San Diego using goats to fight fires.
San Diego and other CA cities are using goats to prevent forest fires. This is a great and environmentally friendly way to help Smoky the bear....
read more | digg story
July 17, 2006
March 29, 2006
German fast food
German Fast Food: Forget the "Mett", Try a "Frikadelle" from Der Spigel Online has examples of German fast food. Favorite is Currywurst which looks like dog vomit.
October 18, 2005
How did they get poor?
Evacuees binge on Cape: Spend fed cash on booze, strippers shows that some people are desitned to be poor. It is sad but true. Some people aren't poor by circumstance, but are poor because of poor choices. Just look at gouda boy above.
June 13, 2005
The death of enviroliberalism?
The death of enviroliberalism? from the Gristmill is an article I am glad to see. It makes two salient points:
First, we are way too focused on domestic problems (thinking only locally and acting only locally). And second, I think environmentalism is far too monolithically liberal, which both hurts us politically and also impedes our ability to come up with good policy solutions.
I generally consider myself a green elephant. I think that the GOP is way too developer friendly, and reflexively against any environmental policy. I think this is because the environmentalists are reflexively socialist. I would love to see someone in the GOP come up with some innovative policies.
April 26, 2005
How about a red hammer and sickle?
The International Red Cross is contemplating changing their symbol to a red crystal. Another possibility is a void surrounded by a red sphincter.
March 15, 2005
Israel prepares ro strike?
The Times of London reports that Israel is training for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. LGF is also reporting that three US carrier battle groups will be in the Gulf shortly. Is this a backup for the strikes? Is this just to put pressure on Iran or is this for real?
We shall see.....
March 04, 2005
I just don't get it
Why is Martha Stewart the focus of the media frenzy today? Why does is the Michael Jackson trial get such attention and coverage?
Bread and Circuses
Wake up! This is all just a disraction. It doesn't matter. All of these stories are just out there to distract America from things that matter.....
February 15, 2005
Geo-green
The latest Thomas Friedman column is interesting. He posits that the Bush administration strategy in the war on terror is bound to fail unless we break our addiction to Middle Eastern oil.
I agree with this and have said so in the past. Cheap oil is like cheap beer. It sounds good but causes a lot of problems. The only reason we care what happens in the Middle East is because of oil.
What's next peanuts?
It seems that just eating a banana is now racist. I originally heard this on the Neal Boortz show. I don't get the leap. How does eating fruit become racist?
OK ... you're on the edge of your seats now, aren't you. You know there's more to the story, and you want me to fill it in, right? Sorry ... that's pretty much the story; except, that is, for the woman's reasoning. Here you go. Since it was a civil rights march, and since most of the participants were black, the woman felt that the officer eating a banana was actually trying to humiliate the black marchers by somehow relating black people to apes, since apes are reported to enjoy bananas.
January 30, 2005
Give em the finger
Does Schroder get a pimp hat?
Captain's Quarters picks up a scary story from Germany. The German government is taking away the unemployment benefits of a young woman because she declined a job offer. Normally I wouldn't argue with them, but this is a bit hard to swallow. The job she turned down was a bit out of the mainstream:
A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year. ...
The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.
She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.
Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.
January 28, 2005
Closer to the center?
Every day I hope for his capture. This would not end the insurgency, but it might start the tide turning.
Al-Zarqawi Associates Arrested in Iraq (AP)
AP - Authorities in Iraq have arrested two close associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, including the chief of the terror mastermind's Baghdad operation, the government said Friday, two days ahead of historic elections that extremists have vowed to subvert.
This is scary!
PROPERTY SEIZURE FEVER IN GEORGIA
Neal Boortz alerted his listeners to a Republican member of the Georgia Legislature who is in the back pocket of the developers. He has proposed legislation to allow government to secretly seize property and turn it over to private developers.
More detail from Neal:
I read this entire legislation last night, and I believe it to be a full scale assault launched by Georgia developers on the private property rights of Georgians. Under this law a developer can go to a government and ask for a plot of land to be seized so that the developer can build "any property which any public entity is authorized to construct, erect, acquire, own, repair, remodel, maintain, add to, extend, improve, equip, operate or manage" under the laws of Georgia. That's pretty broad, isn't it? Governments in Georgia can own apartments and office buildings. Connect the dots.
January 27, 2005
A great cartoon
January 05, 2005
Slovakia has it right?
An interesting article from the Dec 28th NY Times. It details how Slovakia had one of the worst economies in Europe in the early 90s. They then went on a privatization and tax cutting binge and now they are being called the new Ireland.
Makes you think. Maybe we should try that here.....
January 04, 2005
Corpus media
A good point is raised by Shrinkette. Why are they showing all these bloated bodies on TV now? Especially since they won't show video from 9/11 be cause it is insensitive. Is this a political bias, racial bias, or just voyeurism?
Rumors of al-Zarqawi's capture
From google. They could auction off the chance to be his executioner and give the proceeds to the Tsunami victims.
