Weather Conditions, Wish we were there...

Odd things and such things, as I feel appropriate, possibly relating to the war.
Email me at jll3a@hotmail.com.

Look below for links to good sites, ebooks and such.

Jerry Lawson, Proprietor

 
PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Spring 1998

When you leave the classroom or office and go into the world, you see at first its richness and confusions, the variety and tumult. Then, if you keep moving and do not quit looking, commonalties begin to emerge. National success is eccentric. But national failure is programmed and predictable. Spotting the future losers among the world's states becomes so easy it loses its entertainment value.

I love the internet. You run across the occasional referral to something else, which links to something else you're interested in, which in turn ends up with something like this.

And the title of the piece is?

Why, Spotting the Losers: Seven Signs of Non-Competitive States, of course.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/30/2002 10:11:00 PM

 
de Atkine | Why Arabs Lose Wars

It would be difficult to exaggerate the cultural gulf separating American and Arab military cultures. In every significant area, American military advisors find students who enthusiastically take in their lessons and then resolutely fail to apply them. The culture they return to — the culture of their own armies in their own countries — defeats the intentions with which they took leave of their American instructors. Arab officers are not concerned about the welfare and safety of their men. The Arab military mind does not encourage initiative on the part of junior officers, or any officers for that matter. Responsibility is avoided and deflected, not sought and assumed. Political paranoia and operational hermeticism, rather than openness and team effort, are the rules of advancement (and survival) in the Arab military establishments. These are not issues of genetics, of course, but matters of historical and political culture.

If you're at all interested in aspects of Arabic military systems, this article will give you insight like you wouldn't believe.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 11:23:00 PM

 
Tail-end trophy for Greenpeace

Johannesburg - African and Asian farmers, and hawkers from across South Africa handed over a "Bullshit Trophy" (yes, that is the trophy's real name) to Greenpeace, the Third World Network and BioWatch for their contribution to the "preservation of poverty" in developing countries.

.....

Barun Mitra of the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), a coalition of non-governmental organisations which believes, among other things, that sustainable development is attainable only through free trade, officiated at the symbolic handing-over in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Mitra denounced the three NGOs as parasites which "prey on the blood of the poor" and did not help to improve agricultural productivity in the Third World.

"They are not interested in famine or poverty. This lot is concerned only about their own interests.

"They sit here at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in their rich man's hotels and romanticise everything," he said.

Dang. Interesting when the folks you're supposed to be helping turn on you, isn't it?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 09:47:00 PM

 
USS Clueless

One of the reasons I am disgusted by a lot of multiculturalist rhetoric is because those mouthing it seem to have abandoned any kind of sense of moral outrage. That's not actually true, of course; they seem to have no difficulty being outraged at the US.
Their mantra is that all cultures are equally valid, and when someone from another culture acts in a way we don't understand, that for us to condemn it is wrong. We have to understand it within the context of their culture, and accept that their ways are just as good as our ways, even if they're different.
That's a fine philosophy stated in the abstract. But as the details of life in the Islamic world have come to light, there's been a deafening silence from such people about the sheer brutality and barbarity of some of their customs, particularly in how they treat their women.

Ah, he's in rare form tonight...

Read, and shudder. Sharia is what the militant Islamists want us all to embrace. I, for one, won't.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 09:35:00 PM

 
'Semper Fidelis' saves a life

Decades after his heroics in Vietnam, relatives and servicemen mobilize to help a dying vet.

Enjoy.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 11:58:00 AM

 
Muslimpundit has a very interesting bit up. One of his readers sent in the following:

So here is my message to the Islamic world. I believe you need to do the following:

1) Acknowledge that every nation of significance that has embraced Islam as the state religion, and has tried to govern according to the laws of Sharia, is a miserable failure. Egypt, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia: These are totalitarian nations that repress their own citizens every bit as savagely as did the former Soviet Union. Citizens in these countries have no freedom, no rights, and no hope for a better life. They cannot speak freely. They can be arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or killed for any reason. The governing authorities can even order mass slaughter of their own people at will (witness Syria).

----

2) Discard the myth of Muslim solidarity. I have noticed a great reluctance on the part of Muslim speakers to criticize others who name themselves Muslims, even when the latter are murderous killers such as Al Qaeda, Taliban, or the Palestinian bombers. If you are a good person, you condemn these terrorists and say you want them caught or killed. If you are a bad person, you find reasons to excuse their behavior, or support them. If you are a worthless person, you say nothing.

I have seen a lot of bad Muslims quoted, but not many good Muslims. Pick a side. If you are on the side of good, then disown the evil ones and deny all commonality with them, or you will be considered one of them. Be plain spoken. Be blunt! Avoid the vague circumlocutions favored by virtually every Muslim speaker I've seen quoted --- these irritate the hell out of me, and you can be sure that no one else respects them.

3) Eliminate the apocalyptic language of condemnation and jihad, in private as well as in public. These are bad things to say. Americans are listening, and they do not like what they hear. If you will not change, prepare to accept the consequences of your behavior.

4) Stop pretending to be victims. No country is perfect, and no country is completely free of religious or racial intolerance, but Muslims have it better in the US than anywhere else in the world. If a Muslim organization wants to defend Muslims who are truly mistreated, that is all to the good, but if you want respect, act as if you already have it, and be prepared to condemn the criminal behavior of Muslims as rapidly as you do non-Muslims.

5) Stop talking about the Crusades as an offense against innocent Muslim victims. Islam expanded through North Africa and into Europe by fighting wars and defeating the opposition (in other words, by killing people who disagreed). By our standards today (in the US), these were wars of aggression, unjustified and immoral. By the standards of the time, they were acceptable, the normal way of life. The same is true of the Crusades, which were a response to the expansion of Islam and restrictions on Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The expansion of Islam was halted and reversed after the Muslim forces were defeated at Vienna, as, similarly, the Crusades were defeated by the Islamic forces of the time.

It is not reasonable to apply modern standards to the medieval world. There is no moral superiority to be had in these parts of history. Insisting that the Crusades displayed the brutal victimization of Islam by Christian barbarians is, now, nothing more than the resentful complaints of Muslim populations who look only at the outside world, not within their own, for the causes of their misery.

6) Don't inflate the importance of the "Islamic street." The truth is that the Islamic street doesn't matter much even to the totalitarian rulers of Islamic nations, who have a tendency to kill their own citizens when disagreements arise. It isn't important at all to Americans. What the American street believes, however, is important to the Islamic countries, even if they don't realize it. To be blunt, no Islamic nation or combination of them can present much of a threat to the US, but the US is perfectly capable of exterminating any who try. This truth is almost completely unappreciated throughout the world, even in Europe, where they should know better. The US is not an imperialist nation---it does not trot around the globe and gobble up parts of it with military force. Nor does the US react strongly to most provocations. As a result, few in the world realize just how dangerous this country is when aroused. The Third Reich and the Japanese Empire made this discovery, and they no longer exist. The Islamic nations are nowhere near as dangerous as either of those dead relics, and the US is much more lethal now than it was in World War II.

7) Stop saying that all people will or must become Muslims eventually, and that the law of Sharia must ultimately become the law of the land. The former isn't going to happen. The latter would require the overthrow of the Constitution. While the First Amendment guarantees everyone the right to speak their beliefs, a real attempt to overturn the Constitution would be an act of treason. We will not tolerate treason. We will not let you destroy the founding principles of the United States.

I pretty much agree with the writer of the above. The Muslim countries do show a shocking amount of intolerance for other religions and their ideas of justice and concepts of appropriate punishment would have our left in fits in short order if they were applied here. (And for what it's worth, I'd be against them too.)

It's time, I think, for the left to appreciate Islam for what it IS, not for what it says it is. To some, the words are more important than the actuality - the concepts espoused are more important than the actions of those practicing them. To me, the actuality is more important than the words. What is, is - no matter how much it's sugar-coated and spray-painted in happy colors.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 11:54:00 AM

 
Daniel Taylor is out of the hospital! Woo-hoo!

Get healthy, Daniel!

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 10:16:00 AM

 
Weird hit on my referrer log...

http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=How+much+Aleve+would+it+take+to+kill+a+200+pound+person&hc=0&hs=0

Ummm, I haven't the vaguest, and don't want to know? Seek help, whoever you were...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/29/2002 10:15:00 AM

 
Winds of Change.NET

Reality is often different than perception and my preconceptions of Sudan, from what I understood before coming here to what I understand now, have changed greatly. At the most basic, my going-in sense of Sudan was that of a very hostile, anti-American and dangerous place. Yet, two months into the assignment, I was attempting to bring my family for a one to three month visit, putting my daughters in the local Comboni School (Catholic – attended by Christians and non-Christians alike) for cultural immersion and experience. As it turned out, unfortunately, the visit could not be arranged, but the idea that I would be sufficiently comfortable with the security environment to even consider such a proposal shows how far my perceptions have changed.

