Monday, July 31, 2006
Optimistic Annie, part II
Needless to say, nobody is as dumb as Annie. Even liberals, with all their stupid assumptions about gun control, understand that criminals can acquire weapons by stealing or buying; you don't need to wait for them to build their own Smith and Wesson Company and design their own bullets.
So: Why is everybody, both conservative and liberal, waiting for Persia to develop its own nuclear weapons? Even if we grant the other nonsensical assumption that UN resolutions make any difference, why bother to make resolutions asking Tehran to stop its development process? Why don't we start with the perfectly obvious fact that Tehran can easily buy anything it wants from North Korea, China, and Russia?
Answer: Because starting from that obvious fact leads to the conclusion that we must destroy Iran. And we aren't willing to do the only thing that will actually save us from total destruction.
In this context we are just as dumb as poor Annie, but Tehran won't be as sensible as the gangster in this cartoon. ¶ 9:08 AM
Needless to say, nobody is as dumb as Annie. Even liberals, with all their stupid assumptions about gun control, understand that criminals can acquire weapons by stealing or buying; you don't need to wait for them to build their own Smith and Wesson Company and design their own bullets.
So: Why is everybody, both conservative and liberal, waiting for Persia to develop its own nuclear weapons? Even if we grant the other nonsensical assumption that UN resolutions make any difference, why bother to make resolutions asking Tehran to stop its development process? Why don't we start with the perfectly obvious fact that Tehran can easily buy anything it wants from North Korea, China, and Russia?
Answer: Because starting from that obvious fact leads to the conclusion that we must destroy Iran. And we aren't willing to do the only thing that will actually save us from total destruction.
In this context we are just as dumb as poor Annie, but Tehran won't be as sensible as the gangster in this cartoon. ¶ 9:08 AM
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Rewriting the record
Listening to MSNBC's coverage of the Seattle attack. The reporter quotes Haq as saying "I am an American, and I'm angry at Israel."
Welcome to the Memory Hole.
(For reference, what he actually said was "I am a Muslim-American, and I'm angry at Israel.")
¶ 9:20 AM
Welcome to the Memory Hole.
(For reference, what he actually said was "I am a Muslim-American, and I'm angry at Israel.")
¶ 9:20 AM
Acquired insanity
The profile of Naveed Haq is emerging. Sounds familiar, like Moussaoui and Taheri-Azar. Robert Spencer and Hugh Fitzgerald at Jihadwatch have analyzed the syndrome in a super-scholarly way with emphasis on the details of the Koran.
I'd look at it more broadly.
1. Utopian / Totalitarian belief systems (if they are effective) always use paranoia as a lock. This works because a well-formed paranoia can reject all doubts and opposition as clever plots by THEM. THEM, of course, is always and forever the Jews, with variations and additions to suit the purpose of the leader. (CFR, bankers, Masons, Illuminati, etc.) The Army of Allah skips those minor THEMs and adds all Christians to the base Jewish THEM.
2. This acquired paranoia looks like craziness to people who are not infected. In fact it is craziness, with one important difference. Congenital (Type I) paranoia is individual and rather creative, usually focusing on a Them with no real worldly existence. A congenital paranoid will follow his voices but will not follow an earthly leader, because his self-designed paranoia rejects all human leaders as part of THEM. An acquired (Type II) paranoid will follow a leader to the death, because his paranoia was designed BY the leader.
3. Our court system is completely unequipped to deal with acquired paranoia (leaving aside the broader problem that our court system is completely unequipped to deal with anything!) Psychiatrists are leftists; their official diagnostic criteria are determined more by academic fashion than by any understanding of human nature. Since the academic Left signed a treaty with the Army of Allah in 1968, we can count on psychiatrists to serve the enemy in this regard.
4. The only practical way to deal with an organized army of violent paranoids who march to a single voice is to skip the psychiatry entirely and concentrate on the basics. In other words, change one word in the definition. Treat them as an organized army of violent PEOPLE who march to a single voice. When we take that definition seriously, we will begin to handle them seriously. ¶ 8:01 AM
I'd look at it more broadly.
1. Utopian / Totalitarian belief systems (if they are effective) always use paranoia as a lock. This works because a well-formed paranoia can reject all doubts and opposition as clever plots by THEM. THEM, of course, is always and forever the Jews, with variations and additions to suit the purpose of the leader. (CFR, bankers, Masons, Illuminati, etc.) The Army of Allah skips those minor THEMs and adds all Christians to the base Jewish THEM.
2. This acquired paranoia looks like craziness to people who are not infected. In fact it is craziness, with one important difference. Congenital (Type I) paranoia is individual and rather creative, usually focusing on a Them with no real worldly existence. A congenital paranoid will follow his voices but will not follow an earthly leader, because his self-designed paranoia rejects all human leaders as part of THEM. An acquired (Type II) paranoid will follow a leader to the death, because his paranoia was designed BY the leader.
3. Our court system is completely unequipped to deal with acquired paranoia (leaving aside the broader problem that our court system is completely unequipped to deal with anything!) Psychiatrists are leftists; their official diagnostic criteria are determined more by academic fashion than by any understanding of human nature. Since the academic Left signed a treaty with the Army of Allah in 1968, we can count on psychiatrists to serve the enemy in this regard.
4. The only practical way to deal with an organized army of violent paranoids who march to a single voice is to skip the psychiatry entirely and concentrate on the basics. In other words, change one word in the definition. Treat them as an organized army of violent PEOPLE who march to a single voice. When we take that definition seriously, we will begin to handle them seriously. ¶ 8:01 AM
Friday, July 28, 2006
Observations on the Seattle attack
Polistra's new icon gains a certain poignancy, n'est pas?
It's painful to hear the police and media walking on eggs. "We want to emphasize that this man is not foreign-directed or part of any organized effort..." "Given the political element of what's happening in the Middle East...." "Security in the Jewish Federation was very tight, given the atmosphere of the post-9/11 era..."
Oh? So the Mohammedan religion is not organized? Not 'foreign-directed'? And it's not devoted to the elimination of all things Jewish? What's happening in the Middle East isn't part of a war? Just a little political 'atmosphere'? Local color?
Come on, folks. Let's talk straight. This is an act of war, a guided missile that reached Seattle, even if it doesn't have a fancy name like Taepodong or Katyusha. And the Second Ford Administration won't do a damn thing in response. Bet on it. Allah marches on, with zero opposition in this part of the world.
-----
Looks like this story is going to disappear down the Memory Hole.
Most of the people being interviewed on TV, even the Seattle Jews, are taking the attitude that it's a 'hate crime' directed at a 'form of worship', and it's 'really too bad that both Jews and Muslims have to raise the security at their places of worship'. Moral equivalence run rampant.
It's damn lucky for this Nawid guy, and especially for his family, that he chose to perform his explicit act of Jihad in America; if he had done the same thing in Israel, his family would already be toasted.
-----
I'd rather listen to the Psalmist, who understood these matters more accurately than our modern politicians and journalists:
They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'
For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a covenant.
¶ 6:50 PM
It's painful to hear the police and media walking on eggs. "We want to emphasize that this man is not foreign-directed or part of any organized effort..." "Given the political element of what's happening in the Middle East...." "Security in the Jewish Federation was very tight, given the atmosphere of the post-9/11 era..."
Oh? So the Mohammedan religion is not organized? Not 'foreign-directed'? And it's not devoted to the elimination of all things Jewish? What's happening in the Middle East isn't part of a war? Just a little political 'atmosphere'? Local color?
Come on, folks. Let's talk straight. This is an act of war, a guided missile that reached Seattle, even if it doesn't have a fancy name like Taepodong or Katyusha. And the Second Ford Administration won't do a damn thing in response. Bet on it. Allah marches on, with zero opposition in this part of the world.
-----
Looks like this story is going to disappear down the Memory Hole.
Most of the people being interviewed on TV, even the Seattle Jews, are taking the attitude that it's a 'hate crime' directed at a 'form of worship', and it's 'really too bad that both Jews and Muslims have to raise the security at their places of worship'. Moral equivalence run rampant.
It's damn lucky for this Nawid guy, and especially for his family, that he chose to perform his explicit act of Jihad in America; if he had done the same thing in Israel, his family would already be toasted.
-----
I'd rather listen to the Psalmist, who understood these matters more accurately than our modern politicians and journalists:
They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'
For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a covenant.
¶ 6:50 PM
BREAKING: Israel war comes here.
In Seattle, at least two people have been shot at the Jewish Federation building. Not many details yet.... Police are removing hostages.
One shooter in custody at this point. Police still alert for shots...
.... One reporter says that the Jewish Federation held a massive pep rally for Israel last weekend, which brought it to public attention. Before that time, this was apparently a rather obscure social-service outfit....
Appears that a shooter is still in the building.....
Three known injuries already at hospital, possibly two more yet to arrive...
5PM: Police are widening the cordon, moving in busloads of interagency SWAT teams, so the one in custody was definitely not the only shooter.
5:04PM: Apparently something is resolved... police are lowering their weapons and bringing more people out of the building. Four known injured so far.
5:10: One confirmed dead, four injured.
5:14: Police say 5 to 6 injured, all gunshot wounds. The shooter actually called police during the shooting and said he had hostages. Suspect has identified himself, but police aren't giving his name yet. At this point all released, no other shooters.
5:20: According to one reporter, tactical team and fire trucks are preparing to do a bomb sweep. Nearby buildings are being closed off, residents told to stay inside.
5:28: The suspect is of Pakistani origin. Surprise, surprise. He does have a criminal history; he lives in the Tri-Cities area (Pasco, Richland, Kennewick).
Police are heading for that area to talk with his relatives, mainly trying to locate accomplices.
