In the NY Times today...

A couple of comments regarding two articles in the NY Times today. First, from the article, "They Got (Video) Game; N.B.A. Finals Can Wait":

"To Joshua Alvarado, 16, who said he usually spent at least six hours a day playing video games..."

F***! Somebody pull the plug on this kid! What are this kid's grades like? Do his parents care? Obviously, he doesn't! Yo, Josh, you can't make a living playing video games, and the girls won't love ya when you've become as fat as a toad from no exercise. LOSER!


"Mr. [Brian] Billick [coach of the NFL Baltimore Ravens] said that when he was looking for a new assistant coach recently, an applicant said he was qualified because he had mastered all of the N.F.L. defenses through intense study of the Madden games. "He was totally serious," Mr. Billick said. He did not, for the record, get the job."

Another LOSER! (Not the coach, the applicant.) Get out the game film, guy, and learn defences the real way! The NFL is played with people, not electrons!


The other article is on Condoleeza Rice's visit to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, "Rice Urges Egyptians and Saudis to Democratize":

"'For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither,' Ms. Rice declared at the American University in Cairo. 'Now we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people.'"

Yeah, right. What Ms. Rice has to say sounds nice on the surface, but will the US (and other Western) government really accept election results in Middle Eastern countries that don't go their way? Algeria comes to mind...


"Some of the 600 listeners at the university complained that her call for freedom was undercut by American indifference to Israeli "war crimes," mistreatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib and the continuing violence in Iraq."

These are important issues and I agree with these people that these issues need to be resolved... But, you're mixing apples and oranges when you bring these up, and you're undermining your own credibility as a result.


"The reaction illustrated the quandary that the Bush administration faced in navigating the demands for sweeping changes and a desire not to offend close allies or to apply separate benchmarks to different countries, depending on their status as friends."

Exactly. This is classic "yes, but..." thinking. The US government needs to parse their thinking down only to the "yes" stage, where they will accept the consequences, both good and bad, of their desires.


"Her criticism of Egypt, by contrast, came in a conciliatory tone, accompanied by reminders that the United States has its own history of slavery and racism. 'The United States has no cause for false pride, and we have every reason for humility,' she added."

This was a good comment by her; it's a shame that more Americans don't show this face more often.


"In another awkward exchange, Mr. Gheit reminded Ms. Rice that he had told her earlier that without 'a settlement for the Palestinian problem,' little could be done. 'That is crucial!' he added. Ms. Rice, who traveled to Egypt from Jordan and Israel, where she had sought to coax the Israelis and Palestinians toward a solution, retorted with a smile, 'That's what we're working on.'"

Insha'allah.