This One's For Ali

Ain't love the sweetest thing?

I'm losing you...

If you can decipher this post, your powers of deduction are exceptional. I can't allow you to waste them here when there are so many crimes going unsolved at this very moment. Go, go, for the good of the city!

Calling All Wealthy Twits

That Paris Hilton, she's all class.

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- The pink carpet was rolled out, the pink spotlights danced through the crisp night air of downtown Orlando, and everything seemed in place for the opening of Paris Hilton's first nightclub.

Missing, notably: One pink-loving hotel heiress.

Hilton arrived six hours behind schedule -- after many guests had left. At least she had an heiress-appropriate excuse handy.

"I was in the Swiss Alps skiing and I got caught at the airport with all the holiday travel so I've been trying to travel for the past 24 hours," a smiling Hilton said after stepping out of a stretch SUV in front of the club shortly after 1 a.m. Friday.

I can not wait until Paris Hilton's fifteen minutes of fame are finished. She's a representation of everything that's wrong with American culture today, and she sets a poor example of our society.

In my opinion, she is an example of exactly why God allows pain in this world. Paris Hilton has never needed anything in her entire life. She's never worked for anything, save for that travesty of a television show that she was on; she didn't even work there, she failed at every task given to her. She has no appreciation for pain, or for the value of the things she has.

I've been handed a lot of things in my life, but I've also worked hard, I've suffered, and I've often had to do without for one reason or another. Because of those experiences of pain, loss, and want, I'm a better person than I would have been otherwise. It almost pains me to see someone so shallow and spoiled that they'd consistently pull this kind of nonsense.

Getting Tanked

The folks over at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have just shipped their new fuel tank.

The tank "feels like our baby. We have pampered it, and everyone takes great pride in it," said Sandy Coleman, NASA's external tank project manager.

The design of the shuttle's external tank was altered after an investigation blamed the February 2003 Columbia disaster on a chunk of foam that flew off the tank and struck a wing on the shuttle, causing it to break apart over Texas.

The original foam used on the fuel tank never had this problem. It was replaced by a new type of foam that was more eco-friendly; the original foam contained Freon, which environmentalists blame for the whole in the Ozone layer. Link, Link.

Yet another reason to distrust environmental rhetoric.

Exploiting a Disaster

This is just one more reason to ignore environmentalist rhetoric. Absolutely sickening.

Resolved

Last year, I had a rather ambitious set of resolutions for 2004. In retrospect, I didn't accomplish so much. As I can't even find the list of them, here's a rundown of the ones I can remember.

* Be published by July
* Write for three hours per week
* Read for one hour per day
* Go stargazing once per week
* Go photographing once per week
* Watch every 007 film
* Finish BUD/S Warning Order workout

This year, as a function of my resolutions, was a complete and total failure. I did some reading and some writing, but it was almost all on the Internet, and my only published work was in the independent campus paper. I only went stargazing a few times, which can be partly blamed on the fact that my telescope is rubbish. I took a lot of pictures, but I certainly didn't do it as frequently as I'd planned. I watched about half of the 007 films in order, and some more this week during the 007 Days of Christmas marathon.

And the workout program? Don't ask.

I don't consider the year a failure. I worked hard at university, learned a lot, and made pretty good marks. I got a Summer job in the United Kingdom and spent two and a half months in Europe. I could have done more, but all things considered it was a good year.

Now it's time to make some resolutions for 2005. For some reason, after pretty much completely failing at carrying out my resolutions for the past two years, I think I'll be a bit less ambitious. Here's my preliminary list.

* Graduate from university
* Get a stable post-graduation job
* Start and finish a workout program
* Read eight books not assigned for course work
* Finish watching the 007 films

If anyone's actually reading this, I encourage you to post your own resolutions in the comments section. I'm interested to see what people want to accomplish in 2005.

What in the glaven!?

How in the name of all things holy did it get to be 01:30? I'm off to bed, more tomorrow.

Chicken Little: Super Tool

According to Constantin T. Gurdgiev over at Tech Central Station, the American economy isn't on the verge of collapse. I'll post a bit more about this tomorrow.

Short Notice

In case anyone is curious, and lives on the West Coast, The Man With the Golden Gun is on Spike TV. Why should you care, you ask? Because the climax of the film on "Scaramanga's Island" was shot on an island in Phuket, Thailand, one of the areas most severely effected by Sunday's tsunami. Particularly interesting is that Phuket is/was an area popular with tourists, and many hired local boats to take them out to "Bond Island."

Democrats as a Corporation

Tech Central Station has an excellent article comparing the current difficulties within the Democratic party to an ailing corporation. I know, it sounds like poor post-election sportsmanship, but it's even-handed and fair. Go check it out. Go!

The Fly Strikes Again

It appears that the government has been paying attention once again to the wealth of knowledge and wisdom demonstrated by the Fly. They have decided to abolish the National Guard; that's not exactly what I suggested in this post, but I think this will probably be a good solution. The article says that the move is likely intended, at least in part, to improve recruitment; it says that the National Guard is seen as ill-disciplined and an easy target for insurgents. There's only one catch: it's not the American government that's doing this, it's the Iraqi government.

Iraq's interim rulers say the National Guard (ING), currently spearheading anti-insurgency activity, is to be dissolved and merged with the army.

The merger was originally planned for much later, after ING defeated the insurgency with the help of US forces.

It will now take place on 6 January, the defence minister said on Wednesday.

No reason was given for the change, but it may be a way to improve recruitment as the ING is seen as ill-disciplined and an easy target for insurgents.

The paramilitary ING, which is responsible for internal security, has more than 40,000 troops, according to figures given to the United Nations by US forces occupying Iraq.

The regular army is thought to number barely one tenth of that.

But the ING has lost hundreds of personnel in daily attacks by forces opposed to the US military presence in Iraq.

Of course, you have to sort through the usual BBC spin; it's no longer an occupation, and both then and now it's not an American presence, it's a coalition presence. Basically, though, what the article says is correct: the Iraqi National Guard is seen as an ill-disciplined group of rookies, and because of that they're being merged into the regular army.

Now, a lot of this has to do with training; it's important, it can't be done overnight, and these units need to build cohesion and confidence before they can be expected to defend a post-Saddam Iraq. To a degree, I think this is more representative of putting a different label on the same product than anything else, but it can't hurt, and association and unity with the existing regular army can't hurt.

Give them a chance, give them the proper motivation, encourage their confidence, give them incentives, and they'll get better with time. Trust me.

Reading Between the Lines

Looks like there's going to be a very temporary rope shortage in Syria.

Two men accused of involvement in a bomb attack and gun fight in the Syrian capital in April have been sentenced to death by a state security court.

The official Sana agency said the court ordered that Ahmad Shlash Hassan and Ezzo Hussein al-Hussein be hanged, a ruling that cannot be appealed.

In April 2004, a bomb explosion and the subsequent gun battle at a disused UN building in Damascus left four dead.

Two attackers, a policeman and a passer-by died in the incident.

Two other defendants, Azzam al-Nahar and Abdel Basset Hassida, were sentenced to forced labour for life.

As usual, the money shot is near the bottom.

One of the men sentenced to death, Ahmad Shlash Hassan, appeared on state television in May confessing to his involvement in the 27 April attack.

The 26-year-old veterinary student, said the bombing had been "a personal act" in which he was "trying to respond to the aggression against Muslims of oppressive states like Israel, the United States and all the other infidel countries".

By blowing up a disused United Nations office building in Damascus? Like the "moral authority" of the United Nations, this has to be some sort of elaborate joke. It makes absolutely no sense to detonate a bomb in Syria to protest the so-called oppression of Muslims in "infidel countries." My guess is that these guys were aggravated, probably over a legitimate grievance, with the Syrian government and upon their capture were beaten into submission and forced to blame it on their anger toward the infidels.

Either way, they're terrorists, and they should be summarily executed, along with the rest of the terrorist fat cats in the Syrian government.

French Humanitarians: An Oxymoron?

This is so stereotypically French that it would be entertaining if it weren't sad and pathetic.

PARIS — One-upping the United States, France said Thursday it is the No. 1 donor for the Asian disaster — pledging 42 million euro ($57 million) — following barbs from Washington about the extent of French generosity.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's (search) boast that France was vaulting to "the head of all the contributors" appeared to respond to comments from Andrew Natsios (search), chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes American aid.

In a FOX News interview this week, Natsios said France tends not to be a world leader in foreign aid and often packages its help as loans, which he suggested were inappropriate in emergencies.

"The aid program in France is not that big," he said. "They do not tend to be dominant figures in the aid. The British are, the European Union is, the Japanese are, we are, the Canadians are."

In Paris, France's Foreign Ministry shot down those aspersions. Spokesman Herve Ladsous said French aid for tsunami victims "is clearly donations and not loans."

And the money shot?