5:38: More action. Tac squad moving in, a 'negotiator' is crossing the lines. Unclear what if anything this means.... Maybe checking suspect's vehicle in a parking garage.
5:48: Seattle Times reports that the man got through security, said "I'm a Muslim-American, and I'm angry at Israel", then started shooting.
News conference: FBI man says "We believe at this point that this is just a lone individual acting out some kind of hostility toward this organization." Yes, of course. Just a lone gunman, whose motives are totally mysterious. Mmmm-hmmmm.
6:15: The scene appears to be quiet; no bombs, no other shooters. Seattle police had issued a warning just yesterday to all Jewish organizations and synagogues, but aren't saying whether this was connected to some specific indication or just one of those general things.
Three of the five injured are in critical condition.
KING-5 says suspect's name may be Nabid? Wouldn't Nabil be more likely? ¶ 4:31 PM
One shooter in custody at this point. Police still alert for shots...
.... One reporter says that the Jewish Federation held a massive pep rally for Israel last weekend, which brought it to public attention. Before that time, this was apparently a rather obscure social-service outfit....
Appears that a shooter is still in the building.....
Three known injuries already at hospital, possibly two more yet to arrive...
5PM: Police are widening the cordon, moving in busloads of interagency SWAT teams, so the one in custody was definitely not the only shooter.
5:04PM: Apparently something is resolved... police are lowering their weapons and bringing more people out of the building. Four known injured so far.
5:10: One confirmed dead, four injured.
5:14: Police say 5 to 6 injured, all gunshot wounds. The shooter actually called police during the shooting and said he had hostages. Suspect has identified himself, but police aren't giving his name yet. At this point all released, no other shooters.
5:20: According to one reporter, tactical team and fire trucks are preparing to do a bomb sweep. Nearby buildings are being closed off, residents told to stay inside.
5:28: The suspect is of Pakistani origin. Surprise, surprise. He does have a criminal history; he lives in the Tri-Cities area (Pasco, Richland, Kennewick).
Police are heading for that area to talk with his relatives, mainly trying to locate accomplices.
5:38: More action. Tac squad moving in, a 'negotiator' is crossing the lines. Unclear what if anything this means.... Maybe checking suspect's vehicle in a parking garage.
5:48: Seattle Times reports that the man got through security, said "I'm a Muslim-American, and I'm angry at Israel", then started shooting.
News conference: FBI man says "We believe at this point that this is just a lone individual acting out some kind of hostility toward this organization." Yes, of course. Just a lone gunman, whose motives are totally mysterious. Mmmm-hmmmm.
6:15: The scene appears to be quiet; no bombs, no other shooters. Seattle police had issued a warning just yesterday to all Jewish organizations and synagogues, but aren't saying whether this was connected to some specific indication or just one of those general things.
Three of the five injured are in critical condition.
KING-5 says suspect's name may be Nabid? Wouldn't Nabil be more likely? ¶ 4:31 PM
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Signs and portents?
News item, via TROP.com: An old Latin psalm book has been unearthed in a peat bog in Ireland. It was open to Psalm 83.
Here's 83 in the JPS version:
For, lo, Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head.
They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones.
They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'
For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a covenant;
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also is joined with them; they have been an arm to the children of Lot.
Do Thou unto them as unto Midian; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook Kishon;
Who were destroyed at En-dor; they became as dung for the earth.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and like Zebah and Zalmunna all their princes;
Who said: 'Let us take to ourselves in possession the habitations of God.'
O my God, make them like the whirling dust; as stubble before the wind.
As the fire that burneth the forest, and as the flame that setteth the mountains ablaze;
So pursue them with Thy tempest, and affright them with Thy storm.
Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy name, O LORD.
Let them be ashamed and affrighted for ever; yea, let them be abashed and perish;
That they may know that it is Thou alone whose name is the LORD, the Most High over all the earth.
----- ¶ 8:06 PM
Here's 83 in the JPS version:
For, lo, Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head.
They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones.
They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'
For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a covenant;
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites;
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also is joined with them; they have been an arm to the children of Lot.
Do Thou unto them as unto Midian; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook Kishon;
Who were destroyed at En-dor; they became as dung for the earth.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and like Zebah and Zalmunna all their princes;
Who said: 'Let us take to ourselves in possession the habitations of God.'
O my God, make them like the whirling dust; as stubble before the wind.
As the fire that burneth the forest, and as the flame that setteth the mountains ablaze;
So pursue them with Thy tempest, and affright them with Thy storm.
Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy name, O LORD.
Let them be ashamed and affrighted for ever; yea, let them be abashed and perish;
That they may know that it is Thou alone whose name is the LORD, the Most High over all the earth.
----- ¶ 8:06 PM
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Switched icon
Polistra decided that fishing wasn't fully appropriate at this crucial point in history; something a bit more active is called for. The new image above is self-explanatory, I think...
¶ 8:34 PM
Israel as litmus, part II
The sorting-out continues. Now the Sixteenth Mahdi, Imam Benedict, has been joined in his Goddamned pro-Mohammed collaboration by the usual post-Christian commies, in demanding that Israel must INSTANTLY STOP DEFENDING CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY.
Churches for Middle East Peace is an umbrella group whose board members include representatives from the Alliance of Baptists, the American Friends Service Committee, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes, the Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Assocation and the United Church of Christ.
Earlier, U.S. Catholic bishops made a similar argument.
It's nice to see that the Vichy forces are so open and explicit in their hatred of Jews and Christians. Makes it easier to know who's part of the enemy when the real sorting-out begins. (Must admit the 'Conference of Major Superiors' doesn't quite belong on the same level with those others, though!)
In the media, CNN has abandoned all pretense of neutrality and joined Allah with zest and relish. Paula Zahn is especially obnoxious. You can hear the orgasmic vibratory thrill in her voice as she repeats, over and over and over, the prurient details of Israel's 'deliberate' targeting of UN observers. You can hear the eternal drumbeat of the eternal Left. You can hear the ululating war whoop of the utopian tyrant, the same now as a thousand years ago:
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, you filthy Kikes!
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, you filthy Kikes!
Yes, it's nice to see the sides showing their colors.
On the positive side, the post-Rather CBS seems to be moving toward the West. Even during Dan's reign, CBS's coverage of hot wars was relatively even-handed, but today's CBS actually sounds a lot like the WW2 version of CBS, which is definitely a good thing.
-----
Update: The Rome conference that the post-Christians were 'praying' for has ended without answering their 'prayers'.
My prayer is simple: Thank heaven for Condi Rice, and thank heaven that the Second Ford Administration has decided to hold adamantly firm on this subject. ¶ 9:02 AM
Churches for Middle East Peace is an umbrella group whose board members include representatives from the Alliance of Baptists, the American Friends Service Committee, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes, the Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Assocation and the United Church of Christ.
Earlier, U.S. Catholic bishops made a similar argument.
It's nice to see that the Vichy forces are so open and explicit in their hatred of Jews and Christians. Makes it easier to know who's part of the enemy when the real sorting-out begins. (Must admit the 'Conference of Major Superiors' doesn't quite belong on the same level with those others, though!)
In the media, CNN has abandoned all pretense of neutrality and joined Allah with zest and relish. Paula Zahn is especially obnoxious. You can hear the orgasmic vibratory thrill in her voice as she repeats, over and over and over, the prurient details of Israel's 'deliberate' targeting of UN observers. You can hear the eternal drumbeat of the eternal Left. You can hear the ululating war whoop of the utopian tyrant, the same now as a thousand years ago:
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, you filthy Kikes!
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, you filthy Kikes!
Yes, it's nice to see the sides showing their colors.
On the positive side, the post-Rather CBS seems to be moving toward the West. Even during Dan's reign, CBS's coverage of hot wars was relatively even-handed, but today's CBS actually sounds a lot like the WW2 version of CBS, which is definitely a good thing.
-----
Update: The Rome conference that the post-Christians were 'praying' for has ended without answering their 'prayers'.
My prayer is simple: Thank heaven for Condi Rice, and thank heaven that the Second Ford Administration has decided to hold adamantly firm on this subject. ¶ 9:02 AM
State Supremes rule with the people!
The Washington State Supreme Court has upheld the will of the people! A couple of years ago, the people strongly passed a ban on 'gay' 'marriage' by referendum. Two layers of state judges tried to revoke the ban, but yesterday the state Supremes ruled against the judges and for the people. The ban stands.
Good news, but not highly surprising.... these Supremes are constantly sensible and logical, even if not always 'conservative' in the usual sense. (I've mentioned this phenomenon here several times before.) Needless to say, the judges are elected, not appointed.
One of these Supremes, Richard Sanders, is SO good that he really should be considered for the national Supremes.
Incidentally, why don't we habitually comb the state courts for federal judges? We habitually look for presidents among the governors; should be the same logic.
Full story here. ¶ 8:37 AM
Good news, but not highly surprising.... these Supremes are constantly sensible and logical, even if not always 'conservative' in the usual sense. (I've mentioned this phenomenon here several times before.) Needless to say, the judges are elected, not appointed.
One of these Supremes, Richard Sanders, is SO good that he really should be considered for the national Supremes.
Incidentally, why don't we habitually comb the state courts for federal judges? We habitually look for presidents among the governors; should be the same logic.
Full story here. ¶ 8:37 AM
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Disproportionate
We're hearing, especially from Osama's Pope and his minions, the constant repetition of "disproportionate force."
Look, this isn't difficult.
If you want to type the letter 'p' on a computer, disproportionate force is an amount of force that doesn't quite depress the key. Proportionate force is enough force to make a 'p' appear on the screen.
