Ah, this is interesting.

Giuliani is flashing his "I was New York Mayor during 9/11" credentials to convince voters that Dems won't keep this country safe.

Here's a quote from this piece:

“I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense,” Giuliani continued. “We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense.”

He added: “The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us.”

After his speech to the Rockingham County Lincoln Day Dinner, I asked him about his statements and Giuliani said flatly: “America will be safer with a Republican president.”
- Giuliani warns of 'new 9/11' if Dems win

In a response, the DNC communications director Karen Finney had this to say:

"How can the man who failed to prepare NYC for a second attack after the first one, quit the 9/11 commission because he was too busy raking in money from sketchy business deals, can't assess if the surge is working or if Iran and North Korea have nuclear weapons claim that he will keep America safe?"
- Giuliani 9/11 remark draws angry reply

Although I'm not for Giuliani as a Republican president (see his stance on gun control), I thought the remarks from Ms. Finney were completely ungrounded. I'll break down the quote above.

First, "How can the man who failed to prepare NYC for a second attack after the first one..."

The attacks on the Twin Towers were failures of national defense, not that of NYC. The terrorists didn't plan in NYC, they didn't arm themselves in NYC, and they didn't begin their final day in NYC. The terrorists high jacked planes from other cities and flew them into the World Trade Center buildings. How are you supposed to stop that when only the destination has to do with your city???

Second, "too busy raking in money from sketchy business deals..."

What sketchy business deals? Why is it always "sketchy" when a Republican engages in business? Isn't our nation grounded in the principles of free market economics?

Third, "can't assess if the surge is working..."

The surge has just begun and the Democrat controlled House and Senate won't fund it. Last I checked Giuliani is a private citizen. Just exactly what means does he have to assess something which has no data available to it and is sabotaged by the liberals?

Fourth, "can't assess... if Iran and North Korea have nuclear weapons claim..."

Isn't this the purview of the UN and IAEA? I also thought we detected a sub kiloton explosion last year from North Korea? We know both N.K. and Iran kicked out international inspectors. We know that both have centrifuges and are actively enriching uranium. This is information that both countries have boasted.

When I read the first article on Giuliani my opinion was "Well, here we go from the Right, time to pander to conservatives on national security". The article didn't warrant any analysis from me. The response from the DNC, however, got under my skin due to the blatant ignorance of the paragraph I've just analyzed. It made no sense to me and I thought I would share the frustration with you.

What are the odds of dying? 1:1. Death is inevitable, but how will you go? National Geo had a graphic that displays the common reasons for death. I came across the graphic at the National Safety Council's website. If you surf over to their site the statistics are displayed in a tabular format as well.

Scott Adams has a rather funny blog post today.

It's easy to appreciate what he's saying if you don't get wrapped up in taking a political side. I think he's stepped back here and pretty much wrapped up where we are at today with politicians and our government.

For some background, Scott often reminds his readers that he doesn't vote and doesn't stand for one party or another. His opinions on politics are usually clever, when he shares them. This is no exception.

I Wish I Had a Government

By Scott_Adams on General Nonsense

I’m so jealous of countries that have governments. How cool would that be?

Many years ago, the United States had a government that did impressive things such as winning wars, spreading democracy, and solving huge social issues. In time, it turned into a government that was good at getting blown and tattling. Then we had a government that was too incompetent to do even that. Now we no longer have a functioning government of any kind. The good news is that we seem to have reached a plateau.

Recently our so-called Speaker of the House was meeting with the Syrian government while our so-called Vice President was on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show reminding the world that the so-called Speaker of the House doesn’t speak for the United States in foreign policy. Foreign policy is the job of the so-called President who doesn’t speak to governments that don’t already agree with him.

Today I read that the Defense Department is releasing a report that there was no link between al-Qaeda and Iraq, at the same time that so-called Vice President Cheney was repeating his mantra that there was indeed a link. My tax dollars paid for all of that. I don’t think I got my money’s worth.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are poised for a big win during the next election based on their excellent track record of doing nothing for years. Doing nothing might not sound like a good strategy to you, but if you compare it to what happens when the government actually does something, you can make an argument.

A good test of whether you have a government is this: Can your country do anything big and important? For example, could the United States start a new war, or end an existing one, or change its dependence on foreign oil, or provide health care to all citizens? Apparently not.

At this point, the so-called government does little more than provide content for news channels and blogs. I think they should do more. For example, I’d like to see Congressmen and Congresswomen run across a field of rakes every morning to get to work. For me, it would only take a few rakes in the face per day to make me feel as if my tax dollars weren’t a complete waste.

Is that too much to ask?

I thought the political cartoon by Nick Anderson today in the Houston Chronicle was worth sharing.

Great news for CHL holders in Texas. From the NRA-ILA.

Texas Governor Signs Critical Self-Defense Reform Bill! On Tuesday, March 27, Governor Rick Perry (R) signed Senate Bill 378, NRA-supported "Castle Doctrine" legislation. Governor Perry's signature made Texas the first state to adopt "Castle Doctrine" legislation in 2007! SB 378 will protect individuals who use force to defend themselves in their home, car and place of business or employment from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits. It also states that you have no "duty to retreat" from an attack if you are in a place where you have a legal right to be, if you did not provoke your attacker, and if you are not engaged in criminal activity yourself.

Update on Texas Workers Protection Legislation! Three NRA-supported bills are moving through the Texas legislature: House Bill 220, sponsored by State Representative Phil King (R-61), House Bill 992, sponsored by State Representative Patrick Rose (D-45) and Senate Bill 534 sponsored by State Senator Glenn Hegar (R-18). Both HB220 and HB992 are currently in the Calendars Committee. SB534 passed unanimously in the Senate on Thursday, March 29 and now heads to the House for consideration. All three bills would allow Concealed Handgun Licensees to transport and store handguns in their locked, private motor vehicles while parked on their employer's property. HB992 and SB534 also provide employers with protection from civil liability for the unforeseeable acts of criminals. Unfortunately, some in the business community are opposing these bills. Please contact your State Representative and respectfully urge him or her to support HB220, HB992, and SB534. Contact information for your State Representative can be found at http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/welcome.php.

Twitter is an interesting company with a simple technology. I first read about it in a blog post from The Economist.

The Wikipedia entry for Twitter describes as:

Twitter is a social networking service that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think. It allows users to send messages via phone, instant messaging or the Twitter website. Two SMS gateway numbers are available - one for USA, and one UK number for international use. Users can receive updates from other selected users via web, IM, or SMS.

I signed up on the site and invited a bunch of friends, who so far haven't joined. I was able to add Google News as a friend.

I'm still new to Twitter and microblogging, so I have no opinion so far on it. The concept is interesting, though.

On the sidebar of my blog I've added an area titled "What am I doing?" Every time I send a text message to Twitter and the page is refreshed, the text message will be displayed. There is also a link to my Twitter page.

One of the Economist's blogs, Democracy in America, found this Chinese report:"The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006". I really don't know where to begin on this. Seriously, though, are we going to listen to China on Human Rights? Get real.

Here's what the Economist blog had to say:

CHINA has just published its report on "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006". And, believe it or not, you really do have to read it. It's an amazing piece of propaganda, diligently assembled from published sources, which achieves exactly its intended purpose: of making you wonder whether the State Department is any "fairer" or "more balanced" when it publishes its own country reports on human rights overseas. Thanks to CFR for the reference.

I only read through the first page, and then in disgust I stopped. Here's a quote from the "report":

The United States has the largest number of privately owned guns in the world. The unchecked spread of guns has caused incessant murders.

At least the murders were citizen on citizen and not government imposed! There are few better examples of a Second Amendment Right than China.

Having forgone the means with which to defend one's self, What tyranny must one endure? I don't think I'll never know.

The Federal Appeals Court reversed the District Court's up holding of the DC hand gun ban.

This is great news for the law abiding citizens of the District of Columbia.

From the decision:

Silberman, Senior Circuit Judge: Appellants contest the district court's dismissal of their complaint alleging that the District of Columbia's gun control laws violate their Second Amendment rights. The court held that the Second Amendment ("A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the seurity of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed") does not bestow any rights on individuals except, perhaps, when an individual serves in an organized militia such as today's National Guard. We reverse.

You can read the entire decision here: United States Court of Appeals (For the District of Columbia Circuit) Decision No. 04-7041

A Duke University engineering graduate built himself a prototype beer launcher.

Recent College Graduate Invents Beer-Tossing Refrigerator

It took the 22-year-old Cornwell about 150 hours and $400 in parts to modify a mini-fridge common to many college dorm rooms into the beer-tossing contraption, which can launch 10 cans of beer from its magazine before needing a reload.

A video can be seen here: Beer Launching Fridge Catapults Those Brewskis Right Into Your Hands

I was reading an article titled Geico's Cavemen Evolve and I found the following quote rife with buzzwords:

"This is absolute proof of the real engagement that the characters and brand have managed to create," said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys. "You can't make this kind of transition without a lot of engagement power behind you."

Naturally being curious about Dr. Robert Passikoff's company, Brand Keys, I headed over to the website to find out if it, too, was littered with buzzwords.

As I suspected, it was.

I've taken a series of buzzwords from the "Who We Are" section of the Brand Keys website:

By understanding what keeps your customers loyal you can:

• Plan within a leading indicator of profitability.
• Know how to most efficiently sequence initiatives.
• Fight commoditization.
• Leverage competitive strategies to your advantage.
• Enhance your brand's equity.

Leveraging Loyalty: the last frontier.

Why do we say customer loyalty is the only thing left to talk about? Because after right-sizing, best-practicing, and reengineering — that is, after the changes of the '80s and '90s — many companies today are doing a great job…and are in danger of seeing their brands become excellent, undifferentiated commodities.

These buzzwords are trite and ambiguous. Often language like this is used to mask ignorance or to feign an elite status. Either way, I can't stand the abuse on the English language. I will continue to blog about examples time and again.

In an article titled Edwards: Jesus Would Be 'Appalled', John Edwards calls Americans selfish.

I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs. I think he would be appalled, actually. - John Edwards

Although I wouldn't disagree with Mr. Edwards, isn't it human nature to be selfish? Altruism is rare everywhere in the animal kingdom. Humans: Americans, British, Indian, Chinese, et. al are no different. Certainly some nationalities may be more inclined to be "loners" rather than family oriented, but either alone or in a group, the entity still acts in its own self interest.

Further more, I can't stand the hypocrisy of Edwards, a self made millionaire who's fortune was built by suing OBGYN's! How selfish is THAT?

Please, Mr. Kerry - I mean Edwards, keep the hypocrisy to a minimum; it gives me a headache.

The use of the term "illegal alien" has been drawing scrutiny by immigrant activists and sympathetic politicians. These groups see the term as a pejorative, although it is their ignorance of the English language that gives them this impression. Now, a legislator in Florida wants to ban the term altogether from government documents (see the article Bill would mandate nicer term for illegals).

This post isn't going to turn into a rant on illegal immigration, rather to identify asinine absurdity from uneducated lawmakers in this nation; particularly with PC agendas advocating the substitution of well defined English words with buzzwords.

Senator Frederica Wilson, D-Miami is the MENSA genius behind the following quote:

"An alien to me is someone from out of space."

Senator Wilson is clearly demonstrating ignorance of the English language.

Merriam Webster's Dictionary defines the words "illegal" and "alien" as such:

illegal: not according to or authorized by law : UNLAWFUL, ILLICIT

alien: a foreign-born resident who has not been naturalized and is still a subject or citizen of a foreign country; broadly : a foreign-born citizen

Further more, does changing the term change the meaning? An illegal alien is a person who is here illegally. The term is not a racially charged pejorative, rather a widely accepted government label for those who have come to this country ILLEGALLY. The word "illegal" cannot be stressed enough.

Senator Wilson goes on to say

"'Illegal,' I can live with, but I like 'undocumented' better."

Unfortunately Senator Wilson doesn't see the connection. Living in this country without being born here or having a valid visa (or documentation) is illegal. Undocumented equals illegal.

Senator Wilson's constituents must be embarrassed.

Earlier I mentioned the Economist Style Guide advertisment that appealed to me. I found that The Economist has an online version of this Style Guide that you can access free.

Here's the link and below is one of the sections of the book.

Journalese and slang

Do not be too free with slang (eg, He really hit the big time in 1994). Slang, like metaphors, should be used only occasionally if it is to have effect. Avoid expressions used only by journalists, such as giving people the thumbs up, the thumbs down or the green light. Stay clear of gravy trains and salami tactics. Do not use the likes of. And avoid words and expressions that are ugly or overused, such as the bottom line, high profile, caring (as an adjective), carers, guesstimate (use guess), schizophrenic (unless the context is medical), crisis, key, major (unless something else nearby is minor), massive (as in massive inflation), meaningful, perceptions, prestigious and significant.

Politicians are often said to be highly visible, when conspicuous would be more appropriate. Regulations are sometimes said to be designed to create transparency, which presumably means openness. Governance usually means government. Elections described as too close to call are usually just close.

