Red vs. Blue Test

I'm just testing something. I'll probably be too lazy to take it down.



I wonder if it'll work.

Somali Pirates(!) and Small Children

Bollocks. Seriously. Okay, I know I keep saying that the economy isn't that bad, but I think it may be entirely possible that the market could get that bad through sheer idiocy on the part of our government. The Republicans and Democrats spend all weekend hammering out a deal, it's endorsed by the President, it's endorsed by the Senate (Republicans and Democrats), and what happens? Speaker Nancy freakin' Pelosi bad-mouths it, and many attribute the bill's failure to pass to those very remarks. This is why Californians shouldn't be allowed to be Speaker of the House. Unbe-freakin'-lievable. Okay, now for some other chaos that doesn't involve the Congress being crewed by a bunch of damned chimps in people clothes...

I realize that most of you have probably never heard of Turkmenistan, unless you remember hearing about it during the course of Borat. Well, anyway, the Turkmen government is reforming its constitution to usher in a market economy and open elections up to multiple parties. Is it legit? Who knows, but it's probably still an improvement. Turkmenistan used to be ruled by this ex-Soviet strongman named Saparmurat Niyazov. He had absolute control of Turkmenistan, and had erected a massive, rotating, gold statue of himself. Then, he just up and died in December of '06, and they've sort of been trying to figure things out ever since. Like I said, hopefully this is progress.

There's been a VBIED attack in Dellys, east of Algiers. Three people were killed, six were injured, and the target was an Algerian military traffic checkpoint.

The Jerusalem Post has an interesting article about anti-Semitism in American textbooks. Did you know that textbooks read by American students claim that Jesus was a "Palestinian"?

I reported yesterday on Somali pirates(!) who hijacked a ship carrying tons of weaponry, including thirty tanks. So, since that story broke on Friday, the Somali pirates(!) demanded $35M in ransom for the ship and the crew. Then one of the crewmen died, and they dropped their demand to $20M. Now, an American ship, a Russian ship, and an unidentified ship, have surrounded the hijacked freighter. (Us, working with the Russians. Imagine that.) So, what now? Well, apparently, one of the Ukrainian passengers basically asked for the Navy SEALs by name to come in and rescue them. You may remember that the French commandosrescued some hostages a couple of weeks ago, so it's not out of the question. In a tangentally related story, a bunch of Somali pirates(!) who hijacked an Iranian ship started getting sick and dying. There's some question as to whether or not the Iranians are sending weapons to Somali terrorists. Smoking gun? Could be.

Okay, so the next Bond flick is coming out in mid-November. Expect more Bond-related content here on TSTF. Today's item is a video from VideoJug: A Business Guide for James Bond Villains.



Okay, am I evil for totally wanting to cuddle with the girl in the striped blouse? Or just a regular dude?

Speaking of which, I was talking with Olive Oil yesterday, and I think I've made a decision: if I'm not dating anyone by the end of the 2008, I think I'm going to give up dating in 2009. Yeah, I'm totally not making this up... Well, I mean, I am making this up, but I'm not kidding about it. In a couple of weeks, I'll have been at my current job for the same amount of time that I was at my last job, with no real sign of leaving. The later I allow myself to get involved with some succubus, the harder it could be to leave; which is to say, if I was dating a young lady when the next job comes, I'd break her heart by leaving without any second thoughts. I've done it before, and I'd do it again. So, there it is. So, if I make that decision, I will not only keep you all posted, but I'll probably whine a lot, too.

Alright, it's time for a short rant. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I joined the YMCA in an effort to get myself healthy. The primary reason for joining is that my best physical activity is swimming - I can do it for a long time without stopping, as opposed to running which I'm horrible at. Last night I showed up for the third time, and for the third time, the pool was crammed full of children at 20:00. Now, I have no problem with children swimming... But that late? And in that much of the pool? There was basically one lane that was open to non-children, and it had about four people swimming in it. I was in and out of the building in about two minutes. How can you call it "lap swim" when ninety-five percent of the people doing the laps are kids? As much as I love kids, if you're an organization that charges in excess of fifty bucks in membership fees each month, I think there's an obligation to set the pool aside for grown-ups during the hours in which adults are most likely to be there. It's bordering on mental retardation for such an organization to have two lap swims, one of which lasts from 14:00 to 16:00, and then have the later one be full of children. I honestly don't think that I'm out of line on this one. They should have had at least two lanes reserved for adults. Tonight, assuming I have the patience to try, I'm going to see if another area location is a bit better off. If not... Well, there's a Bally Total Fitness right by my house, and even though it could be a bit more expensive per month, it might be worth it to dump the Y if my swim regimen isn't dominated by dodging small children.

Check back tomorrow, folks. I'm sure that the Somali pirates(!) will do something worth reading about.

Fly Report: 30th September 2008

Good morning. I wake alone each lonely night... Blue hotel! Blue hotel!

It's 8° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 77° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

A barrel of oil is trading at $95.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 10,365.45. The exchange rate is $1.80 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 Leviticus 4. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

I am not afraid of anything in this world.

Facebook Makes You Feel Old

Happy Monday, loyal readers. I hope everyone had a happy and productive weekend. Here's some news.

I've been linking to stories about Somali pirates(!) for several years now. There have been a handful of developments worth noting in the last few days. On Tuesday, a US Navy ship fired warning shots... At Somali pirates! (Fox, CNN) Then, late last week, Somali pirates captured a Ukrainian ship that was carrying rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns, and thirty T-72 tanks. (BBC, Wired) There's a small multi-national naval force that patrols the waters off Somalia, but as this blurb from Wired says, the flotilla is under-resourced to completely stem the pirate threat. As the update section of the piece notes, the cause of the pirate threat has little to do with the piracy itself, and everything to do with the complete and total dysfunction of a state that's ruled by warring Islamist factions. Unfortunately, this is going to continue for no better reason than modern international politics prevents anyone from really solving the problem. Dr. Peter Pham has an op-ed piece, Time to Hunt Somali Pirates, that goes into more detail.

A new report says that, earlier this year, President Bush told the Israelis to hold off on bombing Iran. (BBC, AFP. Mark my words, something will have to be done about Iran; and if Senator Obama is elected in November, I think it could very well happen prior to the inauguration, while President Bush still has the authority to act on the problem.

The other day, Medved referenced an article by Andy Kessler that says that this massive government bailout could actually make the government a ton of money if it's successful. The article's worth a read, and let's hope Kessler's right about this one.

Oh, and in exceptionally tragic news, Bane is dead. The old bastard will be missed... Especially on Fridays.

I'm not sure how it was for everyone else, but this weekend was sure odd for me. Aside from frustrations with women that I'm having trouble putting into words, I had two experiences that made me feel very old.

First, I saw pictures on Facebook of a girl who I used to babysit. She's now a sophomore in college, appears to have been dating a guy for the better part of a year (who, oddly enough, looks a lot like a ****ing toolbag who once seduced a girl right out from under me - almost literally), and there were two compromising pictures of her: one in which she was downing a beer bong, and one in which she was in a rather intimate position with said boyfriend. When the awkward, shy little girl who you used to babysit is guzzling cheap beer and has a serious boyfriend, that's old.

