29 August 2008

Governor Sarah Palin

As soon as I heard the news, I literally said "Hell yes!" without realizing that my "Hell yes!" implied to my boss that I was deriding Condi Rice - which I'd never do, but I'd moved past the conversation by then. I've thought for the last couple of months that Senator Obama's hype would fail to give him enough traction to make it to the White House, and I've become increasingly confident in the ability of the Republican party to win. The more I learn about Governor Palin, the more excited I get. I think it's very likely that at 12:00 EST today, Senators Obama and Biden lost the 2008 election.

You can read more about Sarah Palin at her Wikipedia entry, or at this excellent CNN piece. Although I was pulling for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, I don't think Senator McCain could have chosen a better running mate. I'm not the only one who thinks this. Folks who call in to talk radio shows have been very apprehensive about Senator McCain due to stupid and ignorant opinions aired by the majority of talk radio hosts. Pretty much across the board, the people I've heard calling in and E-Mailing various talk show hosts since the announcement was made have been ecstatic - literally, ecstatic. Those conservatives who believed, in ignorance, that McCain was a moderate or a liberal have had their fears obliterated by this choice.

Let me give you a brief list of reasons why Governor Palin is such an outstanding choice, both for conservatives and reasonable moderates... And a couple of cons.

Pros
  • She believes in and uses her Second Amendment rights - she's a lifetime member of the NRA, and she's an avid hunter and outdoorswoman.
  • She's pro-life, and she lives her values: her youngest son has Down's Syndrome, she knew that during the pregnancy, and they kept the baby and are thrilled with their choice.
  • She has a long history of cleaning up corruption in both parties, wasteful and bogus spending - and working with members of both parties. She and Senator McCain have the bi-partisan record to match Senator Obama's empty rhetoric.
  • She's gorgeous, eloquent, tough, intelligent, and did I mention she likes to shoot and hunt? That's the kind of woman that men are willing to vote for.
  • She's a "real world" person - not an ivory tower elitist. She went to the University of Idaho, she was runner up for Miss Alaska, she's a "hockey mom" - Sarah Palin could easily be your next door neighbor, or your aunt, or your kid's elementary school teacher.
  • She has administrative/executive experience; even though she doesn't have a lot of it, but two terms as mayor of Wacilla and two years as governor of Alaska is two terms and two years more than either Obama or Biden have. Oh, and did we mention that energy is going to be one of the handful of big issues in this election, and Alaska is a critical link in America's energy policy?

    Cons
  • For the love of God, could someone tell her how to pronounce "nuclear", "Iran", and "Iraq" properly? We've had to deal with this criticism of President Bush for eight years now, and I don't want to have to start all over again.

    I could go on, but you can read all of this and more elsewhere. I really think that the Republican party just cinched the campaign, although it's a long way to election day. I sincerely hope that Senator McCain and Governor Palin play their cards exceptionally well (as I think Senator McCain has so far), because there's very little room for error in this election and a great deal is at stake. This is precisely the pick-me-up I've been needing lately.

    What are your thoughts about Governor Palin? Post them in the comments, even if you disagree with me.

    UPDATE: Just one more thing. I'm certainly no fan of Senator Obama, but I was thinking last night that no matter who the candidate is, it really is remarkable that we have a man running competitively for the highest office in our great Republic who wasn't allowed to vote as recently as fifty or sixty years ago. Now, with the selection of Sarah Palin as Senator McCain's running mate, we're in a national race that includes two people who weren't afforded the right to vote a mere century ago. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, you have to think that this is a pretty cool development. This is going to be a fascinating election to watch - I can't wait for the debates to kick off!
  • Arbeit Macht Freitag: Licking Hookers

    Hey folks! It's Friday, so I'll do my best to keep news to a minimum, and get quickly to what you come here for: sheer chicanery!

    There have been a couple of really interesting articles from the Wired.com "Danger Zone" blog in the last couple of days. A couple of days ago, I mentioned that the military is fielding "manned UAVs" due to the sheer demand for aerial intel and unmanned attack capabilities. Well, apparently the amount of data collected is actually leading to an increased demand for human spooks. Very interesting. Wired also has an interesting article on how the Brits pacified Iraq/Mesopotamia between the two World Wars. Finally, one of my favorite bloggers has an extensive explanation of the situation in Georgia. Very much worth reading.

    Okay, chicanery time!

    When I was a junior in college, I took (in fact, I think I re-took) an astronomy course. I actually took the whole series in order to satisfy the requirements for both a Navy commission and a Bachelor of Science, but that's a different story. Anyway, my now-deceased professor was a cross between Ben Stein and Kermit the Frog, and his was one of only two or three classes in which I actually fell asleep. I eventually figured out that I could stay awake if I didn't pay any attention, at all - I know, I'm the consummate student. So anyway, at some point during Spring of 2003, I was sitting in his class, and he started talking about work that was done using the Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. He made some joke about how the telescope got its name, and I swear I was the only one among the handful of lecture attendees who actually caught that he was trying to make a joke. So what did I do? I chimed in by saying: "The real question is whether or not they did any collaboration with the Lick Observatory!" The professor was literally the only person who got it, and it was hilarious to watch - he actually slapped the lab table he was standing in front of! Get it? Hooker, Lick? Anyway, the two sites are your satellite images of the day: Mount Wilson/Hooker Telescope, and the Lick Observatory.

    Yesterday evening, I ordered two shirts from Ranger Up (whose banner you can see on the left). I ordered their MRE T-Shirt, and their Secret Squirrel T-Shirt. Well, imagine my surprise when they arrived in almost exactly twenty-five hours! One of these days, I'm going to have to actually organize all of my clothes, but it's great to have a couple more excellent military-themed shirts to wear around.

    Since I'm in the mood to be a bit irreverent today, the video I've chosen to entertain you into the weekend is Borat himself, Sacha Baron Cohen, interviewing Victoria and David Beckham as Ali G for Comic Relief in the United Kingdom. Enjoy, don't take it too seriously, and if you're overly sensitive, just don't watch!



    Have a great weekend!

    Fly Report: 29th August 2008

    Good morning. My wife, she is dead... High five!

    It's 13° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 86° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $115.29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,715.18. The exchange rate is $1.83 for £1, or £0.55 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 51. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    I have held the hand of the devil; it was warm in the night.

    28 August 2008

    Election Thursday: Maverick

    Hey folks! It's Thursday, and that means two things: tomorrow's Friday, and today's the Fly's day to vent his thoughts on the election. I'm going to post an article that I wrote under self duress for my parallel writing endeavour, but first I have a couple of thoughts about recent election developments.

    First off, a couple of thoughts about the Democrats and their convention in Denver. I'm obviously not a fan of the Democrat party, and most of my thoughts about their convention are negative, and unworthy of posting here - you can find negative remarks about the convention in many places online or on talk radio, so I don't need to repeat them here. The one positive item I'd like to note is that it was great to see Senator Kennedy speak. I have a lot of issues with Senator Kennedy, both in his personal life and as a politician. I think that his political positions are a colossally bad reflection of his brother's legacy, which, let's face it, is the only reason he's in office today. That having been said, I'm exceptionally happy that he's in such good health that he was able to address the conventioneers.

