The Noble Pundit

This Is A Pretty Cool Site

Just as I was getting ready to shut the computer off for the night I went over and took a look at my referrer logs. In them I found a really cool new (for me at least) site: the World as a Blog.

It shows the location (for geolocated blogs) of the latest posts to weblogs.com. It's fascinating to just sit there and watch the little blips coming up from all over as new posts are made.

It looks like it could be quite the interesting timewaster. Go over and take a look!

Blogging Advice

The evil, subversive Commissar of the Politboro Diktat has developed a new Unified Theory of Blogging.

As usual, the commissar does an excellent job of summing things up by pointing out such points as you can drive traffic by using words such as Paris Hilton, rack, Janet Jackson, sex, or porn (images also work well for this last one).

If you're less inclined to take such drastic measures, he also has some good advice for the intellectual bloggers.

Well worth the time to go and read if you're interested, although I do have to take exception to "sex sells": I still have yet to get a single Google, Yahoo, or MSN Search hit for "Turkish lesbian," even though I mentioned the phrase couple of weeks ago. You would think that someone would have had some kind of weird fetish by now....

But do go over and take a look. The Commissar has do a great service for the blogging community.

The Sign Said "Dead End!"

Courtesy of Dean Esmay.

This is too funny to watch until you realize just how much force there was at impact and that the wall didn't break.

I can just hear the driver, "I know it said 'dead end' but trust me. I know a shortcut this way. We just speed along this road and...uh, oh. This is gonna hurt...."

"The White Man's Burden" - Our National Burden

Today, my father loaned me his copy of the complete poetic works of Rudyard Kipling. He also flagged a number of pieces for me to read. One of them was "The White Man's Burden." As I was reading it, even though it was written in 1899, a number of much more modern images flashed through my head. I thought that I might indulge to share what I saw, as best I can.

"The White Man's Burden"

Take up the White Man's burden-


  Send forth the best ye breed-
Go bind your sons to exile-


  To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness
  On fluttered folk and wild-
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,


  Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man's burden-


  In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror


  And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,


  An hundred times made plain.


To seek another's profit,


  And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden-


  The savage wars of peace-


Fill full the mouth of Famine


And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest


  The end for others sought,


Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
  Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden-


  No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper-


  The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
  The roads ye shall not tread,


Go make them with your living,


  And mark them with your dead!

Take up the White Man's burden-


  And reap his old reward:


The blame of those ye better,


  The hate of those ye guard-
The cry of hosts ye humour
  (Ah, slowly!) toward the light:-
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
  "Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden-


  Ye dare not stoop to less-
Nor call too loud on Freedom
  To cloak your weariness;
But all ye cry and whisper,
  But all ye leave and do,
The silent, sullen peoples
  Shall weigh your Gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden-
  Have done with childish days-
The lightly proffered laurel,
  The easy ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
  Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,


  The judgement of your peers!

After having read through the poem, I came to the conclusion that the only thing that has really changed since it was written is that the White Man's burden became America's collective burden, as evidenced by the last photo. Black, white, red, brown or whatever you might be, the burden of being American will also fall to thee.

It is our national burden.

Poetry Time!

Opinion Journal printed another Kipling poem today that has some relevance given the events of last weekend:

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:--
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to says:--

"We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!"

Now that I have a real job, when I get some money saved up, I think I'm going to have to go out and buy a complete collection of Kipling's poetry.

And to think that I generally dislike poetry....

"Or Glow In The Dark"

Via Dean's World

In the comments for Stephen Green's post on Impure Thoughts, there is a priceless quote.

Referring to the quote "Live free or die" a gentleman named Joe says:

Ultimatly it will be: Live free or glow in the dark.

The element of the day is cobalt (60)

Too funny.

I Did Not Need To Find This

Via Dean's World.

Well, the last thing I needed to find was Victor Davis Hanson's website. I just finished reading Ripples of Battle (a thouroughly interesting book, I must say).

Now I just got to make sure that I don't spend too much time on his site....

A Neat Little Site

Kind of interesting. I can now find out about other bloggers in the same general area.

Via: The Commissar at the Poliboro Diktat

Cool Pic

From NavLog.org where it was captioned: "How's This For Flying?"

Recipe For Success?

A wonderful quote from a spam mail I got overnight last night:

"Good afternoon. To swear off making mistakes is very easy. All you have to do is to swear off having ideas."

Well that certainly sounds a brilliant recipe for sucess now doesn't it?

Morons.

A Family In Need

The Esmay's over at Dean's World are having a hell of a time right now. They are good people, and I can certainly understand the desire to try to find whatever means are available to help improve the quality of life for their pet. I've been there. I know how strong that bond can be.

Go over and do what you can. Give 'em emotional support or financial. But let them know that they're important.

They Must Be Out To Turn Me Against Them

I've been saying for a while now that I'm am generally for a form of legalized gay civil union (and I'll admit that I sometimes lapse into incorrectly using the term marriage instead of civil union. There is a fine distinction and I believe that it is important to maintain that distinction). First we had the Massachusettes Supreme Court decision that I found offensive because of the way it was handed down. Now we have the mayor of San Francisco defiantly and willfully violating California state law to "marry" gay couples. This is really starting to go to far....

There is no excusable reason for the mayor of a city to deliberately violate state law. He may not agree with the law. He may even believe that it violates a portion of the State Constitution. But until a court rules on the Constitutionality of the law, it is his responsibility to uphold the law as written. The mayoral office is in the executive branch. In our system of government, and even that used in San Francisco, it is the responsibility of the executive branch to uphold the will of the people, as expressed through the legislative bodies, until such time as the judiciary determines that a law violates the Supreme law of the state or the nation.

Now in the system of checks and balances, I can see a real and justified reason for the executive branch to fail to enforce a law, for instance one that requires the summary execution of all three foot tall, one armed black, jewish, American Indians whose mother hailed from any South American country ending with "-zil."

But this isn't a failure of enforcement. This is open defiance. This is a usurption of the legislative and judicial functions of government. It is the Imperial Mayorship.

I also believe that it should be grounds for his immediate removal from office. If the mayor is allowed to openly flaunt the law, why should there be any expectation that anyone else would obey any law either?

The precedents being set in both Massachusettes and now San Francisco are deeply disturbing. In both cases the will of the people, as legally expresssed through our elected representatives is being discarded or ignored by other branches of government that happen to find it distasteful. Our government is one of the people, by the people and for the people. Or least it was.

Now it seems, the people don't matter.

We're becoming more faced with this question every day: are we the government as the by, of and for would indicate or are we now the simply the subjects of a benevolent tyranny?

Viruses, Spyware, & Such

I've been sick the last couple of days, so I've been using the extra time at home to continue my quest to clean up my computer.

I found something interesting with the online virus scanners that Venomous Kate had on her site. I used the House Call scanner, and while it did not find any viruses, it did find another malware program that both AdAware and SpyBot missed JS_FORTNIGHT. I also found (I think) another malware program that was making my system absolutely unstable tatss.exe. This thing was opening Internet Explorer sessions independently. It also was consuming resources until the system would finally get to a point where you could not use the Start Menu for anything - including shutting down. Again, nothing was catching it.

I also went and downloaded a registry checker from Cnet.com and downloaded TuneUp Utilities 2003, which ended up finding almost 1000 invalid registry entries - along with bringing to my attention three other spyware and malware programs that I wasn't finding any other way.

This adventure in computer cleaning is absolutely eye-opening. All it took was one trip to the wrong website and over a month later I'm still trying to clean it up, while still keeping out the new additions.

I've worked my way down to one more program that I can't track down and that doesn't show up in Google searches. Whatever it is works similarly to tatss.exe opening webistes without my input. It goes specifically to http://69.20.62.53/yyy(x).html where the (x) is a number between one and five. Whatever is doing this is my last, great obsession. I have to figure out how to get it removed. I know that it is hosted by a hosting company called Rackspace out of San Antonio, but that doesn't exactly do a whole lot to help me eliminate the auto-open feature.

UPDATE:

It looks like the last program was (fingers and toes are still crossed!) Look2me which attaches itself as a subprocess of Explorer (not Internet Explorer) which makes it almost impossible to remove. SpyBot and AdAware have both told me that they removed it in the past, but apparently it didn't work. Follow the instructions found here if you find that this abomination is torturing you also.

Question About BlogAds

I'm thinking about adding BlogAds to the site. Does anyone have any feedback on them? Good, bad, indifferent. I'd just like to hear some independent feedback before I sign up and start selling out. :-)

Sometimes There Is A Small Smidgeon Of Justice

A few weeks ago I briefly mentioned a creep whom I was slightly acquainted with who nearly beat a man to death down in Jupiter. Perusing the Palm Beach Post as I will looking for updates I found this little gem:

A man who was brutally beaten outside a Jupiter bar Jan. 13 has been upgraded from critical to fair condition at St. Mary's Medical Center...

Good news most certainly for the victim.

And then there was this:

Construction workers Darrel Blackman, 27, of Altamonte Springs and Geoffrey Simmons, 20, of Casselberry are being held without bail in the Palm Beach County Jail...

Good news for the rest of society.

So Jay Wants To Know

The other day, Jay Solo posed a question: which six blogs are the top ones you go to? It's a tough question, but here we go (in no particular order):

Dean Esmay
Electric Venom
On The Third Hand
Random Fate
Jay Solo
Insults Unpunished

There are others I also frequent: Allah is in the House, One Hand Clapping, The Happy Husband, and then a whole host or others that I check depending on their update status. Lately I've really been slacking due to having way been working way too much, but I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things.

I really find it interesting that I don't hit InstaPundit every day. Glenn was really the first blogger I read, but I guess I am just looking for a little more analysis and opinion any more. Odd really.

A Surprise!

When I first started this site, I swore to myself that I would never publish a photo of me online.

Well, I changed my mind. If you're so interested I am posting a photo of me enjoying one of my Christmas presents from my father.

I'm the one in the front seat.

A Morning Poetry Recitation

I've never been a big fan of poetry. I generally find it to be rather boring and stale. The other day while researching something, I came across one of Rudyard Kipling's poems, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, which I thought was pretty timeless in its point.

I apologize if you've read it before or are not interested in it for some reason. I think the message, dating from 1919, is so powerful that it doesn't hurt to remind people of it now and again.

A complete collection of Kipling's poetry can be found here.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I Make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place.
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Heading said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four --
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

* * * * *

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man --
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began --
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mice,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire --
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Perspective, Perspecive, Perspective

My dad was passing along some good emails today. Here's another that I though was interesting:

The next time you hear a politician use the words "billion" casually, think about whether you want that politician spending your tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases:

A billion seconds ago, it was 1959.

A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate Washington spends it.

And also:

The politicians are complaining about how long the war is taking but consider
this:

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation.

It took less time to find Saddam's sons in Iraq than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Teddy Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sunk at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!

That last one is a bit of an embarassment, I must confess. But I'll just go along happily blaming it on the folks in Palm Beach County (Look! A common theme for tonight! Palm Beach County!)

A Banner Day For Law Enforcement

Yesterday was apparently a banner day in the annals of law enforcement, particularly here in Florida. But let us first look at the latest request by the British police:

Police call for remote button to stop cars - Oh, yeah. This is a brilliant idea. What happens when the button falls into the wrong hands? How do we avoid inadvertent stoppage? It would give a very new and literal meaning to getting stopped by the cops, though.

And then, down in Naples:

Thief mistakenly hops into cop car - You just know that you're having a bad theiving day when you try to make your escape and the getaway driver is wearing a jacket that says "Sheriff." Just not a good experience, but still better than the next guy.

And a little closer to home (actually, about 4 miles from home):

Former inmate rejailed when picking up belongings - Remember, when you go to get your belongings from the jail after getting released on a DUI conviction in which your license was revoked for life, don't drive yourself. And most certainly don't drive yourself in a stolen car. I swear, there are some people that are simply too dense to be out on the streets.

Bush Derangement Syndrome

My uncle sent me a link to a pretty good Charles Krauthammer piece in the Miami Herald: Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Krauthammer points out some of the most egregious examples of folks wracked with this disorder and also points out how it has been around since the days of Cynthia McKinney and her "Bush knew" crusade.

It's really an excellent piece, exposing a few of the anti-Bush crowd for what they are: knee-jerk overreactionaries relying on the recycling of old rhetoric.(Hitler and Frankenstein? War in Iraq to protect the logging industry? Bush knew about 9/11?)

Give me a break. Come up with something new or admit to intellectual bankruptcy. Just don't keep trying to tell me that the horse is still alive.

America's Hottest Selling Video?

Well at least the spam is becoming a little different. Now I'm getting emails for Uday Hussein's Private Videos. I can see the girls, the parties, and, most importantly, the beatings. How exciting (right?)!

I have trouble believing that it is really America's Hottest Selling Video. I actually expect that it really falls somwhere behind the Girls Gone Wild series in popularity.

Guess it's time to autodelete the subject line Get Your U.day H.ussien Vid.eo Today.

Book Recommendations

OK, I've spent most of the afternoon so far revamping my page of book recommendations (what, you didn't know that I had such a thing? Didn't you ever look around my other site, Noble Books & Ancient Coins?)

Well, the new page structure is basically up and running with most of the recommendations moved over. I've also added a new section for political books.

Please note that the books tend to be heavy towards ancient history, ancient Rome in particular because that is what the main subject is for my other site.

If I ever get adventerous, I may try to add a sitebar with rotating recommendations pulled from a database, but that's something for another day.

Also, in the event that you get a frame with a default logo (you'll know it when you see it. There is no picture of a book.), just hit the reload button and it should refresh and display the book without a problem.

If you have any questions or suggestions, email them to me at blog - at - cbnoble.com

Uh Oh, Santa Is Back

This was one of my favorite seasonal blogs last year, Ho Ho Holy Shit!

Looks like they're back for another year, but with the same bad attitude!

Warning: This probably isn't a work safe site. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Dean's Latest Special Interest Group

I got home too late tonight for doing any in depth, analytical posts, so go take a look at this photo of Dean's latest attempt to reach out to an underrepresented minority, found over at The Politburo Diktat

Happy Thanksgiving

A happy Thanksgiving to all. May your day be full of family, friends, and things to be thankful for.

All I Want For Christmas Is...

A monitor that works! I now have two computers and one working monitor after the second monitor in 6 months decided to let its power supply give up the ghost. I realize that the newest monitor I have was almost 6 years old, but this is ridiculous!

You listening Dad? 17" flat screen would be nice.... Or if you have an extra one laying around the house that works, I can pick it up tomorrow...

New Carnival Of The Capitalists Is Up!

Argggh! and double Argggh! I forgot to get in my entry for the seventh edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists hosted this week by Kevin at Truck and Barter.

Go over and take a look. It looks like this week's edition is one of the best yet!

I'm Still Here!

Don't worry! I'm still alive, sort of.

Today was a mess of a day. I was up until about 1 last night due to one of the kids ending up in the ER. Our outstanding local hospital sent her home saying that they didn't want to do an ultrasound there (she has a lump forming in her chest), but that she would be better served by seeing her doctor and having him write a referral for the procedure (which in normal circumstances will push the actual test back a couple of weeks). In the meantime, today the lump got larger, so she has a doctor's appointment at 9:45 tomorrow and hopefully we can get this ball rolling a little quicker, m'kay?

On top of that, today was also my first day at my new job! More money, better work environment, and a more focused job. I kind of felt like I did the first day I worked in the brokerage industry: questions and answers flying at me from all directions with me standing there in the middle trying to figure out what's going on. This job is requiring me to learn a new product (for me at least), billiard tables. I don't play pool. Before last week when I picked up the first brochures to start studying, I had absolutely no idea what to look for in a pool table. Today, one of my first phone calls was from a two-time female world champion billiard player. One of first questions: "Don't you know who I am?" My answer: "No ma'am, I can't say that I do. Sorry." That's rough. It did give my boss a good chuckle though.

Tomorrow should be a better day. Thursdays we're open til 7; Fridays until 6, so I should get home in time to do some reading and blogging before bed. I may also start trying to get a post up early in the morning since I don't have to get there until 10, but that'll have to wait until I figure out how long it's going to take me to get there.

A New Site For Me

Don't worry, this one isn't going away. Rather, I've decided to start a second blog site: Unofficial Orlando History Blog where I am going to try to build a site with photos, remembrances, and other stuff about the city in which I grew up and live.

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round

Michele at A Small Victory has a post about virtues of exploring the blogosphere through links and blogrolls.

I've got to admit that I was introduced to the blogosphere by a link from OpinionJournal.com to InstaPundit way back in 2000 while I was bored at work one day. From there I would click and click exploring from site to site, finding some good ones and finding some lame ones, but almost always finding something of interest. Several times along the way I almost started my own site, only to back away for one reason or another (usually having to do with concerns about the compliance department at my previous job). Finally in February of this year, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. And I've been exploring even more ever since (I just have to remember to link to more of the good posts I find. A downfall on my part.).

Go through links on some of those blogs and you will come upon entire worlds that you never knew existed. By following one link from one blog that you've never been to, you can be an explorer and discover that the depths of the blogosphere are much, much deeper than you ever imagined. You'll meet authors and artists, mothers and fathers, cops and lawyers, gamers and hackers, cooks and waitresses, humorists and essayists.

This is part of blogging I love the most, just going from site to site to see what interesting stuff is out there. My father also does the same thing and usually ends up finding sites that I had overlooked (Allah Is In The House is the most recent example). Between us, we have found sites and people we never would have known about otherwise. I believe that we are richer people for the experience.

So jump on the bus! Take some time to go exploring. You never know what you might find.

Supermarket Cards

Jay Solo has an interesting post "Please Don't Card Me" in which he discusses the pros and cons of the supermarket customer loyalty cards - and also why he doesn't like them.

I got to agree, they are a pain in the butt. Anything like the loyalty cards, where they demand an address and/or phone number (or a zip code) before I get some benefit, I'm going to screw around with. No one with one of those programs has the right address or phone number for me. The address I always give them is for a PO Box I closed a while back; the phone number is my old one, which has been changed - without a forwarding number being available. Stores that ask for zip codes? I usually tell them something along the lines of 33311 (a South Florida zip code). I figure that if they want to get real demographic information, they need to do some real work for it. Just because I buy a package of hot dog rolls from you does not mean that I want you to know where I live or my phone number. It simply means I wanted a hot dogs for dinner.

Go over and take a look at Jay's post. He hit most all of the upsides and downsides to these kind of loyalty programs. It is well worth the read.

Random Thought Of The Day

Found this on my desk when I got to work this morning. Too bad my boss didn't leave it for me, just happened to leave it lying around.

Like I said, too bad someone didn't leave this as a motivational message or some such thing.

A Little Odd Observation

So I'm going and researching something on google a few minutes ago and I came across a post on a discussion board with this heading:

Posted by lily on February 28, 19100 at 17:19:5219100? I think that this is the first actual example of a Y2K issue that I've seen.

To think I worked 17 days straight, 12 hours a day in anticipation of a complete technological meltdown and now, almost four years later, I see my first actual issue. And all it does is make the date look stupid.

Sheesh!

Posted by Chris at 08:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New Site: Blogs For Bush

There is a new site out there: Blogs for Bush. Rather than trying to describe it, I'll let Matt Margolis, one of the founders do it:

Blogs For Bush is a new online grassroots campaign dedicated to helping George W. Bush get reelected as President of the United States. With a year to the election there's a lot of work to be done to ensure that President Bush remains in office-keeping America on the right path to winning the war on terror, improving the economy, bettering education, and reforming health care in America.

With nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, we have witnessed despicable, unprecedented anti-Bush rhetoric, and virtually no policy initiatives. This is a sign not of viable candidates, but of desperate Democrats blinded by political ambition, and not guided by devotion to America's security and prosperity.

Blogs For Bush is a collaborative effort by individuals who want America to prosper under good leadership. The Democrats running for President have shown their inability to lead this country down the right path. Their juvenile finger-pointing and name-calling is behavior unbecoming of a President.

This website offers visitors commentary and analysis by a group of writers with varying backgrounds, hailing from around the United States. Blogs For Bush also hopes to organize blogs and websites dedicated to helping reelect George W. Bush and make them accessible in one place on the Internet. Visitors will also find other resources and information showing how to get involved in the Bush/Cheney '04 Campaign, and how to help Blogs For Bush reach as many people on the Internet as possible.

As the months pass, Blogs For Bush will hopefully continue to grow. We hope you will become a part of this effort and help reelect George W. Bush.

Go over and take a look. We're less than one year until the election. The time has come to start figuring out what's really going on with the candidates. Blogs for Bush is a good place to start.

Wanted: One Good Troll

I guess I still haven't quite come of age as a blogger, yet. I still don't have a good consistant troll. Oh I've had people try, but look at this latest attempt to a post I had over at SportsBlog:

Brock Berlin has to come to the realization that God nor Jesus cares one whit whether he throws for a touchdown or a first down or anything else about football! They also don't care if Sammy Sosa hits a home run! People are dying all over the world and in this country! In Iraq, Ethiopia, Tibet, China, etc.,etc. Does anyone think He really cares about sports? Can any of them really get real? Put the responsibility on where it really lies? Maybe themselves? Are they all nuts? Or is it me?

Applications for quality trolls are now being accepted in the comments section.

Carnival Of The Capitalists #4 Is Up

Carnival Of The Capitalists #4 is up over at Robert Prather's Insults Unpunished.

He's got 34 entries this week, all of which look great! Go over and take a look!

A Sign For Halloween Only

Stopped by a convience store to get a drink while I was out picking up lunch today. On the door they had a sign that could only work for Halloween:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see that working any other day. Unless maybe you're in a bad section of town.

Know why I remember it so well? It's because it made me feel pretty stupid. I completely forgot that it was Halloween at that point and the first thing to go through my head was: "That probably won't really help the robbery problem too much."

<sarcasm>I'm glad that there's no stress in my life!</sarcasm>

Caption This!

So what were these guys talking about?

Well That Wasted A Lot Of Time

Getting a late start on blogging tonight because, while perusing the latest over at Electric Venom, I came across a fairly addictive timewaster: Iraqi Blackjack. Oh well, better get started on the articles I found.

Supply, Demand, Price Controls, Economics, Etc.

While I had the honor of compiling this week's Carnival of the Capitalists, one of the articles that was submitted (by Jonathan Wilde of catallarchy.net) was an analysis of an article by Paul Krugman about a babysitting co-op in the Washington DC area.

Now Jonathan did an excellent analysis of the article itself, one that I wholeheartedly recommend reading, and I do not plan to recreate his wheel, as it were. Instead, I want to use the article to help illustrate how inflation and deflation are both vital to a healthy economic cycle.

The biggest flaw that I saw in the co-op's scheme was that of price controls. The value of the coupon was pegged at 1 hour of babysitting per coupon. Period. It did not vary upwards in times of great demand; it did not vary downward in times of little demand. Consequently, the only tool available to influence the "economy" was the size of the money supply, which is not entirely realistic.

Jonathan also pointed out that they coupons used in the co-op were not true money, as their use was limited. They could only be exchanged for other babysitting services. In doing full blown economic effectiveness analysis, this would be a significant factor hampering the extrapolability of the results, but for the discussion I want to have, this isn't really a factor.

Hypothetically, let's eliminate the price controls in the co-op and create a given coupon supply. The number of coupons is a fixed number and their par value (or issuing value) is, as it was in Krugman's article, 1 hour/coupon. Further, we're going to say that there is no banking mechanism, no issuance of additional scrip, and no "virtual" coupons. Every coupon is paper, there is no credit, and every transaction is paid immediately in scrip.

Now when the coupons are first issued, people will freely exchange them for 1 hour of babysitting, just as the par value indicates. But what happens as we head towards winter and people decide that they need to start saving coupons, perhaps in anticipation of the State of the Union? The demand for babysitting services naturally declines, but the demand for coupons is still there. So how can people acquire more coupons?

Well, we have already prevented the co-op from issuing more coupons, so the value of the coupon should naturally begin to deflate. Coupons should begin to be valued at say 2 hours per coupon, maybe more. Eventually, prices will drop enough (coupons will buy more hours per coupon) to begin to stimulate activity again. People who want to collect and hoard coupons will have them become available and people who maybe have more coupons than they really need or who want to spend more time going out will begin to use more of them as they see the value increase.

Eventually, though, the spenders will need more coupons and the service providers will need to use the co-op services. At that point, the coupons start to flow the other direction and the value stabilizes at the new lower level.

But then what happens when the State of the Union comes up and everyone wants to go? Now you have huge demand and little supply. Prices will begin to rise (each coupon will buy fewer hours of babysitting) until a point is reached where there are enough people willing to spend the night at home working that the need is satisfied. That point may be at, say, 10 coupons per hour. Inflation will have eroded the value of each coupon substantially, but eventually there will be more people willing to work than that price level will support and prices will deflate back towards a reasonable level, followed by the whole process running its course again.

The cycle I've just described could be described something like this: contraction-bust-growth-boom. Look at a sine graph for a graphical representation of what
it would look like. It is a "perfect" cyclical model.

Unfortunately, the textbook, theoretical model does not exist in the real world, as we all know.