Although one hears a lot about how the Sudanese government is difficult, manipulative and hostile toward virtually anything and everything that it perceives may threaten its power, the Sudanese people, by and large, are much different than their government. They love America. This is the story one doesn’t hear. In El Obied, I am one of about three white people in a town of 300,000 or so. Yet, I sense no hostility, no anger, no resentment, only appreciation and a strong welcome for me in my capacity as the representative of the JMC (which for the Sudanese is synonymous with peace) and as an American, which for every Sudanese I have met so far, is about the best thing that they can imagine (that is, an American in their midst). There are not many Washington pinstripers, although from time to time a US diplomat does pass through. On a day-to-day basis I am America, I perform ‘diplomatic representation’ and -- you know what? -- the Sudanese folks I meet think America can do no wrong. I find myself telling them America is not as great as they think, not because America is not great, but because no reality can be as splendid as the opinion they hold of the USA.

In the late 1980s Sudan experienced a severe drought. Then-Vice President Bush visited Sudan, and actually came to El Obied. According to legend (and that is the character this story has acquired) Bush promised the United States would provide grain and seed to help the Sudanese. The USA delivered on this promise and today, fields of wheat or sorghum or whatever are referred to as fields of Reagan (as in "the Reagan is growing well this year. . ."). Also, because of the promise, many Sudanese families named their sons after George Bush (e.g. Bush al Sa’ad or Bush Ismail Ahmed Elhaj).

From an officer assigned to the Sudan. A very interesting read - well worth your time. You hear how the US is disliked by every other country on earth - but the reports seem a trifle exaggerated after reading this. Perhaps we need to dig deeper - and maybe we'd find that the hatred isn't coming from the people of the country after all...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/28/2002 09:49:00 PM

 
Miss World vs. Muslim law

Aug. 28 — Nigeria’s capital is slated to host one of the world’s most glamorous beauty contests in November, but the event is mired in the country’s political tensions. After a Muslim court ruled last week in favor of the stoning death of a Nigerian single mother for having a child out of wedlock, some Miss World contestants have threatened to boycott the event. At the same time, Muslim groups in Nigeria are calling for cancellation of the event, which they describe as a costly and shameful “parade of nudity.”

Wow. What a surprise.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/28/2002 09:41:00 PM

 
The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling newspaper

THE sickening champagne and caviar lifestyle being enjoyed by Earth Summit delegates was exposed yesterday.
They are gorging on mountains of lobster, oysters and fillet steak at the Johannesburg conference — aimed at ending FAMINE.
As the summit began yesterday, desperate kids in nearby shanty towns queued for water at standpipes.
Bigwig politicians among the 60,000 delegates, including Deputy PM John Prescott, also get vintage bubbly and brandy.
Taxpayers are footing the £500,000 bill for the 70-strong British party. Friends of the Earth called the extravagance “deplorable”.

What a surprise.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/28/2002 08:50:00 PM

 
DRUDGE REPORT 2002®

Margaret Beckett, the head of the British delegation to the U.N. development summit, told the ASSOCIATED PRESS Wednesday that the U.S. is being unfairly maligned by delegates and activists.

The British Environment Minister said that many delegations are using America as a convenient scapegoat for other difficulties they were having in reaching agreement.

What a surprise.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/28/2002 08:49:00 PM

 
Something Rotten in Denmark? - article by Daniel Pipes

A Muslim group in Denmark announced a few days ago that a $30,000 bounty would be paid for the murder of several prominent Danish Jews, a threat that garnered wide international notice. Less well known is that this is just one problem associated with Denmark's approximately 200,000 Muslim immigrants. The key issue is that many of them show little desire to fit into their adopted country.

For years, Danes lauded multiculturalism and insisted they had no problem with the Muslim customs - until one day they found that they did. Some major issues:

* Living on the dole: Third-world immigrants - most of them Muslims from countries such as Turkey, Somalia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iraq - constitute 5 percent of the population but consume upwards of 40 percent of the welfare spending.

* Engaging in crime: Muslims are only 4 percent of Denmark's 5.4 million people but make up a majority of the country's convicted rapists, an especially combustible issue given that practically all the female victims are non-Muslim. Similar, if lesser, disproportions are found in other crimes.

* Self-imposed isolation: Over time, as Muslim immigrants increase in numbers, they wish less to mix with the indigenous population. A recent survey finds that only 5 percent of young Muslim immigrants would readily marry a Dane.

* Importing unacceptable customs: Forced marriages - promising a newborn daughter in Denmark to a male cousin in the home country, then compelling her to marry him, sometimes on pain of death - are one problem.

Another is threats to kill Muslims who convert out of Islam. One Kurdish convert to Christianity, who went public to explain why she had changed religion, felt the need to hide her face and conceal her identity, fearing for her life.

* Fomenting anti-Semitism: Muslim violence threatens Denmark's approximately 6,000 Jews, who increasingly depend on police protection. Jewish parents were told by one school principal that she could not guarantee their children's safety and were advised to attend another institution. Anti-Israel marches have turned into anti-Jewish riots. One organization, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, openly calls on Muslims to "kill all Jews . . . wherever you find them."

* Seeking Islamic law: Muslim leaders openly declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark's Muslim population grows large enough - a not-that-remote prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim.

Hmmm. Wonder how Denmark's going to handle the problem? What options are even open?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/27/2002 11:13:00 PM

 
Reuters | The World's Leading Provider of Financial Information and News

LONDON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden is firmly back in command of al Qaeda and the group is digging in for guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, an Arab journalist with close ties to the militant's associates said on Tuesday.

Uh, huh.

Okay, how about a video, with him holding a current paper? Something like the AJC, with the headline "McKinney Wins!"?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/27/2002 11:10:00 PM

 
USS Clueless

We're less afraid of uncertainty, I think, because we're more used to improvising. The unexpected isn't a disaster, it's just something that has to be dealt with.

One of the major arguments being made in Europe to our plans to attack Iraq is that it could destabilize the entire region and that it's impossible to predict what might happen. The American reaction to that has been, more or less, "And your point is?"

Let's see. Status quo: Islamofacists who sell us oil and hate our guts. We take out them Islamofacists, and we end up with... possibly people who hate our guts because we beat on the Islamofacists? But we'll still get the oil, because they have no other market to absorb it - and if they don't sell it they get nothing as far as cash flow goes.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/25/2002 10:40:00 PM

 
Times Online

A TEAM of Americans and Russians have removed more than 100lb of highly enriched uranium from a nuclear research facility in Yugoslavia in a secret operation to prevent it being seized by terrorists.
The dawn “raid” on the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Belgrade, protected by Yugoslav Army helicopters and 1,200 heavily armed troops, was the first joint effort by the US and Russia to retrieve weapons-grade nuclear material supplied by Moscow to research centres around the world. Under a Moscow-Washington agreement, America will help to finance a programme to retrieve all the research uranium from 17 countries formerly allied with the Soviet Union.

And it just gets MORE interesting, doesn't it?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/24/2002 12:24:00 PM

 
Read Reviews and Compare Prices on 2002 Honda CR-V at Epinions.com

I buy a new car roughly every ten years. I bought a Renault Le Car in '82, I bought a Saturn SL in '92. This year, I bought a Honda CR-V.

The time immediately preceding the buy is spent trying on vehicles as I'd try on new shoes. How does the interior fit - Too short? Too tight? Too narrow? Too hot? Too cold? Is everything where I think it should be? Are the gauges easy to read? Is there enough info from the dash indicators? Is the radio easy to figure out?

Then there's the consumer reports. Reliability is a high point for me, because I'm planning to keep the vehicle long after it's paid off. I don't mind paying for what I consider 'fair wear and tear' items, like clutches and brakes, a water pump every 100,000 miles, an alternator and starter at about the same point - but I don't like paying for stuff that's badly designed and poorly thought out.

I've written a review for the Honda CR-V on Epinions.com. Also did one on the Saturn, which I drove for ten years.

Read Reviews and Compare Prices on 1992 Saturn SL at Epinions.com

I bought my Saturn SL in 1992. Without any hesitation, I'd say it was the best car I've ever bought. (At least, to this point) The interior was luxuriuous (especially compared to Toyotas and Hondas that cost more)and the engine was a good, strong puller. The air conditioning worked like a champ, and the car fit me like a glove.