I've noted on a few occasions that I've been watching Doogie Howser, MD on Hulu for the last few weeks. Last night, I was chatting (again, on Facebook) with the eighteen-year-old daughter of one of the couples in my church home group. I'd been watching episodes for part of the day, and had put up a Facebook status about Wanda Plenn (Doogie Howser's girlfriend) being a wench of exceeding promiscuity. First, she asked me who Wanda Plenn was. Then, when I explained, she actually asked me who Doogie Howser was. Yes, I realize that she was one year old when the series ended in '91, but seriously, they have reruns.

Conclusion: Facebook makes you feel old. Particularly the new Facebook. I think I could go for a nice glass of Scotch... Oh, great. Scotch. It's getting worse. Curse you, Facebook! Oh, and one more thing: someone accused me of "race baiting" on there (they probably don't even know what that means) for pointing out that Senator Obama's advisors have blood on their hands from the mortgage crisis. "Race baiting"? Come on, that's just silly. What's more important, Barack Obama's shady friends... Or silliness?*

Alright, that's enough ranting for today. Be safe, ladies and gentlemen. Check back tomorrow for more.

* If you caught that this was a Friends reference, consider yourself the superstar of the day.

Fly Report: 29th September 2008

Good morning. There goes the world, off of my shoulders.

It's 7° Centigrade and rainy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 74° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

A barrel of oil is trading at $102.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,143.13. The exchange rate is $1.84 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 Leviticus 4. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

Here's my heart, I'll let you break it. I need some release.

Money Talk with The Fly and Gus

Note: It's tough to believe that this picture is five and a half years old, and it dates to just after my first trip to Europe in March/April of 2003 with Friar Dave. That was literally about sixty pounds ago, and before I could grow a goatee. For the record, though, this picture is the result of an unfortunate camera angle, as Gus is not appreciably taller than me. Anyway...

One of my best friends, Gus, left the following response to my Election Thursday post.

I'd like to point out two things. First, I was under the impression the Republican party and conservative governments were opposed to big federal government and more oversight. To say Democrats are largely responsible for keeping the Bush Administration from properly regulating Wall Street is comical. (Didn't we have a discussion the other day about the free market economy?) The Fed and Secretary of the Treasury (both positions headed men appointed by our current President) have direct influence over Wall Street with their ability to infuse cash and adjust lending rates. I watch economic analysts nearly come to blows about who is more to blame for our current position, teetering on the precipice of a 'recession'. (ssshhh, don't say that word too loud)

Secondly, the "bullshit welfare giveaway" (I hated it too) economic stimulus package was supported by Republicans in Congress and signed by the President. Just because the Congress is "controlled" by Democrats doesn't mean the checks and balances of our system of government fly out the window. Sec. Paulson was instrumental in the negotiations for that stimulus package. Are you sure you don't want to kick Paulson in the nuts for his involvement? Ore perhaps the President for appointing him? Democrats aren't the only ones trying to throw money at the problem. $700 billion dollars now sure seems like a lot of money compared to $152 billion.

Thirdly, corruption runs rampant in Washington and it doesn't distinguish between red and blue. I believe a corruption trial started this week for Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Of course, I can recall numerous allegations on both sides in recent years. Hell, the very recently signed spending package has thousands of earmarks for pet projects (including Ted Stevens). Frankly, that is pork you can't make kosher.

Don't point fingers at a political party for all the country's woes. This burden gets shared by everybody. I'm as unhappy as you are about the current state of economic and political affairs. But before you go trampling around, blustering and assigning blame, keep in mind your pile of GOP Elephant shit is just a big and rank as the Jackasses' on the other side of the aisle.

Have a fantastic day, Max!

The first point that I'd like to make is that Gus said he was going to point two things out, but he pointed to three. Way to go, Gus! Me being persnickety aside...

As I mentioned in my initial, brief response, I don't fundamentally disagree with any of this. I think that President Bush will eventually be seen as one of our greatest presidents, but I've criticized him on a number of occasions (possibly here on TSTF, I'm not sure) for one thing in particular: he spends too much of my money, and he allows Congress to do the same. One of the reasons why I'm so excited about the McCain candidacy is that, while his record isn't perfect, John McCain is offering everything I like in President Bush, plus a Congressional record of fiscal hawkishness* that's as old as I am. So, when you point out that Republicans are just as guilty of spending too much taxpayer money, I'm right there with you. As Senator McCain has pointed out on a number of occasions, the Republican party didn't lose control of Congress in 2006 over the Iraq War, they lost control of Congress because of corruption and unrestrained spending. When you're preaching fiscal conservative, it doesn't fly to be "not as bad" on spending issues as your political rivals. That's never been McCain's bag, and in his entire time in Congress he's never taken an earmark. (By contrast, Obama's earmarks during his brief stint in Congress have been numerous.)

I'm going to admit up front to being limited in my knowledge of the present crisis. Ask me about al Qaeda in North Africa and I could write you a book, but domestic economics isn't my area of expertise. That having been said, I know several things about the present crisis.

The catalyst for the crisis is that too many mortgage brokers milked the sub-prime mortgage market for too many high-risk loans, and too many people defaulted on those loans. My understanding is this crisis has been amplified in part by federal limitations on redlining, some of which resulted from the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. Without stepping into territory that's too controversial for my tastes, my understanding is that while this law may not have completely caused the current problem, it certainly fueled it by preventing banks from putting certain limits on who they would loan money to, and how much money they would loan. The redlining practice, which was targeted in the 1992 legislation because it was seen as racist, could have prevented a number of recipients (without specific attention to race, I'm guessing) from getting the home loans that they were ultimately (foreseeably?) unable to pay off. Was it President Bush (43) who outlawed redlining? Was it the Republicans in Congress? No, the Democrats still controlled Congress in 1992, as they did during Reagan's entire tenure in office. No, it was Democrats and their legislation against "racist" lending practices that prevent banks from putting the kinds of restrictions on lending that could have softened or even prevented this problem.

Another major factor in this crisis is the dramatic rise in global energy costs, due in large part to rapid industrialization in China and India. The primary factor in this is the price of petroleum and, by extension, derivative products. Who has prevented us, even with a Republican Congress and a Republican administration from 2001 through 2006, from drilling offshore, even though the Chinese are drilling right off our own coasts? Democrats. Who has prevented us from drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, even though a portion of the refuge was specifically set aside for drilling when the ANWR was established during the Carter Administration? Democrats. Which party has prevented us as a nation from building new refineries (another price bottleneck in the petroleum chain) due to prohibitively restrictive environmental legislation that was passed (again) during the Carter Administration? Democrats. Which party passed similar prohibitively restrictive regulations that have prevented the construction of a single nuclear energy station in the United States since (you guessed it) the Carter Administration, despite the fact that nuclear energy is safe, efficient, and emission-free? Democrats. If Republicans had enjoyed a two thirds majority in both houses of Congress and the Presidency during the last thirty years, we'd be able to drill for oil as needed, refine oil as needed, and power our homes with nuclear energy. Insofar as the dramatic rise in energy prices has impacted the economic crisis, I don't see how the blame rests anywhere but squarely on the shoulders of the Democrat party, which has been in the pocket of the radical environmentalist lobby for decades.

