Misery Index

Meanwhile, the National Media Center, an arm of the Iraqi government that deals with the news media, condemned al-Zaidi’s behavior as barbaric and harmful to “Iraqi journalists and journalism in general,” demanding an apology from his employer.

One journalist disagrees with the National Media center saying “It’s the talk of the city.”  Ibrahim Mousawi, a Beruit journalist and political analyst affiliated with Hezbollah added, “Everyone is proud of this man, and they’re saying he did it in our name.”

Baghdadiya TV hasn’t apologized and is demanding for al-Zaidi’s release “in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people … any measures taken against Muntazer will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime.”  The network posted an image of Zaidi in the corner of the screen for much of the day.  Viewers were invited to phone in their opinions, and the vast majority said they approved of his actions.  Muzhir al-Khafaji, the programming director for the TV channel said that Zaidi “has no ties with the former regime.  His family was arrested under Saddam’s regime.  We fear for his safety.”

A geography teacher at Baghdad elementary school asked her students if they had seen the footage of the shoe-throwing.  “All Iraqis should be proud of this Iraqi brave man, Muntadhar.  History will remember him forever,” she said.

Today, Zaidi’s three brothers and one sister said they were bewildered but proud of their brother’s defiance towards President Bush as they gathered in al-Zaidi’s one-bedroom apartment in west Baghdad.  The home was decorated with a poster of Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara. 

“I swear to Allah, he is a hero,” his sister Um Sa’aad, who goes by the nickname Umm Firas, told the AP while watching a replay of her brother throwing his shoes.  “May Allah protect him.”   Zaidi’s sister can be seen below.

Al-Zaidi’s brother, Dhirgham said, “He hates the American physical occupation as much as he hates the Iranian moral occupation.” “He considers the regime [in Iran] to be the other side of the American coin.”  Zaidi is known to sign off his televised reports from “occupied Baghdad.”

Another of Zaidi’s brothers said “Thanks be to God, Muntazer’s act fills Iraqi hearts with pride.” Udai al-Zaidi added, “I’m sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did.”

Colleagues of Zaidi told Agence France-Presse that he “detested America” and had been plotting such attack for months.  Zaidi’s family contested this statement saying his actions were spontaneous. 

A day after the shoe throwing incident, Zaidi is still being detained by the Iraqi Government.   Officials in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office refused to comment on his condition or on whether he’s be criminally charged.  Iraqi officials said he faces up to seven years in prison – some account said two years – for committing an act of aggression against a visiting head of state.  Zaidi’s  family said they had not heard from Zaidi since his arrest and that a police officer who picked up Zaidi’s cell phone at midnight Sunday had threatened the family.

Saddam Hussein’s former lawyer today said he was forming a team to defend al-Zaidi.  “So far, around 200 Iraqi and other lawyers, including Americans, have expressed willingness to defend the journalist for free,” the Amman-based Khalil al-Dulaimi said.  “Our defense will be based on the fact that the US is occupying Iraq, and resistance is legitimate by all means, including shoes,” Dulaimi added.

A Libyan charity group, Wa Attassimou, chaired by leader Muammar Gaddafi’s daughter, has given him a bravery award.  “Waatassimou group has taken the decision to give Muntazer al-Zaidi the courage award … because what he did represents a victory for human rights across the world,” the group said.

RANT

One thing to remember in all of this, no matter where you stand on the war in Iraq, Zaidi could not have thrown his shoes at Bush, much less survived doing this silly act, without the freedom of democracy.  And what many people also need to remember, is that if any one of us here in the United States threw a shoe at a head of state, we’d end up on criminal charges too.  So Zaidi’s employer needs to realize this.  It’s called, you commit a crime, you go to trial and if found guilty or plead guilty, possibly jail.

But things to ponder in all of this.  If the US are really wanted there to help, then why do the people of Iran want us out, and are holding such major demonstrations about the “good” side of the shoe throwing?  Do these pictures represent a country or citizens that is thankful for what we, the United States, have supposedly done for them? 

I mean, would you believe that a Saudi citizen has offered $10 million to buy Zaidi’s shoes?

Exactly how much has the media “manipulated” or “censored” what we here in the United States see or exactly what we see?  Because it seems to me the opinion of the Iraqi government and what the opinion of the Iraqi people is are at completely different extremes.  Or are all these protestors terrorists?  Have we, or will we really “win the war”?  Should we leave, and let terrorism take over again?  Or should we leave and let the people overthrow the government?  The thing to also remember in all of this is that the Middle East has been in a war with itself, neighboring nations, under the guise of a religious war since the beginning of time.  Can we, the U.S., Bush or Obama really stop that?  Or should we focus on homeland security and immigration and let the rest of the world fight their own battles that don’t involve us?

BTW, didn’t this war on “terrorism” start with hunting down Osama?  Have we really “won the war” on terrorism?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote on the newspaper’s website that the incident was “a proper goodbye for a war criminal.”

“This journalist should be elected president of Iraq for what he has done,” Ghazi Abu Baker, a shopkeeper in the West Bank.