Update: More from Powerline:
On December 30, the Iraqi newspaper Alrafidayn reported that two of Zarqawi's top aides had been arrested. Most intriguing to me was the reported apprehension of Ridha Albarazani, who was described as being "in charge of communication between terrorist cells" in Iraq. The arrest of two top aides, especially one who was responsible for communication among cells, raised hopes that Zarqawi himself might be next.
Now there are indeed rumors, apparently originating with news sources in the Emirates and in Kurdish Iraq, that Zarqawi has been captured. That would be great, of course, if true. But there have been similar rumors several times in the past, and unless and until this one is confirmed, there is little point in speculating. Of course, if Zarqawi were caught, the authorities would want to delay announcing the fact, if possible, to gain the benefit of any intelligence that might be obtained from him.
China the pretender
Instapundit points us to an IHT article on China's limited response to the Tsunami disaster. I am sure part of this is due to the lack of logistical muscle, but then who but the US has the airlift capacity?
I am worried about China but they are not there yet. The biggest danger from them right now is really economic, but I wonder how long until their economic bubble bursts.
January 03, 2005
Does this chair have an ejection seat?
My friend John J Miller (and co-author of Our Oldest Enemy)has written a piece for the NY Times entitled "Liberté, Egalité, Absurdité".
I am particularly intrigued by the concept of the "Empty chair". If France didn't have it's strong immunity laws I suspect Chirac would have emptied the chair long ago on his way to prison.
January 02, 2005
Dhimmi of the year
The Dhimmi of the year award goes to Franck Frégosi, a researcher for the European Society, Law and Religion research centre at Strasbourg’s Robert Schuman University. How can you have people appeasing radical Islamists? Do these intelectuals understand that the jihadist only want to enslave or destroy the west?
Amazon Tsunami update
The Amazon relief effort is up to $11,836,014.00. The average donation is $80. Have you donated yet?
Diplomad takes on UN aid farce
The UN appears to be trying to take credit for other country's aid work in Asia. One reason the UN has been ineffective is they have no airlift capability. I suspect that all the aid and relief efforts will continue with the UN looking like the shell it is.
January 01, 2005
Good news is no news
Why aren't we hearing at least once a month in the MSM about progress in Iraq. Could it be bad for business? Not sure. Well Powerline gives us a nice up date on things that are moving in the right direction. Things like:
Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored there so education can occur.
The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from ships faster.
The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time ever in Iraq.
The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before the war.
100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35% before the war.
Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are in place.
Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side with US soldiers.
Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to prevent the spread of germs.
An interim constitution has been signed.
Girls are allowed to attend school.
December 31, 2004
Things we learned this year
From the BBC. An excerpt:
- Brussels sprouts have three times as much vitamin C as oranges.
- The heat generated by a laptop, and the knees-together pose needed to balance it, can damage a man's fertility.
- A "jiffy" is 10 milliseconds in computer science terms.
- One gigabyte of information - about a quarter of the memory of an iPod mini - is the equivalent of a pick-up truck load of paper.
- Space is only 62 miles away. That's 100 kilometres.
December 29, 2004
Stingy?
I love watching the stingy Americans donate via Amazon.com
Freak: few animals killed
From the AP:
Experts: Tsunami Kills Few Animals
Wed Dec 29, 6:18 AM ET
By GEMUNU AMARASINGHE, Associated Press Writer
YALA NATIONAL PARK, Sri Lanka - Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the weekend's massive tsunami — indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground.
An Associated Press photographer who flew over Sri Lanka's Yala National Park in an air force helicopter saw abundant wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, deer, and not a single animal corpse.
Floodwaters from the tsunami swept into the park, uprooting trees and toppling cars onto their roofs — one red car even ended up on top of a huge tree — but the animals apparently were not harmed and may have sought out high ground, said Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, whose Jetwing Eco Holidays ran a hotel in the park.
"This is very interesting. I am finding bodies of humans, but I have yet to see a dead animal," said Wijeyeratne, whose hotel in the park was totally destroyed in Sunday's tidal surge.
"Maybe what we think is true, that animals have a sixth sense," Wijeyeratne said.
Yala, Sri Lanka's largest wildlife reserve, is home to 200 Asian Elephants, crocodile, wild boar, water buffalo and gray langur monkeys. The park also has Asia's highest concentration of leopards. The Yala reserve covers an area of 391 square miles, but only 56 square miles are open to tourists.
The human death toll in Sri Lanka surpassed 21,000. Forty foreigners were among 200 people in Yala who were killed.
Scary satellite pictures of the tsunami.
The horrible disaster in South Asia continues to boggle the mind. DigitalGlobe has a series of three pictures of the Sri Lankan coast that show the approach and aftermath of the Tsunami.
Hat tip to Lost Remote
Please DONATE if you possibly can. The needs are great.
Update: Another photo sequence. This one from a Phuket Thailand resort.
December 28, 2004
wtf is wrong with this blog
As we speak I am unsubscriing from this piece of crap blog.
Supermodel injured in freak wave
Supermodel injured in freak wave
Oh yeah a few others were involved as well
December 16, 2004
The United States of Europe
T.R. Reid has written a new book The United States of Europe
A review is available. I have not read it yet but I have it on my wish list. I have read his book Confucius Lives Next Door. This was a great book about Japan, and how it was different from the West. Reid was a Bureau Chief there for the Washington Post.