You mention Senator Stevens of Alaska, and you're absolutely right to do so. I understand your point, and I agree with it. I'm fairly sure that Democrats take more pork back to their home states than Republicans do, but I'm not excusing Republicans who do it. Stevens' conduct in this matter is a total disgrace (Bridge to Nowhere, anyone?), as were Congressman Cunningham and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. (Larry Craig didn't do us any favors, either.) It's no question that bogus Congressional earmarks have contributed to this crisis by ratcheting both debt and deficit up, resulting in the weakening of the American dollar in recent years. This, in turn, has fed a vicious dollar-to-barrel cycle, as oil is bought on a dollar rate: the declining dollar has pushed oil prices higher, which has led to further declines in the dollar, et cetera. Two weeks ago, this trend was going a long way toward reversing itself, but it's certainly not in great standing at the moment. At any rate, I'm not trying to make the pork kosher, and as I think I mentioned earlier, that's part of the reason why I've been excited about McCain's candidacy: because he doesn't take earmarks, and he's vowed to continue that record by vetoing bills containing pork. Further, since the Keating Five scandal, in which McCain was found to have exercised "poor judgment" (but not to have committed a crime or done anything unethical), he's been a rabid opponent and whistle-blower with respect to corruption on both sides of the aisle. Yes, I know that one of his campaign aides was allegedly a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, but Obama appears to have had far more shady dealings with the people who caused Freddie Mac's actual fall from solvency - as troubling as lobbyists may be, they're seldom involved with the inner workings of the interests they lobby for.

As far as Secretary Paulson goes, again, I'll admit to not knowing much about him. I think a lot of the blame for this mess ought to be pointed at Alan Greenspan, not Henry Paulson or Ben Bernanke. (I'm not letting them off the hook, I'm just saying that it was Greenspan who failed to raise rates prior to both this crisis and the Dot-com Bubble Burst of 2000/2001.

With respect to control of the markets, while I'm in favor of limited government oversight and regulation in most cases, this is not an anarchy, and our system is not purely libertarian capitalistic. Government has an appropriate role to serve with respect to oversight of the market, among other things. I'm not advocating a planned economy, or anything like it; but some oversight is appropriate. From what I understand, Senator McCain was talking at least two years ago about reforming the government's oversight of Wall Street in order to address areas in which Wall Street was operating without any decent restraint whatsoever; and from what I understand, President Bush and his team identified fraud and weaknesses in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as far back as 2002, but were prevented from doing anything about it by Democrats in Congress. So, as I said before, I'm not letting President Bush off the hook on this one, nor am I letting Congressional Republicans off the hook. They've certainly contributed to this mess. However, if you look at the primary causes of this crisis, and the people who are associated with those causes, President Bush has had little to do with causing this crisis (and tried to take steps that could have prevented it), Senator McCain has had virtually nothing to do with it (and tried to take steps that would have prevented it), and Senator Obama has involved several of the biggest instigators in his own presidential campaign. This brings me back to what ended up being the final point of my Election Thursday post: if Senator McCain loses the election because people are inaccurately blaming this crisis on President Bush, I'll be beyond furious.

These things having been said, I hope I've come off as both diplomatic and reasonable in my approach, I hope that you've noted that I substantially agree with the points that you made, and I hope (and am reasonably confident) that you understand that you're still my best friend, I still appreciate and value your opinion greatly (even on the rare occasions when we disagree), and I still believe that you should install a brass pole in your living room, for obvious reasons. You stay classy, Gus.

* I bet that's totally a word.

AMF: I Told You So

Work makes Friday, and that's what today is. Since I took a day off this week, and since yesterday was Election Thursday, I have a lot of stories to catch up on. If your name is Mighty Mo, just skip past the last set of asterisks. Here we go!

Michael Yon has an excellent three part series entitled "Death in the Corn" about his recent experiences at FOB Gibraltar in Afghanistan. (1, 2, 3) I think I also linked to Michael Totten's The Truth About Russia in Georgia within the past two weeks; it's really worth reading. He also has a piece entitled The Scorching of Georgia that discusses further developments in the situation, and the exceptionally irresponsible Russian act of bombing to set forest fires in Georgia. Seriously, if you aren't already, you should be reading both of these guys' articles. They're both important and exceptionally interesting, with great pictures of exotic countries and exceptional analysis of what's going on in the world today.

* * *
You know how much whining we've all started doing about the cheap crap that's coming out of China? Only there's not really that much that we can do about it because the Chinese pretty much own the market on cheap crap, and even expensive cheap crap? Well, it's apparently becoming a big problem in the West Bank. How? Well, I've discussed shemaghs on the blog a few times. These are called keffiyeh by the "Palestinians". Now, those of you who pay any attention to these matters at all will probably know that the West Bank is the portion of the "Palestinian" Territories that Israel still controls and occupies; the other half is Gaza, which has turned into one of the must tragic failures in human history since the Israelis unilaterally withdrew a couple of years ago. At any rate, things aren't great in the West Bank, but one of the few industries that used to pull money into the "Palestinian" territories was the weaving and sale of shemaghs/keffiyehs. They're seen as both a traditional Arab garment, and a symbol of "Palestinian" resistance or some other such nonsense. The point is, this was actually a productive livelihood for the residents of the West Bank. So what happened? The Chinese got into the keffiyeh-makin' business, and they're now saturating the market.

The poor Arabs can't even block the importation of the Chinese knock-offs due to regulations that they have to comply with in order to receive aid from the outside world. As much as I hate to link to anything related to al Jazeera, there's a video here that explains a bit more. Now, I tend to side with the Israelis on just about everything, but let's face it: part of the problem in the "Palestinian" territories is that they have no opportunities. Now, that's largely their own fault, but this could have been an industry that provided an honest living for the Arabs that remain in the territories. Instead, China's undercutting them and making things worse. You'd think that the people who negotiate these kinds of things (and I've known of at least two: General James Jones, USMC, and the Right Honorable Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) could identify this as a problem and arrange with the Chinese, who are supposedly everyone's pal, to stop this crap. As little sympathy as I have for the so-called "Palestinians", I own four shemaghs/keffiyeh that I've used for work in the past, and I'd much rather have one that was woven in the last remaining factory in Hebron than the four I have that were made in China. This seems like sort of a no-brainer to me.

* * *
The Wired.com Danger Room blog has an interesting post titled 'Conservatives' vs. 'Crusaders' for Army's Future. The article basically discusses the two schools of thought that are debating within the Army right now: one that wants to focus on conventional warfare, and the other that wants to focuse on irregular warfare/unconventional warfare/counterinsurgency. To be honest, I think that this is a dangerous tightrope to walk.

The truth of the matter is that we need to focus on both of these, maybe even to the degree that we ought to cut the Army in half (or at least into two pieces) and have one focused primarily on conventional fighting, and the other on developing counterinsurgent warfare. The speed with which we were able to take down the Taliban in 2001 and the Iraqi military in 2003 wasn't luck or accident, it was the result of excellent training and emphasis in conventional warfare. At the same time, we've spent the last several years re-learning doctrines that we'd forgotten from our past conflicts, and it would be stupid and counter-productive to throw that expertise away like we have before. I think we learned from the development of various systems like the LAV/Stryker following the end of the Cold War, that our conflicts aren't all going to be like the relatively mild fighting that we saw in Bosnia and Kosovo. If there's one lesson we've learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, it's that there's no substitute for an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.