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, back from a tour of affected areas in Thailand and Sri Lanka, recommended that nations go beyond the relief and reconstruction coalition formed by the United States, India, Australia and Japan and laid out by U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday.

"Of course there needs to be a humanitarian action coalition — as President Bush just proposed," Barnier said. "But there also needs to be another international coalition against poverty, for development."

"Ah, oui, what ze Amerrricans arrre doing is fine, but we will go zem one betterrr, and donate morrre. And we weeell do eet wizzout zem, because we are Frrrance, ze grrreat humanitarrrian nacion zat brrrought you ze crrrisis in Cote D'Ivoirrre."

I've been to France. It's a beautiful country, and many of the people are wonderful; but as a culture, they can always be counted on to do whatever makes them look good, or whatever's in their best interests, without fail.

(For what it's worth, the death toll has passed 117,000, and shows no signs of slowing down.)

A Semi-Valiant Effort

I've been meaning to post about this for the past week or so; it's a long one, so if you're not interested, better just skip it now.

In late October, France and Germany held bilateral talks to establish terms for the creation of joint Franco-German "battle groups", a so-called rapid reaction force drawn from an existing Franco-German Brigade.

In late November, the European Union got onboard. France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain agreed to form one battle group apiece; where Germany fits into the scheme of things isn't specified, but the article says that the rest of the EU nations pledged to provide troops to at least one battle group.

"The battle groups are at the forefront of capability improvement, providing the Union with credible, rapidly deployable, coherent force packages capable of stand-alone operations, for the initial phase of larger operations," said an EU statement.

This sounds like a whole lot of nothing to me. "Capability improvement"? "Credible, rapidly deployable, coherent force packages"?

BBC News published an article the day after the AFP, and adds a few details.

The development is part of an EU effort to develop an independent defence capacity that can be deployed outside of US-led Nato missions.

UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said the battle groups were not a precursor to the EU developing a standing army.

"Battle groups will be capable of dealing with a range of peace support and humanitarian tasks," Mr Hoon said.

"They are particularly intended for situations where an early intervention with a highly capable battle group-size force could deal with an emerging crisis."

Rapid reaction forces could be deployed to fill a gap before UN peacekeepers can be deployed, as a French-led operation did in the Bunia region of eastern Congo earlier this year.

The goal is to establish thirteen of these battle groups, each consisting of fifteen hundred troops, deployable within fifteen days. The "peace support and humanitarian tasks" part worries me; it doesn't sound like these so-called "battle groups" are preparing for much battle. In theory, it's a good idea for the European Union to establish an organizational plan. With every EU nation onboard, they must be more than ready to contribute their blood and treasure to the cause, right? Let's explore this a bit deeper.

The European Union must take into account NATO capabilities in drawing up European defence policies to avoid duplicating their efforts, Estonian Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland said Tuesday.

"Ensuring security in Europe and the world, the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and NATO must complement each other," Ojuland told a parliamentary hearing on foreign policy.

"Therefore, when planning the further development of the ESDP, appropriate NATO developments must be taken into consideration," she said.

Estonia, which joined both the EU and NATO earlier in this year, is concerned whether it can afford to be involved in the defence structures of both organisations.

So basically, nations like Estonia want all the perks and prestige that come with membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but they essentially admit to being unable to carry the weight of both commitments at once. The article goes on.

Estonia is participating in the EU's military operation in keeping peace in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and will take part in EU battle groups, which the EU agreed to establish last month.

"Estonia is also taking part in this endeavour, but the form and extent of our participation is still being defined," Ojuland said.

She said that as a NATO member, Estonia continued "to actively contribute to NATO operations in the Balkans and Afghanistan".

"We have to keep the promises made and the commitments we took upon ourselves during NATO accession, including the maintaining of defence expenditures at the level of two percent of GDP," Ojuland said.

"Only thus can we be reliable allies, and hope, that we will be heard in the foreign policy realm."

And what's the money shot? It's in the final paragraph of the article.

Critics have said the state budget should be used for more pressing issues, such as fighting HIV/AIDS and improving the medical system, rather than for defence spending.

There you have it, folks. Critics can't be bothered with the commitments required by membership in these organizations; taxing everyone and giving it back as "free health care" is far more important than actually providing a defense for the citizens. I did some research using the CIA World Factbook.

NEW EU STATES - $403.37 billion ($8.694 billion defense, 2.1% average)
* Bulgaria - $57.13 billion ($1.48 billion defense, 2.6% 2003)
* Estonia - $17.35 billion ($347 million defense, 2% 2002)
* Latvia - $23.9 billion ($286 million defense, 1.2% 2001)
* Lithuania - $40.88 billion ($776 million defense, 1.9% 2001)
* Romania - $155 billion ($3.82 billion defense, 2.47% 2002)
* Slovakia - $72.29 billion ($1.36 billion defense, 1.89% 2002)
* Slovenia - $36.82 billion ($625 million defense, 1.7% 2000)

MAJOR POWERS (FOR COMPARISON)
* China - $6.449 trillion ($225 billion defense, 3.5% est. 2003)
* United States - $10.99 trillion ($362 billion defense, 3.3% 2003)

All of the new NATO nations listed above, save for Bulgaria and Romania, joined NATO in early April of 2004 and the European Union about a month later. Put them all together, and you barely have enough money to build two Nimitz class aircraft carriers, if you had the technology, let alone pay soldiers, do military research and development... The list goes on and on. The sad state of NATO is demonstrated by the following article.

NATO members adopted a new resolution on Friday pledging to work together to combat terrorism, including a plan to provide security for the Athens Olympics in August. But a NATO official said efforts to send six Dutch Apache helicopters to Kabul had been stymied until Luxembourg came up with the funds, and the cost of shipping four Turkish transport helicopters is still under negotiation with Iceland.

"NATO membership ain't what it used to be," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It is no longer a passport to a strategic vacation. It is now a passport to sharing a collective responsibility for all of the problems of the world. If nations don't wake up to that, the mismatch between expanding the political ambitions of the alliance and the actual capabilities to implement that ambition will grow."

I'm not terribly impressed that our distinguished NATO allies can't even ship a few helicopters to where they're needed. I see a whole lot of adopting new resolutions, and very little living up to commitments. I, of course, appreciate the support NATO has provided in Afghanistan, but I think NATO since the 1980's is far from the powerful organization it was intended to be. The Cold War may be over, but the threats to Western nations haven't disappeared.

And what's the state of the great powers behind this new battle group concept? Germany is trying to end conscription in favor of an entirely professional military by 2010. Translation: Germany will reduce its available military manpower by 2010. And what about France? Although France spends a greater proportion of its GDP than the United Kingdom on military expenditures, it doesn't seem to be getting them anywhere; if you don't believe me, just review their abysmal failure in "peacekeeping" (read: empire maintenance) in Cote D'Ivoire. Italy has already ended compulsory military service.

Here's a review of how the major battle group nations weigh in compared to the seven new NATO members and the two major powers I listed.

BATTLE GROUP LEADERS - $8.033 trillion ($157.319 billion defense, 1.92% average)
* France - $1.661 trillion ($43.186 billion defense, 2.6% 2003)
* Germany - $2.271 trillion ($34.077 billion defense, 1.5% 2003)
* Italy - $1.55 trillion ($29.45 billion defense, 1.9% 2003)
* Spain - $885.5 billion ($10.626 billion defense, 1.2% 2003)
* United Kingdom - $1.666 trillion ($39.98 billion defense, 2.4% 2003)

So basically, the five major nations of the EU and NATO expend less than half the resources on defence (as a percentage of gross domestic product) combined that the United States does. Now, in the midst of reduced manpower in Germany and the United Kingdom (which I'll post about later), they're going to establish thirteen "battle groups" of fifteen hundred men each (19,500 total) to rapidly deploy (within fifteen days; not exactly rapid in my book). This is in the name of "capability improvement" and constitute a "credible force package." These "battle groups" most likely won't be trained to do actual battle, but will perform "peace support and humanitarian tasks." From what I can see over at Global Security, the only nations with any appreciable amphibious (read: moving troops by sea) capability are the United Kingdom and Greece.

Let's compare this to the smallest individual service in the American Department of Defense, the U.S. Marine Corps. In addition to support personnel, the Marine Corps has seven Marine Expeditionary Units, or MEUs, of twenty-two hundred personnel each, Special Operations Capable and designed around a reinforced combat infantry battalion. That's 15,400 total; versatile enough to perform combat, humanitarian, and peacekeeping operations (often simultaneously). The Navy/Marine Corps team puts the European amphibious capacity to shame, and American amphibious assault vessels double as hospital ships. I could go on, but it's not really necessary.

This is not to say that every European nation should be able to keep up with the American military, or even that the European Union should try to equal American military capacity. I think it's appropriate for the European Union to establish a credible military force; I don't think this is it.