December 11, 2004
Dioxin.. It's whats for dinner!
The AP has an article about how Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned. Turns out that it was dioxin. There is a special place reserved somewhere hot for the people who did this. I am following the orange revolution, and wish victory for Yushchenko. Here is the caption for the picture below:
The picture combo shows Viktor Yushchenko in file photos dated March 28, 2002, left, and Dec. 6, 2004, right. The Ukrainian opposition leader and presidential candidate's mysterious illness that scared his face was caused by dioxin poisoning, doctors said Saturday Dec. 11, 2004, in Vienna, Austria. (AP Photo/Viktor Pobedinsky/Efrem Lukatsky)
December 04, 2004
New wiki
A new wiki out there. Newswiki. it is being brought to us by the folks at Wikimedia. I am big fans of theirs. As I have said before I am big fans of Wiktionary and Wikipedia.
They also have:
Wikiquote
Wikibooks
Wikisource
Wikispecies
November 28, 2004
What if you gave a party and no one came...
Looks Like Hollywood is having a bad year:
""The parade used to be huge — a million people would come and there were huge stars," said Michael Levine, author and publicist to the stars. "But today there's no sense of obligation to anyone except yourself and the immediate. It's a shame. The celebrities are missing a great opportunity.""
Pork... The other white meat.
Check out this clip from yesterdays Macon Telegraph. Look at the thumbs up/thumbs down section. I think it is hilarious that they condemn Washington's pork and then laud them for sending home plenty. This is why Washington is disfunctional.
November 26, 2004
Ways to help the troops
Here are some ways to help the troops this holiday season. Some good ones:
- Adopt a Platoon http://www.adoptaplatoon.org/
- AnySoldier http://www.anysoldier.us/index.cfm
- Books For Soldiers http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/
November 06, 2004
Reagan right again?
The afternoon nap is now hip?
The mythical man love month?
Instapundit catalogs the discussion about the mythical "values voter". The media never lets the truth get in the way of a good screed against the red states. It seems it was terrorism and not gay baiting that won it for the Republicans. Not that Jane Smiley will listen. She is convinced that we red state folks are too busy killing gays and beating our wives too realize we are at war. I actually hope this self-delusion continues. I don't like being vilified but the longer the Democrats walk away from the truth of their defeat the longer the Republicans will win.
Kerry lost because (outside of the blue enclaves) arrogant liberal candidates don't play. (note to Kerry: Maybe hiring your team from the losing presidential campaigns of the last 25 years was not a good idea either. Bob Shrum? oh fer.) Kerry was stiff and the more he tried to be a common man, the more awkward he was. "Can I get me a hunting license here?''
On top of that, Edwards was a serious liability.
November 05, 2004
The party of intolerence and hate.
More raving lunacy. Man the left is full of sore losers. How arrogant these people are. What happened to diversity and inclusion? They are petty intellectual dictators. If you don't believe what they believe, you are stupid and dangerous. I understand and respect most views. I don't agree with the left, but I would never say or advocate the hate they are. I guess if you can't win in the "arena of ideas"....
From Opinion Journal's Best of the Web:
Pick up the New York Times 32 years later, and it's obvious that big-city liberals are as out of touch as ever. "Some New Yorkers, like Meredith Hackett, a 25-year-old barmaid in Brooklyn, said they didn't even know any people who had voted for President Bush," reports the paper's Joseph Berger in a Metro section story on New Yorkers who are "disconsolate" over President Bush's re-election:
"Everybody seems to hate us these days," said Zito Joseph, a 63-year-old retired psychiatrist. "None of the people who are likely to be hit by a terrorist attack voted for Bush. But the heartland people seemed to be saying, 'We're not affected by it if there would be another terrorist attack.' " . . .
"I'm saddened by what I feel is the obtuseness and shortsightedness of a good part of the country--the heartland," Dr. Joseph said. "This kind of redneck, shoot-from-the-hip mentality and a very concrete interpretation of religion is prevalent in Bush country--in the heartland."
"New Yorkers are more sophisticated and at a level of consciousness where we realize we have to think of globalization, of one mankind, that what's going to injure masses of people is not good for us," he said.
It's the same story in John Kerry's hometown, as the Boston Globe, a Times sister paper, reports:
Jessica Johnson, 59, of Cambridge, who said she had volunteered for Kerry, said she was filled with optimism on Election Day, telling herself: ''When Kerry gets into the White House, this stone, this weight on my chest, will be lifted."
''He could have made a great president," Johnson said. ''Many Americans have nothing between their ears. Americans are fat, lazy, and stupid. I don't like this country anymore."
Notwithstanding the state's history on the presidential stage, some Bay Staters seemed surprised by Kerry's defeat. ''He's local. It's too bad," said David Griffith, manager of Destination Boston, a Hub-themed T-shirt and sweatshirt emporium at Quincy Market. Displaying a shirt featuring photos of President Bush and his father with the words ''Dumb & Dumber," Griffith remarked in some bafflement: ''We sold hundreds of these, and yet he still pulled it off."
