Mr. Ohashi's trip began with his evacuation the day before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, but the odyssey really started in his native Japan. While studying Japanese literature at Hosei University in the early 1990's, he took up jazz seriously and blossomed, playing in a semiprofessional student orchestra with some success. He attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1997 to 2001, and took himself to New Orleans to practice his craft.
Sep 17, 2005
From Japan to Juilliard
Via New Orleans, a feel-good Katrina story.
Sep 16, 2005
Miscellany
Virtual hijab: From the friendly folks at CAIR. Via Roger Simon.
Graphic reminder: Katrina death toll.
Jane Fonda: Stark, raving mad.
Familiar face: Iraqi looter in New Orleans.
Government in action: Explains a lot.
Graphic reminder: Katrina death toll.
Jane Fonda: Stark, raving mad.
Familiar face: Iraqi looter in New Orleans.
Government in action: Explains a lot.
British court issues warrant against Israeli for war crimes
Melanie Phillips:
Those who believe that supra-national jurisdiction and the internationalisation of ‘human rights’ law betoken an elevated sphere of being and the imminent establishment of utopia will no doubt be cheering on the fact that soldiers trying to defend their citizens from genocidal attack can no longer set foot in Britain for fear of being arrested on charges of war crimes.
Israel’s Maj.-Gen. Doron Almog who flew to Britain to raise money for a charitable cause, was warned by Israel’s ambassador to London not to disembark from his El Al flight at Heathrow because British detectives were waiting to arrest him. The arrest warrant had been issued on Saturday by the Bow Street Magistrate's Court at the request of a pro-Palestinian group. The warrant alleged that in 2002 Almog had ordered the demolition of 59 Palestinian homes in Rafah. Gen. Almog decided not to alight from the plane, and remained aboard until it turned around and returned to Israel.
Background on al Qaeda
Alaa discusses Takfiri, the notion that infidels must be punished, and gives a history of Takfiri movements in Islam.
[T]he present day Takfiri movement has historical roots that go very far back in time. Indeed the Khawarij movement which appeared in the first century of the Moslem calendar (i.e. the seventh century B.C.), bears a great resemblance to the modern Al-Qaeda and the other Takfiri groups. The Khawarij also went about committing the most terrible atrocities against foes and innocent folks alike, particularly Moslems, on the basis that these were apostates and Kafirs, citing certain verses and phrases from the Koran as justification.
Blog reentry
You leave town, your Internet connection goes wonky and you feel as though you've been on another planet: Will I ever catch up? What's going on in the world?
A glance at memeorandum, however, reveals that I've missed nothing. Hurricane Katrina, continues to dominate the headlines. The Roberts confirmation hearings drag on. Anti-war activists continue their ad hominem attacks and the pro-war contingent fights back. "Insurgents" continue killing innocent Iraqis.
I feel like a time traveler who leaves the world, experiences a lifetime's worth of adventures and returns to find that no time has passed.
A glance at memeorandum, however, reveals that I've missed nothing. Hurricane Katrina, continues to dominate the headlines. The Roberts confirmation hearings drag on. Anti-war activists continue their ad hominem attacks and the pro-war contingent fights back. "Insurgents" continue killing innocent Iraqis.
I feel like a time traveler who leaves the world, experiences a lifetime's worth of adventures and returns to find that no time has passed.
Sep 14, 2005
Live from Boston
Still here. Issues with Internet access/wireless connectivity have kept me from blogging at all. But am having/have had a great time--or as great a time as anyone stuck in a conference from 8-6 can have. Boston weather has been great. Will return to regularly scheduled programming sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Sep 12, 2005
Arrggghhhh!
I'm in Boston for a conference. Got here around 6. I've spent a day with computer/internet problems and some lost luggage (since found). Don't know how often I'll be able to post for the next few days, but I'll try and check in. In the meantime, leave amusing comments. It'll cheer me up.
Sep 11, 2005
For crying out loud
It's been a month and four days since the London attacks. Shortly afterward, Tony Blair announced that the UK would no longer tolerate Islamic extremists and formed a committee to address the issue. The committee's solution: To scrap Holocaust Memorial Day because it's offensive to Muslims.
What's next? Will they request that all women don the hijab so they don't give offense? How about a government-imposed fast for the duration of Ramadan. While we're at it, why don't they destroy Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's? Surely those symbols of Christianity are offensive to Muslims.
