abstract musings

This Blog Has Moved!

2005-01-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

This is the reason my posting has been light recently. I have been setting up a new blog on my own domain, robbyedwards.com.

I will be leaving this site intact so that all the links to pages here don't break.

Now, that the new site is up, I plan to get back to posting more frequently. Please stop by and take a look around.

Why Posting Is Light

2005-01-09T22:20:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of stuff to do.

(From PunditGuy)

When Bigger Is Better

2005-01-05T10:27:00.000-05:00

When can I get one of these?

My first computer (actually it belonged to my father) was an IBM PC, which didn't even have a hard drive. When my dad added a second floppy drive (5.25 inch, of course), I thought that was awesome, because it meant no more having to remove the OS disk to put in another disk with whatever I really wanted to do. Eventually, we added a hard drive — though I don't remember its capacity, I'll bet it was pretty small. When my dad replaced that computer, he bought one with a 256 MB hard drive, and I thought we'd never outgrow it, and of course, we did. Over that computer's life, we upgraded various parts of it: adding a 3.5 inch floppy drive, adding memory, upgrading the processor (from a Intel 286 to a 386), etc. When I went off to college, that computer became my hand-me-down. Eventually, I outgrew it and replaced its motherboard, processor, memory, video card and hard drive. It was my computer version of Frankenstein. I still have that machine, though it has been upgraded a couple more times since. My wife and I use it as an MP3 jukebox connected to our stereo and TV in our living room.

Now I have 30 and 40 GB hard drives that I am in the process of filling up. Some day, I'll probably replace my Frankenstein machine with a newer version.

Stealing Credit

2005-01-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

Mark Steyn doesn't seem surprised that the U.N. is taking credit for the American and Australian relief efforts.

I didn't catch the interview, but I'm assuming that the Oil-for-Fraud programme and the Child-Sex-for-Food programme notwithstanding, Miss Short managed to utter that last sentence with a straight face. But, if you're a homeless Sri Lankan, what matters is not who has the moral authority, but who has the water tankers and medical helicopters. President Bush didn't even bother mentioning the UN in his statement. Kofi Annan, by contrast, has decided that the Aussie-American "coalition of the willing" is, in fact, a UN operation. "The core group will support the UN effort," he said. "That group will be in support of the efforts that the UN is leading."

So American personnel in American planes and American ships will deliver American food and American medicine and implement an American relief plan, but it's still a "UN-led effort". That seems to be enough for Kofi. His "moral authority" is intact, and Guardian columnists and Telegraph readers can still bash the Yanks for their stinginess. Everybody's happy.

The Marines Have Landed

2005-01-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

Actually, they landed in Sri Lanka yesterday. Here's a link to the Reuters video (and story) on their arrival.

A first group of United States Marines arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday (January 3) with helicopters, bulldozers, generators and other specialist equipment to help the country deal with the aftermath of the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami.

Abbas to Israel: "Zionist enemy"

2005-01-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

For those who, like myself, were hopeful that Yasser Arafat's death would lead to the peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, this must come as a disappointment.

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called Israel "the Zionist enemy" for the first time on Tuesday after an Israeli tank killed seven Palestinian youths in a Gaza strawberry field.

The words were certain to stir concerns in Israel where images of Abbas embracing fighters during the campaign for a Jan. 9 election have led some to question hopes for reviving peace talks after Yasser Arafat's death.

The Israeli army said it had targeted militants who had crept into the strawberry field and fired mortar bombs into a nearby Jewish settlement in the occupied territory.

Palestinian witnesses and medics in Beit Lahiya, a north Gaza village, said the militants had vanished by the time the tank shell crashed and all the dead were youths aged 11-17 from two farming families. Four people were critically wounded.

The field, where farmers had been harvesting strawberries, was spattered with blood and body parts.

Word of the incident clearly angered Abbas, widely tipped to win the presidential election, as he continued campaigning in the Gaza Strip despite further fighting between militants and the Israeli army.

"We are praying for the souls of our martyrs who fell today to the shells of the Zionist enemy," Abbas told a rally in the south Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis, a hotbed of militants.

Reuters leaves the impression that these were innocent Palestinian by-standers who were tragically killed. Presenting only the Palestinian version of events, Reuters conveniently leaves out the Israeli side of the incident. But the Jerusalem Post presents the Israeli version of events. (From LGF)

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Col. Avi Levi, commander of the Gaza District, said that seven Hamas members were killed in Beit Lahiya this morning.

Levi defended the IDF's decision to fire a tank shell at the rocket-launching cells. "If civilians were wounded, it is because terrorists opt to launch attacks from within the civilian population and we regret the harming of any civilians."

The army also confirmed that the tank fired toward Beit Lahiya, a town located in the northern Gaza Strip not far from Erez, when it identified the Hamas cell. Col. Levi said that six of the deaths were caused by shrapnel from the tank shell and two Palestinian terrorists died when a Kassam rocket they were trying to launch exploded prematurely.

How's that for perspective? But, Reuters isn't finished. The article also manages to portray Abbas in a sympathetic light.

Israel also demands Palestinian leaders heed a provision in an internationally sponsored "road map" peace plan for a crackdown on militants before talks begin.

Palestinian leaders demand Israel obey a parallel obligation under the road map to stop expanding West Bank settlements and Abbas has balked at tackling gunmen he calls "freedom fighters" without an Israeli promise of viable Palestinian statehood.

"They are freedom fighters and should live a dignified and safe life," Abbas said on Monday in a campaign tailored in part to defuse the distrust of gunmen who branded him a stooge of Israel when their revered ex-guerrilla leader Arafat was alive.

Abbas said he was determined to ensure rule of law prevailed in Palestinian territories, a cautionary message to militants and one of reassurance to U.S.-led mediators encouraged by his credo of non-violence.

How can calling Israel "the Zionist enemy," hailing these thugs as "freedom fighters" and refusing to confront their violent actions be called a "credo of non-violence"? Reuters makes it sound like he's just campaigning and this is empty campaign rhetoric. Rhetoric that Abbas will not act upon it when he is elected. Only, this campaign rhetoric fuels more violence which, in turn, leads to more deaths.

UPDATE: Reuters has video.

UPDATE II: More commentary on Abbas from Damian Penny and Michael Totten.

One Laser Related Arrest

2005-01-04T13:44:00.000-05:00

At least, this is one answer to the rash of laser targeting incidents involving aircraft that have occurred lately.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A man who initially claimed his daughter aimed a laser at a helicopter was charged after he told federal agents that he pointed the light beam at two aircraft, authorities said Tuesday.

David Banach of Parsippany faces charges of interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

The aircraft were targeted by the lasers near Teterboro Airport.

On Wednesday night, a pilot preparing to land a chartered jet with 13 people aboard reported seeing three green laser beams about 11 miles from the airport. On Friday, a helicopter carrying Port Authority detectives was hit by a beam as they surveyed the area in an attempt to pinpoint the origin of the original beams.

No motive was given — so based purely on speculation — I'll chalk these incidents up to simple mischief. I'm guessing that the other events were copycats, or that he is simply a copycat himself.

UPDATE: Here's a Reuters article, but still no word on why he did it.

American Relief Efforts

2005-01-03T23:49:00.000-05:00

Here are some details on the relief efforts of the American military.

So far, U.S. military personnel have delivered 430,000 pounds of supplies to the region.

Military officials discounted criticism of a slow U.S. start to relief efforts, saying they started moving help to the region as soon as they were called on to act.

Fourteen cargo planes were taking food, supplies and equipment to supply hubs in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, according to the U.S. military's Pacific Command Web site, www.pacom.mil.

President Bush Enlists Help

2005-01-03T23:31:00.000-05:00

President Bush today called on his father — former president George Bush — and former President Bill Clinton to undertake a nationwide fundraising effort on behalf of the victims of the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami. Betsy Newmark wonders if anybody else noticed who was left out of "the Ex-President Charity effort for the tsunami victims."

I can't say I noticed that omission, but Reuters did.

"The devastation in the region defies comprehension," President Bush said in Washington, eight days after an earthquake drove huge waves across the Indian Ocean, killing 145,000 from Thailand to Somalia and leaving millions homeless, hungry or threatened by deadly diseases.

"I ask every American to contribute as they are able to do so," said Bush, in a joint appeal with former presidents George Bush, his father, and Bill Clinton.

The scale of the disaster prompted Bush to put together the rare coalition of ex-presidents to mount the nationwide fund-raising drive.

Jimmy Carter, an ex-president with a long history in humanitarian efforts, and who was critical of Bush in last year's presidential campaign, was not invited to participate.

Sandra Bullock Donates $1 Million

2005-01-03T23:00:00.000-05:00

Sandra Bullock has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross for the tsunami relief efforts. Plus, she's done this before; she gave another million dollars to the American Red Cross after September 11. (From memeorandum)

"At this critical time, I am grateful to Sandra Bullock for, once again, demonstrating her leadership, compassion and belief in our global humanitarian mission," says Marsha Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross. "Sandra continues to enable our lifesaving work and is a model for personal generosity."

In 2001, the actress donated $1 million to the Red Cross in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

I wonder if any other Hollywood celebrities will step up and match her generous gift?

Cassini-Huygens Mission, New Years Edition

2005-01-03T13:24:00.000-05:00

I have been following the progress of the Cassini-Huygens Mission (posting some spectacular images and posting about the launch of the Huygens probe). Jeff Harrell notes the passing of Cassini by Iapetus, one of Saturn's moons, on New Year's Eve as "One of history's great coincidences".

New Year's Ukraine Style

2005-01-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

Slate looks at how Ukraine celebrated the New Year. And then contrasts that celebration with the New Year in Moscow.

Dancing in Independence Square last night, my friends and I made a date to celebrate next New Year's in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. When it turned out that the four young people with whom we were jumping around a leafless tree, holding hands and passing around a bottle of champagne, were also from Russia, one of my friends said: "It's going to happen for us, too! In a couple of years!" The young people—they must have been college students—hesitated for a second, probably because this is not the sort of thing one would presume to say to strangers in Moscow, and then shouted, "Hooray!"

Back in Moscow, there was also a street party in Red Square. This morning I found out that only people with a Moscow registration stamp in their passports were allowed to enter the square. This means that not only visitors but even people living and working in Moscow but who are registered to live in other Russian cities could not take part in the celebration. That made me even happier that I had spent the holiday in Kiev, where the overwhelming sense was one of openness. Last night, I danced with Russian college students, very young Ukrainians, pretty old Ukrainians, a homeless Ukrainian man, and lots of other people I couldn't identify. Some of them had dyed their hair orange, the color of the Ukrainian revolution. The music, of course, was not the important part, but in addition to the revolutionary rap, the undisputed hit of the night was "D.I.S.C.O.," performed by a duo that may in fact have been N-Trance itself. We sang, "She is oh-ohhh-orange!"

Victor Davis Hanson: "Evolve or Die"

2005-01-03T10:09:00.000-05:00

A couple of items from Victor Davis Hanson.

First, a warning to the left to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs. It is too good to excerpt, so you should just read the whole thing.

And secondly, check out his predictions for 2005.

UPDATE: Here's a better (more permanent) link to Hanson's predictions along with the predictions of other contributors to National Review Online.

More Good News from Iraq

2005-01-03T09:19:00.000-05:00

Arthur Chrenkoff has posted another round in his Good News from Iraq series. Particularly compelling is a part about the return of Iraqi refugees and exiles.

In the run-up to military action in March 2003, many anti-war activists were predicting that the Coalition invasion will lead to a humanitarian and a refugee disaster. In reality, not only have the hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of refugees did not materialize, but ever since, the old Iraqi refugee problem has been gradually solving itself:

"Until the spring of 2003, the Islamic Republic of Iran hosted over 202,000 Iraqi refugees, by far the largest registered refugee population from Iraq in the world. The majority were living in Iranian cities and settlements. About 50,000 of them, like Mohammed, stayed for many years in the 22 camps scattered across Iran's western provinces.

"Since last year, more than half of all Iraqi refugees in Iran - an estimated 107,000 people - have returned to their homeland. Most of them have gone back of their own accord, some 12,500 with UNHCR assistance. The rate of departure has been even higher among refugees staying in camps, with more than 80 percent of them choosing to repatriate. This has led to a drastic fall in the overall camp population to 8,000 from 50,000. Six out of 22 camps are now empty, another two are expected to be closed by the end of the year. Of the remaining 14 camps, many are already near empty."

As Iraqi refugees and exiles are coming back, many areas of their homeland don't resemble the chaotic picture seen every night on the news. Kuridstan remains peaceful and buzzing with activity; an example of what the rest of the country could aspire to: "Western businessmen move freely around the region's capital, Irbil, and American soldiers eat in restaurants without their body armour. In the crowded foyer of the Sheraton, Kurdish businessmen and politicians discuss reconstruction work." It's not just peace and growing prosperity, but also free intellectual climate which is attracting people to Kurdistan:

"Kurdish students living in Iraq's neighbours are flocking to universities in the Kurdish areas to escape repression at home and to benefit from the opportunities they say the region offers.

"The University of Sulaimaniyah alone has so far accepted more than 110 Kurdish students from neighbouring countries, mainly Iran and Syria, under a programme that reserves five per cent of all places at Iraqi Kurdish universities for high school graduates educated elsewhere.

"The foreign students receive free tuition and accommodation and a 100 US dollar allowance each term.

"Thirty-year old Farzeen, a first year student at Sulaimaniyah's media college from the Iranian town of Saqiz, said education in Iran is expensive in Iran and freedom of speech limited. 'You can't express any political beliefs or air your views freely or you end up in jail, especially if you are a Kurd,' said Farzeen."

Some Changes Around Here

2005-01-02T17:43:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

I have made a few changes to my template. Something new for the new year. The photo in my header was taken September 2004 in Sequoia National Park. Over time, I plan to rotate other photos in its place.

Hope you like the new look.

UPDATE: I've gone ahead and added some javascript code to rotate the various header images I've created. These images are from a variety of photographs I took while visiting several different places in 2004. Each of the images is posted (and linked to the larger version) below with a short blurb about where and when the original photo was taken.

Looking down the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stairs, April 2004

Sunset in the Smoky Mountains, Smoky Mountain National Park, July 2004

San Andreas Fault taken from Keys View, Joshua Tree National Park, September 2004

Lake Mead, September 2004

Scenery at Red Rock Canyon, September 2004

Blue sky over Red Rock Canyon, September 2004

View of Las Vegas Strip from Red Rock Canyon, September 2004

Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas Strip, September 2004

Giant sequoias, Sequoia National Park, September 2004

View from Morro Rock, Sequoia National Park, September 2004

Flower, Everglades National Park, November 2004

No Ordinary Champion

2004-12-31T15:26:00.000-05:00

Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker champion, also known as "Fossilman" knows how to take care of himself.

Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker champion, apparently knows how to wield more than a stack of chips when everything is riding on it.

The soft-spoken patent attorney from Stonington, Conn., fought off a pair of attackers Dec. 20 at the Bellagio hotel-casino after he had finished playing a cash game of poker, according to a Las Vegas police report.

You can listen to the NPR story on the attempted robbery.

Yanukovych Resigns

2004-12-31T15:09:00.000-05:00

Viktor Yanukovych has resigned his post as Ukraine's Prime Minister. He is still refusing to acknowledge Victor Yushchenko's victory in the presidential election.

Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovich said on Friday he was resigning as prime minister, though he refused to concede defeat in a presidential election, while the liberal winner of the poll prepared a momentous New Year celebration.

Yanukovich has denounced rival Viktor Yushchenko's victory in the re-run of last month's rigged election and has vowed to press on with legal challenges to overturn the outcome.

But in a televised New Year's address, he acknowledged the appeals to election authorities and the Supreme Court stood little chance of success.

"In view of this, there is no point in staying on as prime minister. The political role of the Yanukovich government as a factor of stability in the past year is all but exhausted," he said. "I have taken the formal decision to resign."

Yanukovych's Election Challenges Thrown Out

2004-12-31T13:05:00.000-05:00

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yanukovych's challenge of the Ukrainian presidential election result has been rejected by the Ukrainian Supreme Court. Although, he seems committed to further legal action.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's bid to overturn his liberal rival's victory in a presidential election lay in tatters on Thursday after Ukraine's Supreme Court threw out his complaints.

With West-leaning Viktor Yushchenko already discussing his post-election program, Yanukovich suffered a further blow when the Central Election Commission threw out his objections about voting irregularities.

Yet he has refused to bow to opponents' demands to quit. Although Yushchenko holds a lead of about eight percentage points in the preliminary count, a Yanukovich aide said new legal challenges were planned once the poll's result is officially published.

As the article states, the Central Election Commission has also rejected a complaint by Yanukovych over voting irregularities.

Tsunami News

2004-12-31T12:30:00.000-05:00

The death toll from the tsunami has passed 120,000 people. As it continues to climb, aid continues to increase as well. Amazon has raised over $8 million for the American Red Cross, the World Bank has offered $250 million in tsunami aid to the UN, and members of Congress are preparing an aid package, in addition to the $35 million already pledged by the President.

