The Craziness - A Little Cultural Education

You guys will not be alone if you are wondering why these insane looking shi'as are bloodying themselves on this the holiest day of the shi'a calendar known as Ashura. So here is a brief explanation.

After the prophet Mohammed died in the 7th century there was a battle between the Arabian Caliphs and Mohammed's sons as to who would take over as the ruler of Mecca. The Caliphs wanted to put themselves in charge and the sons of Mohammed wanted to put themselves in charge.

The Caliphs killed two of the sons. The third son, Hussein, who was living in Iraq at the time started to head back to Mecca to try to take over the throne. He was ambushed and killed by the Caliph's men as he was going through Karbala in Iraq.

So today's Shi'a are bloodying themselves to show their respect for Hussein's suffering. This ritual, however, is a concotion of modern fundamentalist Islam and not something that has been done for hundreds of years. The truly traditional way to mark this holiday is by prayer.

Oh Canada!

The Toronto Star's headline today blared that the two greatest hockey players of all time (pictured) who happen to be Canadian have stepped in and are poised to save the NHL season.

Their sources said that a season saving announcement will be made today and a 28 game hockey season will begin on March 1st.

Update

I am overwhelmed by emptiness now that not even these great Canadians could save the hockey season.

Gawk

I have found that since I've been engaged and the motivation to try to get women's attention has largely been eliminated I am totally unapologetically checking women out without even caring if I get busted.

4. The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq by Kenneth M. Pollack

pollack
Originally uploaded by buzby.

This book was written in 2002 before the actual invasion of Iraq. Also the author (pictured) can be described as a hawkish democrat. He is definitely not one of the neo-conservatives running the US today.

The premise of this book is two fold: that Saddam Hussein is developing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and that Saddam Hussein is one of the more evil leaders of modern history. Consequently, the author argues that the western world should take steps to try to oust him from Iraq. Pollack then produces a rigorous analysis of the different foreign policy options available to the United States to achieve this goal.

He convincingly argues that the policy of Containment, which has been in place since Saddam fist invaded Kuwait, is now falling apart because some European countries, the Chinese, the Russians and the Turks are not abiding by the sanctions any more. He further argues that it will be next to impossible to bring these rogue nations in line with the containment policy again.

Pollack then tackles the policy of Deterrence where the west essentially allows Saddam to do whatever he wants within his borders but hits him hard if he makes any predatory moves towards other countries. He also argues that a policy that seeks to overthrow Saddam by using the CIA also will not work in Iraq.

In a lengthy chapter analyzing the invasion of Afghanistan he demonstrates why an approach like the one that the US used in Afghanistan where it used the Northern Alliance as a proxy invading force will not work in Iraq.

Finally, almost by elimination, he shows that the only viable foreign policy option is to invade Iraq.

One of the key arguments that Pollack uses to support his thesis is that Iraq's WMD program is substantially more advanced than it turned out to be. He believed that in 2001 Saddam had over 300 missiles capable of delivering either chemical or biological weapons as far as Tel Aviv. Furthermore, he believed that Iraq's nuclear program was sufficiently advanced that it could produce a bomb in the next 5 years.

Clearly he was wrong. If Iraq's weapons programs had been as advanced as he believed then his arguments and suggestions would make a lot of sense. The book, however, is an excellent primer on the foreign policy issues facing the United States in the Middle East.

The Wheels Are Coming Off

Rafer
Originally uploaded by buzby.

I have never seen a basketball team disintegrate as the Raptors are doing. If you go to their games you can tell how disaffected the players are: they're practically walking up and down the court, they are not paying any attention to the coach during the breaks and they often seem more excited to see their opponents - chest thumps, smiles and some easy conversation - before the game than winning the game for their team.

Then there is the off court stuff. Last week Alston and the coach, Sam Mitchell, got into a fight at half time in the locker room. Alston did not play the rest of the game and was ultimately escorted by security guards to the team's bus. Some witnesses say that the he was in tears. For the past few days Alston has been asking for an apology and some of his team mates agree that he deserves one.

Then last night Vince's mom came out and said that in December Vince and Mitchell also got into an altercation in the locker room.

I have seasons tickets to the Raptors and I sit next to the "super fan," who is on good terms with most of the Raptor players and, for example, went to Vince's wedding last summer. He has taken a paternalistic liking to me and often tells me stuff about what's going on with the team. I don't entirely believe everything he has to say but I can't totally discount it either.

According to the "super fan," Mitchell has a very physical style and is often wrestling and sparring with the players in practice and in the locker room. So he was not at all surprised at the Alston situation. The "super fan" thinks that Mitchell will be fired very soon.

If all of this is true Mitchell is a very bizarre guy.

So we are left with a team without a franchise player, which has gone through something like 5 coaches in 8 years and no real prospects on the horizon.

Two years ago Maple Leaf Entertainment - the company that owns the Air Canada Center, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors - was sold to a very large Canadian pension fund. In a subsequent post I will tell you why I think that today's Raptors are just what the owners want.

Go Daddy Ads - The Ugly Side of the Superbowl

According to the Go Daddy web site, they had purchased two ads for the superbowl: one to run in the first quarter and the second to run at the 2 minute warning in the first half. They allege that after the NFL saw the first ad they phoned FOX and got them to pull the second ad.

I find this a little difficult to believe because I think that the NFL would have checked the ads well before the game had started.

If Go Daddy is telling the truth then it is very sad how much control corporations are exerting over our lives and how spineless some corporations, like FOX, have become.

T plus 46 days

The wheels are coming off! All of a sudden my idea of not registering for wedding gifts and asking people to donate to charities is coming under attack on multiple fronts. My mother, who is supported by my sister, think that our guests will perceive it to be a form of snobbery if we don't register. They argue that people will think that we are so well off that people couldn't possibly buy us a gift that we don't have.

Others have weighed in saying that our guests will not listen and buy gifts anyway so you might as well try to get them to buy you things you want.

And still others have said that we should donate to charities anonymously so asking guests to donate in our name is not good.

I thought it was such a good idea...