Good News for the US, Bad News for Europe.

Hirsi Ali to Leave Netherlands for Job with US Think Tank

15 May 2006

AMSTERDAM — Liberal party MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali is leaving the Dutch parliament in September and moving to the United States.

Insiders confirmed a report on the website of Dutch newspaper 'De Volkskrant' on Monday about the move. Hirsi Ali has been on a speaking tour in the US and is due to make an official announcement on Tuesday.

She is going to work for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative Washington think tank. The institute was founded in 1943 and is seen as one of the most important advisors to the government of George Bush.

Somali-born Hirsi Ali has been an outspoken critic of aspects of Islam and she became a campaigner for freedom of speech after the murder of film director Theo van Gogh in November 2004.

Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh collaborated on the short film ‘Submission’ which featured women in see-through veils discussing ill-treatment of women in Muslim societies. Hirsi Ali’s life has been threatened several times and she is under armed guard.

She is currently embroiled in a controversy about lies she told the immigration service in 1992 to get asylum in the Netherlands. She became a naturalised Dutch citizen five years later.

Ms. Ali was recently in the US where she spoke at Harvard for the "Profiles in Leadership" conference at The John F Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership. You can listen to the conference and Ms. Ali at the following link here.

Noticeably absent from support for Ms. Ali has been the feminists of Hollywood such as Babawa Stweisand or Susan Sarandon. They were especially absent when Ms Ali's colleague Theo Van Gogh was murdered by Islamic extremists for his participation in the infamous documentary Submission, which was written by Ms. Ali.

The film's title is a direct translation of the word "Islam". The film suggests the mistreatment of women born to Muslim families. The film was shown on the Dutch public broadcasting network (VPRO) on August 29, 2004. It portrays a Muslim woman (dressed with a transparent black clothing) as having been beaten and raped by a relative. The bodies are used in the film as a canvas for verses from the Qur'an.

It is interesting to me that Ms. Ali represents the ideal of tolerance that Europe is so fond of bragging about, especially the Netherlands, yet here we have Europe doing everything they can to rid themselves of Ms. Ali out of fear of the Muslim extremists.

Not so tolerant now, are they?

Even more interesting is the fact that Ms. Ali will be working for a conservative think tank, one that is well known for supporting and advising the current US presidential administration. She should be the poster child for what women can do if they are allowed to participate in society as equals. But instead, she will be shunned by womens groups in the US. Sad, really.

Jeff over at Protein Wisdom comments-

The other day I hoped aloud that the US would, once again, act as that beacon for freedom, and send a message to the rest of the world: we shall not, as a nation, cave to the demands of the Islamists (even if our “tolerant” press and academic elite argue that it is our multicultural duty to do so if our offense is to give offense—a message that became evident during the Mohammed cartoon controversy, when the Boston Globe took the unusual position that the lesson of the Enlightenment is that everyone’s opinion is equal).

And we have not.

Today is a good day for America. Unless, that is, Congress—catching wind of this—rises up and demands that the President keep Ms Ali away from our ports.

(A reader "rls" at Protein Wisdom had this priceless comment too-"I would trade the Yale Talibani for her. And even throw in a “terrorist to be named later”.)

Welcome to the US, Ms. Ali. We are honored to count you among us.

Another Great Shot From Cassini And The Latest News From The B612 Foundation.

How cool is this shot?

The Cassini spacecraft delivers this stunning vista showing small, battered Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the scene.

The prominent dark region visible in the A ring is the Encke Gap, in which the moon Pan and several narrow ringlets reside. Moon-driven features that mark the A ring are easily seen to the left and right of the Encke Gap. The Encke Gap is 325 kilometers (200 miles) wide. Pan is 26 kilometers (16 miles) across.

In an optical illusion, the narrow F ring, outside the A ring, appears to fade across the disk of Titan. A couple of bright clumps can be seen in the F ring.

Epimetheus is 116 kilometers (72 miles) across and giant Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2006, at a distance of approximately 667,000 kilometers (415,000 miles) from Epimetheus and 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Titan. The image captures the illuminated side of the rings. The image scale is 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Epimetheus and 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel on Titan.