Sadly, fears of another tsunami from a false warning created panic in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Tsunami relief scams have already started to appear. Captain Ed points to a New York Sun article which reports that bogus websites claiming to collect aid for the victims of Sunday's disaster and other scams on the internet have begun to spring up.

On eBay, sellers are hawking Pez dispensers, a gold necklace, a stuffed mouse, and a "hand-carved" Buddha statue with the promise that proceeds from the auctions will go directly to charities assisting the victims of the tsunami in Asia.

Visitors to tsunamireliefaid.com are directed to a crudely constructed Web site with photographs of those who appear to be tsunami victims and instructions urging users to send relief packages and $10 checks to a P.O. box in Germantown, Md.

Donald Sensing also posts that a scam email is making the rounds asking for donations from an anonymous relief organization.

If you wish to donate, be sure that you are donating to a reputable organization. As I have mentioned before, Amazon.com is collecting donations for the American Red Cross. Hugh Hewitt and several others are recommending World Vision, and Rev. Sensing also points to the United Methodist Committee on Relief which has set up a specific fund to direct monies to the relief efforts. USAID, the U.S. government agency responsible for economic and humanitarian assistance around the world, has compiled a list of the agencies USAID works with that are accepting donations for the earthquake/tsunami victims

Don't be afraid to give; just make sure the organization you give to is going to get the aid to the victims. And when you give, please be generous.

MORE: The Command Post has a roundup of links to aid agencies accepting donations to support disaster relief efforts. Lots of helpful information in the comments to that post, as well.

Preventing Natural Disasters

2004-12-30T11:47:00.000-05:00

It can't be done. There is no way to prevent an upheaval of the earth like the one which caused Sunday's earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Some people would like to make the argument that the blame for this tragedy lies with global warming. The case these editorials in the New York Times and the London Telegraph present is that the best we can do is detection and warning to minimize the loss of life and the impact that is felt by nature's destructive forces. The Telegraph editorial even goes so far as to point out other areas in which we could through application of preventative measures mitigate other potential calamities.

The appliance of science has seen a huge surge in the Earth's population, lifespan and in the extent of civilised society. The tsunami has taught us humility, once again underlining how nature, and not mankind, is still the real master. The plates that slide, shift and grind under our feet, the viruses that multiply in our bodies and objects in orbit are indifferent to our plight. The chances of a natural Armageddon might be remote, but the destruction of human life and impact on modern lifestyles would be so extreme that we should use science to defend ourselves better.

None of the potential disasters the Telegraph warns us of would be stopped by an increased focus on global warming.

Costas Synolakis provides a brief history of tsunamis, particularly those which led to the development of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and provides one account that illuminates why education about the danger of tsunamis can alter the potential human loss due to a devastating tsunami.

The images from Sri Lanka, India and Thailand that have filled our screens--and the descriptions from survivors--are sadly all too familiar, at least to those of us who have conducted tsunami field surveys. At times, some of us thought that we were revisiting images from Flores in 1992, or East Java in 1994, Irian Jaya in 1996, Papua New Guinea in 1998 and Vanuatu in 1999--to just mention catastrophes in countries with similar landscape and coastal construction.

The response of local residents and tourists, however, was unfamiliar, at least to tsunami field scientists for post-1990s tsunamis. In one report, swimmers felt the current associated with the leading depression wave approaching the beach, yet hesitated about getting out of the water because of the "noise" and the fear that there was an earthquake and they would be safer away from buildings. They had to be told by tourists from Japan--a land where an understanding of tsunamis is now almost hard-wired in the genes--to run to high ground. In another report, vacationers spending the day on Phi Phi were taken back to Phuket one hour after the event started. In many cases tsunami waves persist for several hours, and the transport was nothing less than grossly irresponsible.

Contrast these reactions with what happened in Vanuatu, in 1999. On Pentecost Island, a rather pristine enclave with no electricity or running water, the locals watch television once a week, when a pickup truck with a satellite dish, a VCR and a TV stops by each village. When the International Tsunami Survey Team visited days after the tsunami, they heard that the residents had watched a Unesco video prepared the year before, in the aftermath of the 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami disaster. When they felt the ground shake during the 1999 earthquake, they ran to a hill nearby. The tsunami swept through, razing the village to the ground. Out of 500 people, only three died, and all three had been unable to run like the others. The tsunami had hit at night.

Another OpinionJournal editorial (From Dean's World) shows that those with a political agenda will persist in making their case:

One might think that a disaster of this scale would transcend normal national or political considerations. But in the world of environmental zealotry, even an event such as this is seen as an opportunity to press the agenda. Thus, the source of the South Asian tsunami is being located in global warming.

In an interview with the Independent newspaper in Britain, Stephen Tindale, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "No one can ignore the relentless increase in extreme weather events and so-called natural disasters, which in reality are no more natural than a plastic Christmas tree." Speaking to the same newspaper, Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper pressed the argument home: "Here again are yet more events in the real world that are consistent with climate change predictions."

But as the same editorial makes clear the argument for prevention is solid:

It is preposterous to blame the inexorable forces of nature on the development of industry and infrastructures of modern society. The more sensible response to natural disasters is to improve forecasting, put in place efficient communications and evacuation procedures and, should the worst arrive, conduct relief efforts and rebuild what nature has destroyed. Those cautionary measures, as is now clear, cost money. The national income necessary to afford them is made possible only by economic growth of the sort too many of environmentalists retard with their policy extremism.

Rich countries suffer fewer fatalities from natural disasters because their prosperity has allowed them to create better protective measures. Consider the 41,000 death toll in last December's earthquake in Iran compared with the 63 who died when a slightly stronger earthquake hit San Francisco in 1989.

The answer doesn't lie in less industry, but in more; so that, developing nations can afford the infrastructure to prevent such horrible loss of life as we have seen this week. And also in creating a robust infrastructure to rebuild and replace what nature destroys.

Peggy Noonan reminds us that 2004's biggest story is full of small stories that encourage us that all is not as bleak as the escalating death toll would indicate.

"Did you hear about the baby they found floating on a mattress?" "Did you hear about the 2-year-old Swedish kid they found wandering down a street?" "Did you hear about the guys who floated on a refrigerator?" Did you hear about the model, the surfer, the snorkelers?

People are fascinated by these stories, and so am I. It's a little like the first days after 9/11 in New York: "Did you hear about the guy in the wheelchair on the 91st floor?" Soon we will be hearing about massive relief efforts and individual acts of heroism and sacrifice, and those stories will be a relief, and maybe even in some cases an inspiration.

Not everyone distinguished himself. What to say of those who've latched on to the tragedy to promote their political agendas, from the U.N. official who raced to call the U.S. "stingy," to the global-warming crowd, to administration critics who jumped at the chance to call the president insensitive because he was vacationing in Texas and didn't voice his sympathy quickly enough? Such people are slyly asserting their own, higher sensitivity and getting credit for it, which is odd because what they're actually doing is using dead people to make cheap points.

It is saddening to hear those critics make such noises at a time like this. Just as anti-war protestors seek to use the deaths of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to score quick, cheap political points against a war and a president they despise, so too these pundits and experts seek to promote themselves and their agendas in the midst of such sorrow and grief over this terrible tragedy and the deaths it has wrought. It is despicable; they are people without shame.

Citizen Smash also has a post on his own experiences with nature, past and present, and shares this gem of an observation:

NATURE HAPPENS — She doesn't care whether you are an environmentalist or an industrialist, rich or poor, good or evil, black or white, Right or Left. She is neither vengeful nor forgiving. Elections, wars, and treaties do not constrain her.

I have survived earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires, hailstorms, and blizzards. I've lived on an active fault line, and in the shadow of a volcano. I've circled the globe, twice. I have witnessed blinding sandstorms in the Middle East, hurricanes in the Atlantic, and typhoons in the Pacific. I've backpacked across the Sierra Nevada, had my food stolen by a bear, and come face to face with a mountain lion.

The one thing I've learned from these experiences is that Nature is neither benevolent nor malevolent. Nature simply is.

Lastly, I have been reminded of my own experience with Hurricane Andrew in 1992. I can recall the sound of the wind, like shrieking cats, as it roared past my parent's home. Or the explosive sound of our roof as it was ripped off by 200+ mile per hour winds. The rattling of the fan in our bathroom as my parents, brother and I huddled in the small room waiting for the dreadful storm to pass. I remember walking around my neighborhood later that day, and becoming lost because nothing was were it belonged. All of the homes in our neighborhood were damaged, ours less so than most. The scene was like something out of a war movie.

That afternoon we packed up our valuables and drove to my grandfather's house a couple of miles away. A trip which the day before had taken minutes, now took almost a hour as we were forced to take detour after detour due to the debris blocking most of the roads. At one point, we drove on the sidewalk next to the road to avoid downed power lines. The next few days were full of daily trips for drinking water, as we queued up waiting upon the generosity of others. It was the simple gifts, things like a propane stove and bottled water which our co-workers and friends, who were more fortunate than we, were kind enough to spare, which got us through those first few terrible days.

Weeks of cold showers and no electricity followed. I remember my first hot shower a week after the hurricane struck. A friend invited my parents and I over for dinner and a shower. It was a much too brief return to normal life. For five weeks our neighborhood was pitch black night after night. In the distance we could see the glow of city lights -- the lucky souls who had electricity -- creeping ever closer, promising someday to come to us.

But, it all seems so small to me now, in retrospect. It was nothing in comparison with the present disaster. I knew my loved ones were safe. My younger brother was serving with the Marine Corps overseas and struggled to contact us. Even as my parents were trying to get word to him that we were alive and well.

But, soon enough life returned to normal. And that will happen with this tragedy, too. Life will go on, the dead will be buried, and buildings will be rebuilt. Once the initial disaster recovery is completed, the focus should be on preventing another tragedy, not placing the blame for this one.

Looking Ahead

2004-12-29T15:40:00.000-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson takes a look ahead at the challenges which lie in our future.

Iran and Syria may sound defiant in the Islamic media; yet, the world around them in Israel, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq is either democratic or moving in that direction. Their support of terror and desire to acquire dangerous strategic weapons, in the President's view, means that the larger war cannot be won unless both cease and desist or see their regimes changed preferably through either diplomatic coercion and multilateral pressure or in extremis American force.

While the democratic stew brews in Afghanistan and Iraq, expect a number of Bush initiatives that will turn up the heat. The UN, reeling from the Oil for Food scandals, the Secretary-Generals nepotism, and the organizations tolerance for mass murder in the Sudan, is under enormous pressure to democratize its membership, expand the Security Council, open its books or face a de facto American disengagement. That is no longer a right-wing pipe dream, not when a majority of Americans now voices no confidence in either the efficacy or morality of such avatars of world governance.

The Palestinians likewise are facing an impending dilemma. Either with American support and aid they embrace real democracy and give up tribal Arafatism to negotiate as a legitimate interlocutor with the Israelis, or they will face a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the completion of a security fence, continued destruction of extremists and the recognition that they will lose their window on the West through Jerusalem, and instead stew in their own juice with their like brethren in Syria and Egypt.

Nor will the Bush administration cease its reexamination of its superpower responsibilities. The American people believes that there is no longer any strategic or political logic in stationing thousands of soldiers in Europe, but plenty of reasonseconomic, political, and psychologicalto remove the vast majority of them at a time of troops shortages closer to the front. NATO has become as impotent as it is widely praised, especially when it fails to honor commitments in Afghanistan and abhors involvement with Iraq. This obstructionism is in sharp contrast to the prior European desire of American-led military intervention without UN or Congressional sanction to remove Slobodan Milosevic. Having learned belatedly the wisdom of talking more quietly while carrying an even bigger stick, America may continue to offer praise for the status quo trans-Atlantic relationship, while unobtrusively promoting wider bilateral relationships like those with Australia based on shared commitments to freedom and the need for collective security against statism and totalitarianism in all its many guises.

Orange Revolution Continues

2004-12-29T15:23:00.000-05:00

It seems that the Orange Revolution may not be over yet. President-elect Yushchenko's supporters blockaded the government headquarters to prevent Yanukovych, who was fired as prime minister by Ukraine's parliament, from entering the building to attend a cabinet meeting. The demonstration was successful, although the Cabinet of Ministers did convene in another building without Yanukovych.

Yanukovych, however, remains defiant and has filed several legal appeals over the election's result.

Ukraine's defeated presidential candidate on Wednesday made a last-ditch but seemingly hopeless attempt to challenge the victory of his liberal opponent, Viktor Yushchenko.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, already forced by the opposition to pull out of his own cabinet meeting, has lodged complaints with the Supreme Court and the election commission over last Sunday's presidential poll.

"These legal challenges are an attempt to draw the Commission out of its impartial stand and into politics. And that is impossible," Central Election Commission head Yaroslav Davydovich said.

Yanukovich -- clinging to his prime minister's post by a technicality -- has refused to concede defeat in the re-run of the Nov. 21 poll, when his victory was overturned by the Supreme Court because of massive fraud.

And in a news conference, a defiant Yanukovich also said he would not quit as premier even though it had become difficult to do his job and said his opponents were "quaking in their shoes." We will soon say what we have to say."

Asked by a reporter why he had not attended Wednesday's cabinet meeting, he replied: "I am not obliged to account to you where I was or was not at any given moment." he said.

Yanukovych sounds a bit defensive. My advice to him would be to get used to it. Having reporters nosing around in your business is a hallmark of democracy.

Ben Kepple, meanwhile, has compiled a list of arguments for Yanukovych to use before the Ukrainian Supreme Court. (From Dean's World)

Death Toll Continues to Rise

2004-12-29T14:15:00.000-05:00

The death toll in Asia from the earthquake and tsunami has risen to almost 77,000 lives. The sheer mass of dead bodies is making identification difficult.

For search and rescue teams in Khao Lak -- where a four-year-old fisherman's son survived for more than two days after being swept into a tree top -- the problem is not finding bodies. The smell of rotting corpses is too strong to miss.

But identifying them may take a long time and one top government forensic scientist said some may never be named.

Pornthip Rojanasunant told Reuters at a Khao Lak Buddhist temple acting as a temporary morgue for 300 bodies -- about a fifth of them foreigners -- that she was collecting DNA samples of all the corpses by swabbing mouths or taking hair.

The samples could be matched to relatives later, she said.

President Bush responds to his critics after America's contribution to the disaster relief was labeled, "stingy."

"The United States will continue to stand with the affected governments as they care for the victims. We will stand with them as they start to rebuild their communities," he said, adding that he had spoken by phone to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.

"I assure those leaders that this is just only the beginning of our help," he said.

At a briefing with reporters at an airport hangar near the ranch, Bush displayed pique at a comment by a U.N. official that rich countries had generally been "stingy" in aid to poor countries.

"I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," he said.

"In the year 2004, our government provided $2.4 billion in food and cash and humanitarian relief. ... That's 40 percent of all the relief aid given in the world last year," he said.

America year after year proves to be one of the most charitable nations in both government and private aid. So far Amazon is reporting over $2 million in donations and that number continues to rise. Granted, there's no way to know where all the donations are coming from, and I suspect a fair number of them are from outside our borders, but still it is staggering that as private citizens, we can raise over $2 million dollars. This just proves that when private citizens are free to choose where to put their money, they will choose to do the right thing with it.

The Blame Game Begins

2004-12-28T16:41:00.000-05:00

Power Line has links (and commentary) on some efforts to pin the blame for the tsunami catastrophe. Shame on Rueters and Agence France-Presse for using this horrific human tragedy to promote a political agenda.

UPDATE: Sortapundit rebuts the inane AFP article.

UPDATE II: I have some more thoughts on this.

Huygens Probe Begins Its Journey

2004-12-28T15:29:00.000-05:00

The Huygens probe was successfully launched from the Cassini spacecraft on Christmas Day.

Cassini used springs to gently push the 705-pound probe away late Friday at a rate of one foot per second, sending it on a three-week free-fall toward Titan. Cassini will make a course change next week to avoid following the probe into the moon's atmosphere.

The probe's successful launch from Cassini put smiles on the faces of scientists in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

"This was a big one partly because we had to do this right or no mission at all," said David Southwood, the European Space Agency's science program director.

A detailed analysis of the release was under way, but there were no indications of any problems, said Earl Maize, the Cassini deputy program manager at JPL. "We are quite confident we had a very clean release," he said.

Titan is the only moon in the solar system known to have a significant atmosphere. Rich with nitrogen and containing about 6 percent methane, the atmosphere is 1 1/2 times thicker than Earth's.

The Huygens probe will arrive at Titan on January 14, 2005, where it will begin a 2 1/2 hour descent through Titan's murky atmosphere before landing on the surface of Saturn's mysterious moon. I posted about the Cassini mission to Saturn earlier this month, including some amazing images captured by the spacecraft's cameras. The following photo was taken on Christmas Day.

Cassini's Holiday Greetings
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Here is an image of the Huygens probe (closeup view) that was taken about 12 hours after the launch. (From UnSpace)

Earthquake/Tsunami Update

2004-12-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog has links to aid agencies and information on the recovery work occurring in the region.

The death toll has surged past 50,000 lives. The tragedy could grow worse as there is a lack of uncontaminated drinking water, and the risk of disease from so many decomposing bodies.

Many of the bodies were already decomposing in the heat, underlining the growing health risk.

