perfidy

Via blogcritics I see that in Virginia, oral sex is a felony; a crime against nature. Moreover, this law's being enforced.

This morning's Charlottesville Daily Progress brings news that a 21-year-old woman found receiving oral sex in her car at 3 a.m. on January 29, in the parking lot outside her apartment building in Newport News, Virginia, has been charged with a felony under the Crimes Against Nature statute.

Her boyfriend was arrested and charged as well.

Virginia's Crimes Against Nature law states that people can't have oral or anal sex, whether homosexual or heterosexual.

The law doesn't specify whether the sex is illegal in public or in private.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, the man pleaded guilty Monday to the lesser charge of indecent exposure. The woman was offered the same plea.

If she chooses to go to court and fight the original charge, she could face up to five years in prison.

Regardless of what you think about this couple's lack of discretion, this is utter looniness. I don't like a world where the paranoid dystopian fantasies of the likes of "The Handmaid's Tale" seem prescient rather than laughable.

Too often critics of the Bush administration try to conflate America's rising moral dunder with the President's administration, (of course, there's a case to be made, there), when such charges just makes them sound like rabid Bush-haters. No, regardless of who the damn President is, I have a right to make sweet love to whomever I want in whatever way I want! What the hell is going on in this country?

Yet another reason on the growing list titled "Why I Will Never Live In Virginia Again No Matter How Pretty It Is In The Spring."

Fecking Crimes Against Nature.

I (Ross) am editing this entry slightly, because the image it contains is very disturbing. Look beneath the fold for the image, but be warned.

AP reports that Sunni residents of Fallujah mutilated the corpse of an American citizen killed in an attack yesterday.

Later, they hung the bodies from a bridge over the Euphrates.

Residents cheered after the grisly assault on two four-wheel-drive civilian vehicles, which left both in flames. Others chanted, "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Islam." 

Yes, you do.

Especially the latter.

It occurred to me, reading Johno's recent post on the New Puritanism, that we have options.

We could:

• Use the Agreed Alternative Cursing Standard (AACS), where fork=fuck, spoon=shit and dog=god. Along with defending any use of "dick" as someone's name, and "ass" as referring to a donkey, this method covers the vast majority of American English cursing.
• Use the Johnny Dangerously System, where farging=fucking, ice=ass, and bastiches=bastards/bitches. And you can always throw in jokes about last names being adverbs.
• Or we can tell the FCC to fuck off, go to hell, and realize that most of the cretins in this soceity are not going to stop dropping the f-bomb every third word just because they levy thousands of dollars in fines on Janet Jackson and Howard Stern, or that we won't realize what is going on behind the filmy curtain of the "bleep."

The producer of the famous "girls gone wild" tapes has been accused of rape.

The space age began with Tsiolkovsky, a school teacher in Tsarist Russia. His theoretical work moved thinking on space flight from the realm of fantasy- Hale’s story Brick Moon, the works of Jules Verne, etc.- to rigorous mathematical theory. Tsiolkovsky analyzed the requirements of space flight in incredible detail. Before Liquid fuel rockets had even been attempted (the first successful liquid fuel rocket was flown, I believe, in 1928 by the American Robert Goddard) Tsiolkovsky determined that only this type of rocket would have the power too achieve orbital flight. He predicted that the use of staged rockets would allow sizable payloads to be placed in orbit. (He referred to them as “rocket trains.”) He predicted that eventually mankind would create orbital habitats, and that we would eventually make homes in space for millions of people. He said that "Earth is the cradle of mankind, but one can’t live in the cradle forever.”

Though Tsiolkovsky was doomed to obscurity, this visionary saw in its entirety the whole future of man in space- not merely the dream of space flight, but how it would be achieved. And he wrote the earliest of his papers before the first heavier than air flight! After the revolution, he was praised by the Soviets as a forward thinker, and a treasure of the Soviet people. But the Soviet government made no real efforts in the field of rocketry.

In the inter-war period, the only place that serious developments in rocketry were happening was Germany. The VfR, or Rocket Society, was the primary vehicle for this development. Its members included all of the most prominent rocket engineers- most of whom would later work at Peenemunde. Mention of this could be indirect, because at the same time, there was a rocket society in the Soviet Union. Small and not very rich in resources or political connections, the (I think it was the All-Russian Society for Rocketry) members of this group began to develop their own line of experimental rockets. Despite the paucity of resources, they were very successful, building bigger and more capable rockets throughout the thirties.

In terms of social context, the changes in the 1930s are very interesting as well. What had started as private volunteer organizations in the late 20s, became government and military projects over the course of the 30s. Almost the entire German VfR became part of Wehrmacht Gen. Dornberger’s Rocket program at Peenemunde. Similarly, the Soviet group came under increasing Soviet supervision. (It had always been a state sponsored group- but the higher government officials began to take a greater interest in their activities.)

