tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:37:14 +0000Covering the Middle East, Music & Misanthropy.http://fookpop.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)Blogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-6705069445922338137Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:07:00 +00002009-06-04T17:12:43.137-04:00islamobamamuslimsspeechcairoegypt Text: Obama’s Speech in Cairo The following is a text of President Obama's prepared remarks to the Muslim world, delivered on June 4, 2009, as released by the White House. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2009/06/speech.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-8454237618789073846Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:55:00 +00002009-03-09T12:19:02.346-04:00rantmontreallabonteconcordiantremblaycity of miseriesCity of MiseriesMontreal's Never-Ending Municipal Woes This past week our long-time mayor Gerald Tremblay announced a surprise budgetary deficit of $150 million for the city. The implications of his announcement are that numerous city boroughs and municipal agencies have to patch up the difference. Bottom line: higher taxes for reduced services.I don't about the rest of you, but I'm fed up http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2009/03/city-of-miseries.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-5200844599955591184Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:49:00 +00002009-01-13T19:12:23.936-05:00gaza israel rararaThe first in a number of annoying columns about the situation in the Middle East:Just to be clear from the start, what's happening over in Gaza is not a 'war' nor a 'conflict'; it is a massacre.Let's do away with the analogies and reasoning. If there is one clear rule in war anymore, it is to not target civilians. What did Israel think was going to happen when they started dropping thousands of http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2009/01/gazagazaisrael.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-6526640020228722756Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:01:00 +00002009-01-13T19:10:10.673-05:00piratessaudi arabiawestsomaliahijackersArr! Pirates off the port bow!News of a supertanker getting hijacked by pirates off the coast of East Africa has dominated international headlines this week. Pirates? If you haven't been paying attention, you can be forgiven for thinking that bearded men with wooden legs were terrorizing the high seas.Last week, pirates succeeded in hijacking the Sirius Star, an enormous oil tanker carrying two http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/11/pirates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-8421997205254189533Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:52:00 +00002008-11-26T12:53:32.179-05:00honeymoonbarackcrisispresident-electeconomyThe easy part is over. Barack Obama succeeded in transforming his mantra from "Yes We Can" into "Yes We Did." After an endless campaign, in one giant sigh of relief, Americans made history. Yes, that sense of emptiness you're feeling is called election withdrawal. Now comes the hard part.Let's set aside Obama's campaign promises for a while. For now, there are crises that need to be dealt with. http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-time-for-honeymoon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-2244074232054006025Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:55:00 +00002009-01-13T19:01:01.492-05:00dubyapresidentgeorge bushbush legacy"Barack Obama! Change! Wooooo!" A recent episode of South Park featured Randy, Stan Marsh's irrepressible dad, celebrating Barack Obama's electoral victory by drinking himself into a stupor. The episode highlighted a certain trend lately of people blindly supporting the first black President. The flip-side to this, of course, is a massive chorus of scorn for the still-current president George W. http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-george-w-bush-might-go-to-heaven.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-3214856452622692652Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:01:00 +00002008-11-16T19:14:04.825-05:00barack=//Turnquesthttp://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/11/president-elect-barack-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-9094242280237769117Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:54:00 +00002008-11-04T23:00:38.564-05:00election 2008resultsjohn mccainMcCain to concede around 11pm ESThttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/4/185520/135/920/653021It's 10:59 PM EST, FoxNews has it live on their channel that Obama has 297 electoral votes.It's over.=//Turnquesthttp://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/11/mccain-concedes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-6665545486256530186Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:52:00 +00002008-10-19T12:54:16.522-04:00islamobamaIraqpowelljohn mccainColin Powell delivers his endorsement of Barack Obama with such eloquence, it almost makes up for the fact that he helped to start the war in Iraq. Almost. BONUS: He defends Islam too!!!