Let's look at what might happen if there was a bank involved in the process that was capable of creating and destroying scrip at will, not unlike the Treasury (although the Treasury does it through the issuance and open-market redemption of bonds).

In the contraction phase of the cycle, the bank could, as Krugman proposed in his original article, make more scrip easily available through low interest rates (maybe borrow 10 scrip, only repay 11) to help stimulate demand. It makes sense to do so, because it avoids the harsh effects of deflation on an organization (in this case the co-op), which has debt as part of the capital structure. The risk, however, is ending up in the dreaded liquidity trap where no amount of Keynesian pushing the string will stimulate demand.

During the boom part of the cycle, the bank could, attempt to contract the scrip supply by making it more expensive to borrow (say borrow 10 and repay 20), which would contract the scrip supply by the process of some people paying off their debts, while limiting the amount of scrip being created. This would help to avoid inflation by reducing the number of coupons available to chase after the limited supply of babysitting time (it limits how high up the demand curve the economy can go). The risk here however is that if people have been borrowing scrip to repay with scrip, it makes sense to encourage the continued rise in prices through further borrowing as it then takes less effort to repay the debt than the value received in incurring it.

Notice the similarities between the two. In the first scenario, we are expanding the money supply to encourage spending, thereby discouraging deflation. It is assumed that a little inflation is a better alternative than a little deflation. In the second scenario, the goal is to rein in inflation, but it is still assumed to exist.

In other words: inflation=good; deflation=bad.

Here are the two problems I see with that the actions of the bank. First, deflation is the monetary equivalent of a check and balance in the government. Deflation discourages the piling on of debt by making it more difficult to repay that debt down the road (imagine the person who borrows 10 coupons for 1 hour of services, only to have to repay 20 coupons in which they receive 1 coupon for every 2 hours of babysitting - a 40 to 1 ratio in hours).

Inflation, conversely makes saving less attractive by devaluing the worth of each coupon (imagine the person who hoards 10 coupons at 1 every 2 hours only to use them at a rate of 10 per hour - that's a 20 to 1 ratio). Too much of either extreme, savings or debt, is bad for the economy. Inflation and deflation are the checks against the extremes. By cutting out one, we remove one of the consequences of poor economic decision-making.

The second problem I have, is that constant inflation erodes confidence in the value of the scrip. You run into a scenario where people eventually ask what the point is of working for a coupon that will get you half of what you put into it, so they either remove themselves from the economy by transitioning to a barter system, or they immediately spend their earnings, regardless of the utilization value, in an effort to stave off the effects of inflation, when if fact they are simply exacerbating the problem (this is where it turns into hyperinflation).

In our economic system, we have virtually eliminated (on an economy wide scale, in certain industries the effects are still felt and even then I would argue that they are offset to a large degree by substantial productivity gains in those same industries) deflation as a real risk to business today. That's not good. There is no check against out of control borrowing and we're now starting to see the effects of an economy being strained under the weight of simply too much debt. I think that we're at a crossroads, economically right now. Our nice little 2-3% inflation rate has been outstripped by our mushrooming debt. If businesses start hiring large numbers of people again, I think we're going to see the inflation rate increase significantly. If they don't start hiring pretty soon, I think we're going to see debt induced deflation - which will not be pleasant at all, as each default will lead to more defaults as everything is based on a house of cards, where one debt backs another debt which in turn is backed by another debt which is backed by the original debt. Default on any one and the whole group comes down.

What really scares me is that a form of the circle may, in fact be what our entire economic system is based on. In another article from the Carnival, Mike Northover of Master of None did an excellent post on the Real Bills Doctrine, in which it is proposed that our currency is in fact backed, backed by commercial paper issued by corporations and bought and held by the Fed.

Before I go too far into this discussion, a little look at what commercial paper is. Commercial paper is basically an IOU written by a company in which they promise to pay you back x number of dollars plus interest in say 90 days. Commercial paper has absolutely no backing; if the company defaults there is no recourse - you're just out of luck. Generally, commercial paper is issued by the largest and most stable companies out there as a way of doing short term financing. It saves the companies on the costs of doing a bond issue and generally commercial paper is easy to roll over. It is usually attractive to investors because it offers a combination of decent return (due to the risk associated with no recourse) and relative safety from the short time period.

But what is the commercial paper backed by? It is backed by the full faith and credit of the issuing corporation. One of the reasons why commercial paper is considered to be such a decent short term parking place is because it is denominated in dollars. People like the perceived strength and stability of the US dollar, which is fine. But it means that to a degree, the value of the commercial paper is backed by the perception of the US dollar (GE commercial paper issued in Mexican pesos will not be as valuable to a Mexican as a dollar denominated scrip is to an American because of the perceived risk in the peso, even removing exchange rate risk).

And according to the real bills doctrine, the value of the dollar is backed, to an extent, by the value of the commercial paper. In other words, the paper provides some backing to the dollar, which in turn provides some backing to the paper. But so what, you say?

What happens in the event that some event shocks one side of the backing or the other? Say an active paper issuer like GE goes bankrupt? If real bills holds true, the dollar should lose some of its luster, which in turn would devalue the rest of the commercial paper, which would take the dollar down more, so on and so on and so forth.

Think it can't happen? It already has once. In 1970, the Penn Central railroad, then the largest issuer of commercial paper in the market, went belly up. It was at the time, the largest bankruptcy in US history. It can happen. It has happened. The question is, could our economy, if the value of our money is based on the real bills doctrine, withstand another shock like that? Luckily, in 1968 when we left the gold standard, we were about two years from the end for Penn Central. The Fed would have had an opportunity to avoid stocking up on PC scrip. But even so, the revelation of the true depths of the problem at PC came out in early June of 1970; by the end of the month they were in bankruptcy - and all the paper holders were SOL.

Today, if something like that were to happen, if real bills is at work (which I don't doubt it is), it could be a devastating blow to our economy. Particularly now that a number of companies are issuing Euro denominated commercial paper, which now adds in exchange rate risks on top of everything else. A blow to the dollar could dry up significant parts of the paper market, leading to more insolvencies, further hurting the dollar and putting us into a vicious circle until some sort of equilibrium is reached.

But here's something to consider that kind of ties together both parts of this post: We left the gold standard in 1968, Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970, and Nixon imposed price controls in 1972 that lasted until 1974. This all coincided with the beginning of the bear market of '70s and was followed by stagflation. It was nearly 15 years, until about 1983, before we were able to pull out of the issues caused by the events of the late '60s/early '70s. Recently, consumers and corporations alike have seen an explosion of debt burdens and we're now possibly approaching the end of the debt boom. Our economy is sick, there is no doubt about that (and before someone says look at the stock market, that is not a reliable indicator of the health of the economy.), what is in question is whether or not the sickness is getting better or worse.

I think that we've harmed our ability to rectify difficult economic circumstances by taking away one of our check and balance tools - deflation. It is a necessary evil to maintaining a healthy economy. Just a few months ago I was arguing the need to depreciate the dollar to try to export our way out of recession. The more I study the whole situation, the more I'm becoming convinced that we need a broad based deflationary environment for a short period of time to try to introduce a measure of rationality into the economy. The biggest obstacle I see is that we have accrued so much debt in anticipation of never ending inflation that deflation would be catastrophic to many. We may have inflated our way into a situation where we can no longer inflate, but we cannot afford to deflate like we need. We, too, may have hit a liquidity trap, and may be in for a long ride while the economy tries to absorb and/or wring out all the extra debt created money floating around out there. I'm not sure what's worse: rapid fire deflation where all the pain comes now and we can begin rebuilding, or a long drawn out economic collapse, like Japan has gone through for the last 10 years, where the pain just keeps coming and coming and coming in little increments for a long time before you can begin the process of rebuilding.

Do I have the answer? No. Just kind of thinking out loud here. And getting really tired of seeing supply and demand curves in my head.

IndyMedia Cheap Shots

I don't spend much time, if any, scanning the IndyMedia message boards. Just not enough good stuff to counter out the absolute BS, in my opinion.

But while looking over at Wizbang today, I saw where Kevin had noted an attack on Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs.

LGF was one of the first blogs I ever read, although lately I've kind of slacked on reading it. Sometimes I think Charles goes a little too far out there, but this IndyMedia post is just way too much.

The author (Moonbat?) shows a complete lack of taste and/or tact. There are lines of civility that shouldn't be crossed and this guy crossed quite a few.

Does it reach the point of libel? I don't know. I'll leave it to the lawyers to figure that one out. I just know that it reached the absolute depths of tastelessness - even by nutcase standards.

The worst part of this: no one has pulled the post yet. One of the moderators should have noticed the deceit in the byline and the questionable nature of the post and should have in good conscious pulled it.

This is not journalism, not by any stretch of the imagination. IndyMedia should have had no qualms about pulling it.

Carnival Of The Capitalists #3

Welcome, welcome one and all to the show that never ends! I'm going to dispense with all the Earnhardt paeans (even though I have the perfect opportunity for them, having week #3 and being Southern and all) and get right into the meat of why you came: this weeks collection of excellent posts having to do with capitalism in all its forms and pieces.

Entries for next week's Carnival, which is being hosted by Robert Prather of Insults Unpunished, can be sent to editor - at - robertprather.us or to the old standby capitalists - at - elhide.com.

And now for the entries, in no particular order:

What's Your Threat Business Model? by Tim Oren. Tim analyzes how we managed to end up with SSL (secure socket layer - the technology that runs e-commerce right now) despite the best efforts of the tech developers to screw it up.

Time Inconsistency and Social Security by Steve Verdon. Steve looks at how privatization of Social Security isn't as clear cut and simple as everyone wants to believe. His analysis of risk behaviors is dead on.

Google IPO by Beth Mauldin. Beth takes a look at the proposed Google IPO and a few of the very real issues with how IPOs are issued. She points out a number of facts about IPOs that most investors don't know, but should.

A possible answer to the economic puzzle of the Do Not Call list by Craig Newmark. Craig looks at a few of the reasons why telemarketers oppose the Do Not Call list.

Dow 10000, Psychology, and the ECMH by Stephen Bainbridge. Professor Bainbridge looks at one of my favorite topics - market anomalies. The psychological barrier of 10,000 is just one.

World Series Web Browsing by Matt Certo. Matt looks at some of the different advertising techniques that Sprint used during the National League Championship Series and their effectiveness.

What Would Adam Smith Do? by Robert Prather. Next week's host looks at how regulation and protectionism affects the economy through a phenomenon known as "rent-seeking."

Globalization by Kyle Markley. Kyle looks at globalization and how it has helped to make more efficient use of the factors of production in the US.

The New Economics of Music: File-Sharing and Double Moral Hazard by Umair Haque. Umair has an excellent post about how downloading of .mp3s is as much a form of risk transference as it is of piracy

The Grinding Heel of Socialism by Kin Kinayda. Kin takes on the socialist mindset, particularly in Israel, but also in the US through a use of personal anecdotes and well reasoned argument.

The Real Bills Doctrine (who needs gold?) by Mike Northover. Mike and I had been having a crossblog debate on the gold standard and this is the last post (for the time being). A very interesting theory and one which has made think.

American Airlines Showing Profit by Michael Williams. Michael looks at the government bailout of the airlines and the flaws in the current airline business model.

First Thing...Let's Quell All the Liars by David Giacalone. David looks at legal ethics from the point of view of the consumer, analyzing Shakespeare's famous "Kill all the lawyers" quote and the ABA's attempts to put a positive spin on it. I love the part about the profession needing more PR: "Professional Responsibility," not "Public Relations."

Rant Ahead by Chuck Simmins. Chuck takes on all the folks who refuse to volunteer and then complain about paying taxes to pay for services that volunteers used to perform.

Truth by Kevin Aylward. Kevin points out that the Free Software Foundation is espousing a form of communism by calling for all software and digital media to be made open source by virtue of its very production.

It's An Improving Economy, Stupid by Director Mitch. Mitch takes us, step by step, through an analysis of the macroeconomic environment and how it will trickle down to his company and the upcoming Presidential election. This post shows in detail how to do an analysis like this - a skill that really is lacking in today's business world.

Student loan rip-off by Michael Kantor. Michael looks at how the explosion of student loan debt may have hurt graduates by making their degrees less valuable while simultaneously saddling them huge debt loads. I think he's right that this is a problem issue that very few people want to address.

The Frankenstein Economy? by Barry Ritholtz. Barry states many of the points I've been trying to express, mainly that we may be seeing not a fundamental strengthening of the economy, but the result of massive economic stimulus. He, of course, does it in a much more concise and interesting to read format than me.

Choose the right words by Todd. Todd takes a look at the most valuable words to have when selling Google ads with Adsense.

Business and the "Tragic" View of Human Nature by Rob. Rob looks at and compares the art and science of management. He also analyzes how human nature affects our decision making process in regards to management decisions.

Capitalism and Complacency by Sorge Diaz. Sorge offers his advice to the government and to the citizens in how to improve the economy and welfare of our citizens.

Mutual Fund Corruption could be serious by Howard. Howard takes a good look at the possible ramifications of the mutual fund scandal along with the relative lack of recognition about the problem on the part of the political left.

DUMB COMPANY TRICKS Call Center Clownishness by David Foster. David takes on companies that script calls for their call center reps - and refuse to allow any discretion in times of high call volume. This is one of my pet peeves also since I was once on the other side of the phone trying to help as many people as possible.

Should someone be penalized for a bad roll of the genetic dice? - by Jack Grant. Jack takes on the insurance industry and its unusual position in our society. I agree that the insurance industry has substantial problems that need to be addressed and unfortunately agree that it won't happen.

No Way To Run Things by Jay Solo. Jay has provided us with an excellent post on some of the most important lessons to remember when setting up a contract between companies. He also is calling for commentary on items he might have missed. The company I currently work for is in the position of his customer, so I completely understand everything he talks about.

Paul Krugman sings the babysitting blues by Jonathan Wilde. Jonathan takes a long hard look at fiat currency, pricing via the market mechanism, and inflation by analyzing a Paul Krugman article. An excellent read.

I gotta say this by Drumwaster. Drumwaster takes issue with the striking grocery workers in Southern California, pointing out how they are helping to contribute to the higher price of food in the area.

Anti-Spam Legislation by Dean Esmay. Dean takes a look at the whole issue of anti-spam legislation, in particular at how spam does in fact cost the recipient, in terms of time and productivity. He also proposes a reasonable penalty for violation, one that is scaled based on the egregiousness of the violation.

Hell Froze Over by Jeff Walters. Jeff looks at the "new" Apple iTunes Store and comes away suitably impressed. He also goes through the marketing points that Apple is using and their effectiveness on him.

This has really been fun and has introduced me to a number of blogs that I probably never would have read otherwise. I really appreciate Rob and Jay offering me the opportunity to host this event and I look forward to seeing what everyone enters in the future!

Jay also has a poll going over at his site about possibly renaming this Carnival. Some of the proposed names are pretty good! Go over and vote on your choice or to keep the Carnival of the Capitalists name.

If you find any errors, omissions, or broken links, please send me an email at blog - at - cbnoble.com

Idea for the logo shamelessly ripped off from Professor Bainbridge

Why Are They Suspicious?

Reading along this evening, I came across two articles that seem to be pointing to the fact that the West has a justification for being suspicious of the intentions of the Muslim world.

I'm sorry you feel that way

and

Is Europe a Province of Islam? The Danger is Called Dhimmitude

Rather interesting reading.

OK, But What Are The Penalties?

Earlier this evening, I was out having dinner with the family. The place that we went just happened to have on CNN and while I was talking with my other half I see a headline scroll by at the bottom of the screen:

Pinellas County, FL passes law banning public suicide

Now I'm guessing that it was never really approved of, but why do we need a law banning public suicide. Think about it. How do you enforce it? If they succeed, they're dead. If they fail, they will almost certainly qualify as being mentally incompetent.

If Pinellas County wanted to do something, they should have passed a law against exploiting a suicide for commercial gain. This one is nothing more than a feel good waste of paper.

If I find a story to link to, I will.

Carnival Of The Capitalists #2 Is Up!

Jay Solo is hosting this week's Carinval of the Capitalists and it looks like it's a good one! Go over and take a look!

I will be hosting this week's Carnival. I'll be taking entries through Sunday at 6 pm Eastern. You can email them to me at cotc - at - cbnoble.com or you can use capitalists - at - elhide.com. Get those entries in!

If you have any questions or are unsure what it's all about, either shoot me an email or visit Jay's Carnival Info Page.

Spherewide Short Story Symposium #2

Michael Williams over at Master of None is now taking entries for the second Symposium. The last one went great, with 23 outstanding stories - and my two entries.

If you're interested, information on the Halloween Symposium can be found here.

Funeral Museum

Found this one under the heading of "strange news." I got to agree this is strange.

A couple in Fletcher, Ohio is planning to open a funeral museum. Turns out, they bought a funeral home, full of leftovers: casket handles, burial clothes, and other such assorted stuff. So, they've decided to open a museum with all the stuff.

One of my first jobs actually was working at a funeral home. I only did cleaning, paperwork, driving the cars, and watching the place during viewings, but it was still creepy. A funeral museum will not be real high on my list of places to go the next time I visit Ohio.

Nigerian Scam-Mail Gets More Sophisticated

Well, I got to give the Nigerian crowd a little credit. The standard Scam Mail has been reworked and now sounds a little more official. Now instead of the Tribal Chief contacting me, I've got the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banks and Currency. Makes me feel much more important as I hit the Delete Key.

The contents of the version I received 6 times today is posted below along with some obnoxious commentary by me in italics...

From: JAMES MORGAN [leadermorgan@zensearch.com]
To: coins-request -at -cbnoble.com (a non-existant email I might add)
Subject: I await your response

Dear Sir,

We are a team of Government officials that belong to an eight-man
committee in the Presidential Cabinet as well as the Senate. At the
moment, we will be requiring your assistance in a matter that
involves
investment of monies, which we intend to transfer to your account,
upon
clarification and a workable agreement reached in consummating the
project with you. Based on a recommendation from an associate
concerning
your integrity, loyalty and understanding, we deemed it necessary to
contact you accordingly. (Their associate obviously doesn't know me very well, now do he?)

All arrangements in relation to this investment initiative, as well
as
the Initial Capital for its take off has been tactically set aside
to
commence whatever business you deemed fit, that will turn around
profit
favourably. We request you immediately contact us if you will be
favorably disposed to act as a partner in this venture, and possibly
will afford us the opportunity to discuss whatever proposal you may
come
up with. Also bear in mind that the initial capital that we shall
send
across will not exceed $13,731,000,00USD (Thirteen Million Seven
Hundred
and Thirty One Thousand United States Dollars) so whatever areas of
investment your proposal shall cover, please it should be within the
set
aside capital. (Well, there goes my plan. I needed $13,800,000.00USD)

In this regard, the proposal you may wish to discuss with us should
be
comprehensive enough for our better understanding; with special
emphasis
on the following:

1.The tax obligation in your country (You pay it all. We call it soak the stupid)
2.The initial capital base required in your proposed investment
area,
as well as (Already told you, $13,800,000.00);
3.The legal technicalities in setting up a business in your country
with foreigners as share-holders (I'm going to set up an airline so that you can't own too much.)
4.The most convenient and secured mode of receiving the funds
without
our direct involvement. (Unmarked $20s, $50s, and $100s would work just fine thank you. I'll let you know as soon as I arrange the drop points.)
5. Your ability to provide a beneficiary/ partnership account with a
minimal deposit, where we shall transfer the funds into subsequently. (I'll open the account with a $1 balance and demand that the bank refuse any wire transfer requests to or from anywhere)

Another area that we wish to explicitly throw more light on, is the
process we have conceived in transferring the funds into the account
you
shall be providing. Since we are the owners of the funds, and the
money
will be leaving the apex bank of my country, we shall purposefully
fulfill the legal obligations precedent to transferring such huge
amount
of funds, without arousing suspicion from any quarter as a drug or
terrorist related funds; and this will assist us in the long run to
forestall any form of investigations. Remember that, on no account
must
we be seen or perceived to be directly connected with the transfer of
funds. You will be the one to be doing all these, and in the course
of
transfer, if for any reason whatsoever, you incurred some bills, we
shall adequately retire same, upon the successful confirmation of the
funds in your account. (Yeah. The Feds will never notice an extra $13,000,000 in my account that normally has a balance measured in three figures - including the pennies. Nothing abnormal about that!)

The commencement of this project is based on your ability to convince
us
of the need to invest in whatever business you have chosen, and to
trust
your personality and status, especially as it concerns the security
of
the funds in your custody.

I await your response.

Sincerely,

Mr. James Morgan

(Chairman Senate Committee on Banks and Currency)

A Money Making Opportunity

Man, I think I just found the ultimate money making opportunity: wholesaling Ghettopoly.

A while back I had posted a link to a very short article about the game and since then I have been inundated with search engine referrers for "Ghettopoly" and "wholesaling Ghettopoly".

Today, I guess MSN made me the top link when searching for the game because I have gotten 40-50 referrals looking for it (for comparison, I normally only get three to five referrals for any one term in a twenty-four hour period).

Sounds like there is a great money making opportunity in here somewhere!

Carnival Of The Capitalists

The first ever Carnival of the Capitalists is up over at BusinessPundit. Looks like it is chock full of capitalist blogging goodness.

Next week's CotC will be hosted by Jay Solo. He is currently soliciting submissions: email them to capitalists - at - elhide.com

Old Florida Attractions

Today, I went to the girlfriend's company picnic at Rock Springs State Park over in Apopka. This was kind of cool for me, as when I was in Scouts, we used to go camping at Rock Springs every once in a while, so I had gotten to know the park pretty well. Today, I got to take the littlest one for a hike through the scrub forest around the long way from the picnic area to the spring. We then spent time standing on the rocks just downstream from the spring talking about nature.

It was really an enjoyable afternoon, even though I missed the Miami Dolphins game.

But it also reminded me of the post I was intending to write the last time I found out that I had been locked out of the site.

At the time, I had been intending to write on the fight to save Weeki Wachee Springs over near Tampa. It had been just about ready to close due to a lack of funds and there was a great campaign on to save it (which was successful for the time being).

For those of you who have never been to Florida, or who have only come to visit Disney or Universal or Sea World, you've really missed the true flavor of Central Florida.

When I was a little kid, some of my stronger memories are of looking through the brochure stands in the service plazas on the Florida Turnpike. They had brochures for everything from alligator wrestling and airboat rides to all the major tourist attractions in the state. But there were always a few brochures that seemed to stand out a little more than others (at least to a little kid).

Weeki Wachee Springs with its "live mermaids" was one the most memorable. I always wanted to make a trip over there, just to see the show and to see if it was really as good as the brochure made it seem to be.

There was also Silver Springs with their glass bottom boats, St. Augustine with its old city and fort, Cypress Gardens with its water-skiers, Bok Tower, Citrus Tower, Marineland and Gatorland. The list just seemed to go on and on and on. They were almost all old time Florida roadside attractions. They were almost never close to an interstate, but they were almost all right off one of the US highways crossing the state.

They are the attractions that the original tourists to Florida saw. They are not the anti-septic, always the same attractions like Disney and its ilk. Instead they were a reflection of the uniqueness and eccentricity of the state.

But they have been slowly dying off. As I said before, Weeki Wachee was just saved from being shut down. Cypress Gardens did shut down, although as the above link for it indicates, it was recently purchased by a conservation organization that wants to keep it in its current state. Outside of Gatorland, I'm guessing that the vast majority of my non-Floridian readers have probably never heard of Bok Tower or the Citrus Tower. Most people are probably aware of St. Augustine, but maybe not of the history in the city (among other things, it's been under five flags in its days). Most people are probably familiar with Marineland, but they most likely think of Marineland Miami, not the St. Augustine one.

As me and the little one were walking through the scrub, I pointed out to him that that was what Florida is really like. Not the Disney, not the Universal, not the city of Orlando or South Beach in Miami. The true Florida is different, it isn't of pavement, glamour, and glitz. It's spider webs, artesian springs, pine trees, and palm bushes. The old Florida has a beauty all of its own.

I've never been to Weeki Wachee Springs, the most memorable of the memorable brochures from my childhood. One day, sooner rather than later, I'm going to make a point of taking the kids over so that we can all experience it together. It may be corny, but I don't care. These places are disappearing and they're a part of my childhood, a curiosity, which I need to experience before it is no more.

I remember on April 14th, when Cypress Gardens closed, feeling terrible that I had never made a point of taking the kids down to see it. I went there on field trips from school as a kid, but the schools stopped taking kids that far anymore - not for nature stuff. From where we are, 10 miles north of Orlando, the schools won't even take the kids to Leu Gardens, even though it is just around the corner from the Orlando Science Center - a place where my kids have already gone to several times each on field trips.

Maybe these places aren't as exciting as the Science Center, but they are an important part of the history in the state. They help to show that eccentricity among native Floridians is not a new phenomenon. They are a physical link back to the Old Florida in both a historical sense and a natural one.

Want to know what Florida is really like? Avoid Disney and search out some of the older attractions that are based around the natural beauty of the state.