The Times also quotes Beverly Camhe, a film producer, who "explained the habits and beliefs of those dwelling in the heartland like an anthropologist":
"What's different about New York City is it tends to bring people together and so we can't ignore each others' dreams and values and it creates a much more inclusive consciousness," she said. "When you're in a more isolated environment, you're more susceptible to some ideology that's imposed on you."
As an example, Ms. Camhe offered the different attitudes New Yorkers may have about social issues like gay marriage.
"We live in this marvelous diversity where we actually have gay neighbors," she said. "They're not some vilified unknown. They're our neighbors."
But she said that a dichotomy of outlooks was bad for the country.
"If the heartland feels so alienated from us, then it behooves us to wrap our arms around the heartland," she said. "We need to bring our way of life, which is honoring diversity and having compassion for people with different lifestyles, on a trip around the country."
Angry Left blogger Eric Alterman sums up the attitude:
Let's face it. It's not Kerry's fault. It's not Nader's fault (this time). It's not the media's fault (though they do bear a heavy responsibility for much of what ails our political system). It's not "our" fault either. The problem is just this: Slightly more than half of the citizens of this country simply do not care about what those of us in the "reality-based community" say or believe about anything.
Who exactly is parochial here? Times columnist Thomas Friedman offers this observation:
This was not an election. This was station identification. I'd bet anything that if the election ballots hadn't had the names Bush and Kerry on them but simply asked instead, "Do you watch Fox TV or read The New York Times?" the Electoral College would have broken the exact same way.
We're guessing he's wrong about this; despite the Times' pretensions to being a national newspaper, it seems likely that Kerry states outside the Northeast have more Fox viewers than Times readers. But even so, Bush supporters are hardly lacking exposure to the liberal media: the broadcast networks, stories from news wires and syndicates (including the Times') in their local newspapers, Hollywood movies, etc. Red-state residents may disdain Kerry as much as blue-staters do Bush, but we'd venture to say the former have a better-informed view of the opposition.
Bush voters tend to see big-city liberals as arrogant elitists, and the above quotes make clear that they are substantially correct. If those liberals were as sophisticated and open-minded as they fancy themselves to be, they would make an effort to understand why most Americans disagree with them rather than simply dismissing them as idiots.
This sums it up
This article sums it up. It is so ironic that the most insular and narrowminded people are the ones accusing the rest of the country of being narrowminded and insular. It is like some wierd lefty cult. How many walking cliches are there out there. Here is my favorite excerpt:
Down the coast in Santa Monica, another place often referred to as a people's republic, the mood was no better. A man named Jerry Peace Activist Rubin sat in his stockings in his dark apartment, flummoxed and disoriented, taking condolence calls from well-wishers and rank-and-file left-wingers.
Mr. Rubin is the real-deal California liberal - part-time vegetarian, cat lover, sensitive to cigarette smoke. He says he has never owned a car, never had a credit card or a driver's license; he lists peace activist as his occupation.
Mr. Rubin had been convinced that after four years of the Bush presidency, the country would come around and see things as he and other far-left coasters see them.
Instead, he admitted with bitterness, the election appeared not to be a repudiation of Mr. Bush's foreign and economic policies, but rather values associated with hippies, gay activists, atheists and double-latte liberals who populate his city and many others on the lip of the Pacific Ocean.
"Maybe I'm on the wrong side of the culture war," Mr. Rubin said.
October 26, 2004
Miller's view of the Senate
From The National Review my friend John Miller is prediciting a two seat gain by the Republicans. I sure hope so. I would like to see the majorities in both houses increase. Especially since the election looks close.
Don't forget to buy John's great book Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's Disastrous Relationship with France
October 24, 2004
Bad ideas pt. 2
Is this really a great idea? Influencing a country's election indirectly is one thing. Advocating assassination and voter intimidation is another.
October 18, 2004
More from the Miller front.
John is interviewed in Frontpage Magazine about Our Oldest Enemy
Hat tip to Dhimmi Watch
Run Amy Run
My friend John Miller and his wife Amy made it into today's Washington Times.
Church campaigner
"My wife went totally Catholic on me this morning — not an inappropriate thing, when you consider that it's Sunday and we were leaving Mass," John J. Miller writes in the Corner, a daily blog compiled by contributors at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com).
"Now, you need to understand a couple things. First, Amy is not a very confrontational person (except when I forget to do the dishes). She certainly isn't confrontational with strangers. She's also a hard-core pro-lifer. So it really got her Irish up (as we say around the Miller household) to see a lady passing out Kerry-Edwards bumpers stickers on church property," Mr. Miller said.
"At Amy's urging, I rolled down the window and offered a few choice words. But then Amy insisted that we turn around and tell the priest. So we did, and he marched out and asked Kerry's minion not to harass his parishioners after Mass on church grounds. She refused. Our priest didn't have time to bicker — there was another Mass to give, and more unborn children to pray for — and so he left the scene. Then we told the Kerry lady that she really ought to leave because of Kerry's views on issues vital to the Catholic Church. She told us she respected our views and didn't budge.
"It seems to me that if you disobey a Catholic priest's request to quit pamphleteering after Mass on church property, then no, you don't respect Catholic views."
