Category Archives: YouTube Watch

Salih and Groucho: “Hello, I must be going”

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Yemen, YouTube Watch


Get ready to roll the dice again. The almost off-again, persistently on-again Ali Abdullah Salih has once again signaled his stage exit. After some seven months of his citizens shouting “Irhal, ya Ali,” the embattled president of Yemen is once again on the ropes. When he announced yesterday that he would be handing over power, most Yemenis were somewhat skeptical. The old phrase “three times and you are out” rings true in American baseball but hardly in contemporary Yemeni politics. Nor does “the third time’s the charm” charm the majority of Yemenis who want a major change at the top. Does he mean it this time?

There is something about the roller coaster politics in Yemen this year that makes a perfect Marx Brothers (and I don’t include Karl in this family) movie. When I heard Salih’s latest swan song, I could not help but think of the classic song by Groucho Marx as Captain Spaulding: “Hello, I must be going”:

Hello, I must be going.
I cannot stay,
I came to say
I must be going.
I’m glad I came
but just the same
I must be going. Continue reading Salih and Groucho: “Hello, I must be going” →

Tabsir Redux: Hillbilly Heaven and Muslim Paradise

Islam in America, Music and Dance, Terrorism Issue, YouTube Watch

There is an old Tex Ritter song where he imagines going to heaven and hearing the roll call of future Country Western singers. It goes like this:

I met all the stars in hillbilly heaven
Oh what a star-studded night

Then I asked him who else do you expect in the next, uh, say a hundred years? He handed me a large book covered with star dust. Will called it the Big Tally Book. In it were many names and each name was branded in pure gold. I began to read some of them as I turned the pages: Red Foley, Ernest Tubb, Gene Autry, Roy Acuff, Eddy Arnold, Tennessee Ernie, Jimmy Dean, Andy Griffith, Roy Rogers, Kareem Salama
Whaaaatttt???
Kareem Salama? Oh, well, that’s when I woke up, and I’m sorry I did, because
I dreamed I was there in hillbilly heaven
Oh what a beautiful sight…

OK, so the original lyrics did not include Kareem Salama, but if Dolly Parton can rearrange the song, why can’t I? So who is Kareem Salama, you ask? Continue reading Tabsir Redux: Hillbilly Heaven and Muslim Paradise →

America at Risk!

Film and Video, Islamophobia 101, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism Issue, YouTube Watch


I find myself finally in agreement with a slogan coined by the effervescent Newt Gingrich: America is at risk. But unlike the fear-mongering in his DVD (buy a copy to share with fellow Islamophobes at an afternoon Tea Party hate session), he himself and his shameless self-promotion are what put that which America stands for at greatest risk. The political opportunists (and anyone who is polling as appallingly low as Newt in the polls is an opportunist extraordinaire) have always stretched and even obliterated reality to suit their egos and their dreamed-for political fortune (in more ways than the ideological). There are terrorists in the world; some of them happen to be Muslim; most have grievances that have little to do with religious principles. The suicide bomber who screams Allahu Akbar is not a substitute for the devout Muslim who faithfully follows the pillars and values of his or her religion and who remembers that first and foremost Allah is merciful and compassionate (bi-ism-allah-ar-rahman-al-rahim). The Catholic mob which sawed Huguenots in half in France a few centuries ago, and so revolted Voltaire, is hardly created in the image of the Jesus of the Gospels. The risk to America is not from any military power or futile terrorist plot, but from the demise of the values that made America a beacon of freedom rather than a superpower flexing its muscles globally.

I have not padded the Gingrich Productions empire by buying his “Citizens United” (but only the right, White kind of citizens) DVD, but I did take a look at the slick (I am tempted to leave the letter “l” out of that last word) trailer. Continue reading America at Risk! →

Ali Abdullah Salih: First Take

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Yemen, YouTube Watch


Yesterday, July 17, is a day that will live in history. Not because it was the day of my 35th anniversary, but because 33 years ago Sunday Ali Abdullah Salih came to power in Yemen. Yemen Press has posted a video of his first speech. Yemen remains in stalemate as President Salih remains in Saudi Arabia, despite all the rumors of his return to Sanaa. But stalemate is a downward slope as the government has ceased to function and even basic commodities are hard to get. We are watching a country self-destruct. The fact that videos get posted and Twitter whirls away over the continuing protests overshadows the obvious: Yemen has been a military dictatorship far too long to transition overnight into a practical democracy. Hopefully in another 33 years we will not see yet another first take of a military leader rebroadcast on the Internet…

Breaking News: Salih on Yemeni TV

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Yemen, YouTube Watch


from Al Jazeera website

The first video of President Ali Abdullah Salih since his severe injuries has been broadcast in Yemen just a short while ago. A brief excerpt is already on Youtube with better videos likely to be posted. As the pictures above and below show, he is heavily bandaged and the audio indicates he has trouble speaking. It is hard to imagine that he would be able to resume work any time in the foreseeable future. It appears he is lucky to even be alive. For an interview on Al Jazeera with Dr. Ameen al-Himyari of Qatar University, click here.


from the BBC website