Sean LaFreniere

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Kevin Sites Tells Us How Live Reports Are Filed

Kevin Sites is the macho solo journalist that you might have seen covering the War In Iraq from the Kurdish zone. He was the one with a pirate's goatee and a black turtleneck. Kevin favors us all with a brief lesson in how go-it-aloners like himself make the news.

Adjusting the camera. See that dirt berm? That's Syria on the other side. See that guy with a gun? That's a new Iraqi border guard. Nice pose, huh. See that guy in camo -- that's Lt. Col. Arnold (he's going to be bummed because he wanted to take off his cold weather gear before going on camera -- too late. It's an Army macho thing). See that guy behind the camera? That's me. See that tripod? It's a piece of crap -- one of the legs fell off en route to the border and will never be found. See that box of MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat)? That's my new tripod leg. See the Colonel's helmet? That's the counterweight that keeps the camera from tipping over. It's amazing how desperation can push you to new levels of creativity in the middle of the desert.

I owe someone a hattip for this, but cant recall whom. If anyone else remembers, please leave a note here.

Sean: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 [+] |
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Only The Beeb Doesnt Get It

Michael Tooten assures us that the Beeb is out of step, that most Brits are still our solid allies and loyal cousins. Good.

Guardian/ICM opinion poll.

The survey shows that public opinion in Britain is overwhelmingly pro-American with 62% of voters believing that the US is "generally speaking a force for good, not evil, in the world". It explodes the conventional political wisdom at Westminster that Mr Bush's visit will prove damaging to Tony Blair. Only 15% of British voters agree with the idea that America is the "evil empire" in the world.

Only 15% hate us. Wait, 15% hate us?! What fer? Do you think they maybe hold a grudge about all that spoilt tea?

Sean: Monday, November 17, 2003 [+] |
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This is your spider on acid, dont do acid

NASA is dosing spiders, for science, no, really.

Sean: Friday, November 14, 2003 [+] |
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The Truth About The War On Terror

Both the Left and the Right have the War On Terror all wrong, at least what they say in public.

The Right tells us that we are in a war with "terrorists", terrorists being akin to The Sundance Gang, they don’t have a point beyond getting what they want, riches or power. The Conservatives tell us that if we send troops here and we send troops there then they can "clean up the breeding grounds" of these bad guys. And if we give our own police more powers and more "leeway" over us, then they can protect us here at home.

The Left tells us that we are not in any kind of war, that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, and furthermore these people have a just gripe in that we are too powerful and morally bankrupt. They tell us that if we pulled our troops out here and there, if we reigned in our corporate profit machines, if we spent more on foreign aid, if we better respected the rights of various minorities at home and abroad, then they wouldn’t hate us anymore and we would all live free.

As this applies to Iraq we get to choose between turning over authority to the Iraqis and running away or hunkering down and taking our casualties as the come.

But both are wrong.

The truth is that if Iraq where to form its own democratic government and we were to leave Dodge the shooting wouldn’t stop. Nothing short of victory, the overthrow of democracy and the establishment of a theocratic state, would satisfy the terrorists in Iraq (or Afghanistan, or the Philippines, or anywhere else).

It is equally true that so long as we stay in Iraq, no matter how many schools are rebuilt, the bombings and rpg attacks will continue.

What neither side is discussing is the truth that Freedom is never free. You don’t fight a revolution, sign a treaty with your former masters, and then melt down your guns. We actually tried this after the Revolution in 1776 and we had The War of 1812, where our former masters returned and burnt our new capitol to the ground.

We tried this again after the Mexican American war, we didn’t keep a standing army (only an officer's corp), and then we had the Spanish American War, (where ground troops weren’t sufficiently mustered until after the Navy won the war). Then we had WWI and WWII. Now we keep a small standing army and pretend that we have sufficient troops, then we muster up the gaurd every other year or so. We are still avoiding the truth that we will never fight our last war.

The truth is that so long as you have ANYTHING of value, from natural resources to personal liberties, someone will be waiting to take it from you. If you have more of everything or if you are the closest target, you don’t even have to do anything to get anyone's attention, the bad guys will seek you out.

This means that both the US and any future democratic Iraq will be forced to face the reality that Europe gets to ignore (cause we are their protectors) that there is no future with out war, that there is no end to history, that we face perpetual war for perpetual peace (Gore Vidal be darned).

The Italians had a harsh reminder the other day, 19 dead from a car bombing, a shame. I wonder if they will turn tail and flee now? Or if they will keep in mind the fact that the people of Nasiriyah have been rather welcoming and frankly need them regardless. If they wish to "do the right thing" (protect and assist in rebuilding the city) then they will have to risk both their sense of moral rightousness (they may need to do some harsh things whilst occupying the country) and their perosnal security (at home and abroad), like we do every day.

And lefties... it doesnt matter if the other guy "has a point", do you let some one mug you just because they are demonstrably poorer than yourself? How about if he wants more than your wallet (like your wife)? You simply MUST learn to defend yourself.

And righties... I dont care if it makes it easier for the cops to defend me if I give them unlimited power. Sure, it would be easier, it also wouldnt be me or my country, thank you very much. The truth is that in order to remain free we will have to accept remaining vulnerable as well.

And THAT is the tough truth.

Sean: Thursday, November 13, 2003 [+] |
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The Winning Ticket

Thanks to Liquid Courage, I might have finally found a campaign sticker that I can get behind. Michael Totten quotes Msr. Blair on America's (and Britain's) true colors in Iraq. The accomplishments that he touts are just what I want for my home state.

A free press, over 170 (individually owned) newspapers in circulation, open access to the internet and the ban on satellite TV lifted.

Nearly all schools and universities are open, as are hospitals, and they are receiving medicine and supplies not on the basis of Membership [in an HMO or a charter school] but on need.

The power and water supplies are being re-built [cleaned of cronyism and put in local ownership].

And the (rivers) are being cleared [and the wilds safeguarded].

While the Seven Dwarves (is it nine now?) of the Democratic Party stir nothing in me but a queasy belly (and I have voted either Democrat or Green my entire life). The embattled Liberal of Britain(tm) can still manage to light my fire. As the man says... "Cant we vote for him?" And isnt a "vote for Bush really a vote for Blair"?

And then the creepy crawlies set in. (No one left to vote for) Sigh.

Sean: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 [+] |
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Our National Radio Loses Heart

Friday night NPR did an interview of 5 "average women" (who hate Bush) discussing the occupation of Iraq.

The first woman decried the one-a-day casualty figures (but would probably not have had a significant reaction to double the current 400 killed if the this had come during one day of the invasion, I mean, honestly).

The second woman noted that the bombings, shootings, and other attacks (by a small minority of the minority Sunni, Baathist Iraqis and foreign terrorists) "proved" that "they don’t want us there" (despite the recent polls from Baghdad showing just the opposite).

And the third woman called for us to immediately turn over rule to the Iraqis to create "whatever form of Government they want" (despite the fact that they have never lived with democracy, having been ruled by military strong-men for generations).

The fourth woman chimed in with "maybe we shouldn’t force our way of living on the Iraqis, maybe it’s a shoe that doesn’t fit" (as if Arab’s feet didn’t also have ten toes).

