NewsFlash: We Are Fighting A War Against Islamic Fundamentalists

And so are the moderate Muslims. Today's Wall Street Journal has an article from a Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a onetime member of Jemaah Islamiya, an Islamist terrorist group, and who is currently a medical doctor and Muslim reformer living in the West. The article is entitled "The Trouble With Islam"- here are the key excerpts-

Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right.

But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense.

These "progressives" frequently cite the need to examine "root causes." In this they are correct: Terrorism is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes are quite different from what they think.....

Dr. Hamid goes on to document the historical manifestations of the current Islmic fundamentalist movements, namely Salafi Islam- a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion. A troubling aspect of this struggle against radical, violent Islamists is the way that the "progressives" in the west are handling it.

Dr Hamid explains-

The grave predicament we face in the Islamic world is the virtual lack of approved, theologically rigorous interpretations of Islam that clearly challenge the abusive aspects of Shariah. Unlike Salafism, more liberal branches of Islam, such as Sufism, typically do not provide the essential theological base to nullify the cruel proclamations of their Salafist counterparts. And so, for more than 20 years I have been developing and working to establish a theologically-rigorous Islam that teaches peace.

Yet it is ironic and discouraging that many non-Muslim, Western intellectuals -- who unceasingly claim to support human rights -- have become obstacles to reforming Islam. Political correctness among Westerners obstructs unambiguous criticism of Shariah's inhumanity. They find socioeconomic or political excuses for Islamist terrorism such as poverty, colonialism, discrimination or the existence of Israel. What incentive is there for Muslims to demand reform when Western "progressives" pave the way for Islamist barbarity? Indeed, if the problem is not one of religious beliefs, it leaves one to wonder why Christians who live among Muslims under identical circumstances refrain from contributing to wide-scale, systematic campaigns of terror. (emphasis mine-ed.)

The tendency of many Westerners to restrict themselves to self-criticism further obstructs reformation in Islam. Americans demonstrate against the war in Iraq, yet decline to demonstrate against the terrorists who kidnap innocent people and behead them. Similarly, after the Madrid train bombings, millions of Spanish citizens demonstrated against their separatist organization, ETA. But once the demonstrators realized that Muslims were behind the terror attacks they suspended the demonstrations. This example sent a message to radical Islamists to continue their violent methods.

Dr Hamid on western feminists-

Western feminists duly fight in their home countries for equal pay and opportunity, but seemingly ignore, under a façade of cultural relativism, that large numbers of women in the Islamic world live under threat of beating, execution and genital mutilation, or cannot vote, drive cars and dress as they please.

But here is the million dollar phrase from the article-

Progressives need to realize that radical Islam is based on an antiliberal system. They need to awaken to the inhumane policies and practices of Islamists around the world. They need to realize that Islamism spells the death of liberal values. And they must not take for granted the respect for human rights and dignity that we experience in America, and indeed, the West, today.

What he's saying is that we in the west need to wake the hell up. These radical Islamists don't care how much you hate Bush. They don't care whether you're pro-life or pro-satan- you are the enemy because of the liberal values all those of us in the west have come to expect as a human right, things like personal liberty and equal rights. And our constant internal bickering is only further reinforcing the idea that we in the West are too weak to face up to these bullies.

Recently I've been perusing the various liberal blogs here in Tennessee and the nation to see what's the current mood and ideas on that side of the aisle. I am curious now that we are almost six years removed from 9/11 how seriously people on the left are treating this war. Thanks to Brittney at Nashville Is Talking, I am able to hit the most prominent ones in Nashville pretty easily. I'm going to use some recent threads as an example.

Over at Tennessee Guerilla Women, an uber-feminist blog, I've been reading their take on the trip to the middle east to visit Syria and others by Nancy Pelosi and some other congressfolks. This trip is not exactly what one would consider a wise move on our part if we are trying to isolate state sponsors of terrorism. Oh and uh, by the way- the Syrian regime is currently under investigation for the murder of Rafik Harriri, the former PM of Lebanon. How anyone can justify negotiating with assassins and dictators is beyond comprehension, but the Tennesse Guerilla Women have it rationalized somehow-here is what passes for rational discourse on the left-

"President Pissypants Disapproves of Pelosi's Trip to Syria" The neat part is I tried to argue in the comments to this thread and was accused of being racist and stating "KKK material, at least". Good times.