If you want to move a piano, disproportionate force is an amount of force that doesn't move the piano. Proportionate force is enough force to put the piano where you want it.
By this ordinary definition, Israel is in fact using disproportionate force, because it hasn't yet eliminated Hezbollah. We'll know the force is proportionate when Hezbollah no longer exists as a military threat, even if that requires destroying half of Lebanon. ¶ 8:23 AM
Look, this isn't difficult.
If you want to type the letter 'p' on a computer, disproportionate force is an amount of force that doesn't quite depress the key. Proportionate force is enough force to make a 'p' appear on the screen.
If you want to move a piano, disproportionate force is an amount of force that doesn't move the piano. Proportionate force is enough force to put the piano where you want it.
By this ordinary definition, Israel is in fact using disproportionate force, because it hasn't yet eliminated Hezbollah. We'll know the force is proportionate when Hezbollah no longer exists as a military threat, even if that requires destroying half of Lebanon. ¶ 8:23 AM
Friday, July 21, 2006
Turnaround?
I'm noticing something new in just the last two days: Parts of the main media are starting to take our side. Shep Smith at Fox, who has previously done the 'neutral journalist' routine, is clearly and openly rooting for Israel.
Just now on NBC someone is interviewing Tony Snow, asking the Democracy Question which the blogworld has been asking for six months: Is it really democracy that produces civilization, or is it vice versa? Snow's answer is highly unsatisfying and meaningless. Must be frustrating to defend the idiotic Bush / Wilson Theory, because I know he understands the reality.
Up till now, NBC, like the rest of the leftover media, asked only questions that amount to "Why haven't you surrendered yet?"
The democracy question has the opposite goal. It asks in essence "Why can't you define the enemy and the war accurately, so we can stand a chance of winning?"
If this trend continues, we may finally stand a chance of winning it; especially if the question penetrates to the decision-making part of the Second Ford Administration (assuming for the sake of argument that such a part exists.)
-----
Also, I wonder why the war in Israel is such a powerful wake-up alarm for the sense that we are actually in a war? I've noticed it in myself as well, and can't quite figure it out. On 9/11 I knew we were in a war, but I didn't have this sense of imminent apocalypse.
The sense began in May, and led to this piece, which is as near to actual art and actual prose as I'll ever get.
It may be a matter of experience. On 9/11 I was convinced we would respond in a firm and belligerent way (like poor optimistic Annie below!) but after several years of witnessing the Second Ford Administration fumbling and bumbling along, making a few right moves seemingly by accident and then undoing the right moves by poor followup, totally failing to understand or communicate the purpose and goal of the war, etc, etc, etc, .... And especially after Katrina exposed the total incompetence of this bunch, I no longer have any confidence in our ability to respond. Israel is finally doing it right: good purpose, good intelligence, excellent fighting, excellent communication and morale-building .... which only serves to highlight and contrast our own absolute mess. ¶ 7:24 AM
Just now on NBC someone is interviewing Tony Snow, asking the Democracy Question which the blogworld has been asking for six months: Is it really democracy that produces civilization, or is it vice versa? Snow's answer is highly unsatisfying and meaningless. Must be frustrating to defend the idiotic Bush / Wilson Theory, because I know he understands the reality.
Up till now, NBC, like the rest of the leftover media, asked only questions that amount to "Why haven't you surrendered yet?"
The democracy question has the opposite goal. It asks in essence "Why can't you define the enemy and the war accurately, so we can stand a chance of winning?"
If this trend continues, we may finally stand a chance of winning it; especially if the question penetrates to the decision-making part of the Second Ford Administration (assuming for the sake of argument that such a part exists.)
-----
Also, I wonder why the war in Israel is such a powerful wake-up alarm for the sense that we are actually in a war? I've noticed it in myself as well, and can't quite figure it out. On 9/11 I knew we were in a war, but I didn't have this sense of imminent apocalypse.
The sense began in May, and led to this piece, which is as near to actual art and actual prose as I'll ever get.
It may be a matter of experience. On 9/11 I was convinced we would respond in a firm and belligerent way (like poor optimistic Annie below!) but after several years of witnessing the Second Ford Administration fumbling and bumbling along, making a few right moves seemingly by accident and then undoing the right moves by poor followup, totally failing to understand or communicate the purpose and goal of the war, etc, etc, etc, .... And especially after Katrina exposed the total incompetence of this bunch, I no longer have any confidence in our ability to respond. Israel is finally doing it right: good purpose, good intelligence, excellent fighting, excellent communication and morale-building .... which only serves to highlight and contrast our own absolute mess. ¶ 7:24 AM
Thursday, July 20, 2006
More from Imam al-Benedict XVI
The Pope's statement listed specific petitions to be raised during the day of prayer and penance:
for an immediate ceasefire,
for the opening of humanitarian corridors allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid,
for reasonable and responsible negotiations to begin to put an end to objective situations of injustice that exist in that region.
Source here.
-----
Sorry, Mullah Benny, if you can't tell the difference between civilized and uncivilized people, and if you can't even grasp the concept of "unprovoked attack", you aren't qualified to make moral rules for your own Goddamned self let alone for 1/6 of the world's population.
The phrase 'objective situations of injustice' seems to be his favorite; it sounds Marxist to me, and reminds me of the way we pompous pseudo-intellectual hippies used to talk at SDS meetings back in '69. Mullah XVI may mean something different by it, but I'd bet $100 that "injustice" is shorthand for "continued existence of Jews." ¶ 1:37 PM
for an immediate ceasefire,
for the opening of humanitarian corridors allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid,
for reasonable and responsible negotiations to begin to put an end to objective situations of injustice that exist in that region.
Source here.
-----
Sorry, Mullah Benny, if you can't tell the difference between civilized and uncivilized people, and if you can't even grasp the concept of "unprovoked attack", you aren't qualified to make moral rules for your own Goddamned self let alone for 1/6 of the world's population.
The phrase 'objective situations of injustice' seems to be his favorite; it sounds Marxist to me, and reminds me of the way we pompous pseudo-intellectual hippies used to talk at SDS meetings back in '69. Mullah XVI may mean something different by it, but I'd bet $100 that "injustice" is shorthand for "continued existence of Jews." ¶ 1:37 PM
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Optimistic Annie part I
-----
With huge apologies to the ghost of Harold Gray, and not just for my atrocious art. Orphan Annie has a solid reputation as a simple-minded and naive strip, and the version I remember reading in the '60s (probably after Gray died) certainly verified that reputation. So I based this parody on the standard stereotype.
But when I googled some of the original strips to check on Polistra's costume, I found that Gray's own writing back in the '40s was astonishingly sharp, subtle, literate and (in today's terminology) libertarian. Something like South Park edited by Bill Buckley. If this surprises you as much as it did me, check out these two online examples! We need a comic strip like the original Annie, and we need it badly! ¶ 11:27 PM
-----
With huge apologies to the ghost of Harold Gray, and not just for my atrocious art. Orphan Annie has a solid reputation as a simple-minded and naive strip, and the version I remember reading in the '60s (probably after Gray died) certainly verified that reputation. So I based this parody on the standard stereotype.
But when I googled some of the original strips to check on Polistra's costume, I found that Gray's own writing back in the '40s was astonishingly sharp, subtle, literate and (in today's terminology) libertarian. Something like South Park edited by Bill Buckley. If this surprises you as much as it did me, check out these two online examples! We need a comic strip like the original Annie, and we need it badly! ¶ 11:27 PM
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Your sharp-eyed border guards at work!
A man jailed in northern Idaho is accused of posing as a federal agent. Federal court records say the 55-year-old man asked agents at the Eastport border crossing (on July 9) if he could store his gun there while he went on vacation in Canada. He showed credentials indicating he was with the "United States Special Response Department Anti-Terrorism Unit."
After he left, agents checked and found no such unit.
When the man returned last week to the port of entry and asked for his gun back he was arrested and jailed in Bonner County.
Story here.
Hmm. Wonder if my old Space Cadet Decoder Ring will work as well? ¶ 8:43 PM
After he left, agents checked and found no such unit.
When the man returned last week to the port of entry and asked for his gun back he was arrested and jailed in Bonner County.
Story here.
Hmm. Wonder if my old Space Cadet Decoder Ring will work as well? ¶ 8:43 PM
Hezbolleen? Hezbollene? Hezbollahin!
In a statement this morning, Bush referred a couple of times to "the Hezbolleen attacks". He also used Hezbollah to refer to the terrorist group itself, so I didn't know if he was just being dyslexic, or using an Arabic plural form for the people who follow the group.
Turns out it was the latter, and I suspect he's sending a rather subtle signal.
Here's a precise linguistic discussion of the word, from a year-old post on FaithFreedom.org, linked here via Google cache.
"Hizb" is Arabic for "party", "Hizbu" is its nominative case (in Classical Arabic) when followed by a word beginning with a consonant. In compounds after vowels, "Allah" becomes "-llah". So, "Hizbu-llah" means "party of Allah" (nominative case). Remove the hyphen and you get "Hizbullah". Shift the pronunciations of "i" and "u" the way Persians and many Arabs do and you get "Hezbollah". Furthermore, an Iranian organization of thugs calls itself "Ansar-e Hezbollah" (Supporters or Partisans of the Party of God) and Iranians generally refer to regime supporters (now pejoratively) as "hezbollahi" (pluaral "hezbollahin").
So it looks like Bush is giving a little signal to the anti-mullah Persians. I like it! ¶ 8:07 PM
Turns out it was the latter, and I suspect he's sending a rather subtle signal.
Here's a precise linguistic discussion of the word, from a year-old post on FaithFreedom.org, linked here via Google cache.