And the last line from the evening’s talk was "maybe Democracy isn’t for everyone".

Our Friends at the BBC

Then, on Monday night, I listened to a report from the BBC on America’s involvement in an Azerbaijani oil pipeline. The slant was that the US "forced" BP to put the pipeline through a route that cut out Russia and Iran. The main idea for this was that the US wants to improve and maintain its hegemony (in the region and in the world).

As the interviews progressed, subject after subject, from American diplomats to BP executives, denied the reporter’s assertion. But it hardly seemed to matter. In fact the denials seemed only to encourage the reporter's theory.

The Quote of the Hour was from the Azerbaijani president’s translator. He revealed that his boss once told him "The Politburo used to be in Moscow, now it is in Washington". To the BBC reporter this "proved" that the US was no better than the Soviet Union.

What struck me was the fact that this report was from the national media of our closest ally. We fought with them to free Europe from the Krouts, twice. We stood shoulder to shoulder against the Red Menace during 40 years of Cold War. James Bond, the fictional British super-spy, is more popular here than there.

And now the Brits (or at least their national radio) appear to question whether it is even a good thing that the US try to maintain its apparent world supremacy!

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What is common to both reports is the lack of confidence in Western ideals. Lefties on both sides of the pond appear to have lost confidence that the West has values worthy of protecting. Most surely they have "gone squishy" as to whether those values have worth and applicability world-wide. Liberty and Democracy have been reduced to merely one of many “flavors” of human values and political arraignments.

And it is a slippery progression (slope). First we doubt the universal application of participatory government (maybe Democracy is a shoe that we cannot force Iraq to wear). Then we place human rights on the shelf, just another bobble to bargain with, but not an issue to be pushed too hard (with China). And now we are actively wondering whether the West (America) should try to win wars (Iraq) or even try to maintain military supremecy and diplomatic leverage in the world.

If this were a football game, and we were a football team (say, the Seahawks), and we were playing this badly in the first half, I’d say we didn’t “deserve to win” this one. Unfortunately, this is the fate of the world, not a sports match. It is not just a game that we can afford to lose. That being the case, we best get our game face back on for the third quarter.

Say it with me folks: "Democracy is the very best form of government, Liberty is a universal good, and Human Rights are not optional." Those who think alike are our allies and those who disagree are our enemies. The Brits,as one of the paragons of The West (to say nothing of the European or American hard Left) had better get behind Bond’s mission or the world wont be worth saving.

Sean: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 [+] |
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Time Waster of the Month: HALO

Well, thanks a whole lot Microsoft, for buying one of the best gaming companies and burying one of the best games of the last few years on your precious X box. Finaly, however, HALO: Combat Evolved has landed on the home PC screen. And it looks and plays a heck of a lot better than on that darned black box. . While the plot, concept, and even the graphics are by now derivative (they would have been quite original if the PC had got this game when Bungie intended), lack of novelty hasn't stopped me from playing. I enjoy the mood of the snowy out door settings and the dark menace of the facility interiors. It plays like a zombie movie, and again, one that you have seen before, but you will end up the zombie at the end of this one. Pick it up and enjoy, but be prepared to kiss your week ends and evenings good buy

Sean: Monday, November 10, 2003 [+] |
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Patrick wants "Tort Reform". Why?

Patrick Laswell is sold on the idea that the nation’s largest problem is the legal profession costing corporations money. He probably read about enormous class action lawsuits and the huge chunks paid out to the lawyers who try them. And then he heard Conservative websites, pundits, and politicians tell him that these judgments are “unfair”, “only harm the consumer” by driving up prices, and “hurt the workers” by forcing layoffs when insurance gets prohibitive.

But this is all hooey.

The people who are the “class” in these “actions” are generally people who are too poor to hire legal representation. They are factory workers, people on medication, and people living in the shadow of industrial plants, mines, and dumps. While the targets of these suits are usually governments or enormous industrial conglomerates that can afford to string along such cases until the plaintiffs die, literarily.

It takes a lot to challenge Big Tobacco, Big Pharmaceutical, and Big Petrol-Chemical. Thus these suits largely rely upon some interested and ballsy lawyer taking a HUGE gamble, putting up SIGNIFIGANT sums of money, and most often LOSING. So, if you are upset that sometimes the awards can be enormous and these lawyers take quite a bite themselves, well, boo hoo.

Not only has the current scheme not harmed the American economy; the US economy has never been better, specifically for these big businesses. Most are chartered in business friendly States (some not in the US), hide most of their assets offshore (like the Caymans), and have solid political protection for their CEO’s and principles.

In many cases, as soon as judgments actually add up to anything with a bite these companies turn to the US government, which they know and work with much more closely than the average consumer/citizen, for protection and get it.

And lets not forget the super plummeting tax rates, from a high of 48% in the 30’s to just under 15% today (assuming again that they aren’t successfully hiding their income via Corporate and Private Banking at CitiBank Bahamas).

Seriously Pat worries that doctors are fleeing due to malpractice insurance costs… he probably heard this about Oregon, his home state, via National Partisan Radio (NPR to you lefties). But what he must have missed was the follow up story that unraveled this claim.

In fact all that we are seeing is the reversal of a Boomer trend in which many doctors moved to the country and to small towns to pursue “the good life”. Now, as they age and retire, more doctors are staying in the big cities, where the money is. Canada has a similar problem, where their best doctors move south to the prestigious and lucrative institutions of America’s more populous states (John Hopkins).

But lets think about his worry logically again… if it "costs too much to be a doctor" in the US and doctors are fleeing… where are they going? Who has a higher standard of living and more old people with money in medical need? No one. Doctors, like all professions, MUST go where the work is. So they certainly are not leaving the US, but they are going to leave their low income country offices. This is economics, not a plot of the trial lawyers.

Cap damages? You mean like the latest Bush plan where people can sue their HMO’s but only in Federal court, where damage awards are low? Or where they can only sue for lost coverage expenses, not damages? Sure, this led to a women being forced out of the hospital directly following a hysterectomy. Are you certain that you want to worry about the conglomerate, not the individual?

Do you recall Brad Pitt’s character in Fight Club? He worked for an insurance company, helping to determine whether paying lawsuits cost more or less than recalling hazardous products… like those exploding Ford Explorers a while back… yeah, he actually put a price on everyone’s heads and then told “Ford” whether just letting people die and paying their families was cheaper than a recall. You want Tort Reform? Great, you just made his job that much easier.

The first rule about Tort Reform is…

Sean: Friday, November 07, 2003 [+] |
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Today's Issues


Michael Totten, Roger Simon, and Joe Katzman have been entertaining a helthy debate on the political issues of this day and age. The War In Iraq, or the Global War On Terror being one of them. I've been talking about Wildfires and the Social Contract. Others, Patrick Laswell included, have talked about Fiscal Responsibility, Tort Reform, and the Race/identity Politics. But I wonder aloud.... What ARE the major issues of the day?

Leave me a comment and tell me, what issue(s) bother you the most? Give a domestic and a foreign policy issue, if you would. And then I will leave you mine. A rough draft of which might be found in the comment section of this post.

NOTE: Comments are magically back, after some server work by Ennetation. Please, please, do comment.