150,000 miles and 10 years passed. I went throught two clutches, one water pump, two sets of engine mounts, two sets of brakes, one serpentine belt, one belt idler pully, one starter, two oil pan gaskets, one radiator, and one upper radiator hose. This might sound like a lot, but I was doing constant stop & go driving in those ten years. I consider all these items to fall under the category of "Fair wear and tear" - you use a vehicle a lot and it's going to wear out. Oh, I also wore out one ignition key assembly - which shows you how many times it was stopped and started. I put a lot of wear on that vehicle and it gave me relatively trouble-free service.

Why an SUV, or mini-SUV? I wanted something a bit larger. And the CR-V fit the bill. It is affordable, and low-emissions, and large enough but not too large.

BTW, if you're a SUV hater - get over it. I didn't buy the thing for you, I bought it for my own use. You don't like it? Buy me something else.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/24/2002 12:22:00 PM

 
Voice from the Commonwealth

More signs? A formerly out of use air base in the UK is suddenly active again.

RAF Brawdy has reopened for a week for training exercises in the wake of the military operation in Afghanistan. Hercules transport aircraft and Chinook helicopters are using the site, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, to enable air crews to get up-to-date training in the use of bare base airfields, similar to the kind of terrain forces might be confronted with in action.

We're deciding the schedule this time. There's time to get the training in, time to get equipment and forces prepositioned quietly. And time to leak enough 'official' plans that Saddam won't know which is the real one...

It's gonna be interesting.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/22/2002 10:07:00 PM

 
NATIONAL POST

As I understand it, the benefits of multiculturalism are that the sterile white-bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain get some great ethnic restaurants and a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony that lasts until two in the morning. But, in the case of those Muslim ghettoes in Sydney, in Oslo, in Paris, in Copenhagen and in Manchester, multiculturalism means that the worst attributes of Muslim culture -- the subjugation of women -- combine with the worst attributes of Western culture -- licence and self-gratification. Tattoed, pierced Pakistani skinhead gangs swaggering down the streets of Northern England are as much a product of multiculturalism as the turban-wearing Sikh Mountie in the vice-regal escort at Rideau Hall. Yet even in the face of the crudest assaults on its most cherished causes -- women's rights, gay rights -- the political class turns squeamishly away.

Once upon a time we knew what to do. A British district officer, coming upon a scene of suttee, was told by the locals that in Hindu culture it was the custom to cremate a widow on her husband's funeral pyre. He replied that in British culture it was the custom to hang chaps who did that sort of thing. There are many great things about India -- curry, pyjamas, sitars, software engineers -- but suttee was not one of them. What a pity we're no longer capable of being "judgmental" and "discriminating." We're told the old-school imperialists were racists, that they thought of the wogs as inferior. But, if so, they at least considered them capable of improvement. The multiculturalists are just as racist. The only difference is that they think the wogs can never reform: Good heavens, you can't expect a Muslim in Norway not to go about raping the womenfolk! Much better just to get used to it.

And that, in essence, is what's wrong with multiculturalism - the assumption that not only are ethnic cultures to be cherished, they should never change except from internal forces. Anything external that attempts to change them is wrong, wrong. wrong.

Of course, if the cultures they ostensibly cherish want to dismantle the culture that the multiculturalists come from, then multiculturalism has to decide whether it should commit suicide at the behest of that culture.

My bet is the multiculturalists will figure out that some ideals just aren't worth keeping.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/22/2002 10:04:00 PM

 
ArabNews: Letters

Your friends
American politicians who support Arab nations or a balanced view of the situation in Palestine are being destroyed one by one. Does your paper care? Do your leaders care?
Peace and justice must have a voice.


Pete and Jane Christenson, United States published 21 August 2002

Whoops. Track blockage... The Clue Train has been delayed...

J.
posted by Jerry at 8/22/2002 10:03:00 PM

 
ArabNews: Letters

All sides of tragedy
The story "Israeli gunfire cuts short boy’s school dream" was truly a heart-wrenching account of the devastating effects of violence in one family’s life.
The next responsible step for Arab News is to write and print a similar story on one of the many Israeli children blown to pieces by so-called Palestinian "heroes" of the intifada. Include the same kinds of touching quotes by the Israeli child’s parents, and a photo of the mother (if she survived the blast) grieving over her child’s corpse.
If more papers in the Middle East would take this approach, perhaps people in the area would begin to see each other as human and stop resorting to violence in a sickening attempt to solve their problems. In fact, this would be an admirable goal for the press in all parts of the world.

Cory Nielsen, Salem, Oregon, US, published 22 August 2002

Damn, maybe the Clue Train IS getting through!

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/22/2002 10:02:00 PM

 
For those who are curious, I've decided to go ahead and get Sirius satellite radio for the Honda.

Why? Just three little words - "Sci Fi Channel"...

J.

(Oh, and before you ask "What Honda?", we bought a new CR-V. In silver.) More to come...
posted by Jerry at 8/22/2002 10:01:00 PM

 
McKinney lost.

Apparently, other 'colorful' personalities have lost too.

It looks like the public is realizing that 'colorful' folk are all well and good when things aren't serious. It's entertainment - politics as theatre. Can anyone look at McKinney's actions in the last year, and not be entertained by them? (And I refer to the entire spectrum of feelings - down to and including disgust and concern.)

But things are serious now. And we're going to require our politicians to have a sensible head on their shoulders, to be able to sort out what is true and what is false, what's relevant and irrelvant from the massive piles of info that demand their attention. And THAT is what must take precedence. Leave the personal stuff aside, and do what's best for the country, not your career. Shoving a personal agenda is one thing, but when the country is in danger, it's time to lay aside the theatrics and do what needs to be done. McKinney wouldn't do that. She figured it was better to play the game as always. She was wrong.

Politics as entertainment only works when the audience isn't afraid for their survival.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/21/2002 10:15:00 AM

 
PhotoDude's Web Log: Brain Dump & Pixel Pile

11:25pm: The Fat Lady is warming up in the background. 87% of precincts have reported (151 of 174), Majette has 66% of the votes (49,063), McKinney has 34% (25,283).

It's still not too late - I'm sure McKinney's stuffing the ballot boxes now. But how she's gonna get 25000 votes in 23 precincts...

If she loses, as she might well, watch for the fireworks! I predict she'll be blaming everyone except... herself - in the most emphatic ways possible.

J.
posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 11:31:00 PM

 
Sirius Satellite Radio - How Does It Work?

How Does It Work?

versus XM Satellite Radio

Why Reception Stays Strong

Both look like good services, but Sirius has the Sci-Fi channel. What do you think?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 11:06:00 PM

 
2002 GA Primary Race Results - FOX5 News - WAGA Atlanta

Precincts Reporting: 121 of 174 70%

DENISE MAJETTE 39,926 61%

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (Incumbent) 25,283 39%

Can Cynthia pick up 12%? Did she manage to bribe enough people? Scare them with phone messages?

Oh, it's a nail biter...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 11:01:00 PM

 
Pizza for Israeli Soldiers

Following requests from many people around the world who want to share their feelings with our Israeli soldiers at this time in a tangible way, we at israelVisit have extended our service to give you the opportunity to send Pizza and Pepsi*, and now also ice cream, to active duty soldiers. These soldiers include those on regular military service as well as those who have left their homes, families and jobs to serve the Jewish people as Miluim (Reserve Duty) fighters.

Now isn't this something... Think I'll send them a pizza on Friday night.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 10:59:00 PM

 
2002 GA Primary Race Results - FOX5 News - WAGA Atlanta

U.S. House Dist 4 (D)Precincts Reporting: 80 of 174 46%

DENISE MAJETTE 31,006 66%

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (Incumbent) 16,153 34%

It's getting closer. How well can she stuff the new electronic ballot boxes?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 10:52:00 PM

 
Plan ahead for next meteor spectacle

Forecasters generally agree that Earth will pass through two primary debris streams in 2002.
The first stream could generate a peak rate of more than 3,000 shooting stars per hour just before dawn over Europe and Africa on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
A second burst is slated to occur near dawn the same day over eastern North America and is forecast to produce around 2,600 meteors per hour. That’s 43 per minute or nearly one each second.

The Leonids are coming!

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 10:40:00 PM

 
Atlanta, Georgia news | Atlanta Journal-Constitution

U.S. House District 4 (Dem.)
32 of 174 precincts reporting
Denise Majette--------- 14,419 80%
Cynthia McKinney----- 3,594 20%

It's gonna be close. Keep your fingers crossed.


posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 10:09:00 PM

 
Steven DenBeste is thinking, and wondering if the war has already started...