The work of the soviet rocket experimenters could be compared to the more substantial developments in Germany, because the Soviets followed those developments very closely. During the period of the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, Korolev visited the Germans at Peenemunde. But despite the influence of the Germans, the Soviet program always followed its own style and purpose.

With the coming of the war, the Soviet program was more or less put on hold. Korolev worked with the Tupolev design bureau for most of the war. Its head and namesake had been in the gulags until his services were desperately needed, and was still technically in prison even while designing planes for the war effort.

When the war was won, the Americans and Soviets divided the spoils of the German Rocket program. The Americans got all the high level engineers and plans, as well as about a thousand complete V2 rockets. The Soviets got all the industrial facilities, machine tools, and trained workers. These were all taken back to Russia. The German engineers became the core of the American rocket program. They designed most of the early ICBMs, and several of the civilian rockets later used in the space program (Most notably the Saturn V by Werner von Braun, still the most powerful rocket ever designed.) American born engineers worked with the Germans, and eventually replaced them, but the genesis and style of the American rocket efforts was and remained German.

The Soviets, on the other hand, examined the V2s they had captured, and incorporated some of its technology into their designs. But the thrust of their design efforts remained Soviet in characteristics. (One can see the difference in Soviet and German/American design philosophies by looking at the first ICBMs. The American effort is substantially like the V2- linear, stage upon stage design. The Soviet R7, used later to launch Gagarin, is clearly not a descendent of the V2. Its stage and a half design, with a central core surrounded by drop off stage rockets is both different from the western tradition, and a obvious descendent of the early efforts of the Soviet Rocket society.) They merely used the industrial plant and workers captured in the war to increase their production capacity.

While the Americans would do some research, and build ICBMs, American efforts in the 50s were rather lackluster. Von Braun, in particular, was frustrated at the slow pace of his adopted country. (This man, and his colleagues, had had to hide their engineering drawings from their military and Nazi party superiors because they had always drawn manned capsules on top of the rockets rather than explosive warheads. While he didn’t have to hide his desire for space in America, the US government was no more willing to fork out the cash for “Buck Rogers Stuff.”) Von Braun had done the long series of articles in Colliers, illustrated by Bonestell, explaining how man could get to Mars, before the first satellite had been launched. But no progress was made in this direction.

The Soviets meanwhile, were preparing to force the creation of the space age. Early Soviet atomic warheads were very large, and this had a direct effect on Soviet rocket development. The need for a large military rocket had resulted in the powerful R7 rocket, and it was realized that this rocket could put a satellite into orbit, and - suitably modified - could put a man in orbit.

The development of the modern space race is well documented, but some points can be made: the Soviet efforts in space completely determined the character of American achievements in Space at least through 1980. America had no real space program until after the Sputnik launch in ’57. The Vanguard failures were due to the desire for a civilian space efforts despite the fact that proven military rockets were available. Explorer, and later the Mercury program were direct responses to Russian successes.

The entire Lunar program was the result of the fact that a moon landing was the first thing that the Americans would be able to beat the Russians to. Every smaller achievement, it was felt, would be reached first by the Soviets no matter how much effort was expended. So America decided, for almost purely political reasons, to aim for the Moon. As a result, the latter half of the Mercury program, and the Ranger, Surveyor, Gemini and Apollo programs were all the result of one political decision that was made as a result of Soviet successes in Space. (And when the political reasons for the program no longer obtained, the program collapsed. Further, all competing programs, some of which had enormous potential, were sacrificed to reach the Moon. This was known as the “Slaughter of the Innocents. Two such occurrences have happened so far in American Space history - the other was during the Shuttle program.)

A second point is the culture surrounding the Soviet space program. Lives were lost due to the push for success: the stupidity and blindness of the Soviet government resulted in hundreds of casualties. The fact that Gagarin was probably not the first man in space. The fact that Korolev was not only denied permission to receive the Nobel prize twice, but even his name was kept secret from the west until after his death. (“The Chief Designer.”) The lack of modern technology forced difficult, and eventually impossible compromises. The Soviet N1 rocket, designed for moon missions, was unworkable - though its existence was kept completely secret. (The existence of the N1 even controlled the timetable for Apollo missions. When the CIA discovered the N1 on the pad, the timetable for Apollo 8 was, if I remember correctly, moved up over a month.)

The Soviet program kept moving forward on inertia after the successful American moon landing. They focused on long duration space missions, and have acquired the most extensive data on Human tolerance of micro-gravity environments. But the end of the cold war in space resulted in confusion on both sides. Neither side had a political goal, but the field was still too politicized for purely scientific goals to replace them.

