Lech Walesa, a leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement and Poland’s first post-Communist president, celebrates his birthday today. He is 64.

Slate.com features a super slide-show of the Solidarity movement. The link is below.

All this talk about Walesa got me thinking about US involvement in the Solidarity movement in Poland.

In the 1980’s, Poland was still a Communist state and under the Soviet thumb. But in 1980, massive worker strikes erupted in the Baltic shipyards of Gdansk, then spread throughout the country. Poland was in the thick of the first (and most successful) mass movement against Communism.

To make a long story short, the Party in Poland would not genuflect to the massive demonstrations of its people, and they also probably feared a Prague ‘68 situation with Soviet tanks and all. So in order to thwart Solidarity’s efforts at democratizing Poland, the government declared martial law at the end of ‘81.

At the time in the US, Ronny Reagan was prez. With the counsel of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Reagan decided to end all diplomatic/economic/etc contact with Poland. And then America shipped a bunch of humanitarian aid into Poland, which was distributed by Solidarity.

Martial law ended shortly after.

This was an instance of American intervention gone right. Reagan and other presidents (more liberal ones, too) have believed that America has a duty to foster democracy throughout the world, and to support democratic minorities in countries with authoritarian governments.

But now that “Operation Iraqi Freedom” (can you believe that’s an official title?) has failed, can America ever dream about ‘bringing democracy’ to other countries ever again? I personally believe that America did not invade Iraq for any reason other than control of resources—but the stated objectives are different. GWB often points to the authoritarian regime of Saddam Hussein as a good reason America invaded Iraq. This is not an inconceivable idea, considering America’s history of supporting democracy.

My opinion is that American intervention in Solidarity was the right type of intervention—relatively indirect and totally non-violent. But any other type of intervention for the sake of democracy is wrong. Some might argue there is a thin line between these two. Keep in mind, there was already a democratic movement afoot in Poland, while there was not in Iraq (or atleast not one we went in to support!)

The New York Times recently said of Russia, China, and India’s non-intervention in Myanmar: “The three countries regularly proclaim themselves world powers, yet they refuse to accept the moral responsibility that must come with that position.”

What do you think about this moral responsibility?

What do you think about the future of American intervention?

Here’s the photo slide show of Solidarity

Check this update from IESB.net, which has more “Justice League” updates. The best one: T.I., yes the rapper T.I., read for the role of Green Lantern. I guess 50 Cent turned it down.

One of the most popular facets of the DC Comics world is the Justice League of America, which features major superheroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and others teaming up to fight evil. While Superman and Batman have had their time on film, many fans have dreamed of the day that a Justice League movie would come to fruition.

Luckily, over the summer a script surfaced and the JLA film suddenly had legs. Ever since, there’s been rampant speculation online that has been fueled even more with the leaking of information. But the one thing that’s most important about this movie is that it cannot suck. DC can’t afford it, the fans can’t afford it and WB can’t afford it.

Hiring George Miller (“Happy Feet”) to direct was a step in the right direction. He’s eager to tackle something on such a grand scale as this. But what really matters is which actors are going to bring the immortal characters to life. Early news said that Christian Bale and Brandon Routh, who currently play Batman and Superman in stand-alone films, will not be a part of “JLA.” At first this seemed awful, but in the end it will pay off, because Bale’s Batman is too serious and Routh can’t act.

Rumors popped up that Tom Welling, who plays young Clark Kent on “Smallville,” was approached to continue to do so in the film. Even though the rumors died, Welling has long been a perfect candidate since today’s audiences know him as Clark.

Monday it was announced that Jessica Biel was in talks to play Wonder Woman, the first big-star rumor to surface. Biel proved she could handle the action in “Blade: Trinity,” but it’s risky to cast stars because it’s hard to suspend belief that they aren’t playing themselves in a costume (see: George Clooney as Batman).

Then someone claiming to have read the script released a heap of spoilers online. Noted is the list of heroes: all those previously mentioned plus Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter (Where the hell is Aquaman?). Also, don’t forget that no comic book film has ever been able to succeed with more than a few heroes; six or seven will be a major challenge.

Supposedly the plot comes directly from the comics, and one hero will “go bad.” Great, but it’s odd to ignore the origin story and instead start with everyone already together. Looks like WB wants to make a superhero flick with tons of action that will spawn new franchises, and that means quality could suffer.

Another issue facing this film is that it starts shooting in February, just in time to avoid the strike planned for next summer. It has developed faster than a speeding bullet, and finishing it in just four months is another huge risk.

“JLA” is going to be the most important comic book film to date. If it’s screwed up, the backlash will be so enormous that DC characters could become box office kryptonite. As of now, it’s on the right track, but if there are any rubber nipple suits, no one will be able to save it. Not even a superhero.