This strikes me as nothing but another attempt, led by our "allies" France and Germany, to distance themselves from the United States. By establishing it as a European Union program instead of a NATO program, they don't have to include the United States. It's a half-assed attempt to say "look, we can be big and tough too!" This doesn't even mention the many, many problems. Chain of command issues, marshalling, equipment incompatibilities. Communications alone would be an absolute nightmare; you'd need as many translators in the multinational groups as troops or technicians. American forces have enough trouble communicating with each other; how much trouble do you think French equipment will have communicating with Estonian equipment, or German equipment communicating with Italian stuff?

If this scheme gets off the ground in the first place, I'll be amazed. I think it's nothing more than a half-assed Franco-Deutsch attempt at military independence; if any of these nations are invaded or attacked, you can bet cash money that it'll be Americans who hit the beach, and sooner than fifteen days later, to save European butts.

The Changing Nature of Commuting

It looks like the gravy train has reached the terminus.

MOSCOW — Russia plans to stop giving American astronauts free rides on its spacecraft to the international space station beginning in 2006, the head of Russia's space agency said.

Anatoly Perminov said the no-cost agreement between NASA and Russia's space agency Roskosmos could be replaced by a barter arrangement, according to the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

Russian Soyuz crew capsules and Progress cargo ships have been the sole link to the international space station since U.S. shuttles were grounded after the shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry in February 2003. NASA said it plans to resume its shuttle program in May.

There's an easy solution to this. When Challenger exploded in 1986, it was caused by more than just faulty equipment; it was caused by an internal NASA culture that prevented concerns from being aired and addressed. NASA vowed never to let the same thing happen again, but that's exactly what happened in 2003. The legitimate concerns of engineers were dismissed and suppressed by bureaucrats, just as they had been in 1986.

Shuttle flights are set to resume early next year. Let's hope NASA doesn't have to learn their lesson a third time; if they do, the Russians are going to start charging or bartering with us. You think it's expensive to get that bag of peanuts on a domestic flight? Just wait 'til you've gotten bilked for a Soyuz ticket.

Give 'Til it Hurts

Yesterday, the head of humanitarian operations for the United Nations, Jan Egeland, called America and other Western nations' contributions for the Asian nations' recovery operations "stingy".

“If, actually, the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the gross national income, I think that is stingy, really. I don’t think that is very generous.”

At the point of this writing, the United States has pledged $35 million, compared to $4 million from all European nations combined. The United States gives a massive amount of aid, every year, essentially thanklessly. There's a great debate raging over at Right Thinking that has an excellent analysis of the situation.

The death toll is up to about thirty-three thousand, and could continue to rise to an estimated fifty to fifty-two thousand. It's surpassed the Bam earthquake of Christmas 2003.

What's my reaction to all of this? Well, when one looks at a map of countries and their positions on the 2003 Iraq War, we see that India, Indonesia, and many of the other nations that were affected by the tsunami left us to hang when it came to protecting international security and enforcing international law. The United States has extensive economic ties to both India and Indonesia, so it's probably in our best interest to help them out; but it's worth noting that we're going to help them, even though they saw fit to let us hang. It appears that Sri Lanka remained neutral, so I see no problem with helping them out.

There's no end to the aggravation that I feel when we go out of our way to protect and help everyone in the world, and they turn around and do their best to screw us over. This Jan Egeland character should be ashamed of himself.

UPDATE: Fox News is now reporting that the death toll is up to fifty-two thousand, and counting. It's possible that the effects of disease and other secondary effects of the disaster itself could double the death count.

Pulchritude Injection

In true Free Will tradition, here is some pulchritude for you to enjoy. I've got to get ready to go celebrate the B&C's twenty-first (Gus's B&C, not mine), so I'm most likely done for the evening. Keep it real.

Socialists are Expensive Addicts

Tech Central Station has a no-nonsense, straightforward article about why reimportation of drugs, and price controls of pharmaceuticals in Socialist nations are bad for both patients and drug companies.

This was a big issue in the general election, and my socialist scumbag Congressman tried to make it an issue here. Senator Kerry criticized President Bush for not allowing the so-called "reimportation" of drugs from Canada. My crooked Congressman made a commercial out of taking some guy up across the border and making a big deal out of how much cheaper it was to buy drugs up there.

I'm going to explain this, and I'm going to explain this very clearly, so that there's no misunderstanding. Medicine essentially went unchanged for about five or six thousand years; it began to develop with the advent of capitalism and profit motive, because there was money to be made in curing diseases. When you remove that profit motive by introducing rationing, price controls, socialized distribution schemes, and generic production through copyright infringement, you remove that profit motive. When you remove that profit motive, drug companies don't have any incentive to spend money on research and development, so they don't.

So-called "free" health care isn't free, and in truth, it's doing far more harm to the cause of health promotion than good. The socialized health care systems in Europe are falling apart, and they're not innovating medical techniques or pharmaceuticals; we are. Reimportation is a bad thing for America, and Socialist manipulation of the economics of health care is bad for America, too. And it's bad for European patients.

Wannabe Pop Star

Usama bin Laden has released a new recording, urging Iraqis to boycott the upcoming election. When someone puts up an actual story about it, I'll link to it.

UPDATE: Fox News has the following blurb.

The Arabic-language satellite television channel al-Jazeera said Monday it had received a new audiotape in which Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden appeared to call on Iraqis to boycott the upcoming elections.

Al-Jazeera had not yet broadcast the audiotape, but said the voice proclaimed Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search) as his deputy in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi, at one time seen as a potential rival to bin Laden for the leadership of the international jihad movement, declared his allegiance to the former Saudi citizen several months ago and renamed his Monotheism and Holy War group "Al Qaeda in Iraq."

My guess? Usama bin Laden is desperately trying to get people to pay attention to him, because he knows that he's grown increasingly irrelevant. Whether he realizes that we're winning in Iraq or not is up for debate; he's getting regular news from somewhere, though, and he's got some facility to transmit his voice. If I had to make a semi-educated guess, I'd say that he's in Iran. I could very well be wrong but the way he's been acting lately suggests to me that it's unlikely that he's still in Waziristan.

Every tape he releases, while not a propaganda victory for him, is a propaganda defeat for us. He's operationally useless, but strategically valuable, and he needs to be dragged out of whatever mud hut he's hiding in, and it should be broadcast live on international television.

Santo Mohammad

This must be some sort of elaborate joke.

UNION CITY, N.J. – Jasmine Pinet sits on the steps outside a mosque here, tucking in strands of her burgundy hair beneath a white head scarf, and explaining why she, a young Latina, feels that she has found greater respect as a woman by converting to Islam.

"They're not gonna say, 'Hey mami, how are you?' " Ms. Pinet says of Muslim men. "Usually they say, 'Hello, sister.' And they don't look at you like a sex object."

While some Latinas her age try to emulate the tight clothes and wiggling hips of stars like Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, Ms. Pinet and others are adopting a more conservative lifestyle and converting to Islam. At this Union City, N.J., mosque, women account for more than half of the Latino Muslims who attend services here. Nationwide, there are about 40,000 Latino Muslims in the United States, according to the Islamic Society of North America.

Many of the Latina converts say that their belief that women are treated better in Islam was a significant factor in converting. Critics may protest that wearing the veil marks a woman as property, but some Latina converts say they welcome the fact that they are no longer whistled at walking down a street. "People have an innate response that I'm a religious person, and they give [me] more respect," says Jenny Yanez, another Latina Muslim. "You're not judged if you're in fashion or out of fashion."

Okay, I'll agree that Latino men tend to be disrespectful of women. I've had several female friends over the years who have complained to me about the cat calls, et cetera. That having been said, this is outrageous. Islam? Respectful to women? It's Islamic law that allows a woman to be stoned to death if she's raped. It's Islamic law that allows men to have the genitals of their wives sewn shut if they leave for an extended period of time in order to ensure that they're not violated by another man; that's right, sewn shut. It's Islamic clerics who have written books about how to beat your wife without leaving incriminating marks.

But for many family members and friends, these conversions come as a surprise - often an unwelcome one. They may know little of Islam other than what they have heard of the Taliban and other extremist groups.

That creates an inaccurate image, insists Leila Ahmed, a professor of women's studies and religion at Harvard University. "It astounds me, the extent to which people think Afghanistan and the Taliban represent women and Islam." What's really going on, she says, is a reshaping of the relationship between women and Islam. "We're in the early stages of a major rethinking of Islam that will open Islam for women. [Muslim scholars] are rereading the core texts of Islam - from the Koran to legal texts - in every possible way."

The cleric who wrote the book about beating women without leaving incriminating marks was from Spain... SPAIN!!! What about the Saudi Arabian female television presenter who was beaten so severely by her husband that she almost died?

All this story about Latina converts to Islams tells me is that the women in the article don't pay attention to the news.

Keeping it Real

I have to give the dad credit for sticking to his guns.

