Veteran's Day

No link, just an angry tirade.

Just was looking at the holiday calendar, and discovered my company doesn't give us Verteran's Day off.

I'm going to have to find out what bloody moron made that decision. They gave us Columbus Day off. Why, I don't know. But Veteran's day is one that nearly everyone actually takes off.

Now I'm in a more foul mood than usual.

Another Senatorial Hearing (aka Waste-of-Time)

I'd say I'm getting tired of these, but how can you get tired of the norm. The sites are on the oil industry for this one.

"To my constituents, today's hearing is about shared sacrifices in tough times versus oil company greed," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. "Working people struggle with high gas prices and your sacrifices appear to be nothing."

"In the midst of pain, in the midst of suffering, the public sees headlines about record profits," Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, pointed out.

But other senators, some reluctantly, opposed taking measures against the industry.

"It's not terribly fun defending you, but I do," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

More speeches and the usual name calling. No intelligent questions reported.

I love this one:

California Democrat Boxer criticized the CEOs' pay and bonuses and urged them to make significant personal and corporate contributions to energy assistance programs.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm successful, so I should throw my money where you think is right. I suppose that I'd be doing the opposite of anything Babs suggests.

It wasn't all a complete waste. This bit is actually what I've been stating since the energy bill was signed.

Two senators at the hearing, Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and John Sununu, R-N.H., both said Congress should look at rolling back tax breaks given to the oil industry in the energy bill earlier this year. Wyden estimated the tax breaks were worth $2.6 billion.

The CEOs said their companies were not receiving tax breaks, and two other senators, Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Mary Landrieu, D-La., said those breaks were directed more to smaller refinery operators and need to be maintained.

Sununu argued that while the tax breaks aren't needed, a windfall profit tax would be misguided. "Taxes that discriminate against specific industries, even ones as popular as the oil industry at the current moment, are a bad idea," he said.

Note that the ones defending the tax breaks are from heavy oil producing states. I'd love to see the figures that justify these tax breaks.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said he would oppose such a tax but told the executives that one of the first questions he gets from constituents is about the way oil prices are set.

"I think most Americans think that someone rigs these prices and that someone is getting ripped off and it's them," he said, adding that the industry needed to reassure Americans it was working to keep prices in check.

Gouging has been repeatedly investigated, and the results continually come up with no wrong doing. If most American's want to know how gas prices are set, maybe they can try a simple google search. The results come up with several quick and simple answers. Is there any reason for ignorance in this age of information? Or, do they just not believe the information?

Not really surprising that the whole thing was contentious from the start. Just remember this is your hard earn dollars at work.

France, Europe and the Future

This is troubling stuff.

As Mr. Belien reports, look what a typical radical Muslim leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, the leader of the Brussels-based Arab European League says: "We reject integration when it leads to assimilation. I don't believe in a host country. We are at home here and whatever we consider our culture to be also belongs to our chosen country. I'm in my country, not the country of the Westerners."

And I can't help thinking, how much longer can we afford to pretend that Iran is only working on nuclear reactors?

Household Privacy

SCOTUS Blog.

Before the SCOTUS is Georgia v. Randolph. The topic concerns permission to enter a residence when one spouse allows entry and the other forbids access.

I would have thought this would be a simple matter. Like most things, the most restrictive restraint should be that which is followed. If one person with control of a dwelling objects, that is all that should be required.

There is information on the discussion with respect to law enforcement as well.

American Use of Chemical Weapons in Iraq

Propaganda or fact? Aljazeera is of course flipping out about the whole thing, but the facts really look like this is propaganda at it's worst. (The Aljazeera piece has a gory picture, so skip if you have a week stomach.) From CSM:

RAI, the all news state-run satellite channel in Italy, aired a documentary Tuesday that accused the United States of using chemical weapons against the civilian population during a November 2004 bombardment of Fallujah. AKI, the Italian news agency, reports that the documentary, entitled "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" and aired on the first aniversary of the assault on insurgents in Fallujah, includes interviews with former US soldiers and with residents of Fallujah who say that during the assault on the city the US military used the chemical white phosphorus.