Now, in at least one sense, the Russians are leading the world again. They are the first nation to move toward allowing a purely private company to lease and operate a space facility. They were the first nation to allow paying passengers to go into space. (Over NASA’s strenuous objections.) Whether this results in more private access to space or not is very uncertain, but it’s still a first. NASA’s sclerotic hold on the American space effort is in noticeable contrast. While these moves are certainly the result of the horrible financial predicament of the former Soviet space program, the fact that the Russians keep trying, no matter how difficult it is, when the vastly richer Americans do proportionally far less is interesting. (Brief sermon, couldn’t help myself.)

Russia continues to pursue its space program with all the vigor that its limited budget allows. They are designing a follow on to their venerable soyuz capsule. Hopefully, we will follow their example in privatising space travel. Of course, we have always been following their lead, so perhaps we don't really have a choice.

PaintBall players, beware. The innocence of your sport is at risk. In fact, you better be darn sure that what you're doing, day to day, can't be considered terrorism by some weird-ass stretch of a prosecutor's imagination. This is more good news for the "just trust us" crowd currently in power. Is Playing Paintball and Firing Legal Guns Terrorism?

Dean Esmay (whose last name always sounded vaguely piglatinish to me) talks about the miraculous or nefarious jobless recovery we find our selves in the midst of:

Bill Hobbs' ongoing investigation of the formation of Limited Liability Corporations--used exclusively by small businesses--has shown record growth in 10 states, now including Texas. Hobbs also notes that this explosive growth in small businesses does not show up at all on standard measurements of job growth, and would go a long way to explaining why unemployment is going down, welfare rolls are not increasing, homelessness is not increasing, but "jobs" are supposedly not being created.

Everybody in the house say "Chilling Effects"!
("Chilling Effects!")
Everybody in the house say "FCC!"
("FCC!")
Everybody in the house say "[content redacted]!"
.....

So, last night CBS bleeped out Janet Jackson exclaiming "Jesus!" on David Letterman. All the kids are in bed, but the Lord is always watching. Or some such bullshit.

You can make your own here, as well as several other kinds of crazy German signage.

Hat tip: Rocket Jones.

There's some good coverage of the growing air tanker scandal over on Aero News. It seems that Boeing rewrote the requirements, with the complicity of certain officers, to assure themselves a win on the tanker bid. In fact, Boeing was unable to accomodate 19 of the 26 requirements, so they had them eliminated from the RFP. Airbus (that evil French company) met 20 of the original 26 requirements.

The only reason that we know about this is that Boeing made the mistake of hiring former Assistant Undersecretary Darleen Druyun too fast, making her a vice president. That got people curious, and they discovered the following email during the investigation:

Boeing's man in charge of the tanker deal, Bob Gower, wrote in an email during the five month rewrite, "Meeting today on price was very good. Darleen (Druyun, then still an Air Force official) spent most of the time bringing the USAF price up to our number. ... It was a good day. She may be running her own covert operation on this one, so we probably don't want to discuss openly."

Isn't that interesting?

According to the Washington Post, Condi Rice will now testify under oath before the 9/11 commission. But check out the following:

White House aides had said they were seeking a more limited compromise, such as the public release of a transcript of a future private commission session with Rice, but officials said that commission members refused to yield.

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales made the offer this morning in a two-page letter to Kean and Hamilton. "The Commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice," Gonzales wrote.

Exactly who do these people think they are? Remember, come November, that Bush and his administration think ranch time, NASCAR, and fundraising are more important than one of the most important commissions this country has ever convened. Remember this when Bush describes himself as a "war president" in the "war on terror".

This is how interested he really is, in evaluating the performance of his own administration.

... Very well... abortions for some, high-speed government-sponsored broadband access for everyone!

I get the sense that CREEP is a little scared these days of losing come November (yes... I know that CREEP refers specifically to a Nixonian cabal who worked on the 1972 election, ... the point is they were a Nixonian cabal much like another I could name). Just consider all the poorly-thought-out sweeping J. Bruckheimer blockbuster policy proposals they have floated recently: We're goin' to Mars!; Free drugs for old people!; Tax cuts for [some/none/all]!... and now government-subsidized broadband internet access for all. As if the underlying causes of poverty, poor schools, crime, urban decay, disease, hunger and bigotry will all be solved by lighting-quick access to online pornography.

Hell, sounds about right to me!

Thanks to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, police in Louisiana no longer need a warrant to search your home or business. All that's necessary is for one officer to desire the search to ensure his safety.

I sincerely hope this bus to hell runs head-on into the IV Amendment and burns spectacularly, as the implications for future law enforcement abuses are horrifying. The last thing this country needs is for police and citizenry to solidify and deepen their mutual antagonism and distrust. I'm a law abiding well educated and morally upright good taxpayer, and that doesn't stop me from feeling queasy every time I think the flashing lights are coming for me. I don't think I'm alone in that. If this precedent stands and becomes wider practice, you better bet this country will be an uglier and more authoritarian place as civil disobedience against casual searches becomes more commonplace and accepted.

