Wet Feet Are Still Wet Feet Mr Fukuyama.

Francis Fukuyama (professor at Johns Hopkins University) and Adam Garfinkle (editor of the American Interest) took up some prime real estate recently with an editorial in this Monday's Wall Street Journal.

The thesis of their editorial was "A Better Idea".

How do I know that this was their thesis? I'll give you one clue.

The title.

I'm nothing if not observant.

Other than "the title", there is no "Better Idea" listed in Mr. Fukuyama's and Mr. Garfinkle's essay. But they do seem to enjoy pointing out why we apparently need "A Better Idea".

To give you a better idea (no seriously for a minute) of what they are talking about I will post most if not all of the article and hope that the Journal doesn't decide to sue me.

Again, from page A16 of Monday's Journal. Go buy a newspaper or something.

A Better Idea
By FRANCIS FUKUYAMA and ADAM GARFINKLE
March 27, 2006; Page A16

As an editorial on this page recently asked: "Anyone out there have a better idea" than the Bush administration's policy of high-profile democracy promotion in the Arab and Muslim worlds as a means to fight terrorism? Well, yes, there is one. That better idea consists of separating the struggle against radical Islamism from promoting democracy in the Middle East, focusing on the first struggle, and dramatically changing our tone and tactics on the democracy promotion front, at least for now.

I for one would be all for "separating the struggle against radical Islamism from promoting democracy in the Middle East" if it wasn't for that unsettling reality that "the struggle against radical Islamism is partially if not completely dependent on the success of democracy in the Middle East." The two are inextricably linked. Much as the struggle for independence in this country was dependent upon a representative republic succeeding, Islamic terrorism will never truly be defeated until Islam itself is able to adapt to modern culture. The authors continue-

The essential problem with the administration's approach is that it conflates two issues that are separate. The first has to do with violent, antimodern radical Islamism (on display both in the reaction to the Danish cartoons and in the mosque bombing in Samarra); the second concerns the dysfunctionality of political and social institutions in much of the Arab world.

But let's completely ignore the fact that the former would never even come close to existing if not for the latter. Do go on.

It is, of course, the administration's thesis that the latter condition causes the former.

Well, and everyone who knows anything about the Middle East, or modern western civilization for that matter, yes.

-it is also its contention that U.S. Cold War policies of support for Arab "friendly tyrants" are mainly to blame for Arab authoritarianism. Thus did the president say in November 2003 -- since repeated several times by Condoleezza Rice -- that we sacrificed freedom for stability in the Middle East for 60 years, and got neither.

Yep.

It follows from this view that if the U.S. stops supporting authoritarian regimes and instead does all it prudently can to bring about democratic ones, our terrorist problem will be dramatically reduced if not altogether solved.

No, it means that during the Cold War we made icky friends in hopes of a greater good, and now that the Cold War is over we no longer have to stand on the sidelines while "Arab authoritarianism" assists Islamic fundamentalists in blowing up 20 acre holes in downtown Manhattan. We can strike back.

Authoritarian political cultures do function as enablers of radical Islamism, but the essential cause of the latter -- today as before, in dozens of historical cases concerning violent millenarian movements -- is the difficulty that some societies and individuals have in coming to terms with social change. That is why rapid modernization is likely to produce more short-term radicalism, not less. Muslims in democratic Europe are as much a part of this problem as those in the Middle East. This is not a trivial point; it is a central one that directly challenges a key tenet of the administration's view.

No one said anything about this being a "short term" conflict. Just ask the Gulf War I veterans. I don't think anyone is suprised that jihadists flocked to Iraq like, well, sandpaper when we decided to remove Saddam. I actually prefer that the really crazy ones fight our marines instead of our airline stewardesses. It may make more of them in the short term, but the suicidal Islamists don't get to vote. Their "short term" ends quite abruptly.

What the administration sees as one problem ought to be seen as two. Radical Islamism needs to be dealt with separately from democracy promotion. This involves doing everything we can to ensure the political success of the governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also involves killing, capturing or otherwise neutralizing hard-core terrorists in many parts of the world, and keeping dangerous materials out of their hands, in what will look less like a war than like police and intelligence operations.

Does anyone else feel that that part seems like it was lifted from another essay?

"Don't see A as B.

In order to ensure the success of B we must kill A. But make it look like police stuff."

But the threat above all lies on the level of ideas. Just as it proved possible to stigmatize and eventually eliminate slavery from mainstream global norms without having first to wait for the mass advent of liberal democracy,"

Funny that, turns out they actually were related- Democracy and equal rights for all mankind. They sort of happened together, like peanut butter and chocolate.

"it should be possible to effectively stigmatize jihadi terrorism without having first to midwife democracies from Morocco to Bangladesh.

Well it wasn't possible for us to "stigmatize" (nice word!) Nazi Facism or Japanese Imperialism without "midwifing" democratic processes. You have to put something in its place. Democracy seems to be the most advantageous fit at this time.

The United States and its Western allies should be helping genuine, traditional and pious Muslims to reassert their dominance over a beautiful and capacious religious civilization in the face of a well-financed assault by extremist thugs. (This, of course, is not a new idea, but we have barely begun to take its implementation seriously.) We should also be vigorously supporting the Danes and genuine European liberals when they are attacked by illiberal and violent Islamists.

You want to invade Denmark Now? And liberate them from fundamentalists? Didn't we just do that, like, 60 years ago? We have to do it AGAIN? I'm confused. Why does this keep happening in Europe?

Promoting liberal and democratic institutions in the Middle East should be decoupled from this fight, since it is a much more long-term project -- and a project in need of significant redesign. The Bush administration has not admitted to itself the degree to which it has been knocked off its own timetable by the chaotic situation in Iraq.

Could you be more specific? Timetable? You mean everything isn't perfect yet?

Its Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative to promote democracy in the Middle East through high-profile rhetorical support for democracy and funding for local democratic organizations was originally conceived as a way of capitalizing on the momentum gained from a successful Iraqi transition to democracy. But there is no such momentum right now, only backlash. Many would-be democratic opponents of regimes in places like Syria or Iran now say they'd prefer the status quo to the situation the Iraqis are in.

So, is this a "they'd be better off with Saddam in power" kind of point? I'm sick of those quite frankly. Yes, THE TRAINS SURE DID RUN ON TIME. We get it, yes.

This does not paint a rosy picture for the Bush administration's new initiative to promote democratic regime change in Iran; it will be hard to find any takers for the $75 million in new funding for this purpose.

Yeah, cause all they care about is the $75 million, right? Ugh.

To put it mildly, the Iraq war has not increased the prestige of the U.S. and American ideas like liberal democracy in the Middle East. The U.S. does not have abundant moral authority for promoting the rule of law, since the first thing people in the region associate with America today is prisoner abuse at Guantanamo, Bagram and Abu Ghraib.

Oh come on! Stop patronizing. The very first thing they think of? Not "democracy, whisky, sexy"? The first thing is Abu-Ghraib?

Many Americans have explained these events to themselves by saying that the abuse was an aberration that has been hyped by enemies of the U.S., and that in any event such things just happen during wartime. Perhaps; but the fact remains that Guantanamo is still open, and nobody except for a couple of lowly enlisted soldiers have been prosecuted for prisoner abuse by the Bush administration. Fair or not, American insistence on rule of law and human rights looks simply hypocritical.

Um, they didn't abuse anyone at Guantanamo. What are they talking about? The prisoners left healthier then they came and then returned to fight US SOldiers again. Which technically sounds like the US Criminal justice system, but I digress.

The Bush administration has indeed opened up new space for debate and political participation in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

By killing the Fascists and Fundamentalists. The US Military is quite good at that actually.

But recent elections in Iran, Egypt, Palestine, and Iraq have either brought to power or increased the prestige of profoundly illiberal groups like Hamas and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood; even our putative friends in the Shiite alliance that did well in last December's Iraqi elections have been busy institutionalizing an intolerant Islamist order in the parts of Iraq they control.

Hey, we elected guys like David Duke in this country. Nobody said democracy was perfect.