Then there's my buddy the Freedonian, who writes the following in his post "Turfing Out the War"

See the soldiers in this picture?(see post for the pic) Sure, they may, at first blush, look like any other soldiers carrying out combat operations in a war zone. Know what's different about these?

They're Canadians.

Now don't get me wrong--- I'm quite happy that our neighbors to the north felt so strongly about an attack on our soil that they wanted to help out.

But this is our job, and our fight.

Freedonian is making the grave mistake that this is the US's fight alone. He could not possibly be more wrong.

If you are someone that approves of equal rights for women, and oppose such atrocious practices as clitorectomies, then this is your fight.

If you are someone that believes that gay folks shouldn't be hung for their lifestyle choices, then this your fight.

If you are someone that believes that government and religion should remain seperate, then this is your fight.

If you are someone that believes in the right to worship whatever god you want, then this is your fight.

The question is are we still willing to fight it?

You have new Picture Mail!

Wii bowling @ the trace on a monday night. There are worse ways to kill a monday night.

You have new Picture Mail!

You have new Picture Mail!

The boundry?

Mom's Visit Weekend Recap

You know what it's like-your Mom comes to visit and you want to put on a good show so that she's happy and you're happy that she's happy and all that stuff. Thank god I live in such a cool town that it's effortless to show her a good time.

First off, the main thing she wanted to do was hang out with the folks while we eat ribs and watch hockey, and well, let's just say that that's something we've been getting really good at doing. The hockey team is playing out of their minds, and we've pretty much mastered the smoked ribs at this point.

Dinner friday night at F. Scotts, and after my Mom went to bed I put the ribs that had been both marinating for a day followed by a few hours in a dry rub in to the smoker. I tried orange slices in the smoker water along with some rosemary this time, and alder chips for the smoking. I also went with a half wrap on the tin foil so that they held the moisture yet got full access to the smoke. Once again, they were falling of the bone and had a flavor that had a nice long finish. It's been fun playing around with the details now that we've got the basics to smoking down- slow and low. The slower the better.

Saturday we went to breakfast at Jacksons so my Mom could enjoy breakfast on a patio in March without needing snow tires. Boston has been getting dumped lately, and Nashville in March is pretty damn pleasant.

Later that night we had the full layout ready to impress-Mashed potatoes, fresh broccoli, biscuits, cole slaw (side note: KFC apparently has the best cole slaw in the world, and my Mom insisted on getting some for the feast. Well, we did and it's pretty amazing cole slaw, just throwing that out there) corn on the cob, and of course the ribs.

Add a nice Nashville Predators beat down of the Edmonton Oilers, and mission accomplished.

We did Noshville Deli for breakfast Sunday morning, and then we went to the Picasso exhibit at the Frist Center which was well done. Some margaritas at the Rose Pepper to top off the weekend, and she got the full Nashville treatment.


This town is almost idiot proof when it comes to having visitors.

Erinnn Go Bragh!!

Something I'll be thinking about today when I knock back a few Guiness will be the The Boston Irish Famine Memorial I saw last time I was in Boston-

The Boston Irish Famine Memorial is a tribute to an entire generation of Irish men, women and children whose lives were disrupted by a series of events that took place 150 years ago. The Irish Famine, which lasted from 1845-1850, began as a succession of potato crop failures in Ireland. But an inadequate response by the English government then ruling Ireland, and the spread of contagious diseases wrought by starvation and poverty, quickly turned the Famine into the greatest catastrophe of the 19th century. Nearly one million Irish died of starvation and disease, and another two million fled the country, emigrating largely to North America. The remaining population was left to contend with death, dislocation, poverty, and the near ruination of a culture that had flourished for centuries.

Some 100,000 Irish refugees headed to Boston, taking a perilous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, which poet John Boyle O'Reilly called a 'bowl of tears.' Settling into overcrowded, unsanitary tenement housing along Boston's waterfront and in the North End, this generation of Irish endured great hardship and humiliation, plagued by poverty and disease. The average l ife span of an Irish immigrant in Boston was 14 years. 'No Irish Need Apply' signs in newspaper ads and storefront windows were common, as nativist Americans, strenuously opposed to foreigners, continued to harass the struggling Irish.