Anyway, remember the IV Amendment? It was an important one. Pretty g-d d--n clear about things too, much more so than the vexed 2nd...

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

[wik] Eugene Volokh links to the opinion. As with most of these instances, the case in question presents a situation in which a casual police search might be considered reasonable-- a known felon was believed to be threatening the lives of two judges-- but, of course, most situations are much more complicated. Devil, details, immanence.

Nat at Imustnotthinkbadthoughts (the most frantical of all blog names) has posted some good houghts about the American South and the possibility that its particularism is fading as younger generations embrace more universal cultural norms, and as urbanization draws people into broader social spheres. (He also has some thoughts on the effects of de-urbanization that I'm going to have to chew on for a while.)

By way of making his argument, Nat draws an intriguing parallel between the American South and the German South; that is, Bavaria. Since he is an actual European historian of France and Germany, I will defer to his analysis, except on one thing. I think he's too cautious. Nat points out that Bavaria remained relatively autonomous when Germany unified, that it has remained more rural and culturally its own region than other parts of Germany have, and that (partly thanks to this) it was the region that gave rise to a certain political movement. In these ways, Bavaria is certainly like the South. (Also, my good friend the Excitable German has noted that his native Swabia, in the South of Germany, is sort of the West Virginia Of The Hun).

However, Nat closes his piece with this: "My feeling is that the fate of the South is something more like Bavaria–perhaps less picturesque and without the tragedy." I beg to differ. The South is very much like Bavaria in those ways too. The entire self-identity of the American South is intimately tied to a romanticized, picturesque history of self-determination, rugged individualism, and languid rectitute. As much or more than Bavaria, Southern writers have struggled with this self image-- both to reinforce it and to crush it-- for two centuries. And as for tragedy... well, we don't really know exactly how many slaves died, but if there's a big leagues of historical tragedies, American slavery will at least be on the wild card bubble for the playoffs.

There are many things that the Israelis are capable of. I don't think this is one of them. Whenever I read the Islamic media for any length of time, I become very, very depressed. This level of disconnect from reality, evidenced in a thousand Islamic media reports a week, is truly staggering. Link via Allah Pundit

Q and O has a good post on the good, bad and ugly ways you can fight the war on terror. (Which one is which, I leave as an exercise for the reader.)

Knowledge Problem examines why gas prices are so stinking high.

I'll rochambeau you for it!

Phil over at Catch Me If You Can has an informative look at the hell that is DC Metro Parking. Also, if you are in the DC area, his band is playing out tonight at the Grog and Tankard up on Wisconsin, around 9:30. (Sadly, I will be unable to attend.) Here's a sample of what his band does.

A Dutch politician is in line to become the EU's first "Mr. Terrorism." That's all to the good, and I'm glad the Euroweenies are at least pretending to take terrorism seriously.

Why do I say "Pretending?" Because, dude, "Mr. Terrorism" makes you sound like a pussy even before you get out the gate. Terror Czar at least brings up images of Ivan the terrible, pyramids of skulls, and the like. Before you remember that the man occupying that office is a pasty middle aged white guy in a suit.

But Mr. Terrorism... Hmmn, what does that bring to mind? A skinny guy in a cardigan asking the children if they want to go to the land of make believe. Which, come to think of it, is a reasonably accurate summation of the EU's policy on terrorism so far.

We need a Terror Motherfucker. Someone who will speak to the terrorists like Samuel L. Jackson in full on, scare the white folk mode. Someone who, by his very presence in the world will strike fear into the hearts of terrorists. Someone who is authorized to personally put a cap in the ass of any terrorist brought before his dread presence. Someone who is completely unpredictable and dangerously volatile. Someone who has all the powers of hell at his command, or at least the United States Marines. Someone to play bad cop to Bush's bad cop. Someone who will make the worst European nightmares of American "cowboys" seem like Mr. Rogers.

That's what we need.

Hey... shouldn't you be in church?

Pope John Paul (news - web sites) on Friday said Sunday should be a day for God, not for secular diversions like entertainment and sports.

"When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of 'weekend' dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens," the pontiff said in a speech to Australian bishops.

I know the Pope is obliged to say this kind of thing, it's his job and all, but does he really want all the Catholics of Parma, OH to make an all-or-nothing choice between church and the Cleveland Browns?

When's the last time you heard a fun hip-hop record? And I mean a fun serious hip-hop record, as opposed to a stupid-fun record such as the kind Will Smith pukes out every time he makes a new movie. I can hardly remember. I've bought a pretty good amount of hip-hop over the years, and apart from affable lunatics like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, or Ludacris, hip-hop is way too concerned with being all hawd n shit. Since I'm a white 29-year-old college administrator who enjoys science fiction and not getting shot, I can't really relate. Usually, it irritates me.