Also, Rusty Schweickart gave a presentation at the International Space Development Conference this year. Here's the transcript of his speech-

NEOs: The Katrinas of the Cosmos?
Russell L. Schweickart
Chairman, B612 Foundation

A brief excerpt-

For those not familiar with the issue let me simply state the entry assumptions for this talk which, should they seem questionable to you, I invite you to speak with me about afterward.

The givens are that 1) the Earth is infrequently hit by asteroids which cross our orbit while circling the Sun, 2) the consequence of such impacts ranges from the equivalent of a 15 megaton (TNT) explosion to a civilization ending gigaton event, and 3) for the first time in the history of humankind we have the technology which, if we are properly prepared, we can use to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.

Given those three assumptions I am going to give an update on the development status of the key elements which will enable us to avoid these devastating cosmic collisions.

The three prerequisite capabilities which will enable us to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs, and many smaller disasters as well, are 1) early warning, 2) a demonstrated deflection capability, and 3) an established international decision making process. I’ll address each of these three elements in turn giving a status report on each and pointing out some of the implications of current trends.

As usual, Rusty hits the nail on the head. Here's the $64,000 statement-

for the first time in the history of humankind we have the technology which, if we are properly prepared, we can use to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.

I just wish NASA felt that way...again folks, WHEN we get hit. Not IF.

Dear France.................

to:The French Consulate

re: Your request to have Moussaoui sent home to serve out his prison sentence.


Dear France,

Recently we received your offer to take back this lovely fellow Zacarias Moussaoui. Apparently it is your contention that since we decided he should not be executed, but instead serve a life sentence, that he should be allowed to return to France to serve out his punishment. This has something to do with the consular protection you say he deserves as a French national.

Allow us to respond to you in the clearest, most unambiguous terms possible.


Ahem.


Suck it.


Sincerely

The US of A.

There's been much written about the sentence that Moose-boy got for his admitted participation (and/or lack thereof) in the 9/11 plots. Peggy Noonan pretty much lost it (I don't blame her). Jeff over at Protein Wisdom discusses how this relates to the recent WSJ article by Shelby Steele which discusses how the white guilt factor is negatively affecting our ability to be resolute in the war against fascists. He makes some compelling points.
Quoth Jeff-

Which is not to say that the country as a whole is not prepared to execute terrorists: it’s just that, well, not everybody can be as white as Timothy McVeigh. He apparently should have know better.

There was this interesting interview with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Hardball with Chris Matthews here (transcript). This part especially-

“I would have preferred to see the death penalty, but I kind of stand in awe of how our legal system works that it can come to a result like this,” Giuliani told “Hardball” minutes after the verdict was announced outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va.

“It has to say something about us to the rest of the world.”

What exactly it says may be left open to interpretation I'm afraid.

And finally, here's a post by the Right Wing Nut House that I think I agree with the most.

"VENGENCE IS THE LORDS: JUSTICE IS OURS IN MOUSSAOUI CASE"

I sympathize with those who believe that it would have been enormously satisfying to put this man to death. But I think we have to have some sympathy for the jurors as well. Talk about executing a human being is cheap. Unless it is actually your responsibility, I daresay one’s outlook on the death penalty then would become very personal. Whether the jurors were looking for an “out” in order to avoid mandating another person’s death is beside the point. They followed the law, their consciences, and in the end, common sense. As our representatives, we couldn’t have asked for anything more from them.

One aspect that was not brought out in the verdict but which very well may have played a role in the jury’s deliberations was their decision to deny martyrdom to someone who so obviously wanted it. From a practical standpoint, Moussaoui will now fade into history even among those who admire what he stands for. His incarceration in a very deep and very black hole (it’s almost a guarantee he will not be placed into the general prison population and instead will be kept in solitary confinement) will mean that his name will eventually die even if he himself remains alive. That is a victory against our enemies of sorts.

A close call, but a correct one. And I don’t think that even those among us who support the death penalty but agree with this decision would have been terribly upset if the verdict had gone the other way. As it is, I’m glad that justice triumphed over revenge.

May Zacarias rot as slowly and and irrelevantly as possible for the remainder of his worthless years amongst the living.

Let us hope that we never have to hear another word from this scumbag.

