The Politics of Fear (Friday Night edition)

This will be quick. I have to be back in my seat at 0900 tomorrow.

Tonight's topics were:

Keynote Address: Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi
This was awful! The woman claimed to be advocating peace yet she asked if America didn't bear some responsibility for 9/11 because we funded terrorist schools in Afghanistan (WTF!) and blamed Denmark for the riots. She softly denounced the embassy burnings as more or less bad strategy, but said nothing about the deaths that have been caused. She also rebuked us for calling it Islamic Terrorism. Whatever, yeah, you're a religion of peace, yada,yada. The mids from Annapolis sitting in my row looked uncomfortable when she was getting a standing ovation and stood with the crowd. That's OK, they're young. I on the other hand.....am old. I don't give a fat rat's ass. I sat and didn't clap and scowled.

Occidentalism and Orientalism, Cabot Auditorium
This guy was interesting. He also spoke of the cartoons. Much more reasonably though.

So Who's at Guantanamo, Anyway?, Cabot Auditorium
This guy boiled my blood. He is working on some cases at Gitmo, in particular, the Weegers. He gave just enough misinformation so it sounds like W and Cheney are keeping them at Gitmo for their own private amusement. Also he stated that W wants to bug everyone's bedroom and tap everyone's phone. Just blatant nonsense. I got up to speak, but I was so peeved, it wasn't good. Again, no clapping, no standing for me, just scowling.

Then the panel.
Fault Lines: The Tension between Security and Civil Liberties
Really interesting. They got a late start and went on until 2300 hours. Again Professor Prin was my favorite. But I really liked Ms. Levush and Peter Roudik as well.