    I don't think I've ever talked about this on the blog before, but I'm a cancer survivor. I didn't have cancer myself; my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer when I was thirteen, and we lost my grandfather to cancer when I was fourteen. The person who's diagnosed with cancer isn't the only one who survives or becomes a victim of cancer. I know how devastated my family was when my grandfather died, and how devastated we would have been had it taken my mother. As incorrect in his political philosophy and personal life as I may think Senator Kennedy is, I believe that he's sincerely trying to do his best for the United States, and he deserves credit for that. So, on that note, I wish continued good health to Senator Kennedy, and I'll get off of the cancer soap box and continue the rest of Election Thursday.

    Okay, the second item I wanted to address is Senator Obama's choice of Senator Biden as his running mate. To be honest, I only know of two nice things to say about Joe Biden: he's apparently well-liked by most of his colleagues in the Senate, and he's a true story of success from modest beginnings. That having been said, he's the third-most liberal members of the Senate (Obama being numero uno), he went straight into Congress after finishing school, he never served a day in uniform, he never had a real job after college, and he's never run anything. For a candidate who's so committed to change in Washington, a rich white guy who's been in office since the Nixon Administration is a bizarre choice. To be quite honest, despite his desire to woo working class Roman Catholic voters, I'm fairly certain that Obama's choice of Biden as his running mate hinders the Democrats without affording much benefit. Oh, yeah, and Biden has a history of being a gaffe machine.

    This could be entertaining.

    [Late Breaking]
    Of course, Uncle Bill has to get his two cents in.

    A President Obama will choose diplomacy first and military force as a last resort. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example, than by the example of our power!
    - former President Bill Clinton, 27th August 2008

    Yeah, because if there are two things we remember President Clinton for, it's for A) using military force as a last resort and B) setting an outstanding example for the rest of the world.

    This is late breaking, and the McCain campaign just added this video in the last few hours.



    What's that? President Clinton changed his mind on something for popularity purposes? Yeah, that's credible.
    [/Late Breaking]

    Anyway, here's my article.

    * * *

    The Difference Between "Maverick" and "Moderate"

    I've admired Senator John McCain for a number of years now, ever since someone I continue to profoundly respect told a story (that a concerted Google search indicates may have been apocryphal) in which McCain, fresh from his release from the Hanoi Hilton, was questioned by a reporter, something to the effect of: "What did you think about all of the reports of anti-war protestors while you were imprisoned?" The gentleman who told me the story said that then-Lieutenant Commander McCain answered, "I thought that's what we were fighting for." Whether apocryphal or not, to this day I have no doubt that whether the exchange happened or not, such an answer is in perfect harmony with the character and personal philosophy of the senior senator from Arizona. Such an answer would also be in keeping with McCain's lifelong maverick attitude.

    After the 2000 election, I read Senator McCain's book, "Faith of my Fathers". However, my respect for the Arizona senator was challenged by yet another respected elder who pointed out several reasons why McCain wasn't as golden as I thought. Upon his return from Vietnam, McCain had eventually divorced the disabled wife who had waited for him throughout his captivity. He had also sponsored the McCain-Feingold bill, which had resulted in perceived restrictions on First Amendment rights during elections. Several years later, there were even rumors - unfounded, but rumors nontheless - that McCain was considering jumping ship and becoming a Democrat. Facts and rumors such as these were troubling, but I managed to retain at least some respect for McCain.

    While team players are valuable, and have their place, there remains a place for mavericks in American society, and in American politics. Unfortunately, Senator McCain's infamous maverick streak has led to a mistaken perception among conservative, liberal, and moderate voters. With only one notable exception (Michael Medved), every major conservative talk show host was squarely against Senator McCain during the primary season, and called him names like "RINO" (Republican In Name Only). Some claimed at the time that if McCain were nominated, they might have to vote for the Democrat nominee. I even remember Sean Hannity referring to the "real conservative candidate, Mitt Romney" - as if someone's conservative credentials could be flawless when that individual had flip-flopped on the abortion issue and ushered in a massive government entitlement program while governor. While every voter, even a conservative talk show host, has the right to vote for whomever they choose, the confusion of a "maverick" with a "moderate" or even a "liberal" is both troubling and inaccurate. So, why has Senator McCain received this inaccurate press? There are a handful of examples, most of which are taken out of context.

    Congressman McCain, a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution, exercised his maverick streak in 1982 and opposed President Reagan's decision to send the Marines to Beirut. It was McCain's estimation that the United States had no compelling reason or interest to deploy American military forces to intervene in the Lebanese Civil War. McCain's maverick streak was right: the benefit to the Lebanese situation was negligible, and there was no temporary or lasting benefit to the United States. The deployment itself ended after the precursor to Hezbollah killed more than two hundred United States Marines with a massive car bomb, giving America little more than an anti-terrorist talking point for its trouble. In this early episode, McCain's maverick streak was right, even in opposition the most prominent conservative icon of the last century.

    One of the most frequently cited examples of John McCain's centrist tendencies is his position on the failed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. The bill was influenced in large part by the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005, known by many as "McCain-Kennedy". McCain's cooperation with Senator Ted Kennedy is enough for many pundits to label McCain a liberal, despite the fact that Kennedy authored the No Child Left Behind bill that defenders of President Bush continue to champion.

    The core argument of those who actually bother to debate the substance of the proposed legislation is that it was a so-called "amnesty bill". In reality, the bill combined three common sense measures: border enforcement, a guest worker program, and a path to legalization. These proposals incorporated the conservative values of encouraging both national security and international free trade. Contrary to the angry rhetoric, the so-called "path to legalization" included both punitive and compensatory measures aimed at penalizing those who had been here illegally, and bringing them in from the shadows for the purpose of documentation, accountability, and legalization. When Presidents Ford and Carter waived criminal charges against Vietnam War draft dodgers, that was amnesty. When President Reagan made a sweeping allowance for illegal aliens to stay in the United States without fear of legal reprisal, that was amnesty. When a legalization process requires admission of guilt and payment of both fines and fees, those conditions preclude the assignment of the term "amnesty".

    In fact, comprehensive immigration reform provided legitimate, reasonable, practical solutions for a complex and pressing issue that continues to pose economic and security risks for the United States. Locating and shipping every last illegal immigrant out of the country is simply impossible, and a more complex and multi-pronged approach is necessary to address these intricate problems. As it stands now, little has been done to address the problem. What's more conservative: Senator McCain's proposal of a pragmatic and realistic solution to address real aspects of a complex problem? Or an unyielding demand to deliver an impossible fix that would have had the added benefit of simultaneously alienating of a growing moderate voter demographic? Like it or not, Senator McCain's disagreement with the supposedly mainstream conservative position didn't make him a moderate, it made him a realist.

    Another frequently cited reason why Senator McCain is allegedly a moderate or liberal is his opposition to the famous Bush tax cuts. Because of this infamous opposition to what is seen as an overwhelming benefit to the American economy, McCain is labeled a tax raiser and a fiscal liberal. Did you know that since his election to the House of Representatives in 1982 (filling the seat of a retiring Barry Goldwater, the founder of the modern conservative movement), Senator McCain has never supported a tax increase? Many cite McCain's opposition to the tax cuts, while completely ignoring his clearly stated reasoning: because they weren't coupled with cuts to federal spending. Given that one of the central tenets of conservative philosophy is limited government and fiscal responsibility, is it honest to claim that McCain is a moderate or a liberal because he pushed for spending cuts to match the tax cuts? Can anyone deny that today's troubled American economy would be in better shape if a Republican president and a Republican Congress had slashed billions of dollars of wasteful and redundant federal spending when they had the opportunity?