Immigration in a Nutshell.

So the kids are yellin' about the immigration protests. My buddy Fin pictured here-

(when he's not busy pissin' off Brad)




says (doing his best cochran)"If you cant conjugate, you must relocate."

Google Mania

I'm am extremely proud of my blog for the following reasons....

I am the first page out of 260,000 listed in google for Creationist Stupidity because of this post..

A Prime Grade A Example of Creationist Stupidity.........

And I'm still #1 out of 30,000 for the search terms of "Michael Moore fat lying douchebag"...

Here's the post that made it all possible...

Michael Moore is big fat lying manipulative douchebag.....but I repeat myself...

Why Leftists Are Slowly Slouching Towards Irrelevancy...Part II

About a year or so ago, I wrote a post entitled "Why Leftists Are Slowly Slouching Towards Irrelevancy". In that post I made the specific point that our system of government suffers when one of the two main political parties becomes so enraptured with their far-end fringe idealists that they get repeatedly stomped at the polls on election day.

The republicans figured this out in the mid-90's, and made a calculated move back towards the middle, and thusly won back seats. At the time, Clinton was doing the exact same thing. Since the cold war was over and the economy was humming along, Clinton got re-elected. We were in prosperous times. Idealists from the fringes of both parties were outed continually as the freak children that they were, never tainting the chances of either party to grab votes from the other. It was a highly competitive time politically, which benefitted the voters in the end because we got higher quality choices.

Fast forward to the present day and you'll notice the reason why the democrats can't win elections. They have spent the better part of the last six years whining about Bush instead of giving reasons why we should vote for them. The sad part is the Republicans haven't exactly been able to capitalize from this because they are too busy repeating the democrat's mistakes. In the end, it's we the voters who suffer.

Instapundit today links to a story from the Drudge Report about the plummeting Air America ratings and the dismal sales performance of the Daily Kos’s “Crashing the Gate”. What this tells me is that democrat's may be realizing that the leftist fringe is not going to help them win any elections.

Markos "Screw them" Zuniga of the Daily Kos has only sold 3600 copies of his book, despite the fact that he gets that many hits on his site in a few hours. Air America can't seem to scandal itself out of the basement of the ratings in a hugely liberal marketplace.

Have the democrats learned? Will they give up the Bush bashing and concentrate on what they are going to do instead? Will they release the dead weight that the leftist fringe is burdening them with? Will they even remember why Clinton got re-elected?

For the good of our country, let's hope so.

We need some better choices.

Is This The Most Ironic Thing Ever Written?

In the midst of a Fark.com thread entitled " European gas prices over $6.00/gal., Average European car doubles in value after fill-up" , this gem was written by a poster named Nightsweat..

So foreign cars are made in America, and American cars are made in Mexico.

I'm glad there aren't any Mexican cars, because I'm pretty sure they'd have to be made in Greenland.

Greenland has so much space though. Let Ford move there. Ford=Fjord? Hey, why not. I hear they have way more efficient socialized medecine.

At least you're not as confused as Jay Pinkerton was when he saw the Chronic(what!)les of Narnia!!

"What A Fool Beleeeeeeeeeeves.."

"That's it! What A Fool Believes!!"

This is one of the hilarious lines from the channel 101 short film series, Yacht Rock.

You haven't watched any Yacht Rock before you say? Why, what are you waiting for! Just cruise on over to this link and set your sails for an amusing ride through rock history, specifically the period of soft rock that peaked between the years of 1976 and 1984.

My favorite episode is probably a toss up between the back alley rock-off between Hall and Oates vs. McDonald and Loggins,


or the origins of Toto's Rosanna.



"We don't just throw out a life-preserver to our friends who are up against the rocks, we swim it out to them.."

Classic stuff. Enjoy.

Oh yeah, and San Jose fans, I hope you pay your referees dues before the next game. You'll need 'em. That's all i have to say about Sunday. Harrumph.

PREDATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man they rocked the house tonight. They INTIMIDATED the San Jose Sharks from the time they dropped the puck until the game was over.

Just look at this picture.

Go preds!

You see a bunch of Preds ready to pounce and a bunch of wussy "sharks" ready to find the nearest aquarium.