The article is pretty good at providing fact with little commentary.

QandO goes into some pretty good discussion on the topic as well. Mainly commentary with data. It's more convincing than other commentary I've found. They go into detail about the use of WP and what it actually does.

It will be interesting to see where the facts of all of this runs in the end.

French Surrender?

So they're thinking about a cerfew. At this point they may as well raise the white flag. The spineless response is amazing. The offers of assistance and better conditions is obviously having no effect. You'd have thought that the destruction would have lost momentum just from the amount of time that it's been in effect.

Mr de Villepin, in a televised appearance, announced plans to call up 1,500 reserve gendarmes to take the total police deployed against the rioting to 9,500. He also proposed giving apprenticeships to failing school-children from the age of 14, instead of 16, and increasing bursaries and internships for poor children.

A programme to demolish high-rise tower blocks and build more attractive housing would be accelerated, he said, while local association funding would increase.

The violence has steadily intensified over the past 11 days. The rioting, mostly by children of immigrants in areas blighted by high unemployment, decrepit housing and poor schools, has spread across France and affected about 275 urban areas.

Global Guerrillas has an interesting piece on the topic pointing out that criminals are more a part of this than is being reported. They also point out that making mass arrests will probably make things worse. Wonderful thought that.

The Belmont Club has had a running series on the topic. You can read them yourself if you care. Or if you just want to have a schadenfreude moment.

Captain's Quarters has a piece on the linking of the riots with Islamic Terrorist attacks.

The riots in France have little connection to the Islamist terrorist offensive against the West, if the American media coverage gives any indication. However, alert CQ reader Mr. Michael points out that both American and French media sources warned of coordinated Islamist action against France in the weeks before the riot. Agence France Presse even had a quote from the maligned Nicolas Sarkozy noting the imminent nature of the threat in its 9/27 dispatch:

The discussion seems to make some sense. Though I'm not completely convinced, I'd say it would partly explain why the rioting is so wide spread throughout the country. This does look like there is some sort of organization. Though I haven't seen any positive proof of organization.

If this is related to Islamic Terrorism, why are they attacking France. They were very much against the Iraqi war, and have been outspoken against the tactics/procedures that the USA has used. But then they have been pretty good at segregating and alienating their own Islamic population.

British Food Police

Tell me this doesn't sound like a Monty Python skit.

GORY images of burger rolls filled with gristle and bones are appearing across Britain today in an effort to get children to think about the food they eat.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has created posters showing the common ingredients in many burgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets in the hope of shocking youngsters into improving their diet.

And it's ok, because they have a celebrities supporting them.

Celebrities including cricket star Andrew Flintoff, girl bands The Sugababes and Girls Aloud and Cold Feet actress Fay Ripley are also backing the campaign.

Ms Ripley said: "The BHF is right to challenge children to think more about what they are eating.

"I worry about children who live solely on a diet of burgers, chips and microwave meals and can't tell a carrot from a cucumber.

"As a mum, I know how hard it can be to get children to eat healthier foods, but there are lots of things parents can do.

"They should try to buy fresh food whenever possible and involve their children more in grocery shopping and making dinner."

"As a mum" you'd think that she would prefer that they not put out the abattoir burger advertisement. I'd bet that getting kids to eat better will be so much easier after that. Of course, it's kids that are the problem, not the moronic parents that aren't providing the proper nutrition.
You know, Great Britain is starting to make me think of the movie Soylent Green. People don't know what the food is made of and the economy isn't so great. If they start having riots, all they need is the front-end loaders putting people into trucks and you're there.

Ok, maybe it's not that bad.

Eco-Terrorists, Animal Rights, and Twisted Logic

Found this link at Captain's Quarters. The Blog is Animal Crackers.