Administration principals speak of creating public space for dissent and debate lest it all be driven into the mosque, with the risk that this "might" bring illiberal groups into power. The tide of public opinion today is not running in favor of pro-Western secular liberals, however, but rather the Islamists. In many Arab countries this means that premature democratic elections will most definitely and predictably bring the mosque into the public square while driving out all other forms of expression. The tolerant are making democratic way for the intolerant, who in turn are very likely to block the possibility of any reverse flow of authority. How such dynamics promote liberal democracy in the longer run is hard to see. More likely, U.S. policies that foster pro-Islamist outcomes will delay political liberalization, help the wrong parties in the great debates ongoing in Muslim societies and, quite possibly therefore, make our terrorist problem worse.

Or we do what exactly? Sit around and hope that Osama gets bored with us? Where is this elusive "Better Idea"?

That was the title of this essay, right?

We need to change tactics in the way we go about supporting Middle Eastern democracy. The administration's highly visible embrace of democracy promotion as a component of its national security strategy (as outlined in last week's official document on the subject), and its telegraphing ahead of time of intentions to bring about regime change in places like Iran, only hurt the cause of real democrats in the region.

So you want democracy, but just not so quickly? This is a better idea why, exactly?

The effort to push countries toward early national elections, given the rising Islamist tide today, will invariably force us into the appearance of further hypocrisy when they produce results we don't like. There are many other democratic institutions we can help foster, such as local elections or non-extremist civil society groups. Moves afoot in Congress to channel democracy support through the State Department are well-intentioned but counterproductive: The last thing that democracy activists need right now is more American fingerprints on outside funding. Private foundations and groups with some distance from the administration like the NED or private NGOs will have better luck disbursing money than U.S. agencies. There are many quiet ways we can and should support democratic groups in the region, by working, for example, with other countries that have recently undergone democratic transitions that may have greater credibility than Washington.

I'm not sure if the authors realized this, but their is a dearth of Arab-middle eastern countries that "have recently undergone democratic transitions" besides Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a weird twist, despite its emphasis on democracy in Iraq, the administration would have let funding for long-term democracy promotion through groups like the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute lapse but for a last minute congressional earmark. We are pushing too hard in the wrong places, and not hard enough in the one place where it matters most.

Or, one might say we were paying the only people who ever really get these things done, the US Military.

We should not even think about wanting to roll back recent election results; rather, the emphasis should be on pressuring newly empowered groups to govern responsibly. Islamist parties in Egypt and Palestine have gained popularity in large measure not because of their foreign policy views, but because of their stress on domestic social welfare issues like education, health, and jobs, and their stand against corruption. Fine, let them deliver; and if they don't or turn out to be corrupt themselves, they will face vulnerabilities of their own not far down the road.

So, pretty much what we're doing now, right? Again, how is this a "better idea"?

Democracy promotion should remain an integral part of American foreign policy, but it should not be seen as a principal means of fighting terrorism. We should stigmatize and fight radical Islamism as if the social and political dysfunction of the Arab world did not exist,

But the two are dependent on each other. To ignore this fact means that we will continually play infinite "whack-a-mole" with radical Islamism.

and we should shrewdly, quietly, patiently and with as many allies as possible promote the amelioration of that dysfunction as if the terrorist problem did not exist. It is when we mix these two issues together that we muddle our understanding of both, with the result that we neither defeat terrorism nor promote democracy but rather the reverse.

Anyone catch that? This is what they pay for at John Hopkins?

THAT is what you call a "Better Idea"?

Good lord. Save your money folks.

So Is Iraq Turning In To Another Korea?

My buddy Adam (whose birthday it was this evening, hope he enjoyed it) proposed this analogy tonight. I can't remember whether he was quoting someone or he thought of it himself. He may have thought of it himself, he is smart enough. Either way, this analogy has probably been floated around before. And it is far more relevant than the Vietnam-Iraq analogy.

The US Military again has proven that it is the single most liberating force in the world. South Korea has flourished economically since the Korean War, and has managed to avoid the fate that other ex-Russian soviet puppet states have been forced to endure.

Here's my photographic evidence. This is a recent night time satellite photo of the Korean peninsula. Notice the difference between the North and the South.



I hope that the the analogy here means that the Islamic terrorists are the North and the Iraqi people are the South. And eventually, the North will no longer be able to stop its own people from turning on some frickin lights at night so they can enjoy themselves.

Sounds about right.

Zarqawi, your days are numbered in the double digits scumbag.

Sleep tight.

PREDATORS!!!!

Yes, the Preds kicked some ass again tonight. And considering we got tickets from a scalper for dirt cheap and ended up all of one row away from the glass, I'd say it was a damn fine evening..

Preds top Blues, complete perfect four-game homestand

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- When the Nashville Predators need timely scoring, they usually don't look for Scott Nichol. However, he's been coming through lately.

Nichol scored the first two goals in a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, including an unassisted shorthanded goal on a breakaway. On Saturday night against the Calgary Flames, he had the game-winner in a 9-4 rout.

"We have needed big goals in our last couple of games, and he has gotten them for us," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "He plays with a lot of energy. He is a feisty type of guy. You need all kinds of players to be successful as a team. He is part of a good mix."

Hampered by injuries for much of the season, Nichol's three goals, his only scores of the season, are evidence he is back on track.

"I think Scott has caught up with the train," Trotz said. "When you miss a lot of games due to injuries, it forces you to catch up. He is a little old-school. He has a good work ethic. He is all about the team."

Paul Kariya and Kimmo Timonen each added power-play goals as Nashville completed a perfect four-game homestand.

The second period was the key for the Predators. Nichol beat St. Louis goalie Patrick Lalime to his stick side with a high wrist shot at 4:08 for a shorthanded goal.

Kariya scored less than two minutes later on the power play. Steve Sullivan saw Kariya skating towards the net from the right side and passed the puck to him from the left circle. Kariya tapped in the shot to Lalime's left side.

Timonen scored at the 14:14 mark of the second period, shooting a wrist shot that went high above Lalime's outstretched glove to make it 4-0.

St. Louis got on the board with four seconds left in the second as Scott Young connected from the top of the slot, ending a flurry of shots against Nashville goalie Chris Mason.

Jay McClement capped the scoring with 21 seconds left in the game.

"We were in it," St. Louis coach Mike Kitchen said. "Nashville's power play is dangerous. They move the puck around so well, and they have so many different looks. They're looking to move the puck through the seams all the time from side-to-side. It's keeps you on your toes."

Mason, making his first start of the season at home, stopped 28 shots. He had not played since March 1 at Chicago, a loss.

"Chris did a real good job of preparing himself," Trotz said. "That is a tribute to his work ethic. It is very difficult to not play for such a long time and then come in and be as sharp as he was. Things don't happen in practice the same way they happen in games. It was really important for our guys to play well in front of him."

Can we keep it together against the arch nemesis Detroit Red Wings? Stay tuned sports fans. Much hockey left to be played..

"But hey, Saddam wasn't a threat...what was the big deal?"

Readers of this blog (well, all five of them anyways) are aware that I supported the removal of Saddam Hussein from power as a necessary part of the war against Islamic Terrorists. I wrote post upon post detailing why I believed that we needed to remove Saddam from his position before he helped one of the various Islamic terrorist organizations in his own country attack western interests, or more specifically, the US mainland.

Was he pointing nuclear weapons at us?

No. He wasn't.

Would he if he could have?

Of course he would have (after he destroyed Israel of course). To think that a completely insane dictator like Saddam was reliable and responsible enough to be left alone after 9/11 would have been the very height of ignorance.

Many people in this country took as a statement of fact that Saddam was not a threat and should have been left alone. I repeatedly posted the reasons why they were wrong: Saddams connection to WMD production, his connection to international terrorists, his repeated attempts to shoot down US planes, his bragging about paying off Palestinian suicide bomber families in support of the goal towards death to Israel. Even his unrefuted connections to the 1993 WTC attack, not to mention the still unrefuted reports from Czech authorities of Iraqi intelligence meeting with Mohammed Atta.

Christopher Hitchens has written an article at Slate that many in the anti-war camp don't want you to read, because boy will they look irresponsible. Saddam needed to go, and anyone with a freaking lick of sense should have been able to see it. Sadly, there were not many "licks" to go around four years ago.

