Tapping into Karl Rove's Mind Control Beams

It has become obvious to me that I've unwittingly (OK, dimwittingly then!) managed to hijack some of the spare bandwidth and stray rays of the Mind Control Machine Karl Rove keeps in Undisclosed Locations (tm) where the Evil Dick Cheney keeps his brownshirted and jackbooted minions working round the clock to operate the devilishly clever device.

Just to provide one example... A year or more ago it occurred to me that modern computer graphics technology could be used for intersting educational purposes such as making available a sort of visual history of the ebb and flows of civilizations, empires, technologies, political ideas, and suchlike. My notion was that world and regional maps could be colorcoded to show how those sorts of things advanced and retreated over time and space.

No sooner did I devote a year of periodic, background pondering and mulling (quite mildly, truth be told) of this idea than lo and behold, the process of making my brilliant idea a reality has begun. (hattip: ChicagoBoyz via Rachel, whomever she may be.) Be sure to click and observe.

Another example of my newfound usurpational power has recently emerged. Some weeks ago the idea began percolating in my head that it would be very useful if some people with the time and appropriate skills would survey the history of Islam and demonstrate that it is an expansionist ideology rather than merely a somewhat crazed but entirely understandable reaction to the horrors of The Failed Foreign Policy of the Bush Administration (tm). The idea began coagulating as I read The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805. It is an interesting book and helps shed light on one of our American Myths as well as being a decent tale of the early American adventures, politics, and men. I won't trouble myself to do a detailed review - if it hasn't already it will be soon enough done. I think, therefore others do.

Well, no sooner had things begun to gel within the copious space of my intellect than voila! (Or, as we say in my neck of the woods, Baddabing!) I bring you Jame's McCormick's excellent review of Islamic Imperialism: A History and Fjordman's extensive (if, perhaps, slightly overwrought) commentary (Who Are We, Who Are Our Enemies – The Cost of Historical Amnesia) about Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries and The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims.

I shall read the books to determine if they are at least close to what I wished for. The early indicators are promising.

Rest assured, devoted readers, that I will limit my actions in this realm. As a charter member of the VRWC I fully understand that there are many higher priorities for application of The Machine.