The Entry is testimony to the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works hearing by Jerry Vlasak, MD, the mouth piece for North American Animal Liberation. A physician that I wouldn't let touch me without having a gun in hand. This guy is seriously bent.

Here is a brief exchange to whet your interest.

Senator Inhofe. One of the statements you made at the animal rights convention when you were defending assassinating people, murdering people, you said, let me put it up here to make sure I'’m not misquoting you, 'I don'’t think you'’d have to kill, assassinate too many. I think for five lives, ten lives, fifteen human lives, we could save a million, two million, or ten million non-human lives."’

You'’re advocating the murder of individuals, isn'’t that correct?

Dr. Vlasak. I made that statement, and I stand by that statement. That statement is made in the context that the struggle for animal liberation is no different than struggles for liberation elsewhere, whether the struggle for liberation in South Africa against the apartheid regime, whether the liberation against the communists, whether it was the liberation struggles in Algeria, Viet Nam or Iraq today, liberation struggles occasionally or usually, I should say, usually end up in violence.

There is plenty of violence being used on the other side of the equation. These animals are being terrorized, murdered and killed by the millions every day. The animal rights movement has been notoriously non-violent up to this point.

But I don'’t believe that "— I believe as my statement says "—

Senator Inhofe. Let me interrupt. You said it has been notoriously non-violent up to this time?

Dr. Vlasak. That is correct.

Senator Inhofe. You don’'t think there is violence in the testimony you'’ve heard?

Dr. Vlasak. I think when you compare the 500 animals being murdered every single day at Huntingdon Life Sciences, which is just one company, I think when you look at the amount of violence that goes on at Mr. Boruchin'’s house, getting a little spray paint on the wall, I think if you look at the amount of violence that went on at this yacht club in New York, where again some spray paint was slapped up on a wall, I don'’t think you can compare that kind of vandalism with the murder of millions of animals.

Senator Inhofe. And so you call for the murders of researchers and human life?

Dr. Vlasak. I said in that statement and I meant in that statement that people who are hurting animals and who will not stop when told to stop, one option would be to stop them using any means necessary and that was the context in which that statement was made.

Senator Inhofe. Including murdering them, is that correct?

Dr. Vlasak. Pardon?

Senator Inhofe. Including murdering them?

Dr. Vlasak. I said that would be a morally justifiable solution to the problem.

You should read the rest. The commentary at Captain's Quarters and Animal Crackers is pretty astute.

Why Isn't Bush Defending Himself?

Article by Bill Kristol.

The topic I've found quite baffling for some time now.

And the administration paid a price for its virtual silence on Iraq during the spring and much of the summer. Now the administration seems to understand not just that they have to do everything they can to win in Iraq--but also that they must make, and remake, the case for the war. Do they also realize that they have to aggressively--not to say indignantly--confront the "Bush lied" charge now emanating from leaders in the Democratic party?

Last Tuesday, Harry Reid took to the floor of the Senate and asserted that the Bush administration had "manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions." This is a serious charge; if it were true, it might well be an indictable offense. But it is, in reality, a slander. Shouldn't the president defend his honor?

The president should aggressively respond to Reid and his ilk. Reid spews forth half truths and out-right slander repeatedly and no one does anything to reply. I see no reason to play nice with hacks like Reid. He has been shown to be wrong repeatedly, but the press doesn't care to point out the lies he puts forth as truths. Or was the Silberman-Robb Commission lying?

Context of the 2000 Deaths in Iraq

Hanson. Very interesting statement of history related to military deaths.

AS the aggregate number of American military fatalities in Iraq has crept up over the past 13 months - from 1,000 to 1,500 dead, and now to 2,000 - public support for the war has commensurately declined. With the nightly ghoulish news of improvised explosives and suicide bombers, Americans perhaps do not appreciate that the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the effort to establish a democratic government in Iraq have been accomplished at relatively moderate cost - two-thirds of the civilian fatalities incurred four years ago on the first day of the war against terrorism.