Comforted by their faith and culture, the people of Ireland eventually recovered. In Boston, inspired by the American principles of democracy and freedom, the Famine generation continued to move forward, eventually defining their place in society. As the 'first great minority' in the United States, the Irish helped pave the way for other ethnic groups coming to America in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Around the world, Irish communities are commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine. Boston, which many consider the capital of Irish-America, holds a special place in these activities. This memorial is being built in tribute to the Famine Irish generation who endured Ireland's greatest tragedy. It is fitting that the Memorial is being placed along the city's Freedom Trail, as a reminder of what the Irish, and other immigrant groups, seek when they journey across oceans and continents to reach these shores.

I really need to go to Ireland and see my ancestors roots but in the meantime I'll settle for being happy with my friends here in Nashville, and celebrate the way that those ancestors would've wanted me to- in style.

Hockey and Smokin' Ribs On A Saturday Afternoon, it's like a bit of heaven.

Doesn't hurt to have the Western Divisional Leaders as your hometown team either.

The Preds continue today on their road to the playoffs. My blood pressure would like to see a blowout, mainly because they are coming off an exhausting fourth consecutive overtime game, but this team has been a lot of fun to watch recently. The Forsberg/Erat/Kariya line is putting the fear in defenses that I haven't seen this team do before, and Legwand has been playing out of his mind. He had a backhanded goal in the second period of last Saturdays Red Wings game that pretty much saved the game from getting ugly fast. Vokoun and Mason are at the top of their game, and the addition of Vishnevski has helped Weber on defense tremendously. We will need Sullivan and Hartnell healthy before the playoffs but it's not like they start tomorrow.


Todays feast consists of Tmans Ribs, Lobster claws, Sauteed Spinach, Garlic Mashed potatoes, Bratwurst, Biscuits, and generous amounts of Guiness. We've been working to perfect the rib recipe and I think we nailed it this time. The marinade started thursday, then a five hour stint in the dry rub last night, and then in the smoker at midnight. We took them out around one this afternoon and the texture is perfect. We tried one rack unwrapped and smothered in Tubbs BBQ sauce, and the other was removed from the rub and then wrapped again in BBQ sauce and foil. The extra prep and smoking time has really made the difference with this batch.

I'll update a picture soon, GO PREDS!!!


Update: Success...the ribs in the foil were better, and both racks were falling-off-the-bone tender, I think we've got this rib thing down..

New Saturn Pics From Cassini.

Its been a while since I posted something from my favorite Saturn orbiting satellite, and this one is a beauty. Thanks to my work buddy for the heads up (you know who you are)...

More Hippie Hypocrisy

Before I get to the point of this particular rant, I want to recommend to the five of you who read this blog some great essays about the various aspects of alternative energy, our dependence on oil and other fossil fuels, and the relationships thereof with the war on terror and global climate change. Steven Den Beste wrote these a few years ago, but they still hold up solidly in terms of relevance. Personally, I think any blog post discussing this matter should reference these essays, as they help clarify the factors involved when you are discussing the subject.

This page entitled A New Manhattan Project lists each essay and also details the fundamental points about alternative energy, and why many have unrealistic expectations about it.

I know it's long, and there are a lot of links, but trust me-it's worth reading. One point that Steven makes that is often ignored in alternative energy discussions is the fact that electricity isn't an energy source. We use energy sources to MAKE electricity. So when you get all excited that your new Toyonda Pious is using less gas than a regular car, don't forget that this electricity has to be made somewhere. And half of our electricity is made from coal. If we switched to nuclear power it would make sense, but no one is seriously proposing that we build more nuke plants (which we should).

I happened upon the amusingly entitled blog The Only Republican in San Francisco. The author discusses a recent article from the Independent about a new study which points out that organic farming is in many cases worse for the environment than conventional methods, thanks to the relative inefficiencies of organic farming.

Good job hippie. Yet again another wonderful eco-friendly solution that exacerbates another environmental problem.

The latest one besides that is the ethanol situation. Ethanol is made primarily from corn, and the government recently set a goal of cutting gasoline consumption 20 percent by 2017, mainly by more than quadrupling production of ethanol and other alternative fuels.