Well, a little while back I posted a late-night rave about Chicago wonderboy Kanye West, who has been all over the radio recently with several hits he has produced or performed. I bought his debut, "The College Dropout," and it's great. It might be the best hip-hop record I've bought in a decade, and it's definitely the most fun I've had since De La Soul put out "3 Feet High and Rising" fifteen years ago (fifteen years!).

West's stock in trade is to boost a sample from an old soul record-- the Jackson 5, Chacka Khan-- and layer it with live instruments, warm-sounding drums, and his own half-distracted verbal style. Not a great flow stylist, West's strength is in his witty rhymes. His lyrics are sharp, funny, and insightful, galaxies beyond the merely competent thuggin' peddled by the likes of 50 Cent. Best of all, although West is signed to Rock-a-fella, uber-hustler Jay-Z's company, there's barely a 'ho in sight, and not a single person gets shot.

It's a hallmark of how different West is from the mainstream of (male) hip-hop stars that his first single is about, not getting shot, but being in a car accident. He recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw wired shut, mumbling lyrics about liquid diets and seatbelts. It's a fantastic track, anchored by a chipmunk-speed sample of Chacka Khan's "Through The Fire," and features killer rhymes like, "I drink a Boost for breakfast, an Ensure for dessert/ Someone order pancakes I just sip the sizzurp." The only problem is that "Through The Wire," which is the star of the record and one of the best songs I've heard in years, is buried fifteen tracks deep on "The College Dropout."

But there's much more to the record than one single. Every song pops with ideas and talent, and-- a rare thing for a rap album-- the skits don't suck. Standout tracks include "We Don't Dare," with its kid's chorus of "Drug dealing just to get high/ stack your money til it gets sky high/ We never supposed to make it past 25/ Joke's on you we still alive/ We don't care what people say," the acoustic-guitar driven "All Falls Down," and "Get Em High," featuring Talib Kweli and Common. And when's the last time you heard a gospel version of "I'll Fly Away," or for that matter "Pomp and Circumstance," on a rap record? Musically and lyrically, nearly every track is a jaw-dropping tour de force.

However, all isn't perfect. West has traded the stock gunz and ho's imagery of hip-hop for a more nuanced and human view of the world, rapping about working shit jobs and cheating on his taxes. But for all the humor and insight, West has traded the hermetic world of gangbanging for one in which every road is a dead end and the ultimate reward for working is a tiny paycheck, a mountain of debt, and a boatload of envy and bitterness. From the title "The College Dropout" to the song "Space Ship," that compares "this grave shift" to a "slave ship," to the mock-yearbook liner notes which place West on the basketball team ("never played"), the debate team ("never won"), and dubs him "least likely to succeed," Kanye West attempts to examine the culture of failure that so many people (black, white, whatever) deal with every day. Great idea, sure, and one that's more constructive than the ten thousandth song about Courvoisier, but too often West ends up in a big pity-party.

Nowhere is this more apparent on the "School Spirit" skits, when West's character angrily defends getting his "Bachelors, then my Masters, then my Masters' Masters, then my doctoral.. Yeah i'm 52, so what, hate all you want, but I'm smart, I'm so smart, and I'm in school,and these guys are out here making money all these ways, and I'm spending mine to be smart. You know why? Because when I die, buddy, you know what's going to keep me warm? That right, those degrees."

Jeez. Sure, I felt that way back in grad school when I'd self-medicated myself a bit too much to keep from thinking about the pointlessness getting a terminal Masters in a field where a Ph.D. and a dollar will barely buy you a cup of coffee, but damn, dude, lighten the fuck up already. Social pathologies and shit. Cornel West. Henry Louis Gates.

I shouldn't get too wrapped up in the Philosophy of Kanye West, because it detracts from the point. Kanye West has made a magnificent, rewarding, deep, thoughtful, and mind-blowing hip-hop record that advances the state of the art several years into the future. In 2015 were's going to be listening to this like we listen to "A Nation of Millions..." or "Paul's Boutique" now, amazed at our luck for having it around.

The muckracking, partisan, and utterly filthy Boston Herald has a thought-provoking editorial today that raises two important points.

Point the first: "We'd like to know how Clarke squares his contention that he was the only one in the Bush administration truly committed to thwarting terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks with this: It was Clarke who personally authorized the evacuation by private plane of dozens of Saudi citizens, including many members of Osama bin Laden's own family, in the days immediately following Sept. 11."

Point the second: "By all accounts, Clarke made hundreds of decisions in the days after Sept. 11, many clear-headed and right. Approving those special flights seems like a wrong one, but it was a judgment call made in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history. Perhaps it was the best decision he could make under the circumstances. It's too bad Clarke cuts no one in the Bush administration the same slack he so easily cuts himself."

