'Sexual Disorientation'

This cartoon is really worth more than any comment I can muster up right now.

(Image Source)

On Mosques and Principles

I was going to let the issue of the so-called 'Ground Zero Mosque' go by without commenting, but Bill O'Reilly's latest tirade on The View (no, I don't actually watch the show) got me angry and here's my take on the issue, as pithily as I can put it:

Under normal circumstances, I would have ben the first to dismiss the building of a place of worship—be it a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, etc.—as an unnecessary extravagance. I would probably have gone so far as to say that we don't need to expand whatever extent religion already has; and I would definitely have ventured to advocate, instead, the building of a more universally beneficial type of building, such as a school, hospital, or no building at all and a park or garden instead.

But given the airtime that was given to this issue, and the ink and bile that was spilled over it, I have to come out now, as a strong supporter of the 'Ground Zero Mosque.'

First of all, there was a lot of deliberately misleading information on the so-called 'mosque.' Calling it a 'mosque' was supposed to make people conjure up images of a lead-domed building with sky-piercing, imposing minarets. And they did. The building in question is, in fact, a multi-faith cultural center that will provide the Manhattan community with more 'secular' amenities such as a gym, pool, daycare center, etc..

Secondly, the debate in question should never have taken a national dimension. But it did (thanks, Palin!). The only people making a decision on it should have been local authorities responsible for issuing building permits and the like; the only laws to be observed should have been safety and zoning laws; the only additional considerations should have been on the aesthetics of the building—and that, only if NYC has any.

By overtaking the national airwaves, the debate over this cultural center reached a level of perversion that many self-righteous (read: mistaken) citizens across the nation embraced as justified. Suddenly, an organization whose whole reason-for-being is combatting bigotry discredited itself by coming out against this building; then a bigot in X or Y county felt proud to say that allowing such a building was 'insensitive' or 'un-American' (question: who died and made you a moral dictator of America?); then a zealot in Florida threatened to organize a Koran-burning event that escalated attacks and violence against our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, while also aggravating any existing ire of Muslims across the globe. Yes, in just a matter of weeks, a debate that never should have gone beyond the requirements of local formalities became national and eventually medieval.

Thirdly, it should be understood that everybody has the right to voice his or her own opinion on whatever issue; but nobody has the right to pervert long-standing constitutional principles on issues of 'sensitivity,' especially when doing so means depriving others of the first freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

I'm sorry, angered Americans-at-large: it's not up to you to decide whether a church or mosque or whatever else gets built in your country. It is not up to me, either....

I'm sorry, Manhattan residents: it's not up to you to prevent the construction of a building you don't 'like.' Comply with the decisions of the people you have chosen to represent you in enacting and enforcing local building and zoning laws.

Lastly, I'm sorry families of 9/11 victims: your pain and anger, however real and 'raw' (to use a word that was thrown around by Palin & Co.), do not entitle you to abridging the rights of any group, much less those of Muslims as a whole, who—as a whole—were never against us.

We were attacked by religious zealots with radically perverted views of Islam and the world, and with a total lack of consideration and respect for human life. Perhaps an example closer to home would serve to better illustrate it: the latter are the equivalent of the many (pseudo-)Christian groups in this country whose hateful and bigoted ideas spring up every day in dark and dreary basements across America, and whose abusive rhetoric or violent actions often reach the public scene.

Above all, remember that we are a state of laws; laws that condemn harmful behavior on others, and laws that defend liberties of individuals who set foot in this country (including minorities that can easily be overwhelmed by a majority). We have those laws for a reason and, despite whatever defects our legal-judicial system may have, intolerance of this kind is not one that should be imposed on or expected of it, no matter what the angry or otherwise emotional multitudes say about it.

It's a matter of principle.

«She Walks in Beauty Like the Night»

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meets in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress
Or softly lightens o'er her face,
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,—
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

Lord BYRON

«Një çast i pagjumë»

Çdo gjë ngarkohet-shkarkohet në jetë,

Ngarkohet-shkarkohet toka e madhe
Mbushet qielli nga retë e shkarkohet nga retë
Mbushen pemët me fletë e shkarkohen në vjeshtë.

Ngarkohen me borë malet e lartë
E bora shkrihet në verë,
Ngarkohet ajri me tym e me vapë
E vapa shkarkohet në dimër prapë.

Ngarkohen lumenjtë me ujë nga shirat,
Lumenjtë zbrazen në motin e thatë,
Ngarkohen arat me grurë e vijnë shirat
Dhe zbrazen e mbeten të lira.

E prapë ngarkohen të gjitha, të gjitha,
Të gjitha ç'janë mbi tokë
Shkarkohen me gaz, me dhimbje e britma,
Nga rrapi i madh e deri te hithra.

