They say that the reason they picked April 19th had nothing to do with Oklahoma City, but rather the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Well, fine, except that Timothy McVeigh picked April 19 for the OK City bombing specifically because it was the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Judith A. McHale was expecting a contentious session with Ansar Abbasi, a Pakistani journalist known for his harsh criticism of American foreign policy, when she sat down for a one-on-one meeting with him in a hotel conference room in Islamabad on Monday. She got that, and a little bit more.

After Ms. McHale, the Obama administration’s new under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, gave her initial polite presentation about building bridges between America and the Muslim world, Mr. Abbasi thanked her politely for meeting with him. Then he told her that he hated her.

“ ‘You should know that we hate all Americans,’ ” Ms. McHale said Mr. Abbasi told her. “ ‘From the bottom of our souls, we hate you.’ ”

. . .

She said that even though she knew that she did not sway Mr. Abbasi, it was good to hear what he thought because she wanted to try to understand the source of much of the anti-Americanism in Pakistan.

An essay in the NYT today shows the opposite side of the argument – turns out Obama isn’t nearly Muslim enough to keep many [most?] of the Islamic faithful happy.

One danger of [Obama's] charisma, however, is that it can evoke unrealistic hopes of what a candidate could actually accomplish in office regardless of his own personal abilities. Case in point is the oft-made claim that an Obama presidency would be welcomed by the Muslim world.

This idea often goes hand in hand with the altogether more plausible argument that Mr. Obama’s election would raise America’s esteem in Africa — indeed, he already arouses much enthusiasm in his father’s native Kenya and to a degree elsewhere on the continent.

But it is a mistake to conflate his African identity with his Muslim heritage. Senator Obama is half African by birth and Africans can understandably identify with him. In Islam, however, there is no such thing as a half-Muslim. Like all monotheistic religions, Islam is an exclusive faith …

At the very least, [the fact of Obama's conversion] would complicate the security planning of state visits by President Obama to Muslim countries, because the very act of protecting him would be sinful for Islamic security guards. More broadly, most citizens of the Islamic world would be horrified by the fact of Senator Obama’s conversion to Christianity once it became widely known — as it would, no doubt, should he win the White House. This would compromise the ability of governments in Muslim nations to cooperate with the United States in the fight against terrorism, as well as American efforts to export democracy and human rights abroad.

That an Obama presidency would cause such complications in our dealings with the Islamic world is not likely to be a major factor with American voters, and the implication is not that it should be. But of all the well-meaning desires projected on Senator Obama, the hope that he would decisively improve relations with the world’s Muslims is the least realistic.

So there you have it folks.  The Muslim world would clearly prefer a Christian-by-birth old white guy with a “guns a’blazin’” foreign policy to an African-descended man born into a Muslim family because, well, you know, those Muslims are weird like that.

Let the smear campaign against Obama continue!

The founder of American Apparel will star in a sexual-harassment trial this week, and he makes Isiah Thomas sound like Susan B. Anthony.

Dov Charney walks around his office in his underwear, sleeps with employees, and calls women bitches, sluts, whores and the c-word – and that’s the stuff he admits to.

In her civil case, which is slated to begin in Los Angeles tomorrow, former employee Mary Nelson charges the eccentric Charney, 39, once had a meeting with her wearing only a fragment of clothing called a “c- – k sock,” invited her to masturbate with him, and then fired her when he learned she planned to meet with a lawyer.

. . .

In a statement, the company called Nelson’s charges “outrageous and false,” and that some were contradicted by her own deposition.

“The facts are these: Mr. Charney never harassed Ms. Nelson. Mr. Charney never propositioned Ms. Nelson. The only time he was in his undergarments was for strictly professional reasons,” the statement said.

“We are glad this frivolous case will be soon behind us.”

For more on the American Apparel workplace environment, see this charming first person account.

This guy may possibly be the biggest douche in national media today. Seriously — comparisons with Father Charles Coughlin come to mind. He’s a barely literate blowhard that likes to stroke his own ego to orgasm in front of several million people nightly.

If CNN has any pretensions to be a legitimate news source — and not just the mouthpiece of the Executive Branch — they need to get rid of this jerkwad post haste.

Like all good satire, the story [in the Onion] made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don’t. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.

Before 9/11, the world thought America’s slogan was: “Where anything is possible for anybody.” But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: “Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints.”

Friedman goes on to discuss some of the real economic consequences of America’s shifting brand identity. It’s a good read.