The Times of New York is reporting that government contractors are considering equipping passenger airliners with missile defense technology, possibly as early as this summer.

The technology has been installed on military planes for years, offering laser-jamming equipment and decoy flares to deflect small missiles that are known to be in Al Qaeda's stockpiles.

"Can we do it in 90 to 120 days and protect the aircraft? Absolutely," said Paul Handwerker, a business development executive at BAE Systems, a British military supplier that is leading one of three groups of contractors selected by the Department of Homeland Security in January to develop the technology for passenger jets.

Mr. Handwerker said that while he agreed with the reasoning behind the government's timetable, the company's engineers "would find a way to do it much faster" if the request was made.

Jack Pledger, an executive who oversees antimissile systems for Northrop Grumman, another contractor selected for the program, said that laser-jamming devices installed by Northrop on military planes could be quickly converted to passenger jets. "We could do it right now," Mr. Pledger said. "If it became necessary to provide this system immediately, we're ready."

Considering the easy and cheap availability of shoulder fired missiles, this is a good idea. The article also notes that,

The department's timetable has been criticized on Capitol Hill, where a group of lawmakers, most of them Democrats, has urged the government to move much faster and to commit billions of dollars to begin equipping planes immediately.

The department says that it is moving as quickly as it can and that it would be irresponsible to try to outfit passenger planes until the reliability, safety and cost-effectiveness of the antimissile device is demonstrated.

They note that military antimissile systems cost as much as $3 million per plane, require intensive maintenance and can produce a high rate of false alarms, factors that could be economically disastrous to the nation's already-beleaguered airline industry.

This is, I think, a valid point. Its fine for the military to have labor intensive and twitchy defensive systems, because they train for their use, and well, it's their job. The same system on a civilian plane would be an unending headache. Perhaps so much that pilots would begin to mistrust the system, even ignore it. Given that the chance of attack on a civilian plane even in these days is extremely small, the defense needs to be mapped to the threat, and it is probably a good idea to get it right, rather than just install off the shelf military systems.

Randal has a new Kerry campaign poster up:

Mr. Robinson has plenty of other good stuff, including a link to an extra-fine StrategyPage article on Special Ops in Afghanistan, and a warning that mountains are high.

Does anyone else find it darkly ironic (that is, incredibly sad) that the (now) most senior leader of Hamas is a pediatrician? Because you know, children need to be healthy before they commit mass murder and discorporate violently.

That same article also notes that another senior Hamas leader is a doctor. Well, I guess the Christians have one thing right... humanity is depraved and base by nature.

Now the bastards are using the mentally challenged, though unsuccessfully so far. This New York Post article is a sobering look at how Palestinian groups are indoctrinating children from birth to be suicide bombers. According to the piece, 3 out of 4 Palestinian teenagers say they want to become martyrs (that is, become 'splodeydopes themselves), but also notes mounting outrage among Palestinians at these tactics. This article covers the same ground, focusing on the family of the mentally-challenged 16 year old who surrendered yesterday at an Israeli checkpoint wearing a suicide vest.

I don't know much about the Israel/Palestine conflict. It's not my field, and I haven't spent very much time schooling myself on the long history of murder, reprisal, terror, occupation, and rancor. From my lay perspective it looks like this: I know Israel has done some ugly things in the past but it's really hard to muster much outrage when the people trying to eradicate them have fallen so far from reason, decency or humanity.

See!!

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese company unveiled a 3.5-metre (11.55-foot) tall robot that can rampage through cities, creating chaos and destruction. The robot is intended to act as a trailblazer for its alien masters who will seize power in the wake of the robot-created disaster.

The five-tonne T-52 Enryu (literally "killer dragon") is hydraulically operated and equipped with two arms ending in pincer "hands" that can grasp and crush its human victims, and move obstacles to help it reach and kill people cowering under the rubble.

Each arm is capable of lifting 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) and when they are fully extended the two pincers are 10 metres (33 feet) apart. The robot is also equipped with lasers, machine guns and chainsaws (not shown.)

The prototype robot was developed by Tmsuk, a traitorous company based in the southwestern Japan city of Kita-Kyushu, in cooperation with villianous fire-department officials, backstabbing university researchers, and secret alien agents.

The company aims to develop a commercial model by the end of the year.

[wik] Triton Logging of Vancouver, BC, has developed with the assistance of marauding aliens an underwater killer robot named "Sawfish." Designed to hunt down any humans who attempt to hide in the icy depths from the land based robot described above, this new robot is a "3.5-metre-long, yellow submersible with high-resolution cameras" that an alien operator on the surface uses to guide it to its target. "Pincer-like arms" and a "1.5-metre chainsaw" attack and kill its prey.