Try not to be predictable, especially predictably jocular. Spare your readers any mention of mandarins when writing about the civil service, of their lordships when discussing the House of Lords, and of comrades when analysing communist parties. Must all lawns be manicured? Are drug traffickers inevitably barons?

In general, try to make your writing fresh. It will seem stale if it reads like hackneyed journalese. One weakness of journalists, who on daily newspapers may plead that they have little time to search for the apposite word, is a love of the ready-made, seventh-hand phrase. Lazy journalists are always at home in oil-rich country A, ruled by ailing President B, the long-serving strongman, who is, according to the chattering classes, a wily political operator—hence the present uneasy peace—but, after his recent watershed (or landmark or sea-change) decision to arrest his prime minister (the honeymoon is over), will soon face a bloody uprising in the breakaway south. Similarly, lazy business journalists always enjoy describing the problems of troubled company C, a victim of the revolution in the gimbal-pin industry (change is always revolutionary in such industries), which, well-placed insiders predict, will be riven by a make-or-break strike unless one of the major players makes an 11th-hour (or last-ditch) intervention in a marathon negotiating session.

Prose such as this is freighted with codewords (respected is applied to someone the writer approves of, militant someone he disapproves of, prestigious something you won't have heard of). The story can usually start with the words, First the good news, inevitably to be followed in due course by Now the bad news. A quote will then be inserted, attributed to one (never an) industry analyst, and often the words If, and it's a big if... Towards the end, after an admission that the author has no idea what is going on, there is always room for One thing is certain, before rounding off the article with As one wag put it...

Perhaps even more wearying for the reader is the trendy journalist's fondness of vogue words and expressions. Some of these are deliberately chosen (bridges too far; empires striking back; kinder, gentler; F-words; flavours of the month; Generation X; hearts and minds;$64,000 questions; southern discomfort; back to the future; thirty-somethings; windows of opportunity; where's the beef?), usually from a film or television, or perhaps a politician. Others come into use less wittingly, often from social scientists. If you find yourself using any of the following words, you should stop and ask yourself whether (a) it is the best word for the job (b) you would have used it in the same context five or ten years ago, and if not why not:

address (questions can be answered, issues discussed, problems solved, difficulties dealt with)

care for and all caring expressions (how about look after?)

community (see above, under Unnecessary Words)

environment (in a writing environment you may want to make use of your Tipp-Ex, rubber or delete button)

famously (usually redundant, nearly always irritating)

focus (all the world's a stage, not a lens)

individual (fine in some contexts, but increasingly used as a longer synonym for man, woman or person)

overseas (increasingly used, and often wrongly, to mean abroad or foreign)

participate in (take part in—more words but fewer syllables)

partner (“Take your partners for the Gay Gordons!” by all means, but dancing together does not necessarily mean sleeping together—just as a sleeping partner is not necessarily a lover)

process (a word properly applied to the Arab-Israeli peace affair, because it was meant to be evolutionary, but now often used in place of talks)

relationship (relations can nearly always do the job)

resources (especially human resources, which may be personnel, staff or just people)

skills (these are turning up all over the place—in learning skills, thinking skills, teaching skills—instead of the ability to. He has the skills probably means He can)

supportive (helpful?)

target (if you are tempted to target your efforts, try to direct them instead)

transparency (openness?)

Such words are not wrong, but if you find yourself using them only because you hear others using them, not because they are the most appropriate ones in the context, you should avoid them. Overused words and off-the-shelf expressions make for stale prose.

The Economist was advertising its house Style Guide for writers. I found it immensely amusing because the ad mocked clichéd lingo prevalent in today's business world.

I hold The Economist in high regard and their new advertisement supports the reason.

The ad:









Here's the link to the site with the book if you're interested: The Economist Style Guide

The topic of time, aging and general life progression has come up a lot lately.

I think it has to do with my high school class' ten year reunion. It's hard to believe it's been that long since I left high school. I don't feel like I've gotten that much older, but when I look in the mirror I see the gray hairs starting. Ha, I'm not even thirty yet.

I've been reconnecting with old friends since I received an e-mail gathering information about a ten year reunion. Some I haven't talked to in two years, others closer to ten. It's interesting to find out where they are and what they're up to.

I've been really enjoying the memories that this has rekindled.

With that in mind, I've embarked on an effort to scan all of my old pictures (from elementary, middle, and high school) and I'll post those sets on Flickr as I finish them. Please create an account so you can comment on photos (if you wish) and see all of the sets. Only a few are available for the 'public'.

I always have excuses as to why I don't blog nearly enough.

From my last post, though, I've greatly reduced the amount of excuses I can use (now that I can post from my phone).

One of the features I had been working on was my own software for photos. I finally got to a point where I decided to use commercial software because I just didn't have the time to finish my own.

With that in mind, you can use the photo link and it will take you over to Flickr, where I've moved all of my photos.

I still have to add descriptions, but the photos are organized by date and general subject matter.

It's funny, but I generally try to set up technology to be dynamic. In this context I suceeded by giving me the ability to blog from my phone just in the manner of setting up my site.

It's not really that spectacular, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

By the way, this is my first mobile post.

If you're from Houston or are a NFL fan, you know that the Houston Texans haven't had a decent year yet. Many fans are fed up with the Texans quarterback David Carr. As QB1 for the Texans Carr has only managed to set apalling records (such as number of times sacked as a quarterback).

Nick Anderson, a political cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle, has an interactive cartoon titled: Help David Carr Make a Big Play...

It's hilarious, I reccomend you play it.

Below are my thoughts on an e-mail I received containing an article about the rise of radical Islam in Europe. The article appears in The Brussels Journal --> The Rape of Europe

As Tom Bethell wrote in this month’s American Spectator: “Just at the most basic level of demography the secular-humanist option is not working.” But there is more to it than the fact that non-religious people tend not to have as many children as religious people, because many of them prefer to “enjoy” freedom rather than renounce it for the sake of children. Secularists, it seems to me, are also less keen on fighting. Since they do not believe in an afterlife, this life is the only thing they have to lose. Hence they will rather accept submission than fight. Like the German feminist Broder referred to, they prefer to be raped than to resist.

I just bought a book (I hope to start tonight) titled Londonistan. The premise is the same as The Brussels Journal article, but localized to London. Another book in my queue is about Van Gogh (a decendant of the artist) who was murdered several years ago in Amsterdam (by a radical Muslim) because of a movie he made portraying Islam in Holland. This book gets into what Holland is doing about radical Islam as well.

The Economist has written many articles over various points that the e-mail touched on. This is the first time I've seen all of these points put together so poignantly. Like I said, I haven't started those books I purchased yet.

I've added RSS feeds to my news aggregator from The Brussels Journal website. I perused the site because it was mentioned so many times in the article. Also, the author of the article started The Brussels Journal. This is going to become a regular read for me from now on.

All told, I thought the article was very enlightening, bringing the elements of current events to bare on modern Europe and their blind following of their 'not worth fighting for' and 'multiculturalism even if it means annihilation' ideologies.

I couldn't pass this up:

Iran is your home and is the home of all freedom seekers of the world," Ahmadinejad said. "Here you can express your views and exchange opinions in a friendly, brotherly and free atmosphere.
- Iran president says Israel's days are numbered

I've avoided discussing Iran in many months due to the fact that the nation is run by radical Islamists who really believe it is their destiny to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. These same monsters opress their own people; provide direct and indirect support to terrorism in Lebanon, Israel and Iraq; they're looking to produce a nuclear weapon; and they're a threat to the rest of the world. Unfortunately Europe doesn't have the will to stand up against anything anymore, including radical Islam within their own communities.

So, here's my take on the elections:

Pelosi et al. will waste the next two years and our tax dollars on frivolous investigations because they (the liberal-left) don't stand for anything other than the demise of conservatives.

On the positive side, we're about to enter a two year period of inaction in government. There will be so much infighting that nothing will be accomplished (except for our money being wasted). So be it.

This will be America's wake up call for the 2008 Presidential Elections.

The photo below is of the Korean Peninsula at night. This particular photo was taken earlier this week.

I had heard of this photo before from an interview with Donald Rumsfield. Apparently he keeps the picture under his desk to remind himself of the stark constrast between the two nations.

North Korea might now have The Bomb, but it doesn't have much electricity

Mr Rumsfeld showed the picture to illustrate how backward the northern regime really is - and how oppressed its people are. Without electricity there can be none of the appliances that make life easy and that we take for granted, he said.

"Except for my wife and family, that is my favourite photo," said Mr Rumsfeld.



"It says it all. There's the south, the same people as the north, the same resources north and south, and the big difference is in the south it's a free political system and a free economic system.

"The people in the north are starving, their growth is stunted. It's a shame, a tragedy."

An aide added: "This oppressive regime is too busy trying to make war to make life comfortable for its people."

I read a really interesting article on extreme poverty in Venezuela. It seems that Hugo Chavez has largely ignored the plight of the millions of impoverished citizens in his own country.

The NY Post article: Pain in Slums of Chavez

Here's a positive handgun story: Houston robbery victim fights back with gun

When one of the suspects attempted to rob the homeowner, the man shot at the suspect several times, striking him once, police said.

Police said the homeowner had a concealed handgun permit.

Free articles from this week's edition of The Economist
Japan's assertive new prime minister | Virtual online worlds | Lula's record in Brazil | A bitter new debate about Iraq | Yahoo! | Why is the yen so weak? | Two new members join the EU club | China excises Shanghai's party chief | Oil in Iraqi Kurdistan | Wal-Mart in Britain | Venezuela's bid for a UN seat | Theoretical physics | An atlas of brain genetics | John Coltrane and Miles Davis | Ann Richards, governor of Texas

More free articles »

Politics this week

Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition

Shinzo Abe, who was confirmed as Japan's prime minister by the country's parliament, picked a cabinet. He also cut his pay by 30% as a symbolic gesture to help reduce Japan's huge public debt. See article

Getty Images

The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, held talks in Washington, DC, with George Bush. Tensions between both countries have increased lately with each blaming the other for the surge in Taliban violence, which was illuminated by a suicide-bomb in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province that killed 18 people. See article
The leaders of Thailand's military coup resurrected a dormant corruption commission so it could begin investigating the previous government. A week after tanks rolled onto the streets, the coup retained the support of most Thais. See article

Sri Lanka's navy said it had engaged Tamil rebels in a sea battle 80km (50 miles) off the strategic port of Trincomalee. The navy claimed to have killed 70 rebels in the encounter; the rebels said three.

George Bush released some parts of a classified report on trends in global terrorism after it was leaked to the press. The document stated that a number of factors were contributing to the spread of jihadist ideology, including the “cause célèbre”—as the authors called it—of the Iraq war. See article
As Congress prepared to adjourn ahead of November's elections, the White House reached a compromise with Republicans who opposed Mr Bush's plans for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects. But legislation that sought to settle the legality of Mr Bush's wiretapping programme was held up by differing versions of the bill.
The Republicans chose Minneapolis-St Paul as the site for their convention in 2008, an indication of how close the party thinks the presidential race in the Midwest will be. The Democrats are still considering whether to hold their jamboree in Denver or New York.
New Orleans held a party to celebrate the city football team's first game at the Louisiana Superdome since it was used to house evacuees from the flood that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Saddam Hussein's chaotic trial in Baghdad was adjourned until October 9th. The defence lawyers had walked out after a change of chief judge, and Saddam himself was ejected from court three times in a week.
British forces in Iraq killed Omar al-Farouq, said to be a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. Captured in Indonesia in 2002, he escaped from an American military prison in Afghanistan last year.

