Laila Lalami

Yesterday we went to see Far from Heaven. I have to say I was reluctant to see it, despite listening to a fairly intriguing interview with Director Todd Haynes on NPR and despite all the rave reviews. I just thought it would be preachy, but I was wrong. The movie was actually quite good. It’s done entirely from a 1950s point of view (including the score and the credits–all very “Imitation of Life”) and Julianne Moore kicks ass. I didn’t even mind Dennis Quaid. Go see it before it leaves theatres.
Already saw Talk to Her, which we liked. Pure Almodovar. Also saw Gangs of New York and was blown away by Daniel Day-Lewis, but not by much else. I couldn’t believe Scorsese spent a year editing the damn thing and still couldn’t get the pacing right. The last 1/3 of the movie is completely compressed to contain much of the conflict and denouement.
Still to see: Chicago, The Hours, Catch Me If You Can (I didn’t want to see this one, but Alex wants to, so I guess I’ll be convinced to go…)

is available here. Favorite items:
“America agreed after many requests to share intelligence on suspected Iraqi arms sites with the United Nation’s weapons inspectors, who keep insisting that their work has only just begun. The United States, which edited Iraq’s weapons declaration before distributing it to other members of the U.N. Security Council, removed the names of 150 companies that were listed as contributors to Iraq’s arms programs. ”
“The Department of Justice added Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Armenia to the list of countries whose adult male citizens residing in the U.S. must register with federal authorities but later dropped Armenia after it was pointed out that most Armenians are Christian. Federal authorities began releasing hundreds of Muslim immigrants who were arrested when they showed up to register under the new rules.”
“It was reported that the Bush Administration will propose a new centralized system for monitoring all activity on the Internet. White House officials downplayed reports that the Pentagon is planning a propaganda assault on allied countries and emphasized that the president would never condone anything that involved lying.”
…and so on. There is no permalink, so these gems will only be there till next Tuesday.

In the last few days, I posted rants (here and here) about the registration process imposed by INS on all non-immigrant males from Middle Eastern countries. I just stumbled on something equally vitriolic: The law is not applied in the same way from one INS office to the other. Take a look at the breakdown by office. I suppose there’s no need to point out yet again that the registration process, even if it were justified and constitutional, is not being applied in a manner that can lead to proper analysis and tracking of data for future anti-terrorism activities by the relevant agencies. But, this, Mr. Ashcroft thinks, is what is going to make the country safer.

A recap of what happened in the literary year, from the Guardian. More interesting than those “best of 2002″ sites all over the place.

Media darling Zadie Smith is interviewed in this week’s issue of the New Yorker. I still haven’t received it in the mail, but now I really want to read her story, “Finch.” My favorite part of the interview is when Ben Greenman asks her what the hat in her story means. It’s always frightening to me when people want to see meaning in everything and I was sort of comforted by her answer: “I have no idea what the hat means to Finch in fiction. I have a hat like that in life, and I’m not sure what it means to me. I’m dreaming of a sort of writing where hats just come and go across the border without having to show their papers or reveal the purpose of their visit.”

In this post, I asked why Saudi nationals were not being subjected to the controversial special registration by INS. After all, if the logic is that nationals of certain countries require “closer monitoring” who more than Saudi citizens should be subjected to this? This article, from the British paper The Spectator, has some opinions to offer as to why that may be. The strength of the ties between the Saudi ruling clan and members of the current Administration have long been known, but the article does a good job following the money trail. Specifically, the fact that two of the hijackers’ money can allegedly be traced all the way back to the wife of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in the United States. In case you didn’t know, Prince Bandar and his wife are familiars of the Bushes, and have been invited to the family ranch in Crawford, Texas. But my favorite part in the article is the claim that Saudi Arabia requires that any U.S. ambassador sent to its soil should not speak Arabic. Priceless.
Bush and the Saudi Princess.
Link via Michael Moore.
[Addendum: I found out that Saudis are part of the third (and last?) group to have to register, with the deadline coming in February. This information, although supposedly added by INS on Dec. 18, was not there at the time I wrote my entry on Dec. 19]

Last night, Alex and I went to see LOTR at the Fox theatre in Westwood. The Wilshire exit was closed because of a protest at the Federal building, so we had to use the Santa Monica Bl. exit. I just found out why Wilshire was closed: People were upset because of the mass arrests of Muslims by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
About a month ago, the INS issued a new directive requiring all males age 16 and over, who are in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas (e.g. students, tourists, temporary workers, people awaiting adjustment to immigrant status, refugees, etc.) to get their fingerprints and pictures taken by INS. The country list was broken into two: Nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria had to register by the 16th of December, and nationals of the rest of the Middle East have to register by January 10th. The directive was poorly publicized, but even so, people from the first group showed up to comply, only to see a great number of them promptly arrested by INS for even the most routine violations (violations for which nationals of other countries such as Mexico are NOT even being looked at.) The protests were being led by Iranian Americans, as non-immigrant members of that community were the first to go through the registration process and resulting mass arrests.
Er..
This is supposed to make America safer? The INS website says that the reason behind this is that nationals of certain countries require “closer monitoring.” This is preposterous!
The measure is inefficient. The only people to have been arrested and charged on terrorism charges since 9/11 are: Richard Reid, John Walker Lindh, Zacarias Moussaoui, and Jose Padilla. Reid is British, Moussaoui is French, and Lindh and Padilla are American. In other words, it’s their behavior that should have required “closer monitoring,” not their ethnicity. But Ashcroft is convinced this is the right way to do it, so while the next Lindh and Padilla are being brainwashed somewhere, your computer science professor, your OB-GYN, your cab driver, and your gas station attendant, are all being harassed.
The measure is also inconsistent. Even if it were OK to monitor nationals of certain countries, why aren’t Saudi nationals being subjected to this, when 17 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia? Why? Well, one wouldn’t want to upset one’s business partners and fellow oil company colleagues, would one?
In addition, the INS is so convinced of the righteousness and legality of this that it has refused to release information about the specific number of people it has arrested. You’ll just have to trust them. There’s no need for checks and balances. They even have a cool euphemism for this “measure”: special registration. One man’s police state is another’s… never mind.
In related news, the U.S. territory of American Samoa has barred any Middle Eastern person from entering its territory. Pure and simple. I guess none of these people is showing up there anytime soon.

It’s a gorgeous day out there, if a bit windy, and all I want is to be out on a blanket in the park, soaking up the sun. But I haven’t been very good lately, and I must stay in and write, write, write. I’ve been struggling with new story and having difficulty getting a “handle.” After I can figure that out, the actual writing is my favorite part, and I’ve also never minded revising. But until I get there, I am a mess and not a fun person to live with.

Want to go hiking? Visit thehiker to see how.

I haven’t been able to post, not sure what’s wrong yet. Must run, as I have big party plans for tonight and I still haven’t gotten everything together.