If we're going to do anything, we need to develop systems and doctrine that are versatile enough to cover a broad spectrum of warfare challenges. I believe that this is possible for several reasons. First, I've spent my entire post-college career working as a defense contractor, so I know from experience that the defense contracting world benefits from a wealth of exceptionally bright folks, many of whom have served in a wide range of conflicts and operations during the last twenty or thirty years. Second, the Marine Corps is already doing it. The kinds of things that are discussed in the "new" counterinsurgency literature are the same things that I was already learning when I was taking Marine Corps course work from the NROTC unit in college. The Army isn't as agile as the Marine Corps, but it can adjust - the Army of today is barely recognizable when compared to the Army that I could have joined when I finished high school. Not only can it be done, we owe it to future generations of service personnel not to let our military and political leaders repeat the mistake of allowing any warfare disciplines to disappear into the ether.

* * *

Okay, I know that those of you who actually read all of that are getting bored, so here are a couple of lighter subjects. First, regular readers will remember that I'm quite enthusiastic about shipping container housing. Well, a company in Texas has found an excellent use for it: affordable housing for the very poor, particularly in foreign countries. Second, I noted the upcoming film Fireproof, which opens in theaters this week. Well, apparently, actor Kirk Cameron continues to honor a longstanding pledge to only kiss his wife, both on-screen and off. That, friends, is classy.

Alright, a couple of things. First off, a rant: Virginians are horrible drivers. They have no concept whatsoever of driving in the rain, they're rude, and it's only my own excellent driving skills that have prevented me from being turned into a statistic since I moved here last July. Seriously, I've seen soldiers drive, I've seen Californians drive, I've even seen Europeans drive, and these Virginians are by far the worst drivers I have ever seen. It's not helped by the fact that it's been exceptionally rainy and windy here over the last couple of days. It throws them into a complete panic.

Ladies and gentlemen, several weeks ago I posted an honest, heartfelt, and candid post in which I admitted wrongdoing and sought to close an open wound for both myself and a dear friend. This, ladies and gentlemen, involves the same person as that post; but it's nowhere near as diplomatic or as apologetic. In fact, this is an "I told you so" post. Folks, when I was spending a great deal of time with April, one of the things that we clashed about on a regular basis was Clay Aiken. April and her mother were huge fans, and April actually spent her hard earned money to fly around the country in order to attend Clay Aiken concerts. I didn't make that much of a fuss about it, but I could never understand why she got so excited about an American Idol runner-up who didn't even write his own songs. One of the things that I tried my best to just ignore, though, was Clay Aiken's sexual orientation. April insisted:

"If you could only see it when he takes a girl out of the audience and sings to her, you'd know. When he does that, you can totally tell that he's not gay."
- April, being wrong, circa 2005

As such, I found it extremely interesting to hear that Clay Aiken had pirouetted out of the closet in a recent interview. Now, I'm not so much concerned with the fact that Clay Aiken is gay - what happens in Aiken's lace-adorned four-post bed is none of my concern, and to be honest, I don't want to know about it, at all. No, the point isn't that Clay Aiken's trousers fit poorly when he stumbles into a Chippendales club. The point is that the Fly was right, and April was wrong. As gracious as I generally try to be under circumstances such as these, I'm positively relishing this particular development.

Alright, folks, that's it for Friday from the Fly. Have an outstanding weekend, and we'll see if the Fly can't get some writing done. Also, check back soon for Stuff Fly Wants, which I'll try to post this weekend.

Fly Report: 26th September 2008

Good morning. This week can't be over fast enough.

It's 9° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 73° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

A barrel of oil is trading at $105.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,022.06. The exchange rate is $1.84 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 Leviticus 3. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

It's gonna itch and burn and sting.

Election Thursday: Economic Turmoil!

WARNING - FOUL LANGUAGE
Wow, is it windy outside; and I had the most bizarre dream last night. Anyway... Hey folks! It's Election Thursday!

Military.com has an article about Senator Obama's inconsistent and incoherent stance on ROTC. Why am I not surprised that the man who has a problem taking a position on anything is flip-flopping on ROTC?

FSM has an interesting article comparing Governor Palin to a younger Baroness Thatcher. Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan, that paragon of virtue and intellectualism has lashed out at Governor Palin over Palin's church and its stance on homosexuality. Call me crazy, but I'm going to put more stock in the columnist who compares Palin to Thatcher, than I am to Lindsay Lohan. There was a time when Lindsay Lohan was adorable (I know, I have some jpegs on my old computer); those days have long since passed, and Lohan should now consider retiring entirely while she's still just a minor embarrassment to humanity.

M@, who could become my flatmate in a matter of weeks, and who probably still can't tell time, pointed me to a really compelling video. Please watch it, because not only is Craig Ferguson more impressive than I had ever realized, but he's someone who knows what it is to choose to become an American of his own free will.



He's right. It's an important election, and voting is your duty as an American citizen. It's what separates us from human beings in countries that are literally no more developed than ancient, barbaric cultures. Voting is what allows us to have iPods and cable television and Rick Warren and all sorts of other important and unimportant things. So do it

The weak economy is quickly becoming one of the important issues in this year's election. I'm getting more and more frustrated about it, actually, because the current problems are based largely on two things. The first was that corrupt politicians in Congress (mainly Democrats) blocked efforts and calls by Senate Republicans and the President to enforce more oversight and supervision of Wall Street, and to reform corrupt and fraudulent practices by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The second is that mortgage lenders - to include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which shouldn't exist in the first place - have been making loans to people who they shouldn't have been making loans to, and - surprise! - many of those high risk loans fell apart when the market shifted.

Now, if you ask me, oil prices have been at least one factor in this. The price of oil has shifted the budgets of many American families, pushed many (who already had bad spending habits to begin with, and shouldn't have been given home loans in the first place) to rely on things like credit cards. As I've noted previously, Democrats are also largely to blame for the energy crisis because they've blocked both domestic oil drilling (and refining) and the construction of nuclear energy stations. For those things, you can further blame the environmentalists, who now hold the Democrat party in a veritable stranglehold. If we'd actually pursued President Bush's agenda during the course of the last eight years, we'd still have cheap energy, Wall Street would have been better supervised, and we wouldn't be in this mess.

Now, as for the prospective $700 billion dollar bail out plan - I sort of grudgingly support it. I've heard people talking about how President Bush and his team are trying to push this through quickly; the fact of the matter is, the Bush team has been trying to manage this situation without some kind of bullshit bailout for the better part of the last year. That's why they've been dropping interest rates. In case some of you hadn't noticed, this latest crisis came during a week in which the American exchange rate and the price of oil were doing great - oil was close to ninety dollars a barrel, and the exchange rate was the best it had been in four years. That doesn't happen due to shitty management by a President. President Bush didn't tell all of those banks to make bogus loan; what he did do was take steps to make the market more amenable to those who were just below the point of being potential home buyers. I have no doubt that there are plenty of folks like that out there who are surviving and paying their mortgage payments every month. Unfortunately, there are also thousands upon thousands of lenders and borrowers who have screwed the rest of us.

I'm grudgingly supporting the bailout plan, not because I'm thrilled to spend that kind of money, but for several reasons. First, this isn't about bailing out banks - it's about people like you, and me, who can be, will be, and are being adversely affected by this situation. Second, some of the money in question, maybe even all of it, will be recouped - in effect, the government is taking a stake in the failing banks, and that will theoretically allow it to institute additional requirements of those lenders, if the Democrat-controlled Congress doesn't fuck it up by throwing in some bullshit welfare giveaway, like the stupid and ineffective "Economic Stimulus Package" goat-rope that already put the country further in debt for no benefit whatsoever. You know what they say: we must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately? Yeah, well, either way, we're all hanging.

