Dove's Eye View

Genealogy

I was wandering around the web trying to find out exactly how I am related to
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, Jr., when I discovered a second cousin who's a fellow Californian and progressive political activist: R's Rant. Randy has kindly linked back to me, so we've got some nepotistic blogging going on, but if you can't link to your relatives, who can you link to? For any of you family members lurking around here, go on by Randy's place and say hi.

By the way, old Lucius was the first cousin of my great-great-grandfather, Lackington Collinsworth Randle. No kidding. Lackington's mama was Amelia Lamar, sister to Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
the third president of the Republic of Texas, a scary guy who family legend said was a mad genius.

I'm not proud of these guys, mind you, they are the kind of fellows our dear President would look up to. LQC Lamar was a Supreme Court Justice who advocated for states' rights, and you know what that is code for. Yes, I'm aware that John F. Kennedy included him in his book *Profiles in Courage* so it's true that a liberal president admired him, too. And Alison in comments reminds us of states' rights issues I might like better than the right to oppress black people. Mirabeau B did a lot of good things for Texas (founded the public education system, for instance) but he also worked hard to eradicate the Cherokee. Well, we can't help our relatives, and these guys at least are not my direct ancestors.

This all came about because we're reading The Bear in class, and the rascally old grandpa is named Lucius Quintus Carrothers McCaslin. In real life LQC Lamar was a prominent lawyer in Oxford Mississippi in the 19th century, so Faulkner was using a real fellow's real name, and I'm sure he knew it. He must not have liked Judge Lamar much either, because he gave Carrothers McCaslin some pretty awful crimes.

More cool ancestral stuff on the web: my great-great-grandmother's will. Her tombstone. Her father-in-law's tombstone (husband of Amelia Lamar and my great-great-great-grandfather).
A great-great-grandmother in the other direction.

Edgar Bronfman: Respect Muslims

Read this comment from Edgar Bronfman, the Seagrams heir and head of the World Jewish Congress: Muslims deserve the same respect as Christians or Jews.

Mutual respect and understanding between members of different religions is the key to ending hatred and to creating a better world. We consider desecration of any holy book an insult to ourselves. Desecration of the Koran, the Torah, or the Christian Bible, or any religious site should be offensive to all of us. Mutual respect means just that: You respect me and what I stand for, and I respect you and what you stand for.

As printed in the Beirut Daily Star.

It's sad that so many right-wingers, zealous Israel supporters, and fundamentalist Christians spout opinions in direct conflict with Mr. Bronfman's ideas, which seem like basic grown-up values to me.

That he writes in the Daily Star is an added bonus. I hope he prints such opinions in New York City and national American venues. Unfortunately, many Americans need to hear them. I do believe intolerance and irrationally have risen in this country. Thank you, Edgar Bronfman.

Muslim WakeUp!

In my previous Prophet cartoon roundups, I should have mentioned this site: Muslim WakeUp! MWU!. These folks are progressive Muslims from all over the world. It's a multi-voiced site, with reader comments that get quite heated. My favorite Arab-American poetess, Mohja Kahf, writes the Sex and the Umma column there occasionally.

MWU is featuring much comment on the Prophet cartoon controversy. I can't think of a better place to read thoughtful Muslim responses. If you want to read what actual Muslims think, instead of what non-Muslim pundits claim they think, then go to MWU.

U.S. church alliance denounces Iraq war

My homies - liberal American Protestants: U.S. church alliance denounces Iraq war. The alliance is called the National Council of Churches.

A coalition of American churches sharply denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq on Saturday, accusing Washington of "raining down terror" and apologizing to other nations for "the violence, degradation and poverty our nation has sown."

The statement, issued at the largest gathering of Christian churches in nearly a decade, also warned the United States was pushing the world toward environmental catastrophe with a "culture of consumption" and its refusal to back international accords seeking to battle global warming.

I'm feeling more like a pagan myself these days, but those liberal Protestants are a part of my heritage I'm very proud of. Of course, the fundamentalist Christians and right-wing bloggers think the National Council of Churches is an arm of Satan. My mother says reactionaries thought the same in the 1950s (only then they were called Communist sympathizers) because of the NCC's stance on race relations.

A Most Regrettable Accident

Khalil Bendib, Algerian-American political cartoonist, does it again: Hunting Accident (JPEG Image, 600x488 pixels).

Chant Avedissian : Cairo Stencils

You'll want to check out this book by a fabulous Egyptian artist: Chant Avedissian : Cairo Stencils, edited by Rose Issa.

A Rose Issa quote found online:

Avedissian integrates 20th century Egyptian iconography with pharaonic symbols, Islamic geometric and abstract patterns and the flowery baroque motifs of Ottoman decor. In his large stencils, images of historical characters, names, landscapes, objects and symbols intertwine and overlap. Painted with local pigments and bordered by hand-coloured textiles, they are celebrations of his nostalgic memories.