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- An online casino that bought a cheese sandwich said to bear the Virgin Mary's image and a cane sold to banish a young boy's fear of ghosts has struck again -- this time paying a man $5,300 for his naughty children's Christmas gifts.

The Pasadena man said last week that he decided to auction the three Nintendo DS game systems because his sons, ages 9, 11, and 15, had misbehaved.

The family's decision made national headlines, intriguing GoldenPalace.com, casino spokesman Monty Kerr said.

I have zero sympathy for these kids, and a lot of respect for the dad. This is much better parenting than the example set by those idiots in Florida who went on strike when their kids wouldn't help them clean up.

On another note, what's the deal with GoldenPalace.com buying all of this stuff from eBay? It all sounds like an even more frivolous use of money than that stupid cloned cat.

Calling Hoku

If you can decipher the subject line, you're a genius.

The intelligence industry is hiring analysts like mad. My brother's gone for nine whole months. It's unlikely that I'll have to actually serve on a jury during my jury duty term. I've got an entire day to do pretty much whatever I want. I've got money to put in the bank. And now, to top it all off? Spaceballs is on, and apparently Mel Brooks is making an as yet untitled Spaceballs sequel in 2005.

Hell yes. If it weren't for all the other nonsense going on in my life, this would be a perfect day.

Finding a Niche

This is good news for me.

WASHINGTON — U.S. counterterrorism agencies are shopping for talent at job fairs, dangling generous scholarships and luring staff from each other in a race to overcome a shortage of analysts that may only get worse with America's new intelligence overhaul.

The problem existed even before Congress and the White House approved an intelligence restructuring this month that creates positions for people whose skills already are in high demand.

There is no consensus across the nation's 15 intelligence agencies on where staffing needs are the most acute. But few dispute that many more analysts are needed, particularly in the departments and agencies created since Sept. 11, 2001. The nearly two-year-old Homeland Security Department (search) is a prime example.

"If you had a hundred, we'd take them," Pat Hughes, the Homeland Security Department's top intelligence official, said in an interview earlier this year. "We have to look, search, test, assess. You don't just get analysts off a tree. ... We need people, but we need good people."

This is exactly the sort of post-university job I'm looking for. I pay a lot of attention to international news, I've studied the Middle East, I have preliminary training in French and German that could be easily developed. I've lived abroad (not for that long, but I've done it). I have a minor in Naval Science. I'd make an excellent intelligence analyst, and it would allow me to serve the Republic.

I'm totally stoked by this. Outstanding.

Outdated Adverts

You know what's disturbing? Seeing an advert that stars an actor who's been dead for a year and a half.

On Bond

I've been posting a lot about James Bond lately. Deal with it.

Gus and Jen stopped by earlier to give me my Christmas gift. Last year it was a U2 poster and a Borders gift card, which were excellent gifts. This year it was something every bit as appropriate: James Bond: The Legacy by John Cork and Bruce Scivally. I immediately made a point of finding the section about George Lazenby, the shortest-lived James Bond in history.

Earlier this year I watched Lazenby's film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with a high degree of skepticism. I'm quite honest in saying that it's one of the best 007 films there is. It doesn't fit the mold of the larger-than-life Bond films of Sean Connery and Roger Moore; in its own time, it was billed as "without gimmicks." George Lazenby as a human James Bond, and Telly Savalas as a very believable Blofeld make the movie a delight to watch, while retaining plenty of action and an exciting plot.

George Lazenby was a different sort of Bond, and in order to keep people from comparing him too negatively with Sean Connery, they engineered the film to be different than the ones Connery made. Unfortunately, it played poorly with the audiences because it was different than what they'd expected. Folks, if you have an opportunity, rent this film. If you dislike it, you're hopeless.

Ceasefire

Peace in our time!

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- The Sudanese government and the country's main southern rebel group will sign a peace agreement January 10 in Kenya to end more than 20 years of civil war, a senior government official said Saturday.

The government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army had pledged to finalize an agreement to end the longest-running war in Africa by December 31, making a commitment last month before the U.N. Security Council that held a rare meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, to spur the peace talks.

I'll believe it when I see it. Considering that this is basically a religious war between Christian and animist rebels, and the government that's run by the so-called Religion of Peace, I don't have much hope of this being a legitimate ceasefire.

A Post for Annie

I don't intend to make a habit of dedicating posts to any particular person, and as I continue writing I'll do my best to keep myself as anonymous as possible. Every now and again, though, you post about something that so directly applies to one of your readers that it's appropriate to dedicate a post. In that spirit, Annie Lauries, this link is for you!

Confused? Google "Herodotus" and start reading.

A New Beginning

Let no one say that the death of Yasser Arafat, Terrorist Leader, wasn't a good thing.

Conspiracy Theory

I mentioned last night that I had a conversation with one of my favorite liberals, Howro, last night. One of the things that he mentioned was this speech by Bill Moyers, a distinguished "environmental journalist" who received Harvard Medical School's Global Environment First Citizen Award on the sixth of December.

Apparently, Mr. Moyers has spoken with and traced the history of a number of individuals who claim to be attempting to speed the return of Christ. How are they doing that? They're doing it by making it national policy to destroy the environment as quickly as they possibly can, and by relentlessly supporting Israel. He claims that the "religious right" (which he no associates with the Heaven's Gate Cult and the Flat Earth Society) is trying to speed up the second coming by raping the earth, pillaging all of its natural resources, and igniting a holy war in the Middle East.

I don't detect this directly from the speech, but Howro also noted an implication that the flipside of all of this was that anyone who believed in the concept of limited global resources, or protecting the environment, or stopping so-called climate change, is being misled and following the spirit of evil.

Are you friggin' kidding me? Everything he says in his speech is ridiculous. I'm sure that there are religious fundamentalist zealots out there who believe all of this drivel he's claiming, but I guarantee you that they're the minority. He resorts to uncited "news" that he implies to be objective (but doesn't directly cite), he makes emotional arguments, he falls just short of actually saying that his opposition are a bunch of ostriches with their heads in the sand.

Gentle reader, this is the face of the liberal opposition. The common sense conservatives are making such an impact on American politics and society that people like this Bill Moyers character have no recourse but to blame everything on religion; because, after all, the Roman Catholic Church repressed and stifled Galileo four or five hundred years ago, so Christians must not care about real science, right?

Read my lips: religion and conservatism are not the enemies of America and the world. Pseudo-science, irresponsible policy-making, revisionist history, and militant Islam are.

Surf's Up

Great Caesar's ghost.

More than 9,500 people have been killed across southern Asia in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest earthquake in the world for 40 years.

The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia, generating a wall of water that sped across thousands of kilometres of sea.

More than 4,100 died in Indonesia, 3,200 in Sri Lanka and 2,000 in India.

Casualty figures are rising over a wide area, including tourist resorts on Thailand packed with holidaymakers.

Wow. Just... Wow. For me, the irony of this is that the current death toll from this earthquake/tsunami are about one third the death toll of that earthquake in Bam, Iran one year ago. I couldn't find the magnitude of that earthquake. At any rate, this is a horrible disaster, and I wish the people of these nations godspeed in putting things back together.

UPDATE: CNN.com is reporting that the death toll is up to at least eleven thousand.

UPDATE: Fox News is reporting that the death toll is up to at least twenty-two thousand.

Waving Goodbye

I go to university in the next town, about fifteen miles from home. The original plan was for me to move out; it didn't last too long, as the fraternity life was quickly shown to be the wrong atmosphere for me. Part of the problem was that my initial Navy training prevented me from fully participating in formal recruitment week, so I was essentially confined to the one lousy house that had shown a lot of interest in me during the summer. That's the house that I joined, and by the end of the week I'd moved back home.

Part of being a conservative, at least for me, is disliking change. Everyone has to acknowledge that change is going to happen, but you don't have to like it, and I don't. In the past year and a half, most of my friends have graduated and essentially disappeared from my life. I haven't seen my friend Rampage since June, I've seen Big Red once since May, and I've had next to no contact with Harley Starr since June, just a couple of E-Mails and a two minute phone call.

Now my brother, Twitley, is leaving. I'm twenty-two; he's nineteen. We're absolute polar opposites. I'll have a degree in June, I'm religious, I follow politics, and I like reading, writing, and the Internet. Twitley barely finished high school, it took him a year after graduating high school to even decide to do any real higher education program, and that's a diesel mechanic training program. He's a party animal, completely irresponsible. We've never much gotten along.

Today I rode with him out to see mom's family for Christmas. On the way out he played "Convoy" by some old redneck; he stopped the pickup so that he could find the tape. I don't know if I'll miss him or not; he'll be gone for at least nine months. It will be strange not to have him around here. I never figured he'd be the first of the two of us to move away; but there it was today. Almost everything he receieved for Christmas was related to him moving out. Pillows. Flatware. Dishes. Dish soap. Monday morning he'll be gone.