"Rescuers are holding their breath and using their bare hands, axes, or shovels to dig through piles of wrecked buildings and debris at Khao Lak," said a senior provincial official, Chailert Piyorattanachote.

"We don't have enough coffins and those that we have are too small for the bloated bodies of foreigners."

...

For the most immediate needs, hundreds of relief planes packed with emergency goods were due to arrive in the region from about two dozen countries within the next 48 hours.

But authorities waited in trepidation for the outbreak of diseases caused by polluted drinking water and the sheer scale of thousands of putrefying bodies, lying in mud or being washed onto beaches.

The U.N.'s Egeland said there could be epidemics of intestinal and lung infections unless health systems in the stricken countries got help.

A top World Health Organization expert, David Nabarro said there was "certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami."

In Aceh, Lieutenant-Colonel Budi Santoso said: "Many bodies are still lying on the streets. There just aren't enough body bags."

"I've never buried so many in a single day in my life," said Shekhar, an Indian gravedigger.

Eleven Americans are listed among the dead with hundreds more listed as missing.

On a brighter note, a Swedish child was reunited with his uncle after the uncle saw a picture of the boy posted on a web site.

A blond two-year-old Swedish boy, Hannes Bergstroem, found sitting alone on a road in Thailand was reunited with his uncle, who saw the boy's picture on a Web site.

"This is a miracle, the biggest thing that could happen," said the uncle, who identified himself as Jim, after flying from his home country to Thailand to reach Hannes at the hospital were the boy was being treated. The boy's mother and grandmother were missing, while his father and grandfather were reportedly at another hospital.

The power of the Internet at work!

UPDATE: From the SEA-EAT blog: satellite images are showing the changes the tsunami caused to the Indian coastline and outlying islands. More on the regional changes in geography and on tsumanis in general. (From The Moderate Voice)

UPDATE II: The New York Times has an article on the role blogs have had both in reporting about this catastrophe and in promoting disaster relief efforts. (From Instapundit)

UPDATE III: The death toll has climbed to over 59,000.

New bin Laden Tape

2004-12-27T20:54:00.000-05:00

Al-Jazeera has broadcast a new audio tape attributed to Osama bin Laden. On the tape the speaker called for Iraqis to boycott the election next month, and called the interim government an "apostate government."

The speaker said al-Zarqawi and those with him are fighting "for God's sake."

"We have been pleased that they responded to God's and his prophet's order for unity, and we in al-Qaida welcome their unity with us," the speaker said.

The speaker also said he was "pleased" with al-Zarqawi's "gallant operations" against the Americans and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's "apostate government."

Iraqis are scheduled to elect a 275-member National Assembly on Jan. 30, and those lawmakers will draft a new constitution. There have been calls to postpone the election because of the ongoing insurgency, but President Bush has insisted the vote be held as scheduled.

The speaker condemned those elections.

"In the balance of Islam, this constitution is infidel and therefore everyone who participates in this election will be considered infidels," he said. "Beware of henchmen who speak in the name of Islamic parties and groups who urge people to participate in this blatant apostasy."

He apparently was referring to Shiite clerics, particularly Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who have issued edicts saying participating in the election was a "religious duty."

UPDATE: Apparently, the voice on the tape does belong to bin Laden.

Tragedy in Southeast Asia

2004-12-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck just off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra generating several tsunamis. So far the death toll is an estimated 23,700 lives and is expected to rise. Deaths have been reported in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia.

This will probably prove to be the costliest natural disaster in history, both in the human toll and in monetary terms. However, much of the human tragedy might have been preventable.

More information on the earthquake which generated the tsunamis is available from the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS's earthquake website provides information on earthquakes throughout the world.

UPDATE: The Command Post has a compilation of first person accounts of the tragedy, as well as updated death tolls by country. The Moderate Voice also has links to other first person accounts and a link to video of the tsunami washing ashore. (From Diggers Realm)

UPDATE II: Updates on the devastation from the earthquake and tsunami.

Yushchenko Is Victorious

2004-12-27T18:01:00.000-05:00

Yushchenko's victory seems to be official.

Reformer Viktor Yushchenko, whose victory in Ukraine's presidential election was all but assured Monday despite his opponent's threat to appeal the outcome, is expected to move quickly to bolster ties with the West while trying to ease tensions with Russia.

However, his opponent, taking a page from the Democratic Party playbook, has refused to concede and has indicated that he will contest the result in court.

Yanukovych refused to concede defeat, telling reporters he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the results once the election commission released its final tally.

Later, however, he said he had lost respect for the court over its ruling that annulled the results of the earlier election, which Yushchenko's camp, international observers and even members of the Central Electoral Commission assailed as fraudulent.

"It breached the constitution and the law," Yanukovych said of the court. "Today, I can't have faith in such a chamber."

Even if, as seems likely, the result withstands a court challenge, or Yanukovych comes to his senses and concedes, Yushchenko has a difficult road ahead to westernize his nation, while at the same time not alienating Russia. Also, troublesome will be uniting the Ukrainian and Russian speaking halves of Ukraine, in addition to dealing with the corruption which marked the outgoing government.

Foreign leaders have also been quick to congratulate Yushchenko.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose own accession to power on a wave of peaceful protest in November 2003 inspired Ukraine's opposition, congratulated Yushchenko in a Ukrainian-language message delivered over Ukrainian television.

Saakashvili, who attended law school in then-Soviet Ukraine, apparently was the first foreign leader to publicly recognize Yushchenko's victory.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski congratulated Yushchenko on Monday, describing his victory as a "good and important choice" for Ukraine's relations with Europe, Kwasniewski's office said.

Poland's former president, Lech Walesa, told the Polish news agency PAP that Yushchenko's victory meant "Ukraine on its road to freedom and democracy made a small move toward Europe."

Captain Ed also observes that this election, while the result is favorable to the West, may have other unpleasant consequences for the West. While the result may encourage other former Soviet Republics to break free of the Kremlin's influence, it may also make Putin desperate to maintain that influence.

Yushchenko Claims Victory

2004-12-26T22:39:00.000-05:00

Viktor Yushchenko has claimed victory in Ukraine's highly contested presidential election. The election seems to have been conducted with little of the rampant fraud and voter intimidation which marked the previous two elections.

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory Monday in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election, telling thousands of supporters they had taken their country to a new political era after a bitterly fought campaign that required an unprecedented three ballots and Supreme Court intervention against fraud.

"We have been independent for 14 years but we were not free," Yushchenko told the festive crowd in Kiev's central Independence Square, the center of weeks of protests after the fraudulent and now-annulled Nov. 21 ballot in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had been declared the winner.

"Now we can say this is a thing of the past. Now we are facing an independent and free Ukraine."

Yushchenko spoke after three exit polls and partial results projected him winning easily in Sunday's Supreme Court-ordered rematch.

"Now, today, the Ukrainian people have won. I congratulate you," he said.

As Yushchenko declared victory, about 5,000 supporters gathered on the square applauded and set off fireworks. They waved flags of bright orange - his campaign's emblematic color - clasped hands and danced.

More on the election from Rueters. And the insider's view of the election and Ukraine is available from Le Sabot Post-Moderne.

NFL News

2004-12-26T21:40:00.000-05:00

Good news and bad news in the NFL today.

The good news (unless you are Dan Marino): Peyton Manning threw two touchdown passes in a come from behind overtime victory against San Diego, to break Dan Marino's record of 48 touchdown passes in a single season.

Peyton Manning wanted the win more than the record. He got both. Manning rallied his Indianapolis Colts from a 15-point deficit in the final quarter, throwing his record-breaking 49th touchdown of the season to help tie the game in the last minute of regulation, and then led the winning drive in overtime as the Colts defeated San Diego 34-31 Sunday.

And the bad news: Reggie White, former University of Tennessee and NFL defensive lineman, died today at age 43.

A two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and ordained minister who was known as the "Minister of Defense," White played a total of 15 years with Philadelphia, Green Bay and Carolina. He retired after the 2000 season as the NFL's all-time leader in sacks with 198. The mark has since been passed by Bruce Smith.

"Reggie White was a gentle warrior who will be remembered as one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "Equally as impressive as his achievements on the field was the positive impact he made off the field and the way he served as a positive influence on so many young people."

A member of the NFL's 75th anniversary team, White was elected to the Pro Bowl a record 13 straight times from 1986-98. He was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1998.

"A 43-year-old is not supposed to die in his sleep," Johnson said. "It was not only unexpected, but it was also a complete surprise. Reggie wasn't a sick man ... he was vibrant. He had lots and lots of energy, lots of passion."

Keeping Christ in Christmas

2004-12-26T08:45:00.000-05:00

James Q. Wilson points out a very good reason to leave well enough alone.

This fact worries many people in the Blue States just as it pleases many in the Red ones. Those who are alarmed by the extent of religious belief in this country have roused themselves to make the so-called wall of separation between church and state both higher and firmer. In insisting that we describe our late December holiday as having nothing to do with the birth of Jesus, in fighting to keep every nativity scene away from any government property, by arguing that our freedoms will be compromised by any reference to Christianity, they have succeeded only in intensifying religious beliefs among the great majority of our people who are angered by these assaults.

They would be well advised to let matters alone. We have been a free country even though "In God We Trust" is printed on our dollar bills, even though sessions of Congress begin with a prayer, and even though chaplains paid for by our tax dollars are part of our military forces. Our freedom does not depend on eliminating these acknowledgments of the power of religion; it relies instead on the fact that for many generations we have embraced a secular government operating in a religious culture.

That embrace will be weakened, not strengthened, by silly attacks on religiosity, stimulating the spiritual to question the seriousness of people who profess a concern for civil liberties.

The Reason for Christmas

2004-12-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5,10-14

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.

Isaiah 9:6&7

It's Christmas Eve

2004-12-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

Before you put out the milk and cookies for Santa this evening, you may want to download a copy of the Christmas Cookie Liability and Indemnification Agreement first. (From Michelle Malkin)

Also, I think Cox & Forkum have a lead on Michael Moore's next project.

Blogging will be light tomorrow. I'll be at my in-laws most of the day without any connection to the internet.

Have a Merry Christmas.

(Linked to the Outside the Beltway: Holiday Traffic Jam)

FedEx Is Awesome

2004-12-24T21:42:00.000-05:00

FedEx has decided to cover the cost of shipping to Iraq and Afghanistan for Operation Give. Way to go FedEx!

(From Dean's World)

Victor Davis Hanson Supports Rumsfeld

2004-12-24T20:56:00.000-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson takes on Rumsfeld's critics.

The answer, of course, is the usual media-inspired flight from reason that overwhelms this country at various times hype playing on our fears and groupthink to create a sudden story when there really is none. And now with the renewed attack on Donald Rumsfeld we are back to more of the flu-shot hysteria that has been so common in this war. Remember the pseudo-crises of the past four years the quagmire in week three in Afghanistan or the sandstorm bog-down in Iraq?

Let us not forget either all the Orwellian logic: Clinton's past deleterious military slashes that nevertheless explained the present win in Afghanistan, or his former appeasement of bin Laden that now accounts for the successful doctrine of fighting terror. Or recall the harebrained schemes we should have adopted the uninvited automatic airlifting of an entire division into the high peaks of Islamic, nuclear Pakistan to cut off the tribal fugitives from Tora Bora? Or have we put out of our memories the brilliant trial balloons of a Taliban coalition government and the all Islamic post-Taliban occupation forces?

So it is with the latest feeding-frenzy over Donald Rumsfeld. His recent spur-of-the-moment but historically plausible remarks to the effect that one goes to war with the army one has rather than the army one wishes for angered even conservatives. The demands for his head are to be laughed off from an unserious Maureen Dowd ranting on spec about the shadowy neocon triad of Wolfowitz, Feith, and Perle but taken seriously from a livid Bill Kristol or Trent Lott. Rumsfeld is, of course, a blunt and proud man, and thus can say things off the cuff that in studied retrospect seem strikingly callous rather than forthright. No doubt he has chewed out officers who deserved better. And perhaps his quip to the scripted, not-so-impromptu question was not his best moment.

But his resignation would be a grave mistake for this country at war, for a variety of reasons.

Rumsfeld Under Attack

2004-12-23T22:21:00.000-05:00

This Cox & Forkum cartoon captures the situation perfectly.

UPDATE: Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise Christmas Eve visit to U.S. troops in Mosul.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited wounded soldiers and brought holiday greetings on Christmas Eve amid tight security at an air base in northern Iraq where an insurgent's attack killed 14 U.S. troops and eight other people earlier this week.

UPDATE II: Here's more on Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Mosul. (From Power Line)

God and Governments

2004-12-23T22:13:00.000-05:00

Are American soldiers doing the Lord's work in Iraq? Brendan Miniter thinks so.

More Firefox Hoopla

2004-12-23T20:30:00.000-05:00

Uh-oh! Looks like there's more hype about Firefox. The New York Times has an article with a very favorable assessment of Firefox's chances to re-ignite the "browser wars."

Gary Schare, Microsoft's director of product management for Windows, has been assigned the unenviable task of explaining how Microsoft plans to respond to the Firefox challenge with a product whose features were last updated three years ago. He has said that current users of Internet Explorer will stick with it once they take into account "all the factors that led them to choose I.E. in the first place." Beg your pardon. Choose? Doesn't I.E. come bundled with Windows?

Mr. Schare has said that Mozilla's Firefox must prove it can smoothly move from version 1.0 to 2.0, and has thus far enjoyed "a bit of a free ride." If I were the spokesman for the software company that included the company's browser free on every Windows PC, I'd be more careful about using the phrase "free ride."

eWeek.com also has an article encouraging Windows users to switch to Firefox for security reasons.

People who don't get security often say that if Firefox or any other open-source software were only as popular as IE, their security would be just as bad. Nope. Wrong.

First, open-source software is constantly being looked at by numerous developers. When problems are found, and they are all the time, they're quickly fixed. With Microsoft code, you have to trust that its programmers are on the ball and that they'll fix problems quickly. You look at their track record and you decide if that's true. I know what I think.

Second, on Windows, open-source applications are just that: applications. Microsoft programs, by their very nature, are tied directly into the operating system kernel. This means, IEand other Microsoft Windows applications such as Outlookenables any security hole to potentially rip open the entire operating system.

Earlier, I linked to an interview with Mr. Schare where he named backwards compatibility as a major reason that Microsoft is not offering updates to Internet Explorer.

We could change the CSS support and many other standards elements within the browser rendering platform. But in doing so, we would also potentially break a lot of things. We have to strike the balance of what's okay to break and what shouldn't we break, and how do we roll this out in a way that does a clean break, if you will.

However, some people think Internet Explorer has already broken the web. And I think there is a lot, a whole lot, of merit in these arguments.

Now, Scott Ott has the full details on Microsoft's latest plans to update IE.

UPDATE: Here's a contrasting opinion.

Ukrainian Election News

2004-12-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

First, on Monday the two Ukrainian presidential rivals faced-off in a televised debate.

The two rivals stood at lecterns facing each other in a blue television studio, with an electronic clock behind a moderator. A small table was between them, with a desktop flag of Ukraine sitting on it.

Yushchenko, wearing a tie and a handkerchief in his campaign color of orange, spoke first. He said the reason for the Dec. 26 election rerun "was that the results of the Nov. 21 votes were stolen ... by my opponent and his team."

Yanukovych, wearing a tie in his trademark blue, spoke in Russian instead of Ukrainian in his introductory remarks.

"Your accusations toward me and toward my voters don't give us the chance to look into the future optimistically," he said, wagging his finger at Yushchenko.

Yanukovych suggested that a Yushchenko victory would further divide the nation.

I find it intriguing that Yanukovych would suggest that a victory by Yushchenko in this weekend's election would divide the nation since it isn't Yanukovych's offices that are the targets of violence.

Late Sunday, assailants hurled a firebomb at Yushchenko's campaign office in the city of Mariupil in the Donetsk region, a statement posted on his party Web site said. There were no injuries, but the office was seriously damaged in an ensuing fire.

But I suppose this is similar to the "staged" violence Republicans perpetrated against Bush-Cheney offices here in the U.S. this past election season. Just trying to gain some sympathy. Well, it worked on me!

Next up, Vladimir Putin seems to have seen the writing on the wall. He now believes he can work with a Yushchenko administration in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who openly backed Viktor Yushchenko's rival for president of the Ukraine, said Tuesday he could work with an administration headed by the pro-Western candidate.

"We have worked with him already and the cooperation was not bad," Putin said during a visit to Germany. "If he wins, I don't see any problems."

Apparently, this news has not given Yushchenko any warm and fuzzy feelings. Wednesday evening he warned his supporters to expect violence in connection with the election on Sunday.

He told the thousands gathered in the square to mark the one-month anniversary since protests against election fraud began that they had changed Ukraine without bloodshed.

But he warned: "There are some forces preparing disruption and they are preparing brigades, groups which are ready to come to Kiev."

UPDATE: More on election violence concerns:

In Kiev, rumors are swirling that Cossacks and miners from mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine are readying to disrupt Sunday's vote or head to Kiev in case of a Yushchenko victory.

