There are two types of Democrats. Type A believe Islamic terrorism is a threat, they're just not sure how much of a threat, but they accept there is one. Type B believe there's no threat at all.
Both Type A and Type B Dems hate Bush.
Type B can easily bitch about the NSA surveillance because there is no reason for it anyway, as far as they're concerned. (Hell, Gore wants to stop using even the Patriot Act.)
Type A has more of a problem. There is a threat and we need to keep track of these guys, but Bush is the one doing it so it's illegal and a pure power grab!
That's how we get, in the middle of a rant re the illegality of Bush's 'Domestic Spying' program, a statement such as this:
" I feel quite sure, regardless of the politics, the legality and the opinion of the American people, George Bush will continue to do exactly what he wants. " *
See? Bush is so bad he'll keep us safe anyway! So we can rant and rave and it won't hurt anything except Bush!
That's a Type A Dem for sure.
Type A's are merely dishonest. Type B's are consistent in their delusions.
----
*[Snipped from comments at Gay Patriot's Delicious Gore rant.]
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
"The War Against Terror Is Like The War Against Dandruff"
So says Gore Vidal on the the History Channel's program on Lincoln tonight. He was contrasting Lincoln's invocation of the war time powers of the President during the Civil War with GWB's invocation of the same powers after 9/11.
This pithily sets up the Left's POV on the last 4 and 1/2 years. There is no more danger to this country after the 9/11 attacks, according to this position, than there is with our problems with seborrhea of the scalp. None at all.
Were our current situation viewed in Vidal's way, use of Presidential wartime powers would be absurd. From my perspective, seeing two massive buildings disappear entombing those who were unable to evacuate them caused me to believe our nation was at war with those who brought forth that loss of life in our nation. That was, indeed, a far greater act of war than the firing on Fort Sumter.
History will tell us whether GWB and Congress were right in their assessment in the aftermath of that event. I believe that the Vidals are as wrong as the Copperheads were in 1864. Time will tell.
This pithily sets up the Left's POV on the last 4 and 1/2 years. There is no more danger to this country after the 9/11 attacks, according to this position, than there is with our problems with seborrhea of the scalp. None at all.
Were our current situation viewed in Vidal's way, use of Presidential wartime powers would be absurd. From my perspective, seeing two massive buildings disappear entombing those who were unable to evacuate them caused me to believe our nation was at war with those who brought forth that loss of life in our nation. That was, indeed, a far greater act of war than the firing on Fort Sumter.
History will tell us whether GWB and Congress were right in their assessment in the aftermath of that event. I believe that the Vidals are as wrong as the Copperheads were in 1864. Time will tell.
It's Time To Let It Go
This story caught my eye a few moments ago. It reminded me of the Japanese dead ender soldiers who lasted for many years (some ten, some twenty, some fifty) in the jungles of Okinawa, or other Pacific islands and finally gave up.
As one who prosecuted many of these young men from 1966-1970, I have no more desire to see "justice" done thirty years after this war ended.
Especially when Mr. Carter granted amnesty during the late seventies to all of the draft dodgers of the day.
I wonder how a man in his late fifties feels in a brig with young men the age of his grandchildren when all he did was run away so many years ago.
I guess I am getting soft.
As one who prosecuted many of these young men from 1966-1970, I have no more desire to see "justice" done thirty years after this war ended.
Especially when Mr. Carter granted amnesty during the late seventies to all of the draft dodgers of the day.
I wonder how a man in his late fifties feels in a brig with young men the age of his grandchildren when all he did was run away so many years ago.
I guess I am getting soft.
Newsflash!!! WaPo's Milbank Upset that Supreme Court Nominee uses legal jargon. Developing....
Apparently lacking the capacity to write intelligently about the Alito hearings, WaPo's Dana Milbank opts instead for an attempt at cute. I, I, Sir: The Alito Hearings, Annotated asks a WaPo staffer, with nothing better to do, to do analyses on the text of the hearings. Ann Althouse descends upon poor Dana, who thinks that Alito used legal gobbledegook. Apparently, Milbank was too busy fixing his hair for an upcoming appearance on Washington Week in Review to be bothered googling the terms he didn't know. Why can't these Supreme Court nominees explain it in a way a simple reporter can understand?
Exploring Mind Control
Ok, before reading further, please respond to the following statement with 1) agree strongly; 2) agree somewhat; 3) disagree somewhat; or 4) disagree strongly:
In the reviews I've read or heard of Stephen Spielberg's new film, Munich, the standard media line is that the book on which the film is based - Georg Jonas' Vengeance - is itself a great literary artifice that strayed far from the facts of the events that unfolded in the wake of the Munich Massacre. In other words, Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner are simply taking literary license with a story that is already licentious with the truth.
Now read this letter to the Wall Street Journal:
For some discussion of Sword of Gideon, see comments towards bottom of this RLS post
In the reviews I've read or heard of Stephen Spielberg's new film, Munich, the standard media line is that the book on which the film is based - Georg Jonas' Vengeance - is itself a great literary artifice that strayed far from the facts of the events that unfolded in the wake of the Munich Massacre. In other words, Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner are simply taking literary license with a story that is already licentious with the truth.
Now read this letter to the Wall Street Journal:
Truth Is There, Hidden, in a Book on Munich(Hat tip: VFR)
Bret Stephens’s excellent “Editorial Board: Munich,” Dec. 31, repeats a canard: “ ‘Vengeance,’ the George Jonas book upon which the film is largely based, is widely considered to be a fabrication.”
George Jonas is a colleague and my former husband. I’m well aware of the research behind this book. Further disclosure: the book is dedicated to me.
One of the most unfortunate and ironic aspects of the “Munich” affair is that those who rightly disapprove of Steven Spielberg’s film and wish to attack him are doing it in part by attacking Mr. Jonas’s book. Perhaps you were unable to get the new edition of “Vengeance” with Mr. Jonas’s essay, “Notes On a Controversy,” which speaks directly to the book’s authenticity. I would urge you to read that essay as well as the 1983 Epilogue to “Vengeance.”
In addition:
• In 1985, a film of “Vengeance” was made called “The Sword of Gideon.” It adhered to the book closely, except that it was pro-Israel and had none of Mr. Spielberg’s moral equivalence. The Israeli government did not object to it being shot in Israel and shown on Israeli television.
• At the time of the book’s publication in 1983, Israeli intelligence officials were widely quoted (e.g., in the New York Times) unofficially confirming the existence of hit squads after the massacre at the Olympics, even as they officially denied them. Their stance remains the same today.
Verifying an intelligence story through official channels is a contradiction in terms. Official statements in such circumstances are all but useless. Agencies wishing to discredit an ex-employee who tells tales out of school will steer journalists to the ex-agent’s cover or “legend”—say, a job at El Al—to show that he’s only a disgruntled security guard or baggage handler.
I cannot stress too highly the care and effort that went into this book as well as George Jonas’s lifelong commitment to the values clearly expressed in “Vengeance” that are now all but reversed in the film.
Barbara Amiel
Toronto
For some discussion of Sword of Gideon, see comments towards bottom of this RLS post
I wish I had a bridge to sell these people
Once again the New York Times has screwed up. This time they put a fake picture on the front page.
OOPS
In addition: Tomorrow the New York Sun will be doing a story on the soon to be released Barrett report concerning officials in the Clinton Administration and their questionable dealings with the IRS via Drudge .
Wanna bet that won't make the front pages of the NYT?
Update: The NY Sun report on the Barrett investigation is here .
War With Iran
Cecil Turner, in a comment at Just One Minute lays out a shorthand version of Just War Ehics that I find interesting:
1. Fought as a last resort;
2. by legitimate authority;
3. must redress a wrong;
4. must have reasonable chance of success;
5. must be a peaceful goal;
6. violence must be proportional;
7. and methods must be just (specifically not targeting civilians)
He also provided a link to a long hand version that still remains a summary of "THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA, part II: Question 40 - "ON WAR"
Establishing the predicate for item (1) remains the most obdurate of tasks. Should we take the word of ElBaradei “Iran has no nuclear weapons program, but I personally don’t rush to conclusions before all the realities are clarified. So far I see nothing which could be called an imminent danger. I have seen no nuclear weapons program in Iran." or should we listen attentively to the words of ElBaradei “If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponisation program along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon”
If we take the head of the prestigious UN IAEA organization, ElBaradei, then no reasonable person could presume that the predicate for a just war exists. If, on the other hand we listen attentively to the words of the head of the prestigious UN IAEA organization, ElBaradei, then we would be foolish not to initiate mobilization towards a preemptive strike to remove a very dangerous weapon from the hands of this man.
The use of the conditional "if" just doesn't provide much of a sense of security. I'm in favor of dropping the conditional "if" and proceeding to dropping some rather concrete objections to Iran's dreams of nuclear blackmail in a manner that would win Curtis LeMay's approval.
Faster, please, no longer cuts it.
1. Fought as a last resort;
2. by legitimate authority;
3. must redress a wrong;
4. must have reasonable chance of success;
5. must be a peaceful goal;
6. violence must be proportional;
7. and methods must be just (specifically not targeting civilians)
He also provided a link to a long hand version that still remains a summary of "THE SUMMA THEOLOGICA, part II: Question 40 - "ON WAR"
Establishing the predicate for item (1) remains the most obdurate of tasks. Should we take the word of ElBaradei “Iran has no nuclear weapons program, but I personally don’t rush to conclusions before all the realities are clarified. So far I see nothing which could be called an imminent danger. I have seen no nuclear weapons program in Iran." or should we listen attentively to the words of ElBaradei “If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponisation program along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon”
If we take the head of the prestigious UN IAEA organization, ElBaradei, then no reasonable person could presume that the predicate for a just war exists. If, on the other hand we listen attentively to the words of the head of the prestigious UN IAEA organization, ElBaradei, then we would be foolish not to initiate mobilization towards a preemptive strike to remove a very dangerous weapon from the hands of this man.
The use of the conditional "if" just doesn't provide much of a sense of security. I'm in favor of dropping the conditional "if" and proceeding to dropping some rather concrete objections to Iran's dreams of nuclear blackmail in a manner that would win Curtis LeMay's approval.
Faster, please, no longer cuts it.
Slow news day?
In the Corner, John J Miller complains:
Somehow I don't find penguins and polar bears together a lot more difficult to believe than polar bears and penguins smiling at each other while they open and share bottles of Coke®.
Three TV commercials I can't stand:
...
2. Coke: I'm thinking of the one with polar bears and penguins. Don't they know that polar bears live in the Arctic and penguins in the Antarctic? This is biological illiteracy.
Somehow I don't find penguins and polar bears together a lot more difficult to believe than polar bears and penguins smiling at each other while they open and share bottles of Coke®.
Pelosi impresses with her skill
Impresses me, anyway. I wasn't there.
" "It's always exciting,'' she told reporters after the meeting. "This is democracy in action. I'm energized by it, frankly." "
Even though I don't agree with Ms Pelosi's views, I can appreciate the political skill and can understand the rush it would give her to be able to handle a crowd of Lesser and Greater Moonbats. Can Hillary do the same to win the primaries without giving soundbites that can be used against her in the campaign? Well, we'll find out. I don't especially want to think about that right now, though. Too many other issues to sort through in the next two years.
Like the attempt to send Zawahiri to his virgins the other day:
"At minimum, the [American] officials said they believed that other senior Qaeda officials had died in the attack."...from the New York Times.