October 10, 2004
Email from my friend John Miller
Hello,
This Tuesday is the official publication date for my book, Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's Disastrous Relationship with France.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385512198/qid=1088332584/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-7485360-0654400?v=glance&s=books
The first big promotional event is Monday night, when I'm scheduled to be a guest on The O'Reilly Factor. The show is an hour long and starts at 8 pm EST. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be on. Check it out if you have a chance.
Also, I've set up a website for the book. New postings on French perfidy are added each day.
http://www.oldestenemy.com/
--JJM
The Fox appearance was later postponed.
September 27, 2004
So I guess it was a Chinese assault bb-gun?
Kerry has backed away from the claim that the favorite gun he owns is a Chinese assault rifle.
From nytimes.com:
No Assault Rifle for Kerry, After All
By JODI WILGOREN
Senator John Kerry's campaign said yesterday that Mr. Kerry did not own a Chinese assault rifle, as he was quoted as saying in Outdoor Life magazine, but a single-bolt-action military rifle, blaming aides who filled out the magazine's questionnaire on his behalf for the error.
Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the campaign, said Mr. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, owns two guns, a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun and the rifle, which Mr. Meehan said Mr. Kerry "keeps as a relic" and had never fired. Mr. Meehan said the gun had no make or model markings on it and that Mr. Kerry "got it from a friend years ago," adding that such rifles were first manufactured in Russia more than 100 years ago and were used by the North Koreans and the Vietcong.
The clarification came in response to an article yesterday in The New York Times quoting Mr. Kerry's response to a question by Outdoor Life: "What is your favorite gun?"
"My favorite gun is the M-16 that saved my life and that of my crew in Vietnam," said Mr. Kerry, a veteran, according to the October issue. "I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle."
Though the comment was presented by Outdoor Life as part of an "exclusive interview with the two presidential candidates," four pages that included many long, conversational answers using first-person pronouns, Mr. Meehan said Mr. Kerry's portions were written by his staff. A public relations representative for Outdoor Life did not respond to a message seeking comment.
September 25, 2004
Ask the pilot
I hadn't seen the Ask the Pilot column on Salon.com before. I found out about it because I saw their associated book at the book store.
Amazon also popped up another flying related book that looks good. Window Seat.
I got a reply at least...
The reply from WGCL to my email:
WGCL will continue to be attentive to your concerns regarding recent
reports by Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes. The
complete CBS statement and an apology by Dan Rather can be found at
www.cbs46.com. We understand your concern and your belief that CBS
should take additional action. Although we will forward your comments
along to CBS, you may also call 212-975-3247 to voice your concerns or
send them via e-mail to audsvcs@cbs.com.
Most recent, CBS News statement:
60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY had full confidence in the original report or it
would not have aired. However, in the wake of serious and disturbing
questions that came up after the broadcast, CBS News has done extensive
additional reporting in an effort to confirm the documents'
authenticity. Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the
documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic
standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used
them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret. Nothing is more
important to us than our credibility and keeping faith with the millions
of people who count on us for fair, accurate, reliable, and independent
reporting. We will continue to work tirelessly to be worthy of that
trust.
Thank you for contacting us and sharing your concern about these
reports. WGCL has made every effort to respond to all inquiries
regarding these reports and we hope you will consider remaining a
valuable viewer to WGCL.
WGCL Program Department 404-327-3192
September 24, 2004
A letter to CBS
Here is the letter I wrote to my local CBS affiliate:
"I have been a viewer of WGCL 46 and CBS's news programs. I have been watching CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes for years. I regret that I will no longer be able to watch any news programs on WGCL until Dan Rather and Mary Mapes no longer work at CBS News, and a full apology has been issued (not the half hearted apology already issued). They have abused the trust that I and the rest of the public have put in them. They have either accepted as fact documents of dubious origin out of incompetence, or they accepted them for ideological reasons. Either case is unacceptable.
You can also see it on The Corner.
September 15, 2004
Bathists testing WMD?
Captain's Quarter has written about a story from Germany about Syria testing chemical weapons in Darfur, Sudan. This is really worrying. As if shooting, stabbing, and raping wasn't enough. As Colin Powell declares genocide and calls for action, the Europeans declare a commision and call for study.
September 12, 2004
Russia moves to "New Europe"
According to Kedwards and the rest of the left we are alone on the precipice. Well it looks like we have room for one more. I have a great idea. Let the Islamists keep attacking Europe. Maybe the rest of them will wake up. Radical Islam is a danger on a par with communism. Their only goal is to destroy the west.
September 07, 2004
What is a euphamism for obfuscation?
A great story from Dhimmiwatch about the euphamisms the media is using instead of terrorist for the Beslan Bastages. Some of them are:
Assailants - National Public Radio.
Attackers – the Economist.
Bombers – the Guardian.
Captors – the Associated Press.
Commandos – Agence France-Presse refers to the terrorists both as "membres du commando" and "commando."
Criminals - the Times (London).
Extremists – United Press International.
Fighters – the Washington Post.
Group – the Australian.
Guerrillas: in a New York Post editorial.
Gunmen – Reuters.