An excerpt-

Let us start with President Bush’s speech to the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002, which I recommend that you read. Contrary to innumerable sneers, he did not speak only about WMD and terrorism, important though those considerations were. He presented an argument for regime change and democracy in Iraq and said, in effect, that the international community had tolerated Saddam’s deadly system for far too long. Who could disagree with that? Here’s what should have happened. The other member states of the United Nations should have said: Mr. President, in principle you are correct. The list of flouted U.N. resolutions is disgracefully long. Law has been broken, genocide has been committed, other member-states have been invaded, and our own weapons inspectors insulted and coerced and cheated. Let us all collectively decide how to move long-suffering Iraq into the post-Saddam era. We shall need to consider how much to set aside to rebuild the Iraqi economy, how to sponsor free elections, how to recuperate the devastated areas of the marshes and Kurdistan, how to try the war criminals, and how many multinational forces to ready for this task. In the meantime—this is of special importance—all governments will make it unmistakably plain to Saddam Hussein that he can count on nobody to save him. All Iraqi diplomats outside the country, and all officers and officials within it, will receive the single message that it is time for them to switch sides or face the consequences. Then, when we are ready, we shall issue a unanimous ultimatum backed by the threat of overwhelming force. We call on all democratic forces in all countries to prepare to lend a hand to the Iraqi people and assist them in recovering from more than three decades of fascism and war.

Not a huge amount to ask, when you think about it. But what did the president get instead? The threat of unilateral veto from Paris, Moscow, and Beijing. Private assurances to Saddam Hussein from members of the U.N. Security Council. Pharisaic fatuities from the United Nations’ secretary-general, who had never had a single problem wheeling and dealing with Baghdad. The refusal to reappoint Rolf Ekeus—the only serious man in the U.N. inspectorate—to the job of invigilation. A tirade of opprobrium, accusing Bush of everything from an oil grab to a vendetta on behalf of his father to a secret subordination to a Jewish cabal. Platforms set up in major cities so that crowds could be harangued by hardened supporters of Milosevic and Saddam, some of them paid out of the oil-for-food bordello.

Well, if everyone else is allowed to rewind the tape and replay it, so can I. We could have been living in a different world, and so could the people of Iraq, and I shall go on keeping score about this until the last phony pacifist has been strangled with the entrails of the last suicide-murderer.

Iraq may continue to be unstable, the Shiites and the Sunnis may continue to duke it out for supremacy. But in the words of PJ O'Rourke, who wants a stable Iraq?

When Iraq was stable, it attacked Israel in the 1967 and 1973 wars. It attacked Iran. It attacked Kuwait. It gassed the Kurds. It butchered the Shiites. It fostered terrorism in the Middle East. Who wants a stable Iraq?

The Iraq that exists now will no longer be able to attack the US in the way that Saddam was capable of a few years ago. And those who don't understand this are not responsible enough to be making decisions about the War against Islamic terrorists.

Another Fabulous Night In Nashville.

And it was a precursor to St. Patrick's Day no less.

The Nashville Predators are THE REAL DEAL. Thomas Vokoun, Stevie Sullivan, the new guy Brandon Witt, even good ole Darcy Hordichuk got into it with a goal tonight. What a great team, and man am I lucky as hell to get to watch them. We had seats in section 102 row E where you are in between the sections of seats, thus you get your own folding chair, cup holder, personal space, usher, etc. Styling.

Vokoun got another shutout, Preds win. All is well.

Officially, it's Saint Patrick's Day right now, but I have some sleeping to do first.

Did you know that folks in Ireland don't really care that today is "St. Patrick's day"?

Saint Patrick.

I'm sad that I'm not enjoying my second annual trip to DC, but happy that I have such great friends to be around, no matter where I am.

Please, make sure you behave incredibly irresponsible tonight. Don't hurt anyone or whatever, but don't act conservative either. Woudn't want to disappoint Saint Patrick now, would you?

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things....

(sung without cadence to that song from the Sound of Music)

"When the Predators win,

When the 2nd highest listed google page for "michael moore douchebag" is my blog...


When I'm feeling fine...............I simply remember my favorite things and suddenleeeeee I'm fiiiiiiiine".......or something like that. My sister is the reason why I know so much about the Sound Of Music, catholic school and all. Annual renditions of the story of a swiss (jewish maybe?) family evading capture by the Nazi's has left an indelible mark on my psyche.

It's like Indiana Jones says....

[Upon opening the Well of the Souls and peering down into it]
Sallah: Indy, why does the floor move?
Indiana: Give me your torch.
[Sallah does, and Indy drops it in]
Indiana: Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?
Sallah: Asps. Very dangerous. You go first.

So there's supposed to be another Indiana Jones movie coming out (summer 2007? damn, I wanna see it NOW!)....As the beard says himself, "I am about to make Indiana Jones 4, which is, as far as I am concerned, the sweet dessert I give those who had to chow down on the bitter herbs that I’ve used in Munich."

You guys remember this scene?



Stealing the Ark of the covenant so that the Nazi's don't get it first.. Freaking people out. Good times man. Good times.


Yes, Mr. Stephen Spielberg, we have tasted your bitter, pointless herbs. Whatever...Just shutup and make Indy 4 already. Your fans (of which I am one) are craving it...

How about that though? I'm number 2 out of 73,000 as the most searched site for "michael moore douchebag"?

I'd like to thank the Academy...

I Don't Have To Die A Little Each Day Any Longer.

I have replaced the aforementioned shot with a new setting, which for employment reasons shall remain nameless. Although pretty much everything else in the picture is the same, this new job will no longer make me die a little each day. I must tell you-that 's worth more than I realized. So back to tall cubicle land I go!!

Via Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom: A Manifesto Against Islamic Totalitarianism

Because you can't have one without the other.....sign me up for the firing line if the folks on the following list go down....

....because remember. The burden of proof is a sticky issue...

One Year Later.....

Exactly one year ago, I wrote (but did not publish) the following post.....

Shannon Love at Chicago Boyz and Using Reason.....

.........

Yes, reason. To start off this post, I'll direct readers to the following post by Shannon Love over at the Chicago Boyz.

An excerpt-

" The Left and Evolution
I was educated as a biologist and evolutionary theory remains an intellectual interest of mine. I spent many hours in my youth arguing with "scientific" creationists. These hours were largely spent educating the creationists on the actual theory they were criticizing, or debating the finer philosophical points of scientific methodology. I eventually gave up due to pure frustration because in the end creationists believe what they believe as a matter of faith. You can't argue somebody out of his faith.

So this post over at Powerline pointing to a biology professor who is denouncing the Powerline guys for being idiots because one of them doesn't believe in evolution grabbed my attention .

Creationists are exasperating because they never study evolutionary theory in any detail. Since they start with the unshakable presumption that the theory is wrong, they can never actually honestly analyze the theory and therefore can never understand it in any depth. They just skim over the theory looking for points that confuse them and then pronounce the misunderstood points as fatal flaws within the theory itself.

Frankly, most creationists' knowledge of evolutionary theory boils down to, "them scientist fellas what says we alls comes from monkeys!"

Of course, this is a much different view of evolutionary theory than that held by the majority of secular leftists. Their superior educations and their generally more open-minded and inquisitive natures have given them a view of evolutionary theory that might be summed up as, "them scientist fellas what says we alls comes from monkeys!"

I'm not kidding.

Your average leftist is every bit as clueless about evolutionary theory as any stereotypical bible-thumping hick with an 8th-grade education. Worse, leftists hypocritically extol evolutionary theory when it advances their political agenda, but then turn on it viciously when it does not."

Shannon goes on to use the example of the recent savaging of Harvard president Larry Summers by the leftist academic establishment for espousing the view that maybe,just maybe, the Blank Slate theory-that human intellect and behavior are strictly the products of learning that occurs after birth- may not be entirely correct. During Remarks at the NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & Engineering Workforce, Mr Summers stated the following-

My point was simply that the field of behavioral genetics had a revolution in the last fifteen years, and the principal thrust of that revolution was the discovery that a large number of things that people thought were due to socialization weren't, and were in fact due to more intrinsic human nature, and that set of discoveries, it seemed to me, ought to influence the way one thought about other areas where there was a perception of the importance of socialization.

The point the Shannon makes in regards to creationists views of evolution, is that just as creationists will ignore the scientific basis for evolution, the same secular intellectuals from the left side of the aisle will ignore the scientifically falsifiable information which disproves the Blank Slate theory. Of course for even proposing this theory Summers was pratically tarred and feathered.