Most of the reports I've read indicate there had been foreigners in the area. One specifically said that even though Zawahiri didn't attend the Eid feast, he had sent some of his associates. (Can't find the link)
The Times is playing down any possible danger to Musharraf's regime because of this incident. I think they're right. Musharraf is a skilled politician for whom I have a lot of respect. Yes, Mark, I do.
My feeling is the angrier the protests, the more likelihood Zawahiri was zapped.
And another voice thinks that bin laden is already dead and has been since last April. (h/t Rantburg)
And I won't touch Iran. Think of bin laden as head of a huge country about to get nukes. Add in delusions of bringing the 12th Imam. Now try to get some sleep.
" "It's always exciting,'' she told reporters after the meeting. "This is democracy in action. I'm energized by it, frankly." "
Even though I don't agree with Ms Pelosi's views, I can appreciate the political skill and can understand the rush it would give her to be able to handle a crowd of Lesser and Greater Moonbats. Can Hillary do the same to win the primaries without giving soundbites that can be used against her in the campaign? Well, we'll find out. I don't especially want to think about that right now, though. Too many other issues to sort through in the next two years.
Like the attempt to send Zawahiri to his virgins the other day:
"At minimum, the [American] officials said they believed that other senior Qaeda officials had died in the attack."...from the New York Times.
Most of the reports I've read indicate there had been foreigners in the area. One specifically said that even though Zawahiri didn't attend the Eid feast, he had sent some of his associates. (Can't find the link)
The Times is playing down any possible danger to Musharraf's regime because of this incident. I think they're right. Musharraf is a skilled politician for whom I have a lot of respect. Yes, Mark, I do.
My feeling is the angrier the protests, the more likelihood Zawahiri was zapped.
And another voice thinks that bin laden is already dead and has been since last April. (h/t Rantburg)
And I won't touch Iran. Think of bin laden as head of a huge country about to get nukes. Add in delusions of bringing the 12th Imam. Now try to get some sleep.
Rumsfeld vs Der Spiegel: The Iranian Takedown
SPIEGEL: How concerned are you about Iran?
Rumsfeld: All of us have to be concerned when a country that important, large and wealthy is disconnected from the normal interactions with the rest of the world. They obviously have certain ambitions, powers and military capabilities ...
SPIEGEL: ...and nuclear ambitions...
Rumsfeld: That's apparently what France, Germany, the UK and the International Atomic Energy Agency have concluded. Everyone wants to have the Iranians as part of the world community, but they aren't yet. Therefore there's less predictability and more danger.
SPIEGEL: The US is trying to make the case in the United Nations Security Council.
Rumsfeld: I would not say that. I thought France, Germany and the UK were working on that problem.
SPIEGEL: What kind of sanctions are we talking about?
Rumsfeld: I'm not talking about sanctions. I thought you, and the U.K. and France were.
SPIEGEL: You aren't?
Rumsfeld: I'm not talking about sanctions. You've got the lead. Well, lead!
SPIEGEL: You mean the Europeans.
Rumsfeld: Sure. My Goodness, Iran is your neighbour. We don't have to do everything!
SPIEGEL: We are in the middle of regime change in Germany...
Rumsfeld: ... that's hardly the phrase I would have selected.
There is more on Iran at the New Sisyphus. The full Spiegel interview with Rumsfeld is here.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Sunday Morning Reading
I think readers of this blog will find Bruce Bawer's book review in the autumn Hudson Review very interesting for his discussion of European anti-Americanism. He looks at the caricatures of America common in Europe and discusses their sources in the European elite and the government controlled European media. He also contrasts the variety of thought and opinion in the US with the narrow range of ideas to be found in Europe. Among the books he discusses are the following:
THE EAGLE’S SHADOW: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World, by Mark Hertsgaard. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23.00; Picador, $14.00.
THE EAGLE’S SHADOW: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World, by Mark Hertsgaard. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23.00; Picador, $14.00.
A DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE: Why America Should Join the World, by Will Hutton. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. $27.95. (Original U.K. title: The World We’re In.)
ROGUE NATION: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions, by Clyde Prestowitz. Basic Books. $26.00.
BEING AMERICA: Liberty, Commerce, and Violence in an American World, by Jedediah Purdy. Alfred A. Knopf. $24.00.
AMERICA EMBATTLED: September 11, Anti-Americanism and the Global Order, by Richard Crockatt. Routledge. $90.00.
WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT AMERICA?, by Dinesh D’Souza. Penguin. $15.00p.
OF PARADISE AND POWER: America and Europe in the New World Order, by Robert Kagan. Alfred A. Knopf. $18.00.
ANTI-AMERICANISM, by Jean-François Revel. Trans. by Diarmid Cammell. Encounter. $25.95.
ICH BIN EIN AMERIKANER, by Herman Willis. Schibsted. 298kr. (Yes, the title is in German, but the book is in Norwegian.)
FRYKTEN FOR AMERIKA: En europeisk historie, by Stian Bromark and Dag Herbjørnsrud. Tiden. 329kr.
The Brink
This is the lazy way out of blogging but check out Michelle Malkin on the wars and rumors of wars with Iran.
She has quotes and links from experts such as Victor Davis Hanson discussing our bad and worse alternatives. She also links to and has extensive quotes from Daniel Pipes and Dr. Sanity discussing the mindset of the mad mullahs. There is also Wretchard's insight on possible intelligence activities inside Iran.
I learned a new word over at Michelle's: mahdaviat-- The belief in and efforts to prepare for the Mahdi.
Not good, not good at all.
Jihad is not an internal struggle for these people, it is the duty of every Muslim.
She has quotes and links from experts such as Victor Davis Hanson discussing our bad and worse alternatives. She also links to and has extensive quotes from Daniel Pipes and Dr. Sanity discussing the mindset of the mad mullahs. There is also Wretchard's insight on possible intelligence activities inside Iran.
I learned a new word over at Michelle's: mahdaviat-- The belief in and efforts to prepare for the Mahdi.
Not good, not good at all.
Jihad is not an internal struggle for these people, it is the duty of every Muslim.
The End of Faith
A couple people I know are enthusiastically absorbing the book, The End of Faith, by Sam Harris.
I have been scanning the reviews on Amazon, deciding whether I want to read it so I can jump into discussion in an informed way.
My observation is that secular intellectuals such as the author of this book often misunderstand religion and faith. They have choosen instead to believe deeply in something they call rationality and science.
Belief, on one level, as a friend of mine puts it, is the "scent" or "stink" of the tribe. It is how we tell whether someone is "one of us".
Faith to me is different from belief and has nothing to do with discounting the here and now over the hereafter -- a charge which the author of the book levels against religious believers and something which, in so much as it is true, I agree is often counter-productive. Faith to me is about a sense of wonder and awe. When you understand what a miracle it is that we exist at all, you open the door to faith. Simple people sometimes have an easier time of it than people with a patina of education.
I do not suggest that some bearded old geezer in the sky drew up blueprints for all creation down to the structure of the human eye as the ID folks seem to claim (this is the extreme anthropomorphism of god), but I do find it rather amazing that the principles of physics, such as we understand them today, allow for the existence of beings as complex as we are, to say nothing of all the other flora and fauna that abound. Intelligence is buried in the structure of our universe!
Intellectual and highly rational people often are stuck in a "rational" mode, thinking that rationality is the highest functioning of the human brain. There are higher levels. Rationality is slow and the human mind is unable to follow all rational chains of inference to their logical conclusion simultaneously or even serially. Inevitably we leave paths of logic unexamined. What we end up with is a collage of remembered narrative chains which have the flavor of rationality and logic. We tell ourselves things that sound rational. We have smart-sounding people, in positions of authority, who parrot these narrative chains until the narratives become articles of belief in the tribe. They look down on the myths entertained by religious folk but they subscribe to plenty of their own. A quick wit and a piece of parchment does not a wise person make.
So it is that belief is the stink of the tribe.
Those who focus solely on rationality and rationalism relegate the irrational to their subconscious. By remaining aware only of the "rational" processes of their mind, they limit their understanding of the mind's deeper workings. In this way they give power over to the irrational and they are right to fear it.
Logic is a tool much like a microscope. You can dissect symbols and look at their logical relationships but you will need more than a microscope to create a meaningful picture of the world around you.
I have been scanning the reviews on Amazon, deciding whether I want to read it so I can jump into discussion in an informed way.
My observation is that secular intellectuals such as the author of this book often misunderstand religion and faith. They have choosen instead to believe deeply in something they call rationality and science.
Belief, on one level, as a friend of mine puts it, is the "scent" or "stink" of the tribe. It is how we tell whether someone is "one of us".
Faith to me is different from belief and has nothing to do with discounting the here and now over the hereafter -- a charge which the author of the book levels against religious believers and something which, in so much as it is true, I agree is often counter-productive. Faith to me is about a sense of wonder and awe. When you understand what a miracle it is that we exist at all, you open the door to faith. Simple people sometimes have an easier time of it than people with a patina of education.
I do not suggest that some bearded old geezer in the sky drew up blueprints for all creation down to the structure of the human eye as the ID folks seem to claim (this is the extreme anthropomorphism of god), but I do find it rather amazing that the principles of physics, such as we understand them today, allow for the existence of beings as complex as we are, to say nothing of all the other flora and fauna that abound. Intelligence is buried in the structure of our universe!
Intellectual and highly rational people often are stuck in a "rational" mode, thinking that rationality is the highest functioning of the human brain. There are higher levels. Rationality is slow and the human mind is unable to follow all rational chains of inference to their logical conclusion simultaneously or even serially. Inevitably we leave paths of logic unexamined. What we end up with is a collage of remembered narrative chains which have the flavor of rationality and logic. We tell ourselves things that sound rational. We have smart-sounding people, in positions of authority, who parrot these narrative chains until the narratives become articles of belief in the tribe. They look down on the myths entertained by religious folk but they subscribe to plenty of their own. A quick wit and a piece of parchment does not a wise person make.
So it is that belief is the stink of the tribe.
Those who focus solely on rationality and rationalism relegate the irrational to their subconscious. By remaining aware only of the "rational" processes of their mind, they limit their understanding of the mind's deeper workings. In this way they give power over to the irrational and they are right to fear it.
Logic is a tool much like a microscope. You can dissect symbols and look at their logical relationships but you will need more than a microscope to create a meaningful picture of the world around you.
See "irony"
Quoting Ted Kennedy:
"These issues are so sophisticated - half the Senate didn't know what the unitary presidency was, let alone the people of Boston," he said, referring to one of the legal theories that was a focus of the hearings. "I'm sure we could have done better."
"But what has happened is that this has turned into a political campaign," he said. "The whole process has become so politicized that I think the American people walk away more confused about the way these people stand."
Jessican Alba
Jennifer Beals
Halle BerryWill this be ignored?
Iran plans Holocaust conference
The Iranian regime desires to become a picture in the dictionary for the word disingenuous. Many levels of government are in on this charade. "It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the Holocaust," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. The Iranian government hopes to whip up fellow Muslims with this stuff, while the Euros will tsk, tsk away. It is a strange world. In some circles it is possible to discuss everything except the Axis of Evil.