Sean: Thursday, November 06, 2003 [+] |
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The New/Old Anti-Semitism

For millennia we have blamed a small community of harmless people forced to live in our midst as a result of Roman ethnic cleansing for our every failure. And we STILL love to do just that. Victor Davis Hansen points a bright light on the new anti-semitism of the world inteligencia:

There are certain predictable symptoms to watch when a widespread amorality begins to infect a postmodern society: cultural relativism, atheism, socialism, utopian pacifism. Another sign, of course, is fashionable anti-Semitism among the educated, or the idea that some imaginary cabal, or some stealthy agenda — certainly not our own weakness — is conspiring to threaten our good life.

Well apart from the spooky placards (stars of David juxtaposed with swastikas, posters calling for the West Bank to be expanded to "the sea") that we are accustomed to seeing at the marches of the supposedly ethical antiwar movement, we have also heard some examples of Jew-baiting and hissing in the last two weeks that had nothing to do with the old crazies.

* The Malaysian premier's racist rants.

* An EU pol proclaiming Jews the biggest threat to the world.

* A Scottish newspaper claiming that Jews were involved in 9-11.

* A college chat room filled with anti-semitic slurs in Norway.

* A crowd of Lieberman jeering Arabs in Dearborne, Michigan.

Such is the nature of the new anti-Semitism that everyone can now play at it — as long as it is cloaked in third-world chauvinism, progressive thinking, and identity politics.

What links all these people is a growing unease with hard questions that won't go away and thus beg for easy, cheap answers. [After all,] slurring "Israel" or "the Jews" involves none of the risks of incurring progressive odium that similarly clumsy attacks against blacks, women, Palestinians, or homosexuals might draw, requires no real thinking, and seems to find an increasingly receptive audience.

You see, in our mixed-up world the Jews are not a "people of color." And if there really is such a mythical monolithic entity in America as the "Jews," they (much like the Cubans) are not easily stereotyped as impoverished victims needing largesse or condescension, and much less are they eligible under any of the current myriad of rubrics that count for public support. Israel is a successful Western state, not a failed third-world despotism.

This fashionable anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism among purported intellectuals of the Left reveals a deep-seated, scary pathology that is growing geometrically both in and outside the West. For a Europe that is disarmed, plagued by a demographic nightmare of negative population growth and unsustainable entitlements, filled with unassimilated immigrants, and deeply angry about the power and presence of the United States, the Jews and their Israel provide momentary relief on the cheap. So expect that more crazy thoughts of Israel's destruction dressed up as peace plans will be as common as gravestone and synagogue smashing.

For the Muslim world that must confront the power of the patriarch, mullah, tribe, and autocrat if it is ever to share the freedom and prosperity of the rest of the world, the Jews offer a much easier target. So expect even more raving madness as the misery of Islamic society grows and its state-run media hunker down amid widespread unrest. Anticipate, also, more sick posters at C-SPAN broadcast marches, more slips by reasonable writers, and more anti-Israeli denunciations from the "liberals."

In this depressing age, [we are told that] the real problem is our support for democratic Israel and all those pesky Jews worldwide, who seem to crop up everywhere as sly war makers, grasping film executives, conspiratorial politicians, and greedy colonialists, and thus make life so difficult for the rest of us.

What was old is new again.

I wrote about this before here.

Sean: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 [+] |
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Iraqi Resistance Wearing Out Its Welcome

Hiwa Osman reports for the Institute For War And Peace that the Iraqi resistance is losing the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

The series of car bombs earlier this week that killed dozens of civilians on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan seems to have inexorably altered the view of Iraqis about the resistance to America's occupation.

An angry Iraqi street generally feels that the recent spate of attacks are intended to keep the country unstable and on its knees. An oft-heard refrain runs, "They cannot bear to see us stand on our feet"; a reference to the foreign Islamic militants - supported by former Ba'athists - who are assumed to be the perpetrators of the attacks.

In the working class Bayyia district west of Baghdad, a bustling market lit by a bank of fluorescent lights heaves with people out shopping after breaking their Ramadan fast.

Some were testing new and second-hand cars brought from Jordan and Syria. "They are not just exporting cars," said a salesman who did not want to be named. "They are also sending suicide bombers and criminals."

Earlier in the month, a vendor came and sold CDs with songs of praise for Saddam to many of the car dealers, said Ahmad Hussein, a ministry of trade employee who sells cold cans of soda pop in the car lot after his normal office hours.

Referring to Saddam's war with the Americans, one song goes, "You just start it and your men will do the rest." Until last week, many of the salesmen were playing the song in their shops. "They even had Saddam's posters in their offices," said Hussein.

But the mood in the car lot recently changed. "They used to openly support the resistance, but not anymore," he went on. "The new waves of attacks have silenced them all."

Oddly I think that the Iraqis know who their enemies are better than the Democrats!

Hat tip to: The Argus.

UPDATE: Iraqi Cabbies Give Their Opinon.

Sean: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 [+] |
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Winds Of War Debate

Armed Liberal and Mathew Yglesias have been discussing the nature of Liberals and the support of some for the War In Iraq. Matt has some questions for Liberal Hawks. And lucky for him I have some answers.

Matt: Take a deep breath. Look in the mirror. Take another deep breath. Look at some photos of your liberal friends and family. Ask yourself: Do you really believe that they opposed the Iraq War because they wanted Saddam Hussein to stay in power; do you really think they don't care if your hometown gets destroyed by terrorists?

Sean: Be careful assuming that you know the answer Matt.

Some anti-war people that I know agreed that Saddam was a bastard and that life will be better for the Iraqis with out him. But these same people refused to even let me voice these arguments, insisting that I discuss the lives and pain of others while adhering to strict rules of rhetoric and debate, which naturally centered on the fact that this was a BUSH war, above all else.

And don’t underestimate the animosity of Leftists rejectoids; people who can’t make it in America can turn against it with vigor. I heard plenty of Lefties express both admiration of the 9-11 boys and sincere hope that we would “get the message”, which included a desire to see the stock market collapse (which would mean the loss of livelihood, if not life, of millions of Americans) as a means of “proving” that Capitalism sucked.

What else can I do but eventually take these people at their words? They say they really wouldn’t care if my hometown gets blow’d up! I believe they believe that (I also believe that they would change their tune in a heartbeat if we actually got attacked way out here in “average America”).

Matt: Try reading some actual policy statements put out by Democratic foreign-policy hands, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and members of the Armed Services Committee. Ask yourself: Do the views expressed therein really sound like the characterizations of them you've read on NRO and the hawk blogs?

Sean: Ok Matt, here are some news quotes from the day:

"The SFRC Chairman, a Democrat, also favored a go-slow approach and pressed for an open debate to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a war with Iraq, especially on issues like post-Saddam arrangements in Iraq. To the Bush administration's satisfaction, some other prominent figures, including House Minority (Democrat) leader Dick Gephardt, House Majority (Republican) Whip Tom DeLay, and Democrat Senator Joseph Lieberman, a former vice presidential candidate, are rallying behind the administration and calling for a military campaign to topple the Iraqi government led by President Saddam. Speaking on the record, Gephardt and Lieberman recently issued statements strongly advocating an earlier US military attack on Iraq."