Finally, there's the question of the apparent indecision and debate and confusion and dissent in Congress and within the various parts of the administration itself.

That's an interesting thing. It just seems too good for those who want to believe that the Bush administration is blowing it. All those different leaked plans, all the different timetables, all the claims that the officers in the Pentagon opposed an attack, and so on? It just seems ideal to convince people that this administration is not actually capable of launching an attack because it can't get its act together.

Can you say "disinformation"? I think most of it is a fake. You have to ignore all the razzle-dazzle, including careful leaks to the NYT which can be relied on to make the Bush administration look as bad as possible in its "unbiased" reporting. You have to look at what's actually going on, below the radar, and when you do what you see is a deliberate and careful military mobilization, with work on logistics and movement of essential supplies and men into the theater, which looks for all the world like the execution of a very carefully crafted plan to prepare for an attack which will catch nearly everyone by surprise, because it will just seem to materialize out of nowhere one day, or perhaps with 12 hours notice after a surprise speech by the President.

You get hints, things which don't otherwise make sense. There's been a shortage of cargo containers recently; suddenly a whole bunch of empty ones went somewhere and got used for something and are no longer in the civilian economy. You have certain selected National Guard units being mobilized for something and the most important ones of those are concerned with logistics. (Things like Air National Guard units which operate aerial tankers which have been moved into the Gulf region, for some strange reason.) You've got the work on setting up a new major airbase and command compound in Qatar to replace the one in Saudi Arabia. There's a quiet buildup of American men and equipment in Kuwait. Beneath an apparent veil of disagreement and confusion, someone is deliberately preparing for war and seems to be doing a pretty good job of it.

Some think the war has actually already started. I don't know that I credit this, though, but it's hard to tell for sure. It depends enormously on the psychology and diplomatic strategy of Saddam's government. Once Iraq becomes convinced that we're truly operating militarily and that we clearly will not turn back, it is to their advantage to publicize it to the world so that they can play the "innocent victim of unprovoked American attack" card, and they haven't done that yet. I can't believe that if the kinds of things described by the Asian Times were actually going on that Saddam's government wouldn't know it, and it's hard to understand why in that case they don't speak up. (One possibility is that if they admit that we're building airbases inside Iraq in Kurdish zones, it is implicitly an admission that Saddam's government doesn't have the ability to stop us. Announcement of American ops inside Iraq would be helpful internationally, but unopposed American ops inside Iraq would be politically deadly for Saddam internally because it would make him look weak and might stimulate a coup.)

Overall, either they think that the operations so far are not irreversible and that a sufficiently adroit Iraqi foreign policy initiative can still dissuade the US and cause us to pull back out before it's too late (for Saddam), or else it means that these reports of operations inside Iraq are wrong.

The thought is that Bush is incompetent, that he has no plan.

I'd prefer our enemies keep thinking that. Because it doesn't look to be true.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 09:52:00 AM

 
Daniel Talyor is geeting better. Go, Daniel!

We're still praying for you.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/20/2002 09:48:00 AM

 
lgf: Dead Filth

The referenced post on LGF refers to forensic folks being able to isolate 9 of the hijackers remains. The discussion was what to do with them. My reply follows after this:

"You people should repect the people of the Islamic world and allow them a proper burial.

Respect for the casualties of this Jewish war on Islam is not just an American/Zionist priviledge. "

And my reply to his message was:

Seems to me we tried the 'unilateral respect for all cultures' gig already. We didn't try to change Islam, we bought a lot of oil from Saudi. We left them alone to work out the apparent problems with their culture(s). We COULD have sent them Jerry Falwell - instead we put our own military women in-country in burquas and shoved them into second-class status to avoid 'offending' the Saudis.

The favor wasn't returned, unless you think flying planes into skyscrapers is somehow a cultural norm in Islam and should be respected.

If treating other cultures with respect gets us that, I think it's time we stopped. I'm not for isolationism, but the type of culture we're seeing on ClearGuidance is pathologically unsound (possibly un-sane) and not something that will live in even semi-peaceful co-existance with ANY culture that doesn't accept and adhere to their rigid beliefs.

If they won't live with us - it's not our responsibility to change our culture to suit their sensibilities. Tolerance is a two-way street, after all. We can bend over backwards - but they've got to bend too.
J.

And they show no sign of it. Personally, I'm about bent out of shape over the whole mess. Why are WE the ones who must always accomodate the desires and prejudices of others? I hate to sound like a raving whiner here - but when's it OUR turn to get some damn respect and tolerance?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/17/2002 09:54:00 PM

 
Daniel Taylor is still in the hospital, AFAIK.

And his situation is prompting me to re-examine a lot of things in my life. My position in the Reserves is being eliminated due to squadron reorganizations - so I've the choice of either cross-training to something else, getting into another squadron for the rest of my enlistment (22 months, or about 44 Reserve days) or taking retirement now. Won't get paid until I'm 55 or 60, but I could retire - spend more time with Sue and Aaron, and sit out what I see coming on the horizon...

However.

You know my thoughts on what's coming. It's not going to be pretty, I think. It's not going to be fast. It's not going to be like any war we've fought before, because we're not going up against a rational (if misguided) society or nation here as in WW2 with Germany & Japan, we're going up against folks who are almost literally delusional and not operating in what we'd think of as a rational warfighting mode. See "Al Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology" for further explanation of what I think their worldview is - and also a good indication of what their strategic objectives might be.

And I'll be bluntly honest here - I haven't much enjoyed what I've been doing for the last 12 years in the Reserves. Personnel specialist is an important job, but you get to a point where you have Enron-style fantasies involving files and industrial-strength shredders. I'll do it out of duty, but if the job were to disappear (as it is) and retirement were to be offered (as it is) then the possibility is tempting to leave.

And spend more time with Sue and Aaron. One weekend a month isn't all that much - but...

Let me know what you think. I'll let you know how it goes.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/17/2002 03:15:00 PM

 
ArabNews: Letters

Blaming the West
Even though it is Muslim countries that have oil wealth, most Muslims are begging aid from the West. The West has very little oil, but those nations spend their money wisely for their citizens.

They industrialized their countries and worked hard to improve the quality of life of their people. They produced jobs for their people and the rest of the world.

We Muslims are fools if we cannot understand that the West deserved what it has got. Oil resources are not going to last for ever. It will run out one day, and if things don’t change in these countries, they will slip back to the pre-oil times. Let us not blame the West for our own failure. Our leaders have failed our community.

Then, on top of this, we compound our failure by spreading hate against the West and blame it for our misery. Instead of building factories, putting up industries, building educational facilities and creating opportunities for our people, so many of our leaders are busy building palaces and investing their stolen money in the West. We fools are creating jobs for rest of the world, and blaming the West for our poverty.

Dang - is the Clue-Train finally pulling into the station? Of course, these are the English letters on the web - what's in Arabic may be very different.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/17/2002 01:08:00 PM

 
Iraqi official: Inspections are ‘over’

A top official in Baghdad said Monday that U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq were “over” — throwing cold water on hopes that the process would restart and avert a U.S. attack on Iraq. Meanwhile, the United States reportedly has started a military buildup in the region.

Let's see. Last week they were going to let us look. Now, they won't. And we've started a buildup? JUST started a buildup? And are just now looking to move the hardware?

Hmmm.

Deceit & disinformation... I hope.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/13/2002 12:50:00 AM

 
Daniel Taylor's in the hospital again. Hemmorages in his brain.

We're praying for you, Daniel.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/13/2002 12:49:00 AM

 
ArabNews: Letters

Hatred for US
This is in response to "Discard the drivel and go for a straight shot" by Khaled Al-Maeena (Aug. 9)

I’m an American with no direct knowledge of Saudi Arabia except what I read and see on television. But in my opinion, it will take more than public relations to improve Saudi Arabia’s standing in America.

A war is being led against the US by Saudi nationals, Osama Bin Laden and others. The US is being portrayed in the Arab press as a warmongering, Jew-controlled, oppressor of Arabs. That same Arab press seems to have forgotten that by his war with Iran, his conquest of Kuwait, and his ruthless oppression of his own citizens Saddam Hussein has caused the death of many more Muslims than Israel. All American support for Muslims in Kuwait and Bosnia has been forgotten.

The average American spends little time thinking about the rest of the world, but Sept. 11 clearly established the threat that radicals, mostly from the Arab world, using the name of Islam, have declared war on all the citizens of the United States.

What we heard after Sept.11 and continue to hear from the Arab world is: Israel caused all of the problems. That is the wrong response. If Saudi Arabia and the Arab world want improved media coverage in the United States, they should begin taking positive actions to change the culture that has bred such hatred of Israel and the United States.