Campaign officials for Yanukovych, who draws most of his support from eastern Ukraine, have repeatedly denied the allegations. Law enforcement officials have said they would maintain law and order during the rerun.

Suicide Bomber Responsible for Base Attack

2004-12-23T13:34:00.000-05:00

The attack on FOB Marez was most likely caused by a suicide bomber.

Tuesday's attack was the deadliest breach of security at a U.S. military base since the Iraq war began. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said there will be a reassessment of U.S. security procedures as a result. (Related: Photos from the scene)

U.S. officials initially reported that rocket or mortar fire had struck the plastic-skinned tent Tuesday at Forward Operating Base Marez. But Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, "We have had a suicide bomber apparently strap something to his body ... and go into a dining hall."

I expect the blame game will start with the usual suspects (MSM, Dems, anti-war crowd, etc.) blaming Rumsfeld and the Pentagon brass for being unprepared for such a style of attack and demanding an investigation. And an investigation should be launched; it just shouldn't be politicized. The purpose of any investigation into how a terrorist got into the tent with an IED shouldn't be to place blame, but to determine what can be done to prevent a future tragedy. Look for old media, though, to put the pressure on to find out who's to blame, not at looking for ways to prevent a future attack like this one from occurring.

In related news, Donald Rumsfeld expressed grief over the criticism that he has been receiving the past two weeks.

Looking more subdued than during most of his public appearances at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded to a barrage of criticism Wednesday by saying he cares deeply about the lives of U.S. troops who go in harm's way.

One day after 14 U.S. soldiers and four contractors died in a suicide bombing at an Army mess hall near Mosul, Rumsfeld did something he has rarely done in four years on the job: He talked about his feelings.

"I am truly saddened by the thought that anyone could have the impression that I or others here are doing anything other than working urgently to see that the lives of the fighting men and women are protected and cared for in every way humanly possible," Rumsfeld said. He said he shares "deeply" the loss family members feel when a soldier dies.

Iraq as Seen by the Iraqi People

2004-12-22T17:58:00.000-05:00

Jeff Jacoby highlights "Voices of Iraq" a documentary that shows Iraq as the citizens of Iraq see it.

"Voices of Iraq" is by turns heartbreaking, exhilarating, and inspiring. The war and its destruction is never far from the surface. One of the opening scenes is of a car bombing in Sadr City, and when a little girl is asked, "What do you want to tell the world about Iraq?" her answer is poignant: "These explosions are hurting everyone." A mother is seen weeping for her son, killed in the crossfire during a fight between US soldiers and looters. There is even footage -- supplied, Drury told NPR, by a sheik from Fallujah -- of insurgents preparing a bomb.

But bad as the war is, the horror it ended -- Saddam's 24-year reign -- was worse.

In the film, a young Kurdish mother tells her daughter, who is wielding the camcorder, how she would burn herself with cigarettes to prepare for the torture she knew was coming. A policeman recalls what it was like to arrest a member of the Ba'ath Party. "You'd be scared," he says. "You'd shake with fear." One man explains that Saddam's son Uday "used to come often to Ravad Street -- every Thursday for the market -- to choose a girl to rape."

A few brief clips are shown from a captured Fedayeen Saddam videotape: A blindfolded victim thrown to his death from a rooftop, a man's hand getting severed, someone's tongue being cut out.

It isn't hard to understand the emotions of the man who answers, when asked how he reacted to the news of Saddam's capture, "I danced like this! I kept dancing. Then I cried."

Yet for all they have been through, Iraqis come across as incredibly optimistic, hopeful, and enthusiastic. And above all, normal. In "Voices of Iraq" they film themselves flying on rides in an amusement park, dancing the night away at a graduation party, taking their kids to a playground, shopping for cellphones. A police officer mugs for the camera. Shoppers throng the streets of Suleimaniyah. A scrawny kid pumps iron with a makeshift barbell -- and gives a shout out to Arnold Schwarzenegger. ("I like your movies. You're a good actor. Can you please send me some real weights?")

The film's producers distributed 150 digital video cameras to Iraq, and asked ordinary Iraqis to film scenes of daily life in Iraq and then to pass the camera along. It seems that once Western media is out of the way, things in Iraq, while not perfect and certainly still dangerous, don't seem quite so bleak.

Recognizing the Small Bloggers

2004-12-22T16:45:00.000-05:00

La Shawn Barber provides some background on the smaller blogs which helped to break and spread the Ra^thergate story.

La Shawn on her blog also shares her motivation for writing the story.

These are the kinds of contributions I had in mind when I wrote the other day that "Bloggers" might have been a better choice for Time Magazine's Person of the Year. (Not that the President isn't a darn good one.)

The Slow Death of the Left

2004-12-22T14:13:00.000-05:00

Michael Ledeen explains how the left lost its way.

The slow death of the Left was not limited to its failure to comprehend how profoundly the world had changed, but included elements that had been there all along, outside the purview of leftist thought. Marx was famously unable to comprehend the importance of religion, which he dismissively characterized as the "opiate of the masses," and the Left had long fought against organized religion. But America had remained a religious society, which both baffled and enraged the leftists. On the eve of the 2004 elections, some 40 percent of the electorate consisted of born-again Christians, and the world at large was in the grips of a massive religious revival, yet the increasingly isolated politicians and intellectuals of the Left had little contact and even less understanding of people of faith.

Unable to either understand or transform the world, the Left predictably lost its bearings. It was entirely predictable that they would seek to explain their repeated defeats by claiming fraud, or dissing their own candidates, or blaming the stupidity of the electorate. Their cries of pain and rage echo those of past elites who looked forward and saw the abyss. There is no more dramatic proof of the death of the Left than the passage of its central vision global democratic revolution into the hands of those who call themselves conservatives.

History has certainly not ended, but it has added a new layer to its rich compost heap.

Rumsfeld Responds to Critics

2004-12-22T13:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's USA Today featured an op-ed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

A post-9/11 world has required the U.S. military to make many changes changes that weren't contemplated in the heady years of the 1990s, after the end of the Cold War. For example, today the department is buying more Predator aircraft and more precision munitions than anyone thought would be needed before 9/11.

Working with Congress, the department canceled at least two multibillion-dollar Cold War-era Army weapons systems: the Crusader artillery system and the Comanche helicopter. Undoubtedly, others will be considered. Any changes will most likely be opposed by special interests wedded to their systems, but nonetheless, we must continue to shift resources so we will be more adept at meeting today's challenges.

Also, during successive decades of national security policymaking, the government decided that it made sense to place large percentages of our war-fighting capability into the reserve component of the armed forces. What may have made sense during the Cold War makes less sense today, when it is clear that we need more of those skills such as military police, logisticians, civil affairs specialists as part of the active force. The fact is, with some 2.4 million Americans serving in some uniformed capacity (active, Guard and Reserve), it is not that we have too little military personnel, but rather that the skill sets are not well apportioned among active, Guard and Reserve forces for today's needs.

UPDATE: Power Line has two posts adressing the autopen controversy. And another post where the father of a Marine addresses this issue.

More on Yesterday's Rocket Attack

2004-12-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

Chaplain Lewis has written a first person account of the aftermath of yesterday's attack on a mess tent at FOB Marez.

After a few tense moments people began to move around again and the business of patching bodies and healing minds continued in earnest. As I stood talking with some other chaplain, an officer approached and not seeing us, yelled, "Is there a chaplain around here?" I turned and asked what I could do. He spoke to us and said that another patient had just been moved to the "expectant" list and would one of us come pray for him. I walked in and found him lying on the bed with a tube in his throat, and no signs of consciousness. There were two nurses tending to him in his final moments. One had a clipboard so I assumed she'd have the information I wanted. I turned to her and asked if she knew his name. Without hesitation the other nurse, with no papers, blurted out his first, middle, and last name. She had obviously taken this one personally. I'll call him "Wayne". I placed my hand on his head and lightly stroked his dark hair. Immediately my mind went to my Grandpa's funeral when I touched his soft grey hair for the last time. And for the second time in as many hours I prayed wondering if it would do any good, but knowing that God is faithful and can do more than I even imagine. When I finished I looked up at the nurse who had known his name. She looked composed but struggling to stay so. I asked, "Are you OK?" and she broke down. I put my arm around her to comfort and encourage her. She said, "I was fine until you asked!" Then she explained that this was the third patient to die on her that day.

(From LGF)

Also, Jeremy Redmon, a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch attached to the 276th Engineer Battalion in Iraq, was an eyewitness to the carnage, and has written a story for his paper about the tragedy.

UPDATE: Other stories about the aftermath: FOX News, AP and Reuters.

UPDATE II: While no words can ease the sorrow caused by the loss of life yesterday, Power Line reminds us about the big picture. Also included in the post is a link to an article about the attack, which indicates that it may have been perpetrated by a suicide bomber, and not by a rocket or mortar.

Don't Pick on the Amish

2004-12-21T14:13:00.000-05:00

N.Z. Bear is picking on the Amish. Okay not really, but he is taking exception to the state of Ohio for granting an legal exception for jury duty to the Amish. It seems that the Amish as a tenet of their faith don't want to judge others, citing Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." As a result potential Amish jurors are excused by the court. So far, so good. If someone was a reasonable reason, like a religious objection or a medical condition, for not wanting (or being able) to participate in our justice system as a juror then we shouldn't (and in reality, we can't) force them to participate.

The reason for the law is an attempt to increase voting participation among the Amish.

Ohio courts pick prospective jurors from lists of registered voters or licensed drivers.

The Amish, who don't drive and aren't on the license lists, often forgo voting. Studies put Amish voter participation at less than 10 percent.

"They're being disenfranchised from their voting rights because of concerns about jury duty," said Grendell, whose district includes a sizable Amish settlement around Middlefield east of Cleveland.

N.Z. Bear believes this exchange to be an acceptable one.

This actually seems a reasonably satisfactory outcome, to me. In an ideal world, the Amish would be deprived of the right to trial-by-jury, to balance their refusal to participate in providing that same right to their fellow citizens. But sacrificing the right to vote will do, I suppose.

But the problem with this is that it allows a "backdoor" disenfranchisement of the Amish. They shouldn't be forced to lose their right to vote, because they can't (or won't) participate in as a juror in our trial system due to religious reasons.

A better solution, rather than setting a legal precedent that enshrines the Amish as some sort of protected class, would be to change the method of choosing prospective jurors. If the concern is that the Amish won't participate due to concerns over jury duty, then don't use voter rolls to choose jurors. Use property tax lists, or something similar to that. That would alleviate any concerns that tie jury duty to voter rolls and maintain the status quo. The Amish, then able to participate in voting freely, would not be disenfranchised, and the precedent for exempting people from jury duty or other unpopular civic duties would not be set.

Ultimately, I think that this law will have little effect in increasing voter participation among the Amish. They strike me as wanting as little to do with the outside world as possible, and I suspect that includes politics as well.

Rocket Attack on Military Base in Iraq

2004-12-21T12:33:00.000-05:00

I heard about this on the radio while I was out earlier today doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Islamic militants struck a mess hall on a military base in northern Iraq near Mosul.

Rockets struck a mess tent at a military base in Mosul where hundreds of U.S. soldiers had just sat down to lunch Tuesday, and military officials said at least 20 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded. A radical Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility.

The dead included U.S. military personnel, U.S. contractors, foreign national contractors and Iraqi army, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia in Mosul.

The number of casualties is unclear, but within moments of the attack soldiers where tending to the wounded.

The force of the explosions knocked soldiers off their feet and out of their seats as a fireball enveloped the top of the tent and shrapnel sprayed into the area, Redmon said.

Amid the screaming and thick smoke in the tent, soldiers turned their tables upside down, placed the wounded on them and gently carried them into the parking lot, [Jeremy] Redmon [Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch reporter] said.

Scores of troops crammed into concrete bomb shelters, while others wandered around in a daze and collapsed, he said.

Other sources: FOX News, Reuters, and MSNBC.

Targeting Rumsfeld

2004-12-20T21:11:00.000-05:00

Old media, having failed to take down President Bush, now seems to have its sights set on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. First, came the up-armor non-story. Here's what one National Guardsman serving with the 278th in Northern Iraq thinks about the up-armor controversy.

Now comes the revelation that, Rumsfeld didn't sign the letters of condolence sent to the families of U.S. service members killed in action.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided to personally sign condolence letters to the family members of U.S. troops killed in action rather than letting a machine affix his signature.

Republican and Democratic members of Congress criticized the embattled Pentagon chief on Sunday for not signing the letters himself all along.

Let me make sure I understand this. Rumsfeld is not fit to be Secretary of Defense because he didn't put pen to paper when signing these condolence letters. In what way does this impact his ability to lead the nation's armed forces?

What it amounts to is a political jihad to get Rumsfeld's scalp by some politicians sniffing the wind and noticing that Rumsfeld's approval rating is falling. If the issue is with the composition of the armed forces, or the number of troops in Iraq, or the failure to anticipate a guerilla war in Iraq, or some other factor Rumsfeld had (or should have had) control over, fine. Maybe he deserves to be run out of Washington for any (or all) of these reasons. But to focus on a completely manufactured and bogus issue, or one as trivial as whether the signature on a letter was ink from a pen or ink from a stamp seems ridiculous to me.

Well, at least President Bush is sticking by his Secretary of Defense.

Rumsfeld over the weekend was accused of being insensitive after admitting he did not personally sign letters of condolence to families of more than 1,000 soldiers killed in Iraq but instead had them signed by auto-pen.

Rumsfeld later said he would now sign them by hand.

"Sometimes, perhaps his demeanor is rough and gruff. But below that rough and gruff, no-nonsense demeanor is a good human being who cares deeply about the military and deeply about the grief that war causes," Bush said.

Other reactions:

Linked to Outside the Beltway Traffic Jam

The Joys of Dog Ownership

2004-12-20T12:14:00.000-05:00

Ben Stein relates what brings him the most joy in life:

I have worked for two Presidents in the White House, been in dozens of movies, played in one of the best sitcoms of all time, The Wonder Years, won Emmies for my quiz show. I have been married to a glorious wife for almost 40 years and we have a handsome, rugged son. This is all good stuff, even great stuff....But....

None of this gives me the serenity that being next to a sweet, loving big furry dog gives. There is a magical connection between dog and human that offers a glimpse of heaven.

And, it seems that Dave Barry's well reasoned arguments in favor of a dog haven't been able to convince his wife of the benefit having a dog brings.

My wife, who would not touch the Special Toy with a barge pole, is less impressed. She fails to see the appeal of an animal that appears to be less intelligent than its own parasites. Oh, I've tried to explain the advantages of having a dog. For example:

A DOG IS ALWAYS READY. It doesn't matter for what: Dogs are just ready. If you leave your car window open, the dog will leap into the car and sit there for hours. It will sit there for DAYS, if you let it. Because the dog knows that sometimes the car just starts moving, and you have to be ready! Usually the dog will sit in the driver's seat, in case (You never know!) the dog is called upon to steer.

A DOG IS VIGILANT. One time, on a movie set, I watched a small dog walk past a line of six metal light stands. When the dog came to the sixth light stand -- which was EXACTLY the same as the other five light stands -- the dog stopped and began barking furiously at it. The dog would NOT stop. The owner finally had to drag the dog away, with the dog yanking wildly at its leash, still enraged by the light stand. Clearly the dog had detected some hostile intent in this particular light stand, something that we humans, with our inferior senses, were not aware of. We humans were thinking: "What's WRONG with that dog?" Whereas the light stand was thinking: "Whew! That was close!"

Now, I must admit that I have never owned a dog. (I grew up with cats, lots of cats.) But my wife is an unabashed dog lover, and she has repeatedly shared with me the special joy a dog brings its owner. Her last dog died of old age while we were dating. She (the dog, not my wife -- although my wife is pretty special too!) had such a wonderful personality that she transformed my aversion to dogs into an affinity for them. Unfortunately, we currently live in an apartment and aren't allowed to have pets, but we do plan on being a home for a special dog when we own a house with a yard.

Immigration Reform

2004-12-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

If you are concerned about immigration reform or the lack thereof, Diggers Realm has a roundup of posts about this issue.

In a separate post he also details the shell game Congress is playing regarding securing our borders. It is irresponsible of lawmakers in Congress to call for a doubling of the size of the Border Patrol without allocating the funds to make such an increase reality. Once again, Washington politicians want to look strong on an issue, while doing nothing to really address the problem.

Good News from Iraq Continues

2004-12-20T08:39:00.000-05:00

Arthur Chrenkoff has posted another roundup of good news from Iraq.

I had wondered aloud whether or not those nations that did not support the war in Iraq would participate in preparing Iraq for the January election and in securing the success of the election. One of the most positive signs for the upcoming election is the participation of nations who opposed U.S. military intervention in Iraq:

Other foreign assistance for the election continues to flow in. Canada has offered to train election officials in Iraq and to help monitor the vote. Japan will be training 10 Iraqi electoral officials from Baghdad and Muthana province. Germany, meanwhile, is assisting with electoral education: "A new radio program is about to hit the airwaves in Iraq focusing on the upcoming elections scheduled for the end of January. It's radio for Iraqis, by Iraqis, with a little help from [the German broadcaster] Deutsche Welle." The report continues:

"Even getting to this hotel conference room in Amman, Jordan was at times a life-threatening trek for some of the young Iraqi journalists. Those who came from southern or central Iraq had to make long detours around hotspots like Fallujah or Ramadi. Those from the north had to travel through Turkey and Syria to Jordan.