Good leaders in time of war, after all, construct a vision for the future — what are we fighting for? Bush promises only decades of endless struggles against some vast and largely unseen Islamo-fascist conspiracy.  But upon what foundation are we to build our will to continue to fight?  I know that there are bad people out there who want to kill us, but what do we accomplish in the victory against them?  To focus merely on our survival belies the fundamental spirit of our people.  Thoman Paine said, “give me Liberty, or give me death.”  Bush says, “please don’t kill me.”  There is no victory without freedom, and since 9/11, our leaders have acted like the scared bullies they undoubtedly have always been.

But still, it’s utterly deplorable to invite a guest to your home and then use it as an opportunity to lay into him without immediate provocation.  It’s simply rude, and it just can’t play well in Iran’s Peoria.  The Beeb noted last night how America’s tone towards Iraq is increasingly menacing, almost custom-designed by the Bush regime to increase the tempo of the war drums.  By his bullsh*t, passive aggressive wank-tard actions, Lee Bollinger has unwittingly helped deliver the American left directly into the Bush’s warmongering hands.  And let’s not forget that the neo-cons were originally idealistic leftists before the American left turned towards introspection and navel-gazing.

This is a protocol disaster of the highest order.  Lee Bollinger — you’re a dumbass.

Mia Farrow has a daring plan to win the freedom of an ailing rebel leader from war-ravaged Darfur – she wants to take his place.

The activist actress offered to trade places with Suleiman Jamous, who needs a stomach operation but has been confined to a base in the troubled African desert nation of Sudan for more than a year.

“I am therefore offering … to exchange my freedom for his,” said Farrow in a letter to Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. “[I know] he will apply his energies toward creating the just and lasting peace.”

Farrow, 62, is a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and has visited Darfur twice.

She was traveling in Africa and couldn’t be reached for comment on her unusual proposal.

Jamous, a leader of the Sudanese Liberation Army, was originally airlifted from Darfur to the UN base in nearby Kadugli for medical treatment in June 2006.

But the leader needs a stomach biopsy, which cannot be performed at the camp, and believes he will be seized by government forces as soon as he leaves.

“Before his seizure, Mr. Jamous played a crucial role in seeking reconciliation,” Farrow said.

There was no immediate response from the Sudan.

No country has caused greater panic among American elites—of both parties. There are many influential voices arguing for military attacks on Tehran. But let’s keep in mind that this is a poorly run, internally divided oil tyranny that is increasingly antagonizing the rest of the world. It is insecure enough to have arrested Iranian-American civilians and warned its own scholars never to talk to foreigners at conferences abroad. These are not the signs of a healthy system. Iran is a serious and complex problem, but it is not Hitler’s Germany. Its total GDP is less than one third of America’s defense budget. A nuclear-armed North Korea has not been able to change the dynamics of global politics. A nuclear-armed Iran—and we are still far from that point—will not bring about the end of the world as long as we keep it tightly contained.

In Sunday’s presidential debate, a few Democrats argued that a nuclear-armed Iran was “unacceptable,” but this seemed like the kind of hard-lining that you do when you’re trying to get elected as a tough guy. Only Joe Biden’s remarks really hit it on the head:

BIDEN: Well, first of all, I would do away with the policy of regime change. What we’re saying to everybody in Iran is: Look, by the way, give up the one thing that keeps us from attacking you and after that we’re going to attack you, we’re going to take you down.

It’s a bizarre notion, number one.

Number two, understand how weak Iran is. They are not a year away or two years away. They are a decade away from being able to weaponize with exactly what the question was, if they put a nuclear weapon on top of a missile that can strike. They are far away from that.

Number three, in fact, we have to understand how weak that government is. They import almost all of their refined oil. By 2014, they are going to be importing their crude oil. There are much better ways if we had to get to the point of real sanctions of doing economic sanctions on them forcefully that way. But at the end of the day, if they posed a missile, stuck it on a pad, I’d take it out.

I hope this kind of thinking supplants the fearmongering and saber-rattling that’s been the hallmark of our Iran policy to date. Condi Rice’s recent efforts at engagement are certainly a step in the right direction.

Five times a day across the globe devout Muslims face this city in prayer, focused on a site where they believe Abraham built a temple to God. The spot is also the place Muslims are expected to visit at least once in their lives.

Now as they make the pilgrimage clothed in simple white cotton wraps, they will see something other than the stark black cube known as the Kaaba, which is literally the center of the Muslim world. They will also see Starbucks. And Cartier and Tiffany. And H&M and Topshop.

The Abraj al Bait Mall — one of the largest in Saudi Arabia, outfitted with flat-panel monitors with advertisements and announcements, neon lights, an amusement park ride, fast-food restaurants and a lingerie shop — has been built directly across from Islam’s holiest site.