The Iranian regime desires to become a picture in the dictionary for the word disingenuous. Many levels of government are in on this charade. "It is a strange world. It is possible to discuss everything except the Holocaust," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. The Iranian government hopes to whip up fellow Muslims with this stuff, while the Euros will tsk, tsk away. It is a strange world. In some circles it is possible to discuss everything except the Axis of Evil.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Shifting Sands - Senate - Ben Nelson
If electoral politics were amenable to simple statistical analysis then Sen. Nelson - a Democratic Senator from a state (Nebraska) which gave Bush a 33% margin - would appear to be in trouble. If the Dems were looking for a true moderate to carry the party standard - Ben Nelson would be an excellent choice. Nelson is a former governor with not even a hint of a scandal attaching to him. His only problem is that his white line down the middle of the road positions have not garnered many faithful followers. In November he polled well ahead of the two Republicans vying to oppose him but he only averaged about 53% (he won in '00 with 51%). Nebraska is a very inexpensive state wrt elections and one of his potential opponenets, Pete Ricketts has a ton of personal money that he can use to overwhelm Nelson with advertising. Nelson received pocket change ($16,500) from the DSCC in '00 and only $22,500 to date in this cycle. Most of his money comes from labor with some substantial contributions from business.
The other potential opponent is David Kramer, who has good name recognition but does not have access to the same degree of funding that Ricketts' does.
The only interesting aspects of this race are whether a huddle in the muddle centrist incumbent can attract and hold sufficient campaign workers to be effective and whether (should Ricketts be the opponent) Nebraskans will be susceptible to a big money campaign. I would anticipate that Ricketts possesses a relatively high 'Q' rating because accession to the CEO position at a large company requires it. If the race becomes Nelson/Picketts then I would give the edge to Picketts at this point. If its Nelson/Kramer then its a u-pick-em at this point.
Steele Update: Rasmussen Reports has Steele up over either potential Dem candidate in a new survey. This race is one to keep an eye on. Even though MD gave Kerry a 13% edge in '00 it is susceptible to change. Schumer's ham handed oppo research moves do not sit well with blacks in MD - or anywhere else. Mfume as one of the potential opponents is also a help to Steele. The moderate core of black voters see Mfume for precisely what he is and will select Steele if race is their predominant deciding factor.
The other potential opponent is David Kramer, who has good name recognition but does not have access to the same degree of funding that Ricketts' does.
The only interesting aspects of this race are whether a huddle in the muddle centrist incumbent can attract and hold sufficient campaign workers to be effective and whether (should Ricketts be the opponent) Nebraskans will be susceptible to a big money campaign. I would anticipate that Ricketts possesses a relatively high 'Q' rating because accession to the CEO position at a large company requires it. If the race becomes Nelson/Picketts then I would give the edge to Picketts at this point. If its Nelson/Kramer then its a u-pick-em at this point.
Steele Update: Rasmussen Reports has Steele up over either potential Dem candidate in a new survey. This race is one to keep an eye on. Even though MD gave Kerry a 13% edge in '00 it is susceptible to change. Schumer's ham handed oppo research moves do not sit well with blacks in MD - or anywhere else. Mfume as one of the potential opponents is also a help to Steele. The moderate core of black voters see Mfume for precisely what he is and will select Steele if race is their predominant deciding factor.
Now we know things went badly for the Democrats last week.
Bob Beckel, who can generally be depended upon to defend practically any Democrat position, any time — which is his job, to be fair — just said on Fox News that Teddy Kennedy has become "a caricature of himself" and that it's "time for someone else to assume the mantle."
It's just possible that the CAP thing, and the Alito hearings, have been the end of Teddy Kennedy as a real force in national politics.
It's just possible that the CAP thing, and the Alito hearings, have been the end of Teddy Kennedy as a real force in national politics.
Statistics as Poetry
I never really "got" poetry. It always seemed to me that whatever it was the poet was trying to say, he or she could have said it more efficiently and much more effectively in prose. Oh, I know that reading poetry is supposed to be a constructive process, one in which the meaning you extract is largely what you put in. Sort of a demi-Rorschach. Still, I never got it, and never got much out of it. Never got much of a thrill looking at inkblots, either.
But as I eagerly await the arrival of Risk Analysis: A Quantitative Guide, 2nd Edition (David Vose), it's got my mind awandrin'. And I think I may experience something similar to what some people experience reading poetry by reading statistics.
It's a sense of puzzling out the deeper meaning, and of finding something in it that, while maybe not exactly what the writer intended, is useful and meaningful (and often surprising and wonderful) to me. And I wonder, if I were a real statistician, instead of a lover of statistics, would it be like reading a recipe?
I know there are some poetry lovers (and poets) who read this blog. Can any of you tell me... is that what it's like?
Should arrive tomorrow. I can't wait.
But as I eagerly await the arrival of Risk Analysis: A Quantitative Guide, 2nd Edition (David Vose), it's got my mind awandrin'. And I think I may experience something similar to what some people experience reading poetry by reading statistics.
It's a sense of puzzling out the deeper meaning, and of finding something in it that, while maybe not exactly what the writer intended, is useful and meaningful (and often surprising and wonderful) to me. And I wonder, if I were a real statistician, instead of a lover of statistics, would it be like reading a recipe?
I know there are some poetry lovers (and poets) who read this blog. Can any of you tell me... is that what it's like?
Should arrive tomorrow. I can't wait.
Friday, January 13, 2006
48 Hour Clock Running.....
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Zawa... whoops - the candles got blown out.
UPDATE: more details
Zawahiri probably should have been a bit more circumspect in claiming that troop withdrawal as an AQ victory - although Murtha agrees.
UPDATE: Pakis promise report within hours
UPDATE: more details
Zawahiri probably should have been a bit more circumspect in claiming that troop withdrawal as an AQ victory - although Murtha agrees.
UPDATE: Pakis promise report within hours
911 and the Leakers
Go read the Anchoress and remember when you read her words how you felt when you saw the Towers fall and what it was like when George Bush promised that he would not yield. And what the leakers risk for politics.
Can't defeat the Iraqis in Iraq.
Confederate yankee makes this observation in his 1/12/06 post Tactical Seppuku. But he is talking about AlQaida.
It never ceases to amaze me how people who oppose the war assume an AlQaida jihadi from Jordan can win in Iraq, but we can't. Well, in almost three years we have lost fewer people in Iraq than we lost on September 11 in the USA. This is in a country where our people are vastly outnumbered.
As to whether the cultural legacy of Islamic radicalism can be countered by Democracy only time will tell. But the Iraqi people have made it plain by their votes and their willingness to step forward and join the new security forces that they want a new future without Saddam.
As hard as that is for some people to believe. But then some people have not had to live in a country where people are skinned alive.
It never ceases to amaze me how people who oppose the war assume an AlQaida jihadi from Jordan can win in Iraq, but we can't. Well, in almost three years we have lost fewer people in Iraq than we lost on September 11 in the USA. This is in a country where our people are vastly outnumbered.
As to whether the cultural legacy of Islamic radicalism can be countered by Democracy only time will tell. But the Iraqi people have made it plain by their votes and their willingness to step forward and join the new security forces that they want a new future without Saddam.
As hard as that is for some people to believe. But then some people have not had to live in a country where people are skinned alive.
"… the flexibility and creativity of John Ashcroft at a disco contest."
What makes this bout of St. Vitus's maniacal dancing seem so opportunistic is that after 9/11, we heard constantly about the need to be more flexible and creative. The 9/11 commission's chief complaint was that authorities suffered from a lack of imagination when it came to terrorism.
Before 9/11, the system for listening to conversations between terrorists abroad and their accomplices on our soil had all the flexibility and creativity of John Ashcroft at a disco contest. Even with warrants issued by the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, the National Security Agency usually had to erase the "American" side of the conversation between suspected terrorists before handing them over to the FBI. — Jonah Goldberg on NSA
Under Clinton, NY Times called surveillance "a necessity"
I don't have a lot new to say above what William Tate said, except to emphasize that as the whole NSA "domestic spying" thing went on, I pointed out that it was done under the Clinton administration too, and under the same justifications.
The American Thinker
Apparently, it only bothers the New York Times during wartime. It couldn't be any political consideration.
The American Thinker
Apparently, it only bothers the New York Times during wartime. It couldn't be any political consideration.
Time to grow up
I know this will not make a lot of conservatives happy but it is time to grow up in terms of government programs.
I realize that entitlement programs need reform, in fact I supported Bush's calls to cut back on the growth of Social Security.
But I think conservatives are still living in a dream world where things like the prescription drug plan have no place.
Folks, the difference is not between a drug plan and some old lady making choices between food and medicine, it is between nationalized medicine and a drug plan.
There was the Reagan revolution and there was the Contract with America and government is not smaller. This is not just because the Republicans did not cut spending enough, it is because the people want and expect a certain amount of government involvement in our economy and in people's lives.
There is just not consensus to cut out all government programs.
I used to milk cows for a living and once when I was in the business I went to Washington DC with a group of farm wives. Lobbying I guess you could call it. I met a man there who told me he had spent his life fighting dairy programs and I thought "In a world full of famine and war and tyranny he chooses to spend his time fighting people who milk cows. What a strange man."
I still feel that way. My check from the milk processor which bought my milk included money taken out to pay for the program. We were docked to pay for the surplus as well.
And in return when Americans walk into a grocery store they do not have to wonder if clean drinkable milk will be there. I know people think that the market can take care of all that. But the market does not give a damn if milk is there or not. The point to the programs is to make sure it will be.
Now if you think people are upset by the price of gas, imagine an empty dairy case. Perhaps centralizing the industry in the hands of very few producers would make control of production more manageable, but only to a point. Old Bessy ain't got a spigot, you can't just turn her off and on.
{and yes shortages can happen, they were not unusual before government programs, they called them butter riots}
I realize that entitlement programs need reform, in fact I supported Bush's calls to cut back on the growth of Social Security.
But I think conservatives are still living in a dream world where things like the prescription drug plan have no place.
Folks, the difference is not between a drug plan and some old lady making choices between food and medicine, it is between nationalized medicine and a drug plan.
There was the Reagan revolution and there was the Contract with America and government is not smaller. This is not just because the Republicans did not cut spending enough, it is because the people want and expect a certain amount of government involvement in our economy and in people's lives.
There is just not consensus to cut out all government programs.
I used to milk cows for a living and once when I was in the business I went to Washington DC with a group of farm wives. Lobbying I guess you could call it. I met a man there who told me he had spent his life fighting dairy programs and I thought "In a world full of famine and war and tyranny he chooses to spend his time fighting people who milk cows. What a strange man."
I still feel that way. My check from the milk processor which bought my milk included money taken out to pay for the program. We were docked to pay for the surplus as well.
And in return when Americans walk into a grocery store they do not have to wonder if clean drinkable milk will be there. I know people think that the market can take care of all that. But the market does not give a damn if milk is there or not. The point to the programs is to make sure it will be.
Now if you think people are upset by the price of gas, imagine an empty dairy case. Perhaps centralizing the industry in the hands of very few producers would make control of production more manageable, but only to a point. Old Bessy ain't got a spigot, you can't just turn her off and on.
{and yes shortages can happen, they were not unusual before government programs, they called them butter riots}
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Prediction
It appears that the sight of Martha-Ann Alito reduced to tears by the hearings has turned out to make Judge Alito and his wife both the subjects of great sympathy, and caused much fuss about whether the Democrats have crossed the line. (Even Katie Couric.)
Here's my prediction: before they finish with the other testimony, someone will break into very public tears about how much they fear Alito, and it will get much press coverage.