"Hizb" is Arabic for "party", "Hizbu" is its nominative case (in Classical Arabic) when followed by a word beginning with a consonant. In compounds after vowels, "Allah" becomes "-llah". So, "Hizbu-llah" means "party of Allah" (nominative case). Remove the hyphen and you get "Hizbullah". Shift the pronunciations of "i" and "u" the way Persians and many Arabs do and you get "Hezbollah". Furthermore, an Iranian organization of thugs calls itself "Ansar-e Hezbollah" (Supporters or Partisans of the Party of God) and Iranians generally refer to regime supporters (now pejoratively) as "hezbollahi" (pluaral "hezbollahin").
So it looks like Bush is giving a little signal to the anti-mullah Persians. I like it! ¶ 8:07 PM
Monday, July 17, 2006
What's wrong with this picture?
Twice a month or so, I have a superficial conversation with an older lady, whenever we happen to coincide at the Safeway bus stop. Previously we just discussed the weather, the bus service, and other easy topics.
Today she very hesitantly opened the subject of the war; when she found that I was pro-Israel, she seemed relieved, and we proceeded to hold a miniature pep rally for Israel against the Arabs. Her attitude is:
"Those poor Israelis just want to have a normal life, and they've had to take constant harrassment from those Arabs. I say hit back, and hit 'em hard!"
She said that she was afraid to speak out on this side, because most of the people she talks with are anti-Israel. Now I know Spokane has this reputation for being a center of skinheads and Aryans and such; that stereotype is just as misplaced as the idea that Spokane is rainy and foggy like Seattle. Even if Aryans were common here, I seriously doubt that this lady would encounter them in her daily routine. She's a retired teacher, so I'd guess most of her associates are Democrats.
What's wrong with this picture? An older lady has to be afraid to speak out in favor of our own side? ¶ 3:21 PM
Today she very hesitantly opened the subject of the war; when she found that I was pro-Israel, she seemed relieved, and we proceeded to hold a miniature pep rally for Israel against the Arabs. Her attitude is:
"Those poor Israelis just want to have a normal life, and they've had to take constant harrassment from those Arabs. I say hit back, and hit 'em hard!"
She said that she was afraid to speak out on this side, because most of the people she talks with are anti-Israel. Now I know Spokane has this reputation for being a center of skinheads and Aryans and such; that stereotype is just as misplaced as the idea that Spokane is rainy and foggy like Seattle. Even if Aryans were common here, I seriously doubt that this lady would encounter them in her daily routine. She's a retired teacher, so I'd guess most of her associates are Democrats.
What's wrong with this picture? An older lady has to be afraid to speak out in favor of our own side? ¶ 3:21 PM
Jeremiah 31:15
Olmert quoted this verse, but the simultaneous translator was naturally clumsy. Here's the JPS version, which generally has the best combination of accuracy and good prose:
Thus saith the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.
Thus saith the LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
And there is hope for thy future, saith the LORD; and thy children shall return to their own border.
¶ 9:40 AM
Olmert quoted this verse, but the simultaneous translator was naturally clumsy. Here's the JPS version, which generally has the best combination of accuracy and good prose:
Thus saith the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.
Thus saith the LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
And there is hope for thy future, saith the LORD; and thy children shall return to their own border.
¶ 9:40 AM
More pro-UN idiocy
Today's talking point for the Dems is "We need to get some UN peacekeepers in there." You idiots, the UN troops have been in that zone for many years.
According to this Wiki, there are 2000 blue helmets currently stationed in southern Lebanon.
According to John Loftus, Hezbollah has taken advantage of the blue boys, placing its own fortifications so that Israel would have to kill many of the blues in order to attack the Hezbollah position.
So the UN troops are already there, and they have in effect helped the enemy.
Surprise, surprise.
In a deeper and more general sense, the presence of UN troops always encourages a 'cycle of violence', because the aggressor knows that the UN folks will prevent the defender from squashing it like a bug. So the aggressor can keep up a certain level of trouble without ever being properly punished or defeated.
Can we spell 'moral hazard'? ¶ 8:32 AM
According to this Wiki, there are 2000 blue helmets currently stationed in southern Lebanon.
According to John Loftus, Hezbollah has taken advantage of the blue boys, placing its own fortifications so that Israel would have to kill many of the blues in order to attack the Hezbollah position.
So the UN troops are already there, and they have in effect helped the enemy.
Surprise, surprise.
In a deeper and more general sense, the presence of UN troops always encourages a 'cycle of violence', because the aggressor knows that the UN folks will prevent the defender from squashing it like a bug. So the aggressor can keep up a certain level of trouble without ever being properly punished or defeated.
Can we spell 'moral hazard'? ¶ 8:32 AM
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Must read
And speaking of Jed Babbin, his latest Spectator piece is decisive, definitive, and dispositive.
Babbin has written a credo for winning this war, a credo that the Second Ford Administration totally fails to understand.
... history from Carthage to Vietnam teaches that if we fail to prosecute a war in a manner calculated to win it decisively, we will lose it inevitably.
We believe that terrorism cannot threaten us significantly without the support of nations, and that those nations that are preeminent in their support for terrorists -- Iran and Syria -- must be forcibly disconnected from terrorism.
We believe that waiting for Islam to reform itself is tantamount to accepting defeat and that radical Islam (an ideology, not a religion) must be defeated just as Soviet Communism and German Nazism were.
We believe that our military's job is not to build nations but to defeat those that threaten America. Once they have done so, their job is finished and whatever the people of a nation do thereafter is their business, not ours, unless they choose to threaten America or its allies again.
We assert that requiring democracy in Iraq before defeating the Syrian and Iranian regime enables the enemy to control the pace and direction of the war.
And we believe that peace isn't about "processes." It's about winners and losers. Until you have each belligerent in one category or the other, the war isn't over.
-----
Please, o gods of politics and power, if you exist, we need to replace our Chamberlain with a Churchill. NOW. TODAY. Not 2008.
Who is our Churchill? Ideally, Babbin himself. Within the realms of practical politics, Peter King seems like the closest candidate. ¶ 10:57 PM
Babbin has written a credo for winning this war, a credo that the Second Ford Administration totally fails to understand.
... history from Carthage to Vietnam teaches that if we fail to prosecute a war in a manner calculated to win it decisively, we will lose it inevitably.
We believe that terrorism cannot threaten us significantly without the support of nations, and that those nations that are preeminent in their support for terrorists -- Iran and Syria -- must be forcibly disconnected from terrorism.
We believe that waiting for Islam to reform itself is tantamount to accepting defeat and that radical Islam (an ideology, not a religion) must be defeated just as Soviet Communism and German Nazism were.
We believe that our military's job is not to build nations but to defeat those that threaten America. Once they have done so, their job is finished and whatever the people of a nation do thereafter is their business, not ours, unless they choose to threaten America or its allies again.
We assert that requiring democracy in Iraq before defeating the Syrian and Iranian regime enables the enemy to control the pace and direction of the war.
And we believe that peace isn't about "processes." It's about winners and losers. Until you have each belligerent in one category or the other, the war isn't over.
-----
Please, o gods of politics and power, if you exist, we need to replace our Chamberlain with a Churchill. NOW. TODAY. Not 2008.
Who is our Churchill? Ideally, Babbin himself. Within the realms of practical politics, Peter King seems like the closest candidate. ¶ 10:57 PM
WW3 or WW4?
There's some discussion today about whether the current war should be 3 or 4. I've been calling it 4, following (I think) Jed Babbin. Describing things accurately is important --- not as important as doing the right thing, but an apt description can help to shape your thinking toward doing the right thing!
One good reason to call it 4 is the sequence of linkages; starting with WW1, each war set up the conditions for the next.
WW1 belongs at the start of this sequence, because it was not caused by any one thing; even the scholars can't really agree on what it was about, except for a general air of 'frogginess' in Europe.
The Armistice of 1919, along with Wilson's economic privations aimed at Germany, set up the conditions for WW2.
After Germany was defeated again, the Potsdam and Yalta agreements, transferring the most ruined parts of Europe from Hitler's tyranny to Stalin's tyranny, set up the conditions for WW3.
To bring down the Soviets in WW3, Reagan used a combination of economic and military pressure which relied on the Saudis and various Mohammedan groups in Afghanistan.
After Russia was defeated, those Arab and Mohammedan alliances set up the conditions for WW4.
If we describe the current one as WW3, we will 'short-circuit' both the heroic strategies of Reagan and Thatcher and the unavoidable consequences of the tactics used to implement those strategies. ¶ 10:09 PM
One good reason to call it 4 is the sequence of linkages; starting with WW1, each war set up the conditions for the next.
WW1 belongs at the start of this sequence, because it was not caused by any one thing; even the scholars can't really agree on what it was about, except for a general air of 'frogginess' in Europe.
The Armistice of 1919, along with Wilson's economic privations aimed at Germany, set up the conditions for WW2.
After Germany was defeated again, the Potsdam and Yalta agreements, transferring the most ruined parts of Europe from Hitler's tyranny to Stalin's tyranny, set up the conditions for WW3.
To bring down the Soviets in WW3, Reagan used a combination of economic and military pressure which relied on the Saudis and various Mohammedan groups in Afghanistan.
After Russia was defeated, those Arab and Mohammedan alliances set up the conditions for WW4.
If we describe the current one as WW3, we will 'short-circuit' both the heroic strategies of Reagan and Thatcher and the unavoidable consequences of the tactics used to implement those strategies. ¶ 10:09 PM
Credit where credit is due
In the midst of all this moral equivalence, the Bush Administration appears to be [finally!] doing the right thing in giving nearly whole-hearted support to Israel. Of course I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but a pair of reliable compass points indicate it must be about right: Bibi Netanyahu likes what the Admin is doing, and Embedded General Bevilacqua hates it.