It was an exhausting afternoon as I swam the 3/4 of a mile river twice while the kids tubed down it, but it was worth every bit of it.

For those few hours, I got to bring the littlest one into a part of my childhood and he loved it. That is one of the best feelings I have ever had.

Interesting Do-Not-Call Side Question

Earlier today I was talking with a coworker and we were discussing the National Do Not Call Registry and the fact that it has been, for the time being at least, ruled an unconstitutional infringement on the free speech of the telemarketers.

For the record, I don't like telemarketers. I've said so in the past and I still don't like them. I believe the National Do Not Call Registry should be legal and should by ruthlessly enforced. But that's not the topic of this post.

The way I understand the ruling by Judge Nottingham, it is ok for a telemarketer to use my private phone line to attempt to sell me a product I don't want.

Now I can quantify the exact cost of each call that a telemarketer makes to me based on the amount of my basic service and the number of minutes in a billing period. The cost may be tiny, but there is in fact a real and quantifiable cost to me for that telemarketer to begin his pitch before I hang up on him. There is a cost if I simply pick up the receiver. And the judge's ruling makes this involuntary appropriation of my resources for the benefit of the telemarketer legal.

I don't like that. My phone line is not a public place. It should not be considered fair game for anyone who can get the number to it. Advertising should not cost the target of the advertising anything. But this still isn't my point.

Let's take this decision to the next level. What about those ubiquitous "No Solicitation" signs on most every business? Can they now be considered an infringement on the free speech of the door to door salesman?

Look at the similarities. The rent paid for the space is the equivalent of the phone bill. The facility may be private property, but it could be considered a public use facility. And the salesman, like the telemarketer on the phone, is simply trying to earn a living in a manner that the business owner finds objectionable.

Why should the courts discriminate against the door to door salesman in favor of the telemarketer? Isn't everyone entitled to the same right to free speech?

Heck, if I really wanted, I could probably even stretch this into a justification for a salesman to set himself up in his competitor's place of business on free speech grounds. It'd be a stretch, but the argument could be made - and some court would probably accept it.

The big problem with all these scenarios is that they involve a weakening of the rights of private property. Why should I have any fewer rights with my phone line than a business owner does with his storefront? Why can he decide that solicitation is an unfair use of his resources while I can't do the same with my resources?

Is this a significant weakening of the concept of private property? It's hard to make a case for the idea that this decision alone will lead to wholesale appropriation of property. But this decision, combined with a while host of other little, insignificant nibbles at the concept of private property will eventually build up into a real loss of significance of private property. How useful is owning a something, whether it be a phone number, a business or your home, if everyone else can use it as they see fit - without your approval or acceptance?

This little matter - and it really is insignificant in and of its own merit - has huge implications for the state of private property in our country. I hope that some judge, somewhere, will stand up for the private property concept on which our entire economy is based.

If not, we're really sailing off into uncharted waters, especially given the activism of the judiciary today.

The New "Carnival of the Capitalists"

Jay Solo and Rob from BusinessPundit are teaming up to create a new theme post called the Carnival of the Capitalists.

It will operate similarly to the Carnival of the Vanities, but each post will need to be in some way related to a capitalist topic:

What are relevant topics? Posts on business, management, marketing, accounting, finance, economics, sales, capitalism; anything of that nature that logically fits something called "Carnival of the Capitalists."

I've already volunteered for one to host one of the weeks. If you have any questions or would like to host a week, contact either Jay or Rob using the contact information on the linked page.

Should be fun!

Spherewide Short Story Symposium Is Up

Michael Williams over at Master of None has done a wonderful job of putting together the first ever symposium. There are 18 outstanding literary works - and my two entries, for a total of 20.

Take some time out of your day today to go take and a look. It is well worth the time.

Dedication, Honor, Respect

Donald Sensing has a great story about how the 3rd Infantry Regiment was given permission to abandon their posts guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier if they "thought they were endangered by Hurricane Isabel." They, of course, did not.

Say what you will about the military, but realize that these men, maintaining their vigil in the middle of a hurricane understand the meaning of the words dedication, honor and respect. They understand the cause of our nation and are showing a very deep understanding and reverance of the sacrifice that is required to maintain our unique "experiment."

I'm glad to see that they have not forgotten the importance of our history. We can not forget and we cannot adandon those who gave their last measure in the furtherance of our nation.

It's good to see that the men of the 3rd Infantry Regiment have not.

Spherewide Short Story Symposium

Allrighty then, for all you who think that you want to be a writer, here's your chance. Michael Williams over at Master of None is hosting the Spherewide Short Story Symposium. Here's your opportunity to send him your stories and to have them read by the vast multitudes of the web.

Information on the Symposium and how to submit your story can be found here.

Important Notice About This Site

Porn links in comments will be erased as soon as I become aware of them. This site is for me to corrupt the world with my thoughts, not for you to use to peddle your porn.

I have not ever censored any comment that was in some way, shape or form germaine to the topic being discussed and I have no reason to start doing so now. But please stay at least somewhat related to the topic.

I have no problem with using my bandwidth and web space to foster debate, but I will not tolerate it being used to promote penis enlargement pills or non-surgical breast enhancements. I reserve the right to erase any such promotions and to ban the IP address of the person leaving such comments.

I really can't believe that I have to post something like this. But I guess some people have no class or common sense.

Have You Been To Sportsblog?

OK sports fans. I just became a contributor over at Sportsblog.org.

Take a look over there. It looks to have some real potential.

Plus, you'll get to see me ranting about the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami Hurricanes. Football season is here again finally.

Is There Such Thing As Societal Addiction?

Interesting question that was raised in my mind by this article: Terrorism Addict by Shmuel Neumann, Ph.D. in Arutz Sheva today.

As I first started to read the column, my initial impression was that it was from a far right wing Israeli and that it struck me as a bit, extreme. But I vowed to keep an open mind as I read through the article and tried very hard not to be too judgmental before finishing.

And as I was reading it, I mentally wandered back to my brokerage days and remember one of our key mantras on volatile days: the market has a personality all of it's own. It is consists of so many people acting in theoretically rational ways that it becomes irrational and unpredictable in its predictable rationality. In other words, the market has a mind of its own.

And the stock market is, in essence, a society. It functions just like a society. It has rules and laws, like a society. And its mores are a reflection of the millions of individual ethical codes that function within that society. The only real difference between the stock market and what we normally consider a society is the lack of a central leader. To help make the analogy, the stock market lacks a Yassar Arafat or Abu Mazen. But that is the only real, functional difference.

And the stock market does go through periods of addiction. For a while we had the day trading addiction with people making hundreds of trades per day. We had an addiction to tech stocks. We still have an addiction to airline stocks (the most irrational market addiction I've ever seen - and for a while, I was part of it). We've been addicted to the bull and now we're addicted to the bear. Options, bonds, futures: the list goes on and on and on. The society of the stock market lurches from addiction to addiction with no rhyme or reason other than "it's the hot thing." Do you know how many people lost fortunes because they had to have Enron or MCI when they were "the hot thing" and then they couldn't give them up - even when they were trading for literally 1% of the purchase price? One of the hallmarks of addiction is an irrational need to do something or to have something, even when you know that doing so can destroy your life.

So if the market is an addict lurching from one high to another, can the Palestinian society be an addicted society? Sure.

I think that they're addicted to the idea that they might actually be able to drive Israel to the sea. I think that that is their addiction. If that idea is their cocaine, then suicide bombing is their crack and the other anti-Semitic violence is their powder. They satisfy their need either way, but each hit is a little less satisfying. Each hit requires a little bigger dose to get them quite as high. And they never, ever get any closer to having a functional life until they give it up completely.

I still think that the column is extreme. But I really can't disagree too terribly much with its conclusions. There is a societal addiction in the territories and until it is overcome, peace will continue to be just out of reach.

Your Daily Offensive Image

This has got to be about the most offensive propaganda to have been brought out since Josef Goebbels. A celebration of the the murder of 3000 people.

The website that has published the image isn't exactly much better. The image above in found under "events", which is just under "jihad" on the left hand side of the image.

If anyone is interested in the contact information for the ISPs in question, it can be found here.

Sorry 'Bout Yesterday

Sorry about the lack of posting yesterday. I had to make an emergency trip down to Sebastian and didn't get back until late. Plus, by the time I got back, I wasn't exactly in the mood for writing anything.

On the way back, I stopped by parents house and had an interesting conversation with my father. He had read the post about my job fair experience and how I saw the internet changing the job market. He pointed out that there was another explanation for the dearth of middle management jobs nowadays: demographics. It's a point that has some validity.

When I first hired on as a broker, in one of the first training classes they told us that stockbrokers really had about 25 more years in which to make any real money. Reason being that in 25 years a significant portion of the wealth holding portion of society will be reaching retirement age and most will pull their money out of the stock market. And the demographics of the baby boomer generation do point towards that outcome.

My dad pointed out that there is also one other effect of baby boomers: they have led to an unnatural efficiency in the workplace.

Many of the baby boomers are now reaching 20 - 25 years on the job. For a large chunk of them, they have been working in the middle ranks of the business community for years. As a result, companies have a much, much higher ratio of experienced to inexperienced workers than they have in the past. This has led to reduced training and supervisory needs, which has led to an unnaturally high rate of efficiency.

And for right now, that's great. But in the next decade or so, most all of that experience will be retiring and the following generation (read: mine) won't have the experience in real positions of authority or decision making and eventually we will likely end up in a period of unnatural inefficiency as we get up to speed.

Interesting to muse on, but I got to keep it behind me as I find this new job. I can do better than this thing I got now.

LOOK! More Evil US Oppression In Afghanistan!

Well, we can now add another item to our list of devilishly evil deeds we have perpetrated in Afghanistan.

First, we deposed the Taliban without killing millions. Next, we provided the Afghani people with food and medical care. Then we had the gall to send Afghani girls, girls mind you, to school. And now for our latest evil: because of us, Afghani girls are now playing soccer.

Next thing you know, the envirowackos will be blaming us for the creation of SUV driving Afghani soccer moms. If only we hadn't liberated their women and instead had invested more in building smooth, yet environmentally friendly roads.

Oh what evil horrors will we inflict on the poor defenseless Afghani people next?

I'm Glad I'm Not Him

So yesterday, I took my shot at getting a nuclear armed country currently bring run by a military dictatorship ticked off at me. Today Dean Esmay takes his shot at getting women ticked off at him.

Makes me glad I'm not in his shoes.

Why Do They Hate Religion?

So recently we've had John Kerry attacking the Pope, an aide to Gray Davis has blasted him, and now Canada's Globe and Mail is taking their shots north of the border.

Why is everyone so uptight with John Paul these days? Is it because he's reminding Catholics of the teachings of the Church? Is it because the Church is participating in the political process?

Or is it maybe a deeper rooted hatred of anything that represents responsibility and morality?

I don't agree with the Catholic Church's position that gay marriage is some terrible thing. But I certainly wouldn't categorize the Pope's instructions to Catholics as bullying or as cruel. He's trying to do his job, which requires that he take a different position than mine. That's fine. That has to happen in order for there to be a debate.

So why would someone view the Pope's reminding Catholics of their teachings as bullying?

Maybe it's because the folks that are opposed to the Pope are so used to trying to defend indefensible positions that they themselves resort to bullying tactics. And through projection, they assume that the Pope must be doing the same.

Speaking out against gay marriage is not the same as speaking out in favor NAMBLA. Speaking out against abortion is not the same as threatening violence in order to perpetuate the reign of a murderous dictator. The stance of the Church in both gay marriage and abortion are long standing doctrines that are rooted in the foundations of the Church. NAMBLA and supporting dictators are simply ways to encourage the breakdown of the social mores that hold our society together.

The Catholic Church and the Papacy are flawed institutions. Both have made their share of mistakes over the centuries.

But the job of the Pope is to provide direction and interpretation of the Bible for his flock. John Paul, for all his faults, has been doing that. It has just been much more vocal and public lately.

If everyone is so concerned with the Pope doing his job, think about the alternative. We could change the First Amendment and outlaw freedom of religion when the religion is Catholicism. We could sever any and all communications between the US and the Vatican.

Or we could just accept the fact that the Pope, and his successors, will be a player in the political process. I have yet to see a politician that is under the complete control of any special interest group, even the Catholic Church.

If you're so worried about what the Pope has to say, tell your elected official not to pay attention to him.

It's much easier than trying to focus all those years of feminism honed hatred.

Returned Mail Virus

So while I was writing my last post I got a couple of Returned Mail emails in my inbox. Normally I don't think too much about them because I have several regular commenters that leave invalid email addresses in the comments. But I realized that this came not to my blog email, but rather to one of my personal emails.

After looking through the text (and not opening the attachment), I started to wonder if perhaps, this was some kind of a virus. I did a full system virus scan on my computer (nothing found, as I expected). Symantec didn't have anything about it on their site, so I googled it.

And I came up with this page.

All well and interesting, basically saying "Yes there is a virus. Don't open the attachment." Didn't tell me what the virus would do to me if I opened it, but by this point I was already losing interest in the whole thing.

And then I got to the bottom of the page. And the discussion about how many of the viruses can be traced to an email in China. And the speculation that this "could represent an asymmetric, low intensity east-west infrastructure attack which blends spam, spoofs and virus intended to cause havoc."

I don't think that that is the complete story, otherwise China would be booming from selling us porn and "male enhancement pills," but it certainly does put things in a different light and reminds me of just how fragile the internet can be.

These Frivolous Lawsuits Are Going Too Far

As if you didn't have enough to worry about, now we have this.

Makes me glad I do my writing on a computer.

America: A Threat To Humanity?

I read somewhere a while back that in Pakistan, the government uses retired military personnel to espouse some of the more controversial policies in case they prove to be too over the top and then the government has plausible deniability that the crackpot theory isn't the "official" government position.

Well, it looks like they're at it again. According to a retired colonel, America is the number one threat to the human race.

He accuses us of wanting to murder, kill and maim. He asserts that we invent reasons to attack other nations so that we can perfect our killing and can satisfy our need for human blood. From the best I can tell, he believes that there was no connection between Islam and 9/11; there was no connection between the Taliban and Bin Laden; it was a mere invention of Bush to justify his wanton killing sprees.

He concludes by expressing the fear that one day the American thirst for blood will lead to a nuclear conflict.

I think someone needs to introduce this guy to bottom of a certain seven story hole in Manhattan. Then maybe we can have a friendly discussion about the nationality and religion of the 19 ordinary folks who happened to end up flying those three airplanes after the pilots mysteriously surrendered control. Perhaps a conversation about their past travels, such as the trips to that Islamic paradise known as the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, would be in order. His visit to New York should be completed with 3000+ reasons why we went after the terrorists, read out name by name.

Take him out to the Minuteman sites and quiz him on how many have ever been fired against an enemy - real or perceived. Show him the USS Florida and ask him ask many of it's Trident IVs have been loosed. Put him in a rowboat in front of the USS Nimitz and ask him how many nuclear bombs have been dropped from planes flying from its deck. If we're as bloodthirsty as he theorizes, why isn't his greatest concern the radiation fallout drifting east from Baghdad?

Or are we maybe not as great a threat to humanity as he supposes?

Maybe he needs to view the people shredders of Baghdad. Maybe he needs to visit the chemical killing fields of the Iran/Iraq War. Maybe he needs to visit Pol Pot's killing fields. I would say that he needed to visit the WTC to see Bin Laden's killing fields, but we've already taken him there.

Perhaps he should spend some time distributing food to the Iraqis - alongside American soldiers. Perhaps he should spend some time in US military field hospitals with US military doctors - providing basic health care, denied by the Muslim Saddam, to Iraqis. Maybe he should put aside his misogyny and go see some of the girls going to school in Afghanistan.

The US isn't perfect. We have made and will make mistakes. But we're a damn sight better than being the biggest threat to humanity today.

Think I'm wrong? Ask the Liberians, who are begging us to come. Ask the French who are begging us to go to Liberia. Ask Hussein Khomeini, who thinks that the current regime in Tehran is the world's worst dictatorship (see last post).

If this is the position, stated or otherwise, of Musharref, then it's time for him to go. India is a better friend anyhow.

It's Poetry Time!

While I was perusing a comment board related to that last post, I came across a rather interesting, if somewhat, depressing poem that I thought I'd share:

I'd Love to Change the World by Ten Years After

Everywhere is
Freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies
Tell me where is sanity

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

A Great Site For News On Iran

When I got home today I found an email from ActivistChat.com. It is a site that compiles news and opinion from multiple sources and makes them accessible in one central location.

It's a great site for those interested in following the move towards democracy in Iran.

Greatest Americans List

OK, so I was planning on keeping my list secret until Sunday so as to not influence anyone. But then Robert Prather emailed this morning and asked if he could send my list around as an example (probably of what not to do!)

So, since it's going to be going around anyway, tonight I'll post it, along with much more in depth explainations of why I chose a person (each entry has a little personal notation that helped me to keep track, but it doesn't always give the whole story).

So once I post it, if you don't like my choices, go and make your own list and send it over to Robert. Then you can tell me why I'm wrong.

Odds, Ends, & Miscellaneous Stuff

Posting will be light tonight as I just finished up my list of 75 great Americans at the request of Robert Prather. After a while of trying to figure out who fit where, I realized that, to me at least, there is much difference between the importance of number 5 and of number 50. It is only really once I get into the last 25 names that I can confidently say they shouldn't be ranked higher than they are. I'll publish my list Sunday night if anyone is interested (and assuming Robert doesn't disqualify me for spite with my sarcastic #76).

I've also been performing penance tonight, as I've decided that at some point, the Messiah came back as a frog that I promptly ran over and I'm being tortured on a cosmic scale for having done so. It's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with for my luck lately.

On Friday, my friend Joe (he of the sidebar ad) comes to visit my work. We go to walk across the street to get a drink at the convienence store. On the way out he starts making fun of the guy filling out an application. Tells me by the time we get back, the owner will have hired this guy.

He was right. But it gets worse. The guy is a flamer. Like in the two homosexuals I already worked with, he is like the junior version of the promiscuous one. The now two flamers are so bad that the responsible one told me today that he wants to be considered bisexual so that he doesn't get lumped with these two. They scared a gay man straight (or at least straighter than he was).

I have got to - got to - find a new job. This is ridiculous.

Since We're Talking About Illegal Immigrants

Not all illegal immigrants are coming here with the intention of doing something wrong. For some it just happens.

It doesn't make it any more right, but it does go to show how much it is condoned in some instances.

Today's Postings

I've found a lot of interesting articles today, but nothing that's really inspiring me to write a whole lot about it. So unless something really grabs me, you'll probably get a lot of links today.

For some really interesting reading, go take a look in the comments for Donald Sensing's post on gay marriage. He's got a pretty good and civil debate going on among his readers about the issue. Definitely worth a look.

Some Sunday Entertainment

One of the marks of a good satire is that it is difficult to tell if it's the truth or not. It's truly sad when a nation is so bad off that this falls into the realm of insane possibility for the country.

Have I Ever Mentioned How Much I Dislike Progress Energy?

Sorry about the lack of posts last night. We had a pretty bad storm come through yesterday afternoon around 4 pm and it left us without power until 4:30 am this morning. When Florida Power was Florida Power they could manage to keep the lights on in a tropical storm. Longest power outage was maybe 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Now that they've become Florida Progress (a division of Progress Energy!) they don't seem to be able to keep the lights on in a normal Florida thunderstorm.

I also expect posting to be somewhat light tonight and tomorrow as I see if I can get myself arrested for spamming people with my resume. The situation at my job has gone from bad to worse to much, much worse and I see myself getting dragged into things that I want absolutely no part of (think guys in black suits, wearing RayBans, with badges and bad attitudes - and the power to make my life make Dante's Purgatory seem like a picnic in the fields).

I've got to get in a better mood here tonight. Otherwise, someone might accuse me of channellng their dark side (oh wait, that already happened. Oh well, at least he was nice about it.)

A Public Service Announcement

Just in case you were unsure, here is the list of foods that are unsafe to eat while driving, courtesy of Hagerty Classic Insurance in Traverse City, MI.

Now that you are an informed driver, a couple of questions come to mind for me. First, who eats soup while driving? And where's all the Italian food? I don't see spaghetti, fettuccini, pizza, or any of those other tasty driving dishes. I would have thought that they might have made the list also, especially in lieu of coffee and soft drinks which can be put in spill proof cups.

I'm just glad to see that my Krispy Kreme donuts (just the normal glazed kind) didn't make the list, although I guess I'll have to give up my trips through Taco Bell (that gives me two, tacos and soft drinks - oh yeah, and I have no cupholder and drive a stickshift).

Now that you're dutifully informed as a driver, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Next Up, A Tax On Thingy

Are you Governor of a state that is having some, how shall we put this, financial difficulties? Well, look no further for the answer to your problems! Follow the lead of the great State of Kansas and implement a stamp tax on illegal narcotics!

Kansas is already reaping the benefits of the tax with revenue on marijuana increasing by 3.6% and on the harder drugs, like cocaine and speed revenue was up by 20.6%! Not too bad for collections in a stagnant economy! (source for the statistics)

</sarcasm>

I don't know how I really feel about this. On the one hand, the drugs are illegal, society has voiced its desire to eradicate them, and this is potentially a very powerful tool in that quest. But on the other hand, I get concerned with just how powerful this could be. And it seems like the controls against abuse are somewhat inadequate:

The drug dealer has 15 days from the date of assessment to request a hearing before the Director of Taxation to determine the validity of the assessment pursuant to K.S.A. 79-5205. The assessment is statutorily presumed to be valid and correctly determined. The burden is on the taxpayer to prove otherwise. (emphasis mine)

They continue on to say that the outcome of a criminal case will not necessarily have any bearing on the tax question.

That's just not right. It should be incumbent on the state to prove any of its accusations, not for the citizen to exonerate himself at a higher standard than the accusation, which is what we have with the burden being on the taxpayer to "prove otherwise" the accusation of the state. All it would take is an overzealous revenue officer slinging around accusations.... Now many people would argue "but there are safeguards to ensure that doesn't happen."

How many of you look forward to any question from the IRS? How about the Department of Children and Families? They have safeguards against civil servants abuse their position. So why are people afraid of them?

Because they know that one nutjob can ruin their life. They know that with either of those organizations the deck is stacked against them from the get-go.

Or maybe it's because both organizations (and the Kansas DOR in this case) are statist organizations that operate in complete opposition to the American ideal of innocent until proven guilty.

But, hey, being a weed dealer is almost becoming respectable. Now you can get insurance on your plants (in some cases, obviously). Kind of doubt it protects against confiscation by the Department of Revenue though.

Every day, Monty Python looks more and more like a prophecy instead of sketch comedy. Better start organizing the protests for tax free thingy...

Gresham's Cultural Law?

A while back I had a thought on Gresham's Law and looked at it in relation to the delinking of currency to precious metals. Today, I came across this rather interesting take on Gresham's Law "What's Wrong with Twinkling Buttocks?" by Theodore Dalrymple in the summer issue of City Journal.

I find it to be a very interesting argument. We know and have proven that Gresham's Law does in fact function in metal-based economic structures. And I have to admit that Mr. Dalrymple has put forth a pretty good argument for it holding true in cultural matters as well. But I don't think that it holds as true as the article might indicate.

The problem that I have is the basic premise that has to hold true in order for Gresham's Law to hold true in cultural matters: that man is incapable of recognizing problems and changing for the better.

To put it another way, Gresham's Law would indicate that bad behavior would gradually crowd good behavior out of existence, as the bad behavior becomes the generally accepted behavior. Or, our standards continually drop until society fails from a lack of social mores or constraints.

And all of the examples that Mr. Dalrymple expounds on (plus many many other examples he doesn't mention) all point to this type of decline happening. And I don't disagree that the dumbing down of morals is straining the very fabric of society.

But I think that we (meaning society) can recognize the decline and its roots. We can alter the course that we're on. Gresham's Law points to the decline being inevitable so long as there is bad behavior. I don't believe that that's true. I believe that there is enough goodness in the soul of society to avoid a complete collapse.

It won't be easy to change the moral course of society. Just because we wish it to be so, doesn't mean that it will happen. But we can make it happen, if we want to.

Mr. Dalrymple discusses at the end of his article using censure, since we can no longer censor. This has always needed to be the way of dealing with issues that strain the social fabric. More pressure of censure needs to be applied to those who are truly straining the social fabric with anti-social behaviors.

Making something illegal will not stop it from happening; it may in fact only succeed in promoting more lawlessness (Prohibition ring a bell here?). Societal censure won't stop it either, but it will make it much less attractive as an option.

Censure can help to reverse some of the decline that has taken place in society. Gresham's Law says that any attempt is doomed to failure, as bad behavior will eventually push out the good behaviors.

But I have more faith in the goodness in man's soul.

I'm Back! Sort Of.....

Well, I'm sorta back. Still trying to recover from the leg problems. But I'm getting somewhat better now.

It's kinda funny really. I hate needles, scalpels and anything else that might hurt. I mean really, really hate them. I've passed out getting blood drawn - that's how much I hate them.