"But they were willing to embark on the sometimes dangerous journey because they are all committed to one thing: making radio for their fellow Iraqis.

"In this case, they'll be making Election Radio, a project funded by Germany's foreign ministry and coordinated by Deutsche Welle. Starting in mid December, the Iraqi journalists gathered in this hotel will be sending in reports from the ground daily to create a 30-minute program of current information over the upcoming vote in Iraq.

"The 19 journalists taking part in the project come from all 18 of Iraq's provinces. When they return, they will start producing radio packages and interviews that have been discussed with coordinators at Deutsche Welle.

"The reporters will then send their finished pieces in MP3 digital format to Berlin, where they are turned into the half-hour moderated program in Deutsche Welle's studio. The completed program is then sent back to Iraq, again by MP3, to local partner stations where it is broadcast."

While Canada and Japan are training electoral officials, Denmark is providing training for some of the candidates:

"About 100 candidates for Iraq's first popular election in decades traveled to Kuwait on Saturday for a seminar about the democratic process.

"The men and women were bused from the southern Iraqi city of Basra for the two-day event organized by Denmark's government. Two of the candidates are running for the national assembly, while the rest are candidates for local offices.

"The candidates will attend lectures by experts from the United Nations and Denmark about Iraq's election law, the role of political parties, campaigning and how the vote will be conducted."

It is heartening to see Canada, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland providing support to the democratic hopes of the people of Iraq. The story has many more examples of international aid helping the Iraqis to rebuild their country. One effort worthy of particular note is a seminar held in the Czech Republic to aid Iraqi judges to rebuild Iraq's justice system. But that's just a taste -- you really should read it all.

Remembering Bastogne

2004-12-20T08:04:00.000-05:00

I have not yet had the opportunity to visit Europe, although I have the desire to travel there sometime in my life. Among the places I would like to visit are the beaches at Normandy and Bastogne.

These are sacred places and I would very much like to honor the memories of the men who died in these places for their sacrifice in defeating a great evil in their time.

Interview with Chevy Chase

2004-12-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

Last week, Chevy Chase got himself in hot water over a colorful rant.

After actors Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon delivered speeches accepting their Defender of Democracy awards, Chase took the stage a final time and unleashed a rant against President Bush that stunned the crowd. He deployed the four-letter word that got Vice President Cheney in hot water, using it as a noun. Chase called the prez a "dumb [expletive]." He also used it as an adjective, assuring the audience, "I'm no [expletive] clown either. . . . This guy started a jihad."

Chase also said: "This guy in office is an uneducated, real lying schmuck . . . and we still couldn't beat him with a bore like Kerry."

Now, we've got the appropriate response.

(From INDC Journal)

President Bush Named Person of the Year

2004-12-19T20:40:00.000-05:00

President George Bush has been selected by Time Magazine as its 2004 Person of the Year.

President Bush's bold, uncompromising leadership and his clear-cut election victory made him Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2004, its managing editor said on Sunday.

Time chose Bush "for sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years," Jim Kelly wrote in the magazine.

Congratulations also to Power Line, which was chosen as the first ever Blog of the Year.

Power Line is certainly an excellent choice, although both LGF and INDC Journal played significant roles in the breaking of Ra^thergate. Also, blogs were instrumental to getting the story of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth coverage from the MSM and keeping the MSM honest in its reporting of that story and many others. Perhaps, a better choice for Person of the Year would have been "Bloggers". An strong argument can be made that a great deal of credit for the success of President Bush and the Republican party in this year's election was due to the right half of the blogosphere.

There's No Story Here

2004-12-18T15:39:00.000-05:00

Power Line points to the transcript of a press conference where the issue of up-armoring the vehicles in the unit of the National Guardsman who asked the question of Donald Rumsfeld about the lack of armor on various military vehicles was addressed. As the transcript makes clear, the Army was already deploying armor kits to the vehicles in Iraq, as part of a program over the past 18 months.

Now, we're going to focus today on up-armoring tactical wheeled vehicles, but what I want to do is remind you also that what we're doing today when we talk about tactical wheeled vehicles is only a part of a very broad strategy that's been in effect for many months now, as all of us work under the Secretary of Defense's direction to ensure that we properly protect Soldiers. So up-armoring is only a part of a comprehensive strategy. And although we won't address these topics today, what we also need to bear in mind is that we have very important efforts that are going on and have been long-standing programs over the course of the last 18 months to ensure that we counter IEDs with an IED task force; that we properly ensure that we give Soldiers more fire power, more armaments so that they can shoot more effectively and with more effect, and then also to protect them, both not only their vehicles but also the personal equipment that they wear on their body.

...

Level two force protection says that you have an existing fleet of many thousands of vehicles out there, and what you have to do is put additional protection on vehicles that are already in use out across the Army's inventory. And so that has been the other principal focus that we have. We can't automatically or magically swap out all of the equipment that we have out in the theater, but what we can do is develop programs where we take kits and put them onto existing pieces of equipment.

Now this is not a trivial process. We'll talk to you about the testing that goes into these level two kits, so that we put the right things on pieces of equipment. We'll talk about making sure that the actual system can continue to operate with many thousand more pounds on it, in some cases.

For example, for a humvee, the typical add-on armor kit is just over a thousand pounds. And so you could imagine, if I took and put a thousand pounds more weight on your -- the vehicle you drive back and forth to work, it would have secondary impacts in terms of your suspension and your powertrain. We have to test those things out to make sure that we're giving a soldier something that can endure in combat; it won't just break the minute he starts to operate it. So the level-two kit is a sophisticated requirement and one that we've been very successful in adapting, not just for humvees but, as we'll show you, for a variety of systems. And then level three is locally fabricated armor.

...

But over time now we've grown to a very, very high standard, and when you go, for example, and visit the fabrication facilities that we have in Kuwait today, what you'll see is, first of all, the Defense Logistics Agency-approved steel being used. You'll see actual templates that have been designed in part by the drivers who operate the equipment. And you'll see very, very experienced machinists and welders who are putting this stuff on. And we'll show you some pictures of what high-quality work this is. This is an interim solution, but it's a darn good solution that's been very, very effective as we take a look at what we've done to protect the force.

This process isn't limited solely to Iraq either.

So for example, right now, if you go to Fort Carson, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is executing up-armoring this week, and they will have that effort complete here in the course of the next several weeks. The goal then being that when they deploy, the majority of the pieces of equipment that they're going to deploy will already have up- armoring added to them. They will then complete that operation with fewer pieces of equipment when they actually get into combat zones. So we will have taken care of the bulk of their requirement at home station.

We have a similar effort under way in U.S. Army Europe. As you're aware, we have forces there that are going to deploy to Afghanistan, and when they deploy to Afghanistan, what we want to try to do once again is get up-armoring solutions to them now instead of waiting till they get to the combat zone.

And here is the current status of the up-armored vehicles in Iraq:

Now, where are we today? We've had a discussion here about the level one, level two and level three. This is the status of forces today with respect to what has been armored in theater, okay? As General Speakes mentioned, we're doing everything we can with respect to getting level one and level two there. At this point in time, because of the production requirements, we have actually begun to install level three. And between the two of them combined, today we have about 61 percent of the vehicles taken care of.

I would point out here, though, that with respect to the light tactical vehicles, and that's the vehicles that have been suffering the majority of casualties and the majority of incidents, we're now at 80 percent, and the plan is by March to actually have not only these vehicles taken care of but also the heavy truck fleet, so we'll have those installed in theater.

And in regards to the unit of the National Guardsman who asked the up-armor question of Donald Rumsfeld:

Q Thank you. I was wondering if we should be thinking about the difference between soldiers who are going to be headed into Iraq and Soldiers who are already there. A lot of the concerns about who did and didn't have were from soldiers who were going in, and I didn't -- I personally didn't get a sense of what the people who are already there are using and what their needs and gaps are.

GEN. SPEAKES: Very, very good question. The first point is that you'll recollect that one of the questions was the status of the 278 ACR; in other words, the date that we had the visit by the secretary of Defense, we had a question about their up-armoring status. When the question was asked, 20 vehicles remained to be up-armored at that point. We completed those 20 vehicles in the next day. And so over 800 vehicles from the 278 ACR were up-armored, and they are a part now of their total force that is operating up in Iraq.

Q When you say they're 100 percent up-armored, does that mean 100 percent of their requirement or 100 percent of their vehicles?

GEN. SPEAKES: Yes, what we did is there was a total of 804 vehicles that were identified as part of our up-armoring strategy. That's the wheeled vehicles that they brought north with them or drew when they got up in country. And so at this point the vehicles that they're operating, that they're driving, are all up-armored. There were a few vehicles that were put on heavy equipment transporters and moved up. The example would be, for example, the shop van, which is a large, essentially static vehicle. And it was taken up by a truck and dropped in position, but it was not operated on the way up there. So at this point, if you're in Kuwait and you're headed north up into Iraq, General Schoomaker's guidance is real clear: you're not going north of the berm, which means north of the border, in a non-up-armored vehicle, and that's our requirement. And so what you now have is an accountability process during the reception, staging and onward movement where every vehicle's accounted for and it gets up-armored or it doesn't go north.

So no soldiers will leave Kuwait without the up-armoring of their vehicles being completed. And the specific unit of the Guardsman who questioned Donald Rumsfeld was up-armored within twenty four hours of the question being asked.

There is no up-armoring issue, nor in my opinion was there one to begin with. The issue was created by a planted question by a newspaper "reporter" who wanted to make Donald Rumsfeld and the U.S. military look bad.

The remarkable point of all this "controversy" has been the fact that the Secretary of Defense would take unscreened questions from the men under his command. When was the last time you heard bin Laden fielding questions from the Al-Qaida grunts in Iraq? Have any of them asked him why the United States hasn't cut and run from Iraq or Afghanistan? The answer is the difference between America and her enemies. In America the military is answerable to the people; bin Laden answers to no one but himself.

The Myth of European Power

2004-12-18T14:39:00.000-05:00

In a NY Times op-ed, Timothy Garton Ash argues America is overlooking European power:

Why is it that Americans do not understand the power of the European Union? Is it because they are simply not well informed by reports from Brussels and other European capitals? Or is it because, as citizens of the world's last truly sovereign nation-state, Americans - and especially American conservatives - find it difficult to acknowledge the contribution of a transnational organization based on supranational law? It's as if they can conceive of power only in the old-fashioned terms of a classical nation-state.

Robert Kagan describes the difference between America and Europe as the difference between power and weakness - American power, that is, and European weakness. This description is sustainable only if power is measured in terms of military strength. In the way that some American conservatives talk about the European Union, I hear an echo of Stalin's famous question about the Vatican's power: how many divisions does the pope have? But the pope defeated Stalin in the end. This attitude overlooks the dimensions of European power that are not to be found on the battlefield.

Ash makes four arguments in favor of European power overcoming the American superpower:

The European approach to combating terrorism.
The economic standing of the EU.
The appeal of European culture and society.
The ability of the EU for continued growth by admitting new nation states to the union.

Stephen Bainbridge effectively counters Ash's arguments.

If Ash were right, and the EU really were equal in power to the US, I would argue that that would be cause for great concern. I'm not convinced that the EU is a force for good within its own borders, let alone in the wider world, where appeasement and coddling of dictators seems to be the order of the day. The good news therefore is that the EU is not equal to the US in power. The even better news is that the trendlines are in our favor; not theirs.

We have seen how the EU responds to terrorism and the regimes that foster terrorism in its approach to the Madrid bombing, Theo van Gogh's murder, and the Iranian nuclear issue. Additionally, Theo van Gogh's murder provides insight into the ability of European nations to absorb people of non-European descent. Van Gogh was murdered by a Dutch Islamic radical, the child of immigrants. Even with all of the benefits of Dutch citizenship and living in the midst of European culture and society, the murderer still felt that he needed to respond to van Gogh's affront to Islam with violence. When was the last time you heard of an American citizen murdering a prominent filmmaker or writer because of an affront to his religious principles? Until Europe can prove that it can successfully integrate its immigrants and their offspring into the greater whole of European society, Europe won't be able to continue to grow through admitting new members. Nor does its society have any special power over those outside Europe, when those of non-European descent in Europe reject that culture and choose barbarism instead.

Out of This World Images

2004-12-17T17:35:00.000-05:00

For some images that are truly out of this world, check out the multimedia gallery on NASA's Cassini-Huygens website. Below I've posted a few of my favorites, although there are many, many more spectacular images.

Dione and Saturn
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Nature's Canvas
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Titan's Many Layers
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

CNET News.com has more information on the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and its moons.

UPDATE: James Joyner has posted a link to the European Space Agency's Cassini-Huygens site with more information on the Huygens probe which will be deployed from the Cassini orbiter on December 25 and begin its 22 day journey to Titan.

Senators Leak Military Secrets

2004-12-17T13:32:00.000-05:00

If these allegations are true, then these men need to prosecuted to the full extent of the law. At a minimum, these men should be removed from the Senate Intelligence Committee and have their security clearance revoked until cleared by an investigation.

(From LGF)

The Loss of Liberal Credibility

2004-12-17T13:10:00.000-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson looks at why liberals have lost credibility, and offers them some advice on how to regain it.

There is much talk of post-election reorganization and rethinking among demoralized liberals, especially in matters of foreign policy. They could start by accepting that the demise of many of their cherished beliefs and institutions was not the fault of others. More often, the problems are fundamental flaws in their own thinking such as the ends of good intentions justifying the means of expediency and untruth, and forced equality being a higher moral good than individual liberty and freedom. Whether we call such notions political correctness or progressivism, the practice of privileging race, class, and gender over basic ethical considerations has earned the moralists of the Left not merely hypocrisy, but virtual incoherence.

Yushchenko Poisoning and More

2004-12-17T12:27:00.000-05:00

Whoever poisoned Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko really wanted him dead. The level of dioxin in his blood was 6000 times greater than the normal amount, the second highest recorded level of dioxin poisoning in a person. Yushchenko is convinced someone from the Ukrainian government is responsible for his poisoning.

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday that he was sure he was poisoned by the Ukrainian government and believes it most likely happened at a dinner he had with the country's top security service officials.

Yushchenko's comments, made in an interview with The Associated Press, were the first time he pinpointed when and where he believed he was poisoned with dioxin. He said it likely happened at a Sept. 5 dinner with the head of the Ukrainian security service, Ihor Smeshko, and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk.

"That was the only place where no one from my team was present and no precautions were taken concerning the food," he said. "It was a project of political murder, prepared by the authorities."

Slightly off topic, OpinionJounal has an piece detailing the religious aspect of the Orange Revolution, which is inspired by the candidate himself.

But there is another side to Ukraine's peaceful revolution. Interspersed with earnest youths, families and grandmothers who braved subzero temperatures at daily rallies for Mr. Yushchenko were nuns bearing orange sashes, proto-deacons and priest-monks.

The scene at Kiev's Independence Square was part political rally, part rock concert and part fireworks display. But it was also a religious experience. Each day's protest opened with prayer. On weekends, religious leaders held liturgies and prayer services for Orthodox Christians (whose adherents represent more than 60% of the population), Eastern Rite Catholics (10%), Protestants, evangelicals, Jews and Muslims. (Some 25% of Ukrainians say they are nonreligious.)

Mr. Yushchenko, who typically ends his speeches with "Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the Ukrainian People, and Glory to the Lord, Our God," is a devout Orthodox Christian from northeastern Ukraine who regularly takes confession and communion. His faith is reinforced by his American-born wife, Katya Chumachenko, who last week told the Chicago Tribune: "We're strong believers in God, and we strongly believe that God has a place for each one of us in this world, and that he has put us in this place for a reason."

The article goes on to draw a parallel between President Bush and Mr. Yushchenko, in the manner in which they both handle personal faith in public. The support Yushchenko has received comes from people of many different religious backgrounds and persuasions. In particular, Yushchenko's emphasis on ethics and non-corrupt government have resonated with the people of Ukraine. So I guess, "Moral Values" will be a deciding factor in this election as well.

UPDATE: Further tests have confirmed the amount of dioxin in Viktor Yushchenko's blood, and that it was tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin (TCDD). Ironically, TCDD was used to create Agent Orange.

Also, Captain Ed notes some saber rattling from Yushchenko's opponent Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

This Won't Make Fidel Happy

2004-12-16T18:34:00.000-05:00

One of Fidel Castro's granddaughters has become a citizen of the United States:

In an ironic twist to the always tense U.S.-Cuban relations, a granddaughter of one of America's perennial enemies pledged allegiance to the United States at a giant citizenship ceremony in Miami Beach on Wednesday.

I wonder how Castro is taking the news.

Mobile Phone Do Not Call Hoax

2004-12-16T18:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my wife called me to check out an email that was sent to her by a family member. The email alleged that telemarketers would start calling cell phone numbers on January 1 unless the number was registered on the Do Not Call list. Naturally, it turned out to be a hoax. CNET News.com also has a report on the hoax.