¶ 2:07 PM
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Ubi stas, o Benedicte?
Pope Pius XII has been maligned by academics for supposedly collaborating with the Nazis. In fact he did the opposite, which was recognized at the time, and has been re-recognized in several recent books like this one.
Pius's anti-fascist activities had to be fairly quiet because of two constraints:
(1) The German and Italian armies included many Catholics, and Pius, as the head pastor of all Catholics, couldn't publicly disown those large factions of his 'parishioners'.
(2) Vatican City, though technically independent, actually depends on Italy for its survival.
So his concrete actions weren't loud enough to become part of conventional wisdom, which left his lack of public pronouncements open to intentional misinterpretation by the anti-Christian academy.
The battle lines of our current war are far less confusing, and Benedict XVI has no such constraints.
This is an openly religious war.
The Sons of Allah want all Christians and Jews dead or enslaved, and there are no Christians or Jews in the armies on that side.
Though they haven't explicitly killed large numbers of Jews or Catholics in recent times (except as part of the indiscriminate slaughter of 9/11 and other suicide attacks) they have intentionally killed plenty of Orthodox [Chaldean, Assyrian, Antiochan, Coptic] Christians.
Moreover, the main players on the Mohammedan side (Baathist party in Iraq and Syria, the mullahs of Iran, the leaders of Palestine) are direct 'apostolic successors' of Hitler. Nicely summarized here.
So the enemy is the age-old conqueror of Christian lands, seeking total Caliphate as always, reinforced and assisted this time by 20th-century totalitarian methods.
Benedict remembers Nazism personally, and some have accused him of being (at least passively) part of Hitler's forces in his youth.
Throw all these factors into the hopper, and you get plenty of motivation - both positive and aversive - for a dramatic and public alliance between Rome and Byzantium.
Would it help? It would certainly brace up some of the European governments who are being held back by the 'demographic dawa' of 20% Mohammedan populations. It might bring in some Latin Americans, who otherwise have no immediate vested interest in the conflict. And it would clarify the essentially religious nature of this war.
It's not 'terror' versus 'democracy', it's Allah versus Jehovah.
So, Benedict, where do you stand?
[Linguistic note: I'm not sure if the vocative case of Benedictus is correct; couldn't find any actual uses of it via Google.]
-----
Update: Unfortunately, Benedict has already blown his chance. When I wrote the above, I hadn't spotted his latest statement on Israel vs Hezbollah. He comes down firmly on the side of moral equivalency:
The causes of such fierce confrontation are unfortunately objective situations of violation of law and justice," Benedict said, speaking from his holiday retreat in the Aosta valley.
"But neither the terrorist acts nor the reprisals, above all when there are tragic consequences for the civilian population, can be justified."
In other words, he refuses to take sides between Allah and Jehovah. He is actually doing what Pius XII was falsely accused of doing: Closing his eyes while Fascists slaughter Jews and Christians.
Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame.
¶ 8:03 PM
Pius's anti-fascist activities had to be fairly quiet because of two constraints:
(1) The German and Italian armies included many Catholics, and Pius, as the head pastor of all Catholics, couldn't publicly disown those large factions of his 'parishioners'.
(2) Vatican City, though technically independent, actually depends on Italy for its survival.
So his concrete actions weren't loud enough to become part of conventional wisdom, which left his lack of public pronouncements open to intentional misinterpretation by the anti-Christian academy.
The battle lines of our current war are far less confusing, and Benedict XVI has no such constraints.
This is an openly religious war.
The Sons of Allah want all Christians and Jews dead or enslaved, and there are no Christians or Jews in the armies on that side.
Though they haven't explicitly killed large numbers of Jews or Catholics in recent times (except as part of the indiscriminate slaughter of 9/11 and other suicide attacks) they have intentionally killed plenty of Orthodox [Chaldean, Assyrian, Antiochan, Coptic] Christians.
Moreover, the main players on the Mohammedan side (Baathist party in Iraq and Syria, the mullahs of Iran, the leaders of Palestine) are direct 'apostolic successors' of Hitler. Nicely summarized here.
So the enemy is the age-old conqueror of Christian lands, seeking total Caliphate as always, reinforced and assisted this time by 20th-century totalitarian methods.
Benedict remembers Nazism personally, and some have accused him of being (at least passively) part of Hitler's forces in his youth.
Throw all these factors into the hopper, and you get plenty of motivation - both positive and aversive - for a dramatic and public alliance between Rome and Byzantium.
Would it help? It would certainly brace up some of the European governments who are being held back by the 'demographic dawa' of 20% Mohammedan populations. It might bring in some Latin Americans, who otherwise have no immediate vested interest in the conflict. And it would clarify the essentially religious nature of this war.
It's not 'terror' versus 'democracy', it's Allah versus Jehovah.
So, Benedict, where do you stand?
[Linguistic note: I'm not sure if the vocative case of Benedictus is correct; couldn't find any actual uses of it via Google.]
-----
Update: Unfortunately, Benedict has already blown his chance. When I wrote the above, I hadn't spotted his latest statement on Israel vs Hezbollah. He comes down firmly on the side of moral equivalency:
The causes of such fierce confrontation are unfortunately objective situations of violation of law and justice," Benedict said, speaking from his holiday retreat in the Aosta valley.
"But neither the terrorist acts nor the reprisals, above all when there are tragic consequences for the civilian population, can be justified."
In other words, he refuses to take sides between Allah and Jehovah. He is actually doing what Pius XII was falsely accused of doing: Closing his eyes while Fascists slaughter Jews and Christians.
Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame.
¶ 8:03 PM
Clarion
The current Israel war gives a clear litmus test for the seriousness vs naivete of various experts and politicians. (North Korea is not quite so binary, because Kim's wad-shooting is not yet an actual attack, so a certain amount of ambiguity is understandable.)
Quite simply: Any expert, commentator or politician who still thinks the solution will come from ANY form of talking is not serious.
Anyone who throws around terms like engagement, roadmap, quartet, bilateral, multilateral, restraint, unacceptable, even-handed, balanced, democracy has only shown himself to be hopelessly out of contact with reality. Serious people give Israel a full-throated cheer. Serious people understand that the road to peace must pass through a horrible canyon named 'total destruction of the enemy'.
-----
An interesting discussion on NRO this morning, and an excellent piece by Ledeen, showing that a couple of their commentators are just now awakening to the mythic nature of Kindler Gentler George's pursuit of democracy in the Arab world.
Welcome to reality.
Ahem. Some of us have understood this fact for quite a long time.
-----
Update: Listening to the camel-fucking "elected" "president" of Lebanon as he quacks a "speech". He is straightforwardly taking the side of Hezbollah. Yes indeed, George Junior, I agree with you that democracy is the solution --- IF the goal is total conquest of the world by the Sons of Allah. Since I happen to think the goal is somewhat different, i.e. total destruction of the Sons of Allah, I must go along with Israel's form of solution. ¶ 7:10 AM
Quite simply: Any expert, commentator or politician who still thinks the solution will come from ANY form of talking is not serious.
Anyone who throws around terms like engagement, roadmap, quartet, bilateral, multilateral, restraint, unacceptable, even-handed, balanced, democracy has only shown himself to be hopelessly out of contact with reality. Serious people give Israel a full-throated cheer. Serious people understand that the road to peace must pass through a horrible canyon named 'total destruction of the enemy'.
-----
An interesting discussion on NRO this morning, and an excellent piece by Ledeen, showing that a couple of their commentators are just now awakening to the mythic nature of Kindler Gentler George's pursuit of democracy in the Arab world.
Welcome to reality.
Ahem. Some of us have understood this fact for quite a long time.
-----
Update: Listening to the camel-fucking "elected" "president" of Lebanon as he quacks a "speech". He is straightforwardly taking the side of Hezbollah. Yes indeed, George Junior, I agree with you that democracy is the solution --- IF the goal is total conquest of the world by the Sons of Allah. Since I happen to think the goal is somewhat different, i.e. total destruction of the Sons of Allah, I must go along with Israel's form of solution. ¶ 7:10 AM
Friday, July 14, 2006
1938 notes
The 1938 theme, permeating the pro-civilization end of the Blogworld, is beginning to show up on the major media. Victor Davis Hanson appeared on Fox this morning to voice the idea, with an interesting turn of phrase. He said approximately:
"Some American leader will have to explain this situation and tell Americans that we are in for a rough patch of sacrifice if we're going to get through this."
Some American leader. Hanson could have said "The President must explain..." but he didn't. Hanson clearly realizes that, as mathematicians would put it, the element Bush is not contained in the set American Leaders.
-----
Here's a five-minute speech by FDR in September 1939, just after Chamberlain declared Britain was at war with Germany. (Churchill didn't take over until June 1940.)
FDR was an element of the set American Leaders.
-----
Another observation: Hezbollah is no longer fighting in the Jihadi style. No suicide bombers. They're letting unmanned drones do the Kamikaze strikes on Israeli ships. This is definitely an old-fashioned war between nations now. ¶ 7:17 PM
"Some American leader will have to explain this situation and tell Americans that we are in for a rough patch of sacrifice if we're going to get through this."
Some American leader. Hanson could have said "The President must explain..." but he didn't. Hanson clearly realizes that, as mathematicians would put it, the element Bush is not contained in the set American Leaders.
-----
Here's a five-minute speech by FDR in September 1939, just after Chamberlain declared Britain was at war with Germany. (Churchill didn't take over until June 1940.)
FDR was an element of the set American Leaders.