Here is something that I have noticed in a common thread through almost any subject- be it religion, science, politics, sports, whatever. You will have people on the far edges of the fringe of each subject that WILL NOT be moved from their positions no matter how much logic and reason you present them. Just try explaining to a christian fundamentalist evolution- once you are done banging your head against the wall, you will see my point. It's the same on every sode of any other subject though. Conservatives and Liberals right now HATE and I mean HATE each other so much that rational discourse has completely fallen off the deep end, and we are constantly reduced to ad hominem debates. It's like the Rush Limbaughs and the Michael Moores are the only ones left arguing with each other. There isn't enough REASON left in the middle for people to grasp a firm position to.

Since then, Larry Summers was removed/resigned as President of Harvard.



What a difference a year makes, eh?

"Mmmm....Whut's up Mohammed?"

Cox and Forkum, with their usual brilliance..

Seriously, a cartoon?

Is reason enough to kill someone??


Duck Season!

Wabbit Season!

Wabbit Season!

"Of course, you realize this means war."

Free Speech +The Mohammed Cartoons= An Overdue Reality Slap

Perhaps you've been living under a very spacious rock for the last few weeks and have managed to avoid the recent controversy concerning some anti-muslim cartoons that were published.

The brief recap goes as follows: Some political cartoonists drew some cartoons that made fun of the hypocrisy of the "religion of peace".

Stuff like this-


Yes, Mohammed with a bomb as a turban. Not very complimentary whatsoever.

And, well, the Muslim nation did not approve, to put it mildly. They in fact killed people, rioted, burned flags and generally made a large stink over said cartoons.

Do remember the piss christ? It was a small statue of Jesus on the cross that was submerged in urine. This is what it looked like.



Do you remember all of the Christian rioting after this was displayed? Yeah, me neither. In fact, I remember people defending this ridiculous display as worthy of artistic merit. Listen people, I don't care what you submerge in urine, just because you do doesn't make it art. Either way, I don't remember the christian Jihad over the display.

On 9/11, the Muslim fanatics took a swing at western freedoms. They demanded complete and total capitulation.

Since then they have been revealing the world in which they propose we live.

A world where making fun of religion is grounds for imprisonment at best, death at worst.

A world where women are second class citizens provided they stay covered up and out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

Many very good people have fought against this ideaological tyranny, and paid the ultimate price so that we would be able to "piss on other religions.".

Those who defended the piss christ should be doing the same over the Mohammed cartoons.

I wonder sometimes how many of those realize this fact.

For All The Lovers Out There

On this day when you folks are all snuggling up to each other full of chocolates and roses, the rest of us in the bachelor/bachelorette world think are drinking heavily and hoping you all would just stay at home and keep your sappy-ass snuggling away from our Jagers.

As a courtesy gift, I point you towards the animated explanation of love. Real love, not this candy/diamond ring fantasy world that you are living today.....don't thank me, I'm a giver...

Ah L'Amour By Don Hertzfeldt.

Yep....

Monday Night @ The Mercy Lounge

Boys 'n Girls-live@ The Mercy Lounge, and they did rock just fine. That's my buddy Jim O'Shea on the left with the geetar.

Super Bowl Prediction

Well, I totally blew it on my football predictions for the NFC and AFC title games. I thought that Denver was for real and Jake the Snake would finally shrug off his Peyton Manning-like tendencies to blow big games. I also thought that Seattle would not have enough weapons to match Carolina and Steve Smith.

Wrong, and wrong.

So now we have the Pittsburgh Steelers -a team that in these playoffs have beaten the Bengals, the Colts and the Bronco's on the road- facing the Seattle Seahawks, who had two playoff games at home against two beat down teams in Washington and Carolina. I still don't think the Seahawks have been tested yet, but their offensive line is definitely for real. Yes, Shaun Alexander is an excellent running back, but I could probably run for a thousand yards in a season behind that offensive line. It sure is fun to be a running back when the people who are supposed to tackle you are all laying down on the ground.

I think Seattle is about to find out why the AFC is as dominant as it has been over the last few years. Pittsburgh is a team that exemplifies what teams need to be able to do to win the AFC championship. On offense you need to run the ball effectively (Willie Parker, Jerome Bettis-check), have a passing game with a deep threat and a third and long threat (Antwaan Randal El and Hines Ward-check), and a quarterback who has some playoff experience in big games (Ben Roethilsberger, who lost to the Patriots in last years AFC championship game-check). On defense you need to just wreak havoc with the opponents offense and take them out of their game (James Farrior, Troy Palomalu-check), ask Peyton and Jake about those two-they sure remember them.

As far as Seattle goes, they haven't had to play a complete game yet. To beat the Redskins they had to stop a banged up Clinton Portis and slow down the sloth-like Mark Brunell, and then let their offensive line pummel Washingtons defense. Against Carolina they had to stop Steve Smith, and, well, Steve Smith. Carolina's defense was out of gas by the second quarter, and the Seattle O-Line pretty much had thei way with them. Again, Alexander is an incredible back, but I could put just about any NFL starting running back behind that O-Line and they too would look pretty damn good.

I think that the Seahawks are short at least two important offensive weapons -no deep threat, and an unproven playoff quarterback- and defensively haven't played a team with the offensive depth that the Steelers have.

It probably won't be a blow out, and Bill Cowher will have his chances to completely screw it up, but I believe that Jerome "Homecoming" Bettis and the Pittsburgh Stellers are going to deliver the Lombardi trophy to Pennsylvania this year.

Final Score: Steelers 34, Seattle 13.

Things To Do In Nashville On The Saturday Before The Super Bowl

A spectacular saturday night. The Nashville Predators win 6-0, Hartnell gets the hat trick, Vokoun gets the shutout, and we Preds fans get free tacos!

Big Sis Is In Town.

Yep, I'm the ugly duckling in the family. That's ok, I can drink her ass under the table.....Picture taken at Mafioza's on 12th avenue south, after eight too many Jagers...I do love my family to pieces.

Dumb, Dumber and Joel Stein

Perhaps you've heard of the latest kerfuffle involving one LA Times columnist, Joel Stein, and his recent editorial entitled "Warriors and wusses". In the column Mr Stein explains to us that he does not support the US Military and the troops who serve in it. Here are some of the jaw-droppingly ignorant reasons for his position.

I've got no problem with other people — the ones who were for the Iraq war — supporting the troops. If you think invading Iraq was a good idea, then by all means, support away. Load up on those patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets the Chinese are making money off of.

But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken — and they're wussy by definition. It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward.

Blindly lending support to our soldiers, I fear, will keep them overseas longer by giving soft acquiescence to the hawks who sent them there — and who might one day want to send them somewhere else. Trust me, a guy who thought 50.7% was a mandate isn't going to pick up on the subtleties of a parade for just service in an unjust war. He's going to be looking for funnel cake.

Joel thinks that if we support the troops then this will give the approval to the "hawks" in the administration to keep them there longer. Or perhaps even send them somewhere else where they might be (gasp!) expected to do what our military does extremely well- kill people and break stuff. Now, obviously our military does a whole hell of a lot more than this, as our relief efforts in the Asian tsunami or the Pakistani earthquakes demonstrate, but primarily our military is designed to kill people and break stuff more efficiently and accurately than any other fighting force in the history of our planet. Many people believe, myself include, that the reason our military is as efficient as it is today is because it is a volunteer force. Because the soldiers are there willingly they are more committed to the missions set forth for them than if they were conscripted.

Joel believes that these volunteers are "ignoring their morality".

But blaming the president is a little too easy. The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying. An army of people ignoring their morality, by the way, is also Jack Abramoff's pet name for the House of Representatives.

Inefficiency would be the least of the military's problem if each member made choices according to their own moral agenda. I would be suprised if they could learn how to do anything together. That's the point of an organized militia. They work together towards a common goal, not what each individual persons goal may be.

The next quote is one that exposes not only Mr. Stein's misunderstanding of the military and what it does, but the history of our military engagements as well.

But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam.

And sometimes, for reasons I don't understand, you get to just hang out in Germany.

"Get Lucky"? My cousin Charlie served for about three years in Bosnia, and I can tell you that at no time did he feel lucky. In fact, he explained to me that he felt very frustrated when the people who lived there explained to him that even though they were happy to see UN and US troops there to stop the fighting, they knew that once they left it would just start all over again.

And Joel, the hanging out in Germany part? There was this conflict perhaps you've heard of called WWII. Something to do with Nazi's and such. Might want to look that one up.

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Mr Stein on his radio show today to let him further explain his views. Here's the transcript.