To be honest with you, except for probably never being able to trust anyone who works in mortgages again, I'm not actually worried about the market itself. I believe, and history backs me up on this, that the American economy is fundamentally sound and strong. The weak link in this situation is public perception, and that perception of weakness (coupled with the unnecessary energy price fiasco) is what's causing this. I plugged some money into the market last week, and I have no worries about riding this out. Further, I've only ever taken on an amount of debt that I could easily afford, and I don't live beyond my means - the only debt that I have is my vehicle, and I pay my bills like clockwork. I'm not particularly worried, unless Senator Obama gets elected and slashes military spending, possibly putting me out of the job. Aside from that, I have literally no fear because I've made sound financial decisions, even if that didn't always leave me in a completely comfortable and glamorous situation. If you've made responsible financial situations, you shouldn't be worried, either; and you should capitalize on this situation to make some money.

Speaking of Senator Obama, I will be furious beyond belief if this turmoil benefits him. As I've mentioned previously, President Bush has wanted to take steps to fix these loopholes for years (so has Senator McCain, just for the record). Meanwhile, Senator Obama's been buddy-buddy with the folks who have been fucking Fannie Mae up. Don't believe me? Have a look.




Senator Obama is the last person we need untying this Gordian Knot. Ugh. I'm not so much blaming it on him, as I'm saying that while Senator McCain and President Bush wanted to fix the problem, it was Senator Obama who was buddying up to these fraudsters who were making the problem worse. That's an issue not only of judgment, but of Senator Obama's questionable judgment (which seems to be turning into a hallmark of this campaign). Sometimes, I'm literally speechless at the total lack of coherence of the Democrat party when it comes to economic policies or scruples. Social issues, I can give them, because you can at least make an argument for flexible morality - not a very good argument, but an argument nontheless - but this is just ridiculous.

Alright, that's my weekly rant. Tune in tomorrow for a calmer, gentler approach... To AMF!

Fly Report: 25th September 2008

Good morning. What would Brian Boitano do?

It's 10° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 80° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

A barrel of oil is trading at $103.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 10,825.17. 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 not new.

Today's scripture reading is Leviticus 2. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

On rainy day's, we'd go swimming out.

The Fly Hates Spending Money

Hey folks! I'm a little more coherent today. Once I've gotten the news out of the way, I can explain what's going on.

There's an interesting article about the last living British officer to have served in Waziristan in the twentieth century. One of the things that really pisses me off about dirty hippies and the ignorant news media types is that they seem very eager to seize on every statement by anyone who says that there's "no military solution," or that the military "must use more than just force" to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as if America and her allies have spent the last seven years carpet bombing villages and shooting everything that moves, and are now surprised that people are pissed off. If these folks would actually read the statements of men like this British
officer, or General Petraeus, or Secretary Kissinger, and read them in context, they might just realize that the solution to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will come from a combination of soft and hard power displays - and that the military already realizes that and is implementing it. It's really frustrating to read, because the journalists who write these pieces are obviously both ignorant and biased - a dangerous combination. Aside from that, the article's very interesting, and worth checking out.

In a story that serves as further evidence that Iraq is a losing quagmire, the Iraqi government has signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell that will assist the Iraqis in exploiting their vast mineral wealth. Oh, wait, did I say losing quagmire? I meant that we're succeeding there.

The BBC has an article entitled From Cold War to Consumer World that discusses the influence that the cold war had on various Soviet and Western consumer products. If you're into art, or have ever been to the Dallas Museum of Art, you should read the article, because you'll probably enjoy it.

An Australian pig held a woman hostage in her own home after she took it in and fed it. There's no indication whether this was Spiderpig or not.

Do you like beer? Are you German? Do you enjoy looking at pictures of attractive women, particularly if they're wearing fun costumes? I have no clue who this person is, but I was pointed to their blog post, and I'm passing it on: The Ladies of Oktoberfest in Munich!

So, some of you may or may not have wondered why I bailed on yesterday's post. Monday was a bit of a rough day for me. Not only did I find out that I wasn't even selected to interview for the second of two jobs that I was well qualified for, but I spent two hours getting the Locust Wind (my truck) serviced, only to find out that it required several hundred dollars in additional repair work. As you can well imagine, that took a rather large chunk out of both my discretionary and budgeted spending. I had hoped to take a trip back home in the next couple of months, and that's now looking like an impossibility. Fortunately, my bank account was a little bit more meaty than I thought, and I had already (essentially) budgeted for about a third to half of what I had to pay anyway. I'm going to have a look at things and figure out how much I need to tighten my belt in order to recoup those expenses over the next couple of months, but as you can probably imagine, I wasn't pleased to find that out. It helped a little bit that the young lady behind the counter who told me about it was pretty cute. If it had been the fat jerk that used to work there when I first arrived, I would have been summarily displeased - as it was, I was just mostly displeased, but still thankful that I have a good job, and good spending habits, and that I was able to pay the bill outright without any issues.

For the record, I'd like to specifically thank Father Time, Gus, and the always lovely Triathlon Goddess, all of whom made a point of checking up on me regarding yesterday's discouraged post. Thanks, folks - you don't know how much I value the three of you.

As you may have noticed from yesterday's Fly Report, I channeled this disappointed energy into finishing the Orkneyinga Saga. I read part of it at the dealership, and finished it up at Van Diemen's Station. If you like vikings, Norse history, or books about big fights between people who killed each other over nothing, I highly recommend it. If you're disinterested in any of the above, or you think history is boring, steer clear. The next book I read that's along those lines could be the Tain bo Cuailnge, but I'm honestly not sure. For the time being, though, I'm going to try and tackle the Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual. One of the benefits of reading the COIN manual is that it's available online, so I can read it from pretty much anywhere.

They put that third video of "Mary Olsen" back up, so that's today's video. It's titled "First Impressions". I'll post the fourth (and latest) installment tomorrow - it's pretty good, too!



I had originally planned to hit the pool on Monday, but my day got dealt a swift kick in the junk, and I'd already gotten up and gotten ready super early in order to make it to the dealership on time in the first place. Last night, I had no excuse, so I did twenty-five minutes in the pool. Baby steps, baby steps.

Alright, folks, take it easy, and have a great day! Check back tomorrow for a few more news bits that I didn't have the motivation to work into today's post.

UPDATE: Wait, it's Wednesday already!?

Fly Report: 24th September 2008

Good morning. Overcome every challenge. Conquer every obstacle.

It's 10° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 75° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

A barrel of oil is trading at $106.23 - this is just ridiculous. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 10,854.17. 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 Leviticus 2 - let's hope there's some smiting in this one. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

Baby, don't cry.

Waving Off

Beloved Readers,

You know what? I'm just not feeling it today. Plenty of stories, plenty of points to make, plenty of news, plenty of discussion items, but I'm just not feeling it. Come back tomorrow.

Si vis pacem, para bellum,
The Fly

Fly Report: 23rd September 2008

Good morning. Bollocks.

It's 11° Centigrade and cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 63° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

A barrel of oil is trading at $110.19 - come on, this is getting stupid! The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,015.69. 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 not new.

Today's scripture reading is Leviticus 1 - let's hope there's some smiting in this one. The Fly is currently reading the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5.

I feel numb.

Crazy Arab Uncles

It's Monday, and I have every hope of making it as productive as the last couple of weeks have been. I feel like I'm finally making progress on some things that I've seriously wanted to do since I lived in California. You folks will read about some of them today, and in the coming weeks. First, though, a few news items.