Not everyone considers this progress.

“Mecca is becoming like Las Vegas, and that is a disaster,” said Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, a Saudi opposition research organization. “It will have a disastrous effect on Muslims because going to Mecca will have no feeling. There is no charm anymore. All you see is glass and cement.”

The mall, which opened a week before the annual pilgrimage, called the hajj, in December, is the first phase in a $13 billion construction boom in Mecca that promises to change how this city, forbidden to everyone but Muslims, looks and feels.

. . .

Billboards along the way to Mecca remind investors of the potential earnings from owning an apartment here; some claim a 25 percent return on investment. Advertisements on Arab satellite television channels remind viewers that “you, too, can have the opportunity to enjoy this blessed view.”

Muhammad al-Abboud, a real estate agent, recounts tales of Pakistani businessmen plunking down $15 million to buy several apartments at a time. Saudi princes own entire floors.

And you thought the plans for Coney Island were a sacrilege!

The XXX industry has gotten too graphic, even for its own tastes.

Pornography has long helped drive the adoption of new technology, from the printing press to the videocassette. Now pornographic movie studios are staying ahead of the curve by releasing high-definition DVDs.

They have discovered that the technology is sometimes not so sexy. The high-definition format is accentuating imperfections in the actors — from a little extra cellulite on a leg to wrinkles around the eyes.

Hollywood is dealing with similar problems, but they are more pronounced for pornographers, who rely on close-ups and who, because of their quick adoption of the new format, are facing the issue more immediately than mainstream entertainment companies.

Producers are taking steps to hide the imperfections. Some shots are lit differently, while some actors simply are not shot at certain angles, or are getting cosmetic surgery, or seeking expert grooming.

“The biggest problem is razor burn,” said Stormy Daniels, an actress, writer and director.

Ms. Daniels is also a skeptic. “I’m not 100 percent sure why anyone would want to see their porn in HD,” she said.

Why would anyone want to see their porn in HD? After gawking at HD rodeo and HD local news, isn’t it obvious?

Forget the smoke billowing into the air from factories. The bigger pollutant in Middle Tennessee these days isn’t smokestacks, but tailpipes.

Because more federal environmental regulations have been focused on the manufacturing industry over the last decade, state environmental officials said, rules for the transportation industry are just starting to catch up.

Couple that with the Midstate’s explosive growth, and it’s resulted in mobile sources — cars, trucks, farm and construction equipment — surpassing stationary ones in the release of toxins into the air, saidQuincy Styke, deputy director of the Tennessee air pollution control division.

“More cars and more miles equate to more pollution,” Styke said. “Generally speaking, we can say in our emission inventory that it’s really about half and half . . . but the percentage contribution is becoming more and more the mobile sources, on the road and off-road construction.”

And the problem seems difficult to fix without changing the machines themselves:

Since 2003, the trend in the Midstate has pointed to improved air quality as standards get tougher. As older cars are replaced, many of the worst offenders are relegated to junkyards. Federal regulations on lower sulfur in diesel and regular gasoline have also lessened emissions, Styke of TDEC said.

But the Clean Air Partnership of Middle Tennessee is working to publicize the message that small changes can go further toward fixing the problem. Members, including the Metro Transit Authority, The Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Tennessee Valley Authority, are launching a media campaign encouraging carpooling, ride-sharing and making little fixes to reduce consumption.

I know this is an old one, but I really don’t see how carpooling one day out of five will make much of a difference . . .

Meanwhile, Europeans are struggling with similar issues:

Rebecca and Emmet O’Connell swear that they are not car people and that they worry about global warming. Indeed, they looked miserable one recent evening as they drove home to suburban Lucan from central Dublin, a crawling 8.5-mile journey that took an hour.

But in this booming city, where the number of cars has doubled in the last 15 years, there is little choice, they said. “Believe me — if there was an alternative we would use it,” said Ms. O’Connell, 40, a textile designer. “We care about the environment. It’s just hard to follow through here.”

No trains run to the new suburbs where hundreds of thousands of Dubliners now live, and the few buses going there overflow with people. So nearly everyone drives — to work, to shop, to take their children to school — in what seems like a constant smoggy, traffic jam. Since 1990, emissions from transportation in Ireland have risen about 140 percent, the most in Europe. But Ireland is not alone.

Vehicular emissions are rising in nearly every European country, and across the globe. Because of increasing car and truck use, greenhouse-gas emissions are increasing even where pollution from industry is waning.

The 23 percent growth in vehicular emissions in Europe since 1990 has “offset” the effect of cleaner factories, according to a recent report by the European Environment Agency. The growth has occurred despite the invention of far more environmentally friendly fuels and cars.