Trent Reznor, the creative force behind Nine Inch Nails, may be the best person ever. For the past few years, he’s been known as somewhat of an anti-record company force. Now, he’s basically ordering people to steal music. This is the full text of the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) article in which Reznor makes the following statement:

Steal it. Steal away. Steal, steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealing. Because one way or another these mother fuckers will get it through their head that they’re ripping people off and that’s not right.

I don’t necessarily recommend that you follow his advice if you, like me, fear an exorbitant RIAA lawsuit. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s right — the record industry is ripping its fans off, and either they will realize that and change, or artists like Reznor will make them obsolete by selling via the Internet.

In spy movies, it always seems that some global supervillain is holding the world hostage by threatening major cities with stolen nuclear warheads. It always seemed dumb to me, though. Based on my movie-originated nuclear weaponry expertise, warheads are pretty well protected. You need to turn at least two different keys in order to launch a nuclear attack, after all.

Evidently, though, such a plot device might not be as impossible as I thought.

In the waning days of August this year, possibly the most frightening nuclear event in years occurred, when six American nuclear warheads went missing for about 36 hours while being transported across the country.

The warheads were believed to be unarmed cruise missiles when they were loaded onto a B-52 bomber at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. The idea was to take the “cruise missiles” to Barksdale Air Force Base outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, where they would be bound for storage in a weapons graveyard. There was a mix-up, though, and the warheads were loaded instead of the unarmed missiles.

Barksdale Air Force Base had no idea that six nukes were on their way. The safety and security protocol at pretty much every level – a protocol developed during the Cold War – was basically ignored or, at the very least, improperly executed.

First of all, it seems to be rife with irony that the citizens of the United States have, in the past five years, been faced with threats – both credible and not – of countries like Iraq and North Korea attacking this nation with weapons of mass destruction, but the only real threat appears to be from our own military screwing up.

All humor aside, though, this chain of events is a fairly frightening one. Not only were six nuclear warheads misplaced, but for much of that 36-hour period, the warheads were mostly unguarded. Anything could have happened in those unguarded spans. We’re essentially lucky that this was an unintentional lapse instead of a sinister plot of some kind, because the failsafes that are supposed to keep one person’s mistake — or plan for world domination — from snowballing clearly failed.

This chain of events seems to show two things. First of all, for years and years during the Cold War, our nuclear arsenal was our biggest concern. Now though, it’s not something that gets a lot of attention. Considering the amount of nuclear firepower the U.S. military still has, that’s pretty dangerous. Just because we are no longer constantly on the brink of nuclear war doesn’t mean we should be lax in taking care of our remaining warheads.

Aside from that, though, the American people have, for several years now, been repeatedly told that the reason for the wars being fought right now is so that “we don’t have to fight the terrorists here.” That’s all well and good, but if we don’t take care of our business here, there are going to be issues. If there are nuclear warheads randomly jetsetting around the country, pretty soon there may not be a homeland to keep secure.

For more information, check out the Washington Post article here.

(Click link below to view video)

Well, that was inflammatory. The President of Columbia University invited the Iranian president to the university, but then promptly calls Ahmadinejad a “cruel and petty dictator,” his statements about the Holocaust “absurd,” and that he is “ridiculous.”

Let me first make it clear that I don’t believe any of Ahmadinejad’s ideas about the Holocaust, and am skeptical about the state of civil liberties in Iran.

But I find it incredibly unscholarly of Bollinger to condemn Ahmadinejad in front of a captive audience. He effectively transformed Ahmadinejad’s lecture at the university to be less about the Iranian leader and more about Bollinger’s own agenda. He constructed the event to be a challenge to Ahmadinejad more than a free discussion. This only proves Ahmadinejad’s famous anti-American sentiments correct, and gives him something to be smug about.

Bollinger mentions that he and his university are well aware of the problems with American leadership, but I somehow cannot imagine Bollinger or any other university president introduce George W. Bush with such a damning speech.

What are our priorities here? If only Bollinger and the like had as much gall when it came to criticizing our own government, maybe American democracy would be in better shape. The pouring out of public outrage in regards to the appearance of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is (I guess) justifiable, I only wish such indignation would apply to our own leaders.

Viva La Resistance

Mike Abrams is a junior majoring in business.

For one day a year, Starbucks’ sales take a huge hit. That one day is Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday where practicing Jews fast (no food and water) from sun-down to sun-down. Having now fasted for the past seven years, I figured it’s time to give a running diary of what goes through my head during this difficult holiday. Here’s what transpired:

6:31 p.m.: I just ate my last meal for the day with my family. I’m incredibly pissed off because the sun is not actually going down until after 7 p.m., because of Mitch Daniels’ stupid Daylight Savings rule. Damn you, Mitch Daniels. This dinner should be later.