Guess what happened so far? It's making corn more expensive. Guess what that means?

From Reuters-

Soaring U.S. demand for ethanol - produced from crops like maize and sugar cane - has sent corn prices to their highest level in a decade.

Mexicans are already feeling the impact. Tens of thousands took to the streets in January when the price of tortillas tripled to 15 pesos ($1.36) a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) - about 35 of the flat corn patties that are Mexico's staple food.

Since half of Mexico lives on $5 a day or less, that's no small jump, and the Mexican president - who generally presents himself as a champion of free trade - stepped in to cap prices at 78 cents a kilo.

Food prices have been on a downward slide ever since the Second World War, but Clay says one of the big questions now is whether biofuels could reverse that process and take us into a new economic era with obvious implications for the poor.

It gets better. Here's more about ethanol from Chemical and Engineering News: Ethanol—Is It Worth It?-

.....First, the U.S. gains little advantage if we burn more oil to make ethanol than is replaced by the biofuel. Second, ethanol holds out the promise of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by recycling carbon from biofuels into presently growing plants; by contrast, gasoline increases today's carbon budget by burning fossil fuels that were generated millions of year ago. The greenhouse gas advantage disappears, however, if more fossil fuel is burned to make ethanol than is used to make gasoline.......corn has many other negative environmental impacts: It erodes more soil, uses more nitrogen fertilizer, and uses more water than any other crop. "Corn is the prime cause of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, which is the size of New Jersey," he says, referring to an area off the coast of Louisiana that is depleted of oxygen due to high levels of nutrient-rich agricultural runoff from the Mississippi River. "These are serious problems," he says.

Good job hippies.

I plan on firing up the smoker this weekend while we watch the Predators/Red Wings game, and I think I'm going to try cooking both an organic and regular beer butt chicken to see which one is better. I'll try and post the results tomorrow.

Forsberg Looks Good, But The Preds Lose Anyways....Food Was Good Though.

Preds lose 4-1 as Peter Forsberg made his Nashville debut. Minnesota played a very fast game tonight and matched Nashville's speed stride for stride. Forsberg had some flashes of brilliance, and I can't wait until he gets some time to adjust to his new teammates. Forsberg played on a line with Kariya and Erat which was exciting to watch, although the most dangerous lineup tonight was Sullivan with Arnott and Dumont, who scored the only goal for the Preds tonight.


Ah well, can't win em all.

At least we did it up right with the food. Tonight's smoked meat spectacular set up consisted of the following-






Using the new smoker we did a beer butt chicken covered in Paul Prudhommes Poultry rub, roast pork tenderloin, chessburgers wrapped in panchetta and topped with fresh basil and mozzarella, some baby-rack ribs with Stubbs BBQ sauce, and some smoked salmon to top it off.


Losing never tasted so good.....

Your Nashville Predators Fans Are Losing Their Sh*t Right Now..

Barry Melrose just explained it for everyone paying attention...apologies because this is paraphrased-



"I said Nashville was the top team in the NHL last night, and they just picked up one of my favorite all time NHL players, Peter Forsberg..."


Imagine the Titans picked up Jerry Rice in his prime about halfway through this past years season, and then you can begin to imagine what Forsberg will be able to bring to the table with the Predators. All of the pieces are in place, the games just need to be played out.





We were toasting to Forsberg tonight and thanking Stevie Sullivan for being the guy who was the first big time NHL player not from Nashville who really believed in what these Nashville Predators are capable of. The Preds management went all in when they chased Sullivan, and he's been one of the most incredible hockey players -hell one of the best ice skaters-I've ever seen. Since then the Predators mystique has been building, and it's only a matter of time before the rest of the world gets to see what's been brewing at the GEC for the last few years..

I can't wait to see this team get unleashed in the playoffs. It's going to be something special..

There's suv's and then THERE'S SUV'S..

I drive a Ford Escape. I love it: plenty of room for my drum gear, handles well, decent gas mileage (22mpgal city), low emissions so I don't have to worry when I get my registration checked, and a great sound system. It's not very big either, so I can maneuver around city streets with ease.