-----
Another observation: Hezbollah is no longer fighting in the Jihadi style. No suicide bombers. They're letting unmanned drones do the Kamikaze strikes on Israeli ships. This is definitely an old-fashioned war between nations now. ¶ 7:17 PM
Oh really?
We're hearing one line repeated verbatim by Dems like Comrade Boxer and (just now on Fox) Comrade McCain. It's actually a good and admirable line in defense of Israel, but it's not true.
"If a foreign power were coming across our border and kidnapping our people, we'd certainly respond vigorously."
Sounds good, but Mexico has done that repeatedly, and our only response has been to expand NAFTA. ¶ 6:09 AM
"If a foreign power were coming across our border and kidnapping our people, we'd certainly respond vigorously."
Sounds good, but Mexico has done that repeatedly, and our only response has been to expand NAFTA. ¶ 6:09 AM
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Powerless
Bad storms the last few days; most of them skirted Spokane, but we got hit straight on last night. Knocked out the power to this part of town. First real outage since a 4-day icestorm in '96. I learned from that one, and keep candles, propane stove, and canned food on hand. So this 16-hour darkness didn't cause any basic problems, but it was still scary, especially when added to the overall apocalyptic feeling.
Israel knows how to take care of itself. Do we? ¶ 8:22 PM
Bad storms the last few days; most of them skirted Spokane, but we got hit straight on last night. Knocked out the power to this part of town. First real outage since a 4-day icestorm in '96. I learned from that one, and keep candles, propane stove, and canned food on hand. So this 16-hour darkness didn't cause any basic problems, but it was still scary, especially when added to the overall apocalyptic feeling.
Israel knows how to take care of itself. Do we? ¶ 8:22 PM
Monday, July 10, 2006
Madame Polisztra is .... bemused.
With Japan now planning to hit Kim with a pre-emptive strike, the world turns upside down. Japan's militarism has been suppressed since 1945 but not eliminated; you can't simply delete a tradition as deep as the Samurai. It pops up in the middle of the hyper-alien hyper-technical hyper-frivolous play of Japan's young folks. Anime, manga, cosplay, RPG, all have a strong military flavor.
Remove the brakes from this 9000-horsepower race car, aim it against China, and we are now ---- back in 1931? Very hard to tell. Japan can develop and manufacture any existing weapon in a day or two, and can probably develop entirely new types of weapons that we couldn't begin to imagine.
The world is topsy-turvy.
We have now renounced the use of force. We haven't said it explicitly, but when we failed to take out Kim's Big Dong before he shot it at Pearl Harbor, we said it with our actions, or rather lack of actions.
True, the Big Dong didn't work, or was just testing a self-destruct capability.
But we DIDN'T KNOW IT WOULD FAIL, and we DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS CARRYING.
Even so, we just sat there. We took the chance that it would reach Pearl Harbor or Seattle or Spokane. We just sat there and let it launch.
We surrendered.
So it's fortunate for the civilized world -- this time -- that Japan has finally lost patience with our total incompetence or pacifism or whatever the hell it is.
I'm tempted to say that we finally have the ally we need in this war, but since we've taken ourselves out of the fight, we aren't even entitled to call the only remaining fighter an ally.
This time, Japan may be the one who prevents Pearl Harbor.
-----
A bit later ... Polistra summarizes the situation as follows:
Until now we had a war between the 21st Century and the 11th.
Now the 21st has gained assistance from the 22nd.
¶ 9:08 PM
With Japan now planning to hit Kim with a pre-emptive strike, the world turns upside down. Japan's militarism has been suppressed since 1945 but not eliminated; you can't simply delete a tradition as deep as the Samurai. It pops up in the middle of the hyper-alien hyper-technical hyper-frivolous play of Japan's young folks. Anime, manga, cosplay, RPG, all have a strong military flavor.
Remove the brakes from this 9000-horsepower race car, aim it against China, and we are now ---- back in 1931? Very hard to tell. Japan can develop and manufacture any existing weapon in a day or two, and can probably develop entirely new types of weapons that we couldn't begin to imagine.
The world is topsy-turvy.
We have now renounced the use of force. We haven't said it explicitly, but when we failed to take out Kim's Big Dong before he shot it at Pearl Harbor, we said it with our actions, or rather lack of actions.
True, the Big Dong didn't work, or was just testing a self-destruct capability.
But we DIDN'T KNOW IT WOULD FAIL, and we DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS CARRYING.
Even so, we just sat there. We took the chance that it would reach Pearl Harbor or Seattle or Spokane. We just sat there and let it launch.
We surrendered.
So it's fortunate for the civilized world -- this time -- that Japan has finally lost patience with our total incompetence or pacifism or whatever the hell it is.
I'm tempted to say that we finally have the ally we need in this war, but since we've taken ourselves out of the fight, we aren't even entitled to call the only remaining fighter an ally.
This time, Japan may be the one who prevents Pearl Harbor.
-----
A bit later ... Polistra summarizes the situation as follows:
Until now we had a war between the 21st Century and the 11th.
Now the 21st has gained assistance from the 22nd.
¶ 9:08 PM
Krystalline
Bill Kristol, who has often been a bit squishy, came out this morning hard as diamond on North Korea. Just now on Fox, he said (approximate quote): "I notice that Japan is starting to work on its own nuclear weapons. If we are so unreliable that our allies now have to defend themselves, it's a bad sign. Do we really want everybody in that part of the world rattling nukes at each other?"
He went on to characterize the Second Ford Administration as 'Clintonian'. I think that's a little too nice; after all, Clinton did use military force in some places. Carterian is more like it. Or Gandhian. ¶ 6:15 AM
He went on to characterize the Second Ford Administration as 'Clintonian'. I think that's a little too nice; after all, Clinton did use military force in some places. Carterian is more like it. Or Gandhian. ¶ 6:15 AM
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Wrong question, part Soixante-Huit
Aside from the diplo-speak idiocy (We need bilateral useless jabber! No, no, we need multilateral useless jabber!) which is obviously ridiculous and represents nothing more than a commercial competition between the Albright Group and the Haig Group ....
Aside from all that absurd noise, I'm starting to wonder if there's really any point in trying to slow down Kim's development of nuke weapons.
Why? Because we were EQUALLY COWARDLY in facing Kim Senior when he DIDN'T have any nukes. I'm talking about the Pueblo incident in 1968.
Concise account, from GlobalSecurity.org:
On 23 January 1968 North Korean patrol boats seized the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering vessel, in the international waters of the East Sea off Wonsan. One USS Pueblo crewmember was killed in the boarding and 82 were taken POW and held captive. The seizure, which took place a mere two days after a commando intrusion into Seoul, shocked the whole world, and there arose strong public demand in the United States for firm retaliatory action against North Korea. North Korea made the utmost use of the Pueblo incident in its crafty propaganda, believing that the United States, deeply involved in the Vietnam War then, would not be able to use the force of arms on the Korean Peninsula.
Eleven months after the seizure North Korea repatriated 82 Pueblo crewmen and one set of remains to the United States through Panmunjom. Upon signature of the US admitting to espionage in the coastal waters of the Sea of Japan, the 82 POWs were freed. Upon their return on 28 December, 1968, the crew was treated poorly by the public and the military and only in 1990 did they receive the POW ribbons to which they were entitled. The ship remains in Wonson Harbor, North Korea.
To read about what happened in between, this website tells what happened to our sailors. Warning: it's nasty.
Kim knows from long-term and short-term experience that we won't respond if he actually attacks us. So why shouldn't he attack us? ¶ 9:13 AM
Aside from all that absurd noise, I'm starting to wonder if there's really any point in trying to slow down Kim's development of nuke weapons.
Why? Because we were EQUALLY COWARDLY in facing Kim Senior when he DIDN'T have any nukes. I'm talking about the Pueblo incident in 1968.
Concise account, from GlobalSecurity.org:
On 23 January 1968 North Korean patrol boats seized the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering vessel, in the international waters of the East Sea off Wonsan. One USS Pueblo crewmember was killed in the boarding and 82 were taken POW and held captive. The seizure, which took place a mere two days after a commando intrusion into Seoul, shocked the whole world, and there arose strong public demand in the United States for firm retaliatory action against North Korea. North Korea made the utmost use of the Pueblo incident in its crafty propaganda, believing that the United States, deeply involved in the Vietnam War then, would not be able to use the force of arms on the Korean Peninsula.
Eleven months after the seizure North Korea repatriated 82 Pueblo crewmen and one set of remains to the United States through Panmunjom. Upon signature of the US admitting to espionage in the coastal waters of the Sea of Japan, the 82 POWs were freed. Upon their return on 28 December, 1968, the crew was treated poorly by the public and the military and only in 1990 did they receive the POW ribbons to which they were entitled. The ship remains in Wonson Harbor, North Korea.
To read about what happened in between, this website tells what happened to our sailors. Warning: it's nasty.
Kim knows from long-term and short-term experience that we won't respond if he actually attacks us. So why shouldn't he attack us? ¶ 9:13 AM
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Lisbon, voice of the West
Way back in the '60s, before I got lost in hippiedom, I was active in ham radio and shortwave listening. In those days, the only way to get alternate versions or opinions on world events was via shortwave. You could count on the Voice of America to slant the Vietnam War and other matters toward LBJ's view, and you could count on Radio Moscow and Radio Havana for the exact opposite. But if you wanted a broader pro-Western viewpoint, without American provincial concerns, the gold standard was Lisbon. Radio Lisbon called itself "The Voice of the West", and indeed it was exactly that.
Lisbon's interval signal was the first four notes of Beethoven's 5th, which had acquired the meaning of 'Victory for the West' during WW2. Why the 5th? It's a double pun. The rhythm is identical to the Morse letter V (which Polistra is sending repeatedly for reference) and V also equals 5 in Roman numerals.