    There are indications that Senator McCain probably wouldn't have opposed the tax cuts if his had been the deciding vote. McCain has also gone on record saying that the tax cuts worked, and that he opposes eliminating them because doing so would be a tax increase - remember, he has never voted for a tax increase. In fact, Senator McCain's fiscal policies have always been responsible and conservative. In this case, as in others, McCain's so-called "maverick streak" forced him to err on the side that was both truly conservative, and truly responsible. America's recent economic woes would seem to exonerate McCain's reservations.

    Yet another incident cited by uninformed anti-McCain pundits is the infamous "Gang of Fourteen" incident, in which McCain and thirteen other senators negotiated a bi-partisan solution to a political impasse. Once again, accusations leveled at McCain are based on incomplete information. The incident in question, which happened in 2005, involved the use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats to block President Bush's judicial appointments.

    The Constitution affords the President the responsibility of appointing judicial nominees. The appropriate Legislative Branch check on the Executive Branch obligates the Congress to give a timely up or down vote - if one party has earned a majority in legitimate elections, they have the Constitutional authority to confirm the nominees. The action by the Democrats was contrary to the intended purpose of the filibuster. Had the Democrats won the issue entirely, America's courts would still be waiting on the justices that the Constitution affords the President of the United States the authority to appoint. Had the mainstream Republican view won out entirely, the filibuster would have been eliminated altogether - the Republican majority of 2005 would have effectively hamstrung the Republican minority of 2008.

    It was Senator McCain and the "Gang of Fourteen" that won what was effectively a total victory for the Republican party. The mature foresight of Senator McCain and his colleagues of both parties resulted in the retention of the filibuster for legislation, the elimination of the filibuster for the purpose of blocking judicial appointments, and the approval of such conservative justices as John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Can this really be considered liberal? Or even moderate?

    Conservatives need to overcome the mistaken impression that the ability to compromise and negotiate with political opponents equates to weakness or inconsistency. Particularly in an era when the Democrats enjoy a majority in both houses of Congress, compromise is the only way to get anything beneficial accomplished for the sake of the United States. Furthermore, American voters have grown tired of empty partisan bickering. The presumptive nominees of both parties arrived in those positions precisely because of this national fatigue at the polemic and stasis of the last several years. Senator Obama, though his voting record has yet to show any signs of bi-partisan cooperation, campaigned on a pledge to work with Republicans for the common good of all Americans. Senator McCain has the actual record to back this up; and in virtually every case of cooperation with political opponents, not only have his conservative values won out, but he has left Democrats praising him for his wisdom, experience, and resolve.

    As Americans, we praise our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines in two theaters of war for working with former terrorists of different nationalities, ethnicities, and faiths than their own - people with whom our service personnel have literally nothing in common. This cooperation with former mortal enemies is almost universally acknowledged to be both a great strength, and an excellent political and military strategy that is in America's best national interest. Why, then, do we have such difficulty acknowledging that the ability to cooperate, negotiate, and compromise with individuals whose only differences are party affiliation and overall political philosophy is a strength, and not a weakness or liability?

    Did you know that Senator McCain has supported safe, clean nuclear energy for his entire political career? Or that his record is so ardently pro-life that he has a ninety-six percent disapproval rating from NARAL? Or that he has a lifetime rating of eighty-two percent from the American Conservative Union? Were you aware that Senator McCain has never inserted an earmark for his home state in any bill? Or that McCain lost the Iowa primary because he was "maverick" enough to talk straight to Iowa farmers and tell them that farm subsidies were bogus, and that he didn't support continuing to unnecessarily redistribute American tax dollars to them? McCain also has a long history of fighting corruption, even when doing so involved difficult circumstances - like launching a probe of a questionable contract that eventually sent a top Air Force officer and Boeing's CFO to prison. Do these sound like the actions of a man who lacks conservative credentials?

    This doesn't mean that Senator McCain deserves a carte blanche pass. For example, McCain has voiced opposition to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, although based on the change in conditions, he now favors immediate and extensive off-shore drilling. Also, even though his position on climate change is far more conservative than the Democrat opposition, it still leaves much to be desired. However, do a mere handful of less-than-perfectly-conservative positions equate to McCain the Moderate, or McCain the Liberal?

    Come November, plenty of American voters will exercise their God-given right to self determination and vote against Senator McCain's candidacy for America's highest office. If these voters truly disagree with Senator McCain on the issues, or question his character, or his military record, or his voting record in Congress, so be it - that's the essence of American democracy. However, voting against Senator McCain - or worse, not voting at all - because he's a "moderate" or a "liberal" is as juvenile and ignorant as voting against Senator Obama because he's a "secret Muslim". America's Founding Fathers established a system whereby educated and responsible citizens would periodically wield controlled political violence. That controlled political violence - voting - only works for the benefit of this great nation when it is practiced in an informed and responsible fashion.

    As many legitimate and informed reasons as there are for liberals to oppose a McCain presidency, or for conservatives to oppose an Obama presidency, Americans have no good excuse for basing their electoral decisions on hokey catch-phrases, drive-by sloganeering, and baseless accusations, no matter which candidate they're leveled at. So, as you prepare to go to the polls, remember: whether you vote for Senator McCain or not, there's a difference between "maverick" and "moderate". One means "maverick", and the other means "moderate". That's why they have those names!

    * * *

    Alright, folks, tune in tomorrow for some lighter subjects, and have a happy Thursday!

    Fly Report: 28th August 2008

    Good morning. Go on, go on, come on, leave me breathless.

    It's 13° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 78° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $117.37 - hmmmm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,502.51. The exchange rate is $1.83 for £1, or £0.55 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 50. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    I have spoke with the tongue of angels.

    27 August 2008

    Disgruntled Nerds with a Voice

    Glück Mittwoch, my Freunds. That's right, it's Wednesday already. Here are a few items that I ran across today.

    Most of the today's items are from the BBC. First, they're curious as to how real the terror threat in Mauritania is. They've had a couple of terrorist attacks in the past year, so I'm going to go out on a limb and think that there's at least some danger there. A large statue of Marcus Aurelius has been found in Turkey - several major archaeological finds of the Roman era have occurred in Turkey lately - and there's been an explosion at a political rally in Balochistan. Finally from the BBC, it appears that Afghanistan's opium trade is declining. Of course, the BBC has an uncanny ability to spin numbers in order to find the black cloud within every silver lining. Observe:

    There is one glaring example, however, of where things have not gone right.

    The southern province of Helmand, where British troops are fighting a fierce counter-insurgency campaign against the Taleban, now produces nearly two-thirds of Afghanistan's opium - up from about 50% last year.

    Let me think here... If opium has declined everywhere else, and broken even in Helmand, doesn't it stand to reason that Helmand would increase its opium growth ratio relative to the rest of the country? Yep, that's right, the BBC and their crack team of statistical analysts strikes again!