Hostage-takers - the Los Angeles Times.
Insurgents – in a New York Times headline.
Kidnappers – the Observer (London).
Militants – the Chicago Tribune.
Perpetrators – the New York Times.
Radicals – the BBC.
Rebels – in a Sydney Morning Herald headline.
Separatists – the Christian Science Monitor.
And my favorite:
Activists – the Pakistan Times.
September 02, 2004
Bin Laden 'Saddened by Incivility' of Republican Convention
From Scrappleface
(2004-09-02) -- A spokesman for Usama bin Laden today said the revered Muslim leader was "saddened by the incivility" of the speakers at this week's Republican National Convention.
"We're hearing a lot of anger and bitterness," said the unnamed al Qaeda source. "Mr. bin Laden is chagrined at the provincial thinking and partisan spirit of Vice President Cheney, Senator Zell Miller and others. It makes one want to reach out and hug them and share with them the peace we have found in Allah."
The reclusive philanthropist, who has raised millions of dollars for Muslim causes worldwide, plans to watch tonight's speech by President George Bush.
Mr. bin Laden is said to hold out hope that "President Bush will strike a more conciliatory, sensitive tone and paint a picture of global harmony based on our shared values."
I always have to look twice at bloglines when I see a scrappleface headline.
August 31, 2004
Great article by David Brooks
I read an article in last Sunday's NY Times Magazine. It really floored me. This was a well thought out article. I haven't seen the state and future of the Republicans stated so well.
August 22, 2004
Amy's take on the Hate America First crowd
Amy is in the UK and comments on the kneejerk Eurofantile need to hate america. She references an article in The Guardian that sums it all up.
August 19, 2004
NPR Special on the middle east.
NPR is running a series named "The Middle East and the West". Itis an examination of western involvement in the Middle East. I am curious to listen in. This was recomended by a friend.
August 18, 2004
Indian outsourcing endangers lives
From the Guardian
Patients' lives are being put at risk because letters from hospital doctors are being sent to secretaries in India to be typed and returned to GPs with mistakes, it was claimed today.
In one example, the drug Lansoprazole, used to treat stomach ulcers, was transcribed as the popular holiday resort Lanzarote, in another case, a "below knee amputation" became "baloney amputation".
This is bad in so many ways.....
August 17, 2004
Charles Krauthammer
A moving article on stem cell research by Charles Krauthammer. He discusses his own paralysis and how it impacts his views on SCR.
When I was 22 and a first-year medical student, I suffered a spinal-cord injury. I have not walked in 32 years. I would be delighted to do so again. But not at any price. I think it is more important to bequeath to my son a world that retains a moral compass, a world that when unleashing the most powerful human discovery since Alamogordo — something as protean, elemental, powerful and potentially dangerous as the manipulation and re-formation of the human embryo — recognizes that lines must be drawn and fences erected.
I think stem cell therapies might be a great thing IF they pan out. We shouldn't throw our morals out the window to pursue it at all costs.
August 12, 2004
Which of these is true?
There are two conflicting stories out about Tivo. The first referenced on Lost Remote is from Businessweek and talks about "A Murkier Picture for TiVo". The second is from Business2.0 via pvrblog. It paints a rosier picture of how the Strangeberry acquisition will fortify tivo's leadership position. I hope it is true. I love my tivo.
I love google news alerts
I have set up several google news alerts. I added one yesterday for "t. r. reid" and it came back today with a story he did on Japanese Celebrate Month of Fireworks.
I didn't know npr was included as a source. This is just too handy. I also watch for news on Neil Boortz and Alton Brown.
July 02, 2004
Bill Cosby is very couragous
From the Washington Post
Bill Cosby delivered another tirade against the black community Thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere."
He also had harsh words for struggling black men, telling them: "Stop beating up your women because you can't find a job.".
Other quotes:
"Let me tell you something, your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other [racial epithets] as they're walking up and down the street," Cosby said during an appearance at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund's annual conference.
"They think they're hip," the entertainer said. "They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere."
And finally:
"For me there is a time . . . when we have to turn the mirror around," he said. "Because for me it is almost analgesic to talk about what the white man is doing against us. And it keeps a person frozen in their seat, it keeps you frozen in your hole you're sitting in."
He also chastised black men who missed out on opportunities and are now angry about their lives.
"You've got to stop beating up your women because you can't find a job, because you didn't want to get an education and now you're [earning] minimum wage," Cosby said.
He is making some people very nervous. I applaud him though. I must be hard to say. There are many legitimate areas of complaint about racism in this country, but it is also used as an excuse for a lot of people. At some point you have to give it 100% and try to rise above it. The key to this is education. Without that nothing else can follow. I understand where the anti-education subculture in the black community comes from. I know that some of it is a vestige of slavery, and also not wanting to be seen as selling out to THE MAN. It will take Cosby and many others standing up to change this.
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
Will Durant (1885 - 1981)
"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action."
(Herbert Spencer)
"What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul."