I'm surprised they printed this in Arab News. Wonder if they're trying to hedge their bets? I'm sure they're not stupid, they're apparently able to get outside the blocks that Saudi's put up on their national routers - they CAN'T be so stupid as to believe that what they put out in Saudi Arabia will play in Peoria... to coin a phrase.

Or are they?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/11/2002 10:58:00 PM

 
FOXNews.com - Lessons From History

By 1953, the English were effectively disarmed — and compounding the insult, courts began prosecuting people for previously legal (and even encouraged) acts of violence in defense of persons and property. In the future, only the police were to use violence, and even they tended to be quite lenient toward violent criminals.

In a "coincidence" that will surprise few readers who are familiar with the work of criminologists like John Lott and Gary Kleck, English crime rates almost immediately began a steady rise, for the first time in 500 years. The overall crime rate in England and Wales is now 60 percent higher than in the United States. And it wasn't just crime in general: Gun crimes became far more common as well.

So much for guns causing crime.

Dang - does this mean that flies DON'T cause garbage?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/10/2002 10:51:00 PM

 
ajc.com | Opinion | Cream of the crop in races for House

In the 4th, incumbent Cynthia McKinney's irresponsible -- indeed, wildly irrational -- rhetoric has alienated many of her constituents. So it is no surprise that she has drawn a strong challenger, former DeKalb State Court Judge Denise Majette.
Majette is more than just "not McKinney." With a Yale law degree, she is bright and thoughtful, a moderate candidate who can well represent the needs of a diverse district.
While the 4th is heavily Democratic, three Republican women have joined the campaign to oust McKinney. The most promising is Catherine Davis, who supports education choices such as vouchers and home schooling.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution isn't supporting McKinney. This is actually a surprise. A pleasant one, but a surprise nevertheless. Perhaps Queen McKinney's days are numbered. "My Queen! The Peasants are revolting!" "They sure are! Simply disgusting! But draw the curtains - I don't want to look at them while I wait for my next check from out of state Muslims."

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/10/2002 12:31:00 AM

 
Al Udeid Air Base - New Analysis

New imagery from Space Imaging's Ikonos and DigitalGlobe's Quick Bird reveal continued construction at Al Udeid Airbase.

The photos are a couple of months old. Still, you can see the difference between January and June.

Quick test:

Question 1: How much tonnage can 5 KC-10s carry in 6 months, assuming 1 round trip per day? Figure 160 actual trips per plane, the other 20 days being used for maintenance.

Ready for the answer? Each KC-10 can haul a maximum of 170,000 lbs. Times 5, is 850000 lbs, or about 425 tons. Round down, for 400 tons/day. Times 160 days is... 68,000 tons.

Question 2: 2 C-5Bs with 2 tanks land 5 days a week. How many weeks would it take to have two hundred tanks prepositioned in Kuwait?

And the answer is - 10 weeks.

There's no hurry like there was with the Gulf War. There's a plan, and my guess is that things are moving along according to it. When it's time, we'll know more. Until then -

Well, enjoy what's left of the summer.

J.






posted by Jerry at 8/09/2002 11:17:00 PM

 
Food Porn

This page contains food-oriented graphics. If you are under legal eating age, are offended by food, or if it is illegal to view or consume food in your community, please leave now. This site is not acting in any way to send you food; you are choosing to receive it. Continuing means that you understand and accept responsibility for your own actions, thus releasing the creators of this Web site from all liability including drooling and weight gain.

Wonder how many google hits I'll get from having p0rn on my blog?

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/08/2002 11:52:00 PM

 
FOXNews.com - Iraqi Groups Warn About Saddam's Speech

But as Saddam takes a stand on the one hand, he also continues to offer a wilted olive branch by suggesting that U.N. weapons inspectors may be allowed back into his country.

He made clear Thursday, however, that any access inspectors received would not be unfettered.

"(I)t's obvious once again that Saddam's comments are bluster from an internationally isolated dictator, demonstrative yet again that his regime shows no intention to live up to its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in response to the speech.

U.S. military planners at the Pentagon acknowledge that urban fighting will likely be a significant part of the next Iraq invasion and have set U.S. troops to train for the building-by-building, block-by-block fighting.

Analysts say that the gangland fighting will put U.S. troops and innocent civilians at greater risk, which could threaten to further erode international support. But U.S. support remains strong.

Frankly, we don't have much international support. The French and Germans have already said they don't support a non-UN sanctioned attack on Iraq.

I'm reminded of an old car-care commercial I saw a few years back. A greasy mechanic talking about oil filters, I think, saying "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later." The price we'll have to pay if Saddam develops WMD (and he's apparently already stated he'll gladly pass WMD to the Palestinians) and deploys them, would be far too high. Same if he should happen to develop a working nuke, and pass it to someone else for deniable use.

So we can pay the butcher's bill now, or we can pay it later when it'll be much higher. France and Germany are apparently figuring the US will pay the bill when it comes, so they can play the non-violent, diplomatic european role to the hilt. France also has a large, anti-semetic Islamic movement growing within it.

War is coming. How messy it will be will be a direct function of how long we've been preparing (and I think we've been preparing in that area for quite some time) and how much force we're willing to use. This time, I don't think the job should be stopped before Saddam's dead - no matter how much Saudi Arabia or the other states in that area complain.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/08/2002 10:59:00 PM

 
Oaky - things are heating up in the ME. I've found an interesting set of photos (via Instapundit) of an air base in Qatar that's been significantly enhanced and had prepositioned equipment flown in. I've seen a number of links to articles that suggest (to me) that there's been a not-so-slow, but stealthy and steady buildup of equipment in staging areas over there. I haven't heard any news about ro-ro ships missing (the massive ships that carry and store great quantities of tanks and trucks and gear - Roll On, Roll Off - hence ro-ro) or docked anywhere in the ME.

I've seen convoys on the roads and on base, staying for a few days then disappearing again.

My guess is that there's a whole lot of equipment in the ME that's waiting, ready and stocked for war...

When it's time, men are a lot easier to transport than materiel and the folks stepping off the plane will find their vehicles ready and waiting. Then the fun will really begin, and CNN will soar in popularity again. Buy your stock now...

Anyway - it's quiet. Too quiet. Rather like the opening seconds of a football game. The kickoff's in the air - and when it lands, the carnage will start.

Cheerful tonight, ain't I?

J.
posted by Jerry at 8/08/2002 09:52:00 PM

 
On a related note, they've got brown handkerchiefs at Clothing Sales again. They stopped carrying them in '92.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/08/2002 12:04:00 AM

 
Occasionally you run across a site...

Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

Occasionally, you find a site which changes your worldview. That takes what you believed and destroys it completely.

For many months now, since 9/11, I've been attempting to convince myself with fair sucess, that overall Islam is a peaceful religion. That it's practicioners follow many of the same things that I believe, that they would be tolerant of other religions as I am, that they love their children the way I love my son. This has been in spite of news from the ME, demonstrations by Palestinians showing that the tolerance of other religions that I'd like to believe was there - is not. I see Islamic mothers proud of their children killing themselves, proud of killing non-believers, proud of killing old people and babies. I see Islamic fathers urge their children to martyr themselves.

And I try to convince myself that it's just a very, very small subset of Islam I'm seeing. That there is a vast, wide majority that DOES disapprove of this. And would be peaceful - if the extremists were not in charge.

I'm having a great deal of trouble believing that any more. There's been a few, a very few voices speaking out against the hatred of the West that seems to permeate Islam. There's been a couple of sites I've seen that didn't support the Islamic Jihad crap, but they're few and far between.

And then, last night, through the Little Green Footballs site, I found a reference to a site that had a thread that really changed how I look at the entire world of Islam.

The site is "www.ClearGuidance.Com", and the thread name is "How many of you know how to use a gun?"

And they're discussing snuff videos.

< -----------------

yeah, rushthroat is the most extreme clip i've ever seen... i've seen bad, but that was vicious...

and archery is recommended by the Prophet(sas), right? I think there's an hadeeth that says we should walk bettween targets or something...

i'm taking archery lesons starting this september.. my cegep offers the class. that'll be wicked fun.... (cegep is like pre-university.. in canada, it's two years you do after hight school)

--------------------

but i do agree, to be stong muscularly is much better.. i think on that TV show, the Recruiters, they had a clip of Abu Hamza from London speaking of needing to workout and learn martial arts.. i think the quote was..
"What's the point of shooting a loud bullet at him, when you can just walk up there.. and break dat kaafir in half!"

anyone knows what i'm talking about?