    There were two interesting articles from SpaceWar today, both of them from UPI. First, columnist Claude Salhani thinks that Russia's invasion of Georgia could alter the path of politics in the Middle East, even forcing the Iranian regime to rethink their hatred of America. Don't quit your day job, Claude. Meanwhile, there's an interesting blurb about a new style of airborne IEDs that combine explosives with rockets. They're probably too little, too late, and they're apparently very inaccurate, but American troops are taking them very seriously.

    And from the Wired defense blog: girls of the IDF.

    Remember how I asked about video games yesterday? Well, something I've found exceptionally interesting on YouTube is the number of folks who review old Nintendo games. What's really interesting is that there seem to be to of the same kind of reviewer: James, the Angry Video Game Nerd; and Chris Bores, the Irate Gamer. Now, I don't know, and don't really care that much, but I'm guessing that the Irate Gamer is basically a ripoff of the Angry Video Game Nerd. They've even reviewed the same equipment, some of the same games, and both of them review movies. Someone's ripping off someone else. Wow, did I really just analyze that? Anyway, they're both somewhat entertaining, although Chris just doesn't have the screen presence that James has. Simply shocking... Well, not really, but it's entertaining to see that nerds are still talking about Nintendo after about twenty years. Holy smokes, that makes me feel old.

    Today's video is a live performance of Malaguena Salerosa by Chingon, from the Kill Bill Part 2 premiere party. Even if it's in Spanish, it's a pretty kickass song.



    Tomorrow is Election Thursday, and I'll be posting a piece that I wrote for my parallel writing endeavour. Have a great Wednesday!

    Fly Report: 17th August 2008

    Good morning. We're never gonna survive unless we get a little bit crazy.

    It's 14° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 77° Fahrenheit with partial clouds and wind.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $115.74 - hmmmm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,412.87. The exchange rate is $1.84 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 49. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Woo me, sister.

    26 August 2008

    Wherein the Fly Purchases Fruit

    Okay, so, first thing's first. In case I haven't announced it already, a long-time reader and occasional commenter now has a new name. Law School Goddess is no longer in law school, and we can't just call her Law Goddess or Legal Goddess because she hasn't received her bar exam scores yet. So, at least in the interim, and possibly long-term if she prefers it, her moniker will and has become Triathlon Goddess, because she's just crazy about swimming, biking, and running. Thus, Triathlon Goddess.

    Why I am I blathering on about this? Well, aside from giving me dirty thoughts of her shapely body, Triathlon Goddess is constantly making me feel like a disgusting physical failure by describing her healthy diet and constant exercise. So, as I was at the grocery store today, I decided to pick up some more fresh fruit than I normally do - which is to say that I almost never do, and only recently did I start doing it at all. So, you can see the picture of the fruit that I bought.

  • bananas
  • a mango
  • medjool dates
  • kiwi fruit

    Just two things, for the record. First, I had never encountered dates, at all, until I worked in California with various Middle Eastern folks, all of whom had authentic Middle Eastern food, and basically force-fed you with it whenever they possibly could. I especially loved dolma, although I have to say: Kurdish and Arab style dolma is much better than Greek dolma. Much.

    The second thing, which is a bit more brief, is that kiwi fruit is, bar none, the most sensuous fruit ever. Just think about that for a few moments.

    Okay, on to the news.

    Last week, a tribe of Tuaregs pledged to stop fighting the government of Niger. Well, during a weapons surrender operation, a landmine accidentally exploded. In a loosely related story, it's been discovered that the Provisional IRA likely held onto some Semtex explosives that were used in a terrorist attack on the Police Service of Northern Ireland a couple of weeks ago.

    As I mentioned previously, al Qaeda in the Maghreb pulled off several high profile bombings in and around Algiers over the last couple of weeks. UPI, via SpaceWar, has yet another article on the rise of al Qaeda's wing in North Africa, and the significance of the recent attacks. How much actual logistical support the Algerian terrorists get from the bin Laden core element of al Qaeda has yet to be determined, but it's probably negligible. The article's worth reading.

    I also ran across a fairly interesting article on the crumbling morale and membership of women in Colombia's FARC terrorist group. If you have any interest in Central and South American affairs, or just counter-insurgency in general, it's well worth the read.

    Two interesting articles from the Wired.com defense blog yesterday. First, as some of you may know, the recent South Ossetian War in Georgia involved a massive online attack against Georgian computer networks. Someone has started an open source effort to combine various pieces of intelligence in an effort to build a more comprehensive picture of what online groups staged the attack, and how they did it. Also, in a post I found to be very interesting, India participated this year in the annual Red Flag exercise in Nevada, hosted by the U.S. Air Force. What made India's participation interesting was that, because of their use of Russia's newest equipment, they actually had to essentially fight with one hand tied behind their back in order to avoid giving away the full capabilities of the Russian equipment.

    Tune in tomorrow; I'm assuming I'll have some more news, but there are also a couple of lighter topics to discuss. One of the topics will be game review shows on YouTube, so my question for you today, should you be reading the post, is this: what's your favorite video/computer game of all time? Post it in the comments, and have a great Tuesday. And remember... Kiwi fruit!
  • Fly Report: 26th August 2008

    Good morning. You are always on my mind... You are always on my mind.

    It's 15° Centigrade and fair in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 74° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $114.65 - hmmmm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,386.25. The exchange rate is $1.86 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is boring. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is new - finally!.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 48. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    I never bought a lotto ticket, I never parked in anyone's space.

    25 August 2008

    Monday News and General Chicanery

    Hey folks! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was excellent. Did I get hammered? No. Did I do something wild and crazy? No. What did I do? I finished an article a day before it was due, and then I attended a sixtieth wedding anniversary. And that was just Saturday!

    First thing's first: today's video. This one was featured on YouTube yesterday, and it's really entertaining: How the South was Lost, by the Ramsey Brothers.



    Okay, so I have a few pieces of news, and a few fun links for y'all to keep you entertained throughout the day.

    I've kept track of events in Mauritania, but I haven't had a chance to post the updates... Until now!

  • Head of Military Junta Takes on Presidential Powers in Mauritania (AP)
  • Mauritania strongman steps forward (BBC)
  • Politicians back Mauritania coup (BBC, Guardian)
  • Coup in Mauritania: Progress Hijacked (FSM)

    The most interesting item that I saw was this article: al Qaeda 'warning' for Mauritania. The al Qaeda franchise in North Africa carried out several deadly bombings in Algeria this week, and they've apparently released a message urging Mauritanians to rise up against the coup leaders. It's tough to see that happening when even the Mauritanian parliament has folded. Mauritania has experienced several terrorist incidents in the past year or so, to include a shooting at the Israeli embassy (Mauritania is one of only a few Arab countries that recognize Israel) and kidnappings of foreigners that ended with the cancellation of the annual Dakar Rally. General Abdelaziz, the junta leader, has claimed that one of his priorities is to crush extremism. Thus, al Qaeda in the Maghreb is threatening Mauritania.

    A few other stories.