Here's my prediction: before they finish with the other testimony, someone will break into very public tears about how much they fear Alito, and it will get much press coverage.
the most sustained attack on free political speech … since the … Alien and Sedition Acts
I tend not to panic and run, hair on fire, when a conservative publication says to, but I've got to admit I've worried about the same issue presented here: City Journal Winter 2006 | The Plot to Shush Rush and O’Reilly by Brian C. Anderson
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
In his powerful McConnell dissent, Clarence Thomas spelled out “the chilling endpoint” of the Court’s reasoning: “outright regulation of the press”—exactly what the campaign-reform theorists ultimately seek. “Media companies can run pro-candidate editorials as easily as nonmedia corporations can pay for advertisements,” Thomas explained. “Media corporations are influential. There is little doubt that the editorials and commentary they run can affect elections.” The Supreme Court has found little to distinguish media and non-media corporations. Asked Thomas: “What is to stop a future Congress from determining that the press is ‘too influential,’ and that the ‘appearance of corruption’ is significant when media organizations endorse candidates or run ‘slanted’ or ‘biased’ news stories in favor of candidates or parties?” Answer: Nothing. “Although today’s opinion does not expressly strip the press of First Amendment protection,” Thomas warned, “there is no principle of law or logic that would prevent the application of the Court’s reasoning in that setting. The press now operates at the whim of Congress.”
Stoning, Pillars, a Bridge, and a Deadly Stampede
I don't know what can be said of things such as Death Toll Rises to 345 in Hajj Stampede.
Thousands of Muslim pilgrims rushing to complete a symbolic stoning ritual during the hajj tripped over luggage Thursday, causing a crush in which at least 345 people were killed despite Saudi attempts to prevent stampedes that have plagued the annual event...
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said 345 people were killed. More than 1,000 people were injured, said Dr. Abbasi with the Saudi Red Crescent...
... the annual hajj pilgrimage and has seen deadly stampedes in the past, including one in 1990 that killed 1,426 people and another in February 2004 that killed 244. Seven of the past 17 yearly pilgrimages have seen deadly incidents at al-Jamarat.
The latest crush came despite Saudi attempts to ease the flow of traffic around al-Jamarat. This year's hajj was marred by the Jan. 5 collapse of a building being used as a pilgrims' hotel that killed 76 people in Mecca...
The pillars are located on a large pedestrian bridge, the width of an eight-lane highway over the desert plain of Mina outside the holy city of Mecca. Four ramps lead up the bridge to give pilgrims access to the site, and the stampede occurred at the base of one ramp...
The stampede took place despite Saudi efforts to improve traffic at the site, where all 2.5 million pilgrims participating in the annual hajj move from pillar to pillar to throw their stones, then exit.
Saudi authorities replaced the small round pillars with short walls to allow more people to throw their stones without jostling for position. The walls extend down through the bridge and protrude underneath, so pilgrims below can also carry out the stoning without going above.
Officials also recently widened the bridge, built extra ramps and increased the time pilgrims can carry out the rite - which on the second and final days traditionally takes place from midday until sunset.
Shiite Muslim clerics have issued religious edicts allowing pilgrims to start the ritual in the morning, and many Shiites from Iraq, Iran, Bahrain, Lebanon and Pakistan took advantage to go early in the day.
``This is much better. We are now done with the stoning before the crowd gets larger,'' an Iranian pilgrim, Azghar Meshadi, said hours before the stampede.But Saudi Arabia's Sunni Muslim clerics, who follow the fundamentalist Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, encouraged pilgrims to stick to the midday rule...
Rewriting the textbooks - Forests may contribute to global warming.
I don't know what to make of this story. Perhaps Yargb's scientists could help me. How is it that a seemingly fundamental and basic fact of plant biochemistry could, if this study is correct, go unknown until now? I am regularly amazed at the seas of mystery and ignorance around our islands of knowledge.
Scientists in Germany have discovered that ordinary plants produce significant amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas which helps trap the sun's energy in the atmosphere.
...
Until now, it had been thought that natural sources of methane were mainly limited to environments where bacteria acted on vegetation in conditions of low oxygen levels, such as in swamps and rice paddies.
But a team led by Frank Keppler of the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany, stumbled upon this new effect when studying emissions from the leaves of trees and grasses in conditions similar to those they would encounter in the open air.
To their amazement, the scientists found that all the textbooks written on the biochemistry of plants had apparently overlooked the fact that methane is produced by a range of plants even when there is plenty of oxygen.
...
The possible implications are set out in Nature by David Lowe of New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, who writes: "We now have the spectre that new forests might increase greenhouse warming through methane emissions rather than decrease it by sequestering carbon dioxide."
Here We Go Again
I was a professor at the University of Utah coming back to my office one late afternoon when one of my colleagues announced to me excitedly that they had discovered cold fusion. Right there in Utah! Naturally I was skeptical. But within the week Pons and Fleischmann held their press conference and the event seemed sufficiently significant to warrant walking over and witnessing it in person. I was impressed with their sincerity but remained skeptical of their results.
Then the naysayers got to work. It soon became quite obvious that the arguments back and forth sprang from a social rather than scientific basis. Pons and Fleischmann were chemists; all the physicists immediately chimed in that fusion, which had hitherto been the domain of physicists, could not possibly be done by chemistry, by which was meant by chemists. Physicists look down on chemists, but mathematicians look down on both so I had no particular pony in the race and remained completely open-minded but skeptical. I might add that the fusion projects favored by physicists involve billions of dollars which they were keen to maintain. Very keen. It was my first exposure to the truly ugly acrimony that lies behind science as it is actually practiced. Like sausage and politics, it is best not to see the process of creation.
There was another angle to the quagmire. Our favorite publication, the New York Times, came out early and forcefully with the position that Fleischmann and Pons were wrong. They knew that definitively because they were the New York Times. The subtext of their argument was essentially that such a thing, if it existed, could not possibly have been found first in Utah before the Ivy Leagues. Looking back, I believe that was my very first hint that something might not be quite right at the New York Times, which up until that point I had venerated unquestioningly. It was very clear to me, sitting there in Utah as I was, that there was a strong whiff of regionalism and probably what amounted to anti-Mormon bigotry driving their apparently unwarranted vituperation. Little did they know that the University of Utah is to Utah roughly what Austin is to Texas, which is to say that it is the center of anti-Mormon feeling within the state. That wasn't going to stop the NYT, which seemed rather ill-informed on the issue.
Scientists from around the world immediately tried to duplicate the Pons-Fleischmann experiment and something strange happened. Some people could duplicate the results some of the time, or so they said; others could not. And, worst of all from the scientific point of view, no one was ever able to precisely define or understand the conditions under which the experiment was replicated. That was deadly, and under the weight of a tsunami of antipathy from physicists, the New York Times, and as it seemed everyone east of the Mississippi, the whole thing was written off as a hoax and a ridiculous one at that.
But was it?
I personally remained quite skeptical for a long time, but eventually became convinced that the effect was real although only intermittently replicable. I became convinced because another professor at Utah in the engineering school had decided that the chemists were completely off the deep end and had set out to prove so definitively. He set up a hundred or so beakers exactly replicating their conditions, set them to running, and found that nothing happened. He was on the verge of denouncing them publicly when...one of the beakers started firing up and showing, apparently, cold fusion. Then another. Ultimately several did so, but which ones and when and under what conditions were questions neither he nor anyone else could ever answer. This left the whole field in complete ignominy. Most of the public thought all that had happened was a couple of Mormon hustlers had tried to pull a fast one. (Neither of them was Mormon.) Most of the public remains soundly convinced that there was never any effect, it was all a hoax, much as most of the public is now convinced that Bush did not do his job on Katrina because he hates black people.
More recent experience with the MSM in general and with the NYT in particular should perhaps persuade us to rethink the whole scenario.
In the meantime, the scientific establishment has, very very quietly, continued with the research. After years of batting it back and forth, a blue-ribbon Department of Energy panel of scientists carefully reviewed the evidence again a couple of years ago and, contrary to the popular belief, decided that--far from being a clearcut hoax--the evidence is still uncertain. We still don't really know if the effect is real or if it's an artifact of the experimental apparatus. Here's a quote:
"Most scientists think that cold fusion is laughable, but when the dust settled, the researchers reviewing our work were evenly split."
David Nagel
cold fusion researcher at George Washington University in Washington DC
(Oh, and as an aside, researchers in Utah later dug up an article from the 1920's(!) in which a researcher had long ago stumbled across the same phenomenon, again without consistent reproducibility. The article appeared in--can you guess it?--the New York Times.)
Enter physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan of Purdue University. He believes he has now definitively created desktop fusion, albeit through a novel method. Instead of using electricity as the input mechanism he uses ultrasound. Looks good. There's just one problem:
the experiment doesn't always work, and the group is not sure why. Seth Putterman, a physicist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has also tried to verify some of Taleyarkhan's experiments, notes that the paper does not reveal how many failed runs were required before the team saw a trace of fusion neutrons.
Sounds very familiar. It's enough to make strong men weep. Well, this time around there's a physicist doing it, and he's east of the Mississippi, so maybe there's a chance it will be accepted into the mainstream. Or maybe not. Indiana is pretty far out west as far as the parochial inhabitants of Boswash are concerned. (But after Alito's grilling, I guess Princeton is no longer considered a sufficiently acceptable institution of higher learning either. You just can't win.) Or maybe it's all hokum? Will the evil New York Times receive it's well-earned comeuppance? Will big-time hoaxsters Pons and Fleischmann finally be definitively debunked? Stay tuned. Watch this space for developments.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Yet Another Really Great Blog
We've augmented the blogroll again.
Spook 86 is a guy (gal?--sounds like a guy) who claims to be a former spy and has recently joined bloggerdom. In his own words, "Spook 86 is the pseudonym for a former member of the U.S. intelligence community". I dunno about that, but one thing I can say is that his new blog, In From the Cold, is great. Really. Like Belmont Club, it contains lots of analysis of foreign doings that I didn't know about and hadn't thought of, but the site also contains trenchant analysis of the domestic political scene.
Consider this article detailing the nefarious NYT and its continuing attempt to surreptitiously elect Hillary whether we like it or not. Did you know about Hillary's plan, in conjunction with Kerry, to have the federal government force all states to give voting rights to ex-cons? Neither did I.
Is Wretchard finally getting some real competition? Well, Wretchard writes like an angel, so nobody can compete with that, but on the analytical side there might be something here. Only time will tell. [HT Roger Simon]
Spook 86 is a guy (gal?--sounds like a guy) who claims to be a former spy and has recently joined bloggerdom. In his own words, "Spook 86 is the pseudonym for a former member of the U.S. intelligence community". I dunno about that, but one thing I can say is that his new blog, In From the Cold, is great. Really. Like Belmont Club, it contains lots of analysis of foreign doings that I didn't know about and hadn't thought of, but the site also contains trenchant analysis of the domestic political scene.
Consider this article detailing the nefarious NYT and its continuing attempt to surreptitiously elect Hillary whether we like it or not. Did you know about Hillary's plan, in conjunction with Kerry, to have the federal government force all states to give voting rights to ex-cons? Neither did I.
For the record, Senator Clinton favors blanket amnesty for felons; along with John Kerry, she supported a "Count Every Vote Act" that would have forced states to restore voting rights to felons. As the WSJ noted last year, the felony voter provision was actually a thinly-veiled effort to restore a Democratic majority in the Senate. A study by sociologists Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza found that projected felon voting would have been sufficient to keep the Democratis in charge of the Senate from 1986 until 2004, a powerful incentive to restore voting rights to jailbirds and ex-cons.Speaks for itself.