--------------------

Yea bro Rushthroat was hardcore.Probaly the most hardcore slashing i've seen in a jihad clip.

--------------------

Rushthroat was awesome. i love it when those freaks get killed. yea i think it says in surah taubah, that u kill some of the enemy, and capture some of the enemy. i'll post the ayah when i find it. inshallah

--------------------

And the next post is the Rushthroat snuff video.

I don't recommend you watch it. I wish I hadn't.

Here you have a site for Muslim teenagers. And they're watching snuff videos and crowing how they'd like to do that to Jews and other unbelievers. And they're from the US. And the UK. And Canada.

You tell me. Is this how a peaceful religion acts? Or is this an abberation?

J.

Update: They pulled the thread, and a lot of others, so the link to where they're discussing the snuff video doesn't work. And there's been some heavy sanitization of that site - a lot of threads are missing. Sorry, guys - we already saw it...

Actually, I'm not sorry. If you're stupid enough to put up what death and destruction you're dreaming about causing on the internet, don't be surprised if someone thinks it's what you actually intend.

Update 2: The site is now a member's only site, and they're carefully (apparently) screening those allowed to register. But the news is out there. It was on today's 'Best of the web', in fact, at http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/.

Now, one of the things that people forget about the internet is that what you create and put out is capable of being seen by EVERYONE, unless you limit who can see it. These ... people ... didn't limit things to begin with, until someone noticed what they were talking about and what they said they were and were going to do. One other thing - the Internet never forgets. I'd be willing to bet that their ISP is currently having requests made to turn over backups of that site, both pre and post sanitization. And especially, their thread on enemies of Islam, promoting assasination of Pres. Bush.

Peaceful religion? I don't think so any more.

J.


posted by Jerry at 8/07/2002 09:08:00 PM

 
Fighting in Iran

Getting news out of Iran is increasingly difficult. Not surprisingly, I have not heard from any of my more trusted correspondants in hours. The SMCCDI news page continues to provide brief updates, though.

I haven't been able to confirm any of their most recent reports, but they have generally proven to be a reliable source. That being said, they are reporting an increase in violence, with Iranian and...ahem..."foreign" security forces using deadly force in some instances to respond to demonstrators. Citing sources they themselves describe as "very reliable", they claim confirmation that many of the security forces in Tehran and Ef are communication with each other in Arabic.

It is still unclear what magnitude event we're looking at, whether the fighting is sporadic or widespread. Where's CNN? Where's BBC? Without video, it's hard to get a sense of things.

Some clashes are being described as traditional urban guerilla events, with staged ambushes leading security forces into blind alleys for dispatching. In other cases, the description is more of frantic security forces grabbing anyone they find still out in the streets and hauling them off.

The regime has withstood large public demonstrations of unrest in the past, so it is premature to think that this is the beginning of a revolution. At the same time, Iran has gone through around five regime changing revolutions in the last hundred or so years, and they generally do start just like this. It'd be a shame if the mainstream media missed a chance at putting the next one on live TV. If I were program director at a major news outlet, I'd put this on the screen pronto just on the off-chance at broadcasting live history.

A while back, I likened Iran to a powder keg. Sound's like the fuse is lit, and there will soon be an explosion in the ME.

If the Mullatocracy falls, it'll kick the props out from under Saudi Islamicism, and show the folks in Iraq that it's possible to rebel against an oppressive state. More interesting times ahead, I'm afraid...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/07/2002 09:15:00 AM

 
elgooG

Having trouble getting through to Google? Try this mirror site.

Have fun!

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/05/2002 09:21:00 AM

 
Newsweek: Bush Administration Quietly Planning for Possible War Against Iraq; Rebuilding Arsenals of Smart Weapons, Personnel in Mideast Assessing Need for Airstrips and Wider Roads ---- Dept. Of Energy Working to Get Petroleum Reserve Up to Capacity in Event of Shortfall

NEW YORK, Aug 04, 2002 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As the debate about a U.S. invasion of Iraq continues in Washington, President George W. Bush's administration is quietly getting ready for a fight, Newsweek reports in the current issue. U.S. munitions plants have put on extra shifts to rebuild arsenals depleted during the Afghan war, and a few hundred uniformed personnel are working as advance teams in Jordan and elsewhere, assessing the need for new airstrips, wider roads and the like, Newsweek reports. And even before Saddam Hussein became a priority target, the U.S. Department of Energy was working to get America's strategic petroleum reserve up to its full capacity of 700 million barrels -- enough to meet U.S. energy needs for more than 80 days in a crunch, report National Security Correspondent John Barry and Diplomatic Correspondent Roy Gutman in the August 12 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, August 5).

Guardian Unlimited Observer | Special reports | Focus: Amid the clouds of deception, US speeds along road to war

There have been other signs and indicators suggestive of the timing of a campaign against Iraq. Manufacturers of cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions in the US have been working overtime to replace the weapons expended in Afghanistan. The American military transport fleet of trucks has been ordered in for rapid servicing. In Chicago last week a freight train loaded with military trucks, painted for desert service, passed through the city. Most tellingly, discreet inquiries have already been made about the availability of tankers to transport the fuel required for war.

Elsewhere, US fighting vehicles in Kuwait have been taken out of the mothballs in which they were left at the end of the Gulf war, while planning cells have been discreetly established in the US, Britain and Germany.

Most curious of all is the apparent lack of activity where you would expect it most. The Pentagon car park, which during the last Gulf war was packed at weekends, is noticeably empty. Senior British officers, including key brigade commanders, are either on leave or about to take it. Cobra, the Downing Street emergency committee, which meets to preside in any war or major crisis, has not yet been staffed up.

The optimistic slant on this is that nothing much is happening. The alternative - as explained to The Observer - is that everyone has been told to take their holidays in August because they might not be able to go later in the year.

Biden: U.S. war with Iraq likely

Aug. 4 — The United States probably will go to war with Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman said Sunday, unsure of the timing but certain that force must be used to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But Sen. Joseph Biden stressed the need for involvement of other nations in any military action and subsequent rebuilding effort. And in comments earlier Sunday, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said he wanted Iraq to agree to the return of U.N. inspectors before he accepted an offer to visit the country for technical talks.

Want to know what I think?

October, probably the end of it.

Here's why.

The temperatures will be dropping, for one thing. The projections are that we won't be doing a massive build-up of personnel and equipment, so there won't be much delay getting people and equipment moved into place that there were in GW1. If they start moving people in September, by the end of October everything should be in place.

I know there's going to be a lot of diplomatic talk, I know a lot of folks will be going "We ought to talk, not fight! How dare we invade a soverign country!" Well, we dare deal with them the way we'd deal with a fire-ant nest. You don't ask the fire ants to be good little creatures and not sting horribly. You can't negotiate with them. We've tried talking with Saddam - the SOB lost GW1, but we didn't remove him from office. We should have. We didn't - and that counted as a 'win' in his eyes. We made the mistake of figuring our values would be his - that if he was beaten he'd accept it and try to make his country conform to our ideas of democracy. Instead, we gave him time to put the screws to his country further. We gave him time to rebuild his military, somewhat. We gave him time to develop WMD. We gave him time to prepare.

Now, we've got two choices. We can attack, or wait for him to attack. Waiting for an attack is nothing new for us - the entire Cold War was predicated on waiting for the USSR to strike. But there was a difference - we knew where the attack would be coming from, and we knew (pretty much) what the form was going to take. We could prepare for it, build up to a point where the USSR knew if they attacked THEY would be the ones devastated. We'd be hurt, but they'd be killed. And they didn't want that.

The terrorists in the ME (and I count Saddam as one) aren't worried about being killed, as long as their enemies die. And they'll use any means necessary to kill - even to the extent of hijacking our own airliners.

Symbolically, Iraq is one up on us. They fought us, we didn't wipe them out in GW1, therefore they won according to their way of thinking. We squished a few ants around the edge of the mound, but left most of it intact after telling them to be good little fire ants and not trouble their neighbors again.

This time, we're gonna use Amdro.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/04/2002 04:30:00 PM

 
BBC NEWS | Americas | NYC librarians reject 'prim' dress code

Librarians in the New York borough of Queens are protesting at a new dress code being enforced by local officials which they say is old-fashioned and sexist.

Librarians say they are being forced into a stereotype

As temperatures top 35 degrees Centigrade in New York, they have have been told they cannot come to work in short skirts, sandals or T-shirts.
Their union is now backing 900 librarians from Queens who have been demonstrating outside some of their borough libraries in protest at the new dress code.
They say they are being forced back into the old stereotypes of prim women with hair buns and bifocal glasses by the code, which insists that no nose rings, tattoos, mini skirts or slip-on sandals must be seen between the shelves and behind the front desk of the 63 borough libraries.