=//Turnquesthttp://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/10/powell-on-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-5144751866406373170Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:31:00 +00002008-10-14T11:31:55.661-04:00election 2008liberalconservativeelections canadavoteOr I Will Beat You.=//Turnquesthttp://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/10/by-way-go-vote-today.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-3697468784725709855Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:27:00 +00002008-10-14T16:28:42.954-04:00videoelection 2008TuvokAquariusbarackattack adjohn mccainYou'd think with just three weeks to go till THE BIG DAY I'd have a lot more posts. Well, I'm a bastard. Anyway, I haven't been entirely silent; check out some unabashedly partisan and hit-baiting posts over on DailyKos:http://turnquest.dailykos.com/and look at this photo:and watch this video:=//Turnquesthttp://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/10/barack-media.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-8879081358203446288Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:37:00 +00002008-09-12T02:48:36.925-04:00election 2008obamademocratsrepublicanssarah palinjohn mccainSen. Barack Obama & Sen. John McCain hug following a National Service conference at Columbia University in New York City, Sept. 11, 2008.No reason to 'fret.' This kind of American-made cesspool politics always rears its head as we get closer to the big day (less than two months...) The key statements are by David Plouffe and David Axelrod, Obama's mastermind campaign managers who sound as cool http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/09/sharper-tone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-2396014910958380363Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:16:00 +00002008-09-06T23:20:52.579-04:00Right, no posts in a month, no excuse right right.And even this isn't much of a real post, but fuck it, *I* find it fascinating. ::::It's a giant list of clippings I collected from 2003 to 2005 from all manners of internet sources. It's mostly news/politics oriented and totally random. Some of the entries are single words (Ashkelon), others are longer and more easily traceable. Overall, it's an http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/09/clippings-2003-2005.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-6924527551677526071Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:24:00 +00002008-08-04T01:16:36.874-04:00election 2008obamahillaryunited statespoliticsjohn mccainIt's always the same with our culture. Some fad or person or cultural artifact becomes disgustingly popular way too fast. He or she or it is on everyone's tongues, their name is repeated relentlessly on television until it's drilled in to our heads. Inevitably, this mass popularity translates into profit and consumerism, either by way of a tell-all book, a made-for-TV movie or of course, the http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/08/obamas-last-hundred-days.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-2365008097363275664Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:18:00 +00002008-07-31T19:43:16.371-04:00WarIranIsraelFor what seems like the ten-thousandth time, the sovereign nation of Israel has threatened the Islamic Republic of Iran with military action. Israel over the past few years has made repeated threats of attack against Iran for reasons it states as Iran's covert program to construct an arsenal of nuclear warheads. The llatest round of sabre-rattling has stirred up new fears of a widespread conflicthttp://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/07/folly-of-lunatic-state.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-7268926621711848451Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:29:00 +00002008-07-06T21:33:04.925-04:00womendivorcemaureen dowdmarriageHave I expressed my undying eternal admiration of the Times' own Irish-Catholic post-feminist rebel Maureen Dowd? Here's a taste of this foxy columnist's incomparable work:Excerepted fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/opinion/06dowd.html An Ideal Husband function getSharePasskey() { return 'ex=1373083200&en=fbf7febd9931c3f7&ei=5124';} function getShareURL() { return encodeURIComponent('http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/07/modo-sunday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-2159461543254047270Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:29:00 +00002008-06-23T22:33:43.526-04:00An interesting excerpt from Marry Him! by Lori Gottlieb, accessible here:http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/single-marryOf course we'd be loath to admit it in this day and age, but ask any soul-baring 40-year-old single heterosexual woman what she most longs for in life and she probably won't tell you it's a better career or a smaller waistline or a bigger apartment. Most likely, she'll say http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-does-40-year-old-single-woman.