“The shoes should be exhibited in a museum as they resemble a rocket that talks on behalf of all Iraqis.” – Zahraa, posting on website of Arabian Business magazine.

“The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets Bush meets during his travels in the Middle East.” – Asad Abu Khalil, professor at Stanislaus University in California.

“Throwing shoes at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever.  It expresses how Iraqis … hate Bush.” – Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan’s independent Al-Gahd newspaper.

Bush “got what he deserves,” Jordanian businessman, Raed Mansi, in Amman.  “I hope he got the message loud and clear:  that he’s loathed for his wrongdoing, for killing Muslim women and children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.”

“Bush wanted to end his bloody term hearing compliments and welcoming words from his collaborators in the Arab and Islamic world.  But a shoe from a real Arab man summed up Bush’s black history and told the entire world that the Arabs hold their head high.” – Abdel-Sattar Qassem, Palestinian political science professor at the West Bank’s An Najah University.

“I’ve watched the video over a dozen times on YouTube and was excited every time I see him standing up and calling Bush a dog.  But I felt so bitter when he missed.” – Tamer Ismail, art student in Cairo.

“This wonderful shoe has gone down in history.  It’s the most important and boldest shoe in the world.  I wish I were a shoe.” – a comment left on a Jordanian news website.

SOURCES:

• “Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at George W. Bush hates US, fears Iran”, Herald Sun, 16DEC08
• “The Sole of Liberation”, Wall Street Journal, 16DEC08
• “Many hail journalist who threw shoes at Bush”, CTV, 15DEC08
• “Family:  Shoe thrower hates both US, Iran role”, AP, 15DEC08
• “Bush shoe incident catches Secret Service flatfooted”, Miami Herald, 15DEC08
• “Shoe-hurling Iraqi becomes a hero to many”, The Mercury News, 15DEC08
• “’Shoe-thrower of Baghdad’ brings Iraqis on to the streets”, The Independent, 16DEC08
• “Across Mideast, Arabs hail shoe-hurling journalist”, AP, 15DEC08
• “Protests over imprisonment of Iraqi who threw his shoes at George Bush”, The Times, 16DEC08
• “Shoe-thrower hailed as a hero in Mideast”, Durriyet Daily News, 15DEC08
• AP – Source of all pictures

The Real History of Thanksgiving

In 1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred, on the north bank of the Makes River, about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown, VA.  The group’s charter required that the day of arrival be observed years as a “day of thanksgiving” to God.  To this day, the Berkeley Plantation continues to be the site of an annual Thanksgiving event.  President Bush gave his official Thanksgiving address in 2007 at Berkeley.

“In the four centuries since the founders of Berkely first knelt on these grounds, our nation has changed in many ways.  Our people have prospered, our nation has grown, our Thanksgiving traditions have evolved – after all, they didn’t have football back then.  Yet the source of all our blessings remains the same:  We give thanks to the Author of Life who granted our forefathers safe passage to this land, who gives every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth the gift of freedom, and who watches over our nation every day.”

1621 Thanksgiving

Squanto, who resided with the Wamponoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn and catch eel and served as an interpreter for the Pilgrims.  They set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621.  At the time, this was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance as harvest festivals were existing parts of English and Wamponoag tribe traditions.

1623 Thanksgiving

This was the true “first” Thanksgiving, when it followed a drought, included a prayer for rain, and subsequent rain shower following.  In Plymouth tradition, a thanksgiving day was a church observance, a religious holiday, instead of a feast day.  The tradition slowly grew over time in the early colonies of America.

1777 Thanksgiving

During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year. 

The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777, one year after our nation’s official birth.  However, at this time, Thanksgiving was celebrated in December, not November.  George Washington, who had been the leader of the revolutionary forces in the Revolutionary War, proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga.  This was a one time official celebration.

“It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE…”

1789 Thanksgiving

As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made a proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America.  Again, this was a one time official celebration.

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness”

Various Dates 1795 – 1817

George Washington again proclaimed a Thanksgiving in 1795, a one time celebration.

John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799, a one time celebration.

James Madison, 1814, 1815, a one time celebration

1858 Proclamations appointing a day of thanksgiving issued by the governors of 25 states and two territories.

1864 Lincoln Thanksgiving

In the middle of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November, 1863.  Like previous presidents, this proclamation was a one time deal only.

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

1865 – 1939 Thanksgivings

Each year, presidents decided to declare that Thanksgiving was a holiday, on the last Thursday of each month.  It was still not an official national holiday at this point, as it was declared each year before celebration.

1939 – 1940 Thanksgiving

In 1939, November of that year had five Thursdays, and Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday as Thanksgiving rather than the fifth one.  In 1940, in which November had four Thursdays, he declared the third one as Thanksgiving.  The reason he did this, was to help with retailers and their Christmas sales, giving them an extra week.  This however, did not go over very well, and many places celebrated Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month, the fourth week.  Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt’s recommendations, 22 did not, and one, Texas, took both.

1941 -  Present – Making Thanksgiving an annual official holiday the FOURTH Thursday of November.

The U.S. Congress in 1941 passed a bill (in other words law) requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday in November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes (less frequently) the next to last, with the last Thursday falling on the fifth week.