Here's probably the most telling exchange of the intellectual beating Hewitt administered to Stein-

JS: I honor police service. I honor military service. Any...I just think that...

HH: You do honor military service?

JS: Yeah. No, I'm grateful for people that serve in the military.

HH: But you don't support our troops?

JS: I don't...I don't believe in supporting the troops in an action that you don't believe in.

HH: And so, that would be everything I've named thus far. So I guess...did you support and honor the troops in the Pentagon on 9/11?

JS: Sure, yeah.

HH: All right.

JS: All the troops that are here to defend our country, I'm very, very grateful for. I'm grateful for the police...

HH: Provided they don't leave the country?

JS: Yeah, provided they don't fight in wars that I think are endangering them for no reason.

HH: And the moment they do, you stop honoring them?

JS: The moment I do, I think it's a poor idea to show support for them and prolong that engagement.

So Mr Stein supports the troops as long as they are only fighting people in the United States. Once outside the states he dumps them like used toilet paper. Apparently Mr Stein has a thing for Kosovo though, because he said he would support them then. Personally I don't think that Mr Stein has a fucking clue what he's talking about at all. How a guy this ignorant gets a high paying job writing for a major newspaper like the LA Times should give you an idea of how pathetic the majority of the major media is these days. I mean, someone actually edited this piece and told the print guys to run it. Simply amazing.

Jeff Goldstein sums up what those of us who not only support the troops but the wars they are currently engaged in thusly-

For my part, I support the troops because they are our countrymen and women, they have signed up willingly to serve the nation, and we are in no way, shape, manner, or form figthing a war that is objectively evil or even objectionable from ethical standards that include a resistance to tyranny and a promotion of peace and democracy.

Which is why it is easy for me to look at Stein’s pseudo-philosophical bit of puffed-up provocateurism and call it what it is: the nadir of the me generation, and the ultimate passing of the buck.

I managed to scrounge up a picture of our esteemed columnist Mr Stein, but unfortunately the picture doesn't quite give the full profile so apologies to Mr Stein in advance.

Monday Night Cocktails..

Just another night with a great bartender and a quality bar

Testing the Cellphone post..

This is where I die a little each day

NFL Championship Game Predictions and The Gift That Keeps On Giving

It's that time of year again folks, The AFC and NFC Championship games are upon us. Last year I split on my predictions, but did pick the eventual Super Bowl winner.

Before I get to my picks for this weekend, I have to write a little bit about what I call "the gift that keeps on giving", namely the monstrous choke job that the Indianapolis Colts pulled in last weeks divisional round. Those who know me know that as a Titans fan I despise the Colts and more importantly Peyton Manning. They seem to get fawned over every year by the media and fans alike only to get completely spanked come playoff time, not to mention the last three years have bitch-slapped my Titans repeatedly. Peyton has never won a state, college or pro championship football game in his life, yet is already annointed as "best QB ever". After the Steelers attempted to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in last weeks game, the Colts had a chance to send it to overtime and sure enough the choke went from "minor choke job-got outplayed, but didn't really choke" to "major choke job-had the game gift wrapped and couldn't seal the deal". Everyones favorite "idiot kicker" Mike Vandershank missed the game tying field goal by about three miles and sent the Steelers to Denver for Sundays AFC Championship game.

After the game, the giving started. First, you had Peyton calling out his O-line for "having some protection problems". Hey Peyton- maybe if you didn't move slower than my three year old nephew the O-line wouldn't have had that many problems. And calling out your team after a loss is how you become a disrespected loser with talent as opposed to a champion calibre winner like Tom Brady. How many times when the Pats lose do you hear Tom say "well, my receivers couldn't catch the ball, that's why we lost." Never. Even McNair, win or lose, puts the responsibility on himself. That's what true champions do. After the game Vandershank also added "I guess God wasn't on our side". Um, what? So I was right that Satan has been in the Colts locker room all this time? Man what an idiot.

Like I said, the gift that keeps on giving.

So to Peyton and Colts fans I leave you this photoshop obtained today from Fark.com's best headline of the day-

Indianapolis Colts raise prices of tickets, presumably to cover the cost of heimlich maneuver classes



Heh. Yes, the gift that keeps on giving. On to my picks....

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: BRONCOS vs. STEELERS in Denver.

I've recently been changed in to a Jake Plummer believer thanks to Jeff Goldstein from Protein Wisdom. Jeff is convinced that Jake is consistently underrated as a QB, and has been one of the NFL's best for the last couple of years. Until his game last week against the Pats, I wasn't really sold. But then Jake made this TD pass in the second half while rolling to his right that was an absolute rope, splitting two defenders and hitting the receiver on the numbers so hard he fell over. It was dare I say- Elway-esque. Jake did a decent job of managing that game, and with a coach like Shanahan, all he has to do is stick with the game plan. I don't think that the Steelers can go blitz happy against Plummer because he is actually a better QB when he gets flushed out of the pocket, and the Steelers secondary is WEAK. The other problem for Pittsburgh is they are dependent on the running game to keep Big Ben clean enough to pick apart a defense, and no one has been able to run against the Broncos this year. Add that up to the two pro bowlers in Lynch and Bailey in the Denver secondary and you get a long day for Steelers fans.

Final pick: Denver-28, Pittsburgh-10.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: SEAHAWKS vs. PANTHERS in Seattle-

Much as I hate to admit it, Seattle (and ex-Titan) cornerback Andre Dyson is about to get served on a platter this weekend by the most dangerous football player on the field Sunday in Carolina wideout Steve Smith. Chicago inexplicably left Smith single covered during the majority of last weeks game, and Smith made them pay repeatedly. While I don't think that the Seahawks will make the same mistake, I don't think they have enough talent in the secondary to stop Smith. He's a stronger Marvin Harrison with blazing quickness and a fearless attitude over the middle. Just about anywhere they line him up he's a threat. As crazy as this sounds, Jake Delhomme has the most big game experience out of all of the QB's left in the playoffs. Seattles offense has a Jekyl and Hyde mentality, and I'm not sure which one shows up this weekend. The Titans couldn't stop Alexander when we played them this year, but the Titans still should have won that game. I have no faith at all in Seattle's QB Hasselback, as he made some cover-your-eyes-awful, Kordell Stewart-esque decisions in last weeks game against the Redskins. I think Carolina wins this going away.

Final score: Carolina- 34, Seattle 14.

Should be some good games, looking forard to it....have a good weekend everyone!!

According to NASA, Our Mission To Pluto Is More Important Than Asteroid Mitigation

Perhaps you've heard of the recent mission to Pluto, "New Horizons(PKB)", which is designed to "characterize the global geology and morphology of Pluto and its moon Charon, map their surface composition and characterize Pluto's neutral atmosphere and its escape rate." The projected cost of the mission is "planned to be under $550 million".

$550 million. To visit Pluto.

$4 million a year is spent out of NASA's budget tracking asteroids. Nothing is spent towards developing a mitigation program capable of protecting us if a threat is discovered. As I mentioned in an earlier post the planetary scientist Don Yeomans has stated that in regards to who handles mitigation if the threat is discovered "NASA does not have the charter to look at that, nor does anyone else," he said. "That's the point - no one does at the moment."

So creating a program to pro-actively develop a department or charter that would be the lead in handling mitigation procedures is not important at all to NASA, but taking pictures of rocks on Pluto is.

Perhaps the most advanced and potentially feasible project that has been proposed at this time is the Gravitational Tractor. Proposed by Ed Lu and Stan Love of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the tractor would hover some tens of meters from a spinning asteroid. Only the force of gravity would connect the two.

Careful control of the tractor's thrusters would keep the craft close to the asteroid as it slowly pulled the rock off its collision course. Given enough lead time, it would take just a year for a 20-ton spacecraft to drag a 200-meter-wide asteroid weighing about 60 million tons away from Earth's path, Lu and Love calculate in the Nov. 10 Nature Magazine (subscription required for access to link).




Someone explain to me why NASA is spending half a billion dollars to take pictures of rocks on Pluto, yet won't spend a single dime researching ways to mitigate asteroids. I'm not suggesting we scrap every existing NASA program to concentrate ONLY on mitigation (although really, what's the point of all the other programs if we discover a serious NEO threat?), but at least raise the level of priority of asteroid mitigation from zero-to-none to say, above Pluto's rocks. Is this really that unreasonable? Is it too much to ask to be pro-active towards this issue as opposed to head-in-the-sand denial?