I'll be gone soon enough. June, July, August, September... By the end of the year, I'll be somewhere. Maybe England. Maybe the DC area doing intelligence work. Maybe at Officer Candidate School. I'll be out on my own, with only fleeting help and contact with everything I've known since before I can remember. Except for this Summer, I've spent my entire life in this house.

Next Christmas, I'll probably have no more company than a bottle of Guinness and a leftover Quizno's sandwich. I'll watch Gattaca or Gladiator or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, or maybe Rattle and Hum.

I posted a week or so ago that life had been rocky enough lately that I've taken to reading Job. I don't feel like Job; I haven't had anything truly taken from me. I just feel hollow right now.

Anyway. You're probably sick of reading this drivel about me and my brother leaving, and not being a fan of Christmas and whatnot; I need to go to bed, but before I do I may as well take solace in some scripture quoted by U2 in 1983.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:30-31

G'night, wankers. Have a pint for me.

Let's Get Sore

My ultimate goal, at least at this point in my life, is to serve a tour or two in the Navy as a commissioned officer. In order to do that, I have to get myself in shape. Lately I've been running through a workout program with a friend from school, Young Nathan. We're sort of gearing up for the full-blown workout plan: the BUD/S (Navy SEAL) Warning Order Workout. Category I is the first phase, and it's a progressive workout plan. Category II is tougher. I'm hoping to eventually finish out with the workout plan from the Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness by Stewart Smith, a former Navy lieutenant.

Young Nathan and I are going to try to do the calisthenics and running programs three days a week, and do the swimming with supplemental yomps twice a week. (For those of you who aren't familiar with the British military, a yomp is an endurance march with full rucksack in boots.) I may post every now and again if anything terribly interesting happens; by interesting, I probably mean "painful."

My ultimate goal is to be capable of doing about a hundred pushups in two minutes, a hundred situps in two minutes, eight to ten pullups, a mile and a half run in eleven minutes (I know, not very fast; trust me, this is a tall order), five hundred yards of swimming in nine minutes, and a yomp of four or five miles without stopping. My goals may get a bit more ambitious as the program progresses; the important part is having someone to be accountable to for working out, since I have a hard time marshalling the will power to do it on my own.

Who knows? Maybe I'll actually be worth looking at one of these days!

Super Good Feeling

I'll give a gold star to anyone who can post in the comments section what the post subject is in reference to. No cheating!

I'm back to the 007 marathon, and the film that's probably my favorite Brosnan Bond film is on. It's The World is Not Enough; as far as the Brosnan Bond films go, it's rivalled only by GoldenEye. For what it's worth, the most recent Bond film, Die Another Day (Halle Berry, theme song by Madonna) was absolute rubbish. If the producers ousted Brosnan as James Bond over that film (it's not even worth linking to), they should be ashamed of themselves; not even Connery could have made that script work.

At any rate, I'm still not a fan of Christmas, but I had a great experience tonight, and it's one that I've been having quite a bit lately. I say this not to toot my own horn, but because it honestly feels good. Tonight I was over at Howro and Jan's, and Howro and I got to talking about politics, mainly foreign policy, mainly the Middle East and Iraq. Howro and Jan are fairly liberal... Sort of. At any rate, Howro and I spent over an hour talking politics, and he kept asking me questions and I kept answering them, and answering them well, because I knew what I was talking about. Some of it was my reaction and interpretation of the facts, but a lot of it was just plain old explanation based on solid knowledge of history, national security policy, defense equipment, and the Middle East. I knew what I was talking about, and I knew what I was talking about enough to continually answer Howro's questions. During the past couple of weeks of school holiday, I've been going to the gym with Young Nathan, and I've been able to rattle off all sorts of information about ancient history, particularly Roman Britain.

It's a great feeling to know that you have knowledge and information about a subject. For the record, I'm the first person to admit when I have no clue; ask me about business or math or something. Go on, I dare you.

If I don't post again tonight, I'll try to post a few things tomorrow.

So, Happy Christmas

Well, the painful part of Christmas is over: we're done dealing with my mother's family. My cousins were relatively well-behaved this year, which is a change. Last year, one of my uncle's daughters brought her violin; she wasn't very good at that point, but I didn't much mind listening to something that sounded like a dying cat as long as she felt good about the whole family listening to her. Of course, my aunt the "award winning" music teacher screwed it up by trying to coach and teach her, in the process criticizing her and chiding her for playing the wrong notes, until she ran off crying. Nothing like that today (at least, not while my brother and I were there), but as usual the aforementioned aunt was obnoxious, interrupting just about everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if she's never said a clever thing in her entire life.

I didn't get "much" for Christmas, but I made out pretty well. I got some serious cash, that will hopefully be spent on a new computer, and soon. I got a copy of Shadow War by Richard Miniter and, among other things, a pint of Guinness from my aunt and uncle on my dad's side. Basically, I'll just be glad to be done with Christmas.

Right now the worst James Bond ever, Timothy Dalton, is on; I'm not even sure which film it is, though I recognize the scene where they ride down the snowy mountain on the cello case. I've got an in-grown toenail that's got a good three or four days of pain left in it, and I'll shortly be headed out to continue a Christmas tradition of spending the evening of Christmas day with some friends.

I may post later, I may not. If I don't and you're reading this, happy Christmas wherever you are.

On the Air

A couple of days ago I was talking about listening to Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and I said that I'd post my thoughts on talk radio, as I listen to quite a bit of it. I'll try to be at least nominally comprehensive, but if I haven't listened to someone, I'll admit it openly. I'll link to a few.

* Jim Bohannon - Known as the "militant moderate", "Jimbo" tends to have a lot of people on his show that I wouldn't invite on mine. That's a good thing, though. He's friendly and energetic, and he's the only radio talk show how I know of who's a veteran.
* Sean Hannity - To be quite honest, I don't much care for Sean Hannity. He tends to be a bit of a bully when he's in debates, he's loud, and he doesn't listen when other people talk. I share at least most of his views, but he tends to paint things with a broad brush. Seldom do I hear a caller who actually disagrees with him. I tend to listen to Hannity as seldom as possible.
* Hugh Hewitt - I've never listened to Hugh Hewitt's show.
* Laura Ingraham - I've never listened to Laura Ingraham's show.
* Lars Larson - I like Lars for a lot of reasons. He's very conservative, and he applies a lot of common sense to the commentary on his show. He has a decent mix of people who agree with him and people who disagree with him.
* Rush Limbaugh - I've not had much opportunity to listen to Rush. I haven't tended to enjoy his show, though I tend to agree with him on a lot of issues. He strikes me as somewhat arrogant, and I don't like that because I think it turns the opposition off to the message that talk radio is trying to get across.
* Michael Medved - Medved is my favorite host, and I listen to him whenever I'm able, even to the point of taking compact discs to the computer laboratory at school, but listening to him instead. He emphasizes disagreement on his show, and that's all struck me as very valuable; when two people disagree, and actually discuss the reasons why they disagree, they make better arguments and there's a greater degree of discourse on the issues. When there's more information floating around, everyone wins. He's a veritable encyclopedia of internatinal history and politics, particularly American and Middle Eastern (he happens to be Jewish). If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend his show.
* Bill O'Reilly - I don't much care for Bill O'Reilly. He's certainly one of the louder talk show hosts out there, and I don't feel like I've learned anything or gained any perspective after I've listened to him.
* Dennis Praeger - I've never listened to Dennis Praeger's show.
* Michael Savage - I don't listen to Michael Savage. I most likely agree with him on a lot of things, but he strikes me as just another cocky, crass loud mouth who yells down anyone who dares to disagree with him. That doesn't help anyone.
* Laura Schlessinger - Dr. Laura needs to calm down, as far as I'm concerned. I agree with her morality, from what little I've heard, but she doesn't convince anyone with the attitude. I dislike her for the same reason that I dislike Dr. Phil: chewing people out only makes them feel bad, it doesn't serve much purpose beyond that. If someone won't listen to you when you're being friendly, they're very unlikely to take your advice if you insult them.

That's what I think. Take it or leave it.

Merry Christmas, Mister Bond

It's the 007 Days of Christmas on Spike TV. As I mentioned before, I'm not much of a Christmas person, particularly today with mom harping on everyone for no good reason. Oh, how I wish that I could spend the entire day at my flat, watching James Bond; right now it's one of the best Bond films ever, The Spy Who Loved Me with Roger Moore as 007 and Curt Jurgens as Stromburg. One of my resolutions for 2004 was to watch every Bond film; I may try to make that happen next week as I continue work on my infamous unfinished research project.

Just for the halibut, I was looking around at a Bond fan site. A couple of weeks ago I was listening to the Michael Medved Show and he mentioned a possibility for the next James Bond, some guy named Colin Salmon. As I'm the Internet's reigning expert on all things Bond (Ha, as if!), here's my commentary on the subject.