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-4164881408674048822Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:03:00 +00002008-06-23T22:24:35.931-04:00black dotmontrealStarbucksizationyuppiesgentrificationpoliceThis is gonna be a 3-piece, uh, piece written over three days. Being truly a native son of this beloved city, having both been born here and living most of my life here, including all of my formative coming-of-age years, Montreal a fairly personal subject. So prepare for long-winded, full-of-digression prose (including long-winded introductions and amusing anecdotes). But hey, if you read this http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/06/starbucksization-of-montreal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-31959584464495347Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:09:00 +00002008-06-13T01:17:52.994-04:00election 2008obamaplouffeaxelrodeconomistThe Economist ran a good story briefly bioing (newword) all the various bigshots in President-Elect Obama's master campaign. The key figures seem to be a Mr. David Axelrod, strategist and Mr. David Plouffe, campaign manager who have overseen a stunning victory over the practically-anointed Mrs. Clinton, as well as the masterminding of a movement that rose from nothing and has become quite http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/06/excerpt-from-economist.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-906033838202673534Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:57:00 +00002008-06-03T02:03:41.686-04:001969lou reedVUvelvet undergroundvelvetsIt's been a while, but a man's got to work.P.S. The Velvet Underground will change your life.***Sometimes I feel so happy,Sometimes I feel so sad.Sometimes I feel so happy,But mostly you just make me mad.Baby, you just make me mad.Linger on, your pale blue eyes.Linger on, your pale blue eyes.Thought of you as my mountain top,Thought of you as my peak.Thought of you as everything,I've had but http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/06/pale-blue-eyes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-6256282793131802724Sun, 18 May 2008 09:32:00 +00002008-05-18T05:34:15.506-04:00canadaterroriststorontoAuthorities Asked to Consider Reasonable Bail Terms and Re-examination of Solitary Confinement for 'Toronto 11'- For Immediate Release -(Ottawa, Canada - April 22, 2008) - In an open letter, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) in partnership with the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), Federation of Muslim Women (FMW), Islamic Ahlul Bayt http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/05/behead-prime-minister.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-4794852964451073085Tue, 06 May 2008 07:10:00 +00002008-05-06T03:11:20.759-04:00 Antipsychotic drug use soaring in kids in U.K. Last Updated: Monday, May 5, 2008 | 11:04 AM E The Associated Press American children take antipsychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in Britain, a new U.K. study suggests. Does it mean U.S. kids are being over-treated, or that British children are being under-treated? Experts say that's http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/05/antipsychotics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-2100969204732866835Fri, 02 May 2008 04:08:00 +00002008-05-02T04:43:35.935-04:00Most of the personal stress that average Muslims face in their everyday life does not come from work, school, family relations or self-esteem issues but rather from a more nuanced, often overlooked source. Simply put, Western Muslims struggle with balancing the demands of religious and secular life. Of course, this struggle also extends to people of other faiths but this column's focus lies http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/05/source-of-distress.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-66593916080177073Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:09:00 +00002008-04-30T11:05:07.394-04:00whiteminoritiesethnicityhipstersblackraceIf you don't speak your native language, you can't really claim to be ethnic.Italian? You understand De Niro in Godfather II? A little bit of Cree blood? Could you make it on the rez? Black? Can you communicate in the projects or in the African country of origin?This is the personal benchmark I apply in order to figure out the answer to a question that's gotten more and more perplexing as time http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/04/precarious-balance-of-ethnicity-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21283376.post-1129122816779517279Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:05:00 +00002008-04-15T13:34:02.275-04:00obamaIraqharperpakistanzimbabwephotosmugabekarachimonkeysHaven't done this in a while, so it's gonna be a biggie. Photos from the past week approximately:Iraq. Berlusconi, you are a fat pig. Italy deserves nothing better than a fascist billionaire.Morgan "had to copy-paste his last name" Tsvangirai, I hope you teach Robert Mugabe a big lesson in "What Happens to Corrupt Dictators."Pakistan.It's the woman in the middle who makes this pic. Something http://fookpop.blogspot.com/2008/04/photo-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Turnquest)0