NASA has a yearly budget in the range of $16 billion. Spending half a billion on Pluto and NOTHING on NEO mitigation is an irresponsible and negligent use of my tax dollars.

Is It Ever A Bad Day To Make Fun Of The KKK?

I certainly don't think so.

Well, life decided to imitate the Chappelle show. Perhaps some of you remember the skit from the Chappelle show where Dave played a blind black man who joins the KKK and hilarity doth ensue. It was pretty damn funny.

Sometimes truth is funnier than fiction, exhibit a.-

Black sergeant was 'loyal Klansman'

By Deborah Bulkeley
Deseret Morning News



About 25 years ago, Ron Stallworth was asked to lead the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Colorado Springs. Stallworth carries his KKK membership card as a memento. Problem was, the outgoing Klan leader didn't know that Stallworth is black. "He asked me to take over the lead because I was a good, loyal Klansman," said Stallworth, who had been in constant phone contact with the Klan leader while leading a yearlong Colorado Springs police investigation into the Klan. Stallworth later moved to Utah, where he recently retired after nearly 20 years as an investigator for the Utah Department of Public Safety. He says he's amazed that no one ever caught on to the investigation he led starting in 1979. After he was offered Klan leadership, he quietly disappeared. As a memento Stallworth still carries his Klan membership card — signed by David Duke."It was one of the most fun" investigations, he said. "Everybody said it couldn't be done." Stallworth communicated with Klan leaders using the telephone. A white officer posing as Stallworth went to the meetings. "The challenge for me was to maintain the conversation flow," Stallworth said. At the same time, Stallworth also led an undercover investigation into the Progressive Labor Party, a communist group that protested at Klan rallies. Stallworth, of Layton, worked 30 years in law enforcement in four states. Stallworth's undercover experience and research led him to become a nationally known expert on gang culture. He calls the Klan investigation "one of the most significant investigations I was ever involved in because of the scope and the magnitude of how it unfolded."

Classic. Read the rest of the story, as Mr. Stallworth seems like quite an incredible guy.

Man I hate bigots. I do love making them look unbelievably stupid though, that's pretty fun. Can you imagine how hard it was for Stallworth to keep from laughing while on the phones with these morons? He desreves some kind of Chappelle award for this or something.

Good Lord Is This A Good Album

One of the many excellent Xmas gifts my mom got me this year was the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall [LIVE] CD. My mom usually steers away from buying me music for Xmas, but this year she took the plunge.

Well, this CD, recorded at Carnegie Hall on November 29th, 1957 is simply amazing. According to reports, this album was accidentally discovered in an unmarked box by a Library of Congress engineer early in 2005. Before this recording was found there have only been three studio tracks that the two worked on together. The live sound quality is fine for me since I'm not much of an audiophile, and I always love hearing the size of the crowd based on their applause at the end of the tracks. It always makes the music seem more real.


Monk and Coltrane simply scorch through the set, and the duets between them are like finely woven silk for the ears. The way that each player seems to push the other after each solo exemplifies what makes great Jazz improvisation. Reading a little further in to this historic night, one learns that the other groups on the bill for the show (a benefit for the Morningside Community Center) were Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra, Ray Charles, and Sonny Rollins.....

....Um, yeah, you could say it was a decent night at Carnegie. If you are a fan of Jazz, Monk, Coltrane or all three, this is must have for your collection. There is absolutely no way you will be disappointed by this recording.




Thanks again Mom!

What Should Be More Important? Colonizing The Moon Or Mitigating Asteroids?

Seems a simple enough question. I can imagine that those five of you who read this blog would already know MY answer (hint: it ain't no frickin mooncamp). But what does NASA think?

Before we get to that answer let's break down the question a little further.

In terms of NASA's engineering priorities, budgetary decisions, and manpower- what truly is more important to the well being and survival of the human race?

Here is NASA's mission statement.

NASA Mission Statement

To advance and communicate scientific knowledge and understanding of the earth, the solar system, and the universe.
To advance human exploration, use, and develoment of space.
To research, develop, verify, and transfer advanced aeronautics and space technologies.

And here is NASA's "Vision Statement".

NASA Vision NASA is an investment in America's future. As explorers, pioneers, and innovators, we boldly expand frontiers in air and space to inspire and serve America and to benefit the quality of life on Earth.

Before I get in to full rant mode, I want to take time to say that every person I have met or corresponded with that is involved with NASA was extremely dedicated and serious about the aforementioned statements. The time and effort it takes to put together a mission like Deep Impact for instance is mind-boggling. Their efforts are truly honorable.

There is also the matter of odds concerning an asteroid impact. It is less likely that an impact causing either regional or global devastation will happen within the next hundred years than say a flu pandemic or a terrorist nuclear strike. However, this doesn't mean we shouldn't be preparing for it. A year ago yesterday Richard Posner had this to say about "the Economics of Catastrophic Risk"-

The fact that a catastrophe is very unlikely to occur is not a rational justification for ignoring the risk of its occurrence........A dramatic example of neglect of low-probability/high-cost risks concerns the asteroid menace, which is analytically similar to the menace of tsunamis. NASA, with an annual budget of more than $10 billion, spends only $4 million a year on mapping dangerously close large asteroids, and at that rate may not complete the task for another decade, even though such mapping is the key to an asteroid defense because it may give us years of warning. Deflecting an asteroid from its orbit when it is still millions of miles from the earth is a feasible undertaking. In both cases, slight risks of terrible disasters are largely ignored essentially for political reasons.

In part because tsunamis are one of the risks of an asteroid collision, the Indian Ocean disaster has stimulated new intereset in asteroid defense. This is welcome. The fact that a disaster of a particular type has not occurred recently or even within human memory (or even ever) is a bad reason to ignore it. The risk may be slight, but if the consequences should it materialize are great enough, the expected cost of disaster may be sufficient to warrant defensive measures.

Keeping in mind the NASA budget numbers again- A $10 billion budget, and only $4 million a year spent on mapping asteroids (never mind mitigating them)- let's now turn to a recent conversation between Planetary scientist Don Yeomans and Alan Boyle, Science editor for MSNBC. During this conversation, Yeomans talks about the efforts of NASA to track Apophis, and also the current responsibilities of NASA in terms of dealing with the mitigation os Apophis-

"We shouldn't be going hard over and devoting a lot more resources than what we have now, perhaps," he said. "But the modest level of spending that NASA is doing now - about $4 million a year - is probably appropriate, at least for the time being, for the insurance that we get as a result of tracking these objects into the future. We don't get the giggle factor nearly as much as we once did."

Although the study of near-Earth asteroids has come a long way in the past decade, one big question still hangs in the air: Who takes over if Yeomans and his colleagues actually spot an asteroid or comet heading our way?

At least officially, it's not NASA. True, NASA identifies and tracks potentially threatening near-Earth objects, and NASA does have plans to respond to Apophis if necessary. However, dealing with an actual threat is not part of the space agency's job description, Yeomans said.

"NASA does not have the charter to look at that, nor does anyone else," he said. "That's the point - no one does at the moment."

Um, hello?

If not NASA, who? Name me any space program that has the experience and tools needed to actually even BEGIN to work on a mission to mitigate an asteroid besides NASA.

Yeomans goes on to discuss further about this bizzare denial of NASA to get involved with mitigating a deep space threat-

I've been warned, and warned, and warned again by NASA Headquarters not to sign NASA up for any mitigation responsibilities - because NASA does not have that responsibility at the moment. So I'm not to say anything on that.

Q: What would have to happen to make those sorts of studies? Rusty [Schweickart, of the B612 Foundation] has said that there should be an agency designated to protect Earth from near-Earth objects and address some of these mitigation measures - whether it's a national or international agency, or set up under an international treaty. Is there a range of political scenarios for that?

A: What would have to happen, of course, is that the policy makers and Congress would have to direct NASA or the Department of Defense or someone to take responsibility for this, and then they would begin the studies necessary to come up with those options. As I mentioned, NASA does not have the charter to look at that, nor does anyone else. That's the point - no one does at the moment.

Q: The charter that NASA has is to identify those objects.

A: Identify and track. But not mitigate, and not deflect. They're really sensitive about that.