AP

Israel freed Nasser al-Shaer, the Palestinian deputy prime minister, but about 30 Hamas politicians remain in custody.
An Israeli newspaper reported a secret meeting between a senior Saudi official and Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert. Saudi Arabia has been trying to revive a 2002 Arab initiative calling for recognition of Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.
Russia and Iran signed a deal over Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, which they say should be fully operational in November 2007.
The latest report of a UN inquiry into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, confirmed that he was killed by a suicide bomber but did not elaborate on who was behind the attack.
Islamist forces captured the Somali seaport of Kismayo, strengthening their hold on the south of the country. See article

The European Commission gave the go-ahead for Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union next January. But it set tough conditions so as to monitor the two countries' progress towards EU standards. Most existing members will impose labour-market restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians. See article
Tension rose between Russia and Georgia after the Georgians arrested four Russian officers in Tbilisi on spying charges. Russia demanded their immediate release.
Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, admitted to receiving several large loans from friends when he was finance minister in the 1990s. Mr Ahern insisted he had broken no ethical, tax or legal codes, and said the lenders refused his offers to repay the money.
Tony Blair gave his final speech as prime minister to the annual Labour Party conference. It was well received, even by his enemies, easing pressure on him to step down sooner than next May's touted departure date. See article
A top Bosnian Serb leader, Momcilo Krajisnik, was given a 27-year jail sentence for war crimes by the UN tribunal in The Hague. Mr Krajisnik, who was once speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament, was a close aide to Radovan Karadzic, who is still wanted on war-crimes charges.
A German opera company cancelled a production of Mozart's “Idomeneo” because it featured a severed head of Muhammad, among other religious leaders. The row over self-censorship for fear of Muslim extremism overshadowed an Islamic conference held by the government. See article

Final opinion polls before Brazil's presidential election suggested that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would win a second term, probably without the need for a run-off ballot. See article
The governor of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, whose capital city has been brought almost to a halt by protests for four months, called for the dispatch of federal police to impose order. The protesters want the governor sacked as they claim he was fraudulently elected. See article

Free articles from this week's edition of The Economist
Japan's assertive new prime minister | Virtual online worlds | Lula's record in Brazil | A bitter new debate about Iraq | Yahoo! | Why is the yen so weak? | Two new members join the EU club | China excises Shanghai's party chief | Oil in Iraqi Kurdistan | Wal-Mart in Britain | Venezuela's bid for a UN seat | Theoretical physics | An atlas of brain genetics | John Coltrane and Miles Davis | Ann Richards, governor of Texas


Business this week

Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition

The spotlight stayed on Hewlett-Packard's boardroom spying scandal as Congress prepared to grill company officials about the affair. The big question is how much Mark Hurd, HP's chief executive, knew about the methods used in an investigation to uncover a company leak? Mr Hurd is now chairman too: he took over when Patricia Dunn stepped down on September 22nd, soon after Mr Hurd gave his first public account of the shenanigans. Ms Dunn had intended to step down next January. See article
An American federal judge ruled that a claim filed in 2004 against tobacco companies, alleging that they misleadingly marketed “light” cigarettes as comparatively safe, could proceed as a class-action lawsuit. With the potential to include tens of millions of smokers, it is thought to be the country's largest class-action suit yet. The share price of big tobacco firms fell sharply. See article
It emerged that Johnson & Johnson is seeking $5.5 billion in damages from Boston Scientific and Abbott Laboratories for breaching J&J's 2004 merger agreement with Guidant, a maker of medical devices. J&J eventually lost a protracted bidding war for Guidant to Boston earlier this year. Abbott was also involved in the deal.

Rick Wagoner and Carlos Ghosn held talks in Paris about the mooted alliance between General Motors, Renault and Nissan, Renault's affiliate. It was the chief executives' first meeting since the idea was floated by Kirk Kerkorian, an investor who owns almost 10% of GM, in June. Since then, speculation has increased that GM would rather concentrate on its own restructuring plans, but both sides agreed to continue exploring the “potential opportunities” of a deal and report in the middle of October.
PSA Peugeot Citröen announced cost-saving measures that include the loss of 10,000 jobs, or 7% of its European workforce. Europe's second-biggest carmaker is suffering from an erosion of its market position, attributed to the staleness of its models.
Aer Lingus priced its initial public offering towards the lower range of expectations, valuing the Irish state-owned carrier at euro1.13 billion ($1.4 billion) when it starts trading next week. The flotation is regarded as a gauge of investors' appetite for airline shares after recent security scares—Aer Lingus will be the first airline to make its debut on the London Stock Exchange since easyJet in 2000.
Jacob “Kobi” Alexander was arrested in Namibia, several weeks after he went on the run to escape charges in a stock-option scandal stemming from when he was chief executive of Comverse. American regulators are to ask for the extradition of Mr Alexander, whose flight initiated a global manhunt and numerous alleged sightings.
Andrew Fastow received a six-year prison sentence for the part he played in Enron's collapse. The energy-trading company's former chief financial officer had agreed to a ten-year term as part of a plea bargain, but the judge reduced this because of the “exceptional” help Mr Fastow had given to the prosecution.

Germany's E.ON raised its bid for Endesa by almost 40%, valuing a merger with the Spanish utility at around euro37 billion ($47 billion). E.ON acted after learning that Acciona, a Spanish construction group, had taken a 10% stake in Endesa, putting a further potential obstacle in the German company's path. Spain's government was criticised by the European Commission this week for its attempts to block the cross-border acquisition.
The battle for Endesa was not the only Spanish utility deal to excite investors. ACS, a Spanish building firm, bought a 6.3% stake, worth euro2.1 billion ($2.7 billion), in Iberdrola, the country's second-biggest power company. ACS also dampened speculation that it was trying to pursue a merger with Union Fenosa, a utility of which it is the controlling shareholder, and displace Endesa as Spain's biggest utility.
Consolidation among European drug companies continued apace as UCB reached an agreement to buy Schwarz Pharma for euro4.4 billion ($5.6 billion). The announcement came four days after Merck unveiled its acquisition plans for Serono, and Altana said it would sell its pharmaceutical business to Nycomed. See article
The price of oil briefly dipped below $60 a barrel for the first time since March. See article

American consumer confidence rebounded in September from August's sharp fall (the news was one element pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average towards a new high). Cheaper petrol prices were said to be the main factor fuelling the optimism.

I recently saw a Bajaj (Auto Rickshaw style) driving down Hempstead Highway in Houston, Texas. I haven't seen one since leaving Indonesia 1998, so I was rather surprised.

Upon further review, it seems that you can purchase street legal Bajajs in the U.S. for about $7,000.

Here's the site: Bajaj USA



In Texas there are dealers in Houston, Austin and Dallas. Check out the site for more information.

Thanks to Geoff for forwarding this joke to me. It has to be one of the funniest I've seen for awhile.

History Lesson - Evolution

Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters and gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in winter.

The 2 most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into 2 distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative movement."

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as 'girliemen.'

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy and group hugs and the concept of democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.

Another interesting revolutionary side note about liberals: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, Marines, athletes and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tame and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history:

It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to respond to the above and a guilt feeling before simply laughing, denying and forwarding it. A Conservative will be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately.

The Beeb gets in on Managerialisms: Jargon job titles baffle BBC staff

Below is an example of positions available at the BBC:

Recently advertised roles include " head of brand guardianship", "head of measurement" and "deployment project manager, content management culture".

And in true fashion, the adminisphere lashes back proclaiming that only the "in" people know what the titles mean. In other words, if you have to ask you're too stupid to know.

This is precisely why managerialisms spread. It's thought that if you don't know what these words, titles or expressions mean then you clearly don't know what you're talking about. The irony is that the exact opposite is true. Such expressions emphasize the true void in one's understanding of any given subject.

Unfortunately, people fear being outcasts because of their perceived ignorance. In fact it is ignorance that leads to such hollow and meaningless jargon.

A BBC spokesman said: "They may sound odd to the public but these are very specific jobs with specific titles and anyone who works in those areas will instantly know what they are."

Such nonsense is not unlike The Emperor's New Clothes.

This picture says it all:

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez holds up a Spanish language version of Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky as he addresses the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Another interesting article on Chavez at the U.N.

The concept of having CCTVs in public for policing purposes has both its pros and cons.

The pros are deterred criminals, less crime, and increased public safety. The cons are civil liberties infringement and totaltarian governments.

The UK has maintained a CCTV system in major cities for over a decade now. As part of renewed deterrent to 'anti-social' behavior, the new cameras have loudspeakers which allows the controller to bark orders or comments to individuals on the street.

Personally I think this is only several steps away from Orwell's 1984 where the government watches you and speaks to you in your own home. It's a bit creepy.

Big Brother is Shouting at You

Middlesbrough has fitted loudspeakers on seven of its 158 cameras in an experiment already being hailed as a success. Jack Bonner, who manages the system, said: 'It is one hell of a deterrent. It's one thing to know that there are CCTV cameras about, but it's quite another when they loudly point out what you have just done wrong.

Wow. It must be nice: Diary of a billion-heiress

To outsiders, my life can look incredibly glamorous and incredibly shallow at the same time. But I know just how lucky we are, I really do.

It sure does seem shallow to me.

I think political correctness is fundamentally flawed. At the same time there are people who act as antogonists in our society. These antagonists argue that what they do is for science or for society. Some say it's art. I think it's because they have nothing better to do.

Sometimes it's just polite to shut up.

• Men are more intelligent than women, claims new study
• Disgust at play showing Princess Diana in bed with Down's Syndrome men
• Madonna Faces German Inquisition Over Mock Crucifixion
• Bush to Talk "Borat" (So His Country Can Be Free)
• Snuff Cinema
• Chicks still chirping

It would seem that the government of Kazakhstan is in no mood for satire about their country:
Bush to hold talks on Ali G creator after diplomatic row

After watching the spectacular loss yesterday of the Texans to the Eagles I had to sit and think awhile about the strategy employed by Houston.

I was reminded of the South Park episode with the Underpants Gnomes. I came to the conclusion that the Texans strategy was essentially a modified version of the Underpants Gnomes three point business strategy.

A brief background on the Underpants Gnomes, from Wikipedia’s episode guide:

The Underpants Gnomes are a community of underground gnomes who steal underpants, notably from Tweek.
The Underpants Gnomes have a three-phase business plan, consisting of:

1. Collect underpants
2. ?
3. Profit!

None of the gnomes actually know what the second phase is, and all of them assume that someone else within the organization does. This mocks the lack of solid business plans within many Dot-com bubble companies founded during the period before this episode aired. The three-step business plan has become a recurring joke on websites like Slashdot, Fark, and 4chan, with various things substituted for the first step.

In the case of the Texans, though, the steps are as follows:

1. Hire new coach
2. ?
3. Win

I suspect it will be another long season for Houston.

So it's been two months since I've posted anything on this site. Such a pity!

Since that time I've traveled across the pond to France, Switzerland, Italy and England.

The purpose of the trip was to see my sister married! Everything else was just extra.

There aren't any descriptions on the pictures as of yet. I wanted to get the photos online first and then worry about adding categories and descriptions.

Thanks to Erin for taking all of the photos.

Here's the index:

France

• Aix Les Bains
• Annecy
• Cusy
• Le Montcel
• St. Ours

Italy

• Aosta

England

• London

Other

• Plane
• US

This simple quiz measures politics and economics and quickly identifies your political affiliation.

I had no doubt that I would be where I'm at. Voting wise, though, I generally vote conservative because there is a lack of Libertarian candidates, particularly organized Libertarians who will win.

Thanks to Heather for providing this! We scored the same!

My score:


Have fun with it:

World's Smallest Political Quiz
You'll be asked just 10 questions, and then it instantly tells you where you stand politically. It shows your position as a red dot on a "political map" so you'll see exactly where you score.

The most interesting thing about the Quiz is that it goes beyond the Democrat, Republican, Independent. The Quiz has gotten a lot of praise. The Washington Post said it has "gained respect as a valid measure of a person's political leanings." The Fraser Institute said it's "a fast, fun, and accurate assessment of a person's overall political views." Suite University said it is the "most concise and accurate political quiz out there."

Rex tells it like it is. Oil companies don't set gas prices and it's simple supply and demand. If the price is fixed below equilibrium, then there will be a shortage of gas (hence long gas lines). This is BASIC economics. BASIC.

Government interference in the market always causes one of two phenomenon: over supply or shortages. Why? Supply and Demand set the price where the two meet, called equilibrium.

Exxon Mobil CEO: I Understand Gas Woes

CAPITOL HILL — Exxon Mobil ((XOM) chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson says oil companies do not get together and illegally manipulate oil prices.

He tells NBC's "Today" show that he understands gas prices are causing difficulties for people, but the alternative of no gas or long lines isn't attractive either.

Tillerson pointed out that the price of oil is set on the open commodities market and the price at the pump eventually reflects that.

Politicians and the public are looking for ways to deal with rising gas prices.

Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas says the government must encourage alternate sources of energy besides oil. New Yorker Dominic Valente, the owner of a food distribution company, says he's passing on the costs to his customers, but adds they seem to understand.

Trucking companies are facing similar problems as they deliver their goods.

The following story grinds my nerves a bit: Time Magazine Lists 100 Most Influential People.

Here's the excerpt that rattled me:

Oscar winners George Clooney and Reese Witherspoon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among the newsmakers on Time magazine's list of 100 people who shape our world.

The first two are Hollywood actors who most certainly don't affect anything outside of La La Land. Why would time magazine even consider them in the top 100?

It is this very reason that I gave up my television a year ago. Hollywood is obnoxious and pretentious and given to self absorption. Often celebrities offer their opinions on subjects that they have little to no experience with and they have not shame in their own lives. Hollywood is the place where liberals pretend that the President is a female (Commander in Chief) or is a Democrat (West Wing). Hollywood is where reality doesn't have to happen. There are plenty of people who just love to keep up with celebrities and their lives, which only perpetuates the self-importance and arrogance of the celebrities.

Too many citizens can name celebrities who are married to each other and name all of their films, but in the next breathe can barely name the President of the United States, let alone his cabinet, the leaders (majority or minority) of the Senate and House or other foreign dignitaries. It is appalling that so much time and effort is spent on fantasy when reality is staring everyone in the face. These citizen have no idea who our leaders are, yet these leaders are truly the people who affect our world. Not George Clooney. How has he had any impact on my life? He hasn't.

I would rather know about leaders of the world, captains of industry and magnates for innovation.

Time magazine should reevaluate itself and who it represents. Is it just another rag piece for Hollywood feel-gooders? It would seem all credibility has evaporated with its list of celebrities. Seriously, how has George Clooney or Reese Witherspoon ever affected my life? That really irks me.