Friday was actually a very slow news day, although I've picked up a couple of stories over the course of the weekend.

Japanese military elements have successfully shot down a test ballistic missile during an exercise in the United States - but if you ask the hippies, ballistic missile defense is physically impossible. Yeah, okay. On the other side of the world, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad wants to debate John McCain and Barack Obama. I swear, whichever Mullah told Ali Khameini that Ahmedinejad was a great idea... Actually, I can see it now...

Ayatollah Khameini: Okay, boys, we need a new figurehead president to help us in our war with the infidels. Who do we have?
Mullah #1: Well, what if we just recycled Mohammed Khatami?
Ayatollah Khameini: Don't you think that Khatami is a little bit moderate? I mean, these are the Great Satan and the Little Satan that we're talking about.
Mullah #2: Well what about Rafsanjani?
Mullah #1: Oh, yeah, Rafsanjani's good! Did you hear that speech that he gave last week?
Ayatollah Khameini: Are we even having the same conversation here, guys? How about giving me a good suggestion.
Mullah #1: What about Ali Larijani?
Mullah #2: Yeah! Larijani! He'd be great! He has a great beard and everything. Oh, sir, he'd be a great figurehead president.
Ayatollah Khameini: Grow up, Peter Pan! Count Chocula! Come on, this isn't some stupid keynote speaker for Ramadan brunch, this is figurehead president we're talking about. Who else?
Mullah #3: What about Ahmedinejad?
Ayatollah Khameini: Ahmedine-who?
Mullah #3: Yeah, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. You know, the mayor of Tehran?
Ayatollah Khameini: Oh, it's been so long since I was actually in Tehran. What's he like?
Mullah #1: Mayor Ahmedinejad? Really
Mullah #3: Hear me out. He's a hard-liner, he's educated, totally devout, dedicated to the Mahdi and to the destruction of the Satans and whatnot. He's airtight.
Ayatollah Khameini: Oh, yeah, that guy. Isn't he a bit of a loose cannon?
Mullah #3: I've never seen any evidence of that. Plus, like I said, he's educated. The infidels will be shaking in their boots.
Ayatollah Khameini: What kind of education?
Mullah #3: He has his PhD.
Mullah #2: I thought he went to traffic school!
Mullah #3: No, no, you have it backwards, he's got his PhD in Civil Engineering and Traffic Transportation Planning.
Ayatollah Khameini: Traffic Transportation Planning? You want me to install a glorified pavement mixer as the next figurehead president of the Islamic Revolution?
Mullah #3: Do you have a better option, your Jihadiness?
Ayatollah Khameini: You have a point. Okay, rig up the sham election, I want him to start screaming hate-filled diatribes against the Jews and the Crusaders by the end of the month.
Mullahs: Yes, sir, your Jihadiness!

Anyway. So yeah, Crazy Uncle Mahmoud wants in on the debates. I almost wish that someone would debate with him, because I think that would be about as hilarious as you could get.

After the South Ossetian War in Georgia a few weeks ago, there are a number of considerations as to how Georgia ought to be encouraged to rebuild the military forces that were damaged or destroyed in the war. I've seen several suggestions that the Georgian army ought to learn from the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War, and redesign at least part of their military based on the combination symmetric/asymmetric tactics used by Hezbollah in that conflict. As I'll note in an upcoming article on the subject, Russia overcame chronic dysfunction and obsolescence in its tank fleet to strong-arm its way into South Ossetia. They basically used brute force because so many of their tanks had broken down on the way, and if the Georgians had been able to employ a few more guerrilla tactics with just a bit more efficacy, they may not have been railroaded by the Russians. I may expand on this later, but the concept itself is a compelling one, particularly if these Georgian units were appropriately armed by their Western allies. Also, we need to get these kids into NATO, post haste.

Speaking of Russia, a Russian archaeological team appears to have discovered Itil, the long-lost capital city of the ancient Jewish nation of Khazaria. Very cool.

MSN has a couple of articles that are worth reading, if you're in the mood. There's a top ten list of why we hate film critics - a little juvenile in spots, but it makes some good points. They also have an article about the resurgence of tea in American society, a subject that's near and dear to me. It tends to be a lot of free advertising for both credible and goofy tea joints, but there are some interesting tidbits in there, so if you like tea, it's worth checking out.

I'm going to start reading a couple of military themed blogs in order to see if they're worth putting in the sidebar. The first is titled War is Boring, and it's authored by David Axe of the Wired.com Danger Room blog. I'm also going to start checking out the Small Wars Journal, a site that I've heard about in passing but never had the chance to pay much attention to.

Today's video was going to be the trailer for a movie that's coming out later this week that some of you may find interesting. It stars former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron, and it's called Fireproof. Unfortunately, the embedded media crammed it's way clear into the sidebar, overlapping with some links. I may plug it in for tomorrow, but in the mean time, check out Craig Ferguson. If your name is Mighty Mo, find someone to translate the accent out for you.



Okay, a couple of things about me lately. First, I found yet another page offering a handful of Arabic phrases on the Libyan Jamahiriyah Broadcasting Corporation website, in the form of "Arabic proverbs". I've also identified something, in addition to my Arabic Bible, that I want to use as a tool for learning Arabic: Crazy Uncle Muammar's Green Book, which is available online in both English and Arabic. Of course, the Green Book and it's subject matter aren't as popular with Crazy Uncle Muammar as they once were, as evidenced by the fact that the Libyans are going to privatize industry and hand out oil money. The point, though, is that it's yet another example of a historical document that I can compare in both English and Arabic. Plus, it's hilarious! Just check out this passage that I've cited before:

Women are females and men are males. According to gynaecologists, women menstruate every month or so, while men, being male, do not menstruate or suffer during the monthly period. A woman, being a female, is naturally subject to monthly bleeding. When a woman does not menstruate, she is pregnant. If she is pregnant, she becomes, due to pregnancy, less active for about a year, which means that all her natural activities are seriously reduced until she delivers her baby. When she delivers her baby or has a miscarriage, she suffers puerperium, a condition attendant on delivery or miscarriage. As man does not get pregnant, he is not liable to the conditions which women, being female, suffer. Afterwards a woman may breast-feed the baby she bore. Breast-feeding continues for about two years. Breastfeeding means that a woman is so inseparable from her baby that her activity is seriously reduced. She becomes directly responsible for another person whom she assists in his or her biological functions; without this assistance that person would die. The man, on the other hand, neither conceives nor breast-feeds. End of gynaecological statement!

Can you imagine how hilarious that paragraph must be in Arabic? I can't wait to translate that!

The other thing that I made real progress on during the last week, that I alluded to earlier, is physical fitness. By the end of the week, I will have posted the elements of my work out plan. I intend to hit the pool at the Y tonight, and my program will consist of both the Y and the gym at work, which I used for the first time last week. I'm actually pretty stoked about this, so I'll be posting my progress on a regular basis.

Still no posters and maps up, still no pictures of my place. Hopefully by the end of the week. However, I have news. The Fashionista and Mrs. Mike Nelson were over to hang out on Friday evening, and they were both very impressed with how clean and tidy the place is. That's right, folks: I've officially made my place chick-friendly, but with my own dynamic flair. That, friends, is an excellent thing. Oh, and just for the record, I've been back from Engaland for four years today. We'll see when I get a chance to head back for a visit, either long or short.