And work.... how I just absolutely detest it now. Monday, I had a choice between letting a doctor poke my leg full of holes as he made about 15 Novocain injections so that he could take a scalpel and cut open my leg OR I could go back to work. It's pretty sad when surgery with no insurance appears to be a better choice than trying just antibiotics (One of the other reasons I haven't been posting much is that I've been using my limited computer time to look for other employment).

So I've had my leg cut open, I have a 6"x7" infection (but it's nearly a perfect rectangular shape, very odd I must say), I have a $100 worth of Cipro that doesn't work, another $40 antibiotic that appears to have at least slowed the spread, and a wound on the top of my shinbone that hasn't stopped bleeding since it started last Saturday. On top of that, I have a job that I hate, where I don't get paid enough, have no benefits, run virtually everything and am being turned into someone with a high degree of animosity towards obnoxious, pretentious homosexuals (but I'm still OK with normal ones - so long as they don't try to convert me).

But other than that it's been a great week - thanks for asking!

I'll be trying to get back into blogging more over the next few days as I can finally sit for more than 10 minutes without my leg starting to burn.

Sorry!

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few days. I've been fighting a pretty nasty infection in my leg over the last few days and the pain has been nearly unbearable at times.

I had a minor "procedure" (read: surgery) done on it today so hopefully the pain will be subsiding in the next day or so and I'll be able to get back to a somewhat normal life.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate not having health insurance? The lack of it caused me to let this go a wee bit too far, necessitating today's adventure.

Light Posting

Hope everyone had a good Fourth. I spent mine running around with the kids, which is why there were no posts yesterday. Today has more of the same planned, althought there will probably be some posts later tonight after I get them to settle down some.

Naked Investing

As a former broker I got a good chuckle out of this post over at Electric Venom: Getting Bang For Your Buck.

Ah, for the good old days of the "go-go" market....

I'm Back!

Sorry about the no posting over the weekend, we had some pretty packed days running around San Francisco and the East Bay. Most nights I wasn't getting to bed until after midnight-1 am PST. Combine that with the hassle of getting the laptop out and hooking it to a dialup line and that's why there were no posts.

But it's not that I didn't write anything, and I'll try to get them posted tonight. Over the next night or so I'll probably also have some personally-type posts along with some of my usual political stuff.

Excellent Paper To Read

If you haven't taken the time to do so yet, go over to One Hand Clapping and take a look at his .pdf file "The Soil of Arab Terrorism"

It's very well written, very insightful, and certainly worth the time to read.

The American Empire - Again??

There are a few things that get me really, really ticked off. Complaining about the "American Empire" is one of them.

If you look at my other site, you'll notice that most everything I have for sale is related to a real empire. The Romans knew how to run an empire. Even the Byzantines had a pretty decent empire for a while. But the United States has never even come close to acting similarly.

We are not out conquering for pride. We are not out conquering for tribute. We are not out conquering for food. We are not trying to support the social structure of a failing state.

The author contends that every empire has some great cultural idea to spread. That is false. The spread of a cultural idea is just a side effect of empire building. Rome didn't conquer Egypt to spread the idea of Republicanism or aqueducts, they conquered Egypt for food.

Food, tribute, security and pride are the foundations of any empire. The US has food, has the ability to provide for our own security (if we would ever put our minds to it), we don't need tribute - we actually pay other states, and if pride were a real issue for us we would have completely conquered the entire Western Hemisphere by now.

But we do have a great cultural idea to spread, one that is relatively unique in history. Liberty.

Not democracy. Not republicanism. Liberty.

Our great idea is more powerful than Islamic fundamentalism. It is more powerful than communism. It is an ideology that believes in humanity. Instead of trying to repress certain traits or to make everyone equal in outcome, liberty allows every person to make their life the way that they want. The other ideologies all presuppose that man is evil and must be given rules and controls to prevent him from hurting himself or others. Liberty presupposes that man is good and able of making rational decisions that will benefit both himself and others.

Neither absolute is completely true, but I believe that the basic assumptions of liberty are closer to the truth. And so do most other people. If man is evil, why would Iranian students be calling for liberty's twin sister, freedom? Fundamentalism runs contrary to the human spirit; liberty quenches the thirst of the spirit.

We must remember that our great idea is not a form of government. Our government, our economy, our way of life are all derived from that basic idea of liberty.

As I read the article on Free Republic this morning, I was reading through the comments after the post and noticed that some people were keying in on this phrase:

"...but democracy is a vehicle for resolving disputes. It is not an ideology like communism or Islamic fundamentalism..."

Democracy (by which most people actually mean republicanism) is a product of our idea - liberty. Liberty and totalitarianism don't go together. A liberal form of government is required to most fully realize our idea. Therefore, we ended up with republicanism as the best way of protecting our liberty from the whims of tyrants and from the tyranny of the majority.

When we engage in nation building around the world, everyone looks at what tangible traits we bring to the table and then they decry of imperialism. They never realize the power of the intangible we bring. If liberty is such a bad thing, why do the nations of Europe still have, for the moment, representative forms of government? Why hasn't Japan reverted back to the reign of the Emperor? Why did the nations of Eastern Europe all change to representative forms of government?

Because liberty is a more powerful idea than communism, fundamentalism or any other -ism that's out there. Liberty speaks to the soul. The -isms speak down to the mind.

In Iraq, they are just beginning to find out about the idea again. They have not reached the point of unfettered liberty yet, but economically, they're experiencing it. And they're loving it. Their standard of living is already on the way up. But notice, that they are currently paying no taxes. What real empire doesn't collect taxes (also called tribute)?

We are not an empire. To become one, we would have to sacrifice our national foundation - liberty. As a people, we're not ready to do that.

We want to spread our idea because we, as a people, believe in the basic goodness of man. But we cannot impose it, we can only expose it. It is up to the other party to embrace liberty as their own.

Iraq was/is an exercise in ensuring our security. Afghanistan is also. Iran, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, wherever our travails take us next, we will bring our idea with us. If the people decide that they want to embrace it, we will support them in every way possible. If they don't want to, we will let them go the way of Western Europe, allowing them to establish a non-representative government. The choice is theirs, just as it always has been.

The American Empire. Great expansionist emperors like Augustus, Vespasian, Trajan and Hadrian would laugh at the "American Empire." They would be amazed at the empire building potential of the nation. They would be dumbfounded that we could let a little idea like liberty stand in the way of total domination of the known world. They didn't. They knew how to build and run an empire.

Like the author of the first article, they would never comprehend that we don't want an empire.

America is an idea, not an empire.

No More Tonight

I've worked nearly 35 hours in the last three days and am barely awake. There will be much more tomorrow after I've had a good night's sleep (and am in the middle of a day off, finally).

Looking For A New Web Hosting Company?

I just wanted to make a quick comment on the recent outage that I had to deal with.

My webhost, One World Hosting, recently did an upgrade to the server my site is on. During the upgrade, they failed to upgrade the Berkeley database that runs the backend of this site.

When I found out, I was able to work with the company (one rep in particular) and was able to get the situation resolved in a matter of about 36 hours from when it was first reported.

My father also had major problems with his site (which is on the same box) and they had his issue corrected in less time than mine.

If you're looking for a new webhost, take a look at One World. They are a little more expensive than some of the other hosting companies, but their customer service is top-notch.

My Plan

OK, the last part of my series of investing tips has now been posted. I'll have a wrapup post with links to all ten sections up sometime tomorrow hopefully.

I will also be starting my new series on investing strategies, the first post - on the buy and hold strategy - is almost ready to go.

I'll also have a little on the recent server problems I had and maybe one or two other personal type topics.

This will all be in addition to my usual news and politic blogging.

Just as soon as I can done with the 12 hours away for that work stuff.

Oh Happy Joyous Day!!!

They finally got my access restored! Now if only I didn't have to work so much this weekend............

I'll try to get a few of the posts I've been working on up tomorrow night.

Thanks for your patience.

Housekeeping Item

Also, tomorrow I'm going to post the last in what I will call my "Basic Investing Tips" series, which will be on selecting the right type of account. A seperate post will then be created with links to all 10 sections and a permalink set up in the sidebar.

After that, I will start a series of shorter posts on specific trading strategies. Nothing real, real advanced, but just kind of a basic overview. No promises this time on how many posts will be in the new series :-)

Is Monty Python In Charge Here?

The last thing that our government needs is to get bigger. Way too much of our tax money is wasted on useless governmental programs. So what are some people proposing? The creation of a new Cabinet level department. The Department of Peace.

This is ludicrous. We do not need another Cabinet level post. Especially not one that is devoted to feel good drivel.

We don't need national acupuncture or a national exercise in visualization. We need to have real leadership, willing to make real, difficult, decisions. We need to have a population willing to stay the course in our fight against the forces that would destroy us.

A Department of Peace now makes as much sense as it would have in June 1942. Hitler and Tojo would have laughed at us. Yamamoto didn't fear the US psychiatric capability; he feared our military might.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that no war in history has been won by psychoanalyzing our opponent and convincing him that his anger is all because of repressed childhood memories. If we went to war with psychiatrists instead of soldiers we would get our tails kicked in a heartbeat.

We cannot heal the hatred in others. They must heal it for themselves. Our goal needs to be making the hatred more painful for the patient than the cure. When it comes to healing or reforming, as a nation we are not a doctor, we are a corrections officer.

Liberals like this one complain about American imperialism and colonialism. They complain about our imposition of Western values on other nations. Yet the prescribe their "holistic medicine" without regard as to whether their patient is ready for it or not.

The people they want to "heal" are not diseased patients. They are hardened criminals that live only to harm and terrorize others.

We don't need more New Age healers and feel good remedies. We need more of Warden Rumsfeld and his boys cracking some terrorist heads.

The best way to ensure peace in America is to take the fight to the terrorists.

US-Pakistani Relations

Last night I was reading the results of a poll taken in Pakistan by a Saudi News Organziation (I'm at work on a fake internet connection so I can't take the time to track it down now, I'll get a link to it later tonight when I get a chance Here it is.). When I first read it I thought there was some significance, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was, so I didn't blog anything on it.

This morning, I had the epiphany that I had sensed last night.

The results showed among other things that 43% of Pakistanis view the US as a miliatry threat to them. Fully 2/3s of Pakistanis (or maybe it was 75%, I don't remember which exactly) believe that more Islamic law is needed in Pakistan.

Now when I found this over on Free Republic, some of the comments included a warning that the poll was conducted by a Saudi organization (does call the fairness of the poll into question as there is a good possiblity that the organization oculd have introduced some leading questions), but most of the comments were along the lines of "good to see that they're starting to fear us" or "let's use India as the middleman" or "figures they would want more Islamic law."

If these results are accurate and havn't been skewed too much by slanted questions, I see some potential problems here.

Pakistan is supposed to be, at least nominally, our friend. The US has ties with the Islamabad that go back a fairly good ways. They are not a perfect country and sometimes they do things we don't like. Often times they seem to be very opportunistic and more focused on the good of Pakistan than on the good of the region or the world.

And Musharraf is a dictator. He overthrew the government and imposed himself as the top dog. That also runs counter to our desire to see freedom and liberty spread to the far corners of the globe.

They've developed a nuclear capability in opposition to our requests to not do so. They (along with the Indians) have taken the Subcontinent to the brink of convential, and most recently nuclear, war several times. So with all this why does 43% of Pakistanis fearing the US as a military threat worry me?

Again, Pakistan is supposed to be our friend. Despite the dictator and despite the warts we have openly called them a friend.

After 9/11, they were one of the first nations to stand up in the fight against terrorism. Now maybe it was for selfish reasons. Maybe Musharraf felt the pressures of instability being caused by al-Qaida and saw the US War on Terror as a convient excuse to rid himself of those pressures. There have certainly been some very public failures on the part of Pakistan in the war. But also remember that many of the greatest successes in the War on Terror have come courtesy of the Pakistanis.

I think that Musharraf is playing a fairly sophisticated PR game. He knows that the terrorists have popular support, but he also knows that the US is his greatest protector. So he allows very public failings of little true significance to the war effort to play to internal pressure, while making sure that the real targets are nailed.

But what's happening is that some in the US are falling prey to the internal PR spin of Pakistan. Some in the US are calling Pakistan a fair weather friend (despite the fact that they have taken on this battle in the face of enormous internal pressure not to). We're beginning to put the Pakistani population on edge.

They are beginning to fear the US and they are beginning to view Musharraf as a puppet of the US. If the pressure keeps getting greater and greater, there may be an opportunity for another coup. And the results probably won't be as palatable. Another coup will likely lead to an Islamic theocracy in Pakistan.

And then the worst fear of many of the commentors on the original post over at Free Republic would be realized - a nuclear armed Islamic dictatorship.

I think it is time that we reassess our relationship with Pakistan. If they are truly our friend, we need to work towards calming some of the 43% that views us as a threat. If they are not a friend, well then 43% fearing us isn't enough.

If we don't decide soon, I think that they'll be deciding for us.

UPDATE:

I knew that by doing this at work I would miss something. And I did. I kind of missed the main point I wanted to make.

If Pakistan is our enemy, they should fear us. If they are anything but, they have no reason to fear us. We do not attack non-enemies. The British are sitting around wondering when we're going to invade London. The Canadians don't sit around pondering when we're coming for Toronto or Quebec. Even the French know that they only we enter Paris in anger is when we're throwing the Germans out.

43% of Pakistanis view their nation as an enemy of the US. I'm guessing that many of that 43% believes that Pakistan has done nothing that wrong as to become our enemy. And by and large they're correct. Pakistan should not be considered an enemy. Maybe not a friend, but definitely not an enemy.

And so we come back to my original conclusion: if Pakistan is our friend or not our enemy, we need to work on correcting the perceptions among the 43%. We don't want to allow the Islamofacists any opportunity to gain traction in their quest for domination.

Media Arrogance Or Military Failure?

The death of two journalists at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad is back in the news again. Turns out that a group aptly names the Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a report deploring the deaths as "avoidable."

The arrogance displayed by the writer of the article is amazing. She believes that nothing said by the US military could possibly be true. She is willing to jump to conclusions and condemnations without giving the Pentagon an opportunity to conduct their own investigation. And it's not as if the report she's basing her argument on is from an independent organization, it's from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

She basically accuses the officers involved of manslaughter (she admits that the deaths were unintentional). But were their actions really "unreasonable and grossly reckless?"

They suspected they were enemy fire from the direction of the Hotel. They had evidence pointing towards an enemy spotter in the direction of the Hotel (and the Hotel was the tallest structure around. If you're going to perform reconnaissance wouldn't that be where you wanted to be?). They saw a binocular flash (indicative of a spotter maybe?) from the Hotel. They asked for permission to fire and the request went all the way to the battalion commander.

I see nothing unreasonable or reckless about that sequence of events. The tank felt as though it was under fire, recognized the potential problems with firing in that direction, asked for permission, and then after three different levels of command had analyzed the situation, a decision to fire was made. Where is the unreasonableness?

The problem that the writer has with the situation is that journalists died. She hasn't a lick of concern about the safety of lives of anyone other than the journalists.

In a moral universe, there is no excuse for killing journalists under any circumstances.

Not everything in this universe is moral. There are some things that are evil. There are times when innocent people will die in tragic and unfortunate circumstances. The fact that they're journalists doesn't make their deaths are more or any less tragic. To say otherwise is the height of occupational conceit.

Media credibility isn't in the toilet because of the embed program or because some journalist once chose to actually believe something they were told. No, media credibility is down the drain because of the blatant and sickening elitist attitude that many journalists take.

The author is right. The public does need accurate information so that we can make informed decisions.

The problem is not with failing to "defend the rights of the nonembedded media," the problem is with the media not being able to provide unpoliticized coverage of the story.

A Commercial Break

I don't do this often (actually I've never done this), but in this case I'm going to make an exception.

A few months back, I helped a friend to get a life long dream business off the ground. For years he ran a major construction company in central Florida, but he always wanted to be a comedy writer. So when he retired, he decided to pursue that dream.

The result was a product called Hollywood Spoofies. What he has done is to spoof some of the more famous Hollywood productions, both of TV and film, like Frankenstein, Dallas, Star Trek, and the Godfather.

But unlike most spoofs, which are just simply books, he has made these interactive. You get together friends, a TV and DVD player and you actually produce the spoof. He provides the script and sound effects, you provide the booze and the laughs.

These are a great way to do something different at your next get together. No more standing around making idle chit chat, no more sitting around watching some boring home video. This will let you make your next get together fun, exciting and memorable.

For the record, I get nothing out of this. I helped with some of the work on the website, but that's it. I don't make a dime for trying to help Don with this. I am doing it because he's a friend and the product really is unique and exciting.

Go check him out over at hollywoodspoofies.net. If you have questions or want more information, don't be afriad to email him, he's very good about responding and trying to help.

Quit having the same old boring parties. Buy a Hollywood Spoofie and have some fun!

PS: This is one of the few times that I will admit that there is a picture of me floating around somewhere out there on the net. I am actually in two of the pictures. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out which two pictures.

Now back to our regular programming.

Two People In Two States?

So, who exactly is really standing in the way of a true peace between Israel and the maybe soon-to-be-state of Palestine? Is it Yassar Arafat as some have theorized? Or is it in facta small group of Palestinian and Arab intellectuals?

The author of the essay makes a pretty good argument for the real problem being that of the intellectuals. Their abject denial of the real cause of their problems (and those of the Arab culture by and large) along with an absolute unwillingness to accept the existence of Israel have been causing them to ignore reality at all costs.

I can't say that I really disagree with that assessment. The Palestinian's problems are largely of their own creation and have been made worse in large part more by the "brotherly" Arab nations that keep them in "refugee camps" and forment hatred and victimhood than by Israel.

And their biggest problem is their fanatical devotion to Arafat. More so than their hatred of women. More so than their anti-Semitism. Yassar Arafat is the prime extant example of poor Palestinian decision-making.

Arafat is what he is. He's a terrorist; unreformed and unrepentant. He has failed with every opportunity that has been granted to him by Israel or forced on Israel by the United States.

He has not made any attempts to curb the violence by the Palestinian zealots. He has broken the promises he made to remove the destruction of Israel as a goal.

He has never pleaded with his people for reason and understanding.

No, instead he has called for Palestinian children to blow themselves up.

The biggest impediment to the Peace Process is not the myopic vision of the Palestinian-Arab intellectuals. It is the hate and insanity preached by their "leader."

For the Palestinians to learn the ideas of self-criticism is within the realm of possibility. They can learn to analyze and learn from their mistakes.

But the dumpy little terrorist at the top has got to go first. He is the "Road Closed" sign on the Road Map.

Question for the Crowd

OK, I've finished the original five parts of my four part series on investing information.

If you're interested, I can pass along some information about mutual funds and asset allocation models.

If these topics interest you, or if there is something else you'd like to see (keep in mind that I'm trying to keep this basic to appeal to as many people as possible), drop a note in the comments for this post.

Public Service Announcement

For those of you living along the East Coast of the US, don't forget that today is my birthday the first day of hurricane season.

Keep up with the tropics at my favorite summertime website: The National Hurricane Center.

Now back to our regular programming.

Interesting

Been finding a few interesting statistic based studies coming out over the last few days. This one, from the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism casts statistical doubt on the idea that the Israelis are "massacring" the Palestinians. In fact, it shows quite the opposite.

If the Israelis were engaging in a full scale assault on the Palestinian people, as has been alleged, we would expect to see some similarity between the numbers of men and women who are killed or a relatively even age distribution. If you were invading cities and indiscriminately killing anyone that is what you would expect to see in the death distribution graphs.

But instead we see that nearly half of the Palestinians killed have been verified full combatants and that less than 1 in 5 killed has been a verified non-combatant. Plus there isn't a random distribution in the sex of the Palestinian dead, even ignoring the combatants on the Palestinian side, 92% of the Palestinians killed were male. And age-wise, most of Palestinian fatalities overall were between the ages of 15 and 29.

So the statistics are clearly showing that the Israelis are not indiscriminately killing. The percentage of women and children just isn't high enough to substantiate the claim.

But what do we learn from the age distribution graph? The greatest proportion of the Palestinian dead come from the generation what would have been educated in the aftermath of the 1968 war. This is first generation to be completely indoctrinated from day one with absolute hatred for Israel and the humiliations of the Palestinian people. They came of age during the hijackings and bombings of the 1980s. They are coming into their own as a rage filled militaristic population now.

It is the Arab emphasis on male machismo and the fruition of nearly 30 years of hate indoctrination that is coming together in the orgy of violence that we have seen in the Al-Asqa uprising. It also explains the fatality distributions that the statistics are clearly pointing out.

So Israel is in a true war, not just militarily, but philosophically as well. But contrary to the claims of massacre, the statistics show that Israel is fighting a war against the combatants, not against the Palestinian population as a whole.

So how does that stack up against the Palestinian claim that it is fighting a war against the Israeli war machine? They claim not to target civilians intentionally, but instead the attempt to target the settlers and the IDF (never mind that they classify every Israeli Jew as a settler, it helps with the fiction that they don't target civilians).

But when we go back to the statistics, we find a different story. Over two thirds of all Israelis killed in the uprising have been non-combatants. And of those, nearly 40% were women.

In addition, the age distribution of the Israel's non-combatant deaths is more randomly distributed. I don't think that the distribution is completely random, but that the relatively high numbers of deaths among the younger age groups is due to the Palestinian habit of bombing nightclubs and discos, which are more likely to be frequented by those younger age people.

What the statistics for the Israeli deaths are showing is that there is support for the claim that the Palestinians are, in fact, targeting the civilian population of Israel.

Most people in the West are not going to strongly dispute the claim that the Palestinians are targeting civilians. When the bombs go off in bars, discos, shopping malls, busses and outdoor markets, it's hard for even the most diehard fanatic to argue too much.

But the claim that Israel is out to massacre the Palestinian people is one that has much more traction, especially among the anti-Israel contingent in the US. I realize that no amount of fact or research will ever sway them from their blinkered belief that Israel is committing evil atrocities on a Hitleresque scale.

Statistics and studies like these can help to sway the reasonable, yet uninformed decision making majority in this country. The friends of Israel must be ready with fact and reason to counter the wild and unfounded rhetorical claims of the anti-Israeli crowd.

Israel is not perfect and not without its faults. But they have been a damn good friend to the US, and a damn good friend of freedom in the Middle East. Twice, in Gulf Wars I & II, they have sat still and let their nation's security be risked to further the common good of the world. Most nations wouldn't be willing to even consider, much less take, that step. Israel shines as a beacon of common sense and selflessness in a sea of the darkness of indoctrination and selfish greed.

The anti-Israeli crowd must not be allowed to win the public relations war in America. The US population must continue to stand by Israel. This study and its results are but one weapon in the fight for our friend.

The New EU Constitution - II

Wow.

Matt Scofield over at Irreverent Probity has got an excellent, excellent review of the new EU Constitution.

I don't post many short "go read this" posts, but this justifies an exception.

UPDATE: Looks like the Blogger links aren't working right again. Go here and scroll down.

Wealth Qualifications For Terrorists?

I hope this isn't a case of manipulated statistics.

My personal beliefs about government run more towards the "leave me alone" end of the spectrum. I don't go to the point of full-blown libertarianism, but I don't think that government has as many legitimate purposes as even the Republican Party does. I want to be able to live my life without interference as much as reasonably possible.

Reading this report, it looks like I'm not alone. I just have a better way of expressing my disaffection with the system.

Right now, I qualify as poor (even poorer after dealing with Florida's Department of Motor Vehicles today. What a nightmare! But since the problem was mainly of my own making, I guess I can't complain too much), but I have relatively unfettered liberty to do most anything I please. So when I get pissed, I find an outlet. Sometimes I complain to friends, sometimes I write my feelings here, sometimes I internalize the issue. The choice of how to react is always mine.

In nations most likely to produce terrorists, they don't have that choice. Tell your friend how much you disliked your dealings with the Palestinian DMV, you're likely to find yourself hanging by your toenails from a light pole as everyone in town comes by to take some licks at you with a rubber hose. Write something like this site and they'll throw you in religious jail for the next 40 years or so. Your only choice is to internalize the feelings.

So the pressure builds and builds and builds. Internalizing a problem is not the best way to deal with it (usually). Do it enough and eventually you want to lash out at someone or something with an irrational fury and hatred.

Add in the demagogues running most terrorist factory nations and you've got a recipe for disaster. People who want to lash because of the government, but they can't lash out at the government. Demagogues who convince them that all their problems are the fault of the Jews and the Americans. Demagogues who convince them that their lives will never improve; that their misery can be ended only by a glorious martyrdom operation, which will help to free the rest of the nation from the shackles of the evil Zionist repression.

The rage, the hatred and the need to act build to a furious crescendo. And when they reach their peak, one of the manipulative demagogues straps an explosive vest on them and points them towards Israel or some sends them on some similar suicide mission.

The terrorist dies in a blaze of discontent, not ever realizing the source of his internal torment.

The demagogue moves on to the next victim.

Choice is a wonderful right.