Ngarkohet njeriu me dhimbjen e rrallë,
Nga dhimbja e rrallë shkarkohet,
Por ndryshe çdo gjëje, mundohet, mundohet
Por ndryshe çdo gjëje, shkarkohet ngadalë
Dhe mbeten rrudhat e thella në ballë.

Dritëro AGOLLI

*Me rastin e 79-vjetorit të lindjes.

Rousseau Had a Sense of Humor

Yes, it's true. And the English were the butt of his jokes at least one time:

In his Essai sur l'origine des langues (Essay on the Origin of Languages), he says:

Pour concevoir les repas des anciens on n'a qu'à voir encore aujourdui ceux des Sauvages ; j'ai failli dire ceux des Anglois.

In order to conceive of the meals of the ancients, one has but to see still today those of Savages; I almost said those of Englishmen.

I won't lie, I laughed out loud.

Rousseau was funny.... Whodathunkit?!

Times Are A-Changin'

It really does get better, according to The Economist!

Still... nothing beats atheists and agnostics...

«Howl»

James Franco who portrays Allen Ginsberg in Howl, reading an excerpt from the poem by the same title.

Full text available here or elsewhere on the Internet.

«Vallja e luleve»

Vijnë vashat valle-valle
Gushë-e-gji-stolisura
Një pëllumb, një sysorkadhe
Seç vjen m'e mbollisura.

Ç'm'i ka hije shtat' i hedhur,
Hije kraharuari,
Pa fillon me të dredhur
Motra së kënduari:

Ju që niseni për lule,
Shoqe, moj, të mijëza,
Merr-më-ni as edhe mua
Nër pyje-e korijeza;

Pritni, moj të vi dhe unë
Maleve, lëndinave,
Ndaj shkëlqen pa të përdhunë
Filli-i trëndelinave;

Në mos diça të bëj tufë,
Shoqe, ju dëgjo-më-ni:
Bëni, moj, një tog me lule
Dhe nër to mbulo-më-ni;

Në ju pyeçin për mua:
Ç'u bë flokbanusheja?
Thoni, se më një përrua
E zu gjarpërusheja:

Thoni, se ndaj një burimi
Me-të patë fluturën:
Thoni, seç e zuri trimi
Atë bel-këputurën.

Lasgush PORADECI

Strong Words

I hate—HATE—what McCain has become in the last two and a half years. Yes, I thought this before reading the article linked above. And no, I don't think 'hate' is too strong a word to describe the more-than-resentment I feel toward him. I hate him for having become the personification and, at times, the epitome and the sole agent of the obstructionism that has plagued our Congress since the last general elections. He went from being a true maverick and a bridge between the two parties, to campaigning on it, to soiling his campaign and reputation, to becoming an intractable old coot, and to abjuring his moderate past and even the title he campaigned on.

But most of all, I hate him for unleashing—again, I don't think I'm wording this too strongly—Sarah Palin on the national political scene, along with the bigotry, hate, ignorance, and opportunism she exemplifies. Her dreaded ubiquity, hate-mongering, fear-mongering, vitriolic language, and shallow example served to bring to the scene other ignorant, opportunistic pseudo-politicians who unscrupulously exploit hard times and people's legitimate frustrations for their own personal gain, while setting whatever civilized debate we had in this country back by decades.

Thanks a lot, McCain!

A Judge's Regret

In a recent interview with NPR, former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is candid about his work on the court. When asked if he regrets any decisions in his thirty-four years as associate justice, Stevens says only one, when he and others upheld the death penalty in 1976.

While it is remarkable (and telling of his constancy) that among hundreds of decisions, he regrets but one—a likely inconsequential one at that, given the majority of 6:3 on that morbid decision—it is also a sad reminder of one of the ugliest sides of the American judicial system: it's perpetuation of state-sponsored murder—a most cruel and unusual punishment—that has cost hundreds of (sometimes innocent) Americans their life.

Here's a part of his interview.

In Comedia Veritas

The not-so-new Republicans.

[unknown title]

In my pockets sleep

unsent letters
I feel under my skin verses that whisper
envelopes that tremble
philately that loved ones will not be able to
pluck from my flesh
they are letters that I perhaps wrote
but sent to myself
in far-away addresses
as though I want to explain myself
with others' reasons
for my shortcomings
under my skin sleep
letters
a whole bunch of them
letters that will perhaps be sent
in fact, that have been sent, but to me
who, like a stolen mailbox,
accumulate for myself a certain warmth, good words
that I myself wrote about others better
than anybody could write to me.

Ervin HATIBI

(Origjinali shqip)