Alright, folks, that's it for me today. Check back tomorrow for more, and let's hope that today's a more active news day - and that the economy picks up just a scoche, because this backpedaling on the progress of the last few weeks is really chapping my ass.

Fly Report: 22nd September 2008

Good morning. Open up to drink the wind, you tear me up when you come in.

It's 10° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 58° Fahrenheit with scattered thunder storms.

A barrel of oil is trading at $103.13 - what the hell! The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,388.44. 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 65. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

Too much is not enough.

Arbeit Macht Freitag: Ice, Ice, Baby

Friday. Awesome. Lots to do, lots to do, but hopefully enough time to relax a bit and work on a couple of little projects.

One of the little unintended consequences of the South Ossetian War may wind up being that Australia may stop selling Uranium to Russia. We may not be lobbing artillery rounds at Russia, but one of the benefits of having a strong network of civilized contries in a global economy is that non-military pressure can be applied to rogue states as an alternate measure to influence them. Even so, Russia's a pretty big elephant in a room full of people - including myself, to some degree - who didn't want to consider it just a few months ago.

Following the French rescue of two sailing tourists a couple of days ago, the Somali pirates(!) have hijacked a Greek ship. Meanwhile, in Mauritania, military forces are making a concerted effort to prevent AQIM attackers from escaping the country. How this is effective a day or two later, when they're in the Sahara, and the attack took place near the border with Western Sahara, which is near the border with Algeria, I don't know. Something tells me that Mauritanian troops and a few recon planes aren't going to be able to stop even a large band of attackers, but we'll see what happens.

Today on the Wired.com's Danger Zone blog, a contract OSINT guy details how to improve OSINT. They also have an interesting article on recent failures of al Qaeda's propaganda network.

On that last note, there have been some interesting developments lately. People enjoy hating President Bush, and there's certainly room to criticize him, but President Bush doesn't generally get credit for the things he deserves credit for. One of the things that he deserves credit for is the War on Terror, even if you don't like to call it that. The major problem at this point is loosely affiliated al Qaeda "franchises" in places like Iraq, the Maghreb, and various countries in the West. However, the core of al Qaeda, which is both influential and politically important to the greater jihadi movement. However, as I've noted before, al Qaeda has faced a recent international backlash amongst Islamists. On 9/11/2008, the Jerusalem Post had an article detailing al Qaeda's current dysfunction after seven years of hard fighting. However, despite their military ineffectiveness, al Qaeda has had two advantages: they were highly adept at manipulating the media, and they were able to take greater casualties than we were. Without getting into tactics, the Wired article I cited indicates that the al Qaeda core's ability to spread their message is being severely hindered. Part of that may be due to the possible death of Azzam al Amriki, otherwise known as Adam Gadahn, in an air strike in Pakistan earlier this year.

Things in Afghanistan may still be rough after seven years, but President Bush's decision to attack what was then the most flagrant state sponsor of terrorism, thus baiting al Qaeda to attack us on foreign turf, appears to have not only sucked up al Qaeda's resources, but also to have turned Muslim opinion against al Qaeda by exposing their brutal and repressive ideology. Now, due to a far more coherent strategy than was being pursued during the middle years of the Iraq War, we're winning, and al Qaeda has lost an expensive bet. You may not like President Bush, and you may hate the war, but either way President Bush's war on Islamist terrorism has been far more effective than he's been given credit for.

I was originally going to post a third episode of "Mary Olson", but it appears to have been taken down, so I'll substitute with the following.



I had originally planned for today's post to include an update on my fitness plan, and pictures of my place. Unfortunately, a great deal of my time has been consumed on other pursuits during the last couple of days. The one thing I will share is this: I have an ice maker! It took me more than a year to figure this out, but I purchased a couple of ice tube trays (like ice cubes, but for bottled drinks) and I filled one and put it in the ice tray. Well, I must have bumped the little lever into the "on" position, because the next time I went to get ice, there was more than just ice tubes in the tray. That brings the total of things I've accidentally discovered since I moved in to three: my dishwasher (late July or early August of '07), my medicine cabinet (May of '07), and now the ice maker. The Fly's adventure in bachelor living continues to be hilarious.

I'm having some folks over this evening, which will hopefully involve putting the last of my maps and posters up. If I don't have pictures and a full post over the weekend, expect it for early next week. In the mean time, enjoy your Friday, and have a great weekend.

Fly Report: 19th September 2008

Good morning. Four years ago today, the Fly was in France. Jagshemash! Chinqui!

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

A barrel of oil is trading at $97.02 - bollocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,019.69. The exchange rate is $1.82 for £1, or £0.55 for $1.

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

Today's scripture reading is Isaiah 64. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

A man dreams one day to fly, a man takes a rocket ship into the sky.

Election Thursday: Losing Repercussions

There's been some sort of attack/disturbance at the American embassy in Yemen. (CNN, BBC, Guardian, Times) Yemen's in rough shape, as I've noted previously. Robert Kaplan has an excellent chapter on Yemen's dysfunction in Imperial Grunts. The Yemenis have also instituted a religious police force, a la Saudi Arabia, Iran, and pre-war Afghanistan. Not good, not good.

As if Lebanon didn't have enough problems, two rival Christian groups are fighting one another. How one of them could be pro-Syrian, I don't know.

Following up on yesterday's coverage of the French rescue operation in Somalia (and there's another article about it from the AP), the London Times has an article about just how much of a threat Somali piracy is to the world at large.

Believe it or not, what you're reading is known in some circles as Open Source Intelligence analysis (OSINT). Open source intelligence is basically unclassified data, often news stories or other information on the Internet or in print media, that has intelligence value for either government or corporate intelligence purposes. There are a couple of interesting articles about the sensitivity of government-prepared OSINT products. (Wired, UPI) The stuff is unclassified by its very nature, but it's becoming more and more sensitive. Don't take my word for it, read the articles.

Okay, in lieu of interesting stuff about me (which will be covered in excruciating detail tomorrow), today is Election Thursday. I actually don't have that much this week, so I'll post it and then be on my way to accomplishing great things for the day.

Good ol' Harley linked me to an interesting article by one of the best writers working today, Richard Miniter. He asks the question: What if Obama Loses? Very much worth the read. Also, one of the main issues in this campaign is character, and last week America saw an event that was covered by the media: Senators McCain and Obama visiting Ground Zero in New York to mark the seventh anniversary of 9/11. What wasn't really analyzed by most in the media is how Senator Obama handled himself. I realize that that I'm a partisan, but let's say that I wasn't; would such behavior impress me, a moderate, patriotic, working class voter? I don't think it would No matter how it works out in the end, this is going to be a very interesting election to watch, all the way up to the finish.

I could come up with a pithy and interesting video that you haven't seen before, but I'm going to be lazy and post an awesome video that doesn't require much editorial consideration: Governor Palin's speech from the Republican National Convention.



Alright, folks, time for me to get things done. Check back tomorrow, because this week's AMF is going to be extensive and excellent.

Fly Report: 18th September 2008

Good morning. Awwww! There's only one beer left in the fridge, and it's Bart's!

It's 14° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 79° Fahrenheit with partial clouds.

A barrel of oil is trading at $95.25. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 10,609.66 - the market is low, so it's time for the Fly to invest. The exchange rate is $1.79 for £1, or £0.56 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 63. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

Will I have the gifts to get me through the gates of that mansion?

FlyDecision 2008: Shaved or just Buzzed?