John Judis in Third World Traveler comments:

Most Democratic senators and House members, intimidated by Bush's popularity, are afraid to discuss, let alone criticize, administration foreign policy. [Just] try to find out whether the United States should invade Iraq from the Web sites sponsored by the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the Campaign for America's Future, or the Progressive Caucus.

The Democratic presidential candidates are no help either. Former Vice President Al Gore's address in February to the Council on Foreign Relations was a model of equivocation. In a recent interview Massachusetts Senator John Kerry desperately tried to position himself to Bush's right without committing himself to any substantive proposal. A few Democrats, including Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, have [even] advocated ousting Saddam Hussein as part of the "first phase" of the war against terrorism.

The person who has most tried to articulate a distinctly Democratic foreign policy is Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has been joined periodically by Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former President Bill Clinton, and some former Clinton administration officials. [True,] their statements have not produced a clear and unambiguous doctrine. But underlying what seem like purely tactical disagreements with specific Bush policies is a dramatically different way of understanding foreign policy.

Biden and other Democrats want Bush to build a coalition against Saddam. [They claim that to go it alone] could sow instability in the countries neighboring Iraq. They also want the United States to attempt to restore UN sanctions, even if they believe-as Biden and Fuerth do- that Saddam will resist admitting inspectors and continue to seek weapons of mass destruction. They worry that Bush is determined to go after Saddam even without the support of other countries.

More news quotes bring out this theme further:

"Senator Joseph Biden is chairman of the SFRC. He said during a television interview on 4 August that the United States will 'probably' go to war with Iraq. Biden said it is clear that Iraq possesses biological and chemical weapons but that it is unknown if it has the means the use them effectively. Biden said the U.S. has 'no choice' but to eliminate this threat. He called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein an 'extreme danger to the world.'"

But now that the war is a done deal Biden turns:

"Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the SFRC, accused the administration of concealing the plan because it does not want to be held to any deadlines. He said Bush's 'failure to tell the American people the truth' reminded him of the Vietnam War era."

And now the Dems are all about scoring political points with a policy position that they failed to seriously address back when it could have been changed:

"Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing why Congress hadn't been regularly updated on Iraq plans, he was infuriated that the Bush administration would not commit to any benchmarks (by which it could be judged and convicted in the court of public opinion)."

"Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said Floridians are unhappy that the United States is building roads and schools in Iraq when those things are needed in Florida too."

"Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif, sought to embarrass the administration during the SFRC hearing by reading statements made earlier this year by top officials, including Rumsfeld, who predicted the oil-rich nation of Iraq could finance its own reconstruction without U.S. aid."

I don’t know what a defender of the Democrats has to go on here. Most of the big-shots in the party went along with the war plans. They are only now making hay out of the issue because they were impressed by the vocal minority that organized against the war. And Since the peaceniks appear to be the only energized and organized group with in the party, maybe they are right to fear them. But they still win no points for conscience from me.

Matt: Look again in the mirror, focusing this time on your hairline and that little space next to your eyes that gets wrinkly when you squint. There's no easy way to say this, but . . . you're getting old. I am too. It's scary, it happens to us all. Ask yourself: Has the left really changed, or am I just that cliché guy who stopped really caring about the poor as I aged?

Sean: No, the left has not changed. The left still sees global politics in the light of a battle between the haves and the have-nots. It is still all about Communism vs. Capitalism, the white man vs. all others, and good vs. evil.

But the world around them has changed, and me along with it. Communism failed back when I was in High School. It failed to create a system in which people were treated any better or where class distinctions disappeared. The Soviet Union had all the same shades of poverty and privilege as The West, they were just less honest about it.

So I adjusted to the reality that Capitalism is how things have always been run and always will. And I have set myself to the goal of succeeding in it. But I also recognize that Capitalism is not a moral system, just an economic one. If we wish there to be any compassion or justice within it we will need the political system to get it.

Meanwhile I still care plenty about the poor. I regularly gave handouts to beggars this summer… even while I was unemployed! My wife and I have always contributed to school funds, firemen’s funds, nature conservation efforts, etc. And yet I STILL thought that removing Saddam was a good idea.

Remember Matt, we Liberal Hawks remain Liberals. We still believe in a "compassionate social contract" here at home, even while also believing that the extension of these benefits to the rest of the world is a liberal ideal. We haven’t picked up and changed camps just because we agree with a hawkish foreign policy. I think this is precisely why we are called Liberal Hawks instead of Republicans.

Matt: Take a look at the transcript of the latest White House press conference. Find some other examples where the president had to respond on-the-fly to questions. Ask yourself: Given the perilous international situation, am I really comfortable with the fact that a total moron is president of the United States.

Sean: I have said from day one that Bush is a moron. Michael Totten disagrees with me, but I pointed out Yale college profs who admitted that they only gave Dubya a pass because he was a Bush. But this brings to mind a few counter points.

One, Bush isn’t smart enough, nor a good enough actor, to participate in much subterfuge, especially on camera, as you noted. I rather like that.

And two, if he’s a moron, why did Gore split the American vote with him? If Bush is a moron, how come the Democrats haven’t been able to block his political appointments or stop his tax cuts? If he is such a moron, why cant they beat him this next election?

Could it be because the stated Bush paradigm of an "average guy CEO" surrounded with quality appointments (like Rummy, Wolfy, and Condi) actually works?

Then I guess it doesn’t much matter how smart George comes off during press conferences, eh?

Matt: Read this post again. Consider the condescending tone, the cheap psychoanalysis, the refusal to confront your actual arguments. Ask yourself: Isn't this exactly what I've been doing all this time

Sean: I hate personalizing arguments, especialy among strangers. I dont know why you have a problem with Liberal Hawks Matt. But I think that I confronted your arguments case by case. And argument by argument I disagree with you... on this issue at this time. But there have been plenty of issues upon which you and I agree. If we are both smart, sane people, who otherwise agree on social issues... well, maybe you SHOULD pychoanalyze your foreign policy position. Mmmm?

Sean: Monday, November 03, 2003 [+] |
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My top three un-pc but true gripes about wildfires:

1) They give Bush&Co. an excuse to push new logging plans.

Here in Oregon Bush wants to help out-of-state logging companies like Weyerhaeuser and Louisiana Pacific get their hands on our old growth forests. His “Salvage Logging” plan would allow loggers to build new roads into previously wild forests. They would be allowed to pull out giant virgin timber as payback for clearing out some of the underbrush.

Most troublesome, it would limit law suits from environmental groups trying to watchdog existing Federal Endangered Species Act and conservations issues. Specifically it would limit the length of judicial "stays" blocking cutting while the issues go through the courts. This could potentially lead to a situation in which the court finds that the Federal sale was illegal but the trees have already been cut.

The worst b.s. about al this is that the main excuse for this bill is the "danger from wildfires" and the argument that a lack of logging has led to dangerous levels of trees in our national forests!? What a crock! The main reason we are in the situation of underbrush thick forests is that we have tried to put out every natural wildfire since 1850 (most likely out of a desire to "save" the trees for logging).

The other truths are that fires clear out dead and diseased trees, trigger the seeding of new trees and their germination, and open up the forest floor to wildlife and other plant species. Fires are good.