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been recently elected to office. She hasn't had enough time to be instrumental to the world. There are serious issues in Germany that must be dealt with. I'm sure she will do a good job, but again, how has she affected my life?

Angelina Jolie is also on the list. Sheesh. Time should change the title of their top 100 list to something less dramatic, because Angelina Jolie does not shape my world.

Resources
Fox News: Time Magazine Lists 100 Most Influential People
Time: The People Who Shape Our World

Our cousins across the pond are much more comfortable with Big Brother than we are in the States.

British town's pubs scan fingerprints to spot louts

Revellers in a British town are to have their fingerprints scanned when they enter pubs and clubs in a scheme aimed at weeding out drunken troublemakers.

Just recently the City of Houston wanted to install cameras downtown to put additional technological resources in the hands of police officers. This intent came under fire by Houstonians as Big Brother trying to spy on ordinary citizens.

In the course of debate it was mentioned that New York City has an expensive CCTV system, as do several other cities. The ACLU is still not convinced.

Even the idea of red light cameras in Texas spurred many vigorous debates over government spying.

Yet in the UK such technology is everywhere. London boasts the largest and most elaborate CCTV system anywhere.

American's just aren't as comfortable with the possibility that the system would be used against them, perhaps deviating from its intended person. After all, its people who set policy and people who enforce it. The idea that such invasive technology would be misused for nefarious purposes is not at all out of the realm of possibility.

I don't think I would volunteer for the finger scanner.

Resources
British town's pubs scan fingerprints to spot louts
Mayor not stopping at red-light vote

I've been quiet about Iran for the last month, for the most part, because it's futile to discuss. Simply put we're (the West) going to come to an impasse shortly, if we aren't already there. And by impasse I'm being euphamistic describing military action.

Israel, for it's own protection, will not sit idly by and watch Tehran produce fissile material. That's plain and simple. Regardless of what the rest of the world sees as a right for a nation to build technologies at their own whim, Iran is an antogonist and repeatedly threatens Israel.

Don't be fooled, there will be no peace here. Iran doesn't want peace. Iran wants to antagonize the West and Israel into attacking it. It should be that clear to everyone. The debate doesn't span the rights of nations, or sovereignty or peaceful uses for horrific weapons, it is about war. Iran doesn't mind being the antagonist, just as long as Israel strikes first.

I don't think I'm going to discuss Iran much anymore because I see the outcome. The rest of the drama is simply playing itself out.

U.S. Calls for Action After Iran Defies Security Council

"We are ready to take action in the Security Council," U.S. Ambasador to the U.N. John Bolton told reporters. "We're concerned about Iran's efforts to obtain nuclear weapons."

The report, which was prepared by IAEA Chief Mohamed Elbaradei, said Iran has successfully enriched uranium and continues related activities in defiance of the U.N. Security Council. Iran continued to rebuff agency efforts to get answers in regard to suspicions Iran was attempting to make nuclear arms, the report said.

"After more than three years of agency

Nuclear Agency Says Iran Defying U.N.

Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, said Thursday that Tehran will refuse to comply even if the council request is turned into a demand through a resolution because its activities are legal and peaceful. Enrichment can be used to generate fuel or make the fissile core of nuclear weapons.

"If the Security Council decides to take decisions that are not within its competence, then Iran does not feel obliged to obey," he said in New York.

Steven Miloy has an opinion piece on Fox News about the role of the environmentalists in our era of high gasoline prices. I agree with him on everything, but he tends to suggest drilling will solve the woes, when really the issue is refinement. He does a wonderful job explaining the 'botique' of fuel blends that are required in different parts of the country.

'Green' Politicians Add to Gas Price Woes

Environmentalists helped pressure Congress in 1990 to require “reformulated” gasoline (RFG) supposedly to reduce the formation of ground-level ozone or smog. The RFG process requires use of additives such as ethanol or MTBE.

The RFG requirement raised the price of gasoline not only because of the cost of the additives but because different areas of the country require different blends of fuel to address different air quality circumstances. The 17 so-called “boutique” fuels used around the country make the national gasoline supply less fungible, which causes supply bottlenecks.

And for all this pain, there appears to be little gain from RFG. A 1999 report from the National Research Council reported that, “the net impact of RFG on ambient ozone concentrations...is a few percent. For this reason, it is difficult to quantify the specific contribution of the RFG program to the apparent downward trend in ozone.”

The final kick-in-the-teeth to consumers from the RFG program came last year when environmental groups like the Natural Resource Defense Council pressured Congress to not provide legal liability protection for MTBE makers, who will stop using the additive in gasoline on May 1. (MTBE from leaking underground storage tanks had been detected in groundwater around the country, raising the specter of lawsuits against MTBE manufacturers). Gas prices will soon jump again in many parts of the country as refiners try to avoid future MTBE-related legal liability by switching to the more expensive ethanol additive.

Mexico's Congress has passed a bill decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of narcotics.

Fox News: Mexico's Congress Legalizes Drugs for Personal Use

Mexico's Congress approved a bill Friday that would legalize drug possession for personal use — decriminalizing the carrying of small quantities of marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and even heroin. The only step remaining is the signature of the president, whose office indicates he will sign it, despite the implications for the war on drugs.

Like the Economist points out, there seems to be a lack of knowledge when it comes to Americans feeling as though they're being gouged at the pump. The simple fact of matter is that prices are high because of the factors of supply and demand. Simple economics explains this concept, unfortunately so many people skipped that class in highschool. Such a shame.

From the Economist: Premium pressure

The price of oil eased a little after touching $75 a barrel in trading late last week. Meanwhile, George Bush said he was suspending deposits to America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the autumn in an effort to boost oil supplies. The move (which will have a small effect on overall oil supply) comes amid growing political pressure in the United States over high petrol prices.

You can quibble for as long as you want about the economics of all this. You can point out that the price of petrol is fixed by global forces—from rising demand in India and China to political instability in Nigeria and, particularly, Iran—rather than devilish CEOs. You can point out that, so far, rising petrol prices have had remarkably little impact on the economy. The oil shocks of the 1970s sent inflation soaring and tipped the world economy into recession. Today the American economy is motoring along on a full tank, with low inflation, low unemployment and rising consumer confidence. You can point out that Americans don't know how lucky they are—a gallon of petrol costs $6.4 in Britain. You can even argue that it is their fault for driving gas-guzzling SUVs and living in McMansions miles from anywhere.

But you might as well hold your breath for all the difference it makes. No less than 69% of Americans think that the rise in petrol prices has already caused them either severe (23%) or moderate (46%) hardship. Nearly two-thirds think that the president has a lot of influence over the price of petrol. The result is that a presidency that has already been battered by Hurricane Katrina and bruised by the Iraq war is being bombarded by soaring petrol prices. Mr Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low of 32%; economists are warning everyone that the price of petrol will rise higher as the summer driving season starts; and pundits are suggesting that Mr Bush may be a Republican Jimmy Carter, destroyed by Middle Eastern terrorists and rising oil prices. All he needs is a cardigan and a liking for the word “malaise”.

Subsidies will forever undercut the natural equilibrium of supply and demand. Often with a subsidy, demand overwhelms supply because there is less of a barrier to individuals to obtain the resource. This is a fundamental aspect of economics and is the way society works - regardless if you believe in capitalism or not.

It always amuses me when I encounter an egregious example of a government undermining their nations economy: Iran may ration gasoline as prices deplete budget

Iran, the world's second-largest holder of oil reserves, may ration gasoline to less than a gallon a day as early as September to curb imports as surging world prices bankrupt the government's price-subsidy program. The decision follows a parliamentary vote last month that cut the state's annual budget for gasoline imports for public and private use by 40 percent to $2.5 billion. The rationing won't apply to taxis and public transport vehicles, Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh told reporters Wednesday at an Abadan, Iran, briefing broadcast by state television

Gas Prices

As the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) rises on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gasoline prices are pushed even higher. There is also a large disparity among various states as to the price of gasoline per gallon.

During this time of high gas prices, oil companies are posting record profit and oil services companies are obtaining more and more work. And then the mainstream media fuels resentment among Americans and politicians call for inquiries.

NONSENSE! Let's examine what exactly occurs here.

The price of crude varies depending on the type of crude: heavy, intermediate and light. There are also different terms for the amount of sulphur found in the crude oil, lending to terminology such as light, sweet (low sulphur content) crude. WTI is one of the most famous benchmarks for crude oil. It is also the most popular to refine as it is the easiest to do so (as it is light and sweet). There are, however, 161 other types of crude traded around the world. See EPA Crude Types and Department of Energy Crude Types for more information.

As WTI rises and falls, it is reported in the media rather than the other 161 crudes. This is because WTI (along with Brent) are the benchmarks for exchanges with which all other crudes are traded. So if WTI rises, then so will the others. So that explains the reported benchmarks in the media, but what about the price paid at the pump? Actual gasoline prices will rise and fall with the WTI and Brent benchmarks, but they are not paralleled. There is a disconnect between the purchase of a barrel of crude oil and the actual refinement of the crude into gasoline. This disconnect becomes magnified depending on several variables: online production capacity of refineries; local, state, and federal EPA regulations; and distribution methods.

Online production capacity can be affected by natural weather events and accidents. Katrina, for example, is still affecting refinement of crude. 7% of refining capability is still offline and this affects supply (of gasoline). The United States has also just issued its first permit to build a new refinery since 1976. That's THIRTY years with out a new refinery. The population of the United States alone has since doubled and the demand for gasoline is higher than ever, yet federal regulations, EPA guidelines and Not-In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY) activists have curbed the ability to refine additional quantities of crude.

EPA regulations on the quality and content of chemicals in gasoline, as well as emissions (the two are certainly connected), also causes a price distortion across the country. It is much cheaper to purchase gasoline in Texas (where distribution is close and regulations are minimal) than in California, which has its own fuel grades. With limited refineries having to produce a multitude of different fuel grades for the nation, the price is going to be greatest where the demand for the specific grade is smallest. For example, Texas uses minimal federal regulations regarding the fuel grade, which is also used by the majority of the United States, therefore refiners are able to produce much more of this fuel for a greater part of the country. This makes the overall cost of fuel lower for a more general grade. California, on the other hand, has a specific fuel grade that requires a refiner to allocate a resources to produce the fuel just for California. So the price is significantly higher.



Much of the current round of high gas prices occurred due to distribution issues. New EPA guidelines regarding the amount of ethanol mixed with gasoline caused many filling stations to rush to meet the new regulations. Although there was plenty of supply of the new gasoline, distributing the new gasoline grades became the bottleneck. In parts of Texas and California there were filling stations that were resupplied in time and actually ran out of gasoline. This same phenomenon occurred during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast when demand outstripped supply and infrastructure couldn't handle the amount of vehicles on the road. At that time it became impossible for gasoline trucks to reach filling stations.

Oil Companies

Oil companies are being investigated by a Senate panel for price gouging and tax payment. With record profits many people are upset that oil companies could make so much money.

Consider that the amount of investment into an oil field reaches billions of dollars. This includes renting the block to be drilled on from the U.S. Government, geological surveying of the block, engineering of the asset (rig) to produce the oil, pipelines to ship the oil back to the refineries, new drilling technologies to drill at record depths and all of the health, safety, security and environmental safeguards that have to be put in place.

The big oil companies spend several billion for one field alone and won't see their return for years after sanctioning a project. Consider that these companies generally have many projects ongoing at the same time in various regions of the world. Their risk is extremely great, particularly since many of the huge new Deepwater, record setting assets can't be insured because underwriters can't or won't insure them. If something were to happen to a two billion dollar asset, no one is coming to the rescue of the oil company to replace their loss.

Worldwide demand is up as a whole for oil as developing nations race to catch up to the West. As new technologies and fuel efficient vehicles, homes and appliances become available, the price of oil will fall (relative to inflation). When this happens the same record setting oil companies may again find themselves as they did in the Eighties: barely scratching a profit.

Be thankful that the oil companies can fund their own highly risky projects without loans from banks. They can use their own bankroll to do things that others wouldn't invest in. In the end we will get the gasoline that runs EVERYTHING in our nation, from delivery of groceries to supermarkets to driving to work or purchasing our goods from Wal-Mart. Oil reserves MUST be replaced so that we have oil for the future. The only way to do that is for the oil companies to spend heavily on new developments. These developments are record setting, never-been-done-before, cutting edge projects. The time, knowledge, expertise and equipment is often created specifically for these projects. That costs a lot of money. Billions of dollars.

Relief

If you want relief from high gas prices, write your congressman/woman. Tell them to repeal the federal gas tax. Tell them to ease restrictions on refineries and allow more to be built. Urge them to build or fund the building of mass transit systems for urban areas.

Of course, each of these have their own opportunity costs; as does every decision we make.