(Joseph Addison)
January 25, 2004
Minor scandal in the UK starting to bubble
I have been following a scandal over troop preparedness in the UK. It started when the widow a soldier who had died in Gulf War 2 published his audio diaries. It seems the British Army was sent into to battle without a full compliment of things like NBC gear, flak jackets, etc. Mrs. Roberts and others have not let Minister Hoon rest. He appears to be on the way out.
Other details at:
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=103354&command=displayContent&sourceNode=103331&contentPK=8588398
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=92542004
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=89602004
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/22/nirq122.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/01/22/ixhome.html
Iranian defector implicates Iran in 9/11
Iran continues to pop up to number one on the Regime Change top 10. iranfilter.com has a post to an article that quotes a defector as saying Iran was involved in 9/11. My concern would be that we believed a multitude of lies from Iraqi defectors. I wonder if it was true, and which al Queda operatives are in Iran as we speak.
January 23, 2004
Just who is an African-American anyway?
An interesting article on metafilter.com about a South African student who won the "Distinguished African-American Student" award in his Nebraska high school. The school then cracked down on the students that put up posters championing him for the award. Don't words mean anything? He is technically an African-American. If they wanted the award to go to black students then they should have specified that.
January 22, 2004
Deutchland reacts!
An interesting take on Bush's State of the Onion.
Iran electoral crisis progresses
It appears that the guardian councils token inclusion of 200 additional reform candidates didn't placate the reformers. Further resignations are being threatened. I just wonder if Khatami will have the guts to back all this or will he talk a good game and back down.
January 21, 2004
Next target?
Is this the pretext we are going to use to move from Iraq to Iran? We are already having enough trouble with this Shia. I know most Iranians are longing for freedom, but would they welcome the US? I know there are fewer and fewer that remember the Shaws dungeons and secret police.
January 19, 2004
Georgia, sweet Georgia
What is it about dog fights? The violence or the people who enjoy it?
Reminds me of the old saw:
It's not just drugs, but the people you have to hang out with when you do them.
January 15, 2004
Sean Penn Redux
Sean Penn has revisited Iraq. It is nice to see how his opinions have has evolved. I originally thought he was a Useful Idiot, but I might have to reconsider. This was actually a fairly balanced piece.
December 30, 2003
Col. West's defense
How to contribute to Lt. Col. Allen B. West's defense fund. Col. West, as many of you know, was fined $5,000 last week for firing his weapon twice to scare an Iraqi detainee. Col. West says he resorted to the tactic only to force the Iraqi to fess up about a planned ambush. The colonel already had been the target of one assassination attempt.
Here's the address: The Allen West Defense Fund, c/o Angela West, 6823 Coleman Road, Fort Hood, TX 76544.
November 14, 2003
This occupation will fail!
You are rubber....
We are violent, they are cockroaches. We are both getting awfully fat.
November 04, 2003
Boy he miscalculated!
Haven't they figured out yet that President Bush means what he says. A certain ex-dictator of Iraq didn't think so. Neither apparently did France or Russia. I guess they will learn someday.
Expatriatism
I have thought from time to time about decamping and becoming an expatriate. It is not for lack of love for the US. I just think it would be neat to live in another country for a time. To make you appreciate what you have here.
More on energy policy
The big problem with the coming hydrogen economy is the pumping and storage technology. It will take a huge effort to replace the gasoline infrastructure.
I hope that hydrogen cars do happen in the future but there are many hurdles to conquer. We need to focus on as a national priority like we did the in the afformentioned apollo mission.
Vietnam II?
An interesting article about Vietnam after Tet, and how this relates to Iraq. I was unaware of the post-Westmorland changes, and how the Paris peace accords undermined South Vietnam.
an excerpt from the article:
Tet represents another, less widely understood, turning point in the Vietnam War. Soon after the offensive, Gen. Westmoreland was replaced as the U.S. commander by Creighton W. Abrams, with a notable change in U.S. strategy and tactics. The contrast of the two eras is pregnant with lessons for the far smaller guerrilla war in Iraq.
"More troops" was Gen. Westmoreland's first request from Vietnam, and also his last one. He sought to take the battle to the enemy, with "search and destroy" missions intended to find the major enemy units hiding in the jungle hills. It was a war of attrition, using superior U.S. firepower to destroy the enemy's forces faster than he could replace them. But the scale of the Tet assaults was scarcely encouraging.
"More troops" was Gen. Westmoreland's first request from Vietnam, and also his last one. He sought to take the battle to the enemy, with "search and destroy" missions intended to find the major enemy units hiding in the jungle hills. It was a war of attrition, using superior U.S. firepower to destroy the enemy's forces faster than he could replace them. But the scale of the Tet assaults was scarcely encouraging.
Under Gen. Abrams, "search and destroy" was replaced by "clear and hold." This is recorded in "A Better War," by Lewis Sorley, who notes that most of the histories of Vietnam pretty much skip the post-1968 period. Abrams put emphasis not on attrition but on the security of the local population, and the training of the South Vietnamese who would continue the fighting as Americans left.
The success of these programs was tested by the Easter Offensive of 1972. Some 200,000 North Vietnamese troops attacked on three fronts. U.S. ground troop withdrawals continued as scheduled, but President Nixon ordered heavy air and naval retaliation, including the mining of North Vietnamese ports. With this air support, the South Vietnamese army repelled the invasion. The North Vietnamese lost half of their attacking force and half of their tanks and artillery. The legendary Vo Nguyen Giap was quietly removed from command of the Northern armies.