An Executive Decision - II

Just to let everyone know where things stand right now, the third part of the originally announced four part series of investing knowledge will be options. I started working on it last night, thinking for some strange reason that I might have been able to get it done. I didn't. It's about halfway done, but I won't be able to finish until I get home this evening so look for it to hit the site around 9 tonight.

I have also made another executive decision to make this a four part series in five sections. A section on market mechanics, or how trading actually occurs, will be forthcoming also. Sometimes knowing how the market works can save you a few bucks, so I'll pass that along.

I'm glad that everyone seems to like this series and I hope that you're finding the information to be of some educational value. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I'll try to answer them as soon as possible.

American Imperialism?

Where to start, where to start?

Here is a nice long and fairly well written article by Bernard Weiner talking about the evils of the Republican Party in general, and the Bush administration in particular.

There are so many things in the article that I disagree with, it's truly incredible. I could go down a list of points, point by point by point, but this would probably be a little too long of a post (I don't have that much space on my site). So instead I'll pick on just one piece.

Everyone loves a winner, and American citizens are no different. It makes a lot of people feel good that we "won" the battle for Iraq, but in doing so we paid too high a price at that, and may well have risked losing the larger war in the Arab/Muslim region: the U.S. now lacks moral stature and standing in much of the world, it is revealed as a liar for all to see (no WMDs in Iraq, no connection to 9/11, no quick handing-over the interim reins of government to the Iraqis as initially promised), it destroyed a good share of the United Nation's effectiveness and prestige that may come in handy later, it needlessly alienated our traditional allies, it infuriated key elements of the Muslim world, it provided political and emotional ammunition for anti-U.S. terrorists, etc.

Already, we're talking about $80 to $100 billion from the U.S. treasury for reconstruction in Iraq. And the PNACers are gearing up for their next war: let's see, should we move first on Iran or on Syria, or maybe do Syria-lite first in Lebanon?

One can believe that maybe PNAC sincerely believes its rhetoric - that instituting U.S.-style free-markets and democratically-elected governments in Iraq and the other authoritarian-run countries of the Islamic Middle East will be American interests as well - but even if that is true, it's clear that these incompetents are not operating in the world of Middle Eastern realities.

These are armchair theoreticians - most of whom made sure not to serve in the military in Vietnam - who truly believed, for example, that the Iraqis would welcome the invading U.S. forces with bouquets of flowers and kisses when they "liberated" their country from the horribleness of Saddam Hussein's reign. The Iraqis, by and large, were happy to be freed of Saddam's terror, but, as it stands now, the U.S. military forces are more likely to be engulfed in a political/religious quagmire for years there, as so many of the majority Shia population just want the occupying soldiers to leave.

And yet PNAC theorists continue to believe that remaking the political structure of the Middle East - by force if necessary, although they hope the example of what the U.S. did to Iraq will make war unnecessary - will be fairly easy.

These are men of big ideas, but who don't really think. They certainly don't think through what takes place in the real world, when the genies of war and religious righteousness are let out of the bottle.

Statements like this really, really annoy me. They ignore or twist the basic facts of the situation that we find ourselves in.

We are at war with the radical Islamists. We have been since long before 9/11. The only change since 9/11 is that we have finally recognized the fact and have consequently begun to act on it. 9/11 was not the beginning of a war, but it may very well be the beginning of the end of it. We have now shown that we have the courage and conviction to stand up to the terrorists and as a result they're now fighting for relevance, rather than for a broader purpose.

Bush and the Republican Party are not the ones guilty of not thinking in this case. Terrorists like bin Laden and Saddam didn't think through what the consequences of waking the American giant would be. They let out the genies of war and religious righteousness, not us. We fear not the genies because we don't rely on them. Our nation, our military, our people are grounded in a reality which doesn't count on the whims of a deity or a fantasy. We believe in the actions of man.

If you don't agree with the war in Iraq, that's fine. If you think that we're combating terrorism the wrong way, that's ok too. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and reasonable people can disagree without either party necessarily being wrong.

It's just that both parties have to analyze the same facts and realities.

Worried Muslims?

Interesting column here by Muhammad Irshad of Pakistan expressing concern that the US might actually be serious about ending terrorism - in all its forms. He is expressing concern that we might actually be serious about rooting out the terrorists - no matter where they might be.

This is good.

Underlying the normal Middle Eastern anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism is the realization that they are on the wrong side of history.

But they still haven't completely understood the goals of the US. They understand the demands as evidenced by this line:

Now along comes the Bush administration, under the influence of Wolfowitz, Perle & Co., and issues an ultimatum to the Syrians: give up your chemical weapons, eliminate Hizbullah, get rid of the “terrorists”.

It never enters his mind that we are in pursuit of peace. He never entertains the thought that we are coming to the realization that a true and lasting peace will not come from the destruction of Israel or from terrorism.

He professes a multitude of concerns about disarmament. He complains of US military might. He all but calls for terrorist attacks to attempt to thwart the US, which is being controlled by its "Zionist lobby."

Never once does he even pretend to understand the US position or motivation. Never once does he call for dialogue with or understanding of Israel.

This wacky Paki is so far out in the lefty fields that he believes Senator Bob Graham to be a hawk. Sen. Graham is anything but a hawk, even on the terrorism issue.

With his complaints about the treatment of Syria, Iran and Pakistan the author shows a complete misunderstanding of the United States. Our goal is not war. Our goal is not imperialism. Our goal isn't even control of the oil fields or appeasement of any particular lobby.

Our overriding goal is peace.

Thus underlining a well-known lesson for us, that in military and economic strength lies the safety of our nation.

Not quite. The lesson to be learned here is that the slumbering giant has been awakened. The safety of your nation lies in your ability to understand the objective of the United States of America.

We want peace.

Trade Sanctions To Fix The Economy?

I talked the other day about the potential benefits of depreciation in the value of the dollar. But it is wise to bear in mind that there is more than one way to work on staving off the threat of deflation.

William Hawkins of tradealert.org is proposing to raise punitive tariffs instead.

Raising tariffs does achieve the goal of reducing imports. In order to get the US economy kick started, we really need to start getting American consumers to buy American goods instead of imported ones. Depreciation and raising tariffs both work towards that goal.

Tariffs also have the additional benefit of being targeted. Depreciation affects all imports, no matter what they are or where they're from. Tariffs allow the targeting of certain industry segments or the products of certain nations.

So if both paths achieve the same goal and the tariff route affects fewer industries, products or people, why not use punitive tariffs to bring about the economic recovery that we need?

There are really two big reasons why the raising of tariffs is not the proper path: one is political the other is economic.

Politically, the raising of tariffs is a very dangerous thing. Other nations expect a certain level of stability in their dealings with the US. If we raise tariffs, we change the rules of trade midstream with introduces additional risks to trading with us. When a foreign company is unable to ascertain within reason their profits, they will be much more likely to avoid trading with us at all. And we have to remember that the idea is change American spending habits, not to discourage international trade.

Economically, the tariffs smack of a controlled economy. The dollar represents, like shares of a corporation, a degree of ownership in the US economy. And like a corporation, the US economy is subject to various cycles and pressures, some make the economy more valuable; some make it less valuable.

During the last five to ten years we have experienced foreign investors putting money into the US market because the opportunities offered elsewhere weren't all that great. The reward that was being offered overseas wasn't commensurate with the risk. As a result foreign investors were making investments in the US, not because of our strength, but because of weakness elsewhere.

Recently the Euro had depreciated to the point where investment in Europe started to look attractive again. The economies there are stumbling along, but the Euro had become so depreciated that the potential for outsized returns (in relation to dollar denominated investments) began to overcome the inertia of having to unwind positions in the US. As a result, investors having been buying Euro denominated investments, financed by the sale of dollar denominated investments. Hence we see the decline of the dollar and the rise of the Euro.

As the dollar depreciates and more consumers begin buying American goods, the US economy will begin to strengthen at the fundamental level. The combination of a cheap dollar and improving fundamentals will bring foreign investors in search of better returns back into the US capital markets.

Allowing the depreciation mechanism to run its course tends to lead to the economy correcting itself. Using tariffs imposes a correction that may not be supported or justified by the current economic state.

It was tariffs and protectionism, as exemplified by the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, which helped to propel us into the Great Depression. At the time the economic situation was not all that dissimilar: the US was coming down off a boom, Japan and the European economies were weak to the point of collapse. Hawley-Smoot really helped to tip the balance in a way that ultimately hurt the American workingman.

Tariffs are not the answer. Beating our trade partners into new, more favorable to us, trade agreements is not the answer. Only a fundamental rebuilding of the US economy is going to get us out of this mess.

Mr. Hawkins likens the imposition of tariffs to stopping the bleeding of the economy.

A Band-Aid doesn't really help on an infected wound. It may stop the bleeding temporarily, but the infection will eventually spread - and could be fatal.

We need to treat the problem, a weak US economy, not the symptom of a weak dollar.

Memorial Day Posts

OK, I made most of my Memorial Day posts yesterday - a day early - so I thought I would provide links to them since there are a couple of lengthy posts to go through to get to them.

First I had a personal-type essay on Memorial Day.

Followed by a poem I found that seemed rather appropriate.

And finally ended up with a post about an amazing young Cub Scout.

That's it so far. Have a great Memorial Day everyone!

A Poem For Memorial Day

Found this over on Free Republic. If anyone can identidy the author, I'd be appreciative.

To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard though the angels sleep
Through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord

Memorial Day

Memorial Day.

For most people it means a three day weekend, barbeque with friends, watching racing on TV, maybe seeing a ballgame. Trips to the beach, cops cracking down on traffic violations, that's all the kind of stuff that people think about when they think of Memorial Day. They might remember something about it being traditional to fly the flag, but other than a vague recollection of something about wars and veterans they don't know why.

Sales and the end of school. A three day weekend. That is all that Memorial Day is to a large chunk of the American people.

Memorial Day is supposed to be the day on which we honor our fallen warriors. It is a day set aside to honor their ultimate sacrifice. It is a day to remember what their sacrifice was for.

What did they sacrifice for? What was so important that they would willingly and bravely give that last full measure?

An idea.

They sacrificed for an idea.

What idea could be that powerful that men and women would give their very lives to protect it? It is the idea that is the United States.

We are a nation. We are a people. We are the product of the most unique experiment in history.

Sure, our nation is symbolized by two pieces of paper - the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Our nation is exemplified through its people both great and average. Our history is one of pushing boundaries and always searching for something better, something greater.

But what keeps pushing us? What was it that allowed the creation of those two documents? What has caused us to push ourselves to greatness?

It is the idea behind the nation. It is liberty.

Liberty has been the driving force behind the greatness of our nation.

Liberty has been the idea that so many people have willingly laid down their lives for.

They fought not for individual glory, for loot, or for personal gain. They died not to subjugate or to expand the empire.

They fought to protect the idea. They died for something larger than themselves, for something larger than their nation.

They gave their lives so that we could continue this grand experiment. They died so that we could continue to drink from the fountain of liberty.

Because they sacrificed, we can speak our mind freely. Because they sacrificed, we can sleep soundly at night.

They number in the multi-thousands. Soundly they sleep in the long, quiet slumber of death. Each new battle swells their ranks. They repose knowing that more will join them until the great American experiment of liberty is over. Until then, they understand that sometimes, the price of liberty is paid in blood. Their blood and that of those to come.

The gravestones and markers stand as silent reminders of their sacrifice. Everyday we pass them by without even a second glance. They don't hold it against us. They fought to protect the American way of life. They watch us go about our daily lives and they see why they gave their all.

Hamburgers and beer, NASCAR and the Indy 500, baseball and friends - they're all part of the American Memorial Day. Each, in its own way, honors the sacrifice. Each is a part of the American way of life that has been defended time and time again.

The flag is the most important piece of the Memorial Day puzzle. It is the symbol of our liberty. For many of the dead we honor this weekend, it was their last earthly sight. It was what they died for. The flag is America as everything American is symbolized by the flag.

The flag is important this weekend as a reminder. It is a reminder of why people are willing to sacrifice everything for our nation. It is a reminder of the thousands upon thousands who have already made the sacrifice. It is a reminder of the thousands who stand ready today to do the same.

Fly an American flag this weekend. Honor the dead.

(Learn more about Memorial Day at http://www.usmemorialday.org)

Last Hurrah For Al-Qaida?

Amir Taheri has an interesting op-ed in tomorrow's Times in which he theorizes that the recent spate of terrorist attacks is an indication of desperation on the part of the terrorists. I tend to agree with the basic premise.

The pressure is mounting on the terrorists. They are losing their funding, their safe harbor, and much of their support. They are losing their relevance in the world.

Which is exactly why they have to prove themselves as being relevant. The more it appears to the Arab Street that the infidels are winning the war on terror, the less influence the nutcases will have.

The terrorists are the failures of their society. They are the people who cannot build, they can only destroy.

The Arab world is at a crossroads in its history. It can either build itself to the level of the West, or it can try to destroy the West down to the level of the Arab world.

The moderates, like Turkey and Jordan, want to build up a new Arab world. They have not been perfect, but they have been working on normalizing relations with the West. Through their relations with Israel they show more tolerance than their neighbors. They are trying to learn from and work with them West.

Hizbollah, Hamas, and al-Qaida want to destroy the West. They fear change so much that it is more palatable to drag the world back to the 7th century than it is for them to try to move into even the 19th century. The Enlightenment that their culture so desperately needs threatens the terrorist’s importance. So they resist.

The terrorists don't particularly believe in their religion. They use it as an excuse for their behavior. They don't believe in any particular cause. Infidels in Saudi Arabia, the Palestinians, economic sanctions - they are ever morphing excuses for cultural impotence.

The events of the last few days are nothing more than a cultural temper tantrum. They are a cry for relevance. They are proof that the war on terror is working.

But we are not out of the woods, yet. The war is still yet to be won.

Blog At Your Own Risk?

Donald Sensing over at One Hand Clapping is commenting on a NYT article about the perils of blogging.

Now I'll admit that there is a certain cheap thrill to getting a link from another blogger and this could be perilous to friendships if they are shallow (or the blogger is).

But bloggers, like everyone else, need to realize that there is a certain level of responsibility that has to be maintained. A blog can be personal, but you have to be ready for the consequences if you spread stories that shouldn't have been spread. A blog is no excuse for ignoring basic human decency.

I have to agree completely with Mr. Sensing on this point:

This is probably the most superficial look at blogging I have ever seen. We are informed, mostly through implication and insinuation, that bloggers can't be trusted because we don't have editors........

Actually, I can't be trusted because I just make this stuff up as I go along.

So we can't trust bloggers because we don't have editors. We can't trust the NY Times because they do have editors - that don't do their job. So who can we trust?

What ever happened to independent thought? Neal Boortz puts it pretty well: "Don't believe anything you read or hear unless it is consistent with what you already know to true or you have taken the time to research it." (I might be off a little, but it gives you the idea.) If you don't want to be an intellectual lemming, a little effort is required.

Trust yourself. To trust anyone else without verification is to abdicate your responsibility.

Besides, how could you ever trust a bunch of ego-trippers like the blogosphere? Our only goal in life is to get blogrolled by Glenn Reynolds. It's not like we might have any personal knowledge, experience or insight that might be useful, informative or correct.

After all, we don't have editors to make us smart or honest.

Is The Road Map A Ruse?

Excellent article in U.S. News & World Report: "A journey without maps." As I see more and more articles like this, I wonder: what if the road map is a ruse?

The Bush Administration, much to the chagrin of its critics, isn't dumb. The "Palestinian problem" is one of the most intractable issues in the world.

The basic obstacle to settling the issue is that one side, the Palestinians, don't really want peace. With peace the failings of the government would be exposed for all to see. The kleptocracy would have to end. Even in a culture that is accepting of corruption, what the Palestinian Authority has done is nothing short of incredible. With peace though, real progress in governing, rather than opposing, must be made.

And Arafat knows that governing is the antithesis over everything he stands for.

But he also knows that he has to at least put on a facade. He has to pretend to be trying to become a man of peace, otherwise he risks losing his primary source of cash flow, the EU. So he appoints Abu Mazen, a politically acceptable (to everyone else) prime minister. He accepts the "road map" and pretends to be trying to live up to it.

But nothing has changed. He is still a terrorist. The Palestinian Authority still tacitly allows terrorists to operate from its territory. But so long as he puts on the right dog-and-pony-show, everyone is happy.

So it would seem.

What if the Bush Administration is playing the same game as Arafat? What if the road map, the prodding of Israel, and the threats to impose a solution, what if they're all just a facade?

Why would we do that?

It's actually pretty simple. We realize that Arafat is an unreformed and unwilling to reform terrorist. Until Arafat is gone and the PA reformed from the education ministry to the foreign ministry, nothing is going to change. Every negotiation will end in broken promises. The goal of the PA will continue to be to throw Israel back into the Mediterranean. Everything about the PA must change in order for there to be real peace.

Unfortunately we can't just go in and change it. Think people whined when we went into Iraq? The gnashing of teeth would be unbearable if we (or the Israelis) were to enter the territories with the intention of instituting the reforms the PA won't. So how so we go about it?

Run a sting operation on Yassar. Basically we bait him into showing that he has no intention of changing. We force the EU to recognize that Arafat will never be a suitable partner for peace. During this last round of Arafat exposure, the EU has begun to admit that he isn't quite the man of peace they want him to be, so they pushed for Abu Mazen.

It's not much of a change, but it's something. It's possible evidence that the EU is starting to understand the true intentions of the various actors in this grand play.

But they haven't completely seen the light. So we have to further expose Yassar. Hence the Road Map Ruse.

I'm really starting to think that the Road Map isn't so much about establishing an immediate peace as it is about laying the groundwork for a true peace in the future. We have to convince the bankers (the EU) that Arafat isn't a good risk to take anymore.

Once we get the EU to quit bankrolling the PA, then we can get stubborn with the PA and work to effect change through the Palestinian people. Once the Palestinian people realize that they have no supporters (save the world's true loonies) and a government that no one will work with, they will bring about change by themselves.

If this is the plan, or something close to it, we are relying on three things: Arafat's nature as a terrorist, EU intelligence, and the intelligence of the Palestinian people. I have no doubt that it is wise to build a plan around the first and the last - Arafat is a terrorist and the Palestinian people aren't stupid - but counting on the intelligence of the EU powers, I'm not too sure about that. The EU has lost some of its ability to think rationally as they occasionally attempt to set themselves up as a counterweight to the US.

But something as blatant and easy to see as Arafat trying to detour the Road Map might just be enough to convince Paris and Berlin of Arafat's true reluctance to have peace.

Then maybe, just maybe, we can start building the groundwork of a true and just peace.

Why Democracy Is Bad For Iraq

There has been much talk around lately about how a new "democratic" Iraq will look, act and behave. We are constantly bombarded with the notion that in order to have been successful in Iraq, we have to have left behind a functioning, secular democracy.

Wrong. We actually don't want anything of the sort.

The Administration has talked of bringing democracy to Iraq. What they have meant is that they intend to bring liberty to Iraq, not necessarily democracy. It is very important to recognize that distinction.

Liberty is the ability to life as you see fit to live it. If you want to speak out against the government, speak out. If you have a great idea to make millions, bring it on. Want to be a bum? Go right ahead. In each case, the choice is yours.

Liberty has been the goal all along. I said it back on March 12, we went to war for liberty - and ultimately for no other reason.

Democracy is not freedom. Pure democracy would lead to the establishment of heavy restrictions on the rights of minorities. To use the term democracy to describe what we want in Iraq is wrong.

We want to leave the Iraqis with a government that protects the rights of minorities. We want a government that is representative of the people. We want the people of Iraq to know freedom, without the fear of it being snatched away from them.

We want them to know liberty.

And the Administration knows that. They understand that installing a tyranny of the majority would be unacceptable. It's just that, like everyone else, they got caught up in the nice, benign sound of "democracy."

What we really want is a constitutional republic founded on liberty and rights. That is what the benchmark needs to be, not the warm-fuzzy of an ambiguous word.

Imperialism - American Style

Max Boot, writing in Canada's National Post is claiming that American Imperialism is good. I don't take issue with the fact that we do good in foreign affairs. But we are not a military imperialist nation. Economically we are, but not militarily.

The examples of imperialism that Boot brings up, from the Philippines to Germany, are all proof that we are, in fact, not an imperialist nation in the traditional sense.

Traditionally, imperialism has involved conquering a nation and then exploiting it for some type of gain for the mother country. The condition of the inhabitants of the conquered nation was a secondary concern to the enrichment of the conqueror. Traditionally, imperialism has meant oppression, humiliation and exploitation until it is impossible to maintain the abuses.

America has never been an imperialist power in that mold. We have conquered nations and held territories outside our borders. We have used other nations to promote American interests. But we have not engaged in the repression and racism that the traditional imperial powers have.

We conquered Japan and Germany and assisted them to form a new government, which we turned the administration of the nation over to. And these weren't puppet regimes, either. These nations have opposed us many times since the end of WWII, just not militarily. The Philippines kicked the US Navy out. We have given the Puerto Ricans the opportunity to leave many, many times. They refuse to take it. They have stayed of their own free will.

Did we exploit Germany and Japan? Only if you consider helping them to form a government of their best and brightest exploitation. We didn't use them as a source of cheap labor or as a reserve of strategic resources. But we let them use us in those roles. The conquered exploited the conqueror, almost a form a reverse imperialism.

Militarily we have not been an imperialist power, but economically we are.

We have become so powerful economically that we can realistically control the destiny of their nations by tweaking our own economy. The superiority and dominance of our free market system has crushed virtually every attempt at command economies. We have made it so difficult for a nation to prosper without us that they are forced by economic reality to meet our demands.

And economically, our demands are similar to those of a true imperialist nation. We demand luxury items and we want them cheap. We demand that these other nations buy our products, regardless of whether or not they actually need them. In a traditional imperialist system the military is the big stick; in our imperialistic system, our economy is the big stick - and also the carrot.

Mr. Boot is correct in asserting that American imperialism has been one of the greatest forces of good that the world has every seen. Unlike a traditional, militaristic imperialism, we don't threaten our sphere of influence with death and destruction if they ignore us. Rather we promise them peace, life and prosperity if they work with us. And by and large, we deliver on that promise.

American imperialism is not about occupation or nation building or subjugation. Imperialism American style is about freedom. As Mr. Boot points out we may impose free speech at the point of a gun, but we never shoot the speaker if he exercises his free speech by calling us names or telling us to leave. On the contrary, we rejoice in the fact that he was willing to tell us off. Freedom, not oppression, is the foundation of our imperialism. And it is that fundamental difference of American style imperialism that makes it so successful.

Ugly Canadians

Found this interesting editorial in the Globe and Mail yesterday in which the author bemoans the fact that some Americans are starting to view Canada in a less than favorable light. He is expressing concern that the Wall Street Journal, in particular, isn't talking about Canada as that nice, friendly and always there neighbor to the north.

He does an excellent review of the reasons why we are starting to question the Canadians, but he doesn't realize that this isn't an isolated or infrequent feeling. It isn't just the WSJ that is questioning the attitudes and actions of the Canadians; it's happening in most every newspaper of consequence nationwide.

In the aftermath of Iraq, we, as a nation, are going through the process of re-evaluating our friends. France and Russia have proven themselves to be beyond hope. Germany is pretty close to being a write-off also. But Canada is the one that really seems to shock us more than the others.

The Canadians were supposed to be our friends. Not just normal friends, but friends like Britain is our friend. We expected the Canadian government to tell us why we were wrong, to do everything realistically possible to deter us from our course, but when the die was cast, we expected that they would understand the importance of backing your friends - even when you think the fight is stupid. Friends are friends. Period.

The Canadian government let us down. I don't believe that the stubbornness of the Canadian government really reflected the desires of the Canadian people. They still don't and now your starting to see more and more stories about government officials having to backtrack as the citizens express outrage at their incredibly damaging (and stupid) remarks.

Questioning the wisdom of a decision is one of the most important responsibilities of living in a free nation. If the Canadian press were indulging in spouting the part line (like in the Axis of Weasels) then I would say that our friendship was in doubt. What Canada needed to do to maintain our friendship was to engage in some heavy-duty self-introspection.

They appear to be doing so. And that is why our friendship will survive and even thrive. At least we won't be the only "ugly" people in Europe anymore.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, especially mine. The sacrifices you make are superhuman. It is prrof that there is no more powerful motivator in the world than the love of a mother for her child.

American Goodwill

Interesting question about whether America spent or squandered the world goodwill.

The one line that really caught my eye is:

In short, the United States has been on the wrong side of Arab history for almost five decades, and it is not doing much better than the Soviets. The old policy had no future, only a past. It was a dead policy walking. September 11 was merely the death certificate.

So both the US and the Soviets were on the wrong side of Arab history. Since we had diametrically opposed approaches, the author is really saying that Arab history had no future.

Without change. And September 11 was so much a death as it was a resurrection.

It was the resurrection of hope in the region. It was the resurrection of progress instead of regression. It was the resurrection of freedom instead of tyranny and despotism.

Sometimes, the resurrection just takes a while. Afghanistan and Iraq have already experienced the most painful change - the change from living death to life. The rest of the region will slowly but surely follow. It is no longer a question of will they, but when.