The Economist

Apparently the United States isn't as dependent on oil as we once were, although we're spending about a percentage more these days of our household income than we once were. Here's what The Economist has to say:

The high oil price is a result of old-fashioned demand and supply. China’s oil-hungry growth continues apace (the country lifted interest rates slightly on Thursday, in response) and America’s demand continues unabated. At the same time supplies are threatened by violence in Iraq, a row over nuclear ambitions in Iran, leftist nationalism in Latin America, instability in Nigeria and more. Many experts think $10-15 of the current price of oil is due to geopolitical worries. This week reports circulated that Hugo Chávez, the pugnacious left-wing president of Venezuela, is planning to raise taxes and royalties on foreign oil companies. This could be pushing his country closer to the outright nationalisation that some fear would hamper the effective exploitation of Venezuela’s 77 billion barrels of proven reserves, the largest outside the Middle East. Moreover, another leftist candidate is leading the race for the Mexican presidency, making some worry that Mexico’s nearly 15 billion barrels may end up similarly threatened. Yet the impact of high oil prices on America’s economy is not yet obvious. Though GDP growth fell to 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2005, it still posted a respectable 3.5% for the year. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook projects a similar performance for 2006.

In the past three decades America’s economy has become much less dependent on oil. The country is consuming slightly more of it, but is doing so more efficiently. In 1980 America used a little over 17m barrels per day (bpd) to produce GDP worth $5.2 trillion (in 2000 dollars). By last year oil consumption reached 20.7m bpd, but GDP had more than doubled to $11.1 trillion. As for consumers, they are not especially dependent on petrol either. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 1970, Americans spent 3.4% of their consumer dollars on petrol and oil. By 1980 that rose to 5%. Yet in 2005, after a year of steadily appreciating oil prices, that number was 3.3%. Consumers are grumbling, however, because they remember happy days, as in 2002, when households spent a scant 2.2% of their income on fuel.

To summarize, politicians are on the prowl for a scape goat, Big Oil, production capacity is the bottle neck and there is plenty of oil to go around. The world is becoming more efficient with technologies, demand around the world is up, the race is on for alternative fuels, and Americans will have to get used to paying a bit more at the pump, at least for now. Just be glad we don't pay the ridiculous price many Europeans have to, because of government taxation.

Resources
Iran may ration gasoline as prices deplete budget
EPA Crude Types
Department of Energy Crude Types
The Economist

The Economist has some good stories this week on blogging and new face of media.

• Among The Audience
• It's the Links, Stupid

As far as blogging, I've cancelled my MySpace account. I've been distracted by it and have neglected my true personal forum, Blog.NonSufficitOrbis. I hope to play some catch up on this site and roll out some of the features that I had been working on a month ago.

Things have been crazy recently. I'll try to get back into posting more often! I think I'm beginning to get into the swing of my new schedule.

Below are some Merriam Webster words of the day that I've used in an example. I pulled this from an e-mail thread from yesterday with a friend.

So the trick is to use all of these words in a sentence, or paragraph:

• coax (verb): to manipulate with great perseverance and usually with considerable effort toward a desired state or activity
• meliorism (noun): the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment
• undulate (verb): to rise and fall in volume, pitch, or cadence
• Gotterdammerung (noun): a collapse (as of a society or regime) marked by catastrophic violence and disorder; broadly : downfall
• orchidaceous (adj): showy, ostentatious
• redux (adj): brought back
• ab initio (adverb): from the beginning
• theriac (noun): cure-all

Thus far, Iran continues to coax the United Nations' meliorism through undulating protocols. At times Iran is reserved and speaks of peace, only to oscillate to the orchidaceous antipodal Gotterdammerung that will destroy the West. This sparks redux Cold-Waresque talk of preemptive strikes from the United States, France and Israel. There is no theriac for proliferation, though we've known this ab initio.

It comes off as over-bearing, if not trite and elitist. I like the mental exercise, though, if for no other reason than to help commit the words and their usage to memory. My favorite is Gotterdammerung. Expect to see future usage of that word!

Resources
Merriam Webster

Wedding Costs is a blogpost by Dilbert author Scott Adams.

He's engaged and just now finding out about the cost of weddings.

It's a really funny post.

Cubicle Inventor Says He's Sorry (Sort Of)

It is highly unlikely that many people would be able to pick Robert Propst out of a lineup, but if they knew who he was, quite a few would be inclined to curse his name.

Why?

Robert Propst is the inventor of the cubicle.

But before you all go marching after him wielding torches and impromptu bottom-kicking devices, know this: Propst, sadly, is no longer with us; and this: Even he lamented his accidental contribution to what he coined the “monolithic insanity” of the modern office.

Thirty years ago, when Propst, reluctant cubicle sire, came up with the idea for the much-maligned partitioned compartment of doom, he did so with the intent of improving the office environment, Fortune Magazine reports.

The way Probst envisioned the cubicle, it wasn’t actually a cube at all — it was an “Action Office” — and contained various levels of desk space so workers could sit or stand while on the job.

He reasoned that people would get more done if they could spread their work out around them in relative privacy and move around a bit.

Even the most bitter of the boxed-office bourgeoisie would likely concede that these are not the visions of a man hell-bent on plunging America’s workforce into perpetual Dilbert-ville.

It wasn’t until businesses figured out that they could cram a bunch of people in one big open space on the cheap that the cubicle became the office plague that it is today.

Sadly, it is unlikely the working world will soon escape the cubicle’s clutches. Cubes still take a lion’s share of office furniture sales — about $3 billion a year.

I haven't posted a anything new here in the last several days. I just started a new job with BP, so I may not have time to blog until this weekend.

These are rather funny:



Engineering Skills & Knowledge

• Project Manager is a Person who thinks nine women can deliver a baby in one month.
• Construction Manager is one who thinks single woman can deliver nine babies in one month.
• Controls Manager is one who asks if the baby is in the budget (and if it saves money to adopt).
• Project Engineer is a person who thinks he can deliver a baby even if no man and woman are available.
• Instrument Engineer is a Person who thinks it will take 18 months to deliver a baby.
• Process Engineers are the ones who think at eight months into the pregnancy that the baby's sex is wrong.
• Client is the one who doesn't know why he wants a baby.
• Structural Engineer is still figuring out how to produce a baby.
• Procurement buys condoms by mistake.
• Planning Team thinks they don't need a man or woman; they'll produce a child with zero resources.
• Doc Control Team thinks they don't care whether the child is delivered, they'll just document 9 months.
• Quality Auditor is the person who is never happy with the PROCESS to produce a baby.
• Piping Designers (pipers) don't care...they just want to screw anything what does not escape onto a tree !!!

The National Review Online sees the Port Governance issue my way. That's nice to know!

Their article: Un-American

Islamophobia, not national security, is at the heart of the raging controversy on Capitol Hill over a United Arab Emirates-based company, Dubai Ports World, assuming ownership and management responsibilities at six major seaports in the United States. U.S. lawmakers might bristle at the thought of letting the UAE own and operate U.S. ports. After all, it was a citizen of the UAE, Marwan al Shehhi, who piloted United Airlines Flight 175 into the second World Trade Center tower, and it was through the banks of this country that the 9/11 attacks were partially financed. But their fiery rhetoric and threats of congressional action mask an increasingly patronizing racism fueled by illogical paranoia rooted in past events. Let's deal with what the UAE is now.

Simply put, the reaction to the Dubai deal is un-American.

My earlier post: NSO - Port Governance

Interesting articles:

• Forbes - How Effective Are Sanctions?
• Africa’s unending war on corruption
• The Price of Virginity
• Applying the Old Incentive Switcheroo to Anti-Semitism
• An unexpected Freakonomics lesson
• Senator Frist Explains Why Tax Cuts Make Money

General Motors General Motors has been in trouble for quite some time. Once the kings of the American car market, their share has dropped below 38%. The company is saturated with legacy pension costs, which it may offload to the government (i.e.. taxpayers), and it faces fierce competition from younger, healthier foreign companies.

Bankruptcy is looming for GM. There are apologists/excusionists who would like to see the government bail GM out, as has happened with the airline industry. This is a huge mistake.

Why is this a mistake? Because it is an unnatural intrusion into the free market system. Rather than creditors being able to divide up GM's assets to receive their own payment, the creditors are put on hold. Essentially GM gets to skip out on paying its debt. This can have huge implications for the creditor companies.

Next, unsaddled with debt, GM is now free to compete against companies that DO have to pay their debt. This is an unfair advantage.

Not having to pay creditors, though, will in no way improve GM's management structure or labor costs - which is the ROOT of the problem. It's sad to see so many workers laid off, but that's life.

For decades unions have surpassed their usefulness. There are many employees who are paid far more than their actual job is worth. We all want to get paid more, but that doesn't mean we are going to get it. Higher labor costs simply drive up the price of commodities, which in turn drives inflation, thusly increasing everyone's cost of living, then salaries go up and the cycle continues. Why the long run-on sentence? To demonstrate the effect unions, and ultimately GM has on the economy.

Economics teaches supply and demand. The principle of supply and demand is undermined with government intervention. Rather than having a natural equilibrium where supply meets demand, the government disrupts the model and forces disequilibrium. In effect either a shortage or an over-supply of goods.

If GM is going bankrupt, then so be it. Its employees, assets and market share will be taken over by the healthier companies out there. Trust me, it won't be the end of the world. They don't deserve bankruptcy protection.

My main beef is with the following article: The Tragedy of General Motors

(FORTUNE Magazine) - It is the instinctive wish of most American businesspeople, even those unlikely to be directly affected, that General Motors not go bankrupt. True, some people will say, "They had it coming to them." But the majority will be more practical, telling themselves that the company is so central to the economy, so sprawling in its commercial reach, that bankruptcy--"going into chapter," as restructuring folks say--is ominous almost beyond contemplation. And yet the evidence points, with increasing certitude, to bankruptcy. Rick Wagoner, GM's 53-year-old chairman and CEO, may say, as he did in a January interview with FORTUNE in his aerie of an office high above the Detroit River, "I know that things will turn around." But he cannot know that. He may not, deep down, even believe it himself.

Bankruptcy isn't going to occur next week. But down the road--say, past 2006 --its probability is high. That point of view seems supported by the opinions of the bond-rating agencies, which troubled companies must keep informed and which become virtual insiders in their understanding of a company's finances and operations. In recent months both Moody's and Standard & Poor's have made increasingly grim statements, bald in their talk of bankruptcy and laden with doubts that GM (Research) can turn around its reeling North American auto operations, now reduced to an embarrassing market share of 26%.

I am often at odds with Fortune's take on matters. The last time I was this dissatisfied with it's opinion I blogged about it here: NSO - Bankruptcy is a Strategy? HUH???

Other news regarding GM:

GM Plant in Okla. Closes

Moody's Cuts GM Further into Junk

GM to invest $545M in Michigan plants

In November, GM announced it planned to close 12 plants and facilities and trim 30,000 hourly jobs in North America as it cut capacity in an effort to stem ongoing automotive losses. Several of the locations being hit by closure plans are in Michigan.

GM lost $8.6 billion in 2005 and in January it announced it was cutting the company dividend 50 percent, as well as cutting pay for officers and board members and trimming medical and retirement benefits for salaried retirees.

GM's fate: A Hail Mary

Their is a stink in the air over the buyout of P&O of London by UAE based Dubai Ports World. The stink is in regards to P&O's management of six major U.S. ports. U.S. lawmakers and several firms, believe that U.S. security will be put at risk.

This seems to be a knee jerk reaction and is rather Arabphobic. The UAE is one of the most moderate Middle Eastern nations. This doesn't mean that their aren't risks, but what changes are really going to occur?

In most buyouts the same staff (at the lower echelons) stays in place, perhaps with new policies and procedures. The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Coast Guard will still have oversight. Security risks will remain unchanged. After all, if terrorists want to smuggle something into the country in a container ship, what's to stop them? Having an executive running the company isn't going to mitigate the risk of a search from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Bush is right to Veto any protectionist legislature.

Bush Says He Will Veto Any Bill to Stop UAE Port Deal

In a rare threat to use his veto power, President Bush said Tuesday he will stop any legislation that attempts to prevent the purchase by a United Arab Emirates-owned firm of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which runs six major U.S. ports.

Breaking a gaping silence from the administration in the debate about the purchase by Dubai Ports World of London-based P&O, Bush said the deal should go forward and won't jeopardize U.S. security.

Firm Sues Over UAE Port Plan

New Nigerian strife raises uncertainties There has been a lot of activity with Nigerian rebel groups kidnapping oil workers and sabotaging pipelines. What does this mean to you? An Increase in fuel prices.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has kidnapped oil workers — most recently nine Willbros employees, including three Americans — sabotaged pipelines and hobbled the flow of crude from Africa's top exporting nation.

Nigeria Militants Won't Release Hostages

Nigeria oil unions rule out strikes over Delta attacks

Nigeria: Militants blow up another oil boat

Threat Watch - Nigeria's Oil War

New Orleans says it won't give free ride

New Orleans doesn't want its poorest residents back — unless they agree to work.

That was the message from three New Orleans City Council members who said government programs have "pampered" the city's residents for too long.

The news that some New Orleans City Council members weren't keen on the city's poorest returning home added another layer of discomfort in Houston, where local residents and elected officials alike have stretched to meet the needs of thousands of Louisiana residents in the months after Hurricane Katrina.

I can see this from two perspectives.