Colin Farrell - F - As if! Women may think he looks pretty, but I've seen him in a number of films (Minority Report and Hart's War) and I don't think he's got the calm, calculating, confident quality that the great Bond actors have had. He just comes off as brash, cocky, and aggressive.

Clive Owen - C - I must admit to not having seen King Arthur yet. I've only seen Clive Owen as the sniper in The Bourne Identity. He just doesn't do it for me; he doesn't have the look that I associate with James Bond. I could watch him as Arthur Pendragon and change my mind, but I doubt it.

Ioan Gruffudd - B+ - This guy's name is actually pronounced "YO-an Griffith"; I believe "Ioan" is the Welsh version of "John." He did some excellent work as Horatio Hornblower in the British films of the last six years. I think he could make a reasonably good James Bond; he's youthful, but displays a good maturity, with a graceful attitude.

Matthew MacFadyen - B+ - I don't even know if MacFadyen has been suggested for consideration yet, but I think he'd be rather good as James Bond. He's played MI-5 agent Tom Quinn for two years on the BBC drama Spooks. He doesn't have the youthful quality of Ioan Gruffudd or Jude Law, or the wit of Ewan MacGregor, but he has a great screen presence, and exudes a mature confidence. He's also proven at acting the part of a spy. If he hasn't been considered for the part, then he should be.

Ewan MacGregor - A- - I have a hard time seeing Ewan MacGregor as anything but Obi-Wan Kenobi, though when I think "Obi-Wan Kenobi" I generally think of Alec Guinness. I think Ewan MacGregor could make a very good James Bond. He's a proven action hero as Kenobi, but with a calm, cheery, confident attitude. When you compare his performance during the starfighter chase by Jango and Boba Fett in Slave I to some of the car chases James Bond has been in, there's a lot of similarity; he's also appeared poised but ruthless in fight scenes with Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, and the battle droids. His cynicism and biting wit in Black Hawk Down was also rather reminiscent of 007's classic one-liners. He'd probably be my second choice.

Jude Law - A+ - If I were picking the next James Bond, it would be Jude Law. He's proven himself to be a great actor in such films as Gattaca and Enemy at the Gates. He's witty, charming, and athletic. He has a youthfulness without having the cocky attitude of Colin Farrell, and the maturity of David MacFadyen without the years. (Not that MacFadyen's old, mind you.) I think that, of the crop of British actors out there right now, Jude Law would make the best James Bond.

Now Thunderball is playing. God bless America... And British writers and actors.

Felix, Felix, and More Felix

Welcome to the Twilight Zone:

SAN FRANCISCO - The first cloned-to-order pet sold in the United States is named Little Nicky, a 9-week-old kitten delivered to a Texas woman saddened by the loss of a cat she had owned for 17 years.

The kitten cost its owner $50,000 and was cloned from a beloved cat, named Nicky, that died last year. Nicky’s owner banked the cat’s DNA, which was used to create the clone.

This woman has spent more on an animal that she could have gotten for free from the Humane Society than I will have spent for five years at university, including textbooks. Still, I'm not terribly hung up on this; I think it's a bit excessive for people to clone their old pets, but I'm in favor of developing this technology, within ethical reason. By ethical reason, I mean that I'm not much of a proponent of human cloning, though I'm all for limited human cloning if they can make individual organs and such. Also, creating entire humans in order to harvest them for organs is, I think, unethical. Paying fifty thousand dollars for a cat pushes the limits of ethical reason, but the research won't get done if there's not a market for it, and if this frivolous use of money helps them develop a way to grow individual organs, it's alright by me.

One thing that's worth pointing out...

Critics also complain that the technology is available only to the wealthy, that using it to create house pets is frivolous and that customers grieving over lost pets have unrealistic expectations of what they’re buying.

To this, I have two answers. The first is a simple phrase: buyer beware. If someone is willing to part with this kind of money, they've likely researched the situation, weighed the pros and cons, and considered the risks. In a situation such as this, it's not the responsibility of the critic to babysit the consumer.

Second... So what if the technology is available only to the wealthy? It's the wealthy that make things happen in our system, not the inefficient government or the ineffective poor. The wealth of other people should act as an incentive to every poor person in America to work harder, or work smarter, and develop a skill or an idea to make themselves wealthier. I'm a university student, which basically precludes me from having any money. I don't fault some woman in Texas who has enough money to buy a cloned cat! Technology, comfort, wealth, and the like are not entitlements; my ability to breathe does not entitle me to these things. That's the beauty of capitalism! It rewards hard work and ingenuity, and punishes laziness, ignorance, and stupidity!

When rich people buy a cloned cat, or a widescreen flat-panel plasma television, or a mobile camera phone, or a Schiatsu massage (with happy ending?), that's a reward they've earned by succeeding, and that person's purchase and receipt of such goods or services does not punish those who are too lazy, unambitious, or stupid to earn these things themselves. It's rich people's interest in these technologies and services that get them developed and on the market in the first place.

The bottom line? If you're poor, don't whine because people who have worked and succeeded have nicer things than you do. If you're rich enough to buy a fifty thousand dollar cat, I have two suggestions. My first suggestion is that you think twice before spending that sort of money on a cat, as it could probably be better used elsewhere. If you decide to go ahead and get the cat, I thank you for encouraging economic and scientific development, and highly recommend that you contact me, as I'd love to show you some prime beach front property on a little South Pacific atoll that's been quiet for about fifty years now.

Again With Armor

I posted a few days ago, briefly, about the public relations problems posed by reservists. Ralph Kinney Bennett at Tech Central Station writes a great piece about the misconceptions people have about equipment being the savior of our boys in Iraq. He makes several excellent points. One is that no matter how much armor you put on a soldier (or vehicle), that serves merely as a challenge for the enemy to rise up to.

Bennett also notes, as I touched on, that most of the casualties in Iraq aren't people on patrol, but service and support personnel. These people tend to be reservists, as combat specialists tend to be active duty members. Because reservists sign up for such duties as administration, or water purification, they don't tend to develop as disciplined an attitude as active duty folks. It's that disciplined attitude, gentle reader, that vigilance and paranoia, that keeps men alive; not an extra inch of steel that weighs down the vehicle. In fact, I've read the account of at least one soldier who notes that he and his unit conducted their patrols in HMMWV's with no doors, because this made it easier for them to carry out their mission; he said that the increased armor (which weighs around two thousand pounds and cuts the driver/rider's field of vision) was detrimental to the mission of their patrols.

When our troops rely on armor, instead of good warfighting doctrine, to keep them safe, they make themselves more vulnerable by turning off their instincts and alertness. That's what's killing people; not a lack of armor.

In fact, the HMMWV isn't intended for armored combat; it's a utility vehicle. The U.S. Army's operations are based around the following vehicles. For armored combat and infantry support, the M1-A1/A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank; for infantry and cavalry transport and support, the M2/M3 Bradley Infantry/Cavalry Fighting Vehicle; for light armored combat, and the LAV/Stryker Light Armored Vehicle; the Marine Corps also utilizes the Assault Amphibian Vehicle Personnel ("AAV") for landing and infantry support operations. For light tactical utility and command and control, the Army and Marine Corps use the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or HMMWV, or "Humvee"/"Hummer." The HMMWV is not an infantry fighting vehicle, nor is it a light armored vehicle; it's a utility vehicle. Adding two thousand pounds of armor to it drastically reduces its ability to perform the mission it was designed for.

Basically, we're faced with a choice. We can employ these equipment assets in the missions they were designed for, using them to complement each other; or we can try to change them when the real problem is undisciplined personnel. I'm just a simple student, but I'd be willing to bet money that encouraging a higher degree of discipline and convoy alertness and aggressiveness in personnel, particularly the aforementioned rear eschelon Reserve and National Guard elements, would go a lot further and have more benefits beyond combat survivability than spending four billion dollars to put armor on a bunch of vehicles that weren't designed to carry it.

Deeper

I'll be doing some marathon posting tonight, so stick with me.

The first thing I want to post is this article on Tech Central Station. It makes an excellent case for what we're doing in Iraq, and why we're doing it. If you read this article and still think that we're in Iraq for oil, there will be no reaching you.

More to come.

"You are part of the Rebel Alliance, and a traitor!"

A Kentucky girl named Jacqueline Duty is suing the Greenup County school district for preventing her from going to her senior prom last Spring. She says that she worked for four years designing and then making her dress. Why did they feel the need to deny this girl entry? Because her dress is based on the design of the Confederate Flag.

In the words of Tim Meadows as Johnny Cochran, "This is an outrage." Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, pro-slavery. The only form of slavery I find remotely tolerable is the slavery found in the Bible: taking an indentured prisoner for a period of time in lieu of killing them in battle. Slave holders in the nineteenth century, and some people to this day, take the directives given by God in the Torah to govern a then-existant practice completely out of context. Unless American troops start taking Iraqi (or rather, Syrian and Iranian) terrorists as indentured servants in lieu of killing them, slavery should not exist in America; in fact, it should never have existed. Much of what we know about such men as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington tells us that they found the practice of owning human beings to be appalling.