A hoax e-mail circulating the Internet has millions of Americans scurrying to add their cell phones to a national Do Not Call list to avoid telemarketers.

The e-mail warns recipients that telemarketers will have new rights to call cell phones beginning Jan. 1, if people don't request anonymity by Wednesday. In the last week, 9.5 million people registered with the Do Not Call list, many as a result of the warning, according to its governing agency the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC typically fields up to 200,000 requests in a week, according to FTC spokeswoman Jen Schwartzman.

"People are panicked, and I think the only thing they got right in the e-mail is our Web site registration information," Schwartzman said.

However, while looking up details on the hoax, I came across this interesting story (second item).

Shortly after music director Nathan Robinson arrived at the Guitar Center in Grossmont Center mall to buy new equipment, in walked a man in his 20s carrying the church's Yamaha keyboard. Robinson recognized the fellow as someone who'd stopped by the church about three months earlier to inquire about its program.

...

While awaiting police, an employee tested the keyboard and detained the seller. As soon as the La Mesa police arrived, the man bolted out of the store and blended into a sea of holiday shoppers – but he conveniently left behind his driver's license and thumb print.

...

When the choir arrived for rehearsal that evening, the equipment was back in its place and ready for service. The thief, no doubt, was wishing he'd gone to a different music store.

Santa Needs Some Cash

2004-12-16T17:29:00.000-05:00

JibJab.com has a new subject: Santa Claus.

Plus they are promoting Operation Give.

More on Hillary Clinton and Immigration Reform

2004-12-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

Diggers Realm has a roundup of reaction in the blogosphere to Hillary's stance on immigration reform. Digger also says a big "thank you" to Hillary for bringing this issue out in the open. I agree with him that this issue is important enough that we should be encouraged that someone is taking it seriously, even if that person isn't a candidate I would naturally support.

While I probably would never vote for Hillary Clinton (imagine if she was running against Charlie Rangel as the Republican nominee *chortle*) the fact that she has dropped this issue wholeheartedly into the middle of these people who are taking a lame stance on it makes me smile. Just maybe these issue dodgers will actually look at the issue as a serious threat to their current positions and do something about it.

As most of the Citizens in this country want something to be done about illegal immigration there should be a big shout from the mountaintop that Hillary Clinton's comments do actually mirror the majority in this country. Whether we would vote for her or not the people who won't address it need to get off their butts and take a stance.

I am all for Hillary talking this issue up. And I doubt she'll do anything about it if she were to be elected, but her talking about it places this issue in the public arena, which just might start some meaningful dialogue. This will force those who would rather ignore it to it to start giving this issue some critical attention.

Firefox and the Blogosphere

2004-12-16T10:58:00.000-05:00

From Instapundit, I came across a post by Colby Cosh about Firefox, the recently released browser from the Mozilla Organization and its representation among the readers of the blogosphere.

The latest public independent data show Firefox's share of the browser market growing fast--from 3% to 4% between November and December. (Þ: Taylor.) Is this surprising news? It is to this Firefox convert, not because 4% seems like a lot, but because my own browser-share figures have had Firefox running in double digits for some months now. Check out the browser-share numbers at Instapundit, which should be similar (they vary from hour to hour). It seems like Firefox users are overrepresented amongst people who read weblogs, who may be relatively savvy and Internet-immersed. Internet Explorer, of course, can last a long time as the Browser for People Who Don't Know Any Better. (AOL, which occupies a similar position amongst ISPs, is still chugging along.) But Microsoft must at least be a little bit unnerved about all this.

Judging by this story, at least publicly, Microsoft seems to consider Firefox a nuisance more than a threat.

His post then prompted a response from a web developer, who's over the hype surrounding Firefox.

I think I've brought this up before, but there's nothing "light years ahead" about Firefox. It's just Mozilla with a precious logo and some browbeating marketing behind it. It's perfectly fine for standard web browsing, but what isn't these days? The browser reached functional maturity years ago and all that has been done since then is feature twiddling and graphical polish. I find Firefox easy to develop for, but serious stuff – anything really complicated – is still easier in IE.

Oh, and here's the serious footwork Microsoft would have to do to "catch up":

Put the Explorer control in a tabbed shell

The end. Well by god I don't know if the boys in Redmond are capable.

Apparently, it's not that easy:

For architectural reasons, it turns out you can't just add tabs via an add-on into the IE app itself. You can get tabs by running a different app like those other browsers that build on the IE platform, so it's a nice option for people.

We've looked at whether you can add tabs through a browser helper object or some other way of extending IE, and it turns out you can't. Then of course the Web developer stuff is also that core platform changes and wouldn't be deemed an add-on. The challenge there, as we have been kind of public on our blogs when discussing with Web developers, is backward compatibility.

Now, I would agree that some of the hype for Firefox is overblown, but I really do think that it is a better browser for me for a number of reasons:

Tabbed Browsing: I love this feature, and I find that when I am forced to use a browser that doesn't have it (Internet Explorer) that I miss it and quickly become frustrated by not having it, but if, like the developer I quoted above, you don't like it then fine. There are other reasons for me that make Firefox superior to IE.
Security: Just removing ActiveX makes Firefox more secure. Does it lose some functionality? Sure, but nothing that I have not been able to live without, and if I really want to see some ActiveX widget, then I can always use IE to view it. And I am not really crazy about a browser component having system level access to my operating system, anyway. One point in Microsoft's favor on this issue is the inclusion of an ActiveX blocker in the latest enhancements to IE included with Windows XP Service Pack 2. But to get those security enhancements, if you aren't using Windows XP, it's going to cost you.
Live Bookmarks: This useful innovation has changed the way I read blogs. Basically, a live bookmark is a bookmark (in IE, that is a favorite) which contains the current headlines from a weblog's RSS or Atom feeds. I find this to be a handy way for me to quickly scan the headlines on many weblogs. I really hadn't found an RSS reader which I liked, but when this was introduced, once I started to use it, I found it positively changed the way I read blogs. Suddenly, syndication feeds were much more useful to me.
Web Standards: I admit that this is an esoteric reason for most of the general public, but to web developers it is a big deal. When Internet Explorer 4 came out, I switched from Netscape 4 because developing for IE was easier and it supported more of the standards that had been established at the time for web development. But Microsoft has not kept pace with the industry in this regard, so when the original Mozilla browser was released, I switched and I started using Firefox when version 0.2 was released. I haven't looked back. Unfortunately, IE is the market leader and so I have to conform my work to it and all of its quirks, just as I had to conform my work to Netscape Navigator's quirks when it was heavily used on campus.

Not to be too hard on Microsoft, I do believe that the programmers who develop IE want to make it more secure and improve its standards support, but are hamstrung to a certain degree by keeping updates to the browser backwards-compatible. And they are looking for feedback about IE, and if you truly do like IE then by all means use it. But don't try to sell me on the line that it is as good as other browsers because for me the evidence points elsewhere.

UPDATE: Uh-oh! More hype for Firefox now that the New York Times has run an ad for Firefox. I have posted before on the Firefox ad campaign.

More on the Conservative Edition of Hillary Clinton

2004-12-16T08:44:00.000-05:00

I posted earlier about Hillary Clinton's moving to the right of the Bush Administration on immigration. But, Michelle Malkin noted this three weeks ago. She argues that this issue transcends party lines and could siphon off voters who don't feel that border security is being taken seriously by the Republican party.

Unlike the Wall Street Journal editorial board, she seems to understand that the overwhelming support among Americans of all backgrounds for stricter immigration enforcement is grounded not in knee-jerk "nativism," but in rational self-preservation. It isn't just bigots who want secure borders. It's families like the parents and widows who formed 9/11 For A Secure America, many of whom are lifelong Republicans fed up with the pro-amnesty antics of the Bush White House. It's families of victims of illegal immigration, whom both the Beltway and media have ignored.

I myself would never vote for Hillary. But the Republican establishment takes for granted at its peril the significant number of party faithful who may be sorely tempted to do so if the Bush betrayal at the border continues.

I am content to let Hillary talk about it all she wants, if it forces potential Republican candidates to focus on it. We need immigration reform--especially tighter border controls. And as Michelle points out, this issue isn't about racism but about protecting this country. And if Hillary's taking a decisive stand on this issue doesn't get Republicans talking about it, then they'll more than likely get what they deserve come 2008.

The Orange Revolution Hits the Campaign Trail

2004-12-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has encouraged his supporters to participate in a tour of Eastern Ukraine designed to spread the Orange Revolution to that region.

Yanukovych and Yushchenko face off in a Dec. 26 repeat vote ordered by the Supreme Court.

While Yushchenko garnered support in western and central Ukraine, Yanukovych draw much of his backing from eastern, mainly Russian speaking regions.

Yushchenko's supporters said that was where the Orange Revolution - which draws its name from his campaign color of orange and the street protests that erupted after the Nov. 21 runoff - was headed.

"We would like the spirit of civil resistance to reach everyone's heart," said Vasyl Kuderiavets, a 34-year-old businessman from the western city of Lviv. "Everyone wants to be free. But not everyone realizes that."

The convoy of more than 150 opposition supporters left Kiev with sirens blaring and orange flags unfurled. They plan to show videos of the protests from Kiev's Independence Square, to organize rallies - and to leave graffiti on every gray wall they find.

Minnesota's Faithless Elector

2004-12-15T09:27:00.000-05:00

In a sure sign that John Kerry ran one of the most forgettable presidential campaigns in American history, one of Minnesota's ten Democratic electors cast a presidential ballot for "Ewards". Presumably, it was a vote cast for John Edwards, the Democratic candidate for vice-president. John Edwards then received all ten ballots cast for vice-president. So, did an elector want to lodge an anonymous protest, or did that person just forget the name of the Democratic candidate for president? Either way, none of the electors has come forward to admit the mistake (or take credit for it, if you prefer).

An unknown Minnesota Democrat earned a footnote in history Monday by casting one of the state's 10 Electoral College votes for John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential running mate for John Kerry.

The Edwards vote gives Minnesota its first "faithless elector," the dubious name for Electoral College members who snub the candidate who won the state's popular vote in the general election. Kerry, who beat President Bush in Minnesota but lost overall, wound up with nine of the state's electoral votes.

No one claimed credit for the Edwards vote. Several electors said they suspected that someone unconsciously mixed up the two Johns on the ticket rather than purposefully made a political statement.

Look for the critics of the Electoral College to use this incident as another argument for abolishing the it altogether. Although, Timothy Noah in Slate makes the case for exposing the Electoral College vote to the public, thus establishing a method of accountability which might prevent "faithless" electors.

When a ballot is cast in secret in an ordinary election, the result is good for democracy because no voter need worry about being criticized or penalized over his choice. But when a ballot is cast in secret in the Electoral College, the result is bad for democracy, for precisely the same reason. We want electors to worry about being criticized or penalized over their choice, because electors aren't supposed to exercise choice in the first place. Secrecy makes it impossible to know whether the elector did what the voters sent him to do; it renders the Electoral College unaccountable to the people.

Progress in Afghanistan

2004-12-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

Afghan security forces arrested two high ranking Taliban commanders, one of which was a former security chief for Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Tohr Mullah Naqvi, the Taliban rebels' military commander for Kandahar province, and his deputy Mullah Qayum, also known as Mullah Hunger, were nabbed Monday night at a home in Kandahar city, said Abdullah Laghmani, the provincial intelligence chief.

Laghmani said another suspect apprehended in the city earlier Monday driving a vehicle containing 460 pounds of explosives, allegedly intended for Taliban fighters, had led them to the two commanders.

More details on the arrests. Hopefully, Mullah Omar isn't far behind.

Nezalezhnastsi for Ukraine and for Iraq

2004-12-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

"Nezalezhnastsi" means "independence" in Ukrainian. Daniel Henninger writes on the burgeoning democracies in Iraq and Ukraine and wonders if the Western European governments, who have supported the opposition in Ukraine over the past few weeks, will support the Iraqi people come January 30.

Iraq's instability, notably in the country's center, is well advertised by now. Less appreciated, however, is Iraq's growing measure of economic stability and vitality.

"Baghdad is booming," says Mohammed Fadhil Ali, one of three remarkable Ali brothers who oversee the Web log, Iraqthemodel.com. Mohammed and his younger brother Omar came this week to the Journal's offices, their first trip to the States, to discuss Iraq's future.

They were not overwhelmed by New York's holiday crush; Baghdad's population is roughly 5.7 million people. Stores there are overflowing with goods and the streets jammed with shoppers. It appears that the number of cars has doubled in a year. "The middle class is growing," says Omar. After the April 9, 2003, "liberation," Mohammed was determined to photograph every new building in Baghdad. "Now there is a new building in Baghdad every day; I can't count them all." Land and real-estate prices are surging. Most of the investment is coming out of the Arab world, not the West.

They made a couple of other interesting points about Iraq's political mood. One, Iraqis won't vote for a government dominated by Islamist religionists. Why? The abhorred next-door example of Iran's mullahs. This mirrors elections already held in Iraq. In a local election last year in Nazariya, with 47,000 votes cast amid imams urging support for Islamic parties, the biggest vote-getters were teachers, engineers and other professionals.

I remain hopeful but not optimistic that France, Germany and other nations opposed to the U.S. involvement in Iraq will respond in kind to the forthcoming Iraqi elections. In any case, we shall soon see.

For first time visitors, I have changed the color of my header to orange in support of the opposition in Ukraine.

Latest PEST Sighting

2004-12-13T23:40:00.000-05:00

Yet more members of the reality based community refuse to accept Kerry's loss:

Led by a coalition representing the Green and Libertarian parties, the dissidents are paying for recounts in each of Ohio's 88 counties that will begin this week. The recount is not expected to be complete until next week.

"John Kerry conceded so early in the process that it's maddening," said Kat L'Estrange of We Do Not Concede, an activist group born after the election that believes Kerry was the real winner in Ohio and nationally.

L'Estrange, Susan Truitt of the Columbus-based Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections, and others demanded that the electoral vote be put off until the recount is completed.

"In Ohio, there has not been a final determination. Therefore, any meeting of the Electoral College in Ohio prior to a full recount would in fact be an illegitimate gathering," said John Bonifaz of the National Voting Rights Institute.

This quote from the end of the story sums it up nicely: "'It's a shame they do not believe in the honesty and the professional people working the polls,' said Mumper. 'I just think they are sore losers and money and time (for the recount) could be spent on other things.'"

Fortunately, saner people are handling things in Ohio.

As members of the Electoral College met across the nation to affirm the results of last month's election, the 20 GOP electors in Ohio voted unanimously for Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"The vast majority of people understand this election is over," said Gov. Bob Taft, who was at the electors' voting session in the state Senate chamber.

UPDATE: Captain Ed has discovered a similar occurrence of PEST in Arizona.

Hillary Makes Her Move

2004-12-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

Hindrocket links to a Washington Times article noting Hillary Clinton's move to the right regarding immigration. She is beginning the advance work for her Presidential ambitions in 2008.

I don't, however, think she's only doing this to take advantage of a perceived weakness in the Republican party. Hillary is positioning herself to be able to say, "I warned you; I saw this coming" in the event of another attack on American soil. Peggy Noonan wrote last week that Hillary was positioning herself to the right of the Republican party on key issues for this exact reason.

Why does she want to get to Mr. Bush's right on these issues?

Three reasons. The first is that she knows another attack on American soil is inevitable and wants to position herself politically as The Wise One Who Warned Us.

Second, she knows that a woman perceived as a liberal has no chance at winning the presidency while a woman perceived as a tough, pragmatic moderate does. So she is tough where Mr. Compassionate Conservative is soft (immigration), or is vulnerable, after a coming attack, to charges that he was soft (homeland security). She can't lose on this one. Security can always be better, and after America is attacked again anger and finger pointing will be widespread.

Third, Mrs. Clinton knows the Democratic Party as a whole is to the left of the electorate. She is used to this. It is the story of her life. The electorate in Arkansas were always more moderate than Gov. and Mrs. Clinton, and President and Mrs. Clinton for that matter. She knows how to operate in such conditions. She does not intend to go down in flames as a leftist when she runs for president. This will take guile. She has guile.

As Hindrocket notes, how this will play out depends, to a large degree, on how successful the Bush administration is in preventing terrorist attacks domestically and prosecuting terrorism abroad.

More Good News from Afghanistan

2004-12-13T10:21:00.000-05:00

Arthur Chrenkoff notes a remarkable achievement in Afghanistan in the latest installment of his "Good news from Afghanistan" series.

A few days ago, hundreds of Afghan leaders and some 150 foreign dignitaries, including the Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, got to witness a historic event; the swearing in of Afghanistan's first democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai:

"Wearing a black lambskin hat and traditional striped silk coat over his shoulders, Mr. Karzai took his oath before the aging former king, Zaher Shah. The president himself then swore in his two vice presidents, Ahmed Zia Massoud and Mohammed Karim Khalili, who represent the two largest ethnic minorities, the Tajiks and the Shia Hazaras, after Karzai's own ethnic group, the Pashtuns."

"We have now left a hard and dark past behind us, and today we are opening a new chapter in our history, in a spirit of friendship with the international community," said Karzai in his inauguration speech, switching between Pashto and Dari, Afghanistan's two main languages.