Nobody has given the Preds a chance in this series, but they forgot to tell the guys on the team that.


And the guys in this picture...

Playoffs bitches!!!

Pred Win 4-3.

Bring it on you freakin' California hippies.

You'll be a nice warm up for the Wings.....

Man, I got Goosebumps.......

And not the good kind either.


I'm not quite sure how this nation is going to react to the movie, but I watched the trailer to Flight 93 this weekend, and I was visibly shaken.

I guess it was a matter of time before someone made a real (yes, I'm looking at you Michael "America is Fat and Stupid" Moore) movie about the events of 9/11, and you couldn't possibly write a more compelling script than what happened aboard flight 93. It should be interesting to see the reactions from the American public and the world for that matter after this film opens in theaters.

If the trailer is a good representation of the movie then it appears that the writers just stuck to the story of what happened on that day as well as aboard the plane itself. One of the most compelling moments from the trailer is when they show the reaction of the air traffic controllers watching the second plane hit the WTC.

Again, the trailer alone gave my goosebumps. No political correct whitewashing appears evident, they haven't changed the terrorists to christian fundamentalists or something. Just a movie about the events of that day and the heroes that were made. And those folks deserve nothing less.

Again, go watch the trailer...you will be moved.

Update: I found a review from Ain't It Cool News....hat tip to Mike Hollihan over at Nashville Is Talking..

The Germans And Iran- A Match Made In Hell

Via Davids Medienkritik comes this depressing poll recently released from Germany-

Germans: U.S. More Dangerous than Iran
According to this poll, more Germans consider the U.S. to be a danger for world peace than Iran.

45 % of Germans call the U.S. a "greater threat to world peace" than Iran. 28 % think that Iran is a greater threat. For 16 %, the U.S. and Iran pose identical threats.

David comments-

The results don't surprise me at all.

I mean, Iran is economically extremly promising for Germany. And Iran has made it clear what it expects in return for economic favours: "The international deputy of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Fereidoun Entezari, believes that business relations will surely improve if the Europeans do not pollute the economic issues with the political ones."


Germany got the message...

Ugh. So the country that wants to wipe Israel off the map is "economically promising" for the country that already tried to wipe the Jews off the map. I guess that Germany can at least offer some advice on how not to go about trying to exterminate the Jews.

For those who haven't studied much about the Nazi's in WWII, the Islamists and the Nazi's were very chummy for years. To this day many Islamists praise the Nazi's for attempting to exterminate the Jewish people.

From FrontPage Magazine-

Islam’s Nazi Connections
By Serge Trifkovic
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 5, 2002

An essay adapted by Robert Locke from Dr. Serge Trifkovic’s new book The Sword of the Prophet: A Politically-Incorrect Guide to Islam.

One of the good things one can truthfully say about Islam is that there has never been any love lost between Moslems and Marxists. Sadly, the opposite end of the totalitarian political spectrum is quite another matter. SS chief Heinrich Himmler was known to remark that he regretted that Germany had adopted Christianity, rather than "warlike" Islam, as its religion, and there is a disturbing amount of twisted but very real logic in his remark. Beyond the obvious dislike of a certain other religion, we have the plain fact that both Nazism and Islam both openly aim at world conquest. Both demand the total subordination of the free will of the individual – the very word "Islam" means submission in Arabic. Both are explicitly anti-nationalist and believe in the liquidation of the nation-state in favor of a "higher" community: in Islam the umma or community of all believers; in Nazism the herrenvolk or master race. Both believe in undemocratic leadership by a privileged knower of an absolute, eternal, and ultimately mystical truth: the caliph or führer respectively. To be fair, in strict Nazism Arabs are racial Semites and thus subhumans, but as Robert Locke has written, the Nazis did not really believe in their racial mythology when they found it inconvenient, and they exploited their commonalities with Islam for all they were worth. If the British army had not stopped Rommel in the sands of El Alamein in 1942, preventing him from conquering the Middle East, the consequences for world history might have been dramatic. What did happen was quite ugly enough.

So I guess it makes sense that the Germans fear the US more than Iran. I mean, why would Iran want to attack a country that was so successful in persecuting the Jews?