And

Contemporary critics understandably lament our fourth year of war since Sept. 11 in terms of not achieving a victory like World War II in a similar stretch of time. But that is to forget the horrendous nature of such comparison when we remember that America lost 400,000 dead overseas at a time when the country was about half its present size. There is a variety of explanations why the carnage of history seems to bring today's public little comfort or perspective about the comparatively moderate costs of Iraq. First, Americans, like most democratic people, can endure fatalities if they believe they come in the pursuit of victory, during a war against an aggressor with a definite beginning and end. That's why most polls found that about three-quarters of the American people approved of the invasion upon the fall of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad in April 2003.

The public's anguish for the fewer than 150 lost during that campaign was counterbalanced by the apparently easy victory and the visible signs of enemy capitulation. But between the first 200 fatalities and the 2,000th, a third of those favoring the war changed their minds, now writing off Iraq as a mistake. Perhaps we could summarize this radical transformation as, "I was for my easy removal of Saddam, but not for your bungled and costly postwar reconstruction."

Sadly accurate. He doesn't point out though that there is an obligation by the victor to assist the conqured to recover from the war. There is good reason to aid in recovery. It prevents those countries from becoming rogue states that are even more dangerous after the war.

He also points to the MSM as being a portion of the problem.

Television and the global news media have changed the perception of combat fatalities as well. CNN would have shown a very different Iwo Jima - bodies rotting on the beach, and probably no coverage of the flag-raising from Mount Suribachi. It is conventional wisdom now to praise the amazing accomplishment of June 6, 1944. But a few ex tempore editorial comments from Geraldo Rivera or Ted Koppel, reporting live from the bloody hedgerows where the Allied advance stalled not far from the D-Day beaches - a situation rife with intelligence failures, poor equipment and complete surprise at German tactics - might have forced a public outcry to withdraw the forces from the Normandy "debacle" before it became a "quagmire."

Go read the whole thing. It's quite informative.

France Paying for Ethnic Isolation

Fascinating that this is still going on. I would have expected that the Paris riots would have calmed down by this time, but now they've found a facility where they're making Molotov cocktails.

Police also found a gasoline bomb-making factory in a rundown building in Evry, a southern Paris suburb that contained 150 explosives, more than 100 bottles, gallons of fuel and hoods for hiding rioters' faces, Jean-Marie Huet, a senior Justice Ministry official, said Sunday.

For the second night in a row, a helicopter equipped with spotlights and video cameras to track bands of marauding youths combed the Paris suburbs from the air and small teams of police were deployed to chase down rioters speeding from one attack to another in cars and on motorbikes.

You'd think that they'd call out the military at this point to regain control.

From analysis of the events, it does look like the isolation of various ethnic classes has finally reached its critical mass.

The violence _ originally concentrated in northeastern suburbs of Paris with large immigrant populations _ is forcing France to confront anger long-simmering in the neighborhoods, where many Arab and African Muslim immigrants live on society's margins, struggling with unemployment, poor housing, racial discrimination, crime and a lack of opportunity.

Unrest spread Saturday night across France, extending west to the rolling fields of Normandy and south to Nice and Cannes on the Mediterranean coast.

Such a shame. Makes you wonder what the response will be. Probably the addition of draconian laws like have been added in other EU counties.

Law Not Justice

This is especially worrying. Not surprised that this came from the land for fruits and nuts.

In a recent ruling, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (that be the Left Coast) determined that parents do not have a fundamental right to control when, where and how their children are taught about sex.

Rather the state - in its far greater wisdom about what's right and wrong - has ultimate power over your kids.

And here is what is really offensive:

Kids ages 7 through 10 were asked, for example, to rate the following activities according to how often they experienced the thought or emotion:

"Touching my private parts too much."

"Thinking about having sex."