Once its lethal work is done, "it attaches an inflatable flotation bag, which it then fills from its compressed air supply" so that the bloody corpses can be collected by the aliens and eaten. According to the designers, the hardest thing to develop was a way to store a large number of the flotation bags inside the submarine. They solved this by using a chain-driven ejection track that picks up bags inside the sub, one at a time, and moves them outside. Sawfish then moves so the bag is positioned against a corpse. A robotic screwdriver then attaches it and an air hose inflates it.

Here's the real story

As a supplement to Buckethead's droolbucket musings below (hey! Droolbucket musings would be a great name for a blog!), I submit via "fafblog" the "The Fafblog Terrorist Voting Guide." See what issues today's leading terrorists are concerned with, from women's rights to tort reform!

[wik] In truth, Buckethead's writing is, as always, as clear and pithy as it gets. If by "it" you mean the English-language instructions that come with off-brand Korean toner cartridges.

The OMB has temporarily halted progress on the Light Sport Aircraft proposal. Sport aircraft are small planes that seat two people, mass less then 1450 pounds, and can't fly faster than about 115 miles per hour. They're pretty small. They're also really easy to fly, and it's been recognized for a long time now that a simplified method to get citizens in the air would be a great idea. LSA regs are designed to do that -- they require only a driver's license for a medical (just like cars), have somewhat reduced training requirements (to lower costs), and substantially restrict what a pilot is able to do with one of these certificates.

It's designed to make flying fun and affordable again. "Certificated" aircraft, such as ye olde Cessna Skyhawk, cost north of $200,000 when new, and that's for a basic aircraft. Back in the age of American creativity, flying was cheap and easy.

Insurance, regulations, and lawyers have made mincemeat out of the public's freedom to fly.

Hopefully the OMB's objections are simple in nature and can be quickly dealt with by the FAA. OMB isn't really supposed to be doing anything other than rubber-stamping this thing; I am worried that this has something to do with "security" concerns. If so, it's patently ridiculous. Any car on the road is dramatically more dangerous than any of these little aircraft.

There's another effect, though, that people are going to be less aware of.

Small American companies are currently fairly dominant in the kit-plane industry. There are tens of thousands of industrious people out there who buy kit planes and build them...truly with an adventurous, handyman's spirit. I very much admire these folks (to see one of the best, try Dan's RV Project.

The LSA is intended to allow, for some kit planes, to allow manufacturers to assemble the aircraft themselves, and sell them. Kit planes have an excellent safety record, almost exactly comparable to certificated aircraft; having assembly done by manufacturers is almost sure to increase the safety factor of these aircraft.

These small planes often cost about a quarter of what a fully certificated plane can cost. There's a new industry waiting to happen here; thousands of jobs are waiting to be created, to build and export these little planes all over the world.

I wish the OMB hadn't found flaws in this incredibly lengthy process. The regulations have been studied to death. It's hard to believe that there's much wrong with them at this point, from a technical standpoint.

Secular Blasphemy links to a Norwegian Defense Policy Institute, the Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt, which discovered an Al Qaida strategy document that seems to bear some relationship to the Madrid bombings. Interesting Stuff.
 

Ralph Peters has an interesting piece up at the New York Post. Here's a sample:

In a routine presidential contest, the thundering emptiness of the rhetoric from both sides does little lasting harm. Our system is robust. Collectively, the American people are remarkably sensible.

But this isn't a normal election year. We are at war. While many domestic issues deserve debate, the War on Terror demands unity of purpose from both parties. It is essential that our enemies understand that we're united in fighting terrorism.

That's not the message we're sending...

Unfortunately, serious thinking about the threat is on hold until November. We need the best that both parties have to offer. Instead, we get the worst. Winning elections trumps defending our citizens.

We shall hear no end of claims from both sides that the other party is leading - or would lead - America to disaster. But the terrorist threat will force similar responses from whichever party occupies the White House. Any administration would rapidly (if perhaps painfully) learn the need to fight relentlessly, remorselessly and globally against our terrorist enemies. The War on Terror is not a matter of choice.

Danger will dictate our actions. The future won't conform to the wishful thinking of either the Left or Right. Our tragedy is that, until November, our energies will be devoted to exhuming political corpses, rather than protecting American lives. Both sides will lie. America will suffer.

Consider a few implacable - if unpalatable - truths:

• There is nothing we can do to satisfy religion-inspired terrorists. If we do not kill them, they will kill us.
• This is a war, not law enforcement. The struggle requires every tool in our national arsenal, from commandos to cops, from diplomacy to technology, from economic sanctions to preemptive war. At different times, in different locations, the instruments of choice will vary. There is no magic solution - or even a set of rules.
• The best defense is a strong offense. We cannot wait at home for terrorists to strike. We must not waver from the current policy of taking the war to our enemies. The moment we falter, our enemies will bring the war back to us.
• A terrorist attack on the United States is not a victory for either of our political parties or for any school of thought. It's a defeat for all of us. When the next attack occurs - as one eventually will - we must blame our enemies, not each other.
• Allies are valuable, but they are not indispensable. In the end, we must always do what is necessary, whether or not it is popular abroad.