7:47 p.m.: I’m sitting here at services looking at all these people that know every detail of my life and I can’t even remember their first names. On a side note, does anyone else really enjoy singing at services? I don’t know a majority if the words I’m singing, but I sing my little heart out anyway.

8:40 p.m.: The sun is finally down. I could have been eating up until this minute, but I’m not. Damn you, Mitch Daniels.

11:45 p.m.: Time to go to bed. I’m starving already and it’s kind of pathetic. I need my fourth meal at Taco Bell and I can’t have it. I wish I could just sleep all day tomorrow.

10:45 a.m.: Temple has been going on for over an hour at this point and I just woke up. Yeah … I’m that guy.

11:15 a.m.: I just parked my car in the grass and I’m doing my voice warm-ups as I walk into the temple to gear up for singing – still starving.

12:00 p.m.: I should be watching the Hoosiers play now. OK, that’s just a joke. Let’s be honest … no one actually goes into the games. I should be tailgating. Wait, tailgating … food … damn I’m hungry.

1:07 p.m.: It’s time to reflect on all the wrongs I’ve done this past year.

2:03 p.m.: I’m ready for my Yom Kippur TV/naptime. The Yom Kippur TV/nap is pretty much the same thing as my normal Monday through Friday nap except that I’m thirsty and starving.

3:45 p.m.: I think this must be a test. I’m officially beyond starving and I’m watching the Notre Dame football game. Beside the fact that they finally put a TD on the board, I watched a set of commercials that went as followed – Wendy’s Baconator, Sonic’s slushies, “This is ooooour country” and a TGI Friday’s table of people eating and looking happy. Could you torture me anymore? I’m already starving, so don’t show me food, drinks and the worst commercial ever created all in a row. I think Mitch Daniels created that Mellencamp commercial. Damn you, Mitch Daniels.

6:30 p.m.: If it wasn’t for “My Man Mitch,” the sun would be down. Damn you, Mitch Daniels

6:31 p.m.: I’ve made an executive decision. If I close the blinds and turn off the lights, then the sun’s down. OK, so that doesn’t make sense. But you don’t fast for an entire day and then come up with good ideas.

7:29 p.m.: The sun’s down enough. I’m eating. I should have started eating an hour ago. Damn you, Mitch Daniels.

I don’t want to die.

But every day the Grim Reaper puts his ominously huge sickle to my young, supple neck and warns, “This day may be your last.”

He says this to me because I ride around Bloomington on my bicycle. Whether the danger comes from people in 4000-lb. machines, such as SUVs and vans, who pass me too closely, oblivious pedestrians on cell phones who don’t look both ways before they cross the street or other cyclists ignorant to the rules of the road, death looms around every corner.

So I offer some advice for every car driver, cyclist and pedestrian. If we can follow some simple rules, the Grim Reaper will stop haunting us two-wheeled travelers.

1. If you own a car and choose to drive it around Bloomington, please note:

CYCLISTS FOLLOW THE SAME LAWS AS CARS ON THE ROAD.

Who knew? Not most of Bloomington, I can tell you that much. Since we have the same rights as cars, that means you can’t cut us off, pass us too closely, skip our turn at stop-signs, etc.

Bikes are meant for streets, not sidewalks. It’s no use yelling at us to get off the street, because that is exactly where we are supposed to be.

Furthermore, we have to get in the middle of the lane sometimes to avoid pot holes or just to make sure you, the driver, can see us before we approach an intersection.

Finally, besides endangering our lives physically, you also hurt our feelings with your angry obscenities. The other week, after a driver passed me so closely I nearly slammed into a parked car, the normal looking, middle-aged driver shouted at me a colorful phrase containing both the f-bomb and a derogatory word for female genitalia. Was this needed? No, because she had almost just killed me. The natural response of some angry drivers is to blame the cyclists for their mistakes. But guys, it’s really you, not us.

2. If you walk around campus jabbering on your cell phone, please note:

OBLIVION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS PUTS YOU AND OTHERS IN DANGER.

All I have to say is that your mommy taught you to look both ways before you cross the street. Please oblige her.

3. For all those cyclists in Bloomington, please note:

YOU MUST FOLLOW THE SAME RULES AS CARS, AND BE HYPER VIGILANT!

If you ride a bike YOU MUST RIDE WITH TRAFFIC. I know that to some people it seems logical to ride against traffic so they can see what’s coming at them, but that is actually a very bad idea. You run the risk of having a head-on collision with both cars and other cyclists if you ride against traffic.

Don’t skip stop signs.