I am having a difficult time understanding why NASA is so "sensitive" about being given the responsibility to head up an agency designated to protect Earth from near-Earth objects and address some of these mitigation measures. Why is this? Going back to NASA's "Vision" statement that "NASA is an investment in America's future", shouldn't they be in charge of making sure that there will even BE a future for America and the world for that matter?

What scares me is that the reason why NASA may be so "sensitive" about this is that certain individuals are protecting their own pet projects. If suddenly congress demanded that NASA go from being simply a "tracking only" program in terms of Asteroids to mitigation as well, it would cause funding to be shifted from other NASA programs. This means that for instance perhaps a moon landing may have to be shelved for another decade or two. The proposed amount to send men back to the moon by 2018 has been reported at $104 billion. That's big money, most likely involving many kick backs to various industries who stand to get a piece of that $104 billion.

Could it be that the reason NASA doesn't want to get serious about asteroid mitigation is simply greed? I'm all for going back to the moon, but not at the expense of our ability to protect the planet from mitigating asteroids.

I fear that this mentality will continue until we get whacked again with another Near Earth Object. I leave you with this, the 1908 Tunguska Impact, which felled an estimated 60 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers. Look at the following map and you'll see that the rotation of the earth would have put this impact close to downtown Moscow had it landed a few hours later.



Again, it's not a question of if, but when folks. The moon is cool and all, but c'mon.

And if not NASA, who?

Hello Again Dear Readers!

Recovery from this years New Years festivities is ongoing, and things are slowly returning back to (somewhat) normal. I am told that I had a very good time at the party I attended on New Years, for once the combination of Beer, Wine, Jager, Vodka, Champagne, Top Shelf Tequila, and more jager were fully digested things became a bit -erm- hazy. However, seeing as how my plan was to get steenking drunk for New Years so that I would avoid any unnecessary drama with certain people you could say, well, mission accomplished.



Here's me and my buddy Cody after the clock struck the bewitching hour. Cody plays in a kick ass band called Keating, go check out the link to hear some of their stuff. They rule.

Hope you and yours had a spectacular New Years as well. 2006 looks to be yet another year full of fun and excitement. I have some posts in the works concerning NASA's recent work with NEO's, some more Titans news (Leinart anyone?), and the ongoing saga that is the Boston Red Sox. I look forward to getting all five of you to read them soon, and I hope you do come back for some more Tman prose...

NYC Trip Pictures....More to come...

12-27-2005-13, originally uploaded by Tman In TN.

Christmas In NYC........

Here's the slideshow...I'll post more as I get them...

Live From New York- It's Tman!!

Yep, I'm here in the heart of the evil empire visiting my sister before we drive up to Boston to see my mom for Christmas, and I have yet to run to Johnny "traitor" Damon. If I do sportsfans, it won't be pretty. Guiness has a tendency to remove my inhibitions and there is not shortage of that lovely black elxir here in the Big Apple.

On the Damon front, I received a link from my buddy Adam which has a picture documentary entitled "My Sensible Reaction to Johnny Damon Signing with the Yanks". If nothing else it shows the maturity and pose that Red Sox fans like myself have shown in the days since that traitorous bastard decided to leave the path and follow the dark side. Ahem.

Anyways, I may hate their baseball teams, but damn do I love visiting this city. I did the tourist stuf today with my sister- breakfast at Arties, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, etc. We even braved a relatively short line to get to the top of the Empire State building. And by "relatively short" I mean less than an hour. I can't imagine what it's like when it gets busy at that place. After that we went for one of these- at Katz Deli in the Lower East Side. I dare say there is not a better sandwich on the planet.

After that we did a little stroll through the village with a stop at Magnolia's for a cupcake, which was recently immortalized beyond NYC through the genius of Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg's "Lazy Sunday" on Saturday Night Live. Mr Pibb + Red Vine= Crazy Delicious bitches.... Tonight it's off to Rolf's for dinner and drinks. Pictures to follow when I get home..

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye.

Farking Traitor.

Yankees add Damon to potent lineup

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees grabbed center fielder Johnny Damon away from the rival Boston Red Sox, reaching a preliminary agreement Tuesday night on a $52 million, four-year contract.

Details of the deal were still being negotiated and Damon must pass a physical, a baseball official said on condition of anonymity because negotiations were not yet final.

Damon's contract with the Yankees includes a partial no-trade clause, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reported.


Moving from Fenway Park to Yankee Stadium will mean a change of style and scenery for the long-haired, bearded Damon -- a fan favorite in Boston for his scrappy play and scruffy look. But New York owner George Steinbrenner bans beards and long hair.

"Sad to say bye to some of the greatest fans in the world. Unfortunately they had to see this day, but it's time for me to move forward," Damon told WBZ television in Boston. "They were coming after me aggressively. We know George Steinbrenner's reputation.

Reportedly, the Sox offered Damon 4 years at $40 million, and this wasn't enough for Damon. He wanted the 5 at $52 million the Yanks offered. So much for being one the good guys. Tom Brady took pay cut after pay cut to help the Patriots get more depth so they could compete more. So did Steve McNair for that matter. Johnny just proved he is a me-first hired gun, so he'll fit in just fine in New York with the rest of the Spankee Mercenaries.

Look at this ridiculous figure from last night on Sportscenter-



The salaries of the first six in that lineup are almost equal to what last years entire salary for the World Series Champion Chicago White Sox was for the entire team.

Screw Steinbrenner, Screw Cashman, Screw the Chokees, and finally Screw that traitorous rat-bastard Johnny Unfrozen Caveman Damon. May the lord guide those double AA's thrown from the Fenway Bleachers next year directly to your sizeable useless melon.

Johnny, you are dead to me.Further thoughts from The Soxaholix...Bitter? Me? Nah...

Yet Another Amazing Photo Of Saturn From The Cassini Probe

Check out the storm on the surface too. The storm itself is bigger than the earth.



Storm Down Under
December 20, 2005

An oval-shaped feature, wider than Earth and with streamers extending out to the east and west, swirls in Saturn's southern hemisphere. Like the rainbands of a Southern Hemisphere hurricane on Earth, the streamers spiral into the feature in a clockwise direction. Unlike Earth's hurricanes, this storm probably contains no liquid water.
The planet's equatorial rings cut across the top of the image.

The image was taken in wavelengths of polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 30, 2005, at a distance of approximately 324,000 kilometers (202,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel.

Spirit Of America: Operation Snapshot Successful

Yes, yes, I know. Iraq is a quagmire. According to Dean and the democrats, we can't win, it's Vietnam all over again, blahblahblah. Idiots. All of them.

Here's some of the latest news from Spirit of America. You remember them, right? Of course you do. I mean the New York Times has them on the front page like every other day, right?

Right.

Here's a refresher for those just tuning in-

Mission and Objectives
Spirit of America's mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. We provide support to those on the front lines: American military and civilian personnel and people who call to Americans for help in their struggle for freedom and democracy.

Our objectives include:


Increase the reach, scale and impact of the informal humanitarian activities that take place on the front lines in troubled regions.
Contribute charitable goods that can have a positive, practical and timely impact in the local communities where American personnel are involved.
Establish connections and strengthen bonds between the American people and those in countries struggling for freedom and democracy.

The latest success story from Spirit of America is Operation Snapshot: LtCol Jeff Vold of the 1st Marine Division writes, "Many teams report that they have been able to open many doors and break down many barriers with something as simple as a Polaroid picture." So, Spirit of America sprung in to action and boom!- 40 polaroids shipped over to Iraq immediately.

Here's the result-

Operation Snapshot: A Picture IS worth a thousand words
Cost of 40 Polaroid Cameras sent to the troops in Iraq: $400.00

Seeing the faces of Iraqi children enjoying their photos: Priceless

You have to think that if mass media could read more emails and see pictures like these, we'd hear more news stories of the good things that our troops are doing in Iraq. These photos and update on the success of Operation Snapshot make it all worthwhile:

Thank you so much. I was completely amazed. I am always thankful to get out of this office and out into the field. This, by far, was the greatest adventure yet.

We convoyed out and drove to a local Iraqi Army Station, from there the IA Soldiers took on us a foot patrol out to a local school not far from their area.

Yes, it was a little tense, but once we arrived at the school the children started to come from everywhere. The team I was with was delivering backpacks and I toted along with my backpack full of Polaroids and film.

The pictures were the hit of the day. I showed the Iraqi Soldiers how to take pictures and just let them go with it.

Again, thanks for all your support.