The whole thing reminds me of the Family Guy episode where Stewie and Brian are travelling through Europe and are taking a tour through Germany-

(Brian and Stewie are on a German tour bus.)
German Tour Guide: You vill find more on Germany's contributions to ze arts in ze pamphlets ve have provided.
Brian : Yeah, about your pamphlet... uh, I'm not seeing anything about German history between 1939 and 1945. There's just a big gap.
Tour guide: Everyone vas on vacation. On your left is Munich's first city hall, erected in 15...
Brian : Wait, what are you talking about? Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and...
Tour Guide: We were invited. Punch vas served. Check vit Poland.
Brian : You can't just ignore those years. Thomas Mann fled to America because of Nazism's stranglehold on Germany.
Tour guide: Nope, nope. He left to manage a Dairy Queen.
Brian : A Dairy Queen? That's preposterous.
Tour guide: I vill hear no more insinuations about the German people. Nothing bad happened. Sie werden sich hinsetzen. Sie werden ruhig sein. Sie werden nicht beleidigen Deutschland. You will sit down. You will shut up. You will not insult Germany. (Throws his hand up in a Hitler salute.)
Brian : Uh, is that a beer hall?
Tour guide: (Snapping out of it) Oh yes, Munich is renowned for its historic beer halls.

So I Think The New Haircut Is Working Out Okay....

The Titans Without McNair? I Don't Want To Think About It.

Not a good week last week for Titans fans.

Updated: April 4, 2006, 4:51 PM ET
Titans tell Steve McNair not to work out at their headquarters
Associated Press
National Football League News Wire

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Titans told Steve McNair they don't want him working out in their building until his contract is reworked, the quarterback's agent said Tuesday.

McNair was told to go home Monday when he showed up at the team's headquarters for the start of the third week in the Titans' offseason conditioning program. The team's general counsel had called agent Bus Cook earlier Monday and informed him McNair would be told to leave.

A team trainer told the 11-year veteran to leave, Cook said.

"You tell the guy who's the mainstay of the organization, the leader, to get out, that he's not wanted, that's pretty rough," Cook said. "I don't know what Steve will do or won't do. I imagine he would have a hard time going back over there."

McNair, the NFL's 2003 co-MVP, is due $9 million in salary in 2006 - but his salary cap number is $23.46 million. The Titans declined last month to pick up a $50 million option to stretch the deal through 2009, leaving McNair with nearly a quarter of their cap space.

"We have no choice but to protect the club and its future from the possibility of having a significant amount of our salary cap at risk in a single player should he sustain a major injury," the team said in a statement. "This is entirely a risk management problem."

Cook said the Titans' general counsel told him the team doesn't want McNair working out on team property until his contract is reworked.

General manager Floyd Reese and coach Jeff Fisher were in Los Angeles following a private workout of Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart. The Titans said in a statement that they look forward to McNair returning once his contract is resolved.

Now I realize that from a business standpoint, the Titans were forced to keep McNair out of the facilities in case he injured himself while on the premises which would have forced the team to pay McNair's full contract whether he played or not. But I think it's safe to say that this could have been handled better. And if the Titans want to compete for a playoff spot this year, they need Big Mac behind center. People may think it's crazy to talk playoffs for this coming year, but let me remind you that THE BENGALS were in the playoffs last year.

McNair will need to be resigned, and the negotiations will be most difficult, but I don't see why the Titans would sign quality veteran free agents such as fomer defensive captain for Indianapolis David Thornton or Pittsburgh safety Chris Hope and expect to not play for a title this year. We need McNair back.

I want to see McNair raise a trophy besides this one before he hangs it up.




We Titans fans have been spolied with Big Mac for the last 11 years, he deserves to be treated like the warrior he is. Pay the man what he deserves.

Doctor..

Doctor..


Preds Win 2-1, Doctor....

(Budweiser Commercial Style) REAL AMERICAN HEROES........

"Mr. 'JAGER-BOOBIE-TOLL-BOOTHS'-Google search-guy!!!"

Jager. Boobies. Toll Booths.

I think that's why they invented the internet.

We salute you, Mr. 'JAGER-BOOBIE-TOLL-BOOTHS'-Google search-guy.

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!