Ode to the … MKZ?

We read that the Ford Motor Company is looking for a marriage partner so it can become the second of the Big Three U.S. carmakers that will no longer exist on its own — because, among other reasons, it doesn't make vehicles that enough people want to buy. And we read in the September 25 number of Business Week that the deckswabbers of industry at Ford are planning to change the name of their Lincoln Zephyr to, are you ready for this?, the MKZ.

What bright light at Ford came up with this idea? Somebody who considers himself real cool, very likely. Someone who's downgraded brains to make room for more coolness. If you want one nearly infallible sign of a failing corporation, look for one that tosses aside names for its products that have an imaginative resonance for people in favor of meaningless alphanumeric designations or made-up neologisms.

Probably many a business school student is writing a paper decrying acts like Ford's as symbolic of what's wrong with our corporate leviathans. They will argue that renaming a product is a bad substitute for improving it: true, but the implication is that the name is irrelevant. Names are never irrelevant, however. A name is the first impression you get about a person, a car, a place — anything. It colors your attitude to the thing named.

So the people who mattered at Ford actually understood this truth better, in principle, than their critics. They decided that MKZ would be a more attractive name.

Zephyr. The gentle west wind, a much more benign character than Boreas, the north wind who loves to put the boot in. Full of associations for poets, lit'ry types, and art lovers. Botticelli painted him in Primavera. Shelley wrote his "Ode to the West Wind":

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull'd by the coil of his crystàlline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiæ's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day …

The rail enthusiasts' favorite train in the United States is the historic California Zephyr; would they be as lyrical over it if it had been called the California CVS? For that matter, the Lincoln Zephyr, a name that was introduced long ago, has its own mystique for some car buffs.

The Vice President for Cool Nomenclature at Ford might have thought that in our unpoetic, high-tech age, "Zephyr" doesn't register anymore. If he or she had Googled it, though, more than a few contemporary and even tech businesses named "Zephyr" would have popped up. Clearly it still sings to some minds.

Why do companies shoot themselves in the foot like this — convince themselves that their customers are soulless circuit boards? Why do they abandon venerable names and logos that many people are fond of, and replace them with machine language?

Why not scupper "Lincoln" while they were about it? "Listen, Henry XXII, I've been meaning to talk to you about this 'Lincoln' thing. I know it's got sentimental points with your family and all, but I mean really, what does it say to our 25- to 49-year-old Gold Card cohort today? Some Revolutionary War dude with a tall hat? Listen, I've focus grouped the name 'Britney' — yes, I know all about the buy-out costs, but wait'll you see the name recognition scores."

Do dreamers of dreams see themselves behind the wheel of a spitting-new Britney G2VSD4? Either there are no longer dreamers, or our edge-of-the-edge marketing managers no longer know how to speak to them.

Blogger's block 2: 60 to zero in 10 seconds

All right now. This is getting serious.

Reflecting Light has been up for one year now and I have nothing to say before sentence is pronounced, or even mispronounced if cliché is not your native language. The highwayman has pointed his pistol at me and ordered me to hand over all my volubles. What's yours is yours and what's mine is mime, leaving me speechless.

I have truly made de grade, and been made degraded. Is anything lower for a blogger than posting about being blocked? It's like a first novelist turning out 100,000 words about How I Suffered as an Adolescent.

Sleep won't come, except to my readers. My dry wit has run wet. I need to be told, every hour on the hour, that it happens to all bloggers. I need to be told comfortingly, "There, there." But as Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, there is no there, there.

The problem is not that I no longer imagine anybody cares what I have to say about anything. It's that I no longer care what I have to say. I read a news story and know with a crushing certainty that someone else has already commented on it, and better than I could.

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end? To be stuck inside, immobile with the blogger's blues again?

If nothing else, I hope I have at least left you in suspense as I suspend misjudgment until the next posting.

Blogger's block

Time for a new posting.

Trouble is, besides a heavy work schedule and some medical issues, I'm suffering from blogger's block. (No, that is not a medical problem. Probably.)

Fellow bloggers, how many of you will admit to that complaint?

My last posting was boring past belief. If you have not yet read it, be sure not to.

Everything I can think of to say at the moment is obvious, hackneyed, or repeats something I've already written. And while I admit to few principles, my intention is to post only when an idea visits my brain that might be worth passing onto readers.

That could be days, or it might be later today — I never know when lightning, or at least a 12-volt current, will strike.