That having been said, claiming that the Civil War was about slavery is a simplistic charge that ignores the other major issues of the conflict. From a legal standpoint, the Confederacy had a lot more ground to stand on than the Union. There was no law stating that a state could not secede, and until the Civil War, the sovereignty of the individual State trumped the sovereignty of the Union. The issue was one we face to this day: should members of one state be able to tell the members of another state what they can and can't do. I've said that I'm against slavery; at the same time, my research into my family's history has taught me that two of my great-great-great uncles fought for the Confederacy, and one of them may have even died in the performance of his duties. I wholeheartedly disagree with the practice of human slavery, but I wholeheartedly agree on many of the other things that the Confederates were fighting for.

I think that this young lady's rights were violated. I think that the principal's actions were inappropriate. Free speech in high schools should be limited to some degree, but a girl wearing a Confederate prom dress in Kentucky isn't like torching an Israeli flag in the lunch room in front of some Jewish kids. As long as she's not exposing her body or intentionally attempting to incite hatred or violence, she should have been able to wear what she wanted. This continued nonsensical, academically dishonest, and intellectually unsophisticated idea that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hatred, intolerance, and oppression has got to go.

Proctor: All right, here's your last question. What was the cause of
the Civil War?
Apu: Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious
schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists,
there were economic factors, both domestic and inter--
Proctor: Wait, wait... just say slavery.
Apu: Slavery it is, sir.
-- "Much Apu About Nothing"

Just for reference, here are a couple of pictures of this girl and her dress.

* Fox News
* S.P.G.

The Fly on Voting Felons

This evening on the Lars Larson show, which I think was a rerun because I tried twice to call in without anyone even answering; I think Lars said something about it being the seventh of December. Anyway, the topic of the first hour was whether or not felons should be able to vote.

What does the Fly think about this?

In many states, felons can't vote. They can't be lawyers, they can't be doctors. They can't serve on juries. Why? Because they've demonstrated that they are either too incompetent to obey the law, or they have so little regard for the rule of law that they're willing to disobey the law.

If someone is too stupid or too corrupt to obey the law, why should society let them serve on a jury?

If someone is too stupid or too currupt to obey the law, why should society let them vote?

The social contract that everyone in the United States is subject to is based upon a common respect for the rule of law. It's based on sacrificing one's own best interests for the overall best interests of the society as a whole. If one doesn't like the laws, they should either endeavour to have them changed, or move somewhere else. If someone violates that social contract by committing a crime serious enough to be classified as a felony, then they've demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to put the rule of law above themselves. Not only do they not deserve to be included in the civic process, they can't be trusted to be a part of it, either.

I don't differentiate between so-called "white collar" crimes and heinous, violent crimes. A felony is a felony; felonies are classified as such because they are meant to protect innocent citizens from the harm caused by certain heinous acts.

That's where I stand. Disagree? Leave a comment.

The Fly on Abortion

At a later time, I'll go into my talk radio preferences, who I listen to, who I don't, et cetera. Suffice to say, I'm not a big fan of Sean Hannity, even though I tend to agree with him. This afternoon I ran some errands, and while I was avoiding listening to Hannity, I tuned into Dr. Laura Schlessinger. One of the callers asked for advice on getting an abortion, and in true Dr. Laura fashion, Dr. Laura totally laid into her. While I don't agree with Dr. Laura's approach, I figured I may as well get my views out on this issue.

I used to be pro choice for two reasons. First, I didn't feel that I, as a man, had any business telling a woman what she could or couldn't do with/to her body. Second, I didn't feel that I had any business restricting a woman's right to make her own choices.

Then, I thought about it, and I heard some pretty reasonable and convincing arguments. I changed my mind.

Contrary to what the postmodernists, free love types, and other new age folks would have you believe, morality is not relative. I, as a man, have the prerogative to tell a woman what is and isn't moral, just like she does for me. Saying that a man can't tell a woman that aborting a baby is incompatible with morality is the same as saying that a woman has no business telling a man that beating his wife is wrong. If we're going to have a society based on moral equality, it's gotta cut both ways.

As for a woman's right to choose... A woman doesn't have the right to choose to kill a baby. There is no difference between a cluster of cells and a fully grown human person. That cluster of cells, that zygote, that fetus, whatever you want to call it; those are stages. A toddler is a human. An infant is a human. A teenager is a human. These are stages of development, they are not independent entities. Even at the embryonic or zygote stages, that group of cells isn't a part of the woman's body; if it were, it would share identical genetic material. Instead, it only has half her genetic content. She doesn't have a right to kill it.

A woman has every right to make her own choices, but nobody has the right to kill an innocent human life. That's where I stand.

Just One More

Ugh. I hate trying to work on a paper when I keep remembering things that I've been meaning to post on here. I truly, honestly hope this will be the last post of the night.

Every week I check the website of the Muslim Council of Britain. Apparently someone accused the Islamic prophet, Mohammed, of being a paedophile for having married his youngest (and arguably most influential) wife, Aisha. This link is to the response from M.C.B. General Secretary Iqbal Sacranie in the 14th December edition of the Telegraph.

Tomorrow I'll do another post about the Anglican situation. For now, it's back to work on the genealogy paper.

One (Two) More Thing(s)

I've also been meaning to post these two links for a while, so I'll do it while I'm here and thinking about it.

* Expedition Will Seek to Find Noah's Ark
* Satellite Images "Show Atlantis"
* New claim on location of Atlantis

For what it's worth, I think the most likely Atlantis candidate, if Atlantis was anything more than an ancient urban legend, is the Spanish site. I also hope they find Noah's Ark; that would be excellent.

Know Your Enemy/Know Your Gear

I spent the entire weekend slacking off, and boy did it feel good. Unfortunately, it means that I'll be up late trying to get some legitimate work done on this paper; a twenty pager is far more than twice as difficult as a ten pager. I'll make this post, and then finish watching The Punisher while I work on the paper. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few pieces of supplemental reading.

This first piece is Usama bin Laden in his own words. It consists of a Q&A session transcript where bin Laden answers questions from some of his terrorist worker bees. It's followed by a subsequent interview by an ABC News reporter.

This is an in-depth Christian Science Monitor article about Mullah Mohammad Omar, former leader of the Taliban. This is an interview with Mullah Omar from September of 2001. This is a subsequent BBC interview of Mullah Omar during November of 2001. Combined, they're a good case study of the Islamofascist mindset.

Warfighting excellence comes from more than just knowing one's enemy; knowing one's equipment and understanding the reason for its design and employment is another crucial element of that excellence. Here's a tour of some of the Navy/Marine Corps team's newest test gear and future development concepts.

* DD 21/DDX
* Littoral Combat Ship
* Guided Missile Submarine
* High Speed Vessel

Enjoy. See you tomorrow.

Formulaic Politics

Foreign policy these days works on a pretty simple, and rather equitable basis. Here's the formula: antagonize the international community and fail to comply with international law, get invaded and deposed. Comply with international law and demonstrate to everybody that you're willing to play nice, get lucrative international contracts.

Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin has had talks with Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi that were expected to focus on trade and business opportunities.

He is in Tripoli for a two-day visit that includes a meeting with Canadian firms seeking business in Libya.

Also, this:

Italian property services firm Gruppo Norman has signed a deal with Libya's government to build and manage one of the country's largest tourist resorts.

The Farwa Island Project is among the first major non-oil related project with a foreign firm since the thaw in the country's relations with the West.

One of these days, when I have money and time, I'd love to go visit Libya. It's the home of Carthage and a lot of wicked sweet Roman ruins. Heck, maybe I could even meet Moammar Qaddafi and ask him "What's up?"!

In other news, Senator Kerry blames bin Laden for his loss of the election, regarding that video that bin Laden released a few days before the election. Apparently one expert on Middle Eastern politics thinks that Senator Kerry is barking up the wrong tree:

PARIS Proving that he retains his theatrical flair, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, took credit for President George W. Bush's re-election in an interview on Italian television Friday.

In what was billed as Qaddafi's first televised interview since United Nations sanctions were lifted last year, the iconoclastic head of North Africa's richest nation delivered a characteristic performance, swinging between the serious and the absurd.

He told Giovanni Minoli of Italian state television's investigative news program "We Are History" that he was still waiting for the United States to reward him for giving up prohibited weapons.

He said Libya's move was responsible for Bush's election victory and said he now wanted the United States and other Western nations to provide Libya with nuclear technology for nonmilitary purposes. He said Iran and North Korea might follow his lead if they saw that Libya was compensated for its actions.