  • Algeria: a new front for al Qaeda? (BBC)
  • Secret Report: '98 Strikes on Bin Laden Backfired (Wired)
  • al Qaeda faces Islamist backlash (BBC)
  • Gaddafi son retires from politics (BBC)

    That last one is particularly interesting to me, since I actually wrote an article about Saif al Qaddhafi a few months ago. I actually got my Islamic Civ professor from college to read it, and he E-Mailed the article to me a couple of days ago. I have a hard time believing that Saif, who has almost single-handedly fixed the majority of Libya's foreign policy blunders over the last few years, wouldn't eventually succeed his father. My guess is that this will basically mean that Saif takes on a less public role, focusing on the Qaddhafi family "charity" for the next few years, and then he comes out of retirement "for the good of the Jamahiriyah" when Muammar either dies, or becomes too frail to lead. I could see it being similar to what we're watching in Cuba at the moment.

    I've been keyed into two really cool websites by folks I work with. Sam-Wise indirectly sent me to the events archive at the Heritage Foundation. Boring? Not hardly: they have podcasts of lectures going back several years, of varied subjects, many of them dealing with important national and international issues. I about wet my pants when I saw how much awesome stuff they have. If you're bored at work, and you have a headset or speakers, go look to see if there's something that interests you.

    Have you ever enjoyed watching an episode of Hot for Words? Do you think that language and word origins are interesting? Then you'd probably love the Etymology Online Dictionary. Go look up your favorite word... Do it!

    Okay, folks, more tomorrow. I dare you to survive Monday!
  • Fly Report: 25th August 2008

    Good morning. Why do I beg like a child for your candy? Why do I run after you like I do?

    It's 13° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 95° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $114.40 - hmmmm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,628.06. The exchange rate is $1.85 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is new - finally!.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 46. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Looking for to save my, save my soul.

    22 August 2008

    Arbeit Macht Freitag... With Lumberjacks!

    الحمد لله, it's Friday at last! And completely out of the blue, this is my four THOUSANDTH post! That's four with three zeroes behind it! Dirka dirka, Mohammed jihad! Bakalaka sherpa sherpa! Anyway, I hope everyone has something exciting planned for the weekend; I'll be writing, as usual. I may go buy a new pair of athletic shoes, as my current pair were purchased at the same time that I had my last dentist appointment and my last optometrist appointment: Summer of 2004! Anyway, on with the show.

    A couple of days ago, I posted a video of Monty Python's "The Last Supper" as performed within the online fantasy game RuneScape. Today, I'm following it up with another Monty Python song set to RuneScape: The Lumberjack Song. If you've never heard the song, give it a listen... A careful listen!



    Awesome. And, as you'll notice, that particular video coincides with the random quote from today's Fly Report.

    Have you ever wanted to smack someone upside the head with a wooden plank for claiming that 9/11 was a government conspiracy? Well, assault no more, and send them to the Popular Mechanics site Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report. If they're not big on reading (as most of the people who claim that it was a conspiracy aren't), send them to the podcast - that's right, they have an excellent podcast that's a little bit longer than an hour. Also, if they are readers, you might send them to the report on the subject form the National Institute of Standards and Technology. I'm in favor of pretty much gutting most of the government in order to decrease government spending and allow for the lowering of taxes, but NIST is quickly becoming one of the handful of federal agencies I'd keep around if I had my way.

    Alright, folks, time for me to get rolling for the day. As always, there's more to come, so check back soon and if you don't roll back around until Monday, have a great weekend!

    Fly Report: 22nd August 2008

    Good morning. I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay.

    It's 14° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 75° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $120.11 - bollocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,430.21. The exchange rate is $1.88 for £1, or £0.53 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 45. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Will it make it easier on you now? You've got someone to blame.

    21 August 2008

    Election Thursday: Character

    Hey folks. Normally, the Fly Report's random quote is just that: random. Sometimes, like yesterday, I follow it up with a theme; in yesterday's case, it was half-naked chicks on Facebook. To be honest, with a quote like today's I ought to be writing a lengthy expose` about Senator Obama. Instead, I'm going to relay something that I heard a couple of months ago on the Michael Medved Show when Medved was interviewing none other than the great, the infamous, Karl Rove. As it turns out, the material is actually presented on Rove's website here. There are two passages in particular that I think Americans ought to know about. These stories were related to Rove by Bud Day, the senior POW in the Hanoi Hilton for much of the Vietnam War. I'll let Rove's account speak for itself.

    Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."

    The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.

    But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.

    Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.

    That's right, folks: John McCain busted Bud Day's hosed up arm, set it, and splinted it with pieces of his own bandage and some scraps of bamboo that he smuggled past the Vietnamese. Is Senator Obama anywhere near that badass? Has Senator Obama ever had enough character to risk his own life for the sake of anyone else? Not that I've seen.

    I've teased it for a couple of weeks now, and I want to finally pay out the other part of the story that really, really hit me. Keep in mind, when I listen to Medved, I'm doing it almost exclusively at work. These stories actually pulled my attention away from whatever I was doing at the time, and I not only replayed it a couple of times, but I kept that particular podcast. Anyway, the second story that Day related was about McCain's service as one of the prison chaplains.

    Another story I heard over dinner with the Days involved Mr. McCain serving as one of the three chaplains for his fellow prisoners. At one point, after being shuttled among different prisons, Mr. Day had found himself as the most senior officer at the Hanoi Hilton. So he tapped Mr. McCain to help administer religious services to the other prisoners.

    Today, Mr. Day, a very active 83, still vividly recalls Mr. McCain's sermons. "He remembered the Episcopal liturgy," Mr. Day says, "and sounded like a bona fide preacher." One of Mr. McCain's first sermons took as its text Luke 20:25 and Matthew 22:21, "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." Mr. McCain said he and his fellow prisoners shouldn't ask God to free them, but to help them become the best people they could be while serving as POWs. It was Caesar who put them in prison and Caesar who would get them out. Their task was to act with honor.

    Senator McCain recited scripture and the Episcopal liturgy from memory when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Senator Obama insulted Dr. James Dobson and misinterpreted scripture as a freshman senator. You'll forgive me if I'm less than inspired by Senator Obama's alleged religious credentials. The Bible says you'll know a man by his fruits (Matthew 7), and that a man is made clean or unclean based on what proceeds from his mouth (Matthew 15). Senator Obama has yet to convince me with respect to his religious sincerity, or the strength of his character. From stories such as the ones I've just cited, I have no doubt about Senator McCain's.

    Issues and experience are important in this election. Senator McCain has experience, while Senator Obama has very little experience. I think Senator McCain is right on almost every issue, and he's been consistent on almost every one of those issues for his entire tenure in Congress; Senator Obama, on the other hand, is inconsistent and vague on nearly every issue, and I believe that he's wrong on the few issues he's actually expounded on. One of the core issues in this campaign will be character. Senator McCain's character is evidenced by a lifetime of service and dedication to this great nation. Senator Obama's is, in my estimation, less apparent.

    I'll finish this Election Thursday up with a video from Senator McCain's YouTube channel.



    Senators Obama and Clinton, praising Senator McCain? That, ladies and gentlemen, should tell you something about how qualified Senator McCain is to lead this country. And for any conservatives out there who are worried about Senator McCain's conservative credentials after his more than twenty years as a maverick, remember: "maverick", "moderate", and "liberal" are three entirely unique concepts (that's why they're spelled and pronounced differently). I'll address a few of those issues that got Senator McCain his "maverick" label in next week's post.

    Just a quick note about vice presidential candidates. Everyone's bored, and the announcements are coming soon, so there's been a lot of speculation. Did you know that Senator Obama will make the announcement of his running mate by text message to his fans? Is it just me, or is that just plain juvenile? Also, there's an interesting headline, with an article worth reading: Biden's emergence in VP race crystalizes concerns. Go have a look.