Firstly, Houstonians might wonder why they now must foot the bill for the poorest residents from New Orleans, rather than the Crescent City itself.

Secondly, New Orleans is in a situation now where it can only afford to have individuals who are willing to work to help restore the city. To re-import non working individuals or families would create an extra burden on the weak social services and add the current shortage of houses.

If it wasn't for the fact that the New Orleans municipal government is representative of the racial makeup of pre-Katrina New Orleans, I would fear calls of racism coming on. As it is calls of classism or elitism are emerging.

Perhaps the solution is to find jobs for the 'victims'? That would solve the dilemma, right?

I agree with the Houston Councilman Khan's quote below.

"A city is a combination of all kinds of people," said Councilman M.J. Khan, whose district has absorbed most of the city's evacuees. "We definitely want everybody to be productive, wealthy and educated. But in any society it's not always possible. We cannot pick and choose who will live in a city."

I suppose the greater story this article dances around is government support.

The proposed plan is explained below:

During that same meeting, according to the newspaper, officials with the Housing Authority of New Orleans shared their plans. Some residents who lived in public housing before the storm will be able to return. Future residents, however, will have to comply with new restrictions, including a series of questions about employment history and job prospects.

The city of New Orleans isn't screening people who move in. Rather the city is unwilling to subsidize housing for those who do not work. If you can pay your own way, then let the free market forces determine whether or not you should be there.

The government can't and shouldn't be expected to help people to live their lives. At some point personal responsibility must be established. So, if you want to move back to New Orleans, just be prepared to pay your own way.

I made it back from Las Vegas.

I took a bunch of camera phone pictures and they are currently without a description or in any real order: PHOTOS.

I hope to get some photos from the group that I went with as they took much better photos with their SLRs and digital cameras.

One particular point of interest is the Neon Museum.

"The Neon Museum's mission is to collect, preserve, study and exhibit neon signs and associated artifacts to inspire educational and cultural enrichment for diverse members of our international community."

Our collection ranges from the 1940s to present day. Some pieces are restored as public art and mapped for our walking Tour. Others are kept in our Boneyard which is open by appointment only.

We went on a tour of the boneyard Friday at 1100. It was fascinating to see the historic signs that have been donated to this non profit. I didn't take any photos here, but the rest of the group did. I will post the photos or a link to them when they become available.

I haven't posted anything new in several days as I've been pretty busy. Sunday I was down in Ingleside for work. I finally got to board BP Atlantis, the project I've been working on for two years now.

Tomorrow I'm off to Las Vegas for two days, then back to Houston.

I also start a new job at the end of the month, still with BP.

Check out the photos of BP Atlantis in Ingleside.

A brief look at what's happening in the world today.

Oil:
NRO - The Energy-Sufficiency Myth
Happy News - Willie Nelson introduces Alternative Fuel


Cartoon Controversy:
Internet T-shirt Vendor Profits from Mohammed Cartoon Conflict

On their website (http:
//www.shopmetrospy.com/), MetroSpy denounces the tactics of Islamic extremists and encourages its customers to stand up against terrorism. "Failing to print these images mean the terrorists have won", the site says.

“We wanted a simple way to exercise our freedom of speech and to stand up to the terrorists. This design was perfect,” said Thomas.

Newspapers Slowly Starting to Report Arab Governments' Role in Inciting Cartoon Riots


Iraq & the Interweb:
Danger? Drabness? No Date? Iraqis Find an Outlet Online


Politics:
DEMS - One sorry mess of a party

AND FOR ANOTHER week, the Democrats managed to hold themselves hostage to, well, themselves.

Dad Slams Attack On Bush At King Rite

(CBS) Former President George H.W. Bush has expressed dismay and anger at attacks on his son, President Bush, at the funeral for Coretta Scott King.

"In terms of the political shots at the president who was sitting there with his wife, I didn't like it and I thought it was kind of ugly frankly," the former president said in an exclusive radio interview with CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.

"Anybody that shoots at the president of the United States at a funeral, I just didn't appreciate that," Mr. Bush added.

Former President Carter and the Rev. Joseph Lowery criticized the president during remarks they made at the King funeral in Atlanta.

France secretly upgrades capacity of nuclear arsenal

France has secretly modified its nuclear arsenal to increase the strike range and accuracy of its weapons. The move comes weeks after President Jacques Chirac warned that states which threatened the country could face the "ultimate warning" of a nuclear retaliation.

Brown Blames DHS for Poor Hurricane Katrina Response
Chavez Forces U.S. Missionaries Out of Jungle Outposts


The Border:

Texas boosts border watch


Media:
Worst NYT Issue Ever?

Mediacrity thinks today's New York Times might have been the worst ever: Drudge: White House Seeks Retraction from NYT

Krispy Kreme is leaving Houston. The problems discussed in the article - Houston losing its Krispy Kreme stores - are intrinsic to franchising in the U.S. What interested me, though, was not the closing of the stores, rather the announcement.

Sometimes managerialisms sneak their way past the untrained eye. The following statement issued by Krispy Kremes' President meets the criterion for a managerialism:

"Krispy Kreme remains committed to developing the brand in the Houston market and plans to re-establish stores in the area at the appropriate time," Steve Panagos, president of Krispy Kreme said in a statement released today.

The criterion I use to identify managerialisms:

1). Insincere
2). Is a buzzword
3). Is a cliché
4). Is corporate like jargon
5). Could be substituted with a plethora of other words
6). Is generic and could be reused elsewhere with minimal effort

Now let's analyze the statement. The only distinguishing characteristic in the statement is "Krispy Kreme". This noun can be removed and substituted with any other noun and it doesn't change the nature of the statement. The same goes for "Houston" and "store".

Say we substitute "Krispy Kreme" with "Al Qaeda", "Houston" with "Iraq", and "store" with "presence". Now we get:

"Al Qaeda remains committed to developing the brand in the Iraq market and plans to re-establish presence in the area at the appropriate time."

I would have been more moved had Mr. Panagos stated

"We like baking doughnuts and serving coffee. Don't panic, Krispy Kreme will be back in Houston with new stores ASAP."

Although the above statement is no candidate for a Pulitzer Prize, it is at the very least sincere. Sincerity goes a long way.

An exemplary Marine!

Marine bomb expert shaken but not deterred by IED
Photo taken after blast has become symbol of resolve

By Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, January 15, 2006


RAMADI, Iraq — For Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt, the business of hunting down and defusing roadside bombs is something of a deadly chess game.

Burghardt, 36, of Fountain Valley, Calif., is probably one of the best-known and most well-respected improvised bomb experts in Iraq, where his skills are in constant demand.

Last September, an embedded journalist snapped a photo of Burghardt moments after a roadside bomb exploded on him in a notoriously troubled corner of western Ramadi — a city that Burghardt describes as “the scariest place on Earth.” The image shows Burghardt with bloodied legs and shredded uniform, flipping the bird to an unseen insurgent who triggered the bomb.

The photo has circulated widely among military personnel in Iraq, who view it as a powerful symbol of resolve and fighting spirit.

“It’s one hell of a picture,” said Col. John L. Gronski, commander of U.S. troops in and around Ramadi.

The 2-28 Brigade Combat Team commander keeps an enlarged, autographed copy on his office wall.

Whether Burghardt is using a Mars rover-type robot or a knife blade to probe for bombs, or searching for them in a heavily armored Buffalo mine-clearing vehicle, his goal is to outmaneuver the fertile yet deadly imagination of the unseen bomb-maker and, he hopes, save the lives of fellow soldiers and Marines.

Now, with roughly two months remaining in his third Iraq tour, Burghardt shakes his head in wonder at the variety and evolution of the roadside bombs he has encountered and the relentlessness with which they’re planted.

Washing machine timers, cordless telephone docking stations, battery acid, shaped charges and artillery rounds seemingly scrounged from all corners of the globe are the insurgents’ currently preferred tools. Yet Burghardt said it’s only a matter of time before they move on to newer and deadlier devices.

“It’s a big game of chess,” Burghardt said. “They’re thinking their steps through on how to beat us, and we’re doing the same thing.”

In the hierarchy of roadside bombers, Burghardt said insurgents are divided into three groups: those who plant bombs; those who design them; and those who finance the process.

The lowest rungs, those who plant the improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are most likely doing it for financial reasons as opposed to any ideology, he said.

“It’s almost like a drug habit,” Burghardt said. “There are the guys on the top who have the money and do the planning, and then there are the crack addicts down below. They make their living planting IED after IED until somebody puts a bullet in them.”

While roadside bombs remain the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq, aggressive efforts at finding improvised explosive devices in and around Ramadi have reduced the number of attacks here from a September high of 45 a week to fewer than 15 currently, the U.S. military reports.

Burghardt earned the Bronze Star for disabling 64 roadside bombs and destroying more than 1,500 pieces of ordnance during his second Iraq tour.

But he and his fellow explosive ordnance disposal technicians do not always beat the bomb-makers and planters.

Already, five EOD technicians Burghardt has worked with have been killed, the most recent death occurring three weeks ago when the technician sunk his knife into a dirt berm and activated the pressure switch on a buried bomb.

“Pink mist,” Burghardt said gravely, using the term familiar to Marines to describe the aftermath of a person being blown up.

The day Burghardt found himself checkmated by a roadside bomber was Sept. 19. He was in Ramadi’s wild Tammim neighborhood as part of a team of bomb technicians responding to the scene of a chaotic ambush in which four U.S. personnel were killed.

Burghardt, who was looking to clear an evacuation route for the vehicles, hopped into what he thought was a recent bomb crater. He said he saw an interesting piece of shrapnel in the 4½-foot- deep hole and wanted to investigate. As he took a closer look, the shattered gravel beneath his foot suddenly shifted, revealing a package wrapped in orange plastic and a cordless telephone base station.

Realizing that he had just stumbled onto a primed explosive, Burghardt stuck his knife in the dirt and dredged up a red detonating cord that led to a pair of 122 mm artillery shells. He cut the cord with scissors and told the rest of his team to stay back.

“I thought I had done good,” Burghardt said.

But what he didn’t realize was that a second detonating cord ran from the base station to a third artillery shell buried behind him. The triggerman, figuring perhaps that he wouldn’t lure anyone else into the trap that day, placed a telephone call to the base station.

“That’s when I heard the distinct crack of that artillery shell,” Burghardt said.

The explosion sent Burghardt 10 feet into the air and dropped him in a heap on the road as his team watched in horror.

“All I remember is opening my eyes and hearing a ringing in my ears,” he said. “They all thought I was dead, but when I started to move I could hear them yell, ‘He’s alive!’”

Burghardt could not feel his legs. Trying not to look below his waist — afraid of what he might see — he was struck by an image of his father. The retired Marine spent three tours in Vietnam, earning three Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts by the time he was shot by a sniper and paralyzed from the waist down.

“I didn’t want my dad to see me in a wheelchair next to him,” Burghardt said.

But relief came quickly. Burghardt was able to wiggle his toes.

Medics cut away his bloody pants to reveal that the backs of his legs had been studded with shrapnel and bruised from the top of his boots to his waist. As they prepared to place him in a stretcher, Burghardt shouted, “No.” He didn’t want his teammates or the insurgents to see him carried from the scene. He was going to walk.

As he was helped to his feet, Burghardt said, he felt a wave of anger and adrenaline flow through his system. He had just extended his Iraq tour that morning and he was livid that he had been bested by the bomber.

“I was really pissed off that they got me, that after all this time, they got me,” Burghardt said. “I figured the triggerman was still watching, so I flipped him off. I yelled, ‘[Expletive] you! I’ll be out here next week!’”

It was at this moment that photographer Jeff Bundy of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald snapped the photo that would be seen on office walls, refrigerators, screensavers, Web sites and newspapers throughout Iraq and the U.S.

Since then, Burghardt has had plenty of other experiences with exploding roadside bombs, but they’ve been from the relative safety of a heavily armored mine- clearing vehicle called a Buffalo.

The vehicle, which deactivates explosives using a long, hydraulic arm, is also outfitted with large ballistic glass windows that give occupants an up-close view of the explosives. Burghardt rides along with other technicians to give advice to the arm operator on how to deal with the explosives.

He describes the experience of riding in a Buffalo and getting close to bombs as something akin to visiting an “IED petting zoo.” The excitement of watching an explosive being dismantled — or of watching it explode in a fiery blast — from the protection of a Buffalo is beyond compare, Burghardt said.

“There will be no amusement park ride back in the States that can compare with the Buffalo,” he said. “You will never get a chance to get that close to an IED and feel all of those emotions, happiness, suspense, adrenaline.”

So far, Burghardt has seen at least 20 roadside bombs explode while riding in the Buffalo. Each time the vehicle rolls up to a suspected IED, Burghardt said, the emotions are the same. It’s back to the chess game.

“You’re in suspense — what’s gonna happen?” Burghardt said. “You have control, but you don’t know what the bomb builder has in store for you. You don’t know what else he’s put out there.

“That’s where it’s a chess game. You’re out there and you’re waiting for that queen to come sliding across the board.”