Read about Chant in the Beirut Daily Star.

I'm ordering my copy of Cairo Stencils from my local bookseller. Update: it won't be published in the USA until April, 2006, but it seems to be available in the Middle East already.

That Dog Won't Hunt

A reader on Jane Hamsher's blog wrote this about our Vice President's recent hunting accident:

I think this is dangerous territory for Cheney et al. There is no good explanation for this, other than being drunk or stupid. Anti-gun people are going to hate the whole thing. Gun people like me are going to hate that he was such a complete idiot.

I think, as other have pointed out, that this is a microcosm of the whole administration:

1. Try to play tough, with a gun, or an army.

2. Fail to follow well-established rules, guidelines, and past experience (either out of ignorance or willful disregard, or both).

3. Get someone hurt or killed.

4. Try to keep the story under wraps for as long as possible.

5. When the story does come out, spin it so that there was no possible way the administration did anything wrong.

6. Blame someone else, where possible, blame the victim.

7. Make anyone who has a problem with it look like an un-American pussy.

(End quote)

That says it all for me.

Must get back to the short story I'm working on.

More Prophet Cartoon Comment

Everybody is weighing in. My friend's dad e-mails me every day with new comment he's found somewhere, mostly clowns like David Brooks, and some idiot at the WSJ who says that high Muslim birthrates mean THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT. I last heard this argument from right-wing Christian fascists in 1974, just before the Lebanese civil war began. Will everybody please calm down?

If you need more info, Marc Lynch, esteemed Arab media watcher, professor and blogger, has posted extensively at AbuAardvark. You'll learn everything there is to know, and more.

In case you missed it, my previous prophet cartoon roundup.

Meanwhile, I can't get over our vice president shooting a crony in the face while quail hunting. This guy is no gentleman. It's always terrible when somebody gets shot...(unseemly chortling redacted). Go see Jane Hamsher for the Elmer Fudd pictures, and very instructive NRA info on gun safety.

Evangelicals to Fight Global Warming

This looks like good news: 86 Evangelical Leaders Join to Fight Global Warming - New York Times.

Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors." Skip to next paragraph Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

The megachurch pastor Rick Warren is a signer of the "Evangelical Climate Initiative."

Among signers of the statement, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, are the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army, and pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."

"For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority," the statement said. "Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough."

The statement calls for federal legislation that would require reductions in carbon dioxide emissions through "cost-effective, market-based mechanisms" — a phrase lifted from a Senate resolution last year and one that could appeal to evangelicals, who tend to be pro-business. The statement, to be announced in Washington, is only the first stage of an "Evangelical Climate Initiative" including television and radio spots in states with influential legislators, informational campaigns in churches, and educational events at Christian colleges.

Prophet Cartoon Roundup

Everybody's asking me, e-mailing me, talking about the furor over the insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the Danish press. Juan Cole says this on his blog, Informed Comment:

few places in the Muslim world have seen violence over the caricatures, so far mainly Damascus and Beirut (which are unexpected in this regard.) Protests in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and elsewhere have been nonviolent. This is not to play down the seriousness of what happened in Damascus and Beirut over the weekend--acts which can only inspire horror and condemnation--only to set it in context. There are 1.5 billion Muslims. A lot of Muslim countries saw no protests at all. In some places, as in Pakistan, they were anemic. The caricature protests are resonating with local politics and anti-imperialism in ways distinctive to each Muslim country. The protests therefore are probably not mostly purely about religion.

Cole gives his opinion about the whole business here, setting it into context.

The ever-thoughtful Laila Lalami says this: "In North Africa and the Middle-East, the response has been far more nuanced than the press in the West has let on. Several newspapers have written editorials denouncing the caricatures, but they have also pointed their anger at those among Muslims who blaspheme the Prophet through their actions."

She also posted a comment calling for calm: Cartoon Shmartoon.

Her most recent post as of 2/7/06 surveyed reaction and again asked "can't we all just get along?"

I've already received emails forwarded from people howling "Where are the moderates?" These folks don't read the sources where Muslim moderates publish, I guess. Meanwhile Muslims of every persuasion condemn embassy burning, terrorism, and all manner of acting out, but those who want to bash Islam refuse to be convinced.

The Brussels Journal, a blog new to me, has been following this controversy from the beginning. They are generally on the side of the Danes I would say, but this link has a roundup of Muhammad cartoon articles, which yield much information. For instance, a Muslim reader from Canada pointed out the context in Denmark - the queen recently asked her subjects to oppose Islam, and there has been a rise of anti-Muslim activity in that country.

It's a big mess, indeed. Be very suspicious of simplistic explanations.

Just in: See Khalil Bendib, Algerian-American political cartoonist, in today's SF Chronicle. Definitely check out his cartoon on the topic.