Colonel Qaddafi goes on to give himself fifty percent of the credit for President Bush's November win. I think this is going way overboard, but at the same time, I've cited the Libyan example many times (though not here until now) as part of the reason why making an example of Iraq was such a good idea. I think it's important to continue encouraging full democracy in Libya and throughout the world, but Qaddafi did unilaterally surrender his weapons programs, and I absolutely agree that he should be encouraged and rewarded for this.

The Smoking Gun

Why am I not surprised that I haven't seen this information in the mainstream media?

Earth to liberals: Iraq didn't comply to United Nations resolutions, including Resolution 1441. The war was legal and necessary.

One Country, Two Conquests

Does anyone actually think that the Chinese are serious about this?

China's president Hu Jintao has urged the governments of Hong Kong and Macau to work harder at making a success of the "one country, two systems" formula.

He said the system that gave the two former colonies some degree of autonomy was successful, but admitted there were problems that still needed resolving.

And those problems?

"Macau's return to China in the last five years has brought great improvements," said President Hu, adding that citizens enjoyed extensive freedoms and democratic rights.

But he told Macau's officials they needed to promote greater unity, doing more to learn what people want and lose no time in meeting their needs.

By "unity" there can be no doubt that President Hu means that Hong Kong and Macau need to submit to Beijing's directives. Note that President Hu isn't quoted as having apologized for blocking scheduled elections in Hong Kong earlier this year.

China makes a decent trading partner, and they've instituted some major reforms over the last twenty years that have expanded the relative freedoms of their citizens, but let's not forget that anyone who looks at a Chinese official the wrong way or doesn't jump high enough when ordered to can and will be detained without a trial, and possibly executed. The stifling of democracy in Hong Kong is only the beginning.

With regards to national security, it's all terribly frustrating because fighting our enemy (Islamic fundamentalists) reduces our ability to display a strong posture to our strategic rivals (China). If the Chinese government is salivating over Hong Kong and Macau, they're sexually aroused at the prospect of someday retaking Taiwan.

It's worth keeping a serious eye on. With that, I'm off to bed, I may post a couple of bits and pieces in the morning.

Sick of Reservists

One of the few sore spots I have about the current state of the Department of Defense is the heavy reliance on Reserve and National Guard elements. After the Cold War, there was a manpower reduction that continued through the Clinton Administration, and seems to be continuing to this day in some elements of the military infrastructure. A lot of the jobs that used to be done by soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are now done by civilian contractors so that actual military personnel can concentrate on the jobs that only they can do.

Part of the fallout of this shift is a greater reliance on National Guard and Reserve elements. These are the folks that show up for one weekend a month and two weeks a year under normal circumstances. A lot of the time they'll fill sandbags when there's flooding, and after 9/11 a lot of them did airport security. In return, they get money for college, or job training, or something to write on a CV, with the understanding that they'll be deployed if and when America needs them.

I've known some great Reserve and National Guard folks. One of pillars of the conservative world at university is a now-discharged Marine reservist. One of my instructors in high school was an Air National Guard Master Sergeant. A former friend's former roommate was (much to my surprise) in the Army National Guard. They were all good folks, and with the exception of the third, probably very professional and capable.

That having been said, it seems that most of the problems coming out of Iraq are being caused by Reservists and National Guardsmen, not by active duty personnel. The guys who are expected to be disciplined and professional on a daily basis aren't the problem. Who's the guy who's on every newspaper and television news program for questioning Secretary Rumsfeld about the HMMWV armor? A National Guardsman named Specialist Thomas Wilson who's been coached by someone in the media; of course, nobody's publicizing this interview (link via Right Thinking) that says that Specialist Wilson doesn't know what he's talking about. Who were the folks who perpetrated Abu Ghraib? Reservists. What about those Quartermaster Corps folks who mutinied? You guessed it. Reservists.

Please do not get me wrong. I appreciate Revervists and National Guardsmen, and the majority of them are American heroes. There are two problems I seem to be seeing. First, all of the bad press about the military coming out of Iraq, the questioning of authority, the screwing off, the disobeying orders or regulations or laws, it all seems to be coming from the non-active duty side of the house. The second problem is that all of the folks who seem to be whining about wanting to go home are Reservists or National Guardsmen who signed on the dotted line to get their free T-shirt and a few grand for college, and now that they have to actually face some real action, they whine about not getting what they were contracted for.

Now hear this: if you weren't prepared to go, you shouldn't have signed up.

This is such a frustrating thing to post about, because it's another case of the few making the many look bad. It just seems to me that it's almost always the reserve element that's in the news for some scandal, or some story published by the mainstream media about how poorly equipped, or how unjustly deployed our troops are. It's a simple concept, particularly in an all-volunteer military: Reservists and National Guardsmen get a pretty sweet deal. The flipside of that deal is that they will be employed according to the needs of the nation if a need arises, and since they haven't made the jump to full-time active duty, providing them with brand new equipment is a lower priority than getting it to active duty folks. It doesn't matter whether or not they agree with being deployed; they serve at the order of the Commander-in-Chief. I'll guarantee you that there were a lot of aggravated military personnel whenever President Clinton sent the military on some hair-brained, half-assed mission to take the news off of his shortcomings. Military personnel have the legal ability to quit at any time, and if they choose to do so, they can suffer the consequences. They voluntarily signed the contract as adults, and as adults they are responsible for such actions. It's the irresponsibility that bugs me most of all.

If you're a Reservist or Guardsman, and you've read this, and you've done your duty to protect freedom, good on you and more importantly, THANK YOU. If you're a Reservist or Guardsman, you've read this, and you've whined about how the Pentagon has violated your contract as part of a "back door draft," please do us all a favor: do your job, finish your time, and don't reenlist. Save us all the money and the headache.

UPDATE: Just to prove that I don't see the world in black and white, here's an article reproduced at Free Republic about some gung-ho National Guardsmen.

For those of you unfamiliar with Free Republic, and thus wondering where I get off just quoting their stuff all the time, Free Republic has a lot of people who post a lot of articles; probably a few hundred per day. If I find something good on there, I link to it (though I try to use it as sparingly as possible) and add my own commentary. You're here for my commentary anyway, right?

Honor and Glory

I was checking out Adopt a Sniper, Keystone soldiers, and a couple other sites.

I've never been to Iraq. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd imagine I'll probably never end up there, though I could be wrong. Right now, I wish I was there. I wish that I could be there in proxy for one of my countrymen. I don't care about Christmas; I'd rather spend it among my mates than among family, because I honestly don't enjoy this time of year. I wish that I could be there, helping the Iraqis build a free republic. I wish that I, through my presence in Iraq, could allow someone to be home for the holidays.

There's no glory in the death of a soldier for his country; the glory comes from his sacrifice, which occurs whether he lives or dies. The very act of forsaking guaranteed safety in order to guarantee the safety of others is honorable, whether one is forced to sacrifice his life or not. There's no glory in killing for your country; it's just something that has to be done on occasion in the defense of freedom.

It's a difficult time. I think we can overcome it. I wish I were able to contribute more than words and a bit of cash in an effort to help. Tonight, that's my frustration.

24:24 GMT

I'm watching an old Christmas episode of "King of the Hill" with "Jimmy Carter." At least Hank and Cotton are making fun of him. What a failure of a president.

In other news, FX appears to be running a twenty-four hour marathon of Governor Schwarzenegger's "Jingle All the Way" on Christmas. Another channel, either TBS or TNT, is running a twenty-four hour marathon of "A Christmas Story", which is, I'm sorry, one of the worst movies ever made. I'm sure some channel is running "It's a Wonderful Life", but honestly, wouldn't it be better for FX to run the same M*A*S*H Christmas episode (the one where they change the clock at the end, maybe) forty-eight times, rather than "Jingle All the Way"?

At any rate, I'm headed out soon to go to a Christmas concert at my advisor's church. While I'm gone, you might enjoy this interview with Mark Bowden (author of Black Hawk Down about the Iran Hostage Crisis, or if you've got some money, making a donation to the Adopt a Sniper program. Until then, cheers, wankers.

Radioactive Tehran

Link via Free Republic. It looks as if the much heralded diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

Teheran had assured European leaders that it would suspend uranium enrichment activities, but new information suggests otherwise

Iran has drawn up secret plans to make large quantities of a gas that can be used to produce highly enriched uranium, despite promises to suspend enrichment activities.

The growing problem of Iran will not be solved until the theocracy is eliminated and replaced with a pluralistic republic. To be quite honest, I foresee this happening within the next five years. The younger generation is very pro-American, and they're getting sick and tired of the mullahs exercising ultimate control. They see Afghanistan to the east, they'll see Iraq to the west, and they want freedom. As it stands now, the Iranian people aren't much better off than the Russians were under Communism.

I strongly believe that the Iranian theocracy will collapse as a result of pressure from the people, and that they will be encouraged and supported by the defenders of worldwide freedom. "The French?" you say? No. Americans. (And the Brits, the Australians, possibly the Pols; you know the real international community.)