Deadspin has a story from Bugs n Cranks about Phillies pitcher Jon Lieber and his big ass truck/suv/earth destroyer

Lieber rumbled into spring training yesterday in his 2-week-old Ford F650 SuperTruck, a customized blue-and-black beast, 9 feet, 2 inches tall and 25,000 pounds, with six doors, 45-inch wheels, seating for seven, a satellite dish and customized leather interior. It cost him $211,000, more than twice the $94,000 base price. But when you throw in, say, $22,000 for the two extra doors - actually, an extra half of a cab - it adds up fast.

Recently there was a big kerfuffle over at Nashville Is Talking about SUV's. I think this truck would pretty much cause some heads to asplode.

Me? I think it's pretty awesome. I already have the bumpersticker ready-

Football Ends Too Close to Valentines Day.

I mean seriously, I have to wean myself away from the NFL channel now that the season is over, as nothing exciting will happen in the NFL until the combines in a couple of months. And to top it off, now you want me to celebrate love and romance on Steve McNairs birthday?

Ain't happening folks.

I looked at my posts over the last two years worth of Valentines days, and well, I sense a theme.

2005:Happy Valen-Nah Screw That I'm Getting Tanked.

2006: For All the Lovers Out There

This year will be no exception. I like to make it a tradition to read The Alt.Suicide.Holiday Valentine's Day Survival Kit, but my kit is basically consisting of copious amounts of Guiness and Jager, I consider it elegant simplicity. I have somehow been managing to end up single about this time every year, despite all signs to the contrary when the fall begins. It's either a curse or a blessing I suppose. I'm not saying I have commitment issues, it's just seems to have worked out this way the last couple of years. I will admit that as I get older I'm no longer interested in being with someone just for the sake of not being lonely, I am perfectly happy with my friends and current social scene. I just don't see the point anymore of dating someone if I can't see myself with them for a long time.

So back to the theme, I still believe that it is cruel and inhumane to force men and women like myself who love football to have to deal with this stupid holiday less than a week after the Pro-Bowl.

It just ain't right.

Well, this makes it a little less hazy...

Does everyone remember 9/11?

Yeah, me too.


Well, there are two questions that are asked to Dearborn Michigans own Islamic Imam Husham Al-Husainy in this video that should make everyone remember who we are fighting.




Is Hezbollah a terrorist organization?

Yes.

Read Michael Totten, who is in Lebanon for further explanation.

Is Israel a peaceful nation?

Yes.

Live-Blogging the Super Bowl -AND THE FEAST!!!

Come check it out, would you?

Super Bowl Feast Manual version 2007

The Last Hurrah of My Favorite Time of the Year

And it has been a great one, this the 2006-07 NFL season. There was my personal favorite story, the beginning of the Vince "oh-yes-he-can-do-that-in-the-Pro's" Young era, the changing of the guard as Big Mac goes off to Baltimore to rejoin old compatriots, the tragedy that was Tony Romo, the mind-numbingly asinine first pick of the 2006 draft -perhaps one of the best draft classes in 20 years by the way- going to our favorite AFC South practice squad- The Houston Texans (can I say thank you again that Houston passed on Reggie AND Vince?-Thank you Houston, thanks you) Peyton and the Bears finally getting over the hump and in to the big game. ........yes, that- this Super Of Bowls..


The Indianapolis Colts Vs. The Chicago Bears

Peyton Manning is playing in the biggest game of his life. So is pretty much everyone else on the field besides Adam Vinateiri. This could really turn out to be a good battle as you have a nice balance between both teams. The Colts have Peyton, Reggie, Dallas and Marvin, but the Bears have a smashmouth style of defense that this years version of the Colts haven't played very well against all year.

I'll take a moment to point out that your Tennessee Titans only gave up 32 points to the Colts in two games this year, and the days of Indy and Peyton owning the AFC South are officially over. Have fun chasing Vince and Jones-Drew around next year Indy. I am looking forward to watching you get beaten senseless nest season like most previous years Super Bowl teams. Enjoy the moment, as they say.