The revolution has begun. We didn't gain our independence in two years. We shouldn't expect the entire Middle East to gain its independence in two or even five years. Now is when we need to start working on their timetable - with some occasional prodding, of course.

Bin Laden will never realize the unintended consequences of the revolution he really kicked into high gear on 9/11. Rather than starting a final war for Islamic domination, he has begun the freeing of one of the most repressed regions of the world.

We didn't spend or squander the goodwill of the world. We invested it in this great project of rebuilding the Middle East. It will be one of the best investments in goodwill we will ever make.

We will be better off for the revolution.

Just How Useful Is Our Military?

Sitting here doing my morning reading, I come across this article which questions the value or necessity of our military.

If we strip away all the yellow ribbons and stars and stripes, and look honestly at our military activity since the turn of the 20th century, it's next to impossible to find any time when our homeland was truly in danger of being overrun, or our freedoms trampled by a foreign tyrant. Why then are most Americans, even many of our comrades on the left, of the opinion that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have been giving their lives for our freedom? In a real stretch, you might be able to say that they've died for others' freedom or liberation, but that is entirely different.

In one regards, the author is right. During the 20th century, there really weren't very many direct threats to the US. Pearl Harbor, a few Nazi commandos and some balloon bombs - that was about it. But that misses the point.

No one really came close to making real threats against us, because we had a large and powerful military. If we had been weak, the Japanese wouldn't have hit us with a sucker punch at Pearl, they would have invaded San Francisco or Los Angeles.

If we had been weak, the Nazi's would have invaded Washington, Philadelphia or New York.

Or the Soviets would have overrun us completely.

Were most of the battles fought in far off lands? Yep. Our military strength gave us the capacity to take the fight to the enemy. We put him on the defensive.

So to answer the author's premise, our fighting in foreign lands and our liberating foreign people did defend liberty at home. We took the offensive and made the enemy fight on our terms. Our military defended the homeland by defeating the enemy before he could get here.

It seems as though the author would have us wait to fight a war on our shores, as that would be respectful in his view. He even goes as far as to invoke the Founders as desiring a small standing army.

We actually have a relatively small standing military force. Nations the size of one of our mid-size states have large militaries than we do. Our military is fearsome not for its size, but for its dedication and efficiency that come from defending the highest of ideals.

The Founders were concerned that a large military could be turned against the nation. But what some people have failed to recognize is that our nation is now our military. The armed forces are but one component of our strength.

Each and every day as we go to work, or to school, or to just engage in our everyday lives we are fighting a global war. Our weapons are our ideas, our inventions, and our freedom. Our economy is the greatest engine of war that has ever been devised in the whole history of humanity.

Our economy played a critical role in the fall of the Soviet Union. Without its strength, we could not have engaged in the arms race that crushed the Soviet menace. It has subjugated friend and foe alike by bringing them closer to our ideals of free enterprise and free people. How far into socialism and communism would Europe have gone without the threat of losing touch with the American economy? Our free market capitalism kept them from becoming another part of the Soviet experiment as much, if not more than the American military.

It is distasteful to see someone downplaying the significance of the contribution of our military. Throughout the American Century, we never had to rebuild from the ravages of war. Our ability to take the fight to the enemy was another form of defending the homeland and was every bit as important as it allowed us to build our most powerful weapon - the US economy - without significant setback.

Our use of the armed forces has been brilliant, wise and just. I have every confidence that the Founders would be proud.

The American Century proved us worthy of their dream.

The Saddam Rap

I come home from work early because I'm not feeling well and where one of my loyal readers sent this to my email. Definitely a nice boost when I'm trying to fight off a cold.

(Hat tip to Joe)

India's Attack Subs & Pakistan

Venomous Kate left a comment on my “Pakistan Taking A Page From Syria” post in which reminds me about the deal between India and Russia to sell the Indian Navy two nuclear submarines. It’s a very, very good point, but it also bears out my point.

When I first read the comment it jogged the memory in my mind of having seen something about India buying a couple of Russian nuke boats, but I couldn’t remember the details. So I went searching on GlobalSecurity.org while I was at work today.

The two subs that India is buying are both attack subs. In the grand scheme of the Indo-Pakistani military balance of power, they actually have very little effect. Let me explain why.

The Russians essentially built three types of nuclear subs: ballistic missile subs, guided missile subs and the fast attack subs. Each type of sub had its own place in the Soviet Naval order.

The ballistic missile subs, or boomers, we’re the big boats, with the big missiles, that could change the balance of power between India and Pakistan. Actually, if the Russians were to sell one of their boomers it could change the balance of power in the world, period. The firepower on each of these subs was and is significant.

The guided missile subs were next in the pecking order. The Soviets never seemed to get a good, quality, all purpose submarine like the US Los Angeles class. As a result, when the Soviets needed a standoff attack sub, they had to create an entirely new class of sub. These were the subs that had the medium range conventional warhead missiles that could be used against ships or land-based targets at a reasonable distance. The Indian Navy actually sailed a Soviet guided missile sub under the Indian flag in the early 1990s.

And finally, at the bottom were the fast attack boats. These were the hunter-killer subs that were supposed to track and destroy our boomers and Los Angeles class subs. They were built pretty much only as anti-submarine or anti-shipping platforms. They were not designed for standoff or for land attacks.

And what the Indians are buying will be 2 Akula-II fast attack subs. Their only land attack capability is a 100 km high-explosive surface-to-surface missile that is really designed to make anti-ship attacks.

So why would the Indian Navy go out of its way to acquire two nuclear submarines? After all, it’s not as if the Pakistani Navy is this juggernaut that must be stopped at all costs. But using them in a land attack role would subject them to a very high degree of risk. So why bother?

For the Indian Navy it is a matter of prestige. They will be able to claim that they are nuclear navy and that they can threaten any shipping, anytime, anywhere in the world. Will they ever actually need or truly use the capabilities of a nuclear sub? Probably not. But they can say that they have one.

About the only way that the Indians could really use a nuclear sub against Pakistan would be to try to blockade one of the Pakistani ports. But even then, they run a huge risk.

Assume that they neutralize the Pakistani Navy so that the boats can operate unfettered in enforcing the blockade. The nukes can sit out there and sink Pakistani shipping all day long. But what about American shipping or British shipping or Chinese shipping? They can't sink any of our ships without risking another Lusitania. The risks are simply too high. So blockading Pakistani ports is a nice threat, but politically impractical.

So why would Pakistan be so eager to make an expensive symbol of Indian hubris a point of contention? The boats really don’t pose that much a threat, if any, to the well being of Pakistan.

Politically, this could be the opinion goldmine that Pakistan has been needing to find. They have already proposed the nuclear disarmament of the Sub-Continent. If India agrees to disarm, the submarine situation becomes interesting.

If India refuses to get rid of the subs, correctly claiming that they are nuclear powered – not nuclear weapons – then Pakistan can claim that the Indians have obstructed the peaceful disarmament of a volatile region. In doing so, they would shift the blame for any nuclear catastrophe to India, regardless of who fires the first shot. After all, it would be the Indians fault – if only they had been willing to part with the nuclear submarines…

If India agrees to disarm and to get rid of the subs, then the Pakistanis have still won the public relations battle. After all they proposed the disarming, not India. And the Indian Navy would have to suffer a wound to its pride, watching its two newest acquisitions go away, along with their claims to be a world-class nuclear navy.

The subs will likely become the public deal breaker for disarmament. India won’t, and shouldn’t have to, give them up. They are not nuclear weapons. They really aren’t even a threat to Pakistan. But they are nuclear. So in Pakistan’s mind, they have got to go. They could be a nuclear powered rowboat and they’d still be absolute evils as far as Pakistan was concerned.

It’s all a big political game in the court of world opinion. And Pakistan is setting themselves up for a no lose situation, much like Syria tried to do to Israel. Who will be India’s America and will stop the madness?

Freedom, It's So.....Liberating

Freedom of the press is such a wonderful thing. It allows for the publication of ideas as opposite as those of Adam Smith and Karl Marx. It let's me publish this blog. It protects the NY Times when they attack the current Administration. It is one of the most powerful ideas that we hold dear. And now it is spreading to Iraq.

It's great to hear that one of the most popular businesses in the Baghdad market is one that sells previously banned books. 30 years of oppression has retarded the education of an entire generation of Iraqi intellectuals, but the fact that they will go out and buy these banned books as soon as they are available is a sign that the generation has not been lost.

This generation will be the most important in modern Iraqi history. We have provided them with a basic structure for their new government: democratic, free, and responsive to the people. Beyond that it is the responsibility of the Iraqis to determine their own governmental fate.

Freedom of the press will be a key part of ensuring that there is a national debate in Iraq about the form their new government will take.

The next key test will be to see how long it takes before they start publishing self-critical books. Constructive criticism on a national level will be very important for the progress of the new nation. Only a rational and reasoned introspection will allow them to correct their inevitable mistakes as they move forward.

Dissidents and porn. Probably not the press envisioned by Jefferson and Franklin, but it is a good start nonetheless. Acceptance of offensive ideas as valid (if wrong) is the first step to a true national liberation. Sounds to me like Iraq is making some pretty good progress.

Daily Dose Of Humor/Fear

All depends on how you want to take this.

I think that it would really be a riot, if it weren't so close to the truth. It's a problem when I can actually visualize someone in the Democratic Party spewing this drivel. It's not so absurd as to be impossible. That's scary.

Why Don't Things Add Up?

I was just reading another editorial in the Arab News titled “It’s All Israel’s Fault.” The author of the article makes a (sort-of) plea to the Arab people to start looking introspectively and self-critically instead of simply blaming Israel for every problem, whether it be the Palestinian issue or a hole in the bottom of their water bucket.

And I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, the Arabs are starting towards the Renaissance and Enlightenment that their culture so desperately needs if it is to join the twenty-first century.

Then I find this article that discloses that the bomber from last night was probably a British citizen.

And then I find this article in which it comes out that Yassar Arafat got a copy of the US “road map for peace.” The EU presented a copy to Arafat, despite the fact that he will formally have nothing to do with the peace negotiations.

And then I thought about Syria and Lebanon and how they interact with Iraq and the peace process.

And it hits me. Israel may be getting set up for a sucker punch here.

Think about the situation for moment.

Saudi Arabia, which publishes the Arab News, needs to make a favorable impression with the US and UK before they end up on the hit list. What better way to do that than to pretend to honor those great American traditions of freedom of the press and freedom of dissent? Saudi Arabia has no dog in this coming fight and they know it, as does everyone else in the Arab world. They can pretend to suck up to us without it having the usual negative effect among their peers.

The suicide bomber this time was most likely British. Why send a Brit to do what any “honorable” Palestinian would do? It keeps Israel from being able to retaliate. In the past, the IDF has gone in and razed the neighborhoods and family homes of the bombers. It wasn’t ever all that difficult. They would identify the bomber and where he was from. Then they’d go take care of business in his hometown. It was designed to send a message to other would-be bombers. And it was effective. The message got out. Now the Palestinians are using third country nationals to do their dirty work. Why? It’s much harder to convince the Brits to let the IDF level part of London than it is to convince them to not level part of Gaza City.

And why would the EU bring Yassar Arafat up to date on the latest details of the negotiations? Doesn’t that sound like a job for the Palestinian Authority? Or is the EU simply trying to convey a message that in their eyes, Arafat is still relevant? Arafat is a terrorist who knows nothing but murder and mayhem. Think there’s a chance that he might have instructed that last night’s operation be carried out by a Brit to exacerbate the split between the EU and the UK? The goal might have been partially to reign in the British and to get them to support the EU line, instead of the US.

And where do Arafat’s friends the Syrians fit into all this?

Syria is generally a very vocal country. They spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about and railing against the US and Israel. Yet lately, they’ve been quiet.

There was much made of the saber rattling that went on between the US and Syria right after the fall of Iraq. There were accusations of Syria harboring top Iraqi leadership and WMDs. What if these accusations have more basis to them than even we think they do?

What if?

As I draw little lines between the dots, I can see a sinister picture forming.

Try this conspiracy theory on for size:

Saudi Arabia is talking sweet to distract us from the actual situation on the ground. They are hoping to keep us from noticing that the Palestinians have changed tactics to avoid retribution from the Israelis. The Terrorist-In-Chief for the Palestinians also knows the most intimate details of the peace plan, and therefore the best weak spots to exploit. He will continue to use third country nationals to keep up the pressure on the Israelis while he briefs the Syrians on the weaknesses of the road map.

Now here comes the really fun part:

The Syrians, with considerable prodding by the shamed Iraqi government in exile, will then use the intelligence provided by Arafat, and maybe the WMD provided by Iraq, to attack Israel when its resources are stretched most thin by attempting to comply with the peace process (do you really think the IDF won’t be needed to remove a few settlements?). This will be far enough into the future that the US military force in the region will be considerably smaller than it is now. Plus, Syria will be able to talk with Iran and will get the Iranians to tie down the US ground forces in Iraq, basically pitting the Syrian Army against the IDF. If Egypt or Jordan decided to join in the fray, we could have a replay of 1967.

It’s a slight reach to envision this all falling into place, but it isn’t so far a reach as to be out of the realm of possibility.

Things just don’t seem to be adding up right in the Middle East right now and that’s a concern to me. Saudi Arabia is talking peace and introspection; Syria isn’t talking at all. Brits are blowing up cafes while the EU briefs a terrorist on the peace process. What devious plans may be being concocted at this very moment?

Not that I think we should give up on the peace process. We shouldn’t. We just need to make sure that there are realistic goals in place. Peace in this region will not be achieved in 3 years; it might be achieved in 3 generations. But there has to be real reform on the part of the Palestinians. No more teaching of hatred. No more calls for the Jews to be thrown back into the sea. Real peace will require real effort – from both sides. Keep the carrot in front of them, but don’t be afraid to smack either of them with the stick if they get out of line.

We also need to reassess our draw down of military assets in the region. If there is any belief that this could be a viable scenario, we owe it to our Israeli friends to keep in place a force that can fight an offensive battle against Syria while still defending our Iraqi friends against Iranian incursion.

I do hope that I’m wrong.

Are Muslims Capable of Surviving Freedom?

I stumbled across this article in WORLD magazine (require registration) in which the author basically says that Islam and freedom are incompatible.

I kept re-reading the article trying to figure out what didn't sit quite right with me, and then I found it. It is this:

This is why, historically, Christianity is associated with political freedom. Those who can govern themselves morally do not need a strong central governmental power to maintain social order. Conversely, Islam, for all its high moral teachings, enforces them with coercive external power. For that, it needs a strong authoritarian government. Whether this government is religious, as in the theocracy of Iran, or secular, as in the Arabic fascism of the Baath Party, the habits of mind and the political repression are the same.

Is Christianity really historically associated with political freedom? In recent history, yes. In the grand history of the world, no. Medieval Christian Europe was not free. America was settled by people trying to escape persecution in Christian countries - and they were Christian themselves. Christianity doesn't have any great claim to political freedom. It's only relatively recently that we can even begin to make that claim.

But does Islam automatically lead to theocracies and dictatorships? Islam's heavy reliance on external morality control certainly increases the probability of a less free form of government, but they don't necessarily have to go hand in hand.

Just because someone is Muslim doesn't mean that they don't have an internal moral compass. 99.9% of the people in the world have one and our basic beliefs are all that different. I'm sure that every Muslim out there knows that murder and theft are wrong even without having the executioner standing over them (suicide bombings and terrorism aren't viewed as murder in large parts of the Muslim world, unfortunate and wrong, but it is reality). Muslims know right and wrong. Those are human traits, not religious ones.

Maybe I'm naive, but I think that the people of Iraq, given an opportunity to transition into independent thought, will be able to handle freedom just fine. The looting and vandalism I believe was an aberration, a testing of limits if you will. We arrested a couple of people for violating the law. The Iraqi people saw that there were consequences for their action, so they modified their behavior. And after they see fair trials and just, not cruel, punishments being sentenced they will buy into a system of freedom even more.

Nowhere are we trying to impose a system tailored for the Muslim world. We are trying to instill a fair and just system. The Iraqis haven't been running to welcome the system, not because they don't want it but because it is completely foreign to them.

But it will appeal to their human nature, their desire for freedom, and their innate sense of right and wrong.

Freedom can survive and, I believe, can even thrive in a Muslim land. It appeals to the basic urges in all of us. It's just going to take a while for the Iraqi's to believe that it is real. Give them time. We can't declare them incapable of freedom after such a short time. It wouldn't be right.

"Sound Bites"

Couple of quickies before I get to bed:

Legends:

Why do have this great need as a society to disprove some of our most enduring legends? Take this article from the Telegraph. Apparently we aren’t satisfied with the legend that says Rome was founded by Romulus. Now some historians are trying to literally personify the goddess Roma to discredit the original legend.

Probably neither legend is exactly true and certainly neither can be proven one way or the other. Why not just let it be? The legend of Romulus has always been satisfactory in the past (it is the subject of one of the most collectible ancient Roman coins). It’s never hurt anyone and it can’t be completely discredited. Why must we tear down all of our heroes, institutions and legends? Life without mythology, religious or legendary, isn’t really all too exciting. Let some things be a pleasant mystery.

Stupid Pilot Tricks:

Speaking of heroes, is there a kid out there that doesn’t look at pilot at least once in their life and say “I wish I could do that.” For those of us lucky enough to have actually piloted an airplane, there is an appreciation of just how special a pilot’s job really is. And then to see one throw their special career away, it really makes me wonder if some people have any capacity to think. There, because of the grace of God, goes he.

Tony Blair:

Tony Blair continues to impress me. During the Clinton years, I really didn’t like Blair too terribly much, but after 9/11 he really proved himself to be leader up to the challenge of the time. I really don’t think that any British leader since Churchill (Thatcher excluded) would have been able to exhibit the leadership that Tony Blair has since November of last year.

Now, asking critics to hold their judgment to see how the rebuilding of Iraq goes. Blair believes that our true legacy in Iraq won’t be the prosecution of the war, but the establishment of a just and fair peace. I got to say, I agree with him here, too.

It’s hard to believe that this is the same man that used to pal around with Slick Willy.

The European Dis-Union

Sometimes I wonder if I'm being a bit too harsh on the Eurocrats and their dream of a unified Europe. I'm very much against the idea of the EU, not because of what it creates, but for what it destroys. I believe that it will be the end of many nations as we know them. I also believe that the EU is nothing more than an attempt to copy and "improve on" the institutions of the US. It seems rather arrogant of the Eurocrats to think that they can improve on the system that we've been tweaking and perfecting for over 210 years.

So as I'm surfing the web tonight, I come across this article in the New Zealand Herald which seems to provide an independent third party verification of my belief that the EU is unworkable politically.

There is a quote in the article from the Danish Prime Minister, who says:

"You can talk as much as you like about a common foreign and security policy," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. "But the fact is that when the moment comes along, a series of countries - the big ones - do not want to give up self-determination."

I wonder if Chriac will tell Mr. Rasmussen to shut up. The basic problem with the EU, and the cause of the current rift in the organization, is now out in the open. The EU is essentially an attempt to annex the smaller European nations into the bigger ones. Small nations like Denmark, Holland, and Luxembourg would lose everything - they would cease to exist - while the big players like France and Germany would be enhanced by being able to "speak" for the new European citizens. The big nations get bigger, the small disappear. Is it any wonder that there is a split in the EU between the large nations and the small ones?

And all of this with the goal of establishing a political counterweight to the US. The primary proponents of the EU truly believe that they can create a federalist government, in the image of, but better than, the US government. They believe that because European civilization goes back thousands of years that they will have some special insight that will make their federalist experiment more successful than ours.

But they have forgotten why the US is so successful. It isn't the government that makes us successful, it is the American people that make America successful. Are we better or smarter than Europeans? No. The playing field is pretty level in all reality. So what advantages does an American have over a European that makes us more successful?

We really have three major advantages: true freedom of the press, laissez-faire capitalism, and a common language.

Is our press really more free than the European press? Well, our major news outlets are private. We don't have an equivalent of the BBC or the French state media. The closest we come is NPR Public Radio. We can get our news in any form we want: filtered, unfiltered, conservative, liberal, whatever. We can choose between Fox and CNN, instead of BBC 1 or BBC 2. We can read the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal. Our choice isn't limited to Le Monde or La Figaro. Think about the coverage of the war in the US. We were simultaneously in a quagmire and a cakewalk (the truth turned out to be in the middle), depending on what news source you chose to read. But you had both sides available to you. In France, they apparently still think we're stuck in a quagmire outside of Umm Qasr. The French press is so tightly interlaced with the government that they weren't able to accurately report on the progress of the war. Is that true freedom of the press?

If there is any one trait that truly gives us an advantage, it is laissez-faire capitalism. Capitalism isn't the perfect system, it does allow for unfair suffering, but at the same time no one has developed a better system. Communism failed. And the European socialist experiment will fail as surely as the Soviet Socialist experiment did. Why? A government can't support unemployment of 10-15%. It will bankrupt them. Capitalism also encourages innovation in Americans. We have been creating most of the truly important advances of the last 30-40 years. Why? Because we let people reap the rewards of their efforts, as opposed to the socialists who attempt to redistribute those rewards to the "less fortunate."

Someone once said that representative governments fail when people realize that the can vote themselves government handouts. Our government has survived so well for this long because capitalism allows for better rewards than the government dole. Socialism, however, attempts to make everyone more or less equal in economic stature, which makes the dole seem like a pretty good alternative.

Short term, however, it will appear that our common language is our greatest strength. In America, a person in California can read and understand what a New Yorker has done, without the need for translation and all of the potential problems inherent in translations. But someone in Warsaw will need a translation to learn about what someone in Madrid has done. At the governmental level this isn't a big deal. But at the laborer level, where wealth is truly created, this will be a big problem. The inefficiencies of multiple languages will forever retard the growth potential of the EU.

All of this will only serve to weaken the EU federal government. Our federal government works so well not because of its structure or design (although those certainly help), but because of the American people.

Until the Germans and Brits are willing to call themselves French and vice versa, the Federalist EU is doomed to be an impotent failure. You can copy the system, but not the people that make the system.

"Americans Love A Winner....."

"Americans love a winner.........", four immortal words from the opening speech of Patton. I was reminded of them by an exchange in the comments of this post over a Winds of Change.NET.

The original post (very good, by the way, and worth the read) was a look at the ten plagues that had befallen the Iraqi people. One commenter, Bob, took exception to there only being 10 plagues. He proposed three more: the US invasion, ethnic cleansing, and the looting of history. Another commenter, Samuel Tai, took exception and wrote a point-by-point rebuttal of Bob's points.

But it was this comment that really got me thinking:

The US is not Washington. The US is not corporate America. The US is me, the individual citizen. I, and my fellow citizens, are the force behind Washington. We determine which corporations live or die in the marketplace. We are the ones who have chosen this course of action, because we will not cower in fear. We refuse to wait behind ramparts for the next blow to fall. The best defence is a good offence. If you believe the polls, 3 out of 4 US citizens agrees with this position.

"The best defense is a good offense." It is truly a maxim of American life. Most sports teams live by that motto. It is the basis for our national defense. It is the rule that most of use in some form to better our lives.

We are society that is based on the concept of success. That is what truly differentiates us from the rest of the world, which is primarily based on the idea of failure avoidance.

Success requires innovation and hard work. Our economy rewards innovative and efficient companies. Our society rewards and holds in esteem innovative and hard working people (think Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Michael Dell and countless others). We relish success and are willing to forgive failure.

Other nations attempt to avoid failure. Companies that can't compete are provided subsidies. Individuals can't fail because they always have a societal safety net to catch them (the welfare state). Failure is the process by which we learn. Success is learning how not to fail.

As a result of the difference in policies, the US has begun to dominate the world stage. As we move forward, other nations stagnate.

We were willing to contemplate a regime change in Baghdad because we believed that we could be successful and that it would improve the lives of individual Iraqis. The vast majority of nations opposed us, not for principled reasons, but because they were afraid of what might happen should the regime change fail. Words like "quagmire" and "occupation" were used to express their fear of failure. For them, success was not an option. The status quo, no matter how detestable, was the preferred option because it avoided failure. Inspections were acceptable because their failure was twisted into a false success ("the weapons must be destroyed if we can't find them"). The very idea that we might be successful never occurred to them, it just couldn't happen.

I'm sure that Bob was meaning well, trying to point out some of the potential pitfalls before us with the munitions and the possibility of ethnic cleansing. They are both valid concerns, although maybe not as critical and wide reaching as he makes them out to be.

I will take separate issue with his last point though. For his thirteenth plague he states:

13)Loss of history. Thousands of years of historical and cultural artifacts and texts gone. Looted. Burned. Destroyed. A tragedy on the level of the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Imagine if the West Wall were destroyed.

The looting of the National Museum was a world-class tragedy, no doubt about it. I've seen the reports that many of the safes had been opened normally, not broken into. I've also seen reports that say that many of the artifacts on display were fakes (and not very good ones at that).