The problem is not that we have fires, but that people live in harms way. And even that isn’t exactly the truth either… Plenty of humans have lived in the forests. The real problem is that some people only “live” there a few months out the year, their homes are built out of fire susceptible materials and have too much landscaping, and because they specifically chose to “live in the woods” they leave too many large trees too close to the house.

2) They cost us all money.

When the victims of these fires file their insurance claims your homeowner’s and renter’s insurance premiums will go up. When those with out insurance file FEMA claims to the government your taxes will go up. And given the average home price in Bend and Big Bear the people who are costing you more money already make more that you, own more property, and live at a higher standard of living (and probably pay little or no taxes if they have a tax attorney and/or accountant worth their salt).

3) They expose how we have mangled the idea of community and social responsibility.

Many of these houses are either off by themselves or in a small (exclusive, and gated) subdivision. They are built here, rather than in a city, to avoid paying local development fees or taxes. These are also the same people who fund and vote in the periodic state “tax revolts”. And many of them are business people who amortize, write-off, and hide off-shore as much of their income and assets as they can. These people have rejected the social contract and any kind of civic responsibility; the Greeks would have called them “barbarians”.

And yet, when the fires close on their homes they expect LA City Firemen to truck water from Colorado 40 miles into the woods to come save their homes, and they do. Disasters like these, and the wonderful and heroic response of some, make me cringe… because “we don’t deserve each other”. The firefighters are champs. I just wish that the cell phone carrying, police scanner listening, loudly demanding homeowners (hopefully only a well publicized minority) that they are serving “get it” when these people do their duty… THAT is what taxes are for.

Fire fighters and police are not free, neither are state and federal emergency services, the Red Cross, and all the other heroes of the day. People first gathered together in groups to live millions of years ago, the first cities appeared thousands of years ago, and the greatest cities of our history, London, Rome, Paris, etc grew as they did for one very simple reason… it was safer to live in communities like these. Be they the threat of invasion or fire, soldiers and bucket brigades are how we take care of each other. In San Diego city proper these latest wildfires were licked in a day. Which is good, because those city funded emergency services are STILL needed out in the woods.

The myth of the Rugged Individualist of the West needs to die. Back east homes are made of stone for a reason, houses are clustered around a town square for a reason, and people pay attention to local politics for a reason. We need to reinstate our Social Contract.

And THAT is why I get so cheesed about wildfires.

Sean: Saturday, November 01, 2003 [+] |
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Happy Halloween

Sean: Friday, October 31, 2003 [+] |
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It Burns, It Burns!

I've taken the expected amount of flak for my insensitive posting on the California Wildfires. And, as I said, I expected that.

The first blush response for most people is to immediately sympathize with the victims of such a catastrophe... and I do too. But my aim on this site is not to offer the "usual response" to anything. And I didn’t flinch from this one either.

Listen, I have all the standard human emotions and what is happening in California is just horrible for those involved. But I'm not involved. And I am here to tell you that these fires expose a lot more than tragedy, there is more than a little bit of farce here too.

I've had a conversation with a Portland couple, a working family of four who live in a $50k house and work two jobs and have no insurance, as they watched footage of these fires down South and cried. But the saddest thing is that these sympathetic eyes might well end up footing a Federal bill to rebuild the million dollar vacation homes of LA media moguls.

No, I'm not kidding. Bellow is a very representative sampling of area homes... check ‘em out.



$800k, 4k sq dt, 4 baths, brand new all-wood construction, large trees against building



$500k, 2500 sq ft, 3 baths, new wood construction, large trees.



$300k, 2 baths, new wood, large trees.

These are horribly inappropriate homes, built out of the wrong material and surrounded by lots of trees and shrubs, and they are trophy homes, not the domiciles of working people.

This article puts exactly the spin that I was going for on this same issue.

"Here in the Pacific Northwest and in the Sierras, the fire issue focuses on whether or not fire suppression and human management of the system have created a more fire-prone environment," Starkey said. "We haven’t harvested trees; we haven’t allowed prescribed burning; we haven’t allowed wildfires, so we have a lot of deadwood that is fuel for wildfires."

[But when you consider the California fires...] "When you think of the chaparral system that is burning, one response might be, 'Since humans have suppressed fires and altered the system in forests like the Sierras or the Cascades, then it must be the case in Southern California that we have done something that is causing this to happen. But research shows the opposite. Fires have burned with this kind of vicious intensity from the beginning of time," he said.

A study by Jon Keeley of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center in Sacramento found that since the start of record keeping in 1878, there has been no increase in the average size of wildfires in southern California.

But the number of fires per decade has increased with increased population density and human activity in southern California.

"The reason the situation is worse today is because we have more houses, people and resources in harm’s way than we did 50 years ago," Starkey said.

Or as Keeley characterizes it, the problem is not so much the fire – the fires have always been there – the real problem is urban sprawl.

Starkey said. "The best way to make public policy is not in the heat of moment."

Keeley’s study suggests creating large buffer zones between urban lands and wild lands to minimize the human impact of wild fires. Effective use of zoning and land use policies are a key component.

"But we are going to continue to allow people to build in these high-risk environments, much like flood plains," Starkey said.

It is folly to have too much sympathy for these folks, as a group. But of course I have sympathy for them as individuals, even the rich ones, but especially those who do not fit the mold that I have explicated on this site. We need to correct our habits as a species, and not try to force nature to meet our every needs. In cases like these fires we are shown the reality that Nature bends to no man.

Sean: Thursday, October 30, 2003 [+] |
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Freedom For Enad

I kludged this from sources.

The men in the photo are a UN inspector (in blue, pretending to be busy) and Adnan Abdul Karim Enad (in black, pleading). Enad is begging for assylum while the UN man waits for Saddam's police to haul Enad off to prison. Here is how the story appeard in most news outlets.

Around 8:30 a.m., as a convoy of inspectors was departing the compound and merging into a busy expressway, a young man dressed in a black leather jacket and clutching a notebook jumped in front of the lead vehicle.

When the driver got out of his car, the man jumped into the driver's seat and refused to leave, sparking a dramatic confrontation with Iraqi authorities assigned to guard the compound.

As a green-uniformed soldier attempted to pull the man out of the car by grabbing his neck and then his arm, he screamed in Arabic that he did not want to leave the car. With the inspector sitting in the passenger seat looking on impassively, the man began shouting in English .

"Save me. Save me," he wailed. Then, a few moments later, he repeated the refrain: "Save me please. Save me please."

The UN guards turned him over because the incident occurred outside the compound, where "the U.N. has no jurisdiction."

(ed: why look on "impassively"? No I mean it, why? Why not look on "very concerned"? Why not get a bit tough with the Iraqi police, get a badge name and precinct number, advise that you will be "following up" on the fate of the man. You are wearing a blue cap, not a straight jacket!)

Amnesty International was asked to look into the fate of Enad but had some difficulty at first.

Hans Blix, the chief UN inspector, appeared flummoxed when questioned about the case this week but said that he would consider raising it in his talks tomorrow in Baghdad.

He said the inspectors did not know the identity of the man pulled from the vehicle and were awaiting a report on the incident from the Iraqi authorities.

The UN had not taken any other steps to ascertain whether the man might have been an Iraqi scientist or otherwise in possession of information he wanted to share with inspectors about Iraq’s secret weapons programs.