Three years later the North had recovered sufficient strength to repeat the offensive. But by then the Paris peace accords had been signed, with U.S. prisoners returned at the cost of allowing Hanoi to infiltrate military units in the south. With Watergate, Congress had passed the Case-Church Amendment forbidding military involvement in Southeast Asia. Sen. Edward Kennedy passed a $266 million cut in supplemental spending for Vietnam, and funds were slashed for the coming year. Counter-insurgency expert Sir Robert Thompson remarked, "perhaps the major lesson of the Vietnam War is: do not rely on the United States as an ally."
Three years later the North had recovered sufficient strength to repeat the offensive. But by then the Paris peace accords had been signed, with U.S. prisoners returned at the cost of allowing Hanoi to infiltrate military units in the south. With Watergate, Congress had passed the Case-Church Amendment forbidding military involvement in Southeast Asia. Sen. Edward Kennedy passed a $266 million cut in supplemental spending for Vietnam, and funds were slashed for the coming year. Counter-insurgency expert Sir Robert Thompson remarked, "perhaps the major lesson of the Vietnam War is: do not rely on the United States as an ally."
This time the South Vietnamese got no assistance from the U.S. and fell before an assault by 20 tank-led divisions. Some million refugees took to the seas as "the boat people." After the loss of Iran and some trying times in Europe, the U.S. elected Ronald Reagan, who revived the American military and faced the Communists down at Reykjavik. The Communist empire fell after all, and Vietnam goes down as a lost battle in a successful campaign.
Wanted! Apollo project for energy.
We need to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Both because of the foreign policy and the environmental pitfalls inherent. We need to fund a massive project looking at fusion, biodiesel, solar, wind, or turkey guts.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=8770 for a good article about the Martha's vineyard NIMBY wind power hypocrites.
November 03, 2003
More proof we can polarize the Muslim world
Please read "Feeling under attack, Arabs turn to Islam for answers" from the Christian Science Monitor. It reconfirms my thoughts about the war against terror. We must be careful how we treat the neutral parties in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must also be mindful how our role in the Middle East effects public perceptions.
Is health care a right?
This article speaks to my Libertarian side. Why is it your employer, or the government's responsibility to provide you with health insurance? I think that if this were each individuals responsibility then the system would work better.
The MSA and catastrophic health insurance appeals to me.
November 02, 2003
Newton's third law in the Holy Land.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is Newton's third law. Israel may be hurting themselves more than helping themselves with thier reactions to terror. This is a position I had not fully considered. How does it apply to our occupation work in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am not sure.
I understand the impulse to destroy in retaliation for the suicide attacks. I think there is a place for retaliation, but I can never tell how much is too much.
October 30, 2003
Why is this a national news story?
Why is the ongoing victimizaion of Elizabeth Smart a national story. Add this to all the other exploitation and schadenfrede stories the media trots out to stir suburban angst (JonBennet, etc). There are three patterns:
1. Child kidnapped, molested, killed
2. Wife kidnapped, raped, killed
3. Family killed by insane husband.
There is no reason for these types of stories to make national news.
Wreckage of a classic
Another NY Times article grabbed my attention. This time an article about Penn station and it's wreckage. I am fascinated by the remnants of buildings, and vestiges of past cityscapes. It kills me that this McKim, Mead & White glory was demolished for the toilet that is there now.
Ian walks..
Ian has started walking with a vengance this week. I will have to post a picture. He is so cute. I have forgotten how cute Alexa was at this stage. He is now trying to climb the stairs with reckless abandon.
ID theft center to open this spring
from clarkhoward.com
Identity theft has been on the radar screen of the Clark Howard Show for about seven years. The number of ID theft calls has steadily increased, but listeners dont hear the half of it. We get calls from people who have ended up in jail more than once, and its gotten more and more ugly. The biggest problem has been that banks, credit card companies and retailers dont care and havent made ID theft a priority. So, consumers have been helpless to stop it. But now, under enormous pressure from the FBI, something is finally happening. The financial services industry is setting up the Identity Theft Assistance Center. They are hiring staff members now and it will be operating in the spring. The center will act as a one-call-does it-all system, when you have your identity is stolen. Right now, when your identity is stolen, you the victim must contact everyone to get your identity back. Now,
it will take just one phone call and the center will handle all of those contacts. We still have a long way to go, but this is a huge step in the right direction. Clark has to give kudos to the banking industry, regardless of how it came about. There should be a national standard for how to deal with identity theft, and the financial industry is taking the first step. Retailers need to step up to the plate next. Then well really be getting somewhere with this problem.
Columbia's fiery fall.
A great article in this month's Atlantic Monthly about the destruction of the Columbia. It is written by William Langewiesche who also wrote the great article about Egypt Air 990.
Japanese must chill...
The irony in this story is great. The Japanese are now trying to imitate us after all those years of the USA trying to turn into Asian Tigers. The homogenity of Japanese society is now working against it.