I don't happen to give a rat's ass about the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day. I don't need an official blessing to commemorate the Holocaust--from the US, the UK or the Israeli Knesset--but fear of giving offense is part of what got the UK into its current situation.
If Tony Blair gives in to this request, he might just as well raise a white flag over Parliament.
What's next? Will they request that all women don the hijab so they don't give offense? How about a government-imposed fast for the duration of Ramadan. While we're at it, why don't they destroy Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's? Surely those symbols of Christianity are offensive to Muslims.
I don't happen to give a rat's ass about the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day. I don't need an official blessing to commemorate the Holocaust--from the US, the UK or the Israeli Knesset--but fear of giving offense is part of what got the UK into its current situation.
If Tony Blair gives in to this request, he might just as well raise a white flag over Parliament.
1,000 year journey ends in marriage
Shlomo and Dina Jin, of Kai Feng, China are married in Jerusalem according to Jewish law.
On a related note, A Taiwan human rights group is campaigning "to stop the "discriminatory" way that characters for "Jewish people" are written in Mandarin."
The character set currently being used "refers to an animal of the monkey species, and has the connotation of parsimoniousness," Chien Hsi-chieh, director of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan, said recently." Some things never change.
And, from Norm, a link to a history of Jews in China.
Shlomo and Dina's ancestors belong to the lost Jewish community of China that ceased to exist in the 19th century as a result of assimilation and intermarriage, which started just a few decades after the last rabbi of the community passed away.
Jewish traders, travelers of the silk route, arrived in Kai Feng and established a synagogue in 1163. About 5,000 lived there through the mid 1800's. To this day about 500 descendants of the community live in Kai Feng.
"They still maintain a strong Jewish identity but during the communist regime all traces of Jewish rites and customs were abandoned," said Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, an organization dedicated to "reconnecting 'lost Jews'" who have a historical connection with Judaism, like the descendants of the conversos of Spain.
On a related note, A Taiwan human rights group is campaigning "to stop the "discriminatory" way that characters for "Jewish people" are written in Mandarin."
The character set currently being used "refers to an animal of the monkey species, and has the connotation of parsimoniousness," Chien Hsi-chieh, director of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan, said recently." Some things never change.
And, from Norm, a link to a history of Jews in China.
Yahoo defends role in Chinese journalist's imprisonment
Just following orders, says Jerry Yang.
Yang, speaking at the Alibaba China Internet Summit here, also said he wasn't happy with the 10-year sentence to journalist Shi Tao, jailed for passing on a government censorship order through his Yahoo e-mail account.
"We did not know what they wanted information for, we are not told what they look for, if they give us the proper documentation in a court order we give them things that satisfy local laws," Yang told journalists
"I don't like the outcome of what happened with this thing, we get a lot of these orders, but we have to comply with the law and that's what we need to do."
9/11 links
Basil remembers.
Don Surber names the Pentagon dead.
Lorie Byrd has a whole host of links.
A guide to September 11 websites.
Where were you? A collection of personal reminiscences.
Patrick Ruffini remembers with pictures.
Blogs for Bush remembers.
Cao has videos and pictures.
Don Surber names the Pentagon dead.
Lorie Byrd has a whole host of links.
A guide to September 11 websites.
Where were you? A collection of personal reminiscences.
Patrick Ruffini remembers with pictures.
Blogs for Bush remembers.
Cao has videos and pictures.
September 11, 2005
Four years later. It was the event that pulled Americans together as we all mourned the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately that unity didn't last and now we're more divided than ever. What are your thoughts?
Sep 10, 2005
Ho hum
I'm in a rotten mood, so I haven't felt much like posting today. A scan of today's headlines didn't do much to improve my outlook. Kinda makes me feel nostalgic for the good clean fun of the Clarence Thomas hearings.
Sep 9, 2005
Super fantastic!
The Manolo's Essay Contest, featuring a Grand Super Fantastic Prize worth more than $1,000--mostly in shoes. Every girl's dream. Better get cracking.
Embarrassed and mystified
Shamelessly stolen wholesale from PooterGeek: Name one person you fancy but wish you didn’t and one person who other people fancy, but you can’t understand why.
My pair:
Ed Harris--I don't know why, exactly, but it's partly his voice.
AND
Julia Roberts--I've never been able to understand her appeal.
My pair:
Ed Harris--I don't know why, exactly, but it's partly his voice.
AND
Julia Roberts--I've never been able to understand her appeal.