“I’ve just talked to our security chief in Baghdad . . . and he said there was nothing in the booklet he seemed to be carrying,” Dr Blix said. He added that Iraqi scientists could find “more elegant ways” of approaching UN inspectors.

(ed: nice one Hans, in typical European fashion he complains about the style of a defector as if to excuse their turning their backs on him in his momment of need)

And then the US and the UK invaded the country and viola!

Amnesty International has learned that 'Adnan 'Abdul Karim Enad is safe and free.

He and other detainees were said to have escaped from a prison in al-Ramadi, about 80 miles from Baghdad, after it was abandoned by prison guards in mid-April.

He was allegedly accused of having links with the opposition (ed: like that's a bad thing) through relatives living abroad.

According to reports, he had been sentenced to death, though it is not known whether he faced any kind of trial.

Are you suprised by the above story? You shouldnt be. Read here about the UN’s history of peacekeeping.

Hat tip to miniluv's Court Schuett.

Sean: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 [+] |
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LA Is Burning, Again

I don’t mean to be an insensitive jerk, but...

These fires raging out of control in California are completely natural. What isn’t natural are the million dollar homes, the big box retailers, the miles of fresh black top and the fire suppression efforts - heroic though they might be.

I wrote about this recently regarding my home state of Oregon. My friend Gordie pointed out that not all the homes at risk of fire deep in the woods were million dollar estates. Fine, maybe not all of them. But check out this photo.



These fires read like a “Who’s Who” of upscale suburban communities: Claremont, Descanso, Glendora, Lake Arrowhead, Lake Henshaw, LaVerne, Palomar Mountain, Ramona, Rancho Cucamonga, San Dimas, and Simi Valley. This is the in-club of moneyied Californians living in commute distance of Los Angeles or San Diego.

“Here in Los Angeles, fire crews set up an outpost in a hillside development in Porter Ranch, one of the city's newest and most vulnerable neighborhoods, where new $1 million homes were being carved into the parched hillsides on Tuesday even as firefighters scurried to protect hundreds of those already built.”

The problem is not that California is on fire. This is a natural, regular occurrence for the area, or it should be. Pests are cleared from the grasses and tree seeds germinate with wildfires. They are a good thing.

The problem is that humans insist on living in leap-frog developments... each looking for the next, next "unspoilt wilderness" within a reasonable drive of the human sprawl they work in, but wish to avoid on the weekends.

Ok, so you live 40 miles out into the scrub brush on barely enough well water to keep your patch of lawn green. Ok, so in your efforts for a "tax revolt" you have stripped city, county, and state coffers bare. Some of you have even disincorporated just to avoid the tax man.

But now the hills are alive with the sound of... fire. And you want to be declared a Federal disaster. Oh, yer a disaster all right. Excuse me while I get my checkbook out.

Quick, save the Walmart!



Ah, shucks. I sound insensitive again.

Sean: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 [+] |
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Iraqi PatriotsThugs Attack The Red Cross In Baghdad

On Monday, October 27, 2003

The NY Times reports that Iraqi militants drove carloads of explosives into five buildings around the capital today, killing an estimated 30 people and wounding more than 200 others.

They attacked the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross and four Iraqi police stations. A sixth attack, also on an Iraqi police post, was foiled.

The attacks seemed intended to punish and warn those, like the Iraqi police officers, who are cooperating with the American occupation and those, like the Red Cross employees, who are coming from overseas to ease the struggles of Iraqis.

The bombs this morning produced scenes of carnage and fire, sending panicked and wounded people streaming into the city streets.



The deadliest attack was on the Red Cross headquarters in central Baghdad, where a suicide bomber plowed an ambulance full of explosives through a protective barrier before setting off his payload. At least 15 people died there, most of them Iraqis living in neighboring buildings.

As black smoke billowed from the Red Cross headquarters groups of young Iraqi girls ran down the street in their navy blue school uniforms, eyes wide, screaming in terror.

"Oh my God, help me, Oh my God, help me," an elderly Iraqi woman cried, her face and clothes spattered with blood, her arms extended for two family members who led her away from the Red Cross building here.



Although the Red Cross, one of the few western organizations still operating here, had drastically scaled back its foreign staff in recent months, at least one Red Cross employee was killed - an Iraqi man named Suhair, who worked as the office receptionist.

Today's attacks coincided with the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that commemorates the revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Mohammed. As Ramadan neared, Iraqi and American officials had been girding themselves for a wave of attacks.

"They think they are going to paradise," Alaa Ibrahim, an Iraqi police major, said, looking at the burning wreckage of the suicide attacker's car in front of the Red Cross compound. "They're crazy. They are not going to heaven."

UN Sec General: Kofi Annan, called the attack on the ICRC "a crime against humanity" and said that all terrorist attacks were "morally repugnant and indefensible."

(Gee, I'm so glad he didnt call them "freedom attacks".)

Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani was shocked: "Maybe it was an illusion to think people would understand after 23 years [working in Iraq] that we are unbiased," Doumani said. "I can't understand why we've been targeted."

(Duh, because you are "easing Iraqi suffering". These people want Iraqis to suffer. They are trying to build up a base of support. Isnt that the way you do it?)

And CNN reports that the Pentagon sees a “new pattern” in these attacks:

Hertling said the military did not believe that there was a connection between Monday's bombings and an attack Sunday on the [heavily fortified al-Rashid] Hotel in Baghdad where Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying.

On Sunday, Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, said the rocket attack did not target Wolfowitz, because his travel itinerary was not revealed far enough ahead to allow the necessary planning.

Hertling said "foreign fighters" appear to be behind the wave of bombings, noting that the mode of operations did not fit loyalists of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We have not seen any attacks that we could directly attribute to foreign fighters (in the past)," Hertling said. "We have seen those today."

"There are indicators that these attacks seem to have the mode of operations of foreign fighters," he said. "They're not something we have seen in the past from the former regime loyalists."

Unfortunately, this assessment is B.S.. The attack on the Red Cross comes hard on the heals of the UN bombing and the attack on the Jordanian embassy. The attack on Wolfowitz in the Al Rashid was dress rehearsed in another such attack in mid September (sorry, lost the link).

Newsday reports that the US forces were not "surprised".

The attack, at 6:30 a.m., "woke us up with a bang," said Charles Heatly, a spokesman for the occupation administration. But it caused only minor damage to the hotel's 14th floor, where one of the rockets struck. Later in the morning, U.S. troops tipped off by local residents found rocket launch tubes and a motorcycle battery. "Frankly, a lot of us have been wondering that it didn't happen before," said the officer. "The Al-Rashid is a big, tall target, and everybody knows who's staying there."

One of the most annoying things that I hear said about 9/11 is how “clever” those "A-rab boys" were. B.S., these kinds of attacks are “easy”. A plane is a large missile and America is “the land of the free”. It was bound to happen given enough time.

Not even the "level of grievance" or any other malarkey you might hear from a leftist was important. The man who shot Ronald Reagan did it to impress Jodi Farking Foster.

You don’t need smarts and you don’t need a good reason, all you need is access. Today the conflux of technology and freedom is what enables people to kill other people in huge and horrific ways.