"Thinking about touching other people's private parts."

"Thinking about sex when I don't want to."

"Washing myself because I feel dirty on the inside."

"Not trusting people because they might want sex."

"Getting scared or upset when I think about sex."

"Having sex feelings in my body."

"Can't stop thinking about sex."

"Getting upset when people talk about sex."

Obviously, not every 7-year-old is ready to contemplate those kinds of questions. If you're a parent, there's no contest as to who should determine when such subjects are raised. Parents should.

Worst of all:

The court made clear that it was not passing judgment on the appropriateness of the questions themselves, but only on the constitutional questions raised in the case. Herewith, plaintiff's evidence as to why the law is, indeed, an ass and why what is "legal" is not always right.

This is one of those cases where I have trouble with legalism. There is no justice in this.

I'd say that anyone worried about their kids should use this type of behavior in schools to make the politicians completely liable for this crap. Any politician that doesn't completely condemn these actions, shouldn't be allowed office ever. This is one of those topics that is a true litmus test of who is more important, the citizen or the state.

Stupid Protestors

This week shows again that protestors rarely are capable of going beyond the mob. Why would protestors burn a building to protest the presence of the President of the USA? Doesn't the logic exist in any minds that all they will be doing is hurting their fellow citizens?

Protesters set a building on fire and threw objects at police in the streets of this resort city as the leaders of 34 nations met at the fourth Summit of the Americas.

The summit wraps up Saturday afternoon after two additional working sessions, with trade, jobs and combating poverty on the agenda.

And

Small bands of demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, set bonfires in the streets with items looted from stores, burned U.S. flags and set a bank ablaze.

Yep, they certainly made the news. Though the acts do nothing to change any policy for any of the involved countries.

Then there is Chevez.

After marching through the streets, thousands of protesters headed to Mundialista Stadium, where Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led a rally against Bush's policies.

"Peoples of the Americas are rising once again, saying no to imperialism, saying no to fascism, saying no to intervention -- and saying no to death," Chavez yelled to the cheering crowd.

Hearing such voices makes one really desire to be an isolationist. But then, after seeing how South American reactionaries like Chavez have historically persevered, we probably shouldn't be too worried.

You also have to love Chavez for threatening to sell F-16s to China and Cuba and buying Chinese and Russian aircraft.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday his government may give its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Cuba or China and replace them with Chinese or Russian aircraft after accusing Washington of blocking purchases of U.S. military parts.

Any exchange of military hardware to those countries would break an agreement with the U.S. government on the transfer of technology without Washington's permission and further strain fraying ties between Venezuela and the United States.

I think the support of F-16 should be ended completely for Venezuela. You want to play games? Have fun with the alternative.

Another Questionable List

So, being bored in Plano, Tx, I ran across this article for the most important tools.
1. Knife
2. Abacus
3. Compass
4. Pencil
5. Harness
6. Scythe
7. Rifle
8. Sword
9. Eyeglasses
10. Saw
11. Watch
12. Lathe
13. Needle
14. Candle
15. Scale
16. Pot
17. Telescope
18. Level
19. Fish-Hook
20. Chisel

An interesting list, but really is missing some things and by their criteria, has some things that I don't think should be in here.

We decided to exclude the traditional list of "simple machines," which includes the lever, pulley, wheel and wedge, since most other tools employ some form of simple machine--a hammer is basically a lever, and an axe is essentially a wedge.

We tried where possible to limit the list to handheld or easily portable objects, eliminating most heavy machine tools, like hydraulic jacks.

We also decided to eliminate complex machines capable of essentially running themselves. That means things like cars, windmills and computer networks don't qualify.

So if the axe is essentially eliminated because it's just a wedge, why is the knife, sword and chisel listed? And isn't a sword just a big knife? And, why isn't a watch considered a complex machine if a windmill is? Last I looked a watch was more complex than a windmill.

