Job Discussion Forums

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:49 pm Post subject: Abdullah Rocks: He's Number 9

Go to the Head of the Class
"Running a country can be a thankless job, but these 10 leaders have managed to win serious respect.

1. The Ambitious Newcomer: David Cameron
2. The Green Guru: Mohamed Nasheed
3. The Loved-Abroad-Hated-At-Home: Nicolas Sarkozy
4. The Man of the People: Wen Jiabao
5. The Fiscal Taskmaster: Brian Cowen
6. The Lion in Winter: Luiz In�cio Lula da Silva
7. The CEO-in-Charge: Lee Myung-Bak
8. The Rebuilder: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
9. The Reformer: King Abdullah
10. The Middle Man: Lee Hsien Loong

By Katie Baker
"Since taking the throne in 2005, Saudi Arabia's King Adullah bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud has tried to lift his ultraconservative country from the dark ages. He's given the go-ahead to modernize schools, has appointed women to high office, and invested in science and technology education and nuclear power initiatives. He's also proven a stalwart ally against Islamic extremism, delivering a much-applauded speech in Mecca that called on Muslims to embrace "the spirit of tolerance, moderation, and balance." At 86 years old, the monarch's window for change may be short, but he's still going strong."

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/16/go-to-the-head-of-the-class.all.html

Regards,
John

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:05 pm Post subject:

Reminds me why US mainstream media is worse than useless for reporting world affairs. Since when has a hagiographic puff piece which might just as well have been lifted from the embassy website passed for quality journalism?

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:26 pm Post subject:

Dear Cleopatra,

So, Abdullah doesn't rock? Well, if Prince Naif (or even Sultan) reigns next, these may be looked back on as "the good old days."

It's all relative(s).

Regards,
John

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:33 pm Post subject:

Yes, it is all relative, and by the standards of the House of Saud, Abdullah is by no means the worst. Which isn't saying much, really.

However, to read the adolescent scribblings of the 'journalist' quoted above, you'd think he was some kind of combination of Ataturk and Nelson Mandela.

He isn't.

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Yes, Newsweek is puff. Read the NY Times.

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:46 pm Post subject:

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Nope, you don't read it--you prejudge it because it's American. Of course, I went to J-school in university. And wrote for a news mag in Europe before that. I like to think I can judge on merits, impartially, and I'm not sure you can. That is normal for many British grads, but many more are balanced. OK--try the New Yorker magazine. American journalists believe it's the world's best magazine, while of course those on the other side of the ocean will differ, but the mag has had a British chief editor for a long time...maybe that will help.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:07 pm Post subject:

Parent: Well, I never read anything that doesn't agree with me.

Teacher: But if you don't read it, how do you know it doesn't agree with you?

Parent: I just know.

I changed the words slightly; the parent I was talking to actually said:

"Well, I'd never read anything like that book; it's obscene" (She was referring to "Catcher in the Rye.")

Regards,
John

Cleopatra · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:18 pm Post subject:

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Thank the LORD-uh for the FIRST AMENDMENT...which took about 150 years to finally catch on. If only the bible-thumping, censor-happy idiots knew about all the incestuous hanky panky and violence in Shakespeare, they would have tried to ban that too. But you couldn't have expected them to have actually read it, or if they did read the Bard in high school, they didn't understand a word of it.

Come to think of it, lots of 17th-century English lit is pretty bawdy too, but the good clean folks wouldn't know that.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:30 pm Post subject:

Well, for a puff magazine, Newsweek occasionally has some mighty good stuff:

Excerpt From �The Autobiography of Mark Twain�:

"About once a year some pious public library banishes Huck Finn from its children�s department, and on the same plea always�that Huck, the neglected and untaught son of a town drunkard, is given to lying, when in difficulty and hard pressed, and is therefore a bad example for young people, and a damager of their morals.
Two or three years ago I was near by when one of these banishments was decreed and advertised, and I went over and asked the librarian about it, and he said yes, Huck was banished for lying. I asked,
�Is there nothing else against him?�
�No, I think not.�
�Do you banish all books that are likely to defile young morals, or do you stop with Huck?�
�We do not discriminate; we banish all that are hurtful to young morals.�
I picked up a book, and said�
�I see several copies of this book lying around. Are the young forbidden to read it?�
�The Bible? Of course not.�
�Why not?�
�That is a strange question to ask.�
�Very well, then I withdraw it. Are you acquainted with the passages in Huck which are held to be objectionable?�
He said he was; and at my request he took pen and paper and proceeded to write them down for me. Meantime I stepped to a desk and wrote down some extracts from the Bible. I showed them to him and said I would take it as a favor if he would attach his extracts to mine and post them on the wall, so that the people could examine them and see which of the two sets they would prefer to have their young boys and girls read.
He replied coldly that he was willing to post the extracts which he had made, but not those which I had made.
�Why?�
He replied�still coldly�that he did not wish to discuss the matter. I asked if he had some boys and girls in his family, and he said he had. I asked�
�Do you ever read to them these extracts which I have made?�
�Of course not!�
�You don�t need to. They read them to themselves, clandestinely. All Protestant children of both sexes do it, and have been doing it for several centuries. You did it yourself when you were a boy. Isn�t it so?�
He hesitated, then said no. I said�
�You have lied, and you know it. I think you have been reading Huck Finn, yourself, and damaging your morals.�"

rom "Huck Finn�Banned Book" by Mark Twain, � 2001 by the Mark Twain Foundation.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/30/excerpt-from-the-autobiography-of-mark-twain.html

Regards,
John

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Mark Twain didn't want his autobiography published until 100 years after his death because his hatred for Christianity and the Bible is clearly evident. Good for him, and now we have more good stuff to read. Sarah Palin won't like it, but then... 'nuff said

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:45 pm Post subject:

Hey, John...I think that it's Cleo and SnB who need to get that hotel room. I've NEVER seen a more smitten pair since Tracy and Hepburn...

NCTBA Twisted Evil

Sheikh N Bake · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: Dis ting of ours

Ha ha! Cleo and SnB can get mad at each other but neither of them gives a &$%#. On the other hand, some completely worthless interlopers like 007 are fun to put down. I know--I'm mean, but the entity who chooses his moniker like a 12-year-old deserves it.

BTW, I'm thinking Tony Soprano and Carmella. Can you dig it? Fuhgeddaboudit.