A six year old kid was suspended from school for sexual harassment... a six year old. A SIX YEAR OLD!!! Who are these people who run our schools? This certainly isn't the norm, but COME ON?! A SIX YEAR OLD!!!

The poor mother is outraged at the action the school took, and rightly so. The school administrator should be fired. Personally I think these zero tolerance policies are ridiculous. Nothing is so black and white that you can apply the same solution to everything. That's the purpose of judges and administrators. To make decisions based on the facts. Zero tolerance is outraging a lot of people and screwing up society. C'mon, the kid is SIX! What does he even KNOW about sex, let alone sexual harassment? I know plenty of adults that can't wrap their heads around the whole concept.

Sex-harass suspension of 1st grader stirs debate
“The connotation is you're getting some kind of sexual gratification, or wanting sexual gratification, or are putting pressure on for some kind of sexual gratification, when a 6-year-old doesn't have that capacity,” said E. Christopher Murray, a civil rights attorney who has handled school discipline cases.

Dr. Elizabeth Berger, a Philadelphia-area child psychiatrist, said this case seems to be an overzealous attempt to ensure students feel safe in school after years in which society was not attentive enough.

...

The boy's mother called the Jan. 30 suspension from Downey Elementary School outrageous. She said she can't even explain to her son what he did wrong because he's too young to understand.

“He doesn't know those things,” she told The Enterprise of Brockton. “He's only 6 years old.”

Is Senator Clinton serious? I hardly think so. Apparently she forgets her husband could have had Bin Laden on several occasions, but failed to do so. Now she is preparing to ramp up for a campaign for the Presidency and wants Americans to think that Bush is a failure for not capturing or killing Bin Laden.

This is really an indictment on our troops. Certainly Bush is the Commander-in-Chief, but he isn't personally marching through the rough terrain of Afghanistan looking for terrorists. That job belongs to the hard working men of the Special Forces, US Navy SEALS, Force Recon Marines, Army Rangers, and a myriad of other task forces and conventional units. To say that Bush failed is to say that the job is complete and our servicemen did not succeed.

The very fact that Al Qaeda has been disrupted highlights the success of the War on Terror.

It also must be tiring not to have a solution or an actual stance on issues. Rather Clinton offers rhetoric and whining. She represents the Democratic Party's querulous approach to everything.

Here's the article and an excerpt from the article:

Clinton blasts Bush on war
"Two weeks ago, [White House political director] Karl Rove ... was telling the National Republican Committee 'Here's your game plan, folks, here's how you're gonna win -- we're gonna win by getting everybody scared again,'" Clinton said. "This crowd 'All we've got is fear and we are going to keep playing the fear card.'"

Saying she takes "a backseat to nobody when it comes to fighting terrorism," Clinton accused the White House of portraying critics of Iraq and Afghanistan policy as comforting the enemy.

"Since when has it been part of American patriotism to keep our mouths shut?" she said.

Clinton drew thunderous applause when she mocked the administration's failure to track down the 6-foot-5 bin Laden. "You cannot explain to me why we have not captured or killed the tallest man in Afghanistan," she said.

In August 1998, Bill Clinton ordered an unsuccessful missile attack on bin Laden's base camp in Afghanistan, a fact Republicans eagerly pointed out Wednesday.

It's good to know that major attacks against the U.S. have been thwarted:

Bush Offers Detail of 2002 Attack Plot
President Bush said the U.S.-led global war on terror has "weakened and fractured" al-Qaida and allied groups, outlining as proof new details about the multinational cooperation that foiled purported terrorist plans to fly a commercial airplane into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast.

"The terrorists are living under constrant pressure and this adds to our security," Bush said. "When terrorists spend their days working to avoid death or capture, it's harder for them to plan and execute new attacks on our country. By striking the terrorists where they live, we're protecting the American homeland."

But the president said the anti-terror battle is far from over.

"The terrorists are weakenend and fractured, yet they're still lethal," the president said in a speech at the National Guard Memorial Building. "We cannot let the fact that America hasn't been attacked in 41/2 years since September the 11th lull us into the illusion that the threats to our nation have disappeared. They have not."

Bush has referred to the 2002 plot before. In an address last October, he said the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al-Qaida terror network in the last four years, including plans for Sept. 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts. The White House initially would not give details of the plots but later released a fact sheet with a brief, and vague, description of each.

The president filled in details on Thursday.

He said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was captured in 2003, had already begun planning the West Coast operation in October, just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One of Mohammed's key planners was Hambali, the alleged operations chief of the al-Qaida related terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Instead of recruiting Arab hijackers, Hambali found Southeast Asian men who would be less likely to arouse suspicion and who were sent to meet with Osama bin Laden, Bush said.

Under the plot, the hijackers were to use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door of a commercial jetliner, take control of the plane and crash it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, since renamed the US Bank Tower, Bush said.

The president said the plot was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al-Qaida operative. Bush did not name the country or the operative.

Bush has been on a campaign to defend his controversial domestic monitoring program. But the White House would not say whether the 2002 plot was thwarted as a result of the National Security Agency program to eavesdrop on the international emails and phone calls of people inside the United States with suspected ties to terrorists.

Bush said only that "subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations" after the arrest of the unnamed operative led to information about the plot, and to the capture of other ringleaders and operatives involved in it. Hambali, for instance, was captured in Thailand in 2003 and handed over to the United States.

"It took the combined efforts of several countries to break up this plot," the president said. "By working together, we took dangerous terrorists off the streets. By working together, we stopped a catastrophic attack on our homeland."

Bush's speech in October cited two other attacks inside the United States that were foiled, including one to use hijacked planes to attack the East Coast in mid-2003.

The third was the case of Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam and allegedly plotted with top al-Qaida commanders to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. Padilla, whose plot never materialized, now is being held without bail in civilian custody on charges that he was part of a secret network that supported Muslim terrorists.

A U.S. citizen, Padilla was arrested May 8, 2002, at O'Hare International Airport on a material witness warrant and was designated an enemy combatant. he was held without criminal charge at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

Padilla was charged in November on terrorism charges and transfered to civilian custody last month before the Supreme Court had an opportunity to take up his case contesting his detention. He is in federal custody in Miami awaiting trial.

Protesters disrupt torch on eve of Games
Why are these idiots protesting the Olympics? I agree with Piero Fassino:

"The Olympics are a great event and a great showcase for Turin," said Piero Fassino, leader of the opposition Democrats of the Left party. "It makes no sense to protest against it."

Knuckle Heads
They made their voices heard? Heard for what?

"We've succeeded today in making our voices heard," a protest organizer called Marco shouted through a loud speaker. "They've diverted the flame."

What's the point of protesting the visit of the First Lady? She doesn't set policy, rather she's a dignitary representing our country in an international sporting event. The Olympics are supposed to be about peace and sportsmanship. LEAVE THE POLITICS AT HOME.

On Friday, a group of students stretched a banner across a university building in Turin reading, "Laura Bush, Go Home". Security officials quickly took it down

Occasionally I come across an e-mail or website that I just can't resist mocking.

Today I want to share with you a Papa John's e-mail that I received about a special. There was nothing wrong with it and I do order from their site.

As I scanned down I noticed this:

Share the love this Valentine's Day. Order a Papa John's Gift Card for that special someone this Valentine's Day.

How exactly does a gift card from a pizza chain say "I love you"? It screams "I'm a thoughtless punk."

Gift cards from certain retailers seem appropriate, depending on the occasion. Particularly when you don't know what a person's tastes are, or you know they love to shop at a certain chain/outlet or often eat a particular restaurant. It is beyond silly to give gift cards to fast food chains, though. ESPECIALLY Valentine's day. What happened to roses and sweets for your lover? C'mon?! Unless she asks explicitly for a PIZZA gift card, don't get her one.

And the fast food chains... what is the deal with the explosion of gift cards? McDonald's has one now. I don't get it. What says "gift" better than a McDonald's gift card? Probably cash. Or a dignified handshake. A kick to the testicles, quite frankly, shows you have more respect for a person than a McDonald's gift card.

My final fleeting thought on gift cards is that they were a bit unique initially, but like clichés and managerialisms the ubiquitous concept propagated itself to virtually every free market enterprise. It's just meretricious largess anymore.

Sigh. Now that I've clarified my position, I suppose I'll have to start buying actual gifts again!

How appropriate is it that fissile is the word of the day??? I don't think it was a coincidence!

The Word of the Day for February 8 is:

fissile • \FISS-ul\ • adjective
1 : capable of being split or divided in the direction of the grain or along natural planes of cleavage
*2 : capable of undergoing fission

Example sentence:
The only fissile material that occurs in usable amounts in nature is uranium-235.

Did you know?
When scientists first used "fissile" back in the 1600s, the notion of splitting the nucleus of an atom would have seemed far-fetched indeed. In those days, people thought that atoms were the smallest particles of matter that existed and therefore could not be split. "Fissile" (which can be traced back to Latin "findere," meaning "to split") was used in reference to things like rocks. When we hear about "fissile materials" today, the reference is usually to nuclear fission: the splitting of an atomic nucleus that releases a huge amount of energy. But there is still a place in our language for the original sense of "fissile" (and for the noun "fissility," meaning "the quality of being fissile"). A geologist, for example, might refer to slate as "fissile."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

It's wonderful that a UN program allows one dictator to provide another dictator with an official UN award.

Chavez: U.S. threatened by leftist leaders
Some 200,000 Cubans crowded Revolution Plaza for Friday night's ceremony granting Chavez UNESCO's 2005 Jose Marti International Prize. Cuban President Castro himself handed over the framed certificate to Chavez, a close ally.

I've said it before and I will say it again, the U.N. is a massive joke. How much are our dues? Why don't we wander off and just fund international programs with a comity of nations?

UNESCO
UNESCO is The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The United States was a founding member in 1945, but withdrew in 1984 "citing disagreement over management and other issues". We rejoined in 2003. I think we should have stayed away.

Afghanistan's cleric Mohammed Usman has it absolutely right:

Top Afghan Islamic Group Calls for End of Riots
Afghanistan's top Islamic organization on Wednesday called for an end violent protests over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, as police shot four protesters to death to stop a crowd from marching on a U.S. military base in the southern part of the country.

"Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," senior cleric Mohammed Usman told The Associated Press. "We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam."

Just as we wouldn't accept anti-Semitic caricatures in our newspapers, we shouldn't accept anti-Islamic one. What makes them anti-Islamic? The knowledge that the cartoons are considered blasphemy to Muslims. Newspaper editors have tough decisions to make when balancing freedom of speech with offensive material.

I don't think a violent response is justifiable, but I can understand how Muslims are offended. And although I think the fury may be perpetuated for a larger reason - Iran's nuclear affair - I still think it was inappropriate for newspapers to republish the cartoons.

Even The Joint Chief's of Staff wrote a letter in protest to a cartoon about American soldiers in the Washington Post: Tasteless Cartoon.

I saw the following on The Drudge Report:

Castro invites Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Cuba

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an invitation to visit Cuba from President Fidel Castro, in gratitude for Cuba's support of Iran's nuclear program, the official Granma newspaper said on Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad accepted the invitation in Tehran from Cuban Ambassador Felipe Perez Roque. During his visit, the Iranian leader will attend the September 11-16 Non-Aligned Summit in Havana, the daily said.

On Saturday in Vienna, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria voted against a resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over a nuclear program the West suspects is weapons-oriented.

The Iranian President recently publicly thanked Cuba for its "dignified and principled" position during the IAEA's special meeting, which ended in a 27-3 vote in favour of reporting Iran to the UN council.

Separately, Granma announced that Iranian Parliament President Ghulam Ali Haddad Adel has accepted an invitation to visit Cuba from Cuba's National Assembly.

and

'Iran is world's most serious threat since WWII'

Israel's Ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon said on Tuesday morning that Iran is the biggest problem facing the world since World War II.

He said the UN Security Council must force Iran to accept real supervision that would prevent the further development of its nuclear program.

If they continue with their plans, Ayalon warned, Iran may have the know-how needed for the production of nuclear weapons by the end of the year.

Ayalon, in an interview to Reuters, stated that he believed Iran's nuclear program would be blocked by diplomatic, not military means.

Last year a Danish newspaper published a series of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad. To do so is blasphemy in Islam. The newspaper has since apologized, but other European newspapers have republished the cartoons as a showing of 'solidarity' and to demonstrate freedom of speech. This move has sparked a major fury in the Islamic world.

We have the right to freedom of expression. As monitors of that right, we (the people) should exercise our own judgment on what is and is not appropriate. Knowingly publishing something offensive without any good reason is simply poor judgment. That may be why these cartoons have not been published in the States or UK. That said, newspapers do have the right to do so. I think it would be sad if they did, though.

On the other side, rioting and destruction throughout the world needs to dissipate. Demonstrations and boycotts are peaceful means of protest, but destruction and threats are unacceptable.

Russia, who's on Iran's side in the nuclear crisis, may find itself in a precarious situation. A museum plans to exhibit the cartoons that have sparked the fury. If you recall, the governments whose embassies and people have been targeted had NOTHING to do with the publishing of the cartoons. Free newspapers, independent of government control in democratic societies decided to publish the cartoons. This is a foreign concept in the parts of the world where the fury rages. That being said, will the Iranians and other Muslims rise up now against Russia because an independent museum is going to display the caricatures? Or will the Russian government crack down and ban it? Will the outrage across the world then focus on Russia as well, or will there be hypocrisy?