These Iraqi thugs tied grenade launchers to a sled and left it in a park aimed roughly at the Al Rashid… heck, they might not even have aimed at the hotel, just the area where US forces are highest. It was the lamest sort of hack-job ever.

That it was effective at all owes more to the technical prowess of the Russian made rockets than to the “cleverness” of the assailants. And in the end they mainly hurt nearby Iraqi residents and workers.

NPR reported this morning that the assailants wore masks. These men are not part of an army, they do not seek to take and hold ground, and they are not even trying to wear down the “occupation forces”. Rather, they are fighting their own people, hence the masks.

These militants seek to influence a political outcome (who will rule Iraq) through inflicting terror on civilians. They are only one thing: terrorists. And any other language use when reporting the news of their evil deeds is… well… evil. Keep that in mind ABC, CNN, NPR, and the BBC.

Sean: Monday, October 27, 2003 [+] |
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Defensive Nationalism

This article at Europundits almost perfectly explains my own tolerence for Zionism and support for the Jewish State. And I'm an Irish-American lapsed-Catholic.


ZIONISM AS A RELUCTANT NATIONALISM
(A Refutation of Tony Judt’s “Israel: The Alternative”)

By Nelson Ascher

While the French or Hungarian or Latvian or Basque or Irish nationalisms were, so to say, first degree nationalisms that had been born of the will to keep an identity, Zionism was a second degree, reluctant nationalism born of the impossibility, after having tried to do it, of giving up an identity.

A Jew could learn his country’s language, write great books in it, get a Nobel prize, compose operas, lose a limb or two for his monarch, pay his taxes, help develop the national economy, win a gold medal in the Olympics, convert, change his name, marry a non-Jew, take his kids to the church, even become a nun (like Edith Stein) etc. Still, he wasn’t allowed not to be a Jew.

Zionism, thus, wasn’t nationalism as a first or preferential option, but as a last resort, and it was resisted by the majority of the Jews until the Holocaust. This makes of Zionism not a late-coming traditional European nationalism, but something absolutely new in the world-scene, actually a pioneering movement. While most earlier nationalisms were, in some measure, fundamentally aggressive, Zionism was the first totally defensive project to create a nation-state.

The Jewish national movement was the first of its kind because its goal wasn’t foremost the survival or self-affirmation of a certain group, but a matter of life and death for millions of individuals.

Zionism is not a continuation of classical nationalism: it is already a defensive reaction to it, its consequence, and also a historical novelty the trouble of which is, it arrived too early.

Hat tip to Roger Simon.

Sean: Friday, October 24, 2003 [+] |
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New Money For Iraq

New money is flowing into Iraqi banks this month. The exchange of old Saddam notes for new/old notes was expected to be completed by Oct 15th. Here is a sampling of the new/old notes. (You will see why I say New/Old).

50 Dinar

Front image: the grain silo At Basrah. A modern contraption. Working at full capacity the facility can off-load and process 60,000 tonnes of grain per hour.
Back image: date palms. Iraq used to be the world's largest producer and exporter of dates. Over 600 vairieties are grown in-country.

250 Dinar

Front image: the astrolabe. Able to measure the time of day or night and the altitude and latitude - conceived by the Greeks it was further developed by medieval Arab astronomers, who used it to help determine the time for fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Back image: the Spiral Minaret in Samarra, built 848-849 a.d. Samarra was then the Abbasid Empire's capital city.

1k Dinar

Front image: a gold dinar coin, used in this region until superseded by more modern coins and notes.
Back image: Al-Mustansirya University, Baghdad. Built in the mid-thirteenth century it was the most prominent university in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages.

5k Dinar

Front image: Gully Ali Beg and its 800m waterfall. The 10km gully passes between Mount Kork and Mount Nwathnin, some 60km away from Shaqlawa.
Back image: the second century desert fortress of Al-Ukhether, Hejira.

10k Dinar

Front image: Abu Ali Hasan Ibn al-Haitham, b. 965 a.d., gave the first correct explanation of vision, showing that light is reflected from an object into the eye, invented the camera obscura, and developed analytical geopmetry by establishing linkage between algebra and geometry.
Back image: Hadba Minaret, at the Great Nurid Mosque, Mosul, built 1172 a.d. by Nurridin Zangi, the then Turkish ruler. The 59m-high minaret leans 8 ft off the perpendicular. That is how it earned its Arabic name AL-Hadba ('the humped').

250k Dinar

Front image: Kurdish farmer holding sheaf of wheat. Tractor in background.
Back image: King Hammurabi. Credited with writing first code of law in human history. He founded the First Dynasty of Babylon in 1700 b.cc., leading to a period of great prosperity.

Sean: Thursday, October 23, 2003 [+] |
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Mahathir Is An Idiot

...but then you should already knew that.

Mahathir, is a former medical doctor and scientist as well as one of the Islamic world's most successful and prominent statesmen, with 22 years as premier of his country. He doesn't get ignorance as an excuse. And it isn't some recent aberration cause by old age either. He's just a bigot.

Mahathir’s history of making anti-Semitic remarks didn’t take more than 5 minutes of Google searching, [and I found] this article detailing Mahathir’s long-time hatred of the Jews. It extends all the way back (at least) to his 1969 autobiography in which he wrote “The Jews ... are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively." - David Hogberg, Cornfield Commentary

The World Jewish Congress site carries this old ananlysis:

In a 1986 speech at meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, Mahathir claimed: "the expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land 2,000 years ago and the Nazi oppression of Jews taught them nothing. If anything at all, it has transformed the Jews into the very monsters that they condemn so roundly in their propaganda material."

In 1994 the Malaysian film censor refused to license the screening of "Schindler's List" because of the film's apparently excessive sympathy towards Jews. The censor wrote that "its seems the illustration is a propaganda with the purpose of asking for sympathy, as well as to tarnish the other [German] race."

And when Malaysia's "Asian Miracle" collapsed in 1996, the stock market plunged some 50% and the value of the Malaysian currency fell by over 30% to its lowest value since 1973, Mahathir again blamed the crisis on the Jews.

"We do not want to say that this is a plot by the Jews, but in reality it is a Jew who triggered the currency plunge, coincidentally Soros is a Jew. It is also a coincidence that Malaysians are mostly Moslem. Indeed, the Jews are not happy to see Moslems progress. If it were Palestine, the Jews would rob Palestinians. Thus this is what they are doing to our country."

This was followed up by the Asia Times commentary on the latest speech in which he declared that Jews are anti-Muslim and therefore must be taken to task.

"Many newspapers are owned by the Jews ... only their side of the picture is given now," he said. "The Muslims, we are pictured as terrorists, unreasonable people, unable to administer our countries, unable to develop our countries. That is the picture that is being given," he told the paper.

"We fail to notice that our detractors and enemies (The Jews) do not care whether we are true Muslims or not. To them we are all Muslims, followers of a religion and a Prophet [who] they declare promotes terrorism, and we are all their sworn enemies," declared Mahathir. "They (The Jews) will attack and kill us, invade our lands, bring down our governments whether we are Sunnis or [Shi'ites], Alawait or Druze or whatever. And we aid and abet them (The Jews) by attacking and weakening each other, and sometimes by doing their (The Jews) bidding, acting as their (The Jews) proxies to attack fellow Muslims. We try to bring down our governments through violence, succeeding to weaken and impoverish our countries."