I don't know if R. Lisbon is still carrying the ball; it doesn't have much of a website, and I can't receive European shortwave signals in Spokane. But (perhaps unsurprisingly) Portuguese bloggers have taken over the Westward-pointing torch.
Check out Observatorio da Jihad for a good example, and for a good set of links to other Portuguese and Brazilian defenders of Western Civilization.
What is it about Portugal that makes it so sure of its compass bearings, yet so steadily non-belligerent? I wish I knew. Whatever that quality might be, it needs to be 'bottled and sold' to the rest of the world. ¶ 2:55 PM
Way back in the '60s, before I got lost in hippiedom, I was active in ham radio and shortwave listening. In those days, the only way to get alternate versions or opinions on world events was via shortwave. You could count on the Voice of America to slant the Vietnam War and other matters toward LBJ's view, and you could count on Radio Moscow and Radio Havana for the exact opposite. But if you wanted a broader pro-Western viewpoint, without American provincial concerns, the gold standard was Lisbon. Radio Lisbon called itself "The Voice of the West", and indeed it was exactly that.
Lisbon's interval signal was the first four notes of Beethoven's 5th, which had acquired the meaning of 'Victory for the West' during WW2. Why the 5th? It's a double pun. The rhythm is identical to the Morse letter V (which Polistra is sending repeatedly for reference) and V also equals 5 in Roman numerals.
I don't know if R. Lisbon is still carrying the ball; it doesn't have much of a website, and I can't receive European shortwave signals in Spokane. But (perhaps unsurprisingly) Portuguese bloggers have taken over the Westward-pointing torch.
Check out Observatorio da Jihad for a good example, and for a good set of links to other Portuguese and Brazilian defenders of Western Civilization.
What is it about Portugal that makes it so sure of its compass bearings, yet so steadily non-belligerent? I wish I knew. Whatever that quality might be, it needs to be 'bottled and sold' to the rest of the world. ¶ 2:55 PM
Weird logic
In discussing North Korea, the various experts keep saying that we must not collapse Kim's regime because China will then have to deal with millions of refugees.
I haven't heard anyone question this bizarre conflation of illogic.
First, in a war our job is not to please the enemy. Our job is to displease the enemy. If millions of refugees will displease China, then we should give China millions of refugees.
Second, I doubt that it would be all that bad for China. After all, we are handling millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America. We don't like it much, and we're trying to reverse the trend, but it hasn't killed us. China has about 4 times our population, so its burden from 5 million NoKo refugees would be about 1/8 of our burden from 10 million Mexicans.
Third, any Kissingerian argument based on "stability" as the ultimate goal should be immediately ruled out of court. During the First Ford Administration, the argument was a reasonable hypothesis, but it's been tested for 30 years and proved invalid.
We have the data now. "Stability" kept the Soviet Union running long after it had no foundation. "Stability" kept Saddam in power. "Stability" led to the conditions in Yemen, Egypt, and Arabia that triggered Osama. "Stability" is forcing the three parts of Iraq to remain together, which will only lead to a return of Saddam if not something worse.
It's better to let mutually opposed cultures and races find their own locations, even if that means a period of messy displacement. ¶ 12:29 PM
I haven't heard anyone question this bizarre conflation of illogic.
First, in a war our job is not to please the enemy. Our job is to displease the enemy. If millions of refugees will displease China, then we should give China millions of refugees.
Second, I doubt that it would be all that bad for China. After all, we are handling millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America. We don't like it much, and we're trying to reverse the trend, but it hasn't killed us. China has about 4 times our population, so its burden from 5 million NoKo refugees would be about 1/8 of our burden from 10 million Mexicans.
Third, any Kissingerian argument based on "stability" as the ultimate goal should be immediately ruled out of court. During the First Ford Administration, the argument was a reasonable hypothesis, but it's been tested for 30 years and proved invalid.
We have the data now. "Stability" kept the Soviet Union running long after it had no foundation. "Stability" kept Saddam in power. "Stability" led to the conditions in Yemen, Egypt, and Arabia that triggered Osama. "Stability" is forcing the three parts of Iraq to remain together, which will only lead to a return of Saddam if not something worse.
It's better to let mutually opposed cultures and races find their own locations, even if that means a period of messy displacement. ¶ 12:29 PM
Friday, July 07, 2006
Pres in Chicago
He should do all his press conferences out of Washington, and Tony Snow should do the same. Circuit riding, as it were....
The Washington Enemy Front Lines, sometimes bizarrely called the "press corps", asks only one question over and over and over in various guises. The question is "I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!!!!"
In Chicago, the reporters asked hard but genuine questions, and Bush gave genuine answers. He clarified one thing that has not been clear up to now: on NK, diplomacy is preface to military action, not the sole action.
He also gave a good mini-speech on the goal of democracy. His basic premise is wrong, but this was as good an exposition as we've ever heard.
The goal is wrong because it skips THE crucial fact: Jihad is not driven by a desire to escape oppressive regimes. Jihad is driven by Allah. ¶ 9:05 AM
The Washington Enemy Front Lines, sometimes bizarrely called the "press corps", asks only one question over and over and over in various guises. The question is "I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!!!!"
In Chicago, the reporters asked hard but genuine questions, and Bush gave genuine answers. He clarified one thing that has not been clear up to now: on NK, diplomacy is preface to military action, not the sole action.
He also gave a good mini-speech on the goal of democracy. His basic premise is wrong, but this was as good an exposition as we've ever heard.
The goal is wrong because it skips THE crucial fact: Jihad is not driven by a desire to escape oppressive regimes. Jihad is driven by Allah. ¶ 9:05 AM
Make war, not IQ tests.
Via NRO, another success by the FBI. Not many details yet, but a plot to blow up the Holland Tunnel was stopped.
As with the Miami 'Seas of David' bunch, the treatment of this story shows that we have still not switched into wartime thinking. This particular group is treated as trivial because their engineering was flawed. They were hoping to flood NYC by blowing a hole in the Holland Tunnel and letting the Hudson cover the land. Granted, this is trulyArabic stupid thinking; you don't need to be an engineer to observe that the island is above the water and the tunnel is below.
Remember 1993? That WTC bomb was fully intended to kill 50,000 people, and was not built stupidly; a different location might have done the job. We effectively ignored it because it didn't happen to work. That bad assumption caused us to sit on our hands until Engineer Osama came along with a plan that did work.
In war you don't have time to give the enemy IQ tests, or to worry about his engineering competence; you can't say that he's not serious because he happens to miss. Almost every bullet and bomb in WW2 missed: by some estimates, 10,000 bullets and 100 bombs were fired for each resulting death. ¶ 8:10 AM
As with the Miami 'Seas of David' bunch, the treatment of this story shows that we have still not switched into wartime thinking. This particular group is treated as trivial because their engineering was flawed. They were hoping to flood NYC by blowing a hole in the Holland Tunnel and letting the Hudson cover the land. Granted, this is truly
Remember 1993? That WTC bomb was fully intended to kill 50,000 people, and was not built stupidly; a different location might have done the job. We effectively ignored it because it didn't happen to work. That bad assumption caused us to sit on our hands until Engineer Osama came along with a plan that did work.
In war you don't have time to give the enemy IQ tests, or to worry about his engineering competence; you can't say that he's not serious because he happens to miss. Almost every bullet and bomb in WW2 missed: by some estimates, 10,000 bullets and 100 bombs were fired for each resulting death. ¶ 8:10 AM
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Priorities
The FBI has arrested several Pepsi employees for stealing Coke's trade secrets.
Meanwhile, the New York Times is still at large and still committing daily treason.
Now we know what really matters to the Second Ford Administration. Coke is worth preserving. The United States is not. ¶ 9:05 AM
Meanwhile, the New York Times is still at large and still committing daily treason.
Now we know what really matters to the Second Ford Administration. Coke is worth preserving. The United States is not. ¶ 9:05 AM
Untranslatable
I wanted to write a Churchill parody, sort of like this:
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Religion of Peace and Tolerance and all the democratically-elected apparatus of Mohammedan rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall care passionately about the starving children on to the end, we shall sanction in France, we shall isolate on the seas and oceans, we shall talk with growing robustness and growing number of sticks and carrots in the air, we shall open the borders of our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall negotiate on the beaches, we shall engage on the landing grounds, we shall pursue bilateral conclaves in the fields and in the streets, we shall pursue multilateral Security Council resolutions in the hills; we shall never, never, never give up on diplomacy.
But I realized that the parody doesn't even begin to work. In the same way that Babelfish goes crazy with Chinese, you can't mechanically change Churchill to Kindler Gentler George. The underlying way of thinking is entirely alien, not just the words.
-----
The crux of the problem:
In Churchill's original, Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, I can't simply change Gestapo and Nazi to KGG's absurd euphemisms for Mohammedanism, because GEORGE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT THE ENEMY IS ALLAH. In 1939 and 1940, the Nazis gained huge pieces of Europe because Britain by itself didn't have enough soldiers and resources to stop them. In 2003 and 2004, the Second Ford Administration has allowed the Sons of Allah to gain Iraq and hold several other countries AS PART OF HIS WAR EFFORT. HE THINKS THIS IS A GOOD THING. ¶ 8:24 AM
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Religion of Peace and Tolerance and all the democratically-elected apparatus of Mohammedan rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall care passionately about the starving children on to the end, we shall sanction in France, we shall isolate on the seas and oceans, we shall talk with growing robustness and growing number of sticks and carrots in the air, we shall open the borders of our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall negotiate on the beaches, we shall engage on the landing grounds, we shall pursue bilateral conclaves in the fields and in the streets, we shall pursue multilateral Security Council resolutions in the hills; we shall never, never, never give up on diplomacy.