Is Wretchard finally getting some real competition? Well, Wretchard writes like an angel, so nobody can compete with that, but on the analytical side there might be something here. Only time will tell. [HT Roger Simon]
Snow Removal
I haven't had anything to say about the Canadian election yet, because not much exciting has happened. The Conservatives, my choice, have been sure and steady but are unfolding a very cautious program with many Liberal lite elements. The Liberals are slowly falling apart, as their lack of vision, and their sense of entitlement to power, is just reinforced the more they use their scare tactics: portraying the Tories as sinister, American-style Christer Republicans, something out of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale.
In Monday night's tv debate, in an act of desperation, Prime Minister Paul Martin threw out an impromptu addition to the Liberal party's campaign platform, advocating the removal of the Notwithstanding Clause (NWC) in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This clause allows the federal and provincial legislatures to pass laws, notwithstanding the provisions of the Charter, for a period of five years (renewable). In other words, the NWC allows the legislatures to override any court decision that a piece of legislation is unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights. The NWC was added to the Charter by those who insisted on preserving the British convention that Parliament is the supreme authority in the land. The Charter has been favored by those who want to see the courts play a more activist role in protecting rights against the state. So now, at the end of the era in which all forms of legal discrimination against people by sex, race, ethnicity, religion, have been effectively removed, the Liberals would risk upsetting our balance of powers between legislature and courts in order to highlight their key campaign idea that "Stephen Harper and the Conservatives want to take away your rights". It's just like what the American Democrats say about George Bush, without actually being able to point to a right the big bad white guy has or would take away. Cynical bastards.
As for the third party, the NDP, perennially lost in the seventies, they have little to say but "We're not corrupt Liberals, so vote for us and we'll be sure to get you all the welfare state you want".
Well I love Canada for what it is, but politically groundbreaking it is not. Still, I am pleased to note the Conservatives are rising in the polls. And this may be a sign of the overall decline of wacky pc, centrist, elitist, liberalism in the west. For anyone wanting a feel for the campaign I recommend David Warren who captures my thoughts in this column.
In Monday night's tv debate, in an act of desperation, Prime Minister Paul Martin threw out an impromptu addition to the Liberal party's campaign platform, advocating the removal of the Notwithstanding Clause (NWC) in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This clause allows the federal and provincial legislatures to pass laws, notwithstanding the provisions of the Charter, for a period of five years (renewable). In other words, the NWC allows the legislatures to override any court decision that a piece of legislation is unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights. The NWC was added to the Charter by those who insisted on preserving the British convention that Parliament is the supreme authority in the land. The Charter has been favored by those who want to see the courts play a more activist role in protecting rights against the state. So now, at the end of the era in which all forms of legal discrimination against people by sex, race, ethnicity, religion, have been effectively removed, the Liberals would risk upsetting our balance of powers between legislature and courts in order to highlight their key campaign idea that "Stephen Harper and the Conservatives want to take away your rights". It's just like what the American Democrats say about George Bush, without actually being able to point to a right the big bad white guy has or would take away. Cynical bastards.
As for the third party, the NDP, perennially lost in the seventies, they have little to say but "We're not corrupt Liberals, so vote for us and we'll be sure to get you all the welfare state you want".
Well I love Canada for what it is, but politically groundbreaking it is not. Still, I am pleased to note the Conservatives are rising in the polls. And this may be a sign of the overall decline of wacky pc, centrist, elitist, liberalism in the west. For anyone wanting a feel for the campaign I recommend David Warren who captures my thoughts in this column.
Funny Business in Canada
Kate at Small Dead Animals gives us the lowdown on the Liberal's latest campaign ads targeting Stephen Harper, the leader of the conservatives. Holy Kennedy and Schumer, Batman, look what's going down:
Stephen Harper
actually announced
he wants to
increase
military presence
in our cities.
Canadian cities.
Soldiers with guns.
In our cities.
In Canada.
We did not
make this up.
actually announced
he wants to
increase
military presence
in our cities.
Canadian cities.
Soldiers with guns.
In our cities.
In Canada.
We did not
make this up.
The parodies have begun:
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is named "Stephen".
As in "St. Stephen".
The name of a saint.
A Christian saint.
Christian like Adolf Hitler.
Does Stephen Harper have a hidden agenda to turn Canada into a Christian theocracy?
We don't know.
He isn't saying.
Choose your Canada.
I give up
I tried. I really tried to sit through Chuck Schumer's inquisition of Alito.
I thought it was one of the most ridiculous and obnoxious performances on the part of a Senator I have ever seen and that is saying something.
All I can say is that in the off chance that a Democrat wins the White House again, the president whoever he, she or it may be had better not pick an ACLU lawyer like Ginsberg. It won't be pretty.
As for a constitutional right to abortion..well unlike Chucky I actually am a woman and in spite of that I have to admit that it is debatable as to whether there is a constitutional right to abortion. [That does not mean I think all abortion should be illegal however.]
As a matter of fact the founding fathers made a point of not talking about it. Too bad Chucky Schumer can not do the same thing.
I thought it was one of the most ridiculous and obnoxious performances on the part of a Senator I have ever seen and that is saying something.
All I can say is that in the off chance that a Democrat wins the White House again, the president whoever he, she or it may be had better not pick an ACLU lawyer like Ginsberg. It won't be pretty.
As for a constitutional right to abortion..well unlike Chucky I actually am a woman and in spite of that I have to admit that it is debatable as to whether there is a constitutional right to abortion. [That does not mean I think all abortion should be illegal however.]
As a matter of fact the founding fathers made a point of not talking about it. Too bad Chucky Schumer can not do the same thing.
Superb Results at the New York Times
The flagship paper for New York City - The New York Post reports results concerning its second rate competitor that raise the spirits on this overcast day. While the Post's circulation within the five boroughs has increased by by some 29% over the period '01-'04 the NYT's circulation for the same area dropped a handsome 18.7%. The Time's ill thought and poorly executed plan to go "national" has increased its total circulation by a whopping .5% (that's half of one per cent).
What percentage of the costs associated with going national might that .5% increase cover? My bet is that it covers much less than its equivalent - perhaps .005% of the additional cost.
It is good to know that Sulzberger and Keller's business acumen is as substantial as their sense of civic duty. May they and every NYT shareholder reap all that they have sown.
What percentage of the costs associated with going national might that .5% increase cover? My bet is that it covers much less than its equivalent - perhaps .005% of the additional cost.
It is good to know that Sulzberger and Keller's business acumen is as substantial as their sense of civic duty. May they and every NYT shareholder reap all that they have sown.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
neo-neocon finds a convert
neo-neocon has an interesting post in regards to the following quote from Jonathan Freedman of the Guardian:
For a left liberal like me, it is not easy to commit heresy. After all, we are meant to be open-minded free thinkers, unshackled by taboos. Nevertheless there is one thought so heretical, merely to utter it would ensure instant excommunication. I hesitate even to pose it as a question. But here goes. What if George W Bush was to prove to be one of the great American presidents?...
Today's conventional wisdom, taking in every foreign ministry in the world – including most of the US State Department – holds that Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom has been a tragedy of errors. Based on faulty premises, disingenuously sold and incompetently planned, the mission of 2003 is widely regarded as an abject failure.
But the future may not see it that way. The war removed one of the most hated tyrants of modern times, shifting Saddam Hussein from a palace to a prison cell. Couple that with the toppling of the Taliban, a regime of cruelty and brutal philistinism, and Bush's defenders have a powerful opening argument.
Next, they can point further afield. For didn't the war in Iraq, admittedly prosecuted at a high and bloody price, not set in train a wider series of events. Note Libya's rapid decision to come clean...
Lebanon is the clearest example, with its Cedar Revolution leading to an outburst of people power on the streets of Beirut – and the ejection of the Syrian occupier. Tentative moves toward electoral democracy have followed in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and Bahrain. Even Syria seems, grudgingly, to understand that it lives in a changed region and that it too will have to adapt...
Yes, there are contradictions and hypocrisies, but that shift represents a break from at least 60 years of US foreign policy – and in the right direction. If Washington was to honour this ideal, articulated well by Bush, then the world would be a better place...
...change will eventually come to the Middle East, just as it came, eventually, to Eastern Europe. And, when it does, it is at least conceivable that the man future generations will credit as the pioneer will be none other than George W Bush
baby steps.
For a left liberal like me, it is not easy to commit heresy. After all, we are meant to be open-minded free thinkers, unshackled by taboos. Nevertheless there is one thought so heretical, merely to utter it would ensure instant excommunication. I hesitate even to pose it as a question. But here goes. What if George W Bush was to prove to be one of the great American presidents?...
Today's conventional wisdom, taking in every foreign ministry in the world – including most of the US State Department – holds that Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom has been a tragedy of errors. Based on faulty premises, disingenuously sold and incompetently planned, the mission of 2003 is widely regarded as an abject failure.
But the future may not see it that way. The war removed one of the most hated tyrants of modern times, shifting Saddam Hussein from a palace to a prison cell. Couple that with the toppling of the Taliban, a regime of cruelty and brutal philistinism, and Bush's defenders have a powerful opening argument.
Next, they can point further afield. For didn't the war in Iraq, admittedly prosecuted at a high and bloody price, not set in train a wider series of events. Note Libya's rapid decision to come clean...
Lebanon is the clearest example, with its Cedar Revolution leading to an outburst of people power on the streets of Beirut – and the ejection of the Syrian occupier. Tentative moves toward electoral democracy have followed in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and Bahrain. Even Syria seems, grudgingly, to understand that it lives in a changed region and that it too will have to adapt...
Yes, there are contradictions and hypocrisies, but that shift represents a break from at least 60 years of US foreign policy – and in the right direction. If Washington was to honour this ideal, articulated well by Bush, then the world would be a better place...
...change will eventually come to the Middle East, just as it came, eventually, to Eastern Europe. And, when it does, it is at least conceivable that the man future generations will credit as the pioneer will be none other than George W Bush
baby steps.
No to NBC
Terre Haute is not a big city. It has a population of about 60,000 people and has for years been controlled by the Democrats, an exception for Indiana.
But it is still a traditional town in a midwestern state. WTWO is the NBC affiliate in Terre Haute and it just said no to NBC.
Due to the feedback they received from the community, management has decided they will not air the new sitcom The Book of Daniel.
It seems that the people of Terre Haute took exception with a comedy that depticted Christians as drug addicts, drug dealers, thieves, alcoholics, homosexuals, adulterers etc.
But I do not think that is what upset people half as much as the depiction of Christ as a smart ass.
I don't attend Church on a regular basis and I don't pretend to be devout, but what is the point in something like this? It seems offensive to me and if the family were Muslims instead of Christians I doubt we would be seeing Mohammed portrayed as sarcastic..not unless the producer, the cast and the crew all had a death wish anyway.
But it is still a traditional town in a midwestern state. WTWO is the NBC affiliate in Terre Haute and it just said no to NBC.
Due to the feedback they received from the community, management has decided they will not air the new sitcom The Book of Daniel.
It seems that the people of Terre Haute took exception with a comedy that depticted Christians as drug addicts, drug dealers, thieves, alcoholics, homosexuals, adulterers etc.
But I do not think that is what upset people half as much as the depiction of Christ as a smart ass.
I don't attend Church on a regular basis and I don't pretend to be devout, but what is the point in something like this? It seems offensive to me and if the family were Muslims instead of Christians I doubt we would be seeing Mohammed portrayed as sarcastic..not unless the producer, the cast and the crew all had a death wish anyway.
Another Bad Day
For al-Queada and its American useful idiots.
Many thanks and best wishes to those men and women who have chosen to serve.
Many thanks and best wishes to those men and women who have chosen to serve.