It would appear that this issue is more tied to Iran's nuclear ambitions that it is given credit for. Take this news, for instance:

Tehran, 7 Feb. (AKI) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini has given his blessing to violent demonstrations targeting Denmark's embassy in Tehran, defining them on Tuesday as "justified and even holy." Hundreds of people protesting against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed hurled stones and petrol bombs at the embassy building. The protest followed as similar assault on Monday. In a televised address, Khomeini, who is considered the Islamic Republic's spiritual leader said the protests were "not directed against the world's Christians, but against the diabolical hands involved in this diabolical issue."

Khomeini blamed a "Zionist conspiracy" for the crisis claiming the aim was to "provoke tensions between Muslims and Christians."

If the Ayatollah of Iran thinks this way about a cartoon, imagine what he thinks of Israel (which he blames for the cartoon) standing in the way of Iran's nuclear program? Can the Iranian regime even be negotiated with? I think it's clear that it can't.

Iran has been Referred
Yesterday I had a post discussing Iran's referral to the UN Security Council. I also tied in the cartoon controversy after reading an interesting article on National Review's website. I had the article in full in the post, or you can read it here: Daned If You Do...

News reports of the cartoon controversy:
NSO - Iran has been Referred
Daned If You Do...
CARTOON CRISIS: IRAN'S SPIRITUAL HEAD DEFENDS VIOLENCE AT DANISH EMBASSY
Moscow museum to exhibit Mohammed cartoons
Danish PM Calls for Global Calm
Denmark issues warning on travel to 14 nations
'4 killed' in cartoon bloodshed
Google News Search

There have been some serious developments over the weekend. First off, the IAEA has referred Iran to the U.N. Security council. Iran has promised to retaliate with full scale uranium enrichment. Apparently Iran does not fear Israel's wrath.

Russia has warned the world not to threaten Iran over its nuclear program. That's seems a bit hypocritical, especially to Israel.

Fox News - Russia's foreign minister warned against threatening Iran over its nuclear program Monday after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reportedly agreed with a German interviewer that all options, including military response, remained on the table.

President Bush has issued a statement on the referral, available here: President's Statement on IAEA Board Vote to Report Iran to U.N. Security Council

Today's vote by the IAEA Board is not the end of diplomacy or the IAEA's role. Instead, it is the beginning of an intensified diplomatic effort to prevent the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons. We will continue working with our international partners to achieve that common objective. The path chosen by Iran's new leaders -- threats, concealment, and breaking international agreements and IAEA seals -- will not succeed and will not be tolerated by the international community. The regime's continued defiance only further isolates Iran from the rest of the world and undermines the Iranian people's aspirations for a better life.

Cartoons

The Danish Cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has really sparked fury in the Islamic world. The Danish and Norwegian Embassies in Syria have been burned, the Danish Embassy in Lebanon has been burned, European flags are being burned and protests have swept across many Middle Eastern countries. There has even been widespread demonstrations in Indonesia.

Below is an excellent piece from the National Review Online. I've posted the article here in its entirety.

The most fascinating bit is that the Danes are to hold the presidency for the UN Security Council in June. A list of monthly presidents is available from the UN Security Council Members page.

Daned If You Do...
The real questions to consider in the face of “spontaneous” outrage.

By Emanuele Ottolenghi

Not everything that is right or legal is necessarily wise.

Perhaps it was not so wise to reproduce, all over the European press, twelve Danish cartoons depicting Islam's prophet Mohammad in ways that many Muslims say is offensive. But it was certainly within the boundaries of freedom of speech.

European responses to the events surrounding the cartoons' publication have mainly focused on the above. Was it right? Should there be limits? Should there be editorial self-restraint? Should there be an apology? Who should apologize?

Interestingly, continental Europe has published, Great Britain has not (nor has America). Who understands the Middle East better? The EU or the Anglo-Saxon world? Who does the Arab world hate these days? The evil empire and its lesser imperialist arm? Or the Arab-friendly Europeans with their "more even-handed approach" to the region?

For lo and behold, it is "Death to France" they are chanting now, it is Norwegian flags they are burning (there's always a flags' vendor at hand in the Middle East, whenever "spontaneous" rage erupts).

A sudden reversal of fortunes, to say the least.

But in these days of rage, there is little room for Schadenfreude. Besides, I am not so sure that "I told you so" will open European eyes. Again, interestingly, it is the right-of-center press in Europe that is publishing the cartoons, it is the left-of-center press that is decrying their publication. The right says "freedom of speech" and "Western values," the Left says "multiculturalism." The politically correct may pause and think twice though, given that their once cherished slogans are increasingly the monopoly of the right and their obsession with multiculturalism is putting them on a dangerous slippery slope where their traveling companions are not merely the pious and the aggrieved, but also the less than lucid Holocaust-denying, Homosexual-hating, Jew-bashing, woman-oppressing Islamists who did not call for merely "respect" this weekend, but also for "beheading all those who insult Islam." Beware who your friends are, no less than who are your enemies.

It seems to me that the real debate should not have focused so much on the boundaries of free speech as on the wisdom of reproducing those cartoons in other Western publications (though important they are). After all, Western media routinely publish things that are not so wise or sensitive to expose. From intelligence leaks to mockery of foreign nations, passing through derision of religion and religious beliefs (and those who entertain them), there is plenty to choose from. Was anti-Americanism — so rampant in many European media especially in the last four years — always wise? Is the anti-Semitism that occasionally surfaces in commentary on the Middle East something wise?

But should the answer be censorship? Obviously not. Should the aggrieved parties torch embassies and media centers, or threaten to behead any repeat offender? Again, no. In a truly free society, grievances find legitimate ways of expression and sometimes, if their case is sound, of redress.

In the West we do not believe only in freedom of speech, no matter how silly the speech is. We also believe in the power of ideas to expose the silliness of some speech through robust, but civilized debate. Just like Danish cartoonists had the right to draw twelve cartoons depicting and deriding Mohammed, so are those who feel insulted by their content entitled to march on the streets, assemble in front of embassies, write to newspapers, petition, and go on the air voicing their grievance. As long as it is peaceful and within the legal boundaries that separate speech from incitement, decrying the content of any news item is a legitimate exercise of democratic rights. All that is part of the democratic ethos, and as long as the debate remains within these boundaries, we should let it happen, in the perhaps naively optimistic belief that wisdom will eventually emerge from this exchange.

No wisdom will prevail, though, if debate is conducted by violent means. A violent response that aims to intimidate and muzzle the West on anything concerning the sensitivities of one specific community is unacceptable and makes the dispute over the cartoons a sideshow. The only right course of action now, even if one finds those cartoons silly or in bad taste, is to stand by the publisher, the Danish government, the right of other papers to publish, and the general principle of freedom that makes Europe still a free continent and the Arab Middle East still a sea of dictatorships. Recalling ambassadors was disgraceful. Burning embassies was medieval. Boycotting businesses was mafia-like. And not formulating a joint European response (not yet, one hopes) — let alone expressing solidarity to the Danes — was pusillanimous. It is not Denmark, at this point, that owes an apology to Islam. An apology is owed to Denmark, to Europe, and to the freedom that these assaults aim to deny.

Two considerations arise from this state of affairs: One, if we determine that the yardstick for allowable and unallowable speech is someone else's sensitivity, pretty soon there will be nothing left to talk about. Sensitivity is a subjective trait and the law, with all its shades and penumbras and variations in interpretation, needs a pretty objective, abstract, and general standard. The minute we allow feelings to determine the boundaries of freedom, we will all be slaves.

Second, the reaction that swept across the Muslim world and among Muslims in Europe is symptomatic of a culture that denies democracy and fails to comprehend the mechanisms of a free society. The attacks on the Danish government and state have no precedent and find no justification, given that the target of Muslim wrath is a newspaper, not government policy. To ask for the Danish government to take steps in order to avoid further violence and rescind the sudden boycott on its products means that those who are asking think the free press of Denmark does and will do what the Danish government will tell them to do. That is how the press works in the Arab world. Not in Europe. Not since 1945 at least, and hopefully not anymore. Anyone who thinks government interference with the workings of our societies' press is bad should be outraged. Instead, most of those who routinely exalt the values of freedom of speech in Europe these days are busy siding with the enemies of freedom in the name of community relations.

Still, there remains an open question. Why all this fury now? When the cartoons appeared, there was hardly any commotion outside Denmark and only a few local disturbances. Yes, we know that the outrage was largely cooked up by a party of traveling clerics who put together a brochure designed to enrage, especially given the addition of three particularly vicious fake pictures, and showed it around the Middle East. Still, the timing is, to say the least, suspect. Could it be that, as David Conway of Civitas suggests, this has little to do with Muhammad the Prophet and much to do with Iran the nuclear power? Iran, after all, has just been refereed to the U.N. Security Council on account of its nuclear program. And guess what: When Iran finds itself in the eye of the storm, which, of all countries, will be chairing the U.N. body? Denmark.

What a strange coincidence, given that not much of this fury looks spontaneous.

— Emanuele Ottolenghi teaches Israel studies at Oxford University.

Mohamed ElBaradei believes that the 'row' over Iran's nuclear technology program has yet to reach a 'crisis point'. I will concede this since the US intelligence community does not believe that Iran has developed enough fissile material to develop a nuclear weapon. It will only be a matter of time, however, before Iran does have all the resources to create a weapon.

Speaking of weapons, the IAEA is set to refer Iran to the Security Council, albeit under protest from Iran. Even though the bilateral talks between Iran and Russia are continuing, Secretary of State Condi Rice doesn't think Iran is serious. Rather, she (and the US Administration) believe it is a stall tactic to delay the UN Security Council referral. I stated this as my opinion last week.

The biggest development is that Russia and China have sided with the US on the referral. Or at least will not oppose referral to the UN Security Council. This marks a major shift of support away from Iran.

I maintain that nations are free to decide their own futures. And other nations have a right to question whether or not that spells disaster for themselves. Israel certainly doesn't trust the current Iranian government. Nor do I! Imagine if Iran could make good on it's blatant wont for the destruction of Israel?

Even though the US is taking the issue through the designated diplomatic channels in the international community, I don't think the result will deter Iran. After all, the country has been under various levels of embargo for years. Yet, the government still maintains a ready military and has almost completed its quest for a nuclear arms program. So much for sanctions!!!

Ultimately if Iran doesn't halt its program, Israel is going to unleash its own fury. Unilaterally, if the international community reverts to its equivocal posturing.

Below are various news pieces and quotes on the current affairs surrounding Iran.

Fox News - Iran: Referral to U.N. Will Kill Russia's Uranium Proposal

Iran warned Friday it no longer would consider a Kremlin proposal to move its uranium enrichment program to Russia if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council over suspicions it might be seeking nuclear weapons.

Fox News - Iranian President Pledges to Resist Opposition to Nuclear Efforts

Ahmadinejad's speech, broadcast live on state-run television, came hours after President Bush increased the pressure on Iran, saying in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that Iran "is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions, and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons."

BBC News - Iran nuclear row 'not a crisis'

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog says the row over Iran's nuclear research is reaching a critical phase.

But Mohamed ElBaradei said the issue was not yet at crisis point, and Tehran had a "window of opportunity".

BBC News - US increases pressure on Tehran

She said a compromise Russian plan to resolve the stand-off was merely a delaying tactic by Iran ahead of a UN's nuclear watchdog meeting next month.

Previous Posts on NSO
Iran
Watch Out, Iran Steps Up it's Anti-Israel Comments
Iran Pops Seals on Nuke Plants
Showdown With Iran
France Denies Iran's Request for Nuke Talks
France 'would use nuclear arms'
The BBC Opines on Iran
Iran's Ahmadinejad Meets With Terrorists
Iran and Israel
Iran's Government is Mad
The Indecision Begins

It is incredible that a cartoonist and newspaper would publish such tastelessness.

From the National Review Online's Media Blog:

Toles vs. Toles vs. The Joint Chiefs

Via E&P:

A Tom Toles editorial cartoon published in The Washington Post on Monday and on its Web site has drawn a very rare and very strong protest letter to the editors from all six members of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, E&P has learned.

The letter, not yet published by the Post, charges that the six military leaders "believe you and Mr. Toles have done a disservice to your readers and your paper's reputation by using such a callous depiction of those who have volunteered to defend this nation, and as a result, have suffered traumatic and life-altering wounds. ... As the Joint Chiefs, it is rare that we all put our hand to one letter, but we cannot let this reprehensible cartoon go unanswered."

The cartoon is here. The letter is here. The Post has a feature called Toles vs. Toles. I wonder which Toles has been body-snatched by Ted Rall.

[ 02/01/2006 06:08 PM ]

Resources
Joint Chief's Letter to the Editor
NRO Media Blog - Toles vs. Toles vs. The Joint Chiefs
Washington Post - Cartoon