But I realized that the parody doesn't even begin to work. In the same way that Babelfish goes crazy with Chinese, you can't mechanically change Churchill to Kindler Gentler George. The underlying way of thinking is entirely alien, not just the words.
-----
The crux of the problem:
In Churchill's original, Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, I can't simply change Gestapo and Nazi to KGG's absurd euphemisms for Mohammedanism, because GEORGE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THAT THE ENEMY IS ALLAH. In 1939 and 1940, the Nazis gained huge pieces of Europe because Britain by itself didn't have enough soldiers and resources to stop them. In 2003 and 2004, the Second Ford Administration has allowed the Sons of Allah to gain Iraq and hold several other countries AS PART OF HIS WAR EFFORT. HE THINKS THIS IS A GOOD THING. ¶ 8:24 AM
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Old joke
A factory worker is caught at the exit gate pushing a wheelbarrow full of scrap newspaper. The security guard looks through the newspaper and finds no auto parts, no valuable copper, nothing.
This happens repeatedly: every day he leaves with a wheelbarrow full of scrap newspaper, every day the security guard rifles through the paper and finds nothing of value. Finally the security guard asks him what the hell he's doing. "Stealing wheelbarrows, of course!"
With this in mind, I wonder if Kim is actually using his 'test' missiles to deposit something on the floor of the Sea of Japan. Is he preparing for a blockade with ship-detecting nuclear mines? ¶ 8:11 AM
This happens repeatedly: every day he leaves with a wheelbarrow full of scrap newspaper, every day the security guard rifles through the paper and finds nothing of value. Finally the security guard asks him what the hell he's doing. "Stealing wheelbarrows, of course!"
With this in mind, I wonder if Kim is actually using his 'test' missiles to deposit something on the floor of the Sea of Japan. Is he preparing for a blockade with ship-detecting nuclear mines? ¶ 8:11 AM
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Albright is right .... sort of
The dull British writer C. P. Snow understood the workings of bureaucracies better than just about anybody. He laid down one simple law: "Be there." Wherever some committee discusses the welfare of your agency, you'd better be present in person or your agency is going to lose.
In the discussion of Kim's multiple orgasm (six Dongs so far) the Second Ford Administration has been totally absent from the public table. On all the news channels we've seen the same committee of Clintonistas making the same points, and no official spokesman has uttered a peep. Larry King allowed Duncan Hunter to participate by phone, but every time Hunter made a good hard common-sense point, the 'real people' around the table smirked and snorted.
Madelyn Albright summed up the Clintonista argument: "This is the result of 5 years of failed diplomacy." Yes, true. And the exact same statement was true the last time Kim shot his wad: 1998, after 5 years of failed Albright diplomacy.
So Maddie is more precise than she wants to be. The plain fact is that no form of diplomacy, bilateral, multilateral, mostly sticks, mostly carrots .... None of it will work against Kim.
Sanctions don't work in the best of circumstances, unless you ratchet them up to the point where you're holding a full Stalingrad-style siege against the offending location. But sanctions are just prima facie pointless when the leader is happy to watch his own people starve.
The correct answer to this threat was to knock the launch site out before the missile flew. Since the Second Ford Administration has already lost that chance, it still could take the launcher out, though it would be less meaningful. What we really need to do is EMP the country to blind its defenses, then eliminate its military facilities entirely. Army and all.
Without his military, Kim will collapse.
-----
Addendum: Thinking about EMP leads to this observation.... Many people are sighing in relief because the Big Dong apparently failed shortly after launch. I'm not relieved. Remember that Kim has stated repeatedly and clearly that this is a test firing, not an attack. In an attack, a missile that halted early would count as a failure, but that doesn't apply in an experiment. How do we know that he wasn't testing something like an altitude-controlled self-destruct mechanism? ¶ 7:00 PM
In the discussion of Kim's multiple orgasm (six Dongs so far) the Second Ford Administration has been totally absent from the public table. On all the news channels we've seen the same committee of Clintonistas making the same points, and no official spokesman has uttered a peep. Larry King allowed Duncan Hunter to participate by phone, but every time Hunter made a good hard common-sense point, the 'real people' around the table smirked and snorted.
Madelyn Albright summed up the Clintonista argument: "This is the result of 5 years of failed diplomacy." Yes, true. And the exact same statement was true the last time Kim shot his wad: 1998, after 5 years of failed Albright diplomacy.
So Maddie is more precise than she wants to be. The plain fact is that no form of diplomacy, bilateral, multilateral, mostly sticks, mostly carrots .... None of it will work against Kim.
Sanctions don't work in the best of circumstances, unless you ratchet them up to the point where you're holding a full Stalingrad-style siege against the offending location. But sanctions are just prima facie pointless when the leader is happy to watch his own people starve.
The correct answer to this threat was to knock the launch site out before the missile flew. Since the Second Ford Administration has already lost that chance, it still could take the launcher out, though it would be less meaningful. What we really need to do is EMP the country to blind its defenses, then eliminate its military facilities entirely. Army and all.
Without his military, Kim will collapse.
-----
Addendum: Thinking about EMP leads to this observation.... Many people are sighing in relief because the Big Dong apparently failed shortly after launch. I'm not relieved. Remember that Kim has stated repeatedly and clearly that this is a test firing, not an attack. In an attack, a missile that halted early would count as a failure, but that doesn't apply in an experiment. How do we know that he wasn't testing something like an altitude-controlled self-destruct mechanism? ¶ 7:00 PM
Asymmetry
Okay, so on the one hand North Korea is getting ready to launch a missile, possibly nuke-tipped, that can reach Seattle.
On the other hand, the United States is getting ready to launch ahighly advanced innovative technically futuristic 25-year-old beater that can just barely fly.
Aside from the obvious military asymmetry (NK wants to kill us, we just want to deliver groceries to the Space Station) what signal does this send to the world?
When we proudly trumpet the launch of a tired and busted-up old thingamajig with no clear purpose, we should expect the world to treat us with contempt.
If this is the best we can do, we should at least have the common sense to keep it quiet, as the Soviets did when their space program was in its incompetent infancy. ¶ 9:15 AM
Okay, so on the one hand North Korea is getting ready to launch a missile, possibly nuke-tipped, that can reach Seattle.
On the other hand, the United States is getting ready to launch a
Aside from the obvious military asymmetry (NK wants to kill us, we just want to deliver groceries to the Space Station) what signal does this send to the world?
When we proudly trumpet the launch of a tired and busted-up old thingamajig with no clear purpose, we should expect the world to treat us with contempt.
If this is the best we can do, we should at least have the common sense to keep it quiet, as the Soviets did when their space program was in its incompetent infancy. ¶ 9:15 AM
Monday, July 03, 2006
Chronic
The only part of New Scientist mag I can read without gnashing my teeth is the feature called 'The Last Word'. The rest of the magazine is a Gaia-worshipping Inquisition, constantly burning those few remaining evil Galileos who persist in foolishly believing actual data showing that the Earth's climate revolves around the sun, despite all the carefully generated computer models which show that the Earth's climate revolves around Amerikkkan Capitalism.
'The Last Word' is a wiki-style interchange, in which readers send in questions about things they've always wanted to know, and other readers respond with generally authoritative answers. This week's question was "Why are the tissues of the heart less susceptible to cancer than other types of human tissue? Can we learn something from this to fight cancers in other parts of the body?"
The answer to the first part was quite simple: Heart cells don't divide, hence they can't be subverted into dividing too enthusiastically. But the second part contained a surprise.
Most scientists and doctors are resigned to the fact that we will not find a single cure, and are looking instead at treating cancer as a chronic disease in a similar way to heart disease or AIDS, for which treatments are intended to prolong the life using a cocktail of drugs.
I wonder if donors to cancer research are aware of this resigned attitude? It was certainly news to me. I assumed that basic research was still aimed at finding absolute cures to the many different conditions that fall under the name of cancer.
'Chronic disease' reminds me of Rumsfeld's 'Long twilight struggle'.
'Cocktail of drugs' reminds me of Rice's 'Basket of Incentives'.
The Second Ford Administration, despite an occasional out-of-context rhetorical burst aimed at keeping the donors (taxpayers) in line, is equally fatalistic about defeating the cancer of Allah. (Muslinoma?)
Jonas Salk and Winston Churchill are spinning in their graves. ¶ 7:32 AM
'The Last Word' is a wiki-style interchange, in which readers send in questions about things they've always wanted to know, and other readers respond with generally authoritative answers. This week's question was "Why are the tissues of the heart less susceptible to cancer than other types of human tissue? Can we learn something from this to fight cancers in other parts of the body?"
The answer to the first part was quite simple: Heart cells don't divide, hence they can't be subverted into dividing too enthusiastically. But the second part contained a surprise.
Most scientists and doctors are resigned to the fact that we will not find a single cure, and are looking instead at treating cancer as a chronic disease in a similar way to heart disease or AIDS, for which treatments are intended to prolong the life using a cocktail of drugs.
I wonder if donors to cancer research are aware of this resigned attitude? It was certainly news to me. I assumed that basic research was still aimed at finding absolute cures to the many different conditions that fall under the name of cancer.
'Chronic disease' reminds me of Rumsfeld's 'Long twilight struggle'.
'Cocktail of drugs' reminds me of Rice's 'Basket of Incentives'.
The Second Ford Administration, despite an occasional out-of-context rhetorical burst aimed at keeping the donors (taxpayers) in line, is equally fatalistic about defeating the cancer of Allah. (Muslinoma?)
Jonas Salk and Winston Churchill are spinning in their graves. ¶ 7:32 AM
Sunday, July 02, 2006