Hey folks! As usual, a few news items, and then the tragically hilarious foibles of the Fly's life.

First and foremost, there's a story that involves - have you waited long enough for this one? - Somali pirates! The French army has carried out an operation to free some hostages held by the Somali pirates. (BBC, Times) In addition to American naval forces, other naval forces to include elements of the Malaysian navy have been deploying to Somali waters in order to protect shipping. Somalia has become a tragic and fascinating laboratory, which showcases the failure, chaos, and pain that comes from both anarchy and Islamist extremism. Afghanistan was a similar case until late 2001. You'd think that all of those anarchists and Islamist apologists out there would clue in to the fact that places like Somalia and pre-war Afghanistan suck, but not so much.

The big news today is the collapse of the Lehman Bros. banking giant. Given that I'm only an amateur economic analyst, I'm not going to opine on it, except to say that while the economy absolutely has problems, this isn't the worst we've seen, the tide is already started to turn, and unless you're stupid with credit, you shouldn't be too worried about it. That having been said, I saw an interesting article today about how Lehman Bros. has been famous for sharing the wealth among its employees. One of the big left wing talking points during this election revolves around the evil greed of big business, but this is yet another example of good business practices within American industry that help the so-called "little guy" out. My company is another great example of companies that do good things to help their employees succeed. It's a good business model because if your employees succeed and are happy, they're going to work harder for you. It's unfortunate that so many people are so fully indoctrinated so as to ignore the fact that this wealth-sharing system (sometimes referred to as Reaganomics or "Trickle Down Economics", although the latter is a pejorative title) is not only practiced by big business, but that it actually works. (Yes, I know that Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy, but that had to do with making too many high risk loans, not with sharing their earnings among their employees.)

SpaceWar has an excellent AFP article about yesterday's attack on Mauritania, most likely carried out by AQIM. The article discusses the attack itself in greater detail than the articles I linked to yesterday, and goes into detail about the political fallout from the attack and how it ties into last month's coup. Very much worth the read.

One of my favorite books, and one that I've cited a number of times here at TSTF, is An Unorthodox Soldier by Tim Spicer, a retired British Army lieutenant colonel who went on to found a mercenary organization, and followed its limited success with a highly successful private security company called Aegis that won't give me a job interview. At any rate, in his book, he notes that one of the reasons why some veterans choose employment with firms like Aegis and Blackwater Worldwide is that they A) have spent their career developing skills that are really only lucrative and in demand in conflict zones, and B) they chose that career in the first place, and subsequent contract employment in the second place, because they genuinely enjoy and are good at that type of work. In David Isenberg's latest Dogs of War piece from UPI, he discusses this phenomenon in a piece that's a bit shorter than Spicer's book... Although Spicer's book is still definitely worth reading.

A few months ago, I posted a video by YouTube comedienne Etta Devine titled "Girl's Night Out". She's posted a couple of hilarious new videos lately in continuation of the series, and today's video is the first of the two.



I think I've dated several girls who are the poster child for the stereotype that Etta ("Mary Olson") is poking fun at. Very funny stuff.

You'll probably notice that I posted a picture of myself... Or rather, two pictures of myself. So, the deal is that I'm trying to figure out how I want to wear my hair. I go pretty nuts when it gets very long, so don't count on any two foot dreadlocks from The Fly any time soon. That having been said, I was shaving it for a while, and I love that look (as evidenced in the top photo, where I'm actually smiling), but it's a lot of work to maintain it. A number of my adoptive moms from church have encouraged me to keep it longer, like it is in the bottom picture (that's actually from April, but it looks similar at the moment). So, what do you folks think?

The other big news from today is that I finally used the gym at work. Yeah, I know, I'm as surprised as you are. Nothing special, twenty-five minutes on the bike, and about ten minutes of stretching. I'm also going to head to one of the local YMCA locations with Young David this evening and get a membership, since they have a pool, the membership will be good at any YMCA in the area, and Young David can give me some accountability. I'm ready to be really serious about getting my fat ass in shape, because I'm sick of feeling like I'm disgusting and decrepit, even if I'm not really. I'll have more on that as it develops. The last time that I tried to get in shape, and blogged about it, was the summer of 2005. Those were so much simpler times, before I had to worry about things like car payments, rent, insurance, and humidity. In the coming days, I'll put together a table (I taught myself how to make them last month for a project at work) explaining what I want to do as far as a long-term fitness plan. So, stay tuned.

Tomorrow, in addition to any news stories that are worth passing on, I'll be showing off pictures of my cleaned, decorated, and fully guest-ready place. Excellent! In the mean time, opine about The Fly's hair in the comments, and have yourself a fantastic day.

UPDATE: Holy shit! I mean, uh, hachi machi! David Isenberg commented on my blog!

Fly Report: 17th September 2008

Good morning. She said: "If we're gonna make this work, you've gotta let me inside even though it hurts."

It's 13° Centigrade and partly cloudy in Kirkwall. In Cody, the forecast calls for a high of 80° Fahrenheit with sunshine.

A barrel of oil is trading at $91.58 - seriously, if prices at the petrol station don't start dropping immediately, it's ----ing gouging. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 11,059.02. The exchange rate is $1.78 for £1, or £0.56 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 62. The Fly is currently reading the Orkneyinga Saga.

If the sky can crack, there must be some way back.

The Usual Chaotic Suspects

Tuesday. Suh-weet.

Okay, I mentioned last week that Kim Jong Il got so ronery that he had himself a stroke, or something. News reports, that are supposedly based on South Korean and Japanese intelligence reports, claim that he's recovering, and has regained the ability to brush is teeth. There are unconfirmed reports that Chairman Kim underwent surgery administered by Chinese doctors last month. The whole thing has triggered a lot of speculation about the eventual succession (Times, BBC), given that Kim has never named an heir. The speculation is even bigger, as Kim has apparently missed another holiday (AP, BBC). So much for his precise and a-compricated pran.

Terrorists have attacked a military detachment in a Mauritanian border city. (AP, BBC) Apparently twelve Mauritanian troops have been killed. I'm guessing there will be more detailed information tomorrow, so I'll post any new details I can find.

There's an interesting article about Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and their role in the international economy. Even if your only knowledge of Kazakhstan is from watching Borat, it's still worth reading because Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are both major energy producers, exporters, and transportation hubs.

And finally, the BBC has learned that the Taliban has been receiving weapons from Iran. They're reticent to speculate as to whether it's the actual Iranian government, isolated groups within the Iranian government, or private citizens that are supplying the weapons to the Taliban. In other words, the BBC doesn't know jack about Iran, at all. You can listen to a blurb in yesterday morning's BBC Global News podcast. Just for the record, I've been talking about this for, you know, like, a year, or something, so the BBC is sort of late coming to this conclusion.

I know it's not Election Thursday, and I know I posted something about the election yesterday, but this one really isn't political as much as it is purely humorous. The one point that I'll make is that if you actually force yourself to watch the Charlie Gibson interview, Governor Palin actually handled Gibson's asine attempt at a "gotcha" question in an extremely adept and informed fashion. Anyway, this was the SNL opener from the other night...



Hilarious.

The only piece of personal news that I have for you folks today is that my Poäng chair arrived today, and is completely assembled and positioned. I think that I'll do a little bit of tidying up tomorrow after work, put up three or four maps, and then take some pictures, so expect to see them by the end of the week. As usual, I have things to do, so be sure to check in tomorrow for more zany fun.