The irony of the situation, if irony is indeed the correct word, is that the country that only three years ago was still ruled by the most dictatorial and backward of regimes can now claim to have one of the few democratically elected leaders in the whole region. Electing a president, of course, is only a start; great many challenges remain for this impoverished and war-scarred country. How much still remains to be done to improve security, eradicate the scourge of drugs, and rebuild the physical and human infrastructure should not blind us to how much has already been achieved in the three years since the overthrow of the Taliban regime - indeed, how much continues to be achieved every day throughout Afghanistan, for most part out of the media spotlight.

And while you are visiting his site, you should also read his post on the 23rd anniversary of the imposition of martial law on Poland. As always, when Arthur details life behind the Iron Curtain, it is a fascinating read.

And a belated welcome to those who are visiting from Athur's link to my photos of Florida's Everglades. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them. Visiting the Everglades is always a wonderful experience for me. In the near future, I plan to post some photos I took on my recent trip to Las Vegas and California. I had the opportunity to visit Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Yosemite and Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks along with a couple of other places in the Las Vegas area. Check back for those soon.

The Attacks Begin

2004-12-13T10:03:00.000-05:00

Last week, I commented in a post that Old media will spend the next four years attempting to discredit the blogosphere in order to silence its most vocal critics and as an effort to return to the "good old days" when mainstream media could insulate its preferred candidate from negative news stories. Well it seems we didn't have to wait long for the attacks to begin.

The same day I posted that comment, CBS reported an ethical lapse by two South Dakota bloggers, Jon Lauck of Daschle v Thune and Jason Van Beek of South Dakota Politics, who did not disclose that they were paid by the Thune campaign.

Both blogs favored Thune, but neither gave any disclaimer during the election that the authors were on the payroll of the Republican candidate.

No laws have apparently been broken. Case precedent on political speech as it pertains to blogs does not exist. But where journalists' careers may be broken on ethics violations, bloggers are writing in the Wild West of cyberspace. There remains no code of ethics, or even an employer, to enforce any standard.

At minimum, the role of blogs in the Daschle-Thune race is a telling harbinger for 2006 and 2008. Some blogs could become new vehicles for the old political dirty tricks.

This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black as CBS was party to political dirty tricks of its own in this election cycle. But beyond that, the CBS story hints at possible regulation of blog content.

Like all media, blogs hold the potential for abuse. Experts point out that blogs' unregulated status makes them particularly attractive outlets for political attack.

"The question is: What are the appropriate regulations on the Internet?" asked Kathleen Jamieson, an expert on political communication and dean of the Annenberg School for Communications. "Its evolved into an area that we need to do more thinking about it.

"If you put out flyers, you have to disclaim it, you have to represent who you are," Jamieson said. "If you put out an ad you have to put a disclaimer on it. But we dont have those sorts of regulations for political content, that is campaign-financed on the Internet."

First Amendment attorney Kevin Goldberg called blogs "definitely new territory."

"[The question is] whether blogs are analogous to a sole person campaigning or whether they are very much a media publication, which is essentially akin to an online newspaper," said Goldberg, who is the legal counsel to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Of course such regulation doesn't cover the MSM:

Generally, the Supreme Court has ruled that restrictions on political advocacy by corporations and unions does not apply to media or individuals. The reasoning has been that media competition insures legitimacy. This has historically been the argument against monopolies in media ownership.

Personally, I read both Daschle v Thune and South Dakota Politics to follow the Daschle/Thune Senate race and I don't feel particularly aggrieved that neither blog disclosed its relationship to the Thune campaign. Both bloggers made it clear that they supported Thune in the race. Should they have disclosed the connection? Absolutely. Did the failure to do so impact their coverage of the race? No more so than the New York Times or CBS pretending to be objective and non-partisan. Is federal regulation necessary to ensure the credibility of the blogosphere? Not at all. The blogosphere has a track record of sniffing out credibility issues (here is an example and one more example and yet another) and exposing them, far more so then the mainstream media does. And CBS's example that old media is self-policing in this regard is laughable. Just look at Peter Arnett, for example. It looks like old media First Amendment hypocrisy is alive and well at CBS.

More commentary on this from Captain's Quarters and Power Line.

When Losing Is Good

2004-12-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

This is a perfect example of the up is down, left is right, black is white type of thinking from the American political left these days.

The United States has lost the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing.

I don't mean that the loss of American and Iraqi lives is to be celebrated. The death and destruction are numbingly tragic, and the suffering in Iraq is hard for most of us in the United States to comprehend.

The tragedy is compounded because these deaths haven't protected Americans or brought freedom to Iraqis. They have come in the quest to extend the American empire in this "new American century."

So, as a U.S. citizen, I welcome the U.S. defeat for a simple reason: It isn't the defeat of the United States -- its people or their ideals -- but of that empire. And it's essential that the American empire be defeated and dismantled.

(From LGF)

The author's premise is that President Bush is seeking to establish an empire based on the control of oil.

The United States doesn't want to absorb Iraq or take direct possession of its oil. That's not the way of empire today; it's about control over the flow of oil and oil profits, not ownership.

In a world that runs on oil, the nation that controls the flow of oil has great strategic power. U.S. policy-makers want leverage over the economies of competitors -- Western Europe, Japan and China -- that are more dependent on Middle Eastern oil.

Only half of this is true: the control of oil does grant strategic power over oil dependent nations. However, if the U.S. invasion was solely about control of oil, then the easiest way to ensure such control would have been to embrace Saddam and to leave him in power. Removing the sanctions would have been the easiest, safest way politically for George Bush to guarantee a steady supply of oil from Iraq.

The author then goes on to equate our leaving Iraq with admitting defeat. "When we admit defeat and pull out -- not if, but when..." As if the only way we will ever leave Iraq will be as a defeated colonial power. Instead, I think when our troops leave Iraq--and they will leave Iraq--they will do so, not because they were defeated, but because they were victorious and because democracy has been established in Iraq. Then, we will leave because we will have then created in Iraq a liberal, democratic government, one which respects its people and the rights of its people. And that is something that Iraq under Saddam never had.

A Vet Responds to the Washington Post

2004-12-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

A graduate of West Point and veteran of the first Gulf War writes to the Washington Post regarding its series on Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire.

Though it is not my goal to exonerate those who shot Tillman -- particularly without all of the facts -- it is worth pointing out that fratricide is a sad reality of war. Living under the constant threat of enemy fire, soldiers must learn to think and act quickly. What turned out to be Tillman and an Afghan militiaman on that ridge in Khost could have easily been members of an attacking force.

If we examine the chain of events that led to Tillman's premature death, it is convenient to look at the decision to split the platoon, the botched communications and the pressure to get "boots on the ground" in a nearby sector. All of these, however, miss the mark. The reality of Tillman's death is that he was on that desolate ridge in Afghanistan seeking out the murderer of thousands of innocent American civilians. If we are going to assign blame for the tragic loss of this American patriot, let's start and end with Osama bin Laden and his network of terrorists.

The Nanny State?

2004-12-11T20:24:00.000-05:00

Now, this brings a whole new meaning to the term "nanny state".

Hanson: J.R.R. Tolkien, Ents and Europe

2004-12-10T21:15:00.000-05:00

What could be better than Victor Davis Hanson writing about J.R.R. Tolkien? Today he wonders if Europe will, like Tolkien's Ents, wake up and discover that they still have strength left, after all.

Tolkien always denied an allegorical motif or any allusions to the contemporary dangers of appeasement or the leveling effects of modernism. And scholars bicker over whether he was lamenting the end of the old England, old Europe, or the old West in the face of the American democratic colossus, the Soviet Union's tentacles, or the un-chivalrous age of the bomb. But the notion of decline, past glory, and 11th-hour reawakening are nevertheless everywhere in the English philologist's Lord of the Rings. Was he on to something?

More specifically, does the Ents analogy work for present-day Europe? Before you laugh at the silly comparison, remember that the Western military tradition is European. Today the continent is unarmed and weak, but deep within its collective mind and spirit still reside the ability to field technologically sophisticated and highly disciplined forces if it were ever to really feel threatened. One murder began to arouse the Dutch; what would 3,000 dead and a toppled Eiffel Tower do to the French? Or how would the Italians take to a plane stuck into the dome of St. Peter? We are nursed now on the spectacle of Iranian mullahs, with their bought weapons and foreign-produced oil wealth, humiliating a convoy of European delegates begging and cajoling them not to make bombs or at least to point what bombs they make at Israel and not at Berlin or Paris. But it was not always the case, and may not always be.

The Netherlands was a litmus test for Europe. Unlike Spain or Greece, which had historical grievances against Islam, the Dutch were the avatars of the new liberal Europe, without historical baggage. They were eager to unshackle Europe from the Church, from its class and gender constraints, and from any whiff of its racist or colonialist past. True, for a variety of reasons, Amsterdam may be a case study of how wrong Rousseau was about natural man, but for a Muslim immigrant the country was about as hospitable a foreign host as one can imagine. Thus, it was far safer for radical Islamic fascists to damn the West openly from a mosque in Rotterdam than for a moderate Christian to quietly worship in a church in Saudi Arabia, Iran, or Algeria. And yet we learn not just that the Netherlands has fostered a radical sect of Muslims who will kill and bomb, but, far more importantly, that they will do so after years of residency among, and indeed in utter contempt of, their Western hosts.

Dan Marino's Touchdown Record Is About to Fall

2004-12-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

One of the big stories in the National Football League this year is Peyton Manning's assault on Dan Marino's single season record of 44 touchdown passes. Marino isn't excited about the prospect of his record being surpassed this year.

The quarterback who threw 48 touchdown passes for the Dolphins in 1984 watches the Indianapolis Colts quarterback now and has accepted that one of his most cherished records likely will fall.

And Marino is not exactly loving the idea.

"I wouldn't be human if I told you that I want to see someone else beat it," Marino said of the record. "If anybody is going to do it, you'd like to see a guy like Peyton because of what he's done and the type of person that he is."

With 44 touchdown passes in the books already, and just four games to go, Manning needs only four more to tie the mark. He's been averaging almost that many per game this season, so it is extremely likely that the record will fall. As somebody who grew up in South Florida watching Marino throw a bunch of touchdown passes for the Dolphins, and a fan who watched Peyton Manning during his career at Tennessee, I must admit to mixed feelings about Manning's assault on the record book. I am sorry that Marino's name will not be at the top of the list, but he is assured a spot in the Hall of Fame, and from my perspective, if the record is going to fall who better than Manning to own it.

Peggy Noonan vs. Hillary Clinton

2004-12-09T09:02:00.000-05:00

In a question and answer format, Peggy Noonan shares her thoughts about Hillary Clinton.

So how will she spend her time the next two years or so?

She will continue as the peerless fund-raiser of her party. She very much believes in money and its power to ensure success. She will continue to reach out to conservative opinion makers. She likes to surprise them by asking them to come by or go to lunch. This is bold and shrewd; it leaves them "surprised" and "curious," the first step toward "more impressed than I wanted to be." It won't change their minds, but to some small degree she hopes it will declaw them. She will continue to quietly pork-barrel the left and push base-friendly issues while speaking more and more about improving the military and national security.

But wait a second, she can't win her party's nomination that way. The primary voting base of the Democratic Party is leftist.

Yes, but in her case it doesn't matter. The base of the party will be with her, for two reasons. First, they know her history and know her. They believe she sees the world as they do but does certain things to survive. She was woven into the left and knew everyone on the left for 25 years.

Second and just as important, after the trauma of the Kerry loss, after the morass of doubt and depression in which the party now finds itself, she will seem to be one thing they really want: the person who can win. Because she is a winner. She always has been. The base will make a calculation not unlike the one she has made: We can play moderate to win, no problem.

You make it sound like a Hillary candidacy is inevitable.

She is inevitable as a candidate, but not as a president. There will be serious drawbacks and problems with her candidacy. When she speaks in a large hall she shouts and it is shrill; she sounds like some boomer wife from hell who's unpacking the grocery bags and telling you that you forgot not just the mayo but the mustard.

That's fixable, to some degree. What may not be fixable is that many voters associate her with a time of scandal and bad behavior. I mean not Monica, which the Clintons always pretend is The Scandal, but every other scandal of the Clinton era: FBI files, illegal fund-raising, sleazy pardons, the whole ugly mess. There will be some who associate her with the cultural disaster that was the Clinton presidency. There will be those who remember she and he led the country down a path both dark and merry while Osama tapped out his plans on a laptop in a cave.

Old media will attempt to insulate a Clinton campaign from these criticisms and her other negatives, just as it tried to shield John Kerry in this year's election. This time around, the blogosphere stayed on the stories the media tried to spike and kept the pressure on until the MSM covered them. Next election could be different, however. Old media has four years to plan for Hillary's campaign, and four years to plan for how to combat the blogosphere and its citizen journalists. To a certain degree, I think this has already started with MSM attack pieces coming after the election criticizing the entire blogosphere for the actions of a few. Also, throughout the election, old media constantly referred to bloggers as "right-wing" and "unprofessional". Look for more attempts like these to occur and the frequency increase, as the MSM seeks to save itself and its chosen candidates.

We've Gone Orange

2004-12-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, orange is contagious. And I don't say that just because of where I work.

JustOneMinute linked to an NRO editorial on the crisis in Ukraine.

But make no mistake, good feeling should rule the day. We say to the democratic demonstrators of Ukraine: We are proud of what you have wrought, and in recent weeks, everyone around the world who truly prizes liberty has been Orange.

So in that spirit, I am joining JustOneMinute and The Myopist in changing my header color to orange to show my support for the protesters in Ukraine.

The Sides of the Blogosphere

2004-12-08T20:57:00.000-05:00

Arthur Chrenkoff links to a post on Iraq the Model, where Omar explains how he became acquainted with the sides of the blogosphere. Chrenkoff then goes on to explain his own introduction to the West.

Living for the first fifteen years of my life behind the Iron Curtain, I - and many others, even those older and wiser - had a somewhat skewed view of the world. For us, the world was divided into the communist part and the capitalist part, the East and the West. The communist world was dreadful, and 90 per cent of us imprisoned inside desired nothing more than to see the Evil Empire crumble and fall. Then there was the legendary West, the world of democracy, freedom and capitalism, inhabited by happy people who enjoyed their liberty and prosperity and were as hostile to communism as indeed we were. The Party told us the West was the Enemy. But we knew that was not the case; since we wanted to be like the West, The West couldn't be our enemy, it was only the enemy of our communist overlords, and therefore our friend. The world seemed so simple then.

I was sixteen and a half years old when I arrived in Australia in November 1988. I had so many other things to do with my time (like learn the language, for starters) that the political reality did not hit me straight away. It dawned on me slowly over time: my old Polish world-view was a sham. Or at least half of it was. The part about the overwhelming majority of my fellow residents of the Evil Empire wanting freedom and democracy was still right. The part about the West being full of... well, Westerners, wasn't.

You can imagine my shock and disappointment upon discovering that only a minority of the inhabitants of the Free World were truly committed to the ideas of liberal democracy, capitalism and anti-communism. Another minority was in various shades and degrees opposed to, or critical of, one or more of these concepts, and the group in the middle was largely indifferent and disinterested - not quite alienated from their own society, but too busy or too bored to fight against its enemies.

It is truly sad that some people can't lay aside politics long enough to see that building democracy and bringing freedom to Iraq is a good thing. If it happens to make this country safer or put a brutal dictator out of power, then so much the better. And even if it doesn't achieve these goals, it was still the right thing to do.

Dean Esmay has some thoughts of his own about this, too.

When Grandpa Speaks, Listen Up Youngster

2004-12-08T11:25:00.000-05:00

Grandpa might be misguided about the war in Iraq, but on this he is right: when you give your word, you need to honor it.

A Day in the Everglades

2004-12-07T22:54:00.000-05:00

While my wife and I were visiting my folks in South Florida for Thanksgiving, we spent some time at Everglades National Park. We went to Shark Valley on the northern edge of the park, which gets its name from the Shark River Slough, a broad watery plain, which drains into the Shark River. Water from Lake Okeechobee flows through this area from the north-northeast to the southwest into Florida Bay. The Shark River Slough is commonly called "the river of grass", for the tall sawgrass marsh which covers the Florida limestone. Shark Valley features a 15 mile loop road, open to hiking and bicycling, and a tram tour of the loop.

The Red-shouldered Hawk is the most common hawk found in the Everglades.

The Great White Heron is a tropical wading bird related to the Great Blue Heron, and in North America is most often found in South Florida.

An Anhinga suns itself to dry its wings. It dives underwater to catch fish. This one is male; female Anhingas have a lighter colored neck.

The Great Blue Heron is found throughout the United States. It is a wading bird closely related to the Great White Heron.

A Great Blue Heron spreads its wings.

Tri-color Herons are a cross breed of the Great Blue and White Herons.

The king of the Everglades: the American Alligator. We watched as this alligator swam gracefully through the water.

The alligator is central to the survival of the Everglades. Alligators dig out pockets in the limestone, known as "Gator holes". During the dry season which occurs from December through April, these holes become an oasis for many of the park's insects, turtles, fish, and birds.