Oh, the sheer horror of not being allowed a nose-ring...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/04/2002 03:57:00 PM

 
DRUDGE REPORT 2002®

BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S LENGTHY REVIEW PROCESS DELAYED U.S. PLAN TO ATTACK AL QAEDA -- UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE

This... looks like a spin job of the first magnitude.

"In fact, despite strong suspicion that bin Laden was behind the attack in Yemen, the CIA and FBI had not officially concluded that he was, and would be unable to do so before Clinton left office. That made it politically impossible for Clinton to strike—especially given the upcoming election and his own lack of credibility on national security. "If we had done anything, say, two weeks before the election, we’d be accused of helping Al Gore," a former senior Clinton aide told TIME."

Let me rephrase this - Clinton fucked up his own reputation and credibility so badly in his tenure that ANYTHING he would have done would have been interpreted as ass-saving behavior - whether it was for the good of the country or not.

So it was better for him to sit on his ass, pray that Al Gore got elected, and then turn it over to him. When Bush got into office, do you think that the plan developed by a President with the reputation for integrity and honesty that Clinton had would be seriously considered for action? Without a complete and thourough review? And it's not like there were other things going on...

And then they damn themselves with their own words.

"On Dec. 20, 2000, Clarke presented a strategy paper to Berger and the other national security "principals." But Berger and the principals decided to shelve the plan and let the next administration take it up. With less than a month left in office, they did not think it appropriate to launch a major initiative against Osama bin Laden. "We would be handing [the Bush Administration] a war when they took office on Jan. 20," says a former senior Clinton aide. "That wasn’t going to happen." "If we hadn’t had a transition,"(as in Al Gore winning) says a senior Clinton Administration official, "probably in late October or early November 2000, we would have had [the plan to go on the offensive] as a presidential directive." Now it was up to Rice’s team to consider what Clarke had put together."

Pass the buck. Don't tarnish the legacy.

God, crap like this just pisses me off. (As if you couldn't tell.)

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/04/2002 12:01:00 PM

 
USS Clueless

Their leaders are (or were, since many are now dead) religious zealots. Their goal is to establish a world-wide Islamic republic, with everyone everywhere living according to the tenets of their faith. Their view of the world is the Islamic equivalent of millennialism; and in a sense they think of themselves as fighting a holy war.

The Q'uran tells them that God will fight on their side, and that Islam will eventually rule the entire world. It is both the inevitable destiny of Islam to rule the world, and the duty of all good Muslims to work to that end.

The problem is that Americans permit freedom of religion; Islam is tolerated and even celebrated here, along with many other religions. We certainly are making no important attempts to suppress it. But it doesn't seem to be dominating, and there's no sign that their attitudes are affecting us in any significant way. On the other hand, American ideas and attitudes are infiltrating their own societies and eating away at the foundation of Islamic practice. We offer things which are attractive to individuals, and they find them irresistible. Their young people want to wear blue-jeans. They want to listen to loud music. They like the idea of dating one another, just like young people do in the west. To reactionary Islamic zealots, it's not just that they don't seem to be spreading the faith, but that the faith is being eaten alive by a sinful attraction to our heathen ways. Islam is actually in retreat. It can't even be secure in its own nations, let alone try to take over ours.

The Q'uran also tells them that their nations should be powerful and important, and there was a time when it was true. The golden age of the Islamic empire was glorious. It also ended 600 years ago, and these days the reality is that the only reason that Saudi Arabia isn't a terribly impoverished third world nation is that it's sitting on reserves of oil. But among the Islamic nations, the only ones who have managed to succeed at anything other than selling natural resources have been those which have adopted western ways, western technology, western attitudes. The more devoutly Islamic a nation is, the more it seems to be a failure in all other ways. To be devout should mean being strong, but it seems to make them weak. It's almost as if the Q'uran was wrong – but the Q'uran cannot be wrong; it's the word of God.

So we (you and I) are a living, walking, talking heresy. We're not even trying to spread our culture to the Islamic nations; it just happens on its own because, quite frankly, they are not very fun places to live. Irrespective of whether a devout Islamic life might be good for the soul, it's boring and unpleasant for the body and mind. The people there prefer our lifestyle; they eagerly seek it out. We seem to have no interest at all in their culture, however, except as an intellectual curiosity. There's zero chance of American women adopting the abaya, for example.

Indeed, it's our women who are the worst problem of all. They insist on being equal to men, and most of our men like it that way. They drive cars. They walk alone in the city. They go where they want, and they wear whatever they feel like. They show immorally large amounts of skin (i.e. their elbows and knees) and walk around with their heads uncovered. Many of them live alone, and have jobs and careers. They bear arms; they serve in our military; and many of them are officers and give orders to men. This is unholy; God tells the Islamic extremist that women must be subservient to men at all times.

And the women of the Islamic world want the same, and it scares the men running al Qaeda. And it's important to note that they are all men. Our culture attracts their young, and it attracts their women of all age. It even attracts some of the older men.Islam is losing the war for the Arab mind.

The Captain has a VERY interesting pair of articles up today. Go. Read. Now. Thought-provoking to the max...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/03/2002 07:56:00 PM

 
Kung Fu Chess

Go ahead. You know you want to...


posted by Jerry at 8/03/2002 07:55:00 PM

 
Fat suits: Who’s to blame for flab?

“Obviously no one is saying the fast food industry is entirely responsible for the obesity epidemic, but they bear a significant piece of the blame,” Daynard said. “The idea is to find out really what conduct on their part has contributed to obesity, such as misrepresenting the healthiness of the foods they sell.”

Barber, who is 5-foot-10-inches and 272 pounds, said he started eating fast food over 30 years ago because it was cheap and he didn’t know how to cook. But, he said, he didn’t know it was bad for his health until his doctor told him so after he had two heart attacks.

“It was 100 percent beef and that to me said it was good,” Barber told MSNBC TV. “I never knew about the saturated fat, the sodium content, the sugar content, none of that.”

Ummm, the size 55 pants weren't a clue? 272 lbs at 5'10" is perhaps normal in his family? His doctor didn't counsel him about his weight after his FIRST heart attack?

I think he knew - but preferred not to think about it. As it is, I'm hoping the judge will toss the case out. There's no merit to it, unless he can prove that McD's was pureeing the Big Macs and funneling them down his throat.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/03/2002 02:22:00 PM

 
Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society

Practical Goals:

To create a network of secularists and freethinkers in Islamic countries.

To establish a women’s network to provide mutual support and to highlight the plight and the achievements of women in Islamic societies.

To report on recent research findings on the origins of Islam and the Koran.

To provide an alternative source of information and comment for the media on Islamic issues.

To publicise acts of terror and oppression.

To honor the memory and promote the work and thought of those martyred in the cause of freedom of expression.

To attract writers, academics, politicians and activists as members of the Institute and as contributors to the debate.

To establish a database of books, articles and news reports, an annotated bibliography of texts of interest, and a suggested reading list.

To seek funding for Institute activities, including the translation of important texts.

To publish a web-based newsletter: "Secular Islam."

Laudible ambitions. The question I've got, is it too late for these things? Will the Fundi's win in Islam, and trigger a global war in their quest for world domination?

Okay - you might think I'm being a bit overboard by calling what the Islamic fundamentalists want "World Domination" - but it's pretty clear they believe in imposing THEIR ideas about how the world should work on non-Islamic peoples, by force if necessary, and are not interested in peaceful co-existance.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/03/2002 01:04:00 PM

 
Global Mind Control Slated For Humanity By 2004

By Spring 2004, an invasive mind control technology known as a "Frequency Fence" is slated for implementation onto global society. This Frequency Fence is a bio-neurological, electromagnetic induced form of mind control which will block your higher sensory abilities. A literal "perceptual harness" or "mental prison" will be built around you without you even knowing it is happening, and the scariest part is, your five senses will not alert to you that anything is wrong.

All electrical power generating stations, and the appliances that draw power from them will be utilized as a carrier for this electromagnetic distortion. The human body has a natural immunity against such invasion, which the instigators of this technology will repress by introducing a certain organic, elemental compound into the world's water supply, and by transmitting specific wave spectrums of light directly into the human optical faculties. Technologies such as broadcast television, and the internet, will be utilized to transmit the specific wave spectrums of light.

It's gotta be true - I saw it on the Internet.

Further invasive programming will be subliminally carried through all radio broadcasts, and through the cellular and digital telephone network of towers worldwide. This will serve to enhance this bio-neurological invasion even further. After 6 years, this Frequency Fence will cause a genetic mutation to manifest in the collective human gene pool which will be passed down through pro-creation, thereby permanently scarring humanity.