I still think that if you get to Peyton early you can get him to rush his throws, and that usually causes his receivers to start to mess up on the timing that they rely on so heavily. The obvious X-factor this year will be the play of Sexy Rexy "F--k It. I'm Throwing It Downfield." Grossman . But I think that if the Bears get T jones and Benson going early, and the Bears defense gets to Peyton and his receivers early, it could be a long day for Indy fans. The Indy defense has been carrying the Colts throughout these playoffs, and you wonder when they finally get exposed. The Bears are not the offensive juggernaut that will challenge the Indy defense too much, but they keep things simple enough to win and let their defense play to their strengths.

I say the Bears are too much defense this year for a struggling Colts offense, and the Indy defense will finally get exposed by a thunder and lightning style running game.


Final Score:

Bears - 26

Colts - 15

Update: Aw yeah..........courtesy of the Fine Folks at Kissing Suzy Kolber

AFC-NFC Championship Predictions.

NFL Championship picks:Cory-COLTS/BEARS

...Adam-PATS/BEARS

..Squid-COLTSBEARS

...Joenathan-PATS/SAINTS

....TMAN-PATS/SAINTS.........

Thus it has been recorded for posterity.

So there's kinda cool but a little TOO crazy for me right now, and then there's... .Yah right...NO SERIOUSLY!!...Ya right..Lemme see.

A few months ago I stumbled across this cool video of these guys free-jumping off of cliffs and then gliding for a little while using this glider flight suit that looks like one o' them monkeys with the flappy armpits. It was cool, and it was set to a cool Red Hot Chili Peppers song, which is nice.

Here's

"kinda cool but a little TOO crazy for me right now"

Then I came across this other one of a guy taking it a few steps further. This would be the-

Yah right...NO SERIOUSLY!!...Ya right..Lemme see.....NNNNNOOOH WAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

Why yes, I have been pondering a skydive, if you must ask. Not a "hope" I make to the ground safely kind of skydive, but a "yeah, you'll be ok" kind of skydive. Because MAN does that stuff look like fun....

The Pale Blue Dot.

So I spent last weekend up in Boston with my Mom and my Sister, which was of course spectacular because they both rock. During the trip my Mom and I waxed eloquent about this particular webpage from The Big Sky Astronomy Club homepage dedicated to 'The Pale Blue Dot'-

A Pale Blue Dot

Preface: On October 13, 1994, the famous astronomer Carl Sagan was delivering a public lecture at his own university of Cornell. During that lecture, he presented this photo:

The photo above was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 as it sailed away from Earth, more than 4 billion miles in the distance. Having completed it primary mission, Voyager at that time was on its way out of the Solar System, on a trajectory of approximately 32 degrees above the plane of the Solar System. Ground Control issued a command for the distant space craft to turn around and, looking back, take photos of each of the planets it had visited. From Voyager's vast distance, the Earth was captured as a infinitesimal point of light (between the two white tick marks), actually smaller than a single pixel of the photo. The image was taken with a narrow angle camera lens, with the Sun quite close to the field of view. Quite by accident, the Earth was captured in one of the scattered light rays caused by taking the image at an angle so close to the Sun. Dr. Sagan was quite moved by this image of our tiny world. Here is an enlargement of the area around our Pale Blue Dot and an excerpt from the late Dr. Sagan's talk:

.....you can click here to read the rest, but this is the key line from Sagans speech that my Mom and I talked about-

Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. .

Which it is of course. I believe that we are in far greater danger of some rogue terrorist group igniting some horrible munition on an unsuspecting populace than we are of a ten thousand meter wide asteroid crashing in to Lake Michigan and drowning a few million people. But I don't think we can really prevent humans from being human. We could potentially avoid the ten thousand meter wide asteroid crashing in to Lake Michigan.

Shouldn't we be at least spending a little more effort thinking about this? I'm all for the Mars and Saturn projects, but won't they pretty much be irrelevant if we get whacked by some big rock?

As always, a little plug for Rusty Schweickart and the folks at the B612 Foundation. There is also the following article from The Lifeboat Foundation that details this undisputed fact-

If we don't do something, sooner or later Earth will be hit by an asteroid large enough to kill all or most of us.



We should be spending more resources working on this problem than we currently are. NASA has a yearly budget ranging in the $15-$20 billion dollar range, and not even 10% of that is used for asteroid mitigation purposes. It is a pale blue dot. And we can't control humans from being human, but this is something we really have a chance to prevent, and we still aren't taking it seriously.