The missing item that irked me the most was the stirrup. Personally, I think it has had a far greater impact on society than the harness.

They list the watch (chronograph) and compass, then leave out the third piece that made the other two originally so important, the sextant. Real navigation requires all three.

Plame-Dome Scandal

Max Boot, pointing out who is the major liar in this whole scandal.

Making the best of a weak hand, Democrats argued that the case was not about petty-ante perjury but, as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid put it, "about how the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to discredit anyone who dared to challenge the president." The problem here is that the one undisputed liar in this whole sordid affair doesn't work for the administration. In his attempts to turn his wife into an antiwar martyr, Joseph C. Wilson IV has retailed more whoppers than Burger King.

The least consequential of these fibs was his denial that it was his wife who got him sent to Niger in February 2002 to check out claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence later stated, in a bipartisan report, that evidence indicated it was Mrs. Wilson who "had suggested his name for the trip." By leaking this fact to the news media, Libby and other White House officials were merely setting the record straight "‚— not, as Wilson would have it, punishing his Mata Hari wife.

Funny that the MSM still puts out Wilson's statements against the Uranium details that Bush/Powell used for the argument. That bit of sophistry is especially disconcerting considering that so many committee studies have found that argument to be a lie.

Secret CIA Terrorist Prisons

Not really surprised by this news, though maybe a touch irritated.

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.

The hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions.

With the poor press around GITMO and Abu Ghraib, this just makes things look more questionable from a moral stand point. Though the usefulness of these prisons are likely helpful for intelligence gathering.

Mostly the lack of oversight is what concerns me. What things could occur there and never see accountability is troublesome.

Also, If they are as secret as the article claims, how did this information find its way into the MSM?

No doubt this is the start of another political storm.

Greenpeace Damaging the Environment

Ah, accidents happen, but it is kind of ironic.

Environmental group Greenpeace said Tuesday its flagship Rainbow Warrior accidentally struck a coral reef in a central Philippines marine park while on a trip to expose the impact of climate change in Asia, and that it has agreed to compensate the park.

The Greenpeace ship briefly ran aground Monday at the Tubbataha National Marine Park, a World Heritage Site in the Sulu Sea, 650 kilometres southeast of Manila, damaging a 96-square-metre area of the reef, a joint statement released by Greenpeace and the park said.

Park officials estimated damage to the reef was valued at 384,000 pesos ($6,857 U.S.), the statement said.

Nice.

Texas

Very interesting place here in Dallas.

Bars have signs stating "Open carrying of firearms is forbidden."

Businesses with "No Drugs, No Guns" signs posted on the front doors.

Gun advertising on nearly every channel.

Not sure what to make of it all, especially since I seem to be stuck in a freakin' lab most of the time.

Oh, and I happen to be in a dry county. Apparently that means you can buy beer in a gas station, but not much else. I could have sworn 'dry' meant no alcohol at all.

Last Presidential Aide Indicted

I don't know that this is entirely accurate (sometimes it depends on how you define things where the truth lies) but I'm willing to take it on its face. The last time this happened? During my namesakes administration, the most corrupt in US history. That doesn't say good things about the Bush administration. That said, perspective would be that Scooter was indicted for trying to hide something that wasn't a crime, which is effectively being indicted for stupity where as the people indicted during the Grant administration were doing truly bad things.
Another point, probably not applicable here, but interesting none the less, is that while Grant ran the most corrupt administration in US history, Grant himself was above reproach. He just had lousy judgement outside the battlefield. You can't help but wonder, could some future generation look back on this administration in a similar manner? I suspect not simply because the crime was not outright criminality, although it must be punished.

Sparse Posting Week

Got travel this week. I'll be in sunny Dallas Tx for the week.

I'll either be really really busy, or really bored. I've been told to expect to be on the customer's campus for long hours, even if I don't have anything to do.

Maybe I'll get lucky and have time to surf. Nah, that would be convenient.