If you worry that there’s not much you can do about ridding the world of car culture without, you know, forcibly resettling people into compact Jane Jacobs-approved villages (see, for example, John Tierney’s “The Autonomist Manifesto”), then it’s worth breaking down what’s going on with the above stories.

First, there’s the global warming issue mentioned in the Dublin piece, which revolves around increased pollution. It could just be me, but I don’t think most people choose how much drive based on the threat of global warming; there are some more readily apparent quality of life issues . . .

Like traffic, for example. It’s interesting how in the Times piece on Dublin traffic almost becomes interchangeable with pollution — note the lack of a connecting thought between those two paragraphs — though I’m not sure why. Now that said, traffic is a problem — a tangible one, too! — but isn’t it also pretty self-regulating? People commute — and people demand that they want to commute — when traffic gets bad.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee piece focuses on meeting federal pollution standards. The obvious solution is to create cleaner vehicles, which is probably where we’re headed. I’m not really convinced that we should force people to live in walk-up apartments near bus lines just to reduce ozone pollution. You’ve got to hand it to some people, though — the great thing about using global warming as a reason to triple the sales tax on vehicles is that global warming will be around for a very long time, and it’s probably impossible to tell just how much we’re able to stop it.

Take a fistful of New York attitude, more than a dash of kvetching, irony, humor and sarcasm; throw in the memory of the Holocaust and aspiring to assimilate; blend with lefty politics and social justice; stir up youthful disaffection, outsider status and rejection of your parents’ and society’s values, and you’ve got the makings of a movement. In the early 1970s, its musical expression devolved into punk. And according to author Steven Lee Beeber’s entertaining, engrossing and provocative new book, “The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk,” it was “the most Jewish of rock movements.”

. . .

At a recent panel discussion at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan, Beeber and several illuminati of the early New York punk scene discussed among themselves how Jewish sensibility, consciously or unconsciously, was instrumental in creating the punk sounds, symbols and shtick, and how the Jewish-owned CBGB was instrumental in unleashing every parent’s worst nightmare.

. . .

The nexus of the punk universe was CBGB on the Bowery in the low-rent East Village, former Jewish ghetto, founded by Hilly (Hillel) Kristal, former farm boy. His uncle, Benjamin Brown, founded the back-to-the-land cooperative farm movement around Hightstown, N.J., known as the Jersey Homestead, which mirrored Zionist principles in Israel, explained Beeber.

. . .

While Tommy Ramone, Lenny Kaye, Richard Meltzer (co-manager of the Dictators with Sandy Pearlman) and Handsome Dick Manitoba (a Dictator, real name: Richard Blum) “might find their connection to Jewishness essential, others such as Richard Hell, Chris Stein and Joey Ramone might find it tangential . . . [However,] there is no way to fully understand these musicians without exploring the Jewish part of them, whatever that may consist of,” he contends.

Case in point was Beeber’s contentious exchange with poet-writer-musician-artist Richard “Hell” Meyers, who refused to be interviewed or provide any information for the book. Hell, who was raised in Kentucky in the 1950s, at first denied his Jewish roots, declaring he didn’t want to be appropriated by any group. (Beeber was born in Atlanta and can understand his reluctance to out himself as a Jew.) Hell finally admitted his father was born Jewish but raised him to be a Communist and an atheist, to which Beeber related to the audience, who laughed knowingly, “That’s a definition of a Jew.”

Adam Sandler obviously needs to update “The Chanukah Song” to include good ol’ self-hating Dick Hell . . .

The cast of “Fiddler on the Roof” got a Hanukkah present of sorts on Saturday — a crash course in Judaism and Yiddish before a rehearsal for Birmingham’s upcoming presentation of the play.

“Yiddish is a dying language; not many people write or speak Yiddish anymore,” said Jane Siegel of Birmingham-Southern College, who gave the presentation. She helped the actors with pronunciation and gave them background on Jewish rituals.

The 1964 musical comedy, which became a movie in 1971, will be showing Jan. 18 through Feb. 4, Thursdays through Sundays, at the Virginia Samford Theatre, 1116 26th St. South.

Siegel, who is Jewish, said the play and the film have become a cultural touchstone on the Jewish immigrant experience for both Jews and non-Jews.

“Most of us are gentiles, so we thought it would be helpful to learn more about Jewish culture for the play,” said Lucas Pepke, who plays Perchik in the production.

After the learning session, the cast rehearsed “Tradition,” one of the most famous songs from the musical. The cast includes Bill Bugg as Tevya and Boots Carrol as Yenta . . .

America . . . F**k yeah!