Alito's Performance So Far
At the time of this post, Senator Feingold is conducting what for me has been the most substantive inquiry of the session. Feingold is a skilled questioner and has a serious but respectful demeanor. Alito is responding in a calm, candid and well reasoned fashion.
Nonetheless, Feingold was able to make the recusal issue an important one, not because the witness did anything unethical, but because he testified in his Circuit Court hearing that he would recuse if Vanguard was involved and did not do so.
While I do not think this rises to the level of a "extraordinary circumstance", it will give cover to at least some folks who want to vote no to do so.
That this struck some nerves was emphasized when Senator Hatch asked for 2 minutes out of order for some rehabilitative questions. As a trial lawyer, I do not think I would have done what Senator Hatch did, because it called attention to the fact that Feingold made a good point.
But for this little flap the hearing for Judge Alito has gone pretty well. He has politely, articulately, carefully, substantively and respectfully answered questions asked him.
He is passing my 5 a**h**** rule, and I believe he will be confirmed.
And he should be.
Nonetheless, Feingold was able to make the recusal issue an important one, not because the witness did anything unethical, but because he testified in his Circuit Court hearing that he would recuse if Vanguard was involved and did not do so.
While I do not think this rises to the level of a "extraordinary circumstance", it will give cover to at least some folks who want to vote no to do so.
That this struck some nerves was emphasized when Senator Hatch asked for 2 minutes out of order for some rehabilitative questions. As a trial lawyer, I do not think I would have done what Senator Hatch did, because it called attention to the fact that Feingold made a good point.
But for this little flap the hearing for Judge Alito has gone pretty well. He has politely, articulately, carefully, substantively and respectfully answered questions asked him.
He is passing my 5 a**h**** rule, and I believe he will be confirmed.
And he should be.
Ode To The Left
The Planster's Vision
Cut down that timber! Bells, too many and strong,
Pouring their music through the branches bare,
From moon-white church-towers down the windy air
Have pealed the centuries out with Evensong.
Remove those cottages, a huddled throng!
Too many babies have been born in there,
Too many coffins, bumping down the stair,
Carried the old their garden paths along.
I have a Vision of The Future, chum,
The workers' flats in fields of soya beans
Tower up like silver pencils, score on score
And Surging Millions hear the Challenge come
From microphones in communal canteens
"No Right! No Wrong! All's perfect, evermore."
--Sir John Betjeman
Cut down that timber! Bells, too many and strong,
Pouring their music through the branches bare,
From moon-white church-towers down the windy air
Have pealed the centuries out with Evensong.
Remove those cottages, a huddled throng!
Too many babies have been born in there,
Too many coffins, bumping down the stair,
Carried the old their garden paths along.
I have a Vision of The Future, chum,
The workers' flats in fields of soya beans
Tower up like silver pencils, score on score
And Surging Millions hear the Challenge come
From microphones in communal canteens
"No Right! No Wrong! All's perfect, evermore."
--Sir John Betjeman
Send Michael Totten to Iraq
Michael Totten wants to go to Iraq.
I think he should go.
I just gave him some money.
If you think he should go, you should give him some money.
I think he should go.
I just gave him some money.
If you think he should go, you should give him some money.
More on the Pope, Islam, Europe & America
Spengler at Asia Times Online has commentary on the Pope's recent comments on Islam.
Spengler makes the Pope out to be almost an underground figure:
While adding some valuable context to our understanding of the Pope's reported remarks - explaining the centrality of the question of revelation to Benedict's theology and anthropology - Spengler makes a fascinating observation on Benedict's article in the most recent edition of First Things (presently by subscription only):
It would seem that Benedict has come to the same conclusion as at least one of our readers, Pastorius, who noted here that if Europe is to survive as an engine of western culture, it must become more like America. For Benedict, this means Europe must rediscover the prepolitical (revealed and sacred) truths which make politics, i.e. contest of a shared human scene, possible. I wonder also what YARGB readers will make of Spengler's suggestion that America still has much to learn from Europe, or at least from certain Europeans.
Spengler makes the Pope out to be almost an underground figure:
For the pope to refute the fundamental premise of US policy is news of inestimable strategic importance, yet a Google News scan reveals that not a single media outlet has taken notice of what Fessio told interviewer Hugh Hewitt last week. No matter: still and small as Benedict's voice might be, it carries further than earthquake and whirlwind.
While adding some valuable context to our understanding of the Pope's reported remarks - explaining the centrality of the question of revelation to Benedict's theology and anthropology - Spengler makes a fascinating observation on Benedict's article in the most recent edition of First Things (presently by subscription only):
Benedict makes the remarkable (for a pope) statement that the US model is what the early church really had in mind. He proceeds from the famous argument of Pope Gelasius I (492-496) that "because of human weakness (pride!), they have separated the two offices" of king and priest. Neither the state church model of Northern Europe nor the secular model of France, Italy and Spain has sufficed, Benedict observes. But he continues:Situated between the two [failed] models is the model of the United States of America. Formed on the basis of free churches, it adopts a separation between church and state. Above and beyond the single denominations, it is characterized by a Protestant Christian consensus that is not defined in denominational terms but rather in association with its sense of a special religious mission toward the rest of the world. The religious sphere thus acquires a significant weight in public affairs and emerges as a pre-political and supra-political force with the potential to have a decisive impact on political life.It is useless to bemoan the fact that Americans do not understand what they are until a European comes along and explains it to them; that has been true since Alexis de Tocqueville. It is most promising that a European, indeed one who speaks with the authority of the throne of St Peter, has explained the difference between the Christian foundation of the US political system and theocratic Islam - even if the explanation came in the form of a stage whisper. I expect this to have profound consequences.
It would seem that Benedict has come to the same conclusion as at least one of our readers, Pastorius, who noted here that if Europe is to survive as an engine of western culture, it must become more like America. For Benedict, this means Europe must rediscover the prepolitical (revealed and sacred) truths which make politics, i.e. contest of a shared human scene, possible. I wonder also what YARGB readers will make of Spengler's suggestion that America still has much to learn from Europe, or at least from certain Europeans.
Monday, January 09, 2006
In Other News
I could not take it.
I tried to watch some of the Alito hearings awhile ago, but Durbin was ranting and raving and I could not listen to it.
This is sad. He said [among other things] that the Bush administration claims the right to torture people.
No they do not. In fact they have said time and again that they do not support torture.
Now Durbin {the man who not so long ago compared American troops to Nazis} can claim the Bush administration has said a lot of things, but at no point did they claim the right to torture people.
Anyway, I listened for some time and Durbin just kept running off at the mouth instead of asking intelligent questions so I said to hell with it.
What a farce.
For some info from someone who actually knows what she is talking about check out Malkin .
This is sad. He said [among other things] that the Bush administration claims the right to torture people.
No they do not. In fact they have said time and again that they do not support torture.
Now Durbin {the man who not so long ago compared American troops to Nazis} can claim the Bush administration has said a lot of things, but at no point did they claim the right to torture people.
Anyway, I listened for some time and Durbin just kept running off at the mouth instead of asking intelligent questions so I said to hell with it.
What a farce.
For some info from someone who actually knows what she is talking about check out Malkin .
Money And Politics
Since the idea that there is a pressing need for reform of the way politics is financed seems to be gaining traction, I’m offering the following suggestions as to what realistic changes should look like in my view.
1) Ban all political donations to parties or individual candidates from PAC’s, unions, or corporations. Only individual citizens should be eligible to donate money.
2) Put a cap on how much money any individual may donate, say $10,1000 per party and $5,000 per candidate.
3) Allow individuals to donate money only to candidates in their own district. A Californian should not be able to influence a House race in West Virginia.
All of the above would pass constitutional muster, in my opinion. The question then arises; what happens if a multi-billionaire decides to donate $30 million to a 527 group to run ads to influence an election? Or what if a movie-maker releases a film which is aimed at affecting the political process? How about a writer publishing a book attacking a certain candidate? I don’t see how any restrictions on these activities could get past the Supreme Court, so I think that we will simply have to live with them.
Of course, these loopholes tend to make the whole reform process pointless. It does little good to restrict a corporation or union from donating directly to a candidate if they can donate instead to a 527 which supports that candidate.
However, many people have argued that it’s important that some action be taken so that some appearance of reform occurs. So I’m offering these suggestions as practical possibilities. Feel free to leave suggestions for other possible reforms in the comments section.
1) Ban all political donations to parties or individual candidates from PAC’s, unions, or corporations. Only individual citizens should be eligible to donate money.
2) Put a cap on how much money any individual may donate, say $10,1000 per party and $5,000 per candidate.
3) Allow individuals to donate money only to candidates in their own district. A Californian should not be able to influence a House race in West Virginia.
All of the above would pass constitutional muster, in my opinion. The question then arises; what happens if a multi-billionaire decides to donate $30 million to a 527 group to run ads to influence an election? Or what if a movie-maker releases a film which is aimed at affecting the political process? How about a writer publishing a book attacking a certain candidate? I don’t see how any restrictions on these activities could get past the Supreme Court, so I think that we will simply have to live with them.
Of course, these loopholes tend to make the whole reform process pointless. It does little good to restrict a corporation or union from donating directly to a candidate if they can donate instead to a 527 which supports that candidate.
However, many people have argued that it’s important that some action be taken so that some appearance of reform occurs. So I’m offering these suggestions as practical possibilities. Feel free to leave suggestions for other possible reforms in the comments section.
Shifting Sands - Treason
Sedition's big brother is appearing in the New York Post this morning, wielded by a writer with the background to give weight to the charge. I was reminded in comments recently that I had used the label Copperhead to describe the opposition party over two years ago. I'm quite sure that my initial use of the term predates the exchange cited by a minimum of a year. The opposition party turned to sedition within weeks of the fall of Baghdad, having the foresight to realize that their support of actually protecting the United States (via the AUMF) was going to have the effect of strengthening the President and by extension, his party.
That realization, coupled with an amazing lack of scruples and an invincible ignorance of the existence of principles, has lead the opposition ineluctably to its current place of shame. Watching the remnants of the political power which it had held and wielded for seventy years washing away, coupled with a complete lack of vision regarding what might be done to regain it, raised despair to a level where sedition - and its big brother - seem the only "hope" remaining. What is truly unfortunate about the situation is that the majority within the opposition party do not hold, and in fact, are unalterably opposed to positions taken by its leadership. How many party members would vote 'Yes' for an objective alliance with al-Queada?
Unfortunately, party members have minimal input in the selection of party leadership. Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid do not hold their positions based upon merit or the fact that they share the ideals of the majority of their party but upon a system of advancement based upon seniority coupled with a perceived (and unrealized) ability to raise money. The seams maintaining the illusion of unity within the party have been rent and no amount of mending will rejoin them. Last summer labor clarified its departure - which group will be next?
The collapse of a political party would be a matter of minor historical interest (unless we were speaking of the Rockingham Whigs) except for its inauspicious timing. A collapse coupled with a cynical alignment of party interest and enemies of the United States is another matter. The symbiotic relationship between al-Queada and the opposition party is harmful to the national interest and deadly to our armed forces as well as to the innocents slaughtered by al-Queada in a last effort to effect a change in governance within the only country that has shown a firm determination to accomplish its extermination. Let us hope for an ignominous and speedy end for both parties to this unholy alliance.