Signal when you are turning by extending an arm in whichever direction you will turn.

Go in the middle of the lane before a stop sign or intersection so cars will see you and consequently not run you over.

Got it? Good. Now maybe we can all live in harmony.

If cleanliness is next to Godliness, I’m going to hell. No if, ands or buts about it, sign me up for a one-way ticket.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have slowly let things slip into a state of filth in my apartment. It really wouldn’t have been so bad, except I didn’t have time to take care of anything before I left for the weekend. Let’s just say that returning offered some important lessons.
The first thing I discovered is that while it’s ok to brew a pot of coffee in the morning and accidentally forget about it, it is not ok to forget it before leaving for the weekend. This may not shock you biology majors, but I was startled to find that coffee can actually grow mold. (I guess it makes sense, since really I’m just running water through organic grounds, but I was still a little weirded out, and I decided to get my caffeine intake from Coca-Cola for the next few days.)
Another thing I learned is that if the planet somehow runs out of concrete, we have nothing to fear. You see, cheese is an excellent substitute. For a little while I was absolutely certain that my wooden spoon and pot had somehow, in only a few short days, chemically bonded together. Turns out, cheese is just very perseverant.
Not all of the problems I ran into were food related, though. For instance, I had done a load of laundry before leaving, but for whatever reason, I was too busy to put it away. Instead, I did the logical thing and let it sit in a heap in the middle of my bedroom until I returned.
While this did wonders for the room’s Feng Shui, I’m not sure it was the best method for conveying a kempt appearance. Wrinkled isn’t a strong enough word to use here. Instead, my shirts all looked like origami projects from Hell.
Another tidiness problem was that I subscribe to the Sunday edition of The New York Times. OK, well that’s not the problem. The problem is that I dilute myself into thinking that I’m going to somehow magically find time during the middle of the week to finish reading the whole thing cover to cover.
What ends up happening, however, is quite different. Piles and piles of newspapers begin to grow on any suitable flat surface of my apartment (think Kudzu). I then feel guilty about throwing away the large quantities of unread information (not to mention trees); so instead, I just stack the next week’s paper on top of it. You know what they say, out of sight, out of mind. The problem, though, is that I currently have a pile about two-and-a-half feet tall in my living room of paper, ink and guilt.
After a while all of these messes start to add up and these types of living arrangements can really start to get to you. I mean, sometimes I let my apartment get so bad that I just have to get away for the weekend. Sigh. I guess it’s just a never-ending cycle.

A New York Times article published 9/20/07 describes the growing movement of Egyptian groups—governmental, NGO, and religious—who are calling for an end to genital cutting in Egypt.The article cites a survey that found 96% of Egyptian women (of the thousands interviewed) had undergone “female circumcision.” The practice is apparently very wide-spread in Egypt despite a ban put in place in 1996, and is still prominent in sub-Saharan Africa.

Western feminists often argue that female genital mutilation is a barbaric practice. Many feminist groups in the United States have campaigns to raise awareness about the injustice.

But this ethnocentric thinking is very problematic, because it often involves Westerners imposing their concepts of morality, ideology, and way of life on the rest of the world. And the rest of the world is probably pretty sick of Western ideas right now. I mean, just look what happened in Iraq when America tried to spread one of its favorite cultural practices (democracy) over there. Terrible, terrible idea.

Then there is the other camp of people like me, who sort of cringe anytime Western feminists condemn a practice outside the Western cultural realm. Who am I to say what another culture should and shouldn’t do? It’s all relative, I say. What might be acceptable in one culture might be unacceptable in another, so who’s to say what’s right and wrong? For example, Egyptians who support genital cutting might abhor some practices we have here in America, for example, shutting our parents and grandparents in old folks homes, or wasting vast amounts of energy and food.

But finally, neither group (the Western ethnocentricists or the cultural relativists) really cut to the heart of the issue. Liberals are constantly criticized for taking the cultural relativist position, because in a way, it is not a position. Cultural relativism denies the existence of morality, of right and wrong. And then it avoids really messy issues. And the Western feminists calling genital mutilation a crime really are guilty of wanting their way or the high way.

So is it possible for me, as a Western feminist, to have an appropriate opinion on the subject of genital cutting? I don’t want to condemn anyone as barbaric, because ‘barbarism’ is in the eye of the beholder…So, is there a moral standard to which all cultures and cultural practices should be held? Should we just cut through the polite political correctness of cultural relativism and say, “Yes, genital cutting is wrong!!!” If so, who decides the standard of what is and isn’t cruel?

What do you think?

Here’s the articleOh, and PS: this article has nothing to do with Western perspectives, thankfully, and only to do with homegrown Egyptian opposition. I only bring it up because it is a common debate in feminist circles.