The American Alligator is no longer an endangered species in Florida. They are commonly found in the fresh water sawgrass marshes of the park.

Also, found within the park's boundaries is the American Crocodile, an endangered species whose only remaining habitat in the United States is the Southern tip of Florida. Everglades National Park is the only place in the world where both alligators and crocodiles exist in close proximity. Crocodiles in the Everglades are located along the coastal areas in the brackish waters of Florida Bay.

The landscape of the Florida Everglades. Taken from atop the viewing tower at the mid-point of the tram tour. The clumps of trees that can be seen in the distance are hardwood hammocks. The hammocks are pockets of limestone rising above the sawgrass prairie which have been built up over time with sediment deposited by the water flowing through Shark River Slough. South Florida is a sub-tropical region, so the hammocks support both tropical trees, such as mahogany, gumbo limbo, and cocoplum, and temperate trees, like live oak, red maple, and hackberry. Many types of orchids and ferns grow under the shade of the tall trees of the hardwood hammock.

Another alligator along the side of the road.

A Purple Gallinule walks upon the spatterdock.

Next, we decided to drive a bit farther down Tamiami Trail to Big Cypress National Preserve Visitor Center. In front of the Visitor Center, the park service has built a viewing platform, which overlooks a stretch of the canal alongside Tamiami Trail. I took the next series of photographs from this vantage point.

Florida Gar is a freshwater fish found mostly in the lakes, rivers and canals of South Florida.

The body temperature of an alligator is dependent upon the temperature of its environment. To maintain a constant body temperature, alligators will move in and out of the water, sunlight and shade, remaining motionless for long periods of time. This behavior allows an alligator to survive on less food. This can be especially important if the dry season in the Everglades is extended, resulting in fewer food sources. An alligator's diet includes insects, crabs, crayfish, fish, frogs, snails, turtles, snakes, wading birds, raccoons, otters, deer, and other alligators.

A Great Blue Heron observes as an alligator swims to the opposite bank of the canal.

One last photograph of a Great Blue Heron.

Things to Avoid

2004-12-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

My wife and I drove to my parent's home on our recent trip to Florida. I am glad we didn't run into one of these.

Beldar on Noonan on Rather

2004-12-07T12:54:00.000-05:00

Earlier, I linked to Peggy Noonan's farewell to Dan Rather, whom she worked for from 1981-1984. Ms. Noonan is quite forgiving of Dan Rather and cuts him some--make that, a lot--of slack for the political leanings of his journalistic career.

Beldar thinks she is being too kind (emphasis in the original).

Dan Rather and his cohorts didn't just make a mistake. They didn't just have a lapse. They didn't just let their biases color their reporting. They didn't just make an error in judgment. Instead, they conspired together with should-be felons, with forgers, to pass off as genuine, as truthful "news," a set of bogus documents that defamed the record and the integrity of the President and in so doing, they fundamentally betrayed the entire reason for their profession's existence. They actively hid the fact that their own hired experts were telling them before the first broadcast that the documents were fakes. Then they tried to demonize those (including me and my fellow bloggers) who'd helped expose their ploy, and to justify their lies as "fake but accurate."

Cure the Disease -- Not the Symptom

2004-12-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

Jeff Jacoby thinks that Kofi Annan is just one part of a corrupt whole. And he makes clear something I pointed out yesterday in my post about replacing Annan: until the culture of autocrats and dictators at the U.N. are no longer running the show, no meaningful reform can take place.

Why should anything be different this time? Oil-for-Food may be the greatest international rip-off of modern times, it may have strengthened one of the world's bloodiest dictators, it may have deprived countless Iraqis of food and medicine, but if history is any guide, the scandal headlines will fade from view long before the secretary general does. By week's end, in fact, dozens of governments, including all the permanent members of the Security Council save the United States, had publicly rallied to Annan's support. Scandal or no scandal, he will almost certainly serve out the remaining two years of his term.

Which is just as well. Annan is merely a symptom of the UN's sickness, not the cause of it. His resignation would do nothing to reform the UN into the engine of peace and liberty its founders envisioned. Better that Annan remain in place as a symbol of UN fecklessness and failure, and a spur to those who can envision something better.

The UN is a corrupt institution, one that long ago squandered whatever moral legitimacy it once had. The UN's founding documents venerate justice and human rights, but for the past 40 years, the organization has been dominated by a bloc of states -- essentially the Afro-Asian Third World -- most of whose governments routinely pervert justice and violate human rights.

Inside the United Nations, there is no difference between a dictatorship or a democracy: Each gets exactly one vote in the General Assembly. The reason the UN indulges vicious regimes like those in North Korea, Syria, and Cuba is that they are members in good standing, and most other governments lack the courage to cross them. The UN cannot be fixed unless that changes -- and that isn't going to change.

I Lived in Kansas

2004-12-07T12:10:00.000-05:00

And I know nothing is the matter with Kansas.

Regardless of Kansas' economic performance, Mr. Frank's main thesis--that people who are struggling economically should be voting as liberals, not conservatives--is dubious. As an editorial in the Wichita Eagle observed: "There's nothing wrong with many Kansans wanting to hold onto a little more of their paychecks . . . or preferring that when they need help it comes from their family, their church, their community--not an intrusive federal government." But what's really astounding is that Mr. Frank, who offers little in the way of economic data, would base his argument on such blatant falsehoods. To Mr. Frank's liberal prejudices, something may be the matter with Kansas, but it sure isn't its economy.

More Good News from Iraq

2004-12-07T08:58:00.000-05:00

Arthur Chrenkoff has posted another installment of good news from Iraq.

It takes a lot to get a man of God annoyed and Louis Sako, the Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, is a very frustrated man these days: "It is not all death and destruction," says the Archbishop. "Much is positive in Iraq today... Universities are operating, schools are open, people go out onto the streets normally... Where there's a kidnapping or a homicide the news gets out immediately, and this causes fear among the people... Those who commit such violence are resisting against Iraqis who want to build their country."

It's not just the terrorists who, according to His Eminence, are creating problems for Iraq: "[January] will be a starting point for a new Iraq... [Yet] Western newspapers and broadcasters are simply peddling propaganda and misinformation... Iraqis are happy to be having elections and are looking forward to them because they will be useful for national unity... Perhaps not everything will go exactly to plan, but, with time, things will improve. Finally Iraqis will be given the chance to choose. Why is there so much noise and debate coming out from the West when before, under Saddam, there were no free elections, but no one said a thing?"

Lastly, the Archbishop has this wish for the international bystanders: "Europe is absent, it's not out there; the United States is on its own... [Europe] must help the Iraqi government to control its borders to prevent the entry of foreign terrorists, [but] also provide economic help to encourage a new form of culture which is open to coexistence, the acceptance of others, respect for the human person and for other cultures... Europe must understand that there is no time to waste on marginal or selfish interests: The entire world needs peace."

Archbishop Sako's frustration is increasingly shared by other Iraqis, who can hardly recognize their country from the foreign media coverage. Westerners, too, both military and civilians, upon their return are often finding to their surprise and concern they had lived and worked in a different country to that their loved ones, friends and neighbors back home saw every night on the news. "Our" Iraq is a place of violence, uncertainty, and frustration; "their" Iraq all that, too, but also so much more: work and renewal, hope and enthusiasm, new opportunities and new possibilities.

It never ceases to amaze me that I live in a free society whose journalists, self-styled guardians of truth and freedom, work so hard to support the opponents of freedom in another country. From not reporting the true nature of Saddam's regime, to misrepresenting the situation in Iraq today, our "journalists" are aiding the enemies of the very freedoms they purport to defend with their "reporting". I suppose that is one price of freedom, that people will use it for their own ends, even if those ends ultimately undermine their own freedom.

Chrenkoff's service to the blogosphere of posting good news from both Afghanistan and Iraq is a great aid in helping to paint a truer picture of what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. The part I quoted above is just the beginning. You should read the whole thing.

UPDATE: One more thing caught my eye from the story. Notice the irony:

Among the 156 political parties registered is the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party, the brainchild of Iraqi bloggers, the Fadhil brothers. Read Ali Fadhil's wonderful and moving post about a dream finally achieved: "You can't imagine the thrill and happiness I felt when I held the document that state that the 'Iraqi pro-democracy party' is registered and approved as a political entity that has the right to participate in the upcoming elections!... That was not a dream, it's for real and it didn't happen in the 'free and independent' Iraq at Saddam's time, it happened 3 days ago in 'occupied Iraq'."

Only in "occupied Iraq" can a person freely and openly publish a blog, and register a political party. That such a major accomplishment goes unreported by Western media is lamentable.

A Republican in Hollywood

2004-12-06T17:19:00.000-05:00

Professor Bainbridge links to a humorous piece by Ben Stein, who relates what it's like to be a Republican in Hollywood:

This is the way it is here. We meet in smoky places. We give the high sign, we nod knowingly. We are like members of the Maquis in Occupied France. Or early Christians emerging from the catacombs in Caligula's Rome. We are the GOP in Hollywood, and on the West Side of L.A. The culture here is so dominantly left-wing, PC, vegan, hate-America that many of us feel we have to behave as if we were underground.

At a self-help meeting where men and women confess to drug use, betrayals, thefts, homicides with cars, at a break, a woman stealthily came up to me last Saturday and motioned me into a corner outside the room in Malibu. "I want to tell you there are some of us who agree with you. We have to keep it quiet because we want to get our kids into the right schools, but we're there. We're there. And there are more of us every day." Then she scuttled off into the night. Slamming crack can be spoken of with a smile, but not voting GOP. That could be dangerous.

I have some friends who moved out to Los Angeles last summer. One of them grew up in East Tennessee and has struggled with the different attitudes towards Christianity and sometimes just life in general. I can partially relate, as I went through a similar adjustment when I moved to Knoxville, although I think my transition was easier.

End of the Road for the Nightly News?

2004-12-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

Could the days of evening network news broadcasts be numbered? Outside The Beltway points to an article in the Miami Herald which makes a compelling case for the eventual demise of the nightly news.

You don't need to read tea leaves to see which way things might tip, just numbers. When Dan Rather took over as anchor of CBS Evening News in 1981, 69 percent of the television audience tuned in to the networks' nightly broadcasts. When he leaves next year, the networks' share of viewers will be less than 38 percent. The decline gets sharper all the time; for the week of Nov. 15, the network news audience was down 5 percent from last year.

The average age of viewers who remain -- over 56, according to Nielsen Media Research -- suggests that ratings will continue to decline as the audience literally dies out. And even before that, advertisers -- who seek viewers in the 18-to-49 age bracket -- will flee.

Personally, neither my wife nor I watch the network evening news broadcasts. If I am going to watch the news on television, I usually watch the FOX News Channel, but even that is a rare occasion. My parents and in-laws do watch the nightly news, which fits in with the part of the article I quoted above. Most of the time I get my news via the internet. I read the RSS/ATOM feeds of the big newspapers and follow links to other news stories on the blogs I read.

My wife and I were recently wondering why FOX didn't have a nightly news broadcast on its local affiliates. I guess the executives at FOX can see the writing on the wall and have chosen not to waste the effort.

The Fiasco Called TennCare

2004-12-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

Opinion Journal has an editorial detailing the trouble with TennCare, Tennessee's version of state assisted health care, and Governor Bredesen's efforts to reform it. One issue with the editorial though, it claims Tennessee passed TennCare, which sounds like a legislative act. TennCare, as I understand it, was created by an act of the state's Executive branch, the Governor's office, which is why Bredesen can use the threat of pulling the plug as a bludgeon against the Tennessee Justice Center.

Bill Hobbs is a great source for more information on Tenncare and the efforts to reform it. Recently, he remarked on Bredesen's triangulation of the public education lobby, a traditional liberal special interest group, against TennCare and its advocates. The public education lobby is eyeing the money that it could gain should TennCare be reformed or eliminated. This was a shrewd move on the part of Bredesen, which even if it doesn't help to promote reform of TennCare, should help insulate him from any political repercussions related to reverting the state's health care system to Medicaid.

HobbsOnline also has a post on the reaction of The Tennessean to the education lobby's support for TennCare reform. Let me put it succinctly, if The Tennessean is against it, them I'm for it.

New U.N. Logo?

2004-12-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

As long as we are giving Kofi the boot, why not introduce a new U.N. Logo.

Blue Staters and Religion

2004-12-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Mark Steyn understands why the Democrats don't get religion:

And frankly the Democrats never do well when they try to square contemporary liberal pieties with religion. For one thing, they recoil from the very word "religion." Al Gore prefers to say, "Well, in my faith tradition . . ." As a rule, folks with a faith tradition tend not to call it such. At Friday prayers in Mecca, the A-list imams don't say, "Well, in my faith tradition we believe in killing all the infidels."

(From Tim Blair)

Replacing Kofi

2004-12-06T08:40:00.000-05:00

In case the current round of scandals at the United Nations forces Kofi Annan out as U.N. Secretary General, Glenn Reynolds wants to name former Czech president Vaclav Havel as Kofi's successor.

I'd give Havel the nod. He has a clear vision of reform for the U.N. and he is an advocate of democracies spreading democracy.

The fall of communism was an opportunity to create more-effective global political institutions based on democratic principles -- institutions that could stop what appears to be the self-destructive tendency of our industrial world. If we do not want to be overrun by anonymous forces, then the principles of freedom, equality and solidarity -- the foundation of stability in Western democracies -- must start working globally.

But, above all, it is necessary that we not lose faith in the meaning of alternative centers of thought and civic action. Let's not allow ourselves to be manipulated into believing that attempts to change the established order and objective laws do not make sense. Let's try to build a global civil society that insist that politics is not just a technology of power, but must have a moral dimension.

At the same time, politicians in democratic countries need to think seriously about reforms of international institutions to make them capable of real global governance. We could start, for example, with the United Nations, which, in its current form, is a relic of the situation shortly after World War II. It does not reflect the influence of some new regional powers, while immorally equating countries whose representatives are democratically elected and those whose representatives speak only for themselves or their juntas, at best.

Unfortunately, his reformist nature and advocacy of democracy are his biggist drawback for getting the position. I don't think, realistically, that he has a chance. Too many of those who profited from the oil-for-food scandal would see his tenure as a call for reform. Not the kind of thing a self-interested autocrat wants to see.

But Captain Ed has picked his own candidate.

Stuffing the Ballot Box--Whatever the Means

2004-12-05T21:22:00.000-05:00

The blogosphere is in an uproar over a ballot stuffing scandal. A commenter on Daily Kos posted and ran some code for automagically inflating Kos' vote total for Best Overall Blog in the 2004 Weblog Awards.

I haven't mentioned the awards since I am not nominated in any of the categories, but still, how pathetic do you have to be to stuff an online poll in what is basically a vanity contest?

More thoughts on this from Power Line and The Shape of Days.

UPDATE: Jay Tea shares his thoughts on the matter.

UPDATE II: Hugh Hewitt comments on the implications of this scandal for the real world.

Saying Good-bye to Dan Rather

2004-12-05T19:01:00.000-05:00

Peggy Noonan looks back at Dan Rather's career:

If you were a young Dan Rather you knew which side was the side to be on. You knew which side your bosses were on. You knew which side would lead to your rise. And you knew which side would win.

It wasn't exactly complicated. Every conservative in America in the last century, especially in the media and in the colleges, knew they would be dinged and damaged if they held to their beliefs. Every liberal in the media and the academy knew they could rise if they espoused liberal views. Dan wanted to rise.

Probably the worst moment in his career, because it was arguably the one most obvious in showing bias and a political agenda, was the time Dan tried to beat up George H.W. Bush live, on the "CBS Evening News," over Iran-contra. Mr. Bush decked him instead, and with a question that reverberates: How would you like your whole career to be judged by one mistake? I do not doubt that CBS News that night thought it was going to take down a vice president, and wanted to. And was embittered by its failure. Which may have contributed to the years long, Ahab-like quest of producer Mary Mapes to bring down George W. Bush with documents it took bloggers less than 24 hours to reveal as fabrications.

They Continue to be PESTs

2004-12-05T00:12:00.000-05:00

This just in, Kerry supporters are still making PESTs of themselves.

Twenty John Kerry supporters met for their first group therapy session in South Florida Thursday, screaming epithets at President Bush as they shared their emotions with licensed mental health counselors.

The first of several free noontime therapy sessions at the American Health Association in Boca Raton was designed to treat what mental health counselors have dubbed Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST).

"If I had a cardboard cutout of President Bush, and these people wanted to throw darts at it, I would let them do it," Robert J. Gordon, AHA executive director, told the Boca News after the session. "Its no joke. People with PEST were traumatized by the election. If you even mention religion, their faces turn blister-red as they shout at Bush."

(From LGF)

The American Academic Diversity Myth

2004-12-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

Jeff Jacoby writes:

Academic freedom is not only meant to protect professors; it is also supposed to ensure students' right to learn without being molested. When instructors use their classrooms to indoctrinate and propagandize, they cheat those students and betray the academic mission they are entrusted with. That should be intolerable to honest men and women of every stripe -- liberals and conservatives alike.

Plus Professor Bainbridge has links to more on that subject in The Economist, Opinion Journal, and an op-ed written by George Will.