I still think that what happened at the National Museum and at the Library were both failures and that they both need to be investigated so that we can plan those kind of occurrences out of our next war plan. The reports coming out about the safes and the fakes certainly change the degree of the situation, but it doesn't change that something happened. Investigate and learn; turn the failure into a future success.

But while this is a world-class tragedy, it is not on the scale of the burning of the Library of Alexandria. In Alexandria, the history contained in those scrolls and parchments was truly lost - there were no copies or reproductions. The books in the Library were (or should have been) well studied and copied and reproduced. Is it unfortunate that the original was lost? Absolutely. But the contents were not. We lost the objects, but not the knowledge.

It is not the destruction of the Western Wall, either. We do know, however, what the tragedy of losing the Wall would be like - we have the historical record of what it was like when Titus leveled the Temple - leaving only the Western Wall. But even then, the true tragedy wasn't the loss and destruction of the Temple, it was the loss of life and knowledge that came with the destruction and the subsequent persecution of the Jews. To this day, we still don't know exactly what the Temple looked like or exactly how it sat on the Mount.

The loss of a book or building or an artifact is terrible and should be avoided when at all necessary. But the loss of the object itself is not the greater tragedy; the greater tragedy is the loss of knowledge.

The loss at the Museum was terrible because we lost the opportunity for non-politically motivated scholars to examine and learn from many of the artifacts for the first time. It is that loss of knowledge from the looting that makes it so tragic.

The events at the Museum and the Library were our two most significant failures during the war. But they are not the end of the world. We lost some knowledge in those events, but on the whole, we protected vast amounts of knowledge in the form of ordinary Iraqis who will now live because Saddam has been deposed. The trade off is more than fair.

We risked strategic and suffered tactical failure in Iraq. The ultimate question will be: Was the invasion and regime change a success or a failure? Anyway you look at it, it is a success. We effected our stated goal. We saved countless lives, at a minimal human cost. Even with the losses at the Museum and Library, we saved vast amounts of knowledge.

Many other nations in the world would have continued to accept Saddam, not because Saddam was kind or generous or anything of the sort, but because accepting him allowed them to avoid the failure of making the wrong choice. We chose to risk failure and have achieved spectacular success instead. We are, once again, winners.

And those who wanted to avoid failure, failed.

Should We Be Sorry?

There have been many complaints about the anti-war left not admitting that they were wrong in regards to the war in Iraq. I was going to comment on this article (link requires registration), but its content appears to have changed significantly since I first looked at it (several comments and paragraphs have dropped out making it very odd to read.)

I had to go looking elsewhere for what I saw as the most offensive comment in the article, but luckily the author of the comment, Michael D. Higgins, Labour Party of Ireland's Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, has a site in which he memorialized this quaint little gem of a quote:

"While jubilant images of statues of Saddam Hussein being toppled dominate the media, there is less space given to those shocking pictures we have seen in recent days of innocent Iraqi children suffering the brutal effects of the bombing. We will learn what type of people we are in the West in coming weeks as civilians are left to die, ignored by Fox media and Sky who will by then be doing wall-to-wall interviews with US and British Generals."

So I guess I'm supposed to feel sorry for this child whose life is obviously worse off (note how we have left him to die with a bag of food and some water - pure unadulterated evil it is):

(Click the picture and scroll down for caption)

Or maybe for this child, who is obviously being oppressed by the evil imperialist coalition military forces (note the violent subjugation)

(Click picture and scroll down for caption)

There are many, many scenes like this being replayed daily around Iraq. I haven't read any credible reports of the coalition leaving people to die. I have seen reports of the military making extraordinary efforts to save not only civilians, but also to save members of the military. I haven't seen credible reports of mass starvation, disease, or large civilian death totals. I have seen hundreds of pictures like those above. If crying babies and looting (even of the National Museum) are the worst that is coming out of the freshly liberated Iraq, then we've done pretty well.

These are the faces of American Imperialism. It is a brutal, dehumanizing experience for our subjects isn't it?

Compassion, Persian Gulf Style

It looks like the US government, attempting to promote peace in the Middle East, is helping suspected terrorists to return home by providing them with free transportation from their place of internment. How many other nations would be able to do this?

Saudis For Regime Change in Riyadh?

I think that this editorial in the Arab News must have had a slight change in meaning during translation. It's that or the author is, in an offhand and indirect way, predicting the downfall of the House of Saud.

The subject matter, the winners and losers in the Iraqi conflict, is a benign enough subject you would think. I decided to read the editorial simply to see how the Arabs might be viewing the outcome of the war. I was rather shocked to come across this short paragraph:

Also among the losers are other dictators who now know that, with the Cold War ended, there is no Soviet Union to rush to save them at the last moment. A trend has started in Iraq that is certain to continue until all the remaining dictatorial regimes are thrown into the dustbin of history.

This brings up an interesting question. What is the real difference between a dictatorship and a monarchy? Not a monarchy like the British model (the Brits are parliamentary - the monarch is only a figurehead), but a real live true monarchy like in Saudi Arabia or Jordan. Outside of a somewhat definitive line of succession, there really is no difference between the dictatorship of Saddam and the monarchial rule of the clown Princes of Riyadh. Both ruling parties exercise(d) absolute dominion over their subjects. It's just that in one system the leader was called "President" and the parasites around him were the "Party." In the other system, they call the ruler "King" and his cronies in crime, "Princes." Call Uday and Quasy (I think those were their names, not that it matters) princes and you would have had an Iraqi monarchy along the same lines of the Saudi one.

If “all the remaining dictatorial regimes” are to fall, Riyadh will experience a regime change. And probably fairly soon.

It's kind of odd to see the propaganda mouthpiece of a nation inadvertently acting pleased about the overthrow of a government not much different than theirs. They speak of the fall of the Middle Eastern tyrannies as though their demise is a foregone conclusion. Somehow, I don't think that they thought the process of domino regime change all the way through.

Calling water fire doesn't change what it really is. The pleasant fiction of a "Saudi monarchy" won't save them in the end.

What Have We Accomplished In Iraq?

So Saddam has fallen, literally and figuratively:

An Iraqi man throws stones at a statue of President Saddam Hussein as it falls in central Baghdad April 9, 2003. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/

So what have the results been like, are we successful or are we failing? We could ask these folks:

Residents walk with some of their belongings after passing a checkpoint on the bridge leading into Tikrit, Iraq Tuesday April 15, 2003. U.S. Marines started allowing residents to return to the city. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Or maybe we could ask this woman:

An Iraqi woman carries some of her belongings after passing a checkpoint on a bridge leading into Tikrit, Iraq Tuesday, April 15, 2003. U.S. Marines started allowing residents to return to the city Tuesday, as the U.S. military set up cordons around Tikrit to prevent Saddam's senior leaders, and, in a long shot, perhaps even the dictator himself, from slipping away. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, Pool)

Or this Shi’ite from the south part of Iraq:

Iraqi Shiite Shiekh Iyaad Jamal al-Deen from Nasiriyah, speaks at the opening of the U.S.-sponsored meeting on post-war Iraq Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at the Tallil Air Base, in southern Iraq. The United States convened a meeting of Iraqi opposition groups for the first time since Saddam Hussein's fall to spell out its vision of the initial steps for Iraq's future. (AP Photo, Leila Gorchev, Pool)

All three speak freely for the first time in 30 years. And some of their fellow citizens have begun to speak out against things they see wrong:

Iraqi men hold a banner as they pass U.S. Marines in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday April 15, 2003. After the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last week, looters stole and smashed priceless archeological treasures and burned Islamic Library which holds one of the oldest surviving copies of the Quran. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla

We have found a pretty definitive sign of Saddam coddling terrorists:

Leader of the Palestinian Liberation Front Abu Abbas. US central command has announced the arrest of the terrorist.(AFP/File/Joel Robine)

And we are still helping to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis:

U.S. Marine Lcpl J.E. Sabalboro, 24, from Guam, left, holds a sign in Arabic reading: 'Free water', at a checkpoint, Wednesday April 16, 2003, as he distributes water to Iraqis returning after several days to their northern Iraqi hometown of Tikrit which they fled to escape fightings. The U.S. military set up cordons around President Saddam Hussein's hometown Tikrit to prevent regime leaders from escaping before they swept through Hussein's stronghold on Tuesday with less resistance than they expected although confronted by rage and insults. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

We are still winning the hearts of the people that count:

Sgt Willis William, of Flagstaff, AZ, with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, shakes hands with an Iraqi boy during a patrol at a park in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah Tuesday, April 15, 2003. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Much to the consternation, confusion and despair of those who don’t:

French President Jacques Chirac (L) speaks as Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder listen during an international law conference in St. Petersburg, April 12, 2003. Even before the fighting stopped, the three European powers were moving to build bridges to the United States and ensure their companies a share in rebuilding the real bridges in Iraq -- along with roads, runways, oilfields and schools. Photo by Grigory Dukor/Reuters

Not too bad for a month’s hard work.

More On Taxes

One more posting on taxes.

While looking around for some of my research sites on my last post, I came across Neal Boortz’s daily notes, which he unfortunately doesn’t leave up for more than a day. So I’ve copied a few of the key points that I picked out.

This is the day when a simple question can lead to the discovery that most people have no idea how much income tax they pay, though this is becoming less and less true as we go along. There is one group that does know how much federal income tax they pay every year, and this group is growing ever larger. It's that segment of wage earners who pay nothing. So, we'll revise this statement to read: "Most people who actually do pay federal income taxes have no idea how much they pay." For proof, try this little test: Approach a friend or co-worker whom you actually suspect may pay federal income taxes and ask them what their tax tab was. You will get one of two responses. For the majority of taxpayers who actually get refunds, the response will be "I didn't have to pay anything! I'm getting some back!" Taxpayers who actually have to write a check on April 15 will quote the amount of that check as their tax bill. This is all by design. Politicians know that if those who pay federal income taxes knew what they were really paying there would be an instantaneous and ugly tax revolt. To hide the ugly truth, these politicians have kept alive our wonderful system of withholding. With the magic of withholding, the money is gone before the wage earner even gets the slightest whiff of it. It's almost as if it was never really there in the first place ... so, what's to miss? ……………………………………..

Withholding was sold to the American wage earner as a purely temporary measure to speed up cash flow to the government during World War II. As soon as the war was over, things were supposed to return to normal and the wage earners would get their entire checks, just as before the war.
In case you haven't checked, the war has been over for about 58 years or so, but withholding is still with us. It's still with us because the proliferation of the "I take home ..." workers and the "I didn't have to pay anything, I'm getting some back" taxpayers are such a boon to our politicians. As long as the majority remains ignorant of the extent to which their paychecks are plundered, politicians will be safe.
………………………………………………

The two major tax writing committees of congress are the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Money Magazine reports that seven out of ten members of these committees cannot figure out their own taxes. They have to hire professionals.

………………………………………………

The solution is twofold.
First --- reform the tax system by getting rid of the income tax, repealing the income tax amendment and moving to a national retail sales tax. I've been promoting such a system for over 15 years. You can find out everything you want to know by studying the website for Americans for Fair Taxation at http://www.fairtax.org.
Second -- Government must be reduced to its constitutionally appropriate size.

Our Favorite Disinformation Minister's New Job

Well, looks like our favorite Minister of Disinformation has found a new line of employment. The self-help book author gig seems to suit him pretty well. And if this doesn't work, the Democrats are still looking for a viable Presidential candidate.

It's pretty sad when he has better employability skills than me. I guess I need to start working on my resume a little more. I wonder if Arthur Anderson is still hiring?

Oh, Happy Day!

There are times in life when you find just that right thing to cheer up a dreary day. After my wonderful day of work today, I was needing a little cheering, but unfortunately my favorite Minister of Dis-Information is awaiting the establishment of the unemployment agency in Iraq.

But oh happy, joyous find! I have discovered a site, We Love the Iraqi Information Minister, where I can get my daily fix of comic war relief, no matter what his employment status might be.

I can go back to being happy once again. The truly amazing BS is once again flowing (if only in recycled form).

Propaganda of the Elite Media

Enough talking about Germany for now. This article from The Newspaper Guild is a pure gem. Anything that presents Baghdad Bobby as an impartial source has got to have more than a few excursions from reality. And this one doesn't let us down.

But the part that just really irks me is in the very first paragraph:

It’s one thing for reporters to uncritically regurgitate Pentagon and administration lies for the mainstream press, but it’s another thing entirely to serve up the same propaganda in a publication that’s by and for media workers.

Are they talking about the same media that has been asking questions like "Is a tank the big box with the really big gun?" Is this same media that was screaming "quagmire" when we stopped for sleep? Are we talking about the same media that asks questions like "Where do you plan to attack tomorrow?" If you're going to claim elite status, at least ask halfway intelligent questions. Don't refer to me as being part of the unwashed masses when you can't figure out how to turn on the shower. And they wonder why the masses complain of the "elite media" as we turn to alternative sources of information.

Another gem:

According to Sydney H. Schanberg, one of the media’s leading authorities on hazardous duty, in Vietnam only one in a thousand reporters would ever knowingly jeopardize a military operation, and that remains true today. (See “Schanberg’s Take on the Pentagon’s Media Rules—Analyzing the Conditions for ‘Embedded’ Reporters,” by Greg Mitchell in the Feb. 24 issue of Editor and Publisher.)

No, what is of concern are the severe limits the Pentagon will put on coverage, as detailed in the above-cited article, including “vague language restrictions, and situations where copy can be held, if not sanitized.” Then there is the threat of being expelled from the Pentagon group if the news is not flattering to the U.S. military. Raise your hand, anybody who thinks that the Army will be conducting tours of the destruction in Baghdad caused by 800 cruise missiles.

So only 1 in 1000 will knowingly jeopardize a military operation? Thousands of our soldiers could die because of their reporting. To knowingly jeopardize a military operation has go to be treason. I'll agree that the military needs to be totally forthcoming about prior military operations, even if they were only a few hours ago, but until the operation is done - sanitize away. The job of the military is to prosecute a war, not to fill Freedom of Information requests.

And as for the damage caused by 800 cruise missiles? Well, the Iraqi Disinformation Ministry seemed to revel in taking reporters around to show the damage. I can only remember the IDM "exposing" maybe 5 instances of massive damage. I guess the other 790 or so cruise missiles must have missed their civilian target and inadvertently slammed into something of military importance, which would have caused the IDM to complain very vocally about the wanton damage caused by our weapons, without actually providing proof (they were still moving out the remains of the tanks, I guess).

But the last paragraph was just beautiful. The culmination of so much work and effort and quoting of Baghdad Bob closes with this:

More and more Americans are now looking to the British press for the real story about our empire’s actions abroad.

Just not to her favorite wanker, Bobby Fisk.

Couldn't Pass Up Posting This

Since I had to miss blogging today's liberation:

It was a good day.

Found on Free Republic.com.

Boycotting the Weasels

There are quite a few people promoting the idea of us ignoring certain countries corporations during the rebuilding of Iraq. Specifically, there was a resolution introduced in Congress to prevent any contracts funded by US taxpayer dollars being awarded to companies based in France, Germany, Russia, or Syria. I don't think this is all that great an idea.

If a company based in one of these nations is the most capable and the most reasonably priced for a job, then they should get it. We're going to be pouring a fortune into the reconstruction of Iraq and as a taxpayer who doesn't really care for foreign aid all that much, I want my money to be spent as efficiently as possible.

Now this isn't to say that we shouldn't use our position to our benefit in a case where a coalition company and a weasel country are closely matched. But I really don't think that the weasels would get that many contracts anyway.

One of the great benefits that the coalition nations have going into the reconstruction bidding is that we are basically all built on capitalist economies. Our corporations have been honed on the stone of competition. They are prepared to provide an outstanding service at a reasonable and realistic price. Our socialist weaselist friends have been honed on the largesse of the 35-hour week work. Their only idea of competition is who gets the best parking place for getting out of work early.

Imagine the reaction of the weasels if we put into place a true capitalistic bidding system for the rebuilding of Iraq. They'd be screaming about the inherent unfairness because they don't know how to really compete head to head with coalition companies. Without a corrupt government to bribe, they have no hope of getting any contracts.

Getting a resolution passed requiring the interim government to award contracts based on a capitalistic bidding system in which both price and quality will play key roles will be much easier than a blanket condemnation. That essentially locks 95% of all the weasel nation's companies out of Iraq and the other 5% are companies whose talents we really do need. Congress can effect essentially the same resolution, worded differently, and still give us the political cover of having been kind to those who stood against us by allowing them to assist in the rebuilding. It's the best of both worlds.

EU Military Economics

Yesterday, I thought that Javier Solona hadn't a clue about the world, rhetorically asking if it was better to buy carriers or to support kleptocratic regimes. But today I find this article that makes Solona look like a hawk. It's like comparing Rummy to Jimmy Carter - with Solona being Rummy!

Among his whines is the fact that the US has been increasingly looking on the European defense contribution as inadequate. Which is true, Europe is still equipped to fight a war in 1985, not 2003. They haven't spent the necessary funds to keep up with the changes in technology that we've put in place over the last 20 years. Their contribution is inadequate, like the T-72 is inadequate against an Abrahms. We have technologically outclassed them so much as to make their contributions irrelevant.

But none of this is as scary as the total ignorance of reality that is displayed here.

Mistaken American military strategy notwithstanding, armoured divisions and wings of jet fighters are of little use against terrorists.

............

Ultimately, armed forces exist either to deter attack, or to be used in anger. Europe has nobody to deter, and no desire to aggress. In the absence of a serious will to use force, defence spending should be cut to the minimum required for the basic needs of security. If European states wish to enhance their power, they should look first of all at reforming their economic structures in order to enhance the root of all power – economic performance.

Perhaps he should talk to the Taliban or to Saddam of the "mistaken American strategy." Perhaps he needs a history lesson about having a strong military to fight off those who would deliver harm to his doorstep. Maybe someone should explain that a strong military is necessary to defend the very economic miracle he proposes putting in place.

Deterrence isn't about defending yourself from known enemies. With known enemies, you can plan and scheme based on intelligence and military strengths. Deterrence is to convince those unknown enemies that attacking you is not wise. Many enemies will only show their true colors when they think your guard is down. And most of the time, when they show themselves, it is already too late. You can no longer rearm in the short time before being totally overrun (Ask the French about the Germans after Munich. Even if they wanted to, the French couldn't have stopped the German advance - there was no time to build up a real army for the defense of the nation.).

The US economic miracle is made possible by the fact that we have a strong military. The economy hates uncertainty - that's one of the first rules you learn as a stockbroker. Our military ensures that we don't have to really worry about a war coming to our shores. During the post 9/11 period, when that looked possible, our economy tanked. The risk premium that was suddenly priced into the economy crippled it. A European military designed to provide "basic security" will price that same premium into everything in Europe. The sudden increase in real costs will destroy the European economy and put it into a depression that will last for years to come.

So just how valuable might Mr. Solona's carrier be? Probably more than the EU wants to admit.

Well, I'm Speechless

I feel like Dale Jarrett in the new UPS "We Want To Race The Truck" commericals, glassy-eyed and stunned. This just kind of leaves you in awe (If you can call it that). Just watch it and you'll understand (or not, who knows).

Hat Tip (I think): 3bruces

The New Manifest Destiny?

Had a long day, I'm tired and now I find stuff that I really want to discuss. Figures. Thom Hartmann has drawn some parallels between the Third Reich and the Bush Administration and comes to some conclusions that make me go "huh?"

Now I'm not surprised that someone would try to draw parallels between the Third Reich and Dubya. From my readings on Hitler's government, there are many similarities between the Nazis and the current US administration. But that holds true for the Nazis and any government, anywhere at any time. Every government has to achieve certain goals and the Nazis were no different.

But there are also differences of which we are all aware. The end of the essay is where Mr. Hartmann discusses the differences and comes up with what I find to be an odd conclusion.

Germany's response was to use government to empower corporations and reward the society's richest individuals, privatize much of the commons, stifle dissent, strip people of constitutional rights, and create an illusion of prosperity through continual and ever-expanding war. America passed minimum wage laws to raise the middle class, enforced anti-trust laws to diminish the power of corporations, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, created Social Security, and became the employer of last resort through programs to build national infrastructure, promote the arts, and replant forests.

I find it hard to believe that we won WWII because of higher taxes. I find it incredulous that we gained national strength though planting forests or Social Security. I also have trouble accepting that the Nazis lost WWII because of privatization. After all they were the National Socialist Party.

Mr. Hartmann believes that only a continued move towards socialization can save us. "To the extent that our Constitution is still intact, the choice is again ours." He's right. We need to stick to the free market, small government principles of the Constitution. It's the best choice we can make.

Taking Things To Their Logical Extreme

Roger Fredinburg has written a commentary in which he basically complains about everything in the US except the military. He complains about the tax system, he whines about our legal system, and he expresses displeasure towards the environmentalists. My father and I often have discussions about how taking something to its logical extreme is in itself, illogical. I have stated before that I generally have libertarian tendencies - I want to live my life with minimal governmental interference. But Mr. Fredinburg has taken libertarianism to its logical extreme.

I don't want to overthrow the government, start a civil war, protest in the streets or terrorize my fellow Americans.

But essentially what he is proposing is anarchy backed by a strong military.

I would agree with the statement that the government has moved too much towards the authoritarian end of the spectrum. We do have many needless laws on the books. Motorcycle helmet laws, for one example, are really not needed.

The US Constitution enumerated certain powers for the government (roads, coinage, military, etc.) and then also left in a catchall - "for the common good." But what is the "common good?" Is protecting children part of the common good? I think so. Kids generally can't stand up for their own rights, so for the government to intervene to protect them (within reason - no witchhunts) is in the general interest of the nation. But is a motorcycle helmet law in the interest of the "common good?" No. The government should not be in the business of protecting you from your own stupidity. The government has no business attempting to regulate common sense.

Mr. Fredinburg makes a number of arguments that are all reasonable, but he proceeds to take them to their illogical extremes. At no point does he recognize the failing of pure libertarianism; at no point does he recognize that it is reasonable to give up some personal freedom for the common good. He doesn't admit to any use for government beyond the military.

There are many things that the government does that I don't like. I would like to see a different tax structure (that will be a discussion another day). I would like to see more personal freedom. And I would like to see the government do more to protect individual rights and less to protect us from ourselves (which almost always requires the taking away of personal rights). But the position taken by Mr. Fredinburg is too far out there. It is the illogical extreme of libertarianism.

The Baghdad Wall?

Interesting idea. The (More er Less) Honorable Billybob, cyberCongressman from Western Carolina is suggesting that we finish off the job in Iraq by essentially partitioning the city, letting Saddam control part of it, and wait for it to crumble like East Germany did. He asserts that doing so will save countless lives over the street-to-street fighting that we are all now bracing for.

Would it work? Almost certainly. But I'm afraid that it will take much, much too long to work. I believe that Saddam would let his part of the city starve rather than surrender. Saddam himself would have to starve to death before this would work - and that could take quite a while.

If 10,000 die during the complete forced removal of Saddam that will be less than if we try the Berlin approach. The street fighting will almost certainly be brutal, but it is the best of a bunch of not so great options.

I think that this theory will work on a regional scale though. A free and prosperous Iraq will eventually lead to the fall of the Iranian mullahocracy, the Syrian thugocracy and the Saudi monarchy. The beacon of hope represented by a new Iraq will have the same effect as West Germany did. The forces of progress and humanity will eventually spread from Iraq to the surrounding nations. The time for this to work will be, as it was in Europe, measured in decades.

Don't do it in Baghdad. We have spent too much time trying to protect civilians only to leave millions under the thumb of a murderous madman. At the city level, it would be a mistake. But by all means, let's help to build a prosperous and free Iraq that is a shining light in the dark Arab sea of despair.

Berlin is not the example to follow; West Germany is.

A Death In Vain?

Over the coming weeks we will be seeing more and more photos like this:

A horsedrawn caisson carries the body of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Brian Buesing, 20, to the Cedar Key Cemetery, during funeral services in Cedar Key, Florida April 5, 2003. Buesing was one of nine Marines who died in a confrontation with Iraqi troops near Nassiriya March 23. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

The worst death is one that is in vain. So what will Lance Cpl. Buesing and his comrades have paid the ultimate sacrifice for?

For scenes of goodness:

Iraqi men crush together as try to grab food packages handed out by British troops in the southern Iraqi town of Safwan March 31, 2003. Badly needed food, water and other humanitarian aid has begun flowing into southern Iraq through the secure port of Umm Qasar where a U.N. and World Food Program team arrived on April 4, the U.S. military said. (Russell Boyce/Reuters)

And

I lost the caption to this one, but basically it is a child just outside of Halabja- a much different scene than the one in 1988 when we saw children murdered with poison gas. The photo is either Reuters or AP and was taken, I believe on 4/2/03.

To avoid more scenes like this from ever occurring:

Human remains, along with coffins and photos of dead bodies, are seen at an abandoned Iraqi base near the city of Basra in southern Iraq, April 5, 2003. British forces said they had found the remains of as many as 200 people in the barracks and they were sending in forensic experts to investigate. (Pool/Reuters)

No amount of goodness will ever bring Lance Cpl. Buesing back. His parents will forever have to live knowing their child’s life was cut short in its prime. We will never know what good he could have brought to the world, but we know what he has helped to bring to a people on the far side of the world. His actions in life helped to bring hope for a better future to the people of Iraq. His death was not in vain.

