- Conservative
Wisconsin State Journal all refused.


The Boston Globe not only did not print the cartoons, it followed the Bush
line: "Tsk, tsk to Jyllans-Posten, boo to those European papers who
reprinted them, and let's all respect religion."

Of course if I were a newspaper editor my reaction would be very different
than my Presidential reply ;-)

...We had a lovely thread in
ne.politics on the subject "Worst Editorial Ever".

Hope someone pointed out that (at least some) Muslems are offended by ANY
picture or drawing of ANYONE..
You can't run a newspaper without offending someone with every issue. Maybe
the Boston Globe should close?




Actually I watch only a few minutes of his show
during the 5 minute gap between the end of the
Daily Show on the comedy channel and the start
of Jay Leno.


You mean you're depriving yourself of the Colbert Report? Oh, Jim, how
much
you're missing!

I sometimes catch the opening, and I liked Colbert when we was with Stewart,
so maybe I'll pass on Leno sometime.


I think that national intelligence agancies copy from each other
less than the networks do. At least I hope so ;-)


You know, I wonder about that. With my own eyes, and thanks to C-span, I
actually saw people like Tenet make claims about Saddam's WMD. And I saw
people like Tenet _say_ that foreign intelligence services agreed. But I
never saw the head of a foreign intelligence service testify to Congress.

Er, why would anyone from MI-5 or Mossad testify to a US Congress?

Your sources of information are doubtless better than mine, Jim, but I
doubt
even you have _first-hand_ evidence about what foreign intelligence
services
believed.

And why would any of them tell ME what they know?

Intelligence paints a fuzzy and uncertain picture. Only probabilities can be
estimated from conflicting information. I say a leader must act assuming
the "most likely worst case" that is consistent with the intelligence.

Remember when the Japanese planes were tracked on radar as they approached
Pearl Harbor? The officer in charge assumed they were the flight of US
B-17's that was expected.


I don't know what "privatizing the national debt" would do,
or even what the term means.


Was it some _other_ Jim Blair that I discussed it with, on sci.econ about
a
year ago?

-- TP

Just because I discuss something, don't assume that I know what it is ;-)

On the Danish cartoons, here is a letter I sent to a Wisconsin State Journal
columist. No response so far.

Hi,

Just some comments and questions on your 12 Feb column and the cartoon issue
in general.

Now that we have all had the chance to examine those 12 Danish cartoons,
(thanks to the internet, not to the Wisconsin State Journal), my first
question is why is it assumed that the Muhammad in the cartoon is Muhammad
The Prophet (MTP) and not some other guy with that name who has a beard and
wears a robe?

Except for cartoon #6 attached, there is no reason to assume the figure is
not one of the thousands of guys who have that name, look like that, and
kill people with bombs and knives.

If half of the men in the US were named Jesus and wore a robe and had a
beard, then when you saw "what would Jesus drive?" or "who would Jesus tax?"
or saw a Jesus cartoon, how would you know which Jesus they mean?

You say it is not depicting MTP that is offensive since that has been done
for centuries, (Google search for Mohammed Images Archives), but depicting
him an a "raw and cruel fashion". I do not consider the attached MTP to be
either. Rather it fits in with all of the cartoons of God as an old white
guy with a beard sitting on a throne in the clouds (did any of those cause
Jews to riot and kill?). Or of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates (did
Catholics riot and kill?)

Is that cartoon "offensive"? I mean except maybe to men who think they will
be rewarded in Heaven with virgins if they blow up themselves and others?

You use "equal lack of restrain and respect" when comparing the cartoons to
the rioting and killing. Your idea of "equal" is sure different from mine.

You call for "respect", but don't seem to show much for the Western
tradition of secularism and offensive cartoons. The Danish paper uses its
free speech "selectively"??

Of course. The Madison Capital Times prints cartoons which ridicule
Conservatives like Bush and Cheney, but not Liberal/Progressive icons.
National Review does the reverse. You don't understand the concept of
"freedom of the press" if you think each source must be "fair and balanced".

There is a long tradition of cartoons that are offensive to someone. But why
would anyone expect that those outside of THEIR OWN religion would or should
"respect" their particular customs or icons? I mean do you refrain from
drinking coffee or eating beef because some religions think them sinful? Do
you "respect" or "honor" Joseph Smith or El Bob? In fact, would it not
dishonor Islam if you did respect them as Prophets? Isn't MTP supposed to be
not only A prophet, but the LAST one?

And don't you understand that most of us non-Muslims feel the same way about
MTP that you do about Joseph Smith or El Bob or any other modern Prophet?
That they are not Prophets but frauds?




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jim blair (jeblair@xxxxxxxx) Madison Wisconsin USA.
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jim blair (jeblair@xxxxxxxx) Madison Wisconsin USA.
This message was brought to you using biodegradable
binary bits, and 100% recycled bandwidth. For a good
time call: http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/4834


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