    Have a great day, and check back tomorrow for some stories to take you into the weekend.

    Fly Report: 21st August 2008

    Good morning. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right; here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

    It's 14° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 84° Fahrenheit with partial clouds and wind.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $115.14 - criminy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,417.43. The exchange rate is $1.86 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 44. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Like the desert needs rain, like a town needs a name, I need your love.

    20 August 2008

    On Wings Like Eagles

    Wait, what? It's Wednesday already? Hmmmm. Okay, a few things.

    Okay, first thing's first: Algeria has experienced its second bombing in a week at a police academy outside Algiers. (CNN, BBC, Guardian, Jerusalem Post). The attack was apparently a suicide VBIED (car bomb) attack near Boumerdes. No one has claimed responsibility, but the likely perpetrators are al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group that I've written about previously. The attack killed forty-three and injured thirty-eight.

    The DoD is apparently looking to purchase and employ manned UAVs. Yes, you read that right: manned unmanned aerial vehicles. Because of the sheer level of intelligence desired by American commanders, and the new capability of the Predator and Reaper UAVs to operate as an attack platform, their use in combat zones has skyrocketed. The military has decided to use conventional aircraft as surveillance platforms in an effort to shore up the need for intelligence and surveillance capabilities. Very interesting.

    There's been a somewhat entertaining story floating around for the past few days: an Australian mayor in a remote mining town has made an appeal for ugly women to come to his town, where men outnumber women five to one. (BBC, Times, Fox) A lot of people are in an uproar about it, but when you think about it, it sort of makes sense in a twisted kind of way. The interesting thing about it is that elsewhere in Australia, ranchers have had enough trouble finding men to work their cattle ranches that they've seen the rise of "Jillaroos", or female cattle hands. (Times, BBC) What Australians need most, though, is some rain.

    Okay, as you may notice from the random quote from today's Fly Report, one of the most entertaining details of Facebook is seeing women who would have never dated you in high school or college, posing half-naked. Whether it's in skimpy swimwear, or just without most of their clothes, girls on the Internet have this fascinating inclination to expose flesh while entirely forgetting who can see it. It actually reminds me of a fake motivational poster that I saw a few weeks back that said: "The cumulative number of girls who have posed nude on the Internet doubles every eighteen months." Probably right. Anyway, what brings this up in the first place is that on Sunday, as I was checking Facebook (I loathe MySpace), I noticed what appeared to be a very striking thumbnail of a girl I'd gone to college with, with whom I had enjoyed one date (eating Chinese food and seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl) during the Summer of '03. She bailed on our second date, months later, and then went to France during my last year of school, and that was that. At any rate, this thumbnail appeared to be, and then turned out to be, a picture of her in nothing but her brassiere. Well, being as Puritanical and respectable as I am, you can imagine my reaction. If I remember correctly, it was something like this.

    The Fly: Hmmmm... Well isn't that interesting.
    The Fly: *click*
    The Fly: *save*
    When I got back from church later that day (yes, church), she'd either hidden or taken down the picture. Again, fascinating. Maybe she'd been drunk-uploading the previous evening, as opposed to drunk dialing? Who's to say... Certainly not me, of course. However, the image will stay securely and safely locked down on my hard drive. Thanks, Facebook!

    One of the ways that I'm working on learning Arabic is by trying to learn a word here or there from studying the Bible in Arabic. It's slow going, and it's a lot more copying than actual learning at the moment, but I've made some progress, and I'm hoping it's going to be a sort of snowball effect: the more words I learn, the more words I'll continue to learn, and it'll get easier. So, why am I posting this video?



    That's a homemade music video of the song Drowning Man, from the classic U2 album War. Some of you (okay, probably none of you) may know that all of the members of U2 are Christians, and a lot of their lyrics are direct references to the Bible. In Seconds, they quote Isaiah 40:31:

    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.

    So, that's one of the verses I've been trying to learn. Also, the song is pretty good, as is most of U2's catalog.

    Finally, I'm getting some great ideas down in electrons for both of my spy novels, but mainly the first one. I've probably written six or seven pages in the last four or five days, and that's exceptionally exciting. It would be awesome to have the first one completely finished and squared away by the end of the year, although it could very well take me a bit longer than that. Very, very exciting.

    Alright, folks, have a great Wednesday, and tune in tomorrow for Election Thursday!

    Fly Report: 20th August 2008

    Good morning. Yep, there's another hottie posing half naked on Facebook who I never would have seen in such a condition otherwise. Thanks, Facebook!

    It's 14° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 86° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $113.72 - bollocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,348.55. The exchange rate is $1.87 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is very cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 43. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    We turn away to face the cold, enduring chill, as the day begs the night for mercy.

    19 August 2008

    General Tso's Total Failure Chicken

    Hey folks! Today's post will be somewhat short. I'm on a better footing than I was Sunday evening, but I ended up spending yesterday evening hanging out with Police Fan. We went to see Tropic Thunder
    , and I have to say: if you think Hollywood is an asinine joke, you should go see this movie. Very funny, very tongue-in-cheek, very good if you're looking for a laugh. Anyway, just a few things today.

    The Olympics continue to be big news, and what was theoretically supposed to be an apolitical celebration of pure athleticism (yeah, right) has turned into an extremely political event. One of the big things about this particular go is the role of the host nation, China, in the games and in the world. However, the controversial rising nation made a less-than-perfect showing as the host of the games. People are talking about the asinine move of having one beautiful little girl lip-synch a patriotic Chinese song during the opening ceremonies, while another girl deemed too hideous to be seen by cameras was the actual singer. Everyone's heard the extensive coverage of the fiasco that was the torch run (one word: Tibet) and the little issue of the Uighar attacks in the west. Did you know about the Olympic lake full of algae that Chinese people had to clean out by hand? Did you know that the world's most ruthless hackers experienced a Blue Screen of Death on one of their computers during the opening ceremonies? China's execution has been less than inspiring. Not unlike the poisoned dog food and dumplings, virus-infested digital picture frames, and lead-based paint on kids' toys that we've come to expect from the Chinese in recent months, if the Chinese were trying to prove their rising supremacy with this Olympics, they've failed miserably.

    There are a couple of op-ed pieces from the Guardian about this subject of the botched Beijing Olympics. Both are worth reading.

  • Thanks to China, we have a blueprint for 2012 - virtual athletes and exciting made-up CGI sports
  • Happiness can't be faked

    Speaking of the world's greatest hackers, did you know that your mobile phone can be hacked? I ran across that article a couple of weeks ago, and was sufficiently surprised. As luck would have it, there are a couple of manuals from one the few government agencies that I actually don't mind funding, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). I haven't had a chance to read these through yet, but NIST has never done me wrong in the past, so I'm linking them just the same:

  • DRAFT Guidelines on Cell Phone and PDA Security
  • DRAFT Guide to Bluetooth Security

    I haven't done a satellite image in a few days, so here's a close-up of Roskilde, a Danish city that features in one of the narratives in my spy novel. It's the site of a daring intelligence collection operation, followed by back-to-back raids on two terrorist cells.