From the Lifeboat Foundation Page-
2.2 HYDROGEN BOMB LEVEL IMPACT

Some of the 60 million flattened trees from the 1908 Tunguska event.

The energy of the Tunguska asteroid impact would have been equivalent to 10 to 40 Megatons of TNT. Had this happened over a populated area it would constitute one of the greatest natural disasters of all time.

In 1908 a small asteroid (perhaps 50 meters across) hit Tunguska, Siberia and flattened 60 million trees. That asteroid was so small it never even hit the ground, just exploded in mid-air. If it had arrived four hours and fifty-two minutes later it could have hit St. Petersburg [3]. At the time St. Petersburg was the capital of Russia with a population of a few hundred thousand. The city would have ceased to exist. As it was, dust from the blast lit up the skies of Europe for days. Asteroid strikes this size probably happen about once every hundred years. However, this is just an average. Just because we got hit once doesn't mean we're safe for another hundred years. Indeed, there was another Tunguska-class strike in the Brazilian rain forest on 13 August 1930 [3]. But don't worry, it gets worse.

There are about 1,000 asteroids a kilometer or more in size that cross Earth's orbit (the path Earth takes around the Sun). About a third of these will eventually hit Earth [2] if we don't do something about it. An asteroid strike this large can be reasonably expected to kill a billion people or so, depending on where it hits. A strike in China or India will kill more, in Antarctica less. Even a strike in the ocean would create a tsunami so enormous most people living near the coast would be drowned. A strike of this size is expected about once every 300,000 years or so. We might as well be playing Russian roulette. Admittedly, the revolver has 300,000 cylinders, but if we keep pulling the trigger long enough we'll blow our head off, and there's no guarantee it won't be the next pull.


Happy New Year Everybody!

It's OK Vince, You Can Go Rest Now.

A well earned rest, no less. He can add this one to the rapidly growing trophy case. Might need a new case pretty soon.

Titans' Young is Offensive Rookie of the Year
NFL.com wire reports
NEW YORK (Jan. 3, 2007) -- Vince Young looks as if he'll make the NFL his personal playground, too.

The dynamic quarterback for the Tennessee Titans won The Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. He did it in the same fashion he turned around the Titans' season -- running away from the rest of the field.

Young, who led Texas to the 2005 national championship and was the third overall pick in last April's draft, overwhelmed one of the strongest rookie classes in NFL history. He received 23 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the league.

That easily beat New Orleans wide receiver Marques Colston and Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who had nine apiece; San Diego tackle Marcus McNeill (6); and Saints running back Reggie Bush (3).

Running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams of Tampa Bay won the award last year. Young is the third member of the Tennessee-Houston franchise to take top rookie honors: Earl Campbell in 1978 and Eddie George in 1996 did it for the Houston Oilers.

Young was the catalyst in Tennessee' rally from 0-5 to 8-8, at times looking as unstoppable for the Titans as he did with the Longhorns. A starter from Week 4, Young sprinkled all kinds of spectacular big plays with a growing maturity in joining Ben Roethlisberger (2004) as the only quarterbacks to win top rookie honors in the 49-year history of the award.

"A lot of people said it couldn't be done, especially at my position," Young said from Houston. "I just worked hard to get to that position behind the scenes, to get to the point of getting into the race of trying to get rookie of the year."

This is still just an award for individual achievement, but Vince himself has stated before that anytime he gets accolades of this kind he is quick to point the fingers at his offense line and the other teammates around him. This is also very -dare I say?- McNairesque in the way that Vince handles compliments such as these. Steve never took credit for the Titans success, and always blamed himself when things went bad. This is what leaders do, unlike some other QB's in the league *cough PEYTON cough*. Thank god McNair was able to show Vince how to act both on and off the field. The last thing the Titans need right now are more headcases.

Congratulations to Vince for being the head of one amazing rookie class. It just goes to show you that when someone is able to drown out the naysayers and believe in themselves, they can do anything they set their mind to (it sure helps to be 6'5" 260 with sick speed as well). Good call by the Titans staff in going with Vince in the draft, I think a Rookie of the Year awarded to their pick is some pretty sweet vindication.