Check out the sites on the sidebar. You can always find something interesting there.

British dhimmitude proceeds on schedule

In an August posting about British law enforcement authorities notifying Muslim leaders of the arrest of the suspects in the the airline bombing plot, I wrote, "I must confess to having misunderstood this news on a quick first reading. I thought that the Muslim leaders had been informed before the arrests. Not this morning. That will probably be the story next time."

I thought I was joking, didn't I? But now, it is announced, British police will brief Muslim leaders in advance of any counterterrorism raid, with the blessing of the Met's commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.

British Police Commission on
Muslim Community Relations

Even if the Muslim leaders given inside information do not tip off their co-religionists, they will have de facto veto power over security forces' actions.

More than a year after the July 7 terrorist bombings in London, the British Establishment is determined to pretend that the continuing threat is essentially a problem in community relations. They imagine that Islamopaths just feel misunderstood, and can be placated by the police giving Muslims confidential information about missions intended to protect the public.

A country whose indigenous population is now all but avowedly atheistic can't grasp that a fair number of its citizens practice a religio-political system that leaves no room for other beliefs and is driven to take over as soon as it has the power. Islam's state of psychological development matches Christianity in its religious wars and persecutions that lasted until the 17th century. Trying to win Muslims over to accepting cultural pluralism by making one concession after another is not just futile, but encourages Muslims to believe they will win the war against Dar al-Harb -- the benighted non-Muslim world -- all the quicker by keeping the pressure up through further demands.

Having called this latest development correctly, I am emboldened to make another prediction. Within five years, British Muslims will insist on the right to ignore parliamentary law in favor of shar'ia (Muslim religious) law for their own people. There will be some resistance, and non-Muslim Brits will dig in their heels for a year or two, but in the end they'll give in. Having made so many accommodations in response to Muslim intimidation, what logical reason can they offer to stop?

Within 20 years, shar'ia will be the law of the land for everyone; non-Muslims will be dhimmis, relegated to second-class status and forced to accept Muslim customs; and after more than a thousand years, British civilization will have come to an end.

There is still barely enough time for indigenous British to come to their senses, acknowledge the cataclysmic error they made in encouraging Muslim immigration, and take back their country. But there is no evidence so far that they are willing to do so. Instead they will pursue a farcical brand of multi-culturalism until there is only one culture that matters in the British Isles, and the Crescent flies above the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

Here we go again

Has life been getting dull for you lately? We can fix that.

Feel like living dangerously? What'll it be — death by spinach or a new, all-singing, all-dancing terror attack?

Or if neither of those prospects gets your juices flowing, how about a new round of Islamoriots in honor of his Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI? Bad-mouthing the Pope, Martin Luther–style, has been out of fashion for quite some while, but it looks headed up the charts again.

Another outbreak of Muslim hysteria appears to be building up.The Mujahedeen Shura Council, "an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq," said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross," adding that "We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword." I don't think they meant that in a friendly way.

While the Pope hasn't earned that sort of reaction, I have to confess no great sympathy for his plight. If in his now-famous speech he was really only making some general points about the need for religious faith to counteract modern secularism, and that violence is incompatible with the nature of God, well and good; but in that case it was gratuitously insulting to quote Byzantine Emperor Palaeologus saying, "Show me just what Muhammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." It doesn't matter that he was quoting and not saying it himself: look, them's fightin' words, no matter what.

On the other hand, if he did intend to call attention to the extreme intolerance of much of the Muslim world — which he had every right to do, in my opinion, and which would have been helpful in opening a serious, unavoidable international dialogue on that subject — he should have stated his theme plainly (although not in a blatantly offensive way). And while the Vatican has a very long memory, it would have been more effective for the Pope to express himself in contemporary terms than to drag in an emperor from the Middle Ages to speak for him, if that's what he intended.

Once the fat hit the fire, the rest was drearily predictable. Benedict XVI said he was "deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims." Sorry for the reactions? Considered offensive? It's not unreasonable to find that evasive. Mind you, I'm not saying that he shouldn't have offended Muslims, just that he should own up to it like a gentleman. As the saying goes, a gentleman never un-intentionally offends anyone.