    Keep your collective chins up, folks. I've seen some changes, and it's getting better all the time.
  • Fly Report: 19th August 2008

    Good morning. My homeboys tried to warn me, but that butt she got make me so... Well, I think you probably know the rest.

    It's 14° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 92° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $111.30 - keep going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,479.39. The exchange rate is $1.88 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is very cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 42. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Let it go, and so to fade away.

    18 August 2008

    Too Little Sleep

    I spent part of last night catching up with a buddy from high school and his adorable Lithuanian wife, and then spoke for a few minutes with Mighty Mo. As a result, I went to sleep far later than I had originally expected. Fortunately or unfortunately, I spent all of my writing energy on my spy novel during the course of the weekend, so I don't have a long post for you folks. Just a couple of items.

  • World War II Ammunition Finds New Life in War on Terrorism
  • al Qaeda faces Islamist backlash
  • Afghans trading AK-47s for M16s (older article)

    One of my favorite comedy acts is Monty Python, and the only online game I ever play (rarely) is RuneScape. Imagine my surprise when my favorite Monty Python bit, "The Last Supper", was made within RuneScape! It's your video of the day.



    Alright, folks, check back tomorrow and have a great day.
  • Fly Report: 18th August 2008

    Good morning. Alligators is ornery 'cause of the medulla oblongata.

    It's 17° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 89° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $112.80 - come on, come on. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,659.90. The exchange rate is $1.86 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 42. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Just the bang and the clatter as an angel hits the ground.

    15 August 2008

    Archaeology Friday

    It's about damn time that Friday rolled around. This has been one hell of a week.

    First thing's first. I don't usually discuss work, but there's one thing that I want to vent about. My company presents professional development hours about once a week, and if five or more people sign up to attend, the company springs for lunch. Awesome, right? We don't get paid for it, but it's a great professional development program, and it's one of the things that really impresses me about the company I work for - and for the most part, I'm extremely pleased with my company. So what's my beef? At the last two seminars I've attended, there's been a woman who apparently works in the building (I work elsewhere, folks in the building are support personnel for company operations) who's showed up long enough to get lunch and sign the roster, then she's left. This really annoys me. Now, I've vented about it.

    Carrying on, before I get to the lighter stuff that I promised earlier in the week, there have been a couple of articles recently about the negative impact of khat in Yemen. The BBC has an article titled Kicking Yemen's qat habit, and the Guardian has an article called The curse of Yemen. For those of you who don't know, khat/qat is a natural amphetamine that's chewed in parts of the Arabian peninsula and in the Horn of Africa. You can read more about it at Wikipedia. In addition to being a sort of agricultural and pharmacological nuisance, khat has played a role in some American operations in the CENTCOM region, such as Somalia. Because of its properties, folks like Somali militiamen will chew it all day, giving them energy and a sense of bravado. When I was in college, training with the Marines, we were actually direct an operational plan to coincide with the time of day when the local militia was coming off of their khat high. It's not quite the strategic issue that poppies are in Afghanistan, but any counterinsurgent operation in the Horn of Africa or the Arabian peninsula will have to include the khat factor.

    So, these things having been discussed, today's theme is archaeology. There have been a number of interesting archaeological finds announced recently. Beneath a church in Israel, archaeologists have discovered an ancient church. Archaeologists in Turkey have found the head of a statue of Faustina, the wife of Antoninus Pius. Antoninus Pius was one of the "Five Good Emperors", and the adoptive father of Marcus Aurelius. There's also been a fairly interesting discovery in England of a Roman brooch, owned by one of the soldiers associated with Hadrian's Wall. Having written about and researched Hadrian's Wall in college, and having visited the area of the wall myself in September of 2004, I found this particular find to be pretty interesting.

    The last story of the day is another story about archaeology... Well, not really, but it's about a fictional archaeologist, and it has the virtue of featuring pictures of a ridiculously hot chick. Alison Carroll is the new Lara Croft. When I was a kid, I never had any of the equipment to play the Tomb Raider games, so I was never the geeky fanboy that other guys were; I'm also not a fan of Angelina Jolie or her portrayal of the character (although she impressed me a bit a while ago by saying that she may vote for Senator McCain. Anyway, with a stone cold fox like this Alison Carroll person getting involved with the franchise, I may finally be compelled to get onboard.

    Okay, one last item. Today's a banner day for me: today's the birthday of both my dad (fifty-one) and Triathlon Goddess (formerly known as Law School Goddess, [age redacted]). My dad probably doesn't know what a blog is, but TG checks the blog regularly, so leave her some birthday well wishes in the comments.

    Have a great weekend, folks!

    Fly Report: 15th August 2008

    Good morning. Pick up the receiver, I'll make you a believer.

    It's 14° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 69° Fahrenheit with scattered thunder storms.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $112.57 - come on, come on. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,615.93. The exchange rate is $1.87 for £1, or £0.53 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is lame. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 41. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    Stay with the demons you drown, stay with this spirit that I've found.

    14 August 2008

    Election Thursday: Foreign Policy Missteps

    Hey folks! It's Thursday, and that means that it's time for this intrepid blogger to vent about the election. Just a few things today - with events in Georgia taking such a prominent place in the media over the course of the last week, there's been far less attention paid to the election. (Could it be that John Edwards decided to announce his sordid affair when he knew that little media attention would be focused on him?)

    Before I actually go into the election bits, I just want to point out: while oil jumped four dollars in the last day, and the stock market took a bit of a hit, the dollar is at the highest value that it's been in months. In fact, looking back at old Fly Reports, this may be the best we've seen the dollar doing in nearly two years. Recession, my ass!

    One more thing: Mighty Mo has effectively shut her blog down. She's had a lot of things changing for her in the last few months, and she's at least taking a breather, possibly walking away from blogging. If you've ever read her highly entertaining and insightful posts, do her a favor: go tell her in the comments to her last post.

    Okay, now for the election stuff. It's becoming more and more obvious that the majority of the American media - and pretty much all of the foreign media - is in the tank for Senator Obama. This isn't especially surprising, but the level to which they seem to be taking this bias is almost comical. Or at least, it would be if it weren't frustrating. When I took journalism - as a freshman in high school, in 1996 - I was always told that journalists are meant to exercise the highest levels of integrity and objectivity. Save for those pieces that are explicitly labeled "editorial", journalists are supposed to remain dispassionate. Unfortunately, most of the world's journalists were absent during that day that yours truly was in journalism class. Today, I'm going to focus on two such stories: one for Senator McCain, and another for Senator Obama.

    A few months ago, Senator McCain caught a lot of flack for claiming that Iran was supporting al Qaeda and other Sunni extremist groups. According to the media, there was only one problem: Iranians are Shia, and al Qaeda is Sunni! Senator McCain must be a complete moron! O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma! Just one problem: Senator McCain was right: link, link. Not only is there strong evidence that al Qaeda has received support from Iran, but Iran has backed at least two other Sunni terrorist organizations: Hamas, and the Taliban. So while most journalists probably couldn't find Iran on a map, they're trying to call Senator McCain out, when his only real mistake was listening to Senator Lieberman's correction.

    Meanwhile, what happens when Senator Obama makes a real mistake? In Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on 13th May of this year, Senator Obama said:

    "Right now, we don't have enough troops and NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So we just don't have enough capacity right now to deal with -- and it's not just troops by the way, it's like Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers. We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them, and obviously they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan oftentimes people who speak Urdu or Pashto or whatever the languages are, they are going to be needed in those areas and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So, we've got to focus on Afghanistan."

