From the "Journalists Are Freedom Fighters" files: WaPo, nations mourn slain reporter

This man, Salih Saif Aldin, 32, was fatally shot in Baghdad on Sunday afternoon.
For anyone who thinks all Muslims are cowards, all reporters are self-promoting and all Iraqis are evil and hate freedom -- yes, there are people who think these things, probably in your own family -- here is a Muslim Iraqi man who died for your right to know what's going on over there.
That's right, HE died for YOUR freedom. How do you like THEM apples?

Photo courtesy of Karin Brulliard/AP. Thanks, Karin.

Little Al Quaedas Everywhere: What went wrong?

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a bleeding-heart liberal to the core. I have been since I was a child. Maybe it started when I began spending summers living at the home of my childhood best friend, whose whole family was pacifist and vegetarian, or when, at the tender age of nine, I was told by the priest at my Catholic school that no matter how hard I worked, I could never become a priest myself. Maybe it started the first time I nicked myself shaving my legs as a teenager and said, "I shouldn't have to do this." Who knows. My point is, it started early.

But even for all that -- no, BECAUSE of all that -- I consider myself to be patriotic, maybe even extremely so. I'm using the definition of patriotism that people used hundreds of years ago, the one described in phrases like "Dissent is patriotic." Therefore, journalism is patriotic. Being "diverse" in some (preferably freaky) way is patriotic too. And holding a sign or passing out fliers that someone doesn't like is --contrary to popular belief -- patriotic.

So where do we draw the line?

Here.

When a 21-year-old in North Carolina guy is sending Al Qaeda signals on YouTube, the Western world is too free.

It's sad, too, because I AGREE that Americans are embarrassing ourselves on the world stage in a million ways right now. But the solution to that is not for us to continue laissez-faire-ing to the point that young people with fire in their bellies sympathize with -- and be wooed away by -- groups like Al Qaeda. That's exactly when and why kids are bad: when you don't give them any discipline, they have to push the envelope until they find something that will elicit negative feedback or someone else who will give it to them.

Now, I'm not advocating censorship (well, not quite); when these kids give us a clue as to where they are and what they're doing, that makes it a hell of a lot easier to take them out of the game (but once they have served that purpose, the videos should be taken down). What I AM advocating is the following things (not to fight Al Qaeda, but to prevent our own children from BECOMING Al Qaeda):

1.) Better historical and socio-political education at every age

2.) Every kid should have to go abroad for six months before the age of 18 to a country that has nothing to do with their family, their religion or their other interests

3.) Attending multiple kinds of religious services -- including a gathering of atheists -- should be part of a public education

4.) When they get to school, kids should be handed a newspaper (well, a monitor and mouse) every morning for half an hour and quizzed at the end of that half-hour

5.) Kids should be taught that diversity is something to be desired, not shunned

6.) Poverty and no health insurance should be considered unacceptable states for any American child. Poverty breeds resentment of authority -- and rightfully so

Am I really that naive? Do I really believe that education and participation prevent nonsense like this? Well, yeah.

Photo by Michael Moss/New York Times. Thanks, man.

It was already old ten years ago, Ann -- and that was before you started wearing Jesus around like a fanny pack.

In her latest, most tastefully glib display of Anti-Semitism to date, Ann Coulter wowed both viewers and host on CNBC's "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch Monday.

Apparently, Jews are in need of being perfected by Christ's love. (At least she's not advocating forced conversions for American Jews, as she does for most Middle-Eastern countries.) Her argument included the notion that since Christians believe both the Old Testament and the New Testament, Christianity is a revised -- and improved -- version of Judaism. Didn't anyone think of turning that around on her and arguing that since Muslims believe both of those AND the Koran, that Islam is Christianity 2.0?

Actually, forget the public display of Christian hegemony, forget the anti-diversity rhetoric, forget the aggressively flat-ironed hair and the yellowing teeth and the craggy dark eyeshadow. I think the part of the show that made me cringe the most was when she said to the host, who described himself as a practicing Jew, "Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?"

Far from being an abstract position, Coulter's bigotry is at the forefront of her relationships with everyone she meets. And she came on this man's show and personally insulted him. And the networks, who booked Coulter expecting this kind of poorly-reasoned claptrap, took the pre-recorded tape and aired it. I'm not sure what I think of that. Since everyone already knows she's a pinhead, is it really necessary to give her more airtime to prove it?

Does seeing it make people more aware of the Right's true religious feelings? I hope so.
For an excellent historical analysis that both corroborates The Evil One's interpretation of the New Testament and (weakly) attempts to discredit her rigidity, check out this Sheldon Drobny column in the Huffington Post.

From the "Badass Women With Fabulous Names" files: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

If you don't already know the story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, prepare to be amazed that anyone could withstand what she's been through. If you're familiar with Ali, a Dutch feminist and political writer and the daughter of Somali scholar, politician, and revolutionary opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse, you still might be surprised at some of the very un-PC things she says (I don't always agree with all of them, either).
You might also be surprised to hear that she's in trouble.

From the "Too Obvious To Be News, Too Horrible Not To Be" files: Women in Congo Suffer Both Poverty and Increasing Sexual Violence

In Congo, rape is on the rise, and it's becoming increasingly more violent, according to this article in today's New York Times, which, of course, starts with a quote from a man.

BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.

Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

“We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.”

Sigh... This would be enough to turn my stomach and ruin my day if I read about it happening once. But this isn't a crime story. It's a trend story.
In one town, this is happening so much that the hospital is adding a new wing just for rape victims.

Of course, the article wouldn't be complete without the obligatory answer (!) to the question of whether this is happening just because Congolese people are naturally savages:

Many Congolese aid workers denied that the problem was cultural and insisted that the widespread rapes were not the product of something ingrained in the way men treated women in Congolese society. “If that were the case, this would have showed up long ago,” said Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a sexual violence program in Bukavu.

Good. Glad we cleared that up. (Gawd... If Big Media really insists on being paternalistic about this about this sort of thing, it could at least admit to putting some of that hatred for women and love of violence in the world in the first place.)

Photos by Hazel Thompson/New York Times. Thanks, Hazel.

From the "No Really, Don't Mess With Texas" files: My spur-of-the-moment trip to the Lone Star State

Hey, y'all! Sorry the posting has been thin lately... I just finished moving -- and suddenly decided to visit two friends in the Dallas, TX area. Gotta run -- one of them just pulled up to take me to the state fair! :) (A report from the "Unwholesome Fried Goodness" files is coming later.)

From the files of David Letterman, Late Night Avenger: Paris Hilton forced to talk about her stint in prison

Who would have thought that Dave Letterman could beat Larry King at a serious interview?
But he did.
When Paris Hilton appeared on Larry King Live to discusssss her stint in prison, he let her talk about her numerous personal revelations, as documented in her "notes," personal essays that reveal her ridiculous, vapid deeper self.
But when she sat on Dave's couch on Friday night, he grilled her about her prison time and wouldn't let up. He took that spoiled blonde human chihuahua to the cleaners.
That's what I'm talkin' about.