It's unlikely his semi-apology will satisfy the jihadists. Look for more riots and another attempt to soothe by the Pope. The only question is how far it will go. Will Benedict XVI explain, "I just don't know what came over me"? Will he appear on Oprah, tears in his eyes, to confess that he was abused as a child and that he is checking into a private clinic in the Alban Hills? (Big hug.) That he has joined a 12-step group and acknowledged to himself, to another human being, and Allah that he is powerless except over a billion Roman Catholics?

UPDATE 9/19

I regret any offense I may have caused to spinach growers, terrorists, or Roman Catholics. I cannot understand what came over me. I do not even have the excuse of having been abused as a child. But back in those days, now I think on't, the adorable Rita Rothberg in my fifth grade class had no time for me. I have been warped ever since.

Rita, if you're reading these words, where are you now? Why, you must be … uh … about my age. Actually, Rita, I'm sure you'll understand this, but I'd prefer to remember you as you were then.

Warning of an "American Hiroshima"

An interview with Abu Dawood, described as "the newly appointed commander of the al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan," is published in Canada Free Press. Whatever weight to give it is for you to decide. A few highlights:

Final preparations have been made for the American Hiroshima, a major attack on the U. S. Muslims living in the United States should leave the country without further warning. The attack will be commandeered by Adnan el Shukrijumah ("Jaffer Tayyer" or "Jafer the Pilot"), a naturalized American citizen, who was raised in Brooklyn and educated in southern Florida.

The al Qaeda operatives who will launch this attack are awaiting final orders. They remain in place in cities throughout the country. Many are masquerading as Christians and have adopted Christian names.

The interviewer asks Dawood:

Q: What do you mean by another attack in America?

A: Yes a bigger attack than September 11^th 2001. Brother Adnan [el Shukrijumah] will lead that attack, Inshallah.

Q:Who is Adnan?

A: He is our old friend. ... He is very well known in Al Qaeda. He is an American and a friend of Muhammad Atta, who led 9/11 attacks five years ago. We call him "Jaffer al Tayyar" ["Jafer the Pilot"]; he is very brave and intelligent. Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn't want to panic his people.

If this is true, there's another reason: Bush is silent because any evidence that weapons and terrorist operators are being smuggled across the Mexican border would drive a spike through his open borders strategy.

Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real Mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims. ...
Q: But if you attack inside America again, then Muslims living in America will face lot of problems, why would you like to create new problems for your brothers and sisters?

A: Muslims should leave America. We cannot stop our attack just because of the American Muslims; they must realize that American forces are killing innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq; we have the right to respond back, in the same manner, in the enemy's homeland. The American Muslims are like a human shield for our enemy; they must leave New York and Washington.

Q: But your fighters are also using the American Muslims as their shield, if there are no Muslims in America, then there would be no Al Qaeda, may be the Americans would feel safer?

A: No, not at all. We have a different plan for the next attack. You will see. Americans will hardly find out any Muslim names, after the next attack. Most of our brothers are living in Western countries, with Jewish and Christian names, with passports of Western countries. This time, someone with the name of Muhammad Atta will not attack inside America, it would be some David, Richard or Peter.

So, like so many previous warnings, we can't ignore this, but we've got to decide how seriously to take it.

The specifics of Dawood's claims are probably moonshine. To take the most obvious point first, if this plan was really on, why would the leader of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan spill the beans about it, knowing that it would be picked up in the media or at least analyzed by U.S. intelligence services? To warn Muslims to get out of the way? But if they did, that would be even more of a tip-off. As I've often said, Muslimopaths may be insane but they are not stupid, which is what describing their modus operandi in advance would be.

The business about the attackers operating under cover of Western names also sounds like classic disinformation. If our security agencies gave it any credence, the result would be less scrutiny and surveillance of acknowledged Muslims and maybe increased distrust of David, Richard, or Peter -- which would make the enemy's job easier.

Finally, on a purely psychological note, this is the kind of bragging that weak bullies fall into. Being head of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan doesn't come with a lot of job security; extravagantly boasting about clocking the infidels makes Dawood, the Man with the Golden Gums, sound like a big guy to his Qur'anic mob.

Yet, as an expression of the state of mind of Al Qaeda and other Muslim fanatics, we have to take Dawood at his word. This kind of big bang in America is what he and his gang would like to do, and will if they can. It's one more indication, out of many, that we are playing Russian roulette by not sealing off our borders (Canadian as well as Mexican). When he claims to be fighting a war on terrorism but leaves all the doors and windows wide open, George W. Bush is as much of a blowhard as Abu Dawood.