Hitler the buffoon
In an interview with documentary maker Laurence Rees, Steven Bates says Rees has made it his life's work to interview former Nazis in an attempt to uncover "what they saw in a figure we have always viewed as slightly absurd as well as frightful."
It seems to me that Hitler only looks absurd in retrospect. And that after decades of parodies like Springtime for Hitler, Hogan's Heroes and other pop culture artifacts. Nazi Germany and Hitler himself easily lend themselves to caricature: The mustache, the Nazi drag, the goose-stepping, the swastika, the veneration of the blond "Aryan" look.
Hitler wasn't just a buffoon in need of an extreme makeover. What looks ridiculous now from the comfortable distance of more than 60 years are just the outward trappings. The parades and rallies, maybe even the good-looking blonde women, may have attracted some to join the party, but most people joined and carried out Nazi policies because they believed in what they were doing.
The world moves faster these days. We're already making fun of Osama bin Laden. And to us Westerners there is much that is absurd: The 72 virgins, the dream of restoring the medieval caliphate, the multiple wives and the beard. And then there's Saddam Hussein. Once you've seen a man in his underwear, it's hard to take him seriously. Add in his novels, the flowery "mother of all battles" rhetoric and his (again) distinctive mustache and you can see how Saddam parodies have provided late night TV with a rich source of material.
Yet, as Norm Geras points out, these absurd-to-our-eyes trappings have not discouraged their followers.
Maybe it's an Anglospheric thing, this tendency to ridicule our enemies. I don't think it's wrong, necessarily; they deserve ridicule. But it may mislead people into believing such people are harmless or not worth bothering about.
On the other hand, it sure beats the tendency to romanticize vicious thugs and murderers.
It seems to me that Hitler only looks absurd in retrospect. And that after decades of parodies like Springtime for Hitler, Hogan's Heroes and other pop culture artifacts. Nazi Germany and Hitler himself easily lend themselves to caricature: The mustache, the Nazi drag, the goose-stepping, the swastika, the veneration of the blond "Aryan" look.
Hitler wasn't just a buffoon in need of an extreme makeover. What looks ridiculous now from the comfortable distance of more than 60 years are just the outward trappings. The parades and rallies, maybe even the good-looking blonde women, may have attracted some to join the party, but most people joined and carried out Nazi policies because they believed in what they were doing.
The world moves faster these days. We're already making fun of Osama bin Laden. And to us Westerners there is much that is absurd: The 72 virgins, the dream of restoring the medieval caliphate, the multiple wives and the beard. And then there's Saddam Hussein. Once you've seen a man in his underwear, it's hard to take him seriously. Add in his novels, the flowery "mother of all battles" rhetoric and his (again) distinctive mustache and you can see how Saddam parodies have provided late night TV with a rich source of material.
Yet, as Norm Geras points out, these absurd-to-our-eyes trappings have not discouraged their followers.
It's possible there are political leaders of such manifest intelligence, dignity and other admirable qualities that they couldn't possibly appear as absurd - buffoons - within any framework of belief. I'm not sure. However, given what we know about how much systems of human belief have accommodated that is utterly preposterous (in light of available evidence, that sort of thing), there seems no great obstacle in the way of absorbing the fact that a figure of absurd appearance within one framework of belief should appear within another as someone to be followed, even worshipped. Belief systems that can clothe absurdities in the garb of unquestionable truth will surely have no more difficulty in presenting otherwise laughable figures as the representatives or incarnations of that truth.
One doesn't need to refer to the past, or to one of the most atrocious episodes in the historical record, to see this. Consider how many people there are worldwide right now looking towards a would-be religious leader who on any basis of testable knowledge appears grotesque - looking to him as a heroic, inspiring figure. And for all those who are his followers or supporters, there are others who are excusers, since between things of definite colour there will always be shades of accommodation and indulgence. On a lesser scale, we have today in this country a politician possessing many of the qualities of a buffoon - to speak only of those - and there were enough people willing to campaign and vote for this man at the last general election to secure him a seat in parliament at the expense of a better, non-buffoon, candidate. There were even, at the time, voices from the centre-left telling us that his victory was something to be celebrated.
Maybe it's an Anglospheric thing, this tendency to ridicule our enemies. I don't think it's wrong, necessarily; they deserve ridicule. But it may mislead people into believing such people are harmless or not worth bothering about.
On the other hand, it sure beats the tendency to romanticize vicious thugs and murderers.
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