Someone once told me that immortality isn’t achieved through long life, monumentous accomplishment, or amassing of money or materials. Immortality is achieved by influencing the lives of others. Immortality is achieved by touching the lives of others so that you live on in their memory long after you are dead and gone.

The Lance Cpl. has touched the lives of ordinary Iraqis. His death has been part of the sacrifice to free them from the oppression of Saddam’s regime. They may never know his name or anything about Lance Cpl. Brian Buesing, but they will know that America and the Marine Corps was willing to sacrifice its best for their benefit.

His death was not in vain.

Do We Treat Iraqis Different?

So we’ve all seen the pictures of the despair in Iraq. We’ve seen orphaned children and women serenely looking to a more positive future. But there is more going on than just the heartbreaking pictures show. There are positive and happy scenes also:

Handing out food in Nasiriyah

Marines and sailors from the 4th Civil Affairs Group hand out food and medical aid to provide relief to local Iraqi civiliansin Nasiriyah, Iraq, on Monday, March 31, 2003. Photo was made available, Wednesday, April 2 2003. (AP Photo/Central Command, Cpl. Matthew 'Aussie' Orr)

Playing games with Iraqi kids

David Toughill, a soldier with Britain's 7th Armored Brigade (Desert Rats) plays with a local girl in Zubayr, southern Iraq April 2, 2003. Britain has sent or committed 45,000 military personnel, planes and warships to the war. Photo by Pool/Reuters

Members of the team from Juliet Company of the British Army's 42 Commando play local Iraqis in a friendly game of soccer in Basra, Iraq, Wednesday April 2, 2003. The marines lost 9-3. (AP Photo/David Husbands, Pool)

Talking with the locals

Navy Corpsman Romualdo Humarang, right, assigned to India Co., 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, talks with Iraqi civilians while on patrol in Numaniyah, southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 3, 2003. Officers of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines are to meet on Thursday with local leaders in Numaniyah, worrying that destruction and confiscation of weapons will leave them unable to maintain security in the town. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

Is there a vast difference between how we treat the Iraqis and how we treat each other?

A U.S. Marine with the 15th Expeditionary Unit Jim Panagakis, left, from Albuquerque, N.M., holds a baby as Marine Bryan Waide, from Mariville, Ten., checks a bag of the baby's mother at a check point at the Saddam Hospital in the city of An Nasiriyah, southern Iraq on Wednesday, April. 2, 2003. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

I don’t think so

Capt. Eric Puls of Bangor, Maine, kisses his 2-year-old daughter Katherine at Fort Hood, Texas, USA, before leaving for Kuwait, Thursday, March 27, 2003. Soldiers of Task Force Ironhorse, led by the 4th Infantry Division, are being flown into Kuwait 24 hours a day from U.S. bases, primarily from the 4th Infantry Division home of Fort Hood, and being processed in a coastal Kuwait camp, and from there to camps near the Iraq border. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

Time To Come Home, Martin

Martin Savidge of CNN has obviously been away from America too long if he doesn't know where we "get young men like this." All that he needs to do is to go talk to some of the kids that don't have mental problems. Instead of looking for the next Columbine kid, he should spend more time paying attention to the normal kids.

What these four Marines did is no surprise to me. Their action shows an understanding and compassion for the human condition that can only come about from having been raised the right way.

It is men like these that make our military great. These guys are a team. Any one of them could have asked to call his parents or family, but they all chose to give to someone else.

Someone needs to slap Savidge. These are normal kids in extraordinary circumstances. The only special part of this exchange was that the media caught it. It's about time they reported that some kids are good.

(Hat tip: Donald Sensing)

What Can She Look Forward to?

She has just passed the "checkpoint to freedom." What does this woman have to look forward to now?

Should she be happy that:

1.) Her daughter can go to school and get an education?

Afghan children look through the gates of Fordosi school on the first day of the school year in Kabul on March 23, 2003. Ferdosi High School is the biggest girls school in Kabul and there are three shifts of classes every day to accomodate all the students. In rural areas of Afghanistan, many girls are still forbidden to attend school. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw

2.) Her child can get decent medical care?

A U.S. Army doctor inspects the ear of an Afghan boy in the village Old Salo Kalay, 4 kilometers west of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 26, 2003. A team of army doctors, supported by American and Romanian Army soldiers, visited the village in an attempt to provide medical and humanitarian assistance. According to U.S. Army Sgt. Bill Hennesey from the Civil Affairs team, coalition forces are providing similar assistance to 73 villages around the Kandahar army base. The team distributed 300 'Humanitarian Daily Rations,' 30 radio sets, candies, toys and school supplies to the village. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

3.) Or that her kid can simply be a kid?

Afghan boys pick up flowers from a field in Bagram, about 60kms (37 miles) from Kabul, March 30, 2003 as signs spring arrived in Afghanistan. The emergence of flowers and greens after a rainy season is a welcome news to Afghans after years of drought in the country. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw

Afghan boys react as they receive toys from U.S. Army personnel, unseen, in the village Old Salo Kalay, near Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 26, 2003. A team of army doctors, supported by American and Romanian Army soldiers, visited the village in an attempt to provide medical and humanitarian assistance. According to U.S. Army Sgt. Bill Hennesey from the Civil Affairs team, coalition forces are providing similar assistance to 73 villages around the Kandahar army base. The team distributed humanitarian rations, radios, candy, toys and school supplies to the village. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

All photos first found on Free Republic.com here and here.

Excellent History Lesson

Bill Whittle over at Eject! Eject! Eject! has an excellent essay looking at Civil War America and how it compares to modern America. It is an extremely well written essay, kind of like a Victor Davis Hanson one, and is definitely well worth the time to read it.

Three More Reasons We Fight

To prevent more pictures like these:

Orphaned by the fedayeen.

Found alone in the exodus from the city.

Both of these pictures are of kids just outside Basra.

And to create more pictures like this:

A child in Umm Qasr.

Three more reasons we will fight and will fight to win.

All pictures found in this post at Free Republic.com.

More on the Decline of Civilizations

I was thinking about the post I wrote last night about the decline of civilizations through he expansion of leisure. I was feeling pretty good about it and then I had an interesting thought that kind of threw a different light on the issue.

As I was pondering everything, I noticed that the three main civilizations I talked about all shared a key common factor – they were long-lived. The life cycle of each civilization was measured in centuries, not decades. And that lended more strength to my belief that American civilization still has its best years to come. And as I was feeling all nice and proud and thinking how the American rise coincided so nicely with the British fall, I suddenly realized – the British haven’t really fell. They’re not as dominant as they once were, but they haven’t completely collapsed. So what happened to make the British so resilient and defiant of the trends of history?

It took me a while to identify what I see as the true root cause of the downfall of civilizations. Leisure is still a root cause, but what is the true underlying reason that causes the expansion of leisure?

Now I’m not a sociologist and don’t even play one on TV, but I think that experience has shown the way to at least some of the answers. Expanded leisure is a function of getting older. In our early years, we work to learn and to earn so that as we age we can do more that we want and less of what we have to. In other words, younger people work harder and older folks take more time to appreciate life. There are of course exceptions on both ends of the spectrum, but I think that it’s a pretty fair and accurate generalization.

In all three civilizations, an aging population left the productive workforce and as the younger generations had to devote more and more resources to supporting the elderly there became a disincentive to work. As fewer people worked to their potential, it increased the efforts required of the others, which was another disincentive to work. And so began a vicious cycle that could be broken only by altering the demographics of the nation. The population had to begin getting progressively younger in order to present an incentive to work. In Greece and Rome, this was achieved by a collapse of the civilization and a corresponding reduction in lifespan, which helped to lower the average age of the population. France is looking more and more like it will require a revolution to change the welfare state, but it will not achieve any greatness again until it experiences another baby boom that will help to lower the average age of the population.

This makes me worry some about the state that America is really in. We have an aging population also. They main difference, and what I see as being our saving grace, is that our elderly population is much more willing to put in a full day’s work. That desire to continue to contribute should be enough to put us over the hump. Unfortunately for me, I think that the “Generations X & Y” are going to have a little trouble achieving a higher standard of living as the demographics won’t be favorable until late in our working lives. But I also think that this period will end up being a one-generation aberration in the growth of American power.

So how did the British avoid these aging population issues? People get old and want to relax in the later years even in England. The British have an element of their population that does it’s best to avoid work – just like every nation. So how were the Brits able to pull it off?

The British, I believe, pulled it off through emigration. Just as immigration has helped us in the States to avoid the issue up until now, the British were able to send away enough of the right elements of their population to pull this off. Some people, like the convicts were forced to leave, while others left of their own free will. They went to America, Canada, Australia, Ireland and many other nations. But the ones who left tended to be older (they had to acquire the resources to leave) or the derelicts that didn’t add much to the state of civilization anyway. The removal of these elements of society allowed England to maintain a fairly low average age.

The maintenance of a low average age and its corresponding high productivity led to the survival and strength of British civilization.

It’s interesting to look at the fates of the Americans, Germans, French, and British since WWI in respect to this theory. Germany, France and England all had entire generations wiped out in the trenches of WWI. The resulting age gap allowed the average age of the population to drop in those three nations as they headed into WWII (the US was still expansionist within its own borders and was able to decrease its average age just through natural population expansion). During WWII, the Americans, Germans and British all lost sizable chunks of their populations, while the French basically sat the war out and didn’t see too much of an effect of their population. After WWII, the three affected nations underwent population booms which led to a strengthening of influence in the 1960s and 1970s as those baby boomers started to come of age. French influence and power declined at the same time, as their population just simply got older and more leisurely.

Is this a well-researched study? No, everything here is based on personal (and possibly flawed) observations and readings. Am I saying that this is the end all answer for why civilizations fail? No, it’s just my theory. If you have a different idea or a reason why I’m wrong, post a comment and let me know.

A reason I like the Orlando Sentinal

I wish I could do this

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

Go read it. Now.

Read and feel better

Peggy Noonan over at OpinionJournal has great column today about the war in the bigger scheme of things. Take a few minutes to read it- it is well worth the time.

A Note To Dr.Blix

Dear Dr. Blix,

I wanted to take a moment to apologize for doubting the value of inspections in finding banned weapons in Iraq. Obviously, you were right. The inspections needed more time.

After all, look what has come to light just in the last week. We have discovered at least two Scuds, a few Ababil-100s which we have now proven that they fly too far, and now we have found a chemical weapons plant! All this and the party's just getting started.

I apologize for having doubted you Dr. Blix. I am sorry I have ever made fun of your apparent incompetence. Had I know that we were this close to identifying banned weapons and that the Iraqis were this keen to disarm themselves, I would not have supported this war. It's hard for me to say this, but you were right.

Congratulations on our success Dr. Blix. I'm sure that our military feels much safer due to your outstanding disarmament efforts.

Sincerely,
Chris

PS: I sincerely hope that you don't understand satire any better than you do deception.

Going to the beach

Sorry about the lack of posts today. It was a rough day at work and after I left there I drove over to Cocoa Beach to spend the night over here with my other half and the kids.

I'm assuming that you've already read all about everything that happened today and that's good because I don't know anything about what happened in the war today, except that we finally started moving on the ground and Saddam has been popping off the non-existent Scud missiles (surprise, surprise, surprise).

The shock and awe we've heard so much about - I'm still waiting for the awe. Maybe I know too much about what we're capable of, but so far I'm not overly impressed. Better than yesterday, but still not what we're capable of.

But I'm going to take a little different track tonight. This is probably going to be my only post of the night, so I'll try to make it worthwhile.

I've come to Cocoa and Port Canaveral probably 100 times in my life, if not more. Each time, as you cross the Intercoastal waterway, off to the left, in the distance, you can see the silent sentry of the Vehicle Assembly Building over at NASA. As you continue further down the causeway, you can some of the launch pads. I have seen those sights my entire life.

Normally the VAB, even from a distance, is a massive, imposing and upbeat appearing building. With the giant American flag down the side, it is a proud beacon of American ingenuity and strength of will. The VAB is really a symbol of all that is great in regards to the US Space Program. The towers of the launch pads normally appear to be reaching for the heavens as if they want to follow the rockets into the sky.

But tonight, they were different. Coming across the bridge, the VAB looked subdued and somber. The launch pads were lit up as usual, but they looked to be sagging under some great unseen weight. Maybe it was the rain that had just gone through, but it was almost as though they knew that NASA and the space program are under attack.

I'm a native Floridian, having lived within 50 miles of the Space Coast my entire life. I have woken up many a morning to the twin sonic booms of a shuttle returning. I have seen so many rockets and shuttles going up that they aren't even noticed. It is all a unquestioned part of my life. For the past twenty years the Space Shuttle has been one of the key components.

Coming across the bridge and seeing the VAB, I was reminded of the devastation that the Columbia tragedy caused. I remember the pride and excitement back when the first shuttle mission went up. I still have the picture disc LP record commemorating the event. It was one of the greatest positive events that I can remember.

For twenty years, I saw probably 85-90 of the 100+ shuttle missions as they took off. It was part of my life that I have always taken for granted, because it was always there. I have gone to exactly one launch - because there would always be another opportunity. Twenty years and it may all be gone.

I have been seeing reports lately that the Chinese now want to send a man to the moon and then on to Mars. Normally I wouldn't care, but tonight it was offensive to me. America puts men on the moon, not Russia, not France, not China - America does. America pushes the envelope of space exploration, not Russia, not France, and not China. Space is our domain. We own space, like we own the night militarily.

We cannot let our space program fall to the wayside because of one setback. Columbia was a tradegy, but to let it kill the entire space program would be criminal. Space is important for our maintaining our technological advantage. Space is important as an unconquered challenge. Space is important as a point of national pride.

It hurts to see the VAB looking depressed. It pains me to see the launch pads empty and forlorn. We have to make a national commitment to rebuilding and enhancing the space program. Otherwise my life will seem empty and I'll never be able to come back over here.

Tomorrow, I'll try to do better with war stuff.

Military economics

I’ve been wanting to blog this for a while, but just haven’t had the time to sit down and write it. So as I sit here and wait for something other than shock, I figure it’s a good opportunity to do this.

Most people assume that our military strength is derived from our economic and technological strength, which is true. But our military isn’t dominant because we can buy more bombs than anyone else, or because we can design bombs that can hit Saddam’s toilet from 50,000 feet. Our military is dominant because we have figured out the best way to militarily address the fundamental economic problem.

What is the fundamental economic problem? It is the issue of opportunity cost. Every choice we make requires giving up something else. As a nation, we have a choice to buy more guns or to buy more butter, but at some point we have to give up one to buy the other. But how does that relate to our military if its strength is not derived from overwhelming numbers?

During WWII, we used to send up bombing runs of 30, 40, 50 and more B-17 bombers to destroy one factory. We used to have to drop hundreds of bombs and we had to destroy entire neighborhoods and cities to take out one building or even just one room in that building. Every bomb we dropped on that factory could not be dropped somewhere else (opportunity cost); every bomber sent on that mission could not be sent to bomb another target at the same time (another opportunity cost). Every aircrew that was lost and every civilian that was killed represented another opportunity cost (we lost the opportunity for them to make a longer contribution to humanity). But the mass B-17 raids represented the best use of resources at that time.

Over time our technology has improved substantially. Now instead of 30 B-17s being needed to take out one room in a building, One F-117 can drop a laser-guided bomb into that room leaving the rest of the building and the neighborhood intact. Instead of say 700 bombs we can drop one. Instead of risking over 200 men, we need to only risk one.

So what does that mean for us? Assuming that the military is the same size, we can now strike over a hundred targets with the resources that used to be required to destroy one target. Or we can reduce the number of personnel in the military, while still maintaining the same attack capability. In either case we have improved the effectiveness our military.

And therein lies our advantage. We can drop one bomb to destroy a building, our enemy still has to drop 30. We only need to put one aircrew- maybe even just one person – at risk; our enemy needs to risk many, many more. With a few hundred planes we can achieve air superiority and still project force into the theater. Our enemy would need five or ten times as many aircraft to even think about having air superiority and they still wouldn’t be able to use their air force to project power on our ground troops.

Our understanding of economics has allowed us to better manage our military. We can resolve the basic economic problem better than our enemy, which gives us a significant advantage as we have fewer wasted opportunity costs. That is why our economic advantage has helped us to create a more dominant military. It’s not because we can buy more guns, but because we can figure out why it is important to buy better guns that don’t miss as often. We can also better make the decision of which weapons will be the most effective against different types of targets. It isn’t GNP that makes us strong, it is a well-developed economic theory.

Who said economics are unimportant?

A half measure before no half measures?

I know I keep harping on this, but it is of great concern to me. We have now fired off a few of Tomahawks at "Iraqi leadership," which in and of itself is not a bad thing. But it doesn't appear that we are following it up. The "shock and awe" has turned for me to just shock (and hopefully for the Iraqis, too).

I hope that the ground troops are rolling. We are twisting the tail of a chemical/biological tiger. We have the tools to control and defeat the Iraqi Army, but until we move, we keep uping the risk on the ground pounders. I'd be thrilled to see Basra liberated by the time I get up in the morning, because it means that we're finally moving and reducing the risk for the men.

QUICK UPDATE BEFORE I EVEN POST THIS!

Just saw Ollie North interviewing a soldier on FOX News. Guess we're still sitting. We had retaken the initiative; we had tactical surprise. I'd like to know why we're seemingly giving the initiative back to them, possbily until tomorrow night.

Bush promised no half measures. If we don't get the "awe" part of this thing going pretty soon I'm going to be hardpressed to believe that this wasn't a half measure.

I hate waiting

I'm a very impatient person. When I know something is going to happen, I generally want to get it over with, regardless of whether it is good or bad. So while we wait I figured I should get a useless rant or two out of my system.

Every once in a while, I wonder if we're doing the right thing here. I have spoken with many people the last few days who believe that containment was working. The constant argument I hear is that he was not a direct threat to us now, that we were finding things during the inspections and that even after we depose him, once we leave Iraq there is nothing to prevent the Iraqis from rebuilding a WMD program.

All of these points are true. Saddam is, at best, an indirect threat to us. He would have to give the tools of evil to terrorists in order for them to be used against us. He does not have the capability to directly attack the United States. He doesn't possess a weapon capable of hitting the US. From the point of view of direct threats to the continental US, he was contained (granted this does not mean that our citizens and servicemen overseas were perfectly safe from attack, but overseas travel always involves a certain degree of risk). I can already hear Sarge getting ticked, but this point was accurate (and I am not implying that America's military personnel are expendable, far from it).

Hans Blix and Company were finding banned weapons. That is absolutely true. It is also absolutely wrong. The intent of the inspections program was verification, not discovery. Blix was never supposed to uncover any banned weapons, they were supposed to be handed over to us. The problem is that they weren't. The inspectors and the Iraqis (with a great deal of help from the French) changed the rules of the game. They changed the goal of the inspections to discovery and effectively made 1441 unenforceable if we were to allow the change to stand. The discovery of banned weapons was in fact the proof that the anti-warriors were clamoring for. When Blix discovered weapons it proved that Saddam was in violation of 1441.

I'll also agree that once we leave Iraq, there really isn't anything to prevent the new government from restarting a WMD program. It will be quite a few years before we leave and for them to start over form scratch will probably force the risks of such a program out by several years. Short of annexing Iraq, which is not an acceptable alternative, we will never have a way to absolutely prevent a WMD program. Our goal in this regard should be to eliminate the risk of Iraqi WMDs for the foreseeable future.

So why are we attacking? I can really only see a few real reasons for eliminating Saddam: the enforcement of 1441, the elimination of risk from the Iraqi WMD programs and as a deterrent to other nutjobs. You'll notice that two of these reasons are the same as ones used by the anti-warriors and that one of the most popular - human rights - is missing.

I don't believe that we need to put our troops in harm's way to rescue the Iraqi people from human rights violations. In this case, the Iraqi citizens haven't shown a real, concerted effort to fight against the violations. If they are willing to live under the boot of oppression so complacently, we do not have a moral obligation to rescue them from a threat that they don't believe to be a threat. If they don't feel it is important enough to risk their lives, we should not be risking our soldier's lives. I will agree that we should have done more in '91 to support the insurrections against Saddam - that was a shameful low in our history, similar to the Bay of Pigs - but the people of Iraq have not really pushed an insurrection again. If the Iraqi people join us in this attack, they will prove me wrong on this (and I hope they do), but right now I don't think it is proper to risk our military for human rights violations.

The most important reason for going into Iraq is to enforce 1441. When the Security Council passed the resolution, they drew the proverbial line in the sand. When the line is drawn, it must be enforced or else it will be like a Bugs Bunny cartoon with both parties erasing and redrawing the line for their own advantage. We set down a rule and they violated it - pure and simple. We are now obligated to enforce the consequences of violating the agreed upon rules (Iraq agreed to them as part of the '91 cease-fire agreement).

We also need to destroy the Iraqi WMD program all the way down to its very core. The elimination of WMD is a worthy, if unattainable, world goal. We can, in one fell swoop, do more to eliminate WMD than has been done in all of the last decade by everyone. Even if we just set back their program by 10 years, it would be an acceptable reason for going in. We need to do our best to make sure that we are not threatened by Iraqi WMD again in our lifetimes.

And we also need to use this as an opportunity to deter some of the world's other nutcases. Kim Jong Il will be less likely to play games if he sees 3000 bombs hit Iraq in a 15-minute span. Yassar Arafat and his cohorts in crime will be much more likely to negotiate in good faith when they see their terrorist brethren blown up by US bombs instead of nail-packed martyrdom belts. When they see the abject failure of the suicide squads it will give them pause. It's one thing to piss off the patient Israelis; it's another to piss off the Jacksonians of America. Watching the effects of the massive advantages possessed by the US over a typical Third World nation's military will give every thug in the world pause at least before they move against the US (or its allies).

I believe that we are doing the right thing by going in. We have the authority and the justification for going in to protect our interests around the world. A reexamination like this, as we are on the verge of world altering event, is never a bad thing. I hope that Bush and the Cabinet sat down today and did the same thing. After all, you can't fight with conviction if you don't believe yourself.

It's a strange wonderful world

Oh, to live in the wonderful world of Dr. Strangeblix. The man actually still believes that the “inspections” were working. He still believes that Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi thugocracy respect world opinion. He still thinks the UN Security Council will be of use after this debacle. He still believes that his motley little band of Keystone Kops will prove more effective than a quarter million armed inspectors who won’t take no for an answer.

I just can’t believe that he is still asserting that the inspections are working. He states that his teams have found no evidence of chemical or biological weapons (forget about those pictures of mobile bio-lab units that the Iraqis showed us). Don’t worry about those weapons, we haven’t found them. They might have them, but they won’t use them. We have inspected and they have no capacity to create weapons of mass destruction, but they can probably still make chemical and biological capable warheads and agents.

He also believes that they won’t have the will to use chemical or biological weapons because world opinion would turn against them. What would that do? Would the French quit providing surrender training for them? Would the French take a break from invading Central African countries long enough to give the always feared Gaullic stare of disapproval? Would the Germans cluck at them? Or would there be the ultimate condemnation – a UN resolution expressing concern about the use of chemical or biological weapons?

Does Dr. Strangeblix really think that we’re going to believe that the inspections were working given his current statements? Does he think that we are going to buy into the success of the inspection regime just because the report of “items of concern” went from 120 + pages down to 83 in a week? He probably just removed the denunciations of the United States and his world-famous Swedish Meatball recipes. 83 pages is still 83 too many after 12 years.

I have got to find me a better fantasy world to live in.

Random Morning Thoughts

OK, here’s my random thought of the morning that I had while driving into work this morning.

We gave Saddam 48 hours to leave Iraq. When you think about it, his only way out is by air. None of his neighbors will want him to drop by for a friendly visit, so leaving by ground is out of the question.

If he had an airplane on the ground ready to go, we’d probably have heard about it by now. So I’m guessing that if he is going to leave at the last second, someone else will be sending in the plane (which would also help to alleviate Saddam’s personal security paranoia, after all we’ll be less likely to shoot down a foreign airliner than we would the Iraqi Presidential jet).

But if someone like North Korea were to be trying to extract Saddam, we would need to see certain events happening by the 45th hour of the deadline. Why 45 hours you ask?

With all the air traffic around and over Iraq right now, it will take approximately 1 hour for an airplane to cross the border, land and to block in at Saddam International Airport. It will then take about an hour to refuel for a transcontinental return flight (don’t forget he can’t go around the corner here). And then it will take an hour from the block out until the flight crosses the border again and Saddam has met the ultimatum and has left Iraq.

So, at 45 hours, if we don’t see the a flight heading to Saddam International, we know that he is not intending to meet the terms laid out to him. At that point, we can say with certainty that he has ignored us and we can start rolling across the border.

I don’t believe that the final flight from Saddam International is going to happen. I’m just looking for an excuse to get the ball rolling a little early, but while still sticking to the spirit of what we said.

I’ll now go back to trying to develop coherent thoughts again.