Remarks in the speech about how Jews "have become a world power", though laced with harsh words difficult to misinterpret, backed up his plea to fellow Muslims to think and plan their own revival as a great civilization: "We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also. Of late because of their power and their apparent success they have become arrogant. And arrogant people, like angry people, will make mistakes, will forget to think. They are already beginning to make mistakes. And they will make more mistakes. There may be windows of opportunity for us now and in the future. We must seize these opportunities. But to do so we must get our acts right."

"In dealing with terrorists, you have to find out why they want to crash a plane into a huge building," he said, referring to the September 11, 2001, attack on New York. "Yes, you can apply military pressure, but you must also find the root cause, the political cause."

"The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy," Mahathir told the Islamic meeting. "They get others to fight and die for them," he added.

"They invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power."

Mahathir cheered the OIC by predicting that "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews".

Taiwan News carried this angle, in which Mahathir actually blames Democracy and its advocates for terrorizing the world. He apparently cannot tell the difference between professional citizens soldiers trying to avoid civilians casualties and non-voting suicidal teens brainwashed and taught to kill as many as possible.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday accused the "great exponents of democracy" of "terrorizing the world" after the September11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Mahathir did not specify any country by name in a speech in this central Javanese town, but his comments appeared to be aimed at two of the outspoken leader's favorite targets, which include Australia, the United States and Israel.

"We see states launching vicious, massive retaliation, not just to kill suspected terrorists but (also) his family, his home, his village and his town," said Mahathir, who is under fire for comments last week in which he maintained that "Jews rule the world."

Mahathir said that after September11 "the great exponents and practitioners of democracy believe that the way to spread doctrine and to break down resistance is by terrorizing the world."

"The basic teachings of Islam are very good," he said. "For 1,400 years people have been interpreting and misinterpreting Islam so that today it's almost a different religion. It's a religion of violence, backwardness and instability."

Then I love this throwaway line: "I have friends who are Jews," Mahathir said in the Bangkok Post interview, also published on Tuesday. "We don't want to kill them."

Yeah, I even have friends who are gay… just because I said they deserve aids doesn’t mean that I have anything against them. Oh yeah? Why dont you just Shut The F-ck Up!

What an idiot... too bad Jews DONT run the world and the media... if they did they this man would have never come to power or at least we'd never hear about him. Idiot!

Sean: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 [+] |
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Group Hugs

There is this amazing site where people can go and confess their transgressions. I cant stop reading, even thought it feels "wrong". So, um, why don't you check it out?

"Once when I was in junior high, while lighting fire crackers in the woods, I started a fire. It got out of hand. fire trucks came. Nobody knows it was me. It was dumb."

"When I was in middle school I broke into a neighbors house by throwing a rock through the window and then undoing the lock. We stole his liquor, and read the love letters that his now dead wife had written to him."

"I used to be friends with a very popular, very pretty girl. I once slept with that friend's boyfriend just so that I could feel better than her. (As in prove that I could get any guy she could get.) She never found out but it gave me sick satisfaction."

"I have been telling people since I was 16 that I was raped and I wasn't. I suppose I first did it for attention... and now I want to tell everyone that I wasn't raped in Disneyworld by an imaginary family friend at Thanksgiving. [But] i'm afraid to tell my boyfriend or my family because I think they'd hate me for it... "

"When I was about 15 I ended up flirting with this girl at a Baptist convention that was at the hotel my parents ran. We ended up fooling around later that night in a room, under the covers. Worst part is her Pastor's wife and two young daughters were in the room at the time. Later that morning we had sex. Later I heard she became really loose and said it was because of what happened with me. And funny part is, I don't feel bad about it at all. "

"I secretly hate men. Every free minute I have I plan how to hurt men emotionally, financially and mentally. I have picked out men randomly and started relationships with them for the sole purpose of hurting them. I spent a year on one man to break him completely. He proposed to me and I cleaned out the joint bank account I had coerced him into getting with me and then told him I had never loved him. I made another man think I was pregnant and then told him I had an abortion because I felt that he did not love me enough and would not be able to love the baby as well. He still blames himself. I've never been found out and it gives me pleasure each time I've hurt them. I don't think I will ever be able to stop my hobby."

This site is just awful; even if only half the confessions are true. But you will hit "next" more times than you will feel good about. And you will probably tell someone about this site. You might even be tempted to make a post. You will feel better about yourself once you do. And this will spread to others. And it is all your fault. Click here now.

(gotcha).

hat tip to Lele.

Sean: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 [+] |
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Thankless

"We have swept away Hitlerism, but a great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease." - John Dos Passos, Life Magazine, 1946

No one likes to be pulled out of their Matrix(tm).

Comment: (from Jessicaswell) : "This is incredible. At first I thought it was a parody, similar to others I've seen inserting Germany or Japan in place of Iraq into the defeatist hand wringing we've seen so much of in the press. From my limited knowledge of Dos Passos (reading his USA trilogy) my recollection is that he was decidedly on the left end of the political spectrum, so his pessimism here is to be expected. What a great find. Mark Twain (I think) said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. This sure looks like a rerun to me."

Second Comment: "John Dos Passos was a highly respected novelist of that time (and to some extent still is). His politics are difficult to categorize, other than to say that in general he moved from left to right over the course of a lifetime. Of course being a great novelist has nothing to do with being a great reporter, and it seems that here he lets his experiences after World War I get in the way of clear analysis. He recalls that the post-WWI Europe was a better place than the (at the time) current post-war Europe, which no doubt it was as most cities were intact. The task of rebuilding Europe after WWII was enormous, and nothing like it had ever been tried before. Dos Passos had no perspective on the situation, he only thought he did."

Update: Many people asked "Who is John Dos Passos?".

Dos Passos was born in 1896 in Chicago. He was the illegitimate son of a successful corporate lawyer and a New England lady of society. Later his mother married and John got a last name.

To avoid embarrassment to his parents he was educated in Europe. He spoke English with a French accent and wore thick glasses. He was thus teased horribly in prep-school (illigit or not he got the best of everything) and became a cynic and a radical concerning his upperclass colleagues. He later went on to study at Harvard, where he became an editor for the Harvard Monthly.

After college he went to fight Franco's fascists in Spain. He then worked as an ambulance driver and witnessed both World Wars. Watching Americans dive right back into "business as usual" with the Roaring Twenties after WWI and the post WWII boom he came to see the triumph of the Allies as simply the triumph of the Captains of Industry over the worker.

He became famous for writing the "USA trilogy" of faked news sketches which detailed the "American Scene" of the 30's and was quite critical of Capitalism. He was hailed by the leftist literati and was even invited to visit Stalin's Russia. However, deadly staged riots by American Communists turned him away from any mass social organization as a means of correcting society's ills.

Instead, Dos Passos dove into a re-studying of American History, especially the Founding Fathers and President Lincoln (Republican). Eventually he underwent a profound change of heart and became a determined 'apologist' for 'the establishment', even writing a forward for William F. Buckley's "Up From Liberalism". This tarnished his earlier reputation, by the left, as "the greatest American writer".

He died in 1970.

Hat tip to Michael Totten.

Sean: Monday, October 20, 2003 [+] |
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