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Strange Love
By Lloyd Grove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 13, 2002; Page C03
Ann Coulter's notorious post-Sept. 11 column for National Review Online -- in which
she suggested that the proper U.S. response to Muslim terrorists was to "invade their
countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" -- is still making
waves
six months later. But now the controversy features a jaw-dropping twist involving
Coulter's love life.
After her Sept. 13 column, the tall, blond right-wing pundit was sacked by NRO when
she refused to delete a reference to "swarthy males" in a subsequent column and
went on television to accuse National Review of censorship and denounce its editor,
Rich Lowry, as a "girly-boy."
But the other day on the NRO Web site, Lowry wrote about various e-mails he had
recently received about the war on terrorism: "Lots of sentiment for nuking Mecca. . .
. Mecca seems extreme, of course, but then again few people would die and it would
send a signal. Religions have suffered catastrophic setbacks before. As for the
Saudis, my only thought is that if we're going to hold them responsible for terrorism,
we had better start doing it now, not after an even more catastrophic attack."
Yesterday Lowry told us that he doesn't really countenance nuking Mecca; indeed,
he's against it. He said he was merely employing a literary device, "understated
sarcasm."
But the sarcasm might have been too understated not only for Coulter -- who told us
derisively that Lowry "finally comes out on the right side of things, but he's wildly
overreacting, just like a woman" -- but also for Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on
American- Islamic Relations.
"We are demanding an apology from National Review and disciplinary action against
Lowry," Hooper told us. With his trademark understated sarcasm, Lowry replied: "I'm
going to officially slap myself on the wrist."
Which brings us to Coulter's love life.
We hear that shortly after her September tirade proposing a modern-day crusade in
Islamic countries, she began dating a gentleman of the Muslim persuasion, a well-to-
do financier in New York. Word is that they met by chance four months ago on a
Manhattan street and have been an item ever since.
Coulter, an Episcopalian, declined to comment directly on this surprising
circumstance. She refused to reveal the lucky guy's identity.
"It seems perfectly logical to me," she told us. "What? It's not like I'm dating a
Democrat." She added: "If you go with this, I'll sic Mustafa -- not his real name -- on
you."
With understated sarcasm, no doubt.
Corr Values
• With St. Patrick's Day drawing nigh, who better to entertain at Dennis Hastert's
traditional Speaker's Irish Luncheon today than the Corrs -- the comely sibling rock
group featuring three beautiful sisters and that other guy? And who better to talk
about it than heartbreaker Andrea Corr, the 27-year-old lead singer and tin-whistle
virtuoso?
"We're absolutely honored and excited about it," she told us about today's event at
the Capitol, featuring President Bush, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and Cardinal
Edward Egan of New York, among other usual suspects. "I haven't met Bush before,
but we know our own prime minister pretty well. He's great, and St. Patrick's Day is a
great time for the Irish people."
The Corrs, who have a new album out and a VH1 special coming up, stick to a killing
schedule and log hundreds of thousands of air miles every year. Andrea was calling
from London after back-to-back concerts in Italy and France. So we wondered if
she's a nervous flyer in the post-9-11 world.
"Fear grows anyway, but regardless of what horrific event occurred, life has to go
on," she said with a bit of a brogue. "I have to do it and I can't think about it,
because
I am the kind of person who could be completely debilitated by fear. It's just my
nature, so I try not to dwell on it."
Andrea, who happens to be seeing someone romantically but not too seriously --
"she's always seeing someone," her publicist told us -- is having a good time. "I want
to enjoy my life," she said. "Life is very, very precious. I love what I do, and I
don't live
'in the meantime.' "
She said she has no timetable for getting married and starting a family.
"No, because for me to make plans like that would be like deluding myself. You know
that joke: If you want to see that God has a sense of humor, make plans!"
National Geographic's Photo Finish
• When Steve McCurry's haunting photograph of a beautiful Afghan girl graced the
cover of a special edition of National Geographic last November, he had almost lost
hope that she was still alive, let alone that he'd ever see her again. He had taken the
famous photo in 1984 at a refugee camp in Pakistan, during the war against the
Soviets, but he never got her name. During many return trips, he searched for her in
vain.
Sharbat Gula in 1984, left, and in January.
Steve McCurry - National Geographic Society via AP
But McCurry didn't give up. And in January, he finally found her in Afghanistan and
invited her to Peshawar, Pakistan. "I thought realistically the chances were slim," he
told us yesterday. "But I thought there was a chance." Through a network of
contacts, he found Sharbat Gula, today a married woman of about 30. Her identity
was confirmed using facial recognition technology and by comparing the irises in her
penetrating green eyes, but McCurry was never in doubt. "The instant I saw her I
knew it was the same girl," he said. "There's such a complexity of emotions going on
in her face in that first photograph. You can read so much into it. Is it a fear? Is
it a
trauma? Is it a haunted expression? It just seems very beautiful."
When they met again, Gula told McCurry that his portrait was the only photograph
ever taken of her. After receiving permission from her husband, baker Ramat Gul,
Gula removed her burqa and McCurry photographed her again. Both photos appear
in the April issue of National Geographic, and National Geographic Explorer will air a
special episode on the search at 9 p.m. Friday on MSNBC.
THIS JUST IN . . .
• Trash TV impresario Jerry Springer has a new publicist. What's more, Springer's
flack is being paid by the taxpayers. The identity of Springer's press agent? None
other than the president of the United States. Yesterday at the White House,
President Bush told visiting college athletes that the Arab terrorists of 9-11 must
have
gotten the misimpression that the United States is a weak nation from "The Jerry
Springer Show." Bush said: "They didn't think we were a nation that could
conceivably sacrifice for something greater than our self, that we were soft, that we
were so self-absorbed and so materialistic that we wouldn't defend anything we
believed in. My, were they wrong. They just were reading the wrong magazine, or
watching the wrong Springer show." So much for all those pundits who say that our
president doesn't have his finger on the pulse of popular culture.
With Barbara E. Martinez
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
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The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
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A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
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It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
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"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
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