Sincerely

Charity

I have another question for the defeatists who say we cannot win in Iraq despite the improvements of the Iraqi Security Forces, successful elections and the rule of law without a dictator- how many of you heard of the following stories?

All taken from the Spirit of America site-

Children’s Books Destined for Libraries Arrive in Baghdad
Soccer Equipment Delivered to Eastern Afghanistan
Backpacks for Kids Shipped From Iowa to Ramadi
An Email from Sgt Charity Lewis
Carpentry Program in Baghdad
Celebration for Ramadan in Baghdad
Sports Fans Provide Classroom Comfort for Children
Letters & Donations from Iraqi Children in Basrah to the Children of hurricane Katrina


We now return you to your regularly scheduled quagmire programming.

If Israel Destroys Iran's Nuclear Facilities, How Can Anyone Blame Them?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, has made some statements recently concerning what is every Arab controlled nations favorite pastime-destroying Israel- that shouldn't leave out much room for misinterpretation.

Stuff like-

Wednesday, October 26, 2005-

ABC News: Iran Leader Calls for Israel's Destruction

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran’s hard-line president called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state, state-run media reported Wednesday.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize relations with it.

“There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad told students Wednesday during a Tehran conference called “The World without Zionism.”

“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury, (while) any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad also repeated the words of the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel.

“As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” said Ahmadinejad, who came to power in August and replaced Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who advocated international dialogue and tried to improve Iran’s relations with the West.

And, as Mark Steyn eloquently describes-

"Good news! On Thursday (December 11th), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, who recently called for Israel to be wiped off the map, moderated his position. In a spirit of statesmanlike compromise, he now wants Israel wiped off the map of the Middle East and wiped on to the map of Europe.

"Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces," Ahmadinejad told Iranian TV viewers. "Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true," he added sportingly, "if European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II, why don't they provide the Zionist regime with a piece of Europe? Germany and Austria can provide the regime with two or three provinces for this regime to establish itself, and the issue will be resolved. You offer part of Europe, and we will support it."

Big of you. It's the perfect solution to the "Middle East peace process": out of sight, out of mind. And given that Ahmadinejad's out of his mind, we're already halfway there."

So this is the president of Iran? A holocaust denying nutball who has made himself perfectly clear that he intends to send Israel "back to where they got killed in WWII" either dead or alive?

Should anyone be surprised that Israel is taking Iran at their word?

"Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran".

Many people these days seem to have historical amnesia about the middle east and Israel. The Jewish people have lived there for over 3700 years. The've had every type of misguided culture attempt to eradicate Israel and the Jews with them since then. And in the last century, you have the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the League of Nations Mandate, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration; the United Nations partition resolution of 1947 and Israel's admission to the UN in 1949 to further educate everyone that Israel was here to stay.

Israel has backed this up militarily for the last century by suviving repeated attacks from every available Arab nation. And all have gone away empty handed. Israel is not going anywhere. Larry Miller, the comedian/actor/editorialist describes the situation in terms that are unavoidably clear-

"Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding."

Israel has had to "renovate" the nuclear facilities of Arab nations in the past. Just ask Saddam how much better the Osirak Nuclear facility near Baghdad looks as a smoking crater with a few walls left standing as opposed to that French nuke factory it used to be.

What if your neighbor started building a big cannon -that he didn't really know how to build, but seemed to have plenty of people helping him- and then suddenly walked in to the street and told everyone in the neighborhood that he planned to blow up your house "somehow" as soon as he was able to.

How long do you ignore him?

How long should Israel?

I can't blame them. And I'd wager a bet that there would be a surprisingly large number of Iranians who wouldn't blame them either.

Saddam: 'I Am Not Afraid of Execution'

"Oh wait, maybe I am afraid of execution....can we have a do-over?"


The trial of Saddam is quite interesting to me, mainly because there hasn't been such a blatantly guilty dictator on the bench in quite some time. I'm surprised that it's taken this long, but hey- for reasons I outlined in this earlier post, they better get this one right. Hania Mufti and the entire Iraqi people deserve no less.

In the interests of science, I've decided to post the following poll to your right (above the blogroll) to see what you, dear readers, think should be the method of Saddams inevitable execution.

I suggest reading some of the various Iraqi blogs for reactions to the trial. Iraq the Model is always a good place to start.

There Are Cars, And Then There Is - Are You Freaking Kidding Me?

The Bugatti Veyron.


It's out.


I can't afford it, without robbing a bank, but I really really really want one.


Just one.


For $1.7 million, I want a luxury car with a 16 cylinder engine that does this-

1001 horsepower equip the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 with a level of acceleration unheard of in the sports car segment, propelling it from 0 to 60 mph in just three seconds and past the 200 mph mark in a mere 14 seconds. Thanks to its 923 lb-ft, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4’s enormous propulsive power is not exhausted until it reaches 252.3 mph (406 km/h): the maximum speed for which chassis and drive train have been designed. Any further performance escalation is limited by current design and construction.



I swear that I will never break the law in car like this..






Yes, I know, you could feed an Ethiopian village for the cost of one of these cars, but maybe I can feed that same Ethiopian village faster if I have one of these...

Come on, you know you want one.........

It's Time For Another Installment Of DEEP SPACE NEWS!

Some cool stuff too.

First up we have the latest release from the Cassini-Huygens Mission. The folks at NASA and the European Space Agency have put together some of the data obtained from the Huygens Probe that landed on Titan last January. One of the cool things they did was put together 2 Quicktime movies of the Landing site and an artists conception of what the landing on Titan would have looked like.

Huygens Landing Site Movie

This movie shows a quick succession of multiple products of Titan's surface from the Cassini orbiter and the European Space Agency's Huygens probe. It shows Cassini imaging science sub-system images, radar images and visual and infrared mapping spectrometer images of the Huygens probe landing area. The rest of the movie consists of mosaics from the descent imager/spectral radiometer. The camera system on the Huygens probe mimics the descent profile of the probe starting at about 144 kilometers (89 miles), looking eastward throughout. It displays the Titan surface in true color. The sequence ends with a true-color surface image. The radar images of the Huygens landing site were taken by the Cassini orbiter radar instrument during the Titan flyby on Oct. 28, 2005.

Huygens Descent Sequence

The artist's concept shows the European Space Agency's Huygens probe descent sequence. The animation shows the Huygens probe's entry, descent and landing, with the descent imager/spectral radiometer lamp turned on at the end.
The probe was delivered to Saturn's moon Titan by the Cassini spacecraft, which is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. NASA supplied two instruments on the probe, the descent imager/spectral radiometer and the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer.

Here's a picture of the real surface at Titan-



And from Japan, we have the latest news on the Hayabusa Asteroid Probe, which successfully landed on the asteroid Itokawa, scooped up a sample of the asteroid and is now on its return flight home. Here's a journal entry from Yasunori Matagowa -Asscociate Executive Director of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency- JAXA.

The Longest Day of “HAYABUSA”

November 27, 2005
Yasunori MATOGAWA
Asscociate Executive Director, JAXA

We are sure that Hayabusa has accomplished the great feat to collect sample soils from a celestial body other than moon. I am heartily proud of those brilliant youths of this country. Below is a live coverage of “The Longest Day”.

That day, November 20th, I was studying the data from Hayabusa that flew as far as100km away in safe hold mode from ITOKAWA just like dreaming a nightmare. But Hayabusa team was not even allowed time to dream a nightmare. It took them a whole week by restless work to get it back to the original gate position.

At around 10:00 pm, Nov. 25th, Hayabusa started descending from 1km in altitude. The climax was coming for the 5th time. Each job done was not a joy any longer. They were not in that kind of mood any more. The goal for them was nothing, nothing but to get sample from the surface. The control room was filled up with their determination to fulfill the mission task. Each operation job sensitively swinging from joy to sorrow on each event until only yesterday was being just calmly carried on. No doubt, Japanese space exploration has entered the new stage just in a few days-----was my vivid feeling I had at that moment. Around 6:00 am, Hayabusa, under guidance by optical navigation system so far, was switched to vertical descent phase to maneuver Hayabusa sent down to “MUSES Sea” along with the direction of the gravity. Entering this phase, remote control from ground basically did not work any longer as scheduled. Hayabusa operates itself on its own. Well, this ability was originally given to the vehicle by human beings, though........

Read the rest here.

Pretty cool, huh?