    You can see the video itself here, but the audio is sort of lousy. At any rate, there's just one problem: they don't speak Arabic in Afghanistan. A handful, maybe; but having a bunch of Arabic interpreters in Afghanistan would be roughly equivalent to having a bunch of French-speaking interpreters in Greece - and in fact, that might even be more useful, because French and Greek are both Indo-European languages. Pashtu, Urdu, and Dari, the major languages spoken in Afghanistan, are from the Indo-European language family, while Arabic is from the Semitic family. There are certainly areas of overlap, but to claim that the war effort in Afghanistan is being hindered because the Arabic interpreters are in Iraq? It's ridiculous, and yet Senator Obama claims that he's more qualified to make foreign policy and serve as America's Commander-in-Chief.

    To recap: the media jumped all over Senator McCain when he was actually correct in what he'd said, but they ignore Senator Obama when he coughs up ridiculous nonsense? Seems like a double standard to me. You can read more about both incidents here. I also found a rather cutting video a couple of weeks ago that I'd like to share. Senator Obama has espoused a number of high-minded goals with respect to foreign policy; this video, while somewhat inflammatory, contrasts specifics from one of Senator Obama's speeches with events in the recent past. Have a look.



    My plan next week is to talk about Senator McCain's faith when he was imprisoned in Hanoi. Discussion of Senator Obama's religious faith has been a bit of a losing issue for the freshman senator from Illinois, but more people ought to know about the faith that John McCain has tried to live. In the mean time, today's Thursday, which means that tomorrow is Friday. Seize the day, dear readers, and check back tomorrow for some lighter notes to take you into the weekend.

    Fly Report: 14th August 2008

    Good morning. We should probably give him more cowbell.

    It's 14° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 69° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

    A barrel of oil is trading at $116.46 - damn. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,532.96. The exchange rate is $1.87 for £1, or £0.54 for $1.

    Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is cool. The picture at the Orkneyjar Photoblog is not new.

    Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 40. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

    What do you want?

    13 August 2008

    I Have the Power

    "Oh no! There was no Fly Report yesterday! Is The Fly okay? I hope posting resumes soon!"

    These are all things that would have been nice to read, but no dice. Anyway, I woke up at 0415 Tuesday without electricity. It's tough to do much of anything in the morning without electricity, although I had a shirt and trousers that were presentable, and I was able to take a shower by candlelight (I'm assuming that one's better when you have a partner). So, it's been an interesting couple of days, but I'm back. I'm going to post the post I'd intended for yesterday in its entirety, and then post a few more stories in the same format.

    * * *

    Happy Tuesday, folks. I spent part of the evening cooking, and it was a long day in general, so I'm going to throw a bunch of links at you to update you on a few stories that I'm keeping close tabs on. If you just read the links, you're updated; if you actually read the articles, you're more updated.

    Mauritania:
  • African Union to suspend Mauritania (BBC)
  • Coup leader could run in polls (BBC)
  • Mauritania PM released (BBC, AP)

    President Abdallahi is still being detained, and no one has seen nor heard from him since Wednesday of last week.

    Georgia:
  • 'Russians have cut country in half' (Jerusalem Post)
  • Georgia to withdraw all of its troops from Iraq (AFP)
  • Russian troops enter Abkhazia (BBC)

    Russian aircraft continue to bombard targets throughout Georgia, and have reportedly sunk a Georgian missile cruiser on the Black Sea. Russian troops have taken a strategic town that straddles the country's only major east-west highway, effectively cutting the country in half. The Russian decision to enter Abkhazia is especially troubling, as the dispute has thus far centered entirely on South Ossetia - there's really no justification for entering Abkhazia at all. The Georgians have called for peace, they've signed a ceasefire agreement floated by the European Union, and the Russians appear to be ignoring it altogether, along with any and all statements from the international community. The proportionality of the Russian response to the alleged Georgian crimes is completely beyond any reckoning. In fact, Prime Minister Putin (who appears to be the public face of this action) has gone so far as to criticize President Bush for helping two thousand Georgian troops to leave Iraq in order to defend their country. It's plain and simple: nothing good is going to come of this, it's a big ugly mess that nobody seems to be interested in stopping.

    * * *

    And now, today's updates to these stories.

    Mauritania:
  • Freed PM opposes Mauritania coup (BBC)

    Georgia:
  • [Georgian] Iraq veterans jump from frying pan into the fire (Times)
  • Georgian online infrastructure under attack [from Russia?] (Wired, Wired, Times)

    Assuming the online attacks are Russian in origin*, this would be the first time that I know of in which digital warfare has been employed in conjunction with a logical attack in the real world, at least on an international scale. That in and of itself is big news. The Russians have halted their attack against Georgia, and now it's up to the world to wait and see what the fallout will be. Excuse my language, but this is going to be a big fucking mess. It's one thing when a coalition of nations, after international debate, invades a dictatorship that sponsors international terrorism. It's quite another for one ostensibly free country (Russia) to completely ignore the sovereignty of a legitimately free nation (Georgia) in the name of "peacekeeping", and completely exceed the proportionality of the original grievance in the process. What may be most upsetting is that, with the exception of online support for Georgia's computer network from countries like Estonia and companies like Google, and an American airlift of Georgian troops from Iraq back to Tbilisi, the international community stood by and did nothing - literally, nothing. What's just as upsetting is the fact that this whole thing probably could have been prevented if the French and the Germans hadn't prevented Georgia from joining NATO in April. This is very, very frustrating.

    Moving away from the Caucasus region, there have been a couple of bombings worth noting. There are sporadic bombings every few months against government targets in Algeria, and there was one this weekend. The really interesting situation with respect to bombings, though, has been in Xinjiang Province in China. A number of attacks, including a couple of possible bus attacks, have occurred in recent weeks. Everyone paid a lot of attention to the actions of the Chinese with respect to protests in Tibet earlier this year. What few people have paid much attention to is the Muslim Uighar/Uighur community in Xinjiang province, in Western China. Have a look at some of the recent developments.

  • Chinese border assault kills 16 (BBC)
  • China's Uighur rebels switch to suicide bombs (Times
  • New violence in China's west kills 11 (Jerusalem Post)
  • Bombing spree exposes ethnic divisions in China (Jerusalem Post)
  • Renewed violence [stabbings] in west China (BBC)

    It will be very, very interesting to see if this situation develops further. Xinjiang borders Tibet, and while Tibetan Buddhists are dedicated to pacifism by their very philosophy, Islamic philosophy is generally more predisposed to the use of force. For one reason or another, China has been content to sit back and ignore the Islamist threat, and may have even directly or indirectly supplied some weapons to Jihadis. A Uighar insurgency in China? Very, very interesting.

    * * *

    Alright, folks, tomorrow will be my second attempt at Election Thursday. Have a great day, and stay tuned.

    * I loathe the terms "cyber-warfare" and "cyber-terrorism", they're just bullshit buzz words from people who want to scare gullible politicians into spending money. I'm not saying that a threat doesn't exist; Estonia proved that. What I'm saying is that the rhetoric is stupid and cheesy, and we should expect better.