There is no known technological defense against this invasion and there will be no place to hide. This technology will block your higher sensory abilities which will serve to limit your human potential. The blockage of human intuition or your "gut instinct" will be just one of many natural abilities which will be impeded. Another will be your ability to commune with your "Higher Self" or God, systematically cutting you off from your God Source. This is a system that is so insidious that even the elite will be deceived even though some components of this global mind control system are being created by that very elite Another aspect of this bio-neurological invasion will be the creation and implementation of "Holographic Inserts" by 2006. It involves a technology so advanced that three-dimensional reality can be artificially manufactured and inserted right over your present reality scene in a seamless fashion so you will be unable to determine where organic reality ends, and manipulated, artificial reality begins. This could be compared to the "holo-deck" on the popular television series, Star Trek - The Next Generation, only in this case it¹s not science fiction.

It's GOTTA be true. I saw it on the Internet!

The plot thickens, in that the instigators of this coming bio-neurological manipulation are counting on you to not even believe in their existence. They are depending on you to have a kind of mentality which suggests that what you can not see or perceive with your five senses does not exist, and therefore cannot affect you. If you do not know an enemy exists, you will not take measures to protect yourself from it. The reality of the situation is quite the opposite. These forces presently poised against you posses a level of technology which surpasses present earth science. Their bio-neurological invasion can definitely affect you and hinder your evolution as a species in more ways than you can presently comprehend, making them an absolute threat to your over all well being.

These covert sinister forces are "master geneticists" who are partially human, partially non-human, and extraterrestrial (ET). Some are genetic half breeds that appear fully human in appearance but in reality are human hybrids of ET origin. If your present belief system limits your ability to accept the possibility of beings from other worlds, simply replace ET with the term demon. Because in all right, what these beings intend to do is nothing less than demonic in the truest sense.

Through the "human elite" these ET Intruders dominate and control society through such organizations as the Illuminati, Council on Foreign Relations, and the United Nations, to name just a few. These negative factions are largely responsible for the present manipulations humanity is living under. This includes the present "police state" which has been accelerated to deal with the human resistance factor. It also includes most of the government and quasi-government agencies created in the 20th century.

IT'S GOTTA be... true? I saw it on the Internet... ummm....

What is really important now is understanding as much of the big picture that is possible. This way you can begin to protect yourself from the coming deceptions which are slated to begin in 2004. There is still time for you to intervene on your own behalf and literally make yourself immune to the coming Frequency Fence and Holographic Inserts. There is no known external technological defense, but there is a way that you can accelerate a natural process within your present genetic code so when the bio-neurological manipulations begin, they will not affect you. We posses the most powerful protective "weapon" of all the human mind/body/spirit organism. We simply need to learn how to use it properly.

The human DNA has a 12 strand potential. Most humans only have strands 1, 2 and 3 fully activated, and strand 4 partially assembled but not yet activated. In order to make yourself "invisible" to the coming bio-neurological invasion, you must have a minimum of 4 strands fully activated, and strand 5 at least half assembled. This will require a certain level of interpersonal development and acceleration on your part.

There are steps you can take to accelerate the growth of your DNA strands. If you have not already done so, work towards strengthening your personal relationship with God, or your "Higher Power." Refuse to accept victim consciousness, or ideologies which promote a sense of personal dis-empowerment. Work to develop your hidden potentials and higher abilities. Take time to examine your personal beliefs about reality. Realize that thoughts are things, literally. Negative thoughts help to generate negative realities. Rigid, dogmatic, fearful, closed-minded beliefs become literal electromagnetic blockages. Learn to think for yourself rather than give your power away to authority figures without question.

It's... gotta be true? I saw it on the Internet...

The human DNA has a 12 strand potential. Most humans only have strands 1, 2 and 3 fully activated, and strand 4 partially assembled but not yet activated. In order to make yourself "invisible" to the coming bio-neurological invasion, you must have a minimum of 4 strands fully activated, and strand 5 at least half assembled. This will require a certain level of interpersonal development and acceleration on your part.

Strengthen your mind and exercise your mental muscles. Begin using "mind technologies" that work to enhance mental and emotional development. Some helpful techniques are meditation, and the use of affirmations, visualizations, self-hypnosis, bio-feedback, and dream reprogramming. All of these activities will help you to strengthen your mind and help you to call your higher potentials into use.

Strengthen your body with exercise and/or yoga. A diet containing less chemical additives, red meats, caffeine, drugs, alcohol, salt, sugar and artificial sweeteners will help immensely. Also try to avoid irradiated and over processed foods. The body is also strengthened by conscious breathing and controlled breath exercises.

It's... Ah, hell. I'm goin' back to the Enquirer for my facts...

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/03/2002 01:00:00 PM

 
Sand in the Gears

Quote of the Week:

"The fact that the Pittsburgh plane was filled with normal Americans, businessmen with wives and kids – let’s face it: yuppies – and not with the political science department of a typically left-wing university is the difference between a White House that’s still standing and a smoldering ruin on Pennsylvania Avenue." (Rob Long)

From Sand in the Gears - a worthwhile blog.

And that quote from Rob Long has a good point. The multiculturalists haven't yet realized that the practioners of the fundamentalist strains of Islam (which they would argue as being as valid as, if not more so, than the others) not only would find their tolerance distateful to an extreme, but would be willing to kill the multiculturalists for perfectly valid and understandable religious reasons - like women going outside without a head covering and a male escort....

There is very little possibility of co-existance with people who would willingly destroy your country and everything it's built because it offends their religious scruples. There is no "Live and let live" concept embodied in Islam when it comes to folks and cultures who don't believe. They either convert, or they're killed. Pretty darn binary, I'd say.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/02/2002 11:39:00 PM

 
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Study: Yucca volcano would be destructive

Study: Yucca volcano would be destructive

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- A volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain could do more damage than previously thought, possibly forcing radioactive waste from its burial site to the surface, according to a new study.
If long-dormant volcanoes near the prospective high-level nuclear waste dump sprang back to life, molten rock moving at up to 600 mph could fill the repository deep beneath the Nevada desert within hours, said an article in the July issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.
Intense heat and pressure could cause some canisters of spent nuclear fuel that are to be buried at Yucca Mountain to rupture and allow radioactive material to flow toward the surface, the article said.
"It can potentially affect a large number of waste canisters," wrote a team of English, Dutch and American scientists that developed computer models to assess the risk of a volcanic eruption.
Seven dead volcanoes are within 27 miles but the last eruption was 80,000 years ago. Project scientists calculate that the chance of one occurring within the waste repository over the next 10,000 years is 1 in 70 million.

You'll notice that the AGU folks don't give any odds on whether a volcano will possibly erupt - they write as if it's happening now.

Makes me wonder how many editors picking up this story will convieniently leave off the 1 in 70 million chance of a volcano springing up RIGHT under Yucca Mountain.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/01/2002 11:33:00 PM

 
Individual Donations to a Politician

0 contributions from 8/25 to 9/10/2001. 24 on 9/11/2001. 0 on 9/12/2001 through 9/25.

And there's sure a lot of Arabic names listed as donors on that day. In fact... (let me recheck) they all were.

The politician in question? Cynthia McKinney, of course!

So the question should arise - what did she know, and when did she know it? Why were 24 contributions deposited on that day, all from outside Georgia, a lot of them from Nevada - when there was nothing coming in before 9/11, and there was nothing coming in AFTER until 9/26.

Thios looks suspicious. She ought to be investigated. She obviously knew something.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/01/2002 11:33:00 PM

 
PhotoDude's Web Log: Bombing Schools

Although there probably should be no distinction, yesterday's attack at Hebrew University seems an escalation in a couple of ways. "More than 80 people were hurt in the lunchtime blast, which tore through one of the few places in Jerusalem where Arabs and Israelis still lived peacefully together after nearly two years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Young Arabs and young Israeli's co-existing? We can't have that, it might spread as they grow up. Where there is a smidgen of hope for Israeli and Palestinian people living side-by-side, day-to-day, in peace, Hamas must blow it up.

And we're supposed to understand, and be sympathetic, and help them along the way to true civilization.

I'm sorry - but the only way the Palestinians are going to be able to civilize themselves is by expunging (with a bullet, if necessary) every member of every faction who believes that the only way to deal with Israel is by destroying it.

Israel would like peace. The PA wants to kill the Israeli people.

Middle East peace. It'll happen if each side sits down and talks - it won't happen if the explosions continue.

J.

posted by Jerry at 8/01/2002 10:52:00 PM