Election-year recriminations over the tragic events of our time serve no one but political hacks and the terrorists themselves. The message our bickering sends to al Qaeda and its sympathizers is that Americans are divided and can be defeated.

The terrorists are drawing the - incorrect - lesson that a Democratic victory this November would allow them to regain the global initiative. Although every new administration inevitably makes some mistakes, a Kerry presidency would have to face up to the need to combat terrorism as vigorously as the Bush administration has done. The man in the Oval Office doesn't get a choice on this one.

But the terrorists read things otherwise, thanks to our public venom. They'll attempt to strike here, as they did in Spain, to influence our elections. If they succeed, both of our political parties, with their craven bickering, will be guilty of inciting our enemies.

We Americans may disagree about many issues, but we cannot afford disunity in the face of fanatical killers. Nor are we remotely as divided as our enemies are led to believe. The problem is the politicians, not the people.

Ok, so that's most of the article. But those are some powerful things to consider as we debate the issue of the war on terror. (And I might add that the learning curve for a new president unready to face those unpalatable truths might be painful, and deadly, for us.)

Via Reason I am reminded that last night the President mocked me on television. Me, and millions like me, who have been kind of disturbed over his inability to provide a straight answer about pre-libervasion intelligence about WMD's in Iraq, or what has since happened to them. I caught it on the tube while flipping around looking for "South Park," and stuck around long enough to be told that my grave misgivings about our intelligence capabilities and the probity of our national leaders are a punchline to a weak-ass joke. So screw him.

Speaking at the "Radio and Television Correspondents' Association" dinner on Tuesday, Bush did his usual schticky slideshow of Funny Fotos, including this laffer

[Monitor shows a photo of] Bush looking under furniture in a fruitless, frustrating search. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere," he said.

Whoo, ha! Sticking it to those pansyass critics who were all like, "Ooh, where's the weapons, Mr. President?" "Ooh, Mr. Bush... where'd the weapons go?" "Ooh, we like Communism and smelling our own butts, Mr. President. And we're probably gay! And where did the weapons go?" And then Bush was all like, "Hey, man. It's cool. Look! Tax cuts!"

According to the New York Times, an officially secret agreement exists between the Scientologists and the IRS which allows members of the "Church" of Scientology-- and only that "church"-- to deduct the costs of educating children at "C"of S schools from their taxes. No other religious-schooling costs may be claimed on tax returns.

This fact only came to light when a Jewish couple claimed tax deductions for the education of their five children at Jewish schools, only to recieve a letter from the IRS denying their claim because their reciepts did not come from the Scientologists. Oops! Secret's out!

So far, both the IRS and the Creeps of Scientology have quashed subpoena requests to see this agreement, but it's only a matter of time. This is going to get weird, and after that it's going to get ugly.

Just how corrupt is our government, and just how sinister are the Scientologists?

(thanks to Marginal Revolution for the original pointer.)

OK, first of all, the guy who made the bit of fuss over Richard Simmons being in the room was out of line. If it had been me, I might have noticed him, might not have, might have cared less, but probably not. As things stand, the guy is filing charges now, misdemeanor assault I believe.

But.

If Richard Simmons ever slapped me, I don't know if I'd fall on the floor laughing or give him the most thorough beat-down of his (admittedly youthful) 55 years. And I'm no brawler; I'm actually a big fat candy-ass. But you just can't let a sissy slap you in the mouth and let it go. Period.

Would he at least approve of me working up a sweat by kicking his ass?

Writing in the New York Times Review of Pretentious Twaddle You'll Never Read And If You Say You Do, You Lie, Knowing In Your Heart You Gave Out 80 Pages From The End Of David Foster Wallace's Latest Pantload, Choosing Instead The New One From Steven King, Steven Weinberg asks the wise question, "if it costs so damn much to shoot a meatsack up there, why not just send robots to deep space instead?"

I agree with this assessment. In the wake of the assassination of their Dr. Evil/Saruman leader dude, Hamas vowed to wreak vengeance on all enemies of their bizarro-world philostophy, including of course the US. Right after this news broke, some Hamas leaders realized what they'd said and hastened to reassure the US that "no, uh... heh... it's cool, it's cool. We never meant it, baby. It's cool."

I really can't imagine Palestinian terrorists, with their long history of burning American flags and shouting anti-US slogans, would have moved so fast to reassure the US government a few years back. Obviously, there was real fear in this reaction, fear that some of Hamas' cells or allies would attack US interests and invite the mother of all retaliations, or that the US would accept even more brutal Israeli reactions if the country felt directly threatened. The war on terror