That realization, coupled with an amazing lack of scruples and an invincible ignorance of the existence of principles, has lead the opposition ineluctably to its current place of shame. Watching the remnants of the political power which it had held and wielded for seventy years washing away, coupled with a complete lack of vision regarding what might be done to regain it, raised despair to a level where sedition - and its big brother - seem the only "hope" remaining. What is truly unfortunate about the situation is that the majority within the opposition party do not hold, and in fact, are unalterably opposed to positions taken by its leadership. How many party members would vote 'Yes' for an objective alliance with al-Queada?
Unfortunately, party members have minimal input in the selection of party leadership. Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid do not hold their positions based upon merit or the fact that they share the ideals of the majority of their party but upon a system of advancement based upon seniority coupled with a perceived (and unrealized) ability to raise money. The seams maintaining the illusion of unity within the party have been rent and no amount of mending will rejoin them. Last summer labor clarified its departure - which group will be next?
The collapse of a political party would be a matter of minor historical interest (unless we were speaking of the Rockingham Whigs) except for its inauspicious timing. A collapse coupled with a cynical alignment of party interest and enemies of the United States is another matter. The symbiotic relationship between al-Queada and the opposition party is harmful to the national interest and deadly to our armed forces as well as to the innocents slaughtered by al-Queada in a last effort to effect a change in governance within the only country that has shown a firm determination to accomplish its extermination. Let us hope for an ignominous and speedy end for both parties to this unholy alliance.
Home on the Range
Truepeers once said he'd never been to the middle of the US and wondered what it looked like. I thought I'd save him the trouble. Here's the oldest known picture of our local specialty, dating from 1884. You can usually count on one of these every week or so in Sedgwick County during the May-June season.
High resolution version, to get the full flavor.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Glass houses
The Captain has an interesting link and comment concerning Abramoff and his money:
Cycle .......... Dems ..........GOP
2000 .......$216,470........$409,513
2002........$552,230.......$1,478,740
2004........$620,503........$843,835
2006........$152,470.......$177,500
In fact, the ratio comes almost exactly 2-1 during this period, with Abramoff-linked donations accounting for $2.9 million to Republican coffers and $1.5 million for Democrats over this period. Over the last four cycles, the trend has not been towards the GOP, either; the Democrats got an ever-increasing share.
This doesn't exonerate the GOP for its association with Abramoff. But if people think that Abramoff represents a "culture of corruption" that relates only to Republicans, they obviously don't know Jack.
I think the Republican should clean this up.... but I also think there is a larger problem here and it goes beyond partisan politics.
We can have reform and new laws and I am sure we will, but will they be obeyed?
Updated: Great minds think alike. powerline has a post with the same title which makes note of the fact that 40 out of 45 Democratic Senators took money from Abramoff, his associates or his Indian tribe clients. hmmmmmm.....
Cycle .......... Dems ..........GOP
2000 .......$216,470........$409,513
2002........$552,230.......$1,478,740
2004........$620,503........$843,835
2006........$152,470.......$177,500
In fact, the ratio comes almost exactly 2-1 during this period, with Abramoff-linked donations accounting for $2.9 million to Republican coffers and $1.5 million for Democrats over this period. Over the last four cycles, the trend has not been towards the GOP, either; the Democrats got an ever-increasing share.
This doesn't exonerate the GOP for its association with Abramoff. But if people think that Abramoff represents a "culture of corruption" that relates only to Republicans, they obviously don't know Jack.
I think the Republican should clean this up.... but I also think there is a larger problem here and it goes beyond partisan politics.
We can have reform and new laws and I am sure we will, but will they be obeyed?
Updated: Great minds think alike. powerline has a post with the same title which makes note of the fact that 40 out of 45 Democratic Senators took money from Abramoff, his associates or his Indian tribe clients. hmmmmmm.....
Heartwarming Support for Alito
This is the first column by Robert Kuttner that I have ever seen. Although I know that the Boston Globe is the main effluent discharge site for the New York Times I was rather surprised by the tone and content of this piece. Previously I had been a bit lukewarm in my support of Alito's confirmation but this column provides a basis for really getting behind this nomination.
It does raise an interesting question though. Are hallucinogenic drugs sold over the counter in Massachusetts?
It does raise an interesting question though. Are hallucinogenic drugs sold over the counter in Massachusetts?
Tim Blair Snort Fest
Best quotes from 2005! Does Tim have an eye for irony or what? And nobody gives context like Tim!
Click on the months below or just hit http://timblair.net/ and keep scrolling.
Samples:
From December:
“I don’t know why I’ve done this. I’m a Muslim, I was fasting, the last thing I should ever have done is eat something.”—Mohammed Sarfraz, charged with assault after biting off part of a security guard’s ear.
From November:
“France is declaring a curfew. I guess after 12 days, Chirac finally finished the French edition of ‘My Pet Goat.’”—commenter Room 237
From October:
“I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can’t play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it’s called.”—Howard Dean
From September:
“Much of Gaza is a great mass of apartment blocks - flung up to house the exploding population.”—unintended accuracy from the BBC
From August:
”I think if we had a three-word message right now it’d be, ‘We can do better.’” —Howard Dean
“If he would come out right now, it would really defuse the momentum.”—Mother Sheehan explains that she doesn’t really want to meet George W. Bush after all
From July:
“On July 7 three trains and a bus in London killed 56 people - including the four suspected suicide bombers - and wounded 700.”—an AAP item blames public transport
“Who I am is a human being with divinity within and an immense capacity to love and express compassion and kindness and justice.”—former human shield Donna Mulhearn. She’s also modest.
(He'll be putting up the rest in the next few days.)
"I think this is a better way to remember the hot stories of 2005 than watching New Year's Eve retrospectives on cable news."--Syl at YARGB who thought Katrina was just a face who appeared on Hardball.
Click on the months below or just hit http://timblair.net/ and keep scrolling.
Samples:
From December:
“I don’t know why I’ve done this. I’m a Muslim, I was fasting, the last thing I should ever have done is eat something.”—Mohammed Sarfraz, charged with assault after biting off part of a security guard’s ear.
From November:
“France is declaring a curfew. I guess after 12 days, Chirac finally finished the French edition of ‘My Pet Goat.’”—commenter Room 237
From October:
“I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can’t play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it’s called.”—Howard Dean
From September:
“Much of Gaza is a great mass of apartment blocks - flung up to house the exploding population.”—unintended accuracy from the BBC
From August:
”I think if we had a three-word message right now it’d be, ‘We can do better.’” —Howard Dean
“If he would come out right now, it would really defuse the momentum.”—Mother Sheehan explains that she doesn’t really want to meet George W. Bush after all
From July:
“On July 7 three trains and a bus in London killed 56 people - including the four suspected suicide bombers - and wounded 700.”—an AAP item blames public transport
“Who I am is a human being with divinity within and an immense capacity to love and express compassion and kindness and justice.”—former human shield Donna Mulhearn. She’s also modest.
(He'll be putting up the rest in the next few days.)
"I think this is a better way to remember the hot stories of 2005 than watching New Year's Eve retrospectives on cable news."--Syl at YARGB who thought Katrina was just a face who appeared on Hardball.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Bird Flu: Turkey
This is for the folks paying attention to the bird flu cases in Turkey. At this point it doesn't look like human-human contagion is taking place. However, duck hunting next year may not be popular.
There are things you should not do:
I believe that in the US most birds are raised indoors; this may turn out to be a good thing, PETA folks aside. It could be that free range chickens/eggs will begin to lose some of their cachet.
Update:
In the comments, Skookumchuk posted some interesting links on wild turkeys and food preparation/handling. Executive summary:
DOGUBAYAZIT, Turkey (AP)--Turkey's health minister said Saturday that authorities don't believe bird flu has been transmitted from person to person in Turkey.
"There is no suspicion, for the time being," said Health Minister Recep Akdag, who is traveling to Van, where several cases of the disease are suspected. With him is a six-member delegation from the U.N. World Health Organization.
There are things you should not do:
A doctor said the three siblings who had died most likely contracted the virus while playing with the heads of dead chickens infected with the disease. The children had reportedly tossed the chicken heads like balls inside their house in Dogubayazit, near the Iranian border. "They played with the heads for days," said Huseyin Avni Sahin, the head physician at a hospital in the eastern city of Van where the children were treated. "They were in very, very close contact with the dead chickens."
I believe that in the US most birds are raised indoors; this may turn out to be a good thing, PETA folks aside. It could be that free range chickens/eggs will begin to lose some of their cachet.
Update:
In the comments, Skookumchuk posted some interesting links on wild turkeys and food preparation/handling. Executive summary:
• Conventional cooking (temperatures at or above 70°C in all parts of a food item) will inactivate the H5N1 virus. Properly cooked poultry meat is therefore safe to consume.
• The H5N1 virus, if present in poultry meat, is not killed by refrigeration or freezing.
• Home slaughtering and preparation of sick or dead poultry for food is hazardous: this practice must be stopped.
• Eggs can contain H5N1 virus both on the outside (shell) and the inside (whites and yolk). Eggs from areas with H5N1 outbreaks in poultry should not be consumed raw or partially cooked (runny yolk); uncooked eggs should not be used in foods that will not be cooked, baked or heat-treated in other ways.
• There is no epidemiological evidence to indicate that people have been infected with the H5N1 virus following consumption of properly cooked poultry or eggs.
• The greatest risk of exposure to the virus is through the handling and slaughter of live infected poultry. Good hygiene practices are essential during slaughter and post- slaughter handling to prevent exposure via raw poultry meat or cross contamination from poultry to other foods, food preparation surfaces or equipment
Alpha Centauri or Bust
One of the oldest saws in science fiction is the hyper drive, an engine that can by pass Einstein's ultimate speed limit -- the Speed of Light. Thursday's news.scotsman.com has an article, Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip, reporting on a New Scientist article, which claims that NASA is investigating the possibility of just such engine.
From the article, NASA has contacted Prof Hauser, "a physicist at the Applied Sciences University in Salzgitter, Germany, and a former chief of aerodynamics at the European Space Agency" who has written papers about Heim's thoeries, and invited him to a preliminary meeting discussing the possibility of building some sort of prototype to test the engine. I assume the reporter exagerates this somewhat, since it is implied that a working Z Machine powered hyper drive is as little as five years off.The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.
The US air force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny.
(link added to article)
Who us worried?
Not the mainstream media anyway. Bigger fish to fry than some silly old terrorist attack. From redstate
Maddening: U.S. Media "Spikes" Arrest of Terrorists Targeting U.S.
By: Nick Danger · Section: News
If you're a regular reader of Turkish Press or Geo in Pakistan, you already know that on December 23,
Three Algerians arrested in an anti-terrorist operation in southern Italy are suspected of being linked to a planned new series of attacks in the United States, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Friday.
The attacks would have targeted ships, stadiums or railway stations in a bid to outdo the September 11, 2001 strikes by Al-Qaeda in New York and Washington which killed some 2,700 people, Pisanu said.
But if you have been relying on the U.S. media to warn you about things like this, you haven't heard anything about it.
Jan 7th, 2006: 16:06:36
You would think that the arrest of terrorists planning to "outdo 9/11" would warrant some news coverage in the United States, but that's not what the editors at your Ministry of Truth decided. On that day in history, they thought the important news was that six Sudanese were abducted in Iraq, that Fidel Castro said that Bush is 'very much a fool,' that there was a vast US effort on eavesdropping (the NSA), and that the federal government was running a top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area.
So the news that day was not that terrorists had been planning to blow up ships, stadiums or railway stations in the United States, but that things were going badly in Iraq, that President Bush was thought to be a fool, and that the government has been spying on people in the U.S.
Do you ever wonder whose side these people are on?
It seems it is not the same side I am on.
Maddening: U.S. Media "Spikes" Arrest of Terrorists Targeting U.S.
By: Nick Danger · Section: News
If you're a regular reader of Turkish Press or Geo in Pakistan, you already know that on December 23,
Three Algerians arrested in an anti-terrorist operation in southern Italy are suspected of being linked to a planned new series of attacks in the United States, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Friday.
The attacks would have targeted ships, stadiums or railway stations in a bid to outdo the September 11, 2001 strikes by Al-Qaeda in New York and Washington which killed some 2,700 people, Pisanu said.
But if you have been relying on the U.S. media to warn you about things like this, you haven't heard anything about it.
Jan 7th, 2006: 16:06:36
You would think that the arrest of terrorists planning to "outdo 9/11" would warrant some news coverage in the United States, but that's not what the editors at your Ministry of Truth decided. On that day in history, they thought the important news was that six Sudanese were abducted in Iraq, that Fidel Castro said that Bush is 'very much a fool,' that there was a vast US effort on eavesdropping (the NSA), and that the federal government was running a top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area.
So the news that day was not that terrorists had been planning to blow up ships, stadiums or railway stations in the United States, but that things were going badly in Iraq, that President Bush was thought to be a fool, and that the government has been spying on people in the U.S.
Do you ever wonder whose side these people are on?
It seems it is not the same side I am on.
neo-neocon and lying liars
Why is it the Bush haters insist that Bush lied? Not that he was mistaken..but that he lied? Is it about what he said or what they heard? In other words is it all about them?
neo-neocon has an interesting and I think insightful explanation for the way some people think. The lady discusses the error that has its genesis in the growth of narcissism.
neo-neocon has an interesting and I think insightful explanation for the way some people think. The lady discusses the error that has its genesis in the growth of narcissism.
They must be getting desperate
I say that because the AP/Ipsos folks felt the need to rig a poll. Go to anklebitingpundits for the gruesome details.
Character
i keep thinking about this last note from one of the lost W Virginia miners.
"Character is what you are in the dark." — Unknown
Friday, January 06, 2006
THE BOAT PAINTED GREEN
For my father, as he loses his memory
We go down to the boat,
through the screen of leaves gathered
where they gather to feed.
The oars
lean on a post.
And I am glad to know you
As one knows an author one has read,
a formal pleasure—
You always had a way with sunfish.
And now, after years of higher education, I’ve become
you. Perhaps some different name,
“Basil” or “Kingsley”
will join me upstream.
Away from the unpleasantness.
I’d like to get away from automobiles,
in particular, the reckless joy
of driving them.
For like you, I love cars.
Always have.
And bats, come to think of it,
though I’ve never understood them.
Can’t stand them, in fact.
Their unkempt flight
more like a kind of falling
Over and over.
But enough about me.
Do you like these hands?
They have a certain “potential,”
don’t you think? Thus,
I avoid manual labor,
confine myself to talk
about the mind, mostly. And speculation
on the mind’s fate.
For, as originally promised, the Fates came
and changed things, some say for the better.
And some things stay the same,—
like the terrifying names of archaic undergarments,
our words remain
interesting
chiefly to scholars
for the separation they express between life and
the account of life.
But we are in both.
In full-length sunlight
we wait like bulbs
for a determined spring. The dark
cool light like air precedes
our serial advance.
Were it permitted, we’d wander
endlessly, amazed.
We go down to the boat,
through the screen of leaves gathered
where they gather to feed.
The oars
lean on a post.
And I am glad to know you
As one knows an author one has read,
a formal pleasure—
You always had a way with sunfish.
And now, after years of higher education, I’ve become
you. Perhaps some different name,
“Basil” or “Kingsley”
will join me upstream.
Away from the unpleasantness.
I’d like to get away from automobiles,
in particular, the reckless joy
of driving them.
For like you, I love cars.
Always have.
And bats, come to think of it,
though I’ve never understood them.
Can’t stand them, in fact.
Their unkempt flight
more like a kind of falling
Over and over.
But enough about me.
Do you like these hands?
They have a certain “potential,”
don’t you think? Thus,
I avoid manual labor,
confine myself to talk
about the mind, mostly. And speculation
on the mind’s fate.
For, as originally promised, the Fates came
and changed things, some say for the better.
And some things stay the same,—
like the terrifying names of archaic undergarments,
our words remain
interesting
chiefly to scholars
for the separation they express between life and
the account of life.
But we are in both.
In full-length sunlight
we wait like bulbs
for a determined spring. The dark
cool light like air precedes
our serial advance.
Were it permitted, we’d wander
endlessly, amazed.
Stephen Hayes gets his wish.
For some time Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard has been wanting the government to release information gleaned from documents found in Iraq after the fall of Saddam. It seems he got his wish.
Over at Powerline there is an excerpt of Hayes's upcoming article stating that Saddam Hussein's regime trained thousands of international terrorists in camps within Iraq in the years leading up to the war.
And there are still millions of pages of documents to be translated.
I wonder what else they will discover?
Over at Powerline there is an excerpt of Hayes's upcoming article stating that Saddam Hussein's regime trained thousands of international terrorists in camps within Iraq in the years leading up to the war.
And there are still millions of pages of documents to be translated.
I wonder what else they will discover?
What does the Pope think about Islam?
In an interview of Father Joseph Fessio by Hugh Hewitt, Pope Benedict is reported to have doubts whether Islam can adapt to modernity because of the core article of the faith that the Koran is eternal and uncreated.
HH: Father Fessio, before the break, you were telling us that after the presentation at Castel Gandolfo by two scholars of Islam this summer with Benedict in attendance, as well as his former students, for the first time in your memory, the Pope did not allow his students to first comment and reserve comment, but in fact, went first. Why, and what did he say?
JF: Well, the thesis that was proposed by this scholar was that Islam can enter into the modern world if the Koran is reinterpreted by taking the specific legislation, and going back to the principles, and then adapting it to our times, especially with the dignity that we ascribe to women, which has come through Christianity, of course. And immediately, the Holy Father, in his beautiful calm but clear way, said well, there's a fundamental problem with that, because he said in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Mohammed, but it's an eternal word. It's not Mohammed's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it, whereas in Christianity, and Judaism, the dynamism's completely different, that God has worked through His creatures. And so, it is not just the word of God, it's the word of Isaiah, not just the word of God, but the word of Mark. He's used His human creatures, and inspired them to speak His word to the world, and therefore by establishing a Church in which he gives authority to His followers to carry on the tradition and interpret it, there's an inner logic to the Christian Bible, which permits it and requires it to be adapted and applied to new situations. I was...I mean, Hugh, I wish I could say it as clearly and as beautifully as he did, but that's why he's Pope and I'm not, okay? That's one of the reasons. One of others, but his seeing that distinction when the Koran, which is seen as something dropped out of Heaven, which cannot be adapted or applied, even, and the Bible, which is a word of God that comes through a human community, it was stunning.
HH: And so, is it fair to describe him as a pessimist about the prospect of modernity truly engaging Islam in the way modernity has engaged Christianity?
JF: Well, the other way around.
HH: Yes. I meant that.
JF: Yeah, that Christianity can engage modernity just like it did...the Jews did Egypt, or Christians did to Greece, because we can take what's good there, and we can elevate it through the revelation of Christ in the Bible. But Islam is stuck. It's stuck with a text that cannot be adapted, or even be interpreted properly.
HH: And so the Pope is a pessimist about that changing, because it would require a radical reinterpretation of what the Koran is?
JF: Yeah, which is it's impossible, because it's against the very nature of the Koran, as it's understood by Muslims.
HH: And so, even the dialectic that was the Reformation is not possible within Islam?
JF: No.
Lying?
...many listeners in our day and age have lost sight--not just of truth vs. relative truth, or objective vs. subjective truth--but of any truth-falsehood distinction outside of their own perceptions. So the new definition of a lie has become: something that fooled me. Something that I heard and thought was true, and then discovered wasn't true. It made me angry to be jerked around like that. So it's a lie.
— Neo
It's a Strange New World
Emphasis on strange.
Brit Jew Marries Dolphin
An unusual wedding ceremony was held in the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, as Sharon Tendler, a 41-years-old Jewish millionaire from London married her beloved Cindy, a 35-years-old dolphin, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.
The groom, a resident of the Eilat dolphin reef, met Tendler 15 years ago, when she first visited the resort. The British rock concert producer took a liking to the dolphin and has made a habit of traveling to Eilat two or three times a year and spending time with her underwater sweetheart.
I suppose if I was a non-judgmental person I would have to say something about how everyone is entitled to pursue happiness in their own unique way, yada yada. Luckily I’m non-non-judgmental, so I get to say that this woman should be committed to some form of psychiatric institution.
These people kill me.
According to the AP, Job Growth Slows in Dec. After Nov. Spurt
Sounds like bad news, right? You have to read into the story to discover that the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9%. And even then, the spin is bizarre.
This is contradicted by the numbers given in the story itself, which notes that payroll jobs continued to increase, not decrease.
It’s time to face facts on the economy. It makes no difference what the unemployment rate is, or how many people are employed, or how much money they make, or how many of them are buying their own homes. The media are not going to budge from their line that the economy is terrible. At least not until 2009.
Sounds like bad news, right? You have to read into the story to discover that the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9%. And even then, the spin is bizarre.
The Labor Department's fresh snapshot of the nation's jobs climate, released Friday, also showed that the unemployment rate dipped from 5 percent in November to 4.9 percent in December, as some people left the labor market for any number of reasons.
This is contradicted by the numbers given in the story itself, which notes that payroll jobs continued to increase, not decrease.
It’s time to face facts on the economy. It makes no difference what the unemployment rate is, or how many people are employed, or how much money they make, or how many of them are buying their own homes. The media are not going to budge from their line that the economy is terrible. At least not until 2009.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Perehelion
Hey Mr. Gobley!
"raise your voice --
even if weak,
even if drained of light --
in praise:
in our darkest days
we pass most closely
by the Sun."
"raise your voice --
even if weak,
even if drained of light --
in praise:
in our darkest days
we pass most closely
by the Sun."
Make it so
NASA investigates possible "hyperspace" or "subspace" drive.
See also here and here. (Und wenn du Deutsch liest, hier.)
(Update: Morgan points out a link to the actual paper. Which is in English.)
EVERY year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual conference. Last year's winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine. According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get to the moon in time for dinner. There's just one catch: the idea relies on an obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be serious?
The AIAA is certainly not embarrassed. What's more, the US military has begun to cast its eyes over the hyperdrive concept, and a space propulsion researcher at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories has said he would be interested in putting the idea to the test. And despite the bafflement of most physicists at the theory that supposedly underpins it, Pavlos Mikellides, an aerospace engineer at the Arizona State University in Tempe who reviewed the winning paper, stands by the committee's choice. "Even though such features have been explored before, this particular approach is quite unique," he says.
Unique it certainly is. If the experiment gets the go-ahead and works, it could reveal new interactions between the fundamental forces of nature that would change the future of space travel. Forget spending six months or more holed up in a rocket on the way to Mars, a round trip on the hyperdrive could take as little as 5 hours. All our worries about astronauts' muscles wasting away or their DNA being irreparably damaged by cosmic radiation would disappear overnight. What's more the device would put travel to the stars within reach for the first time. But can the hyperdrive really get off the ground?
—New Scientist 2006/1/5 (Sub'n required, sorry.)
See also here and here. (Und wenn du Deutsch liest, hier.)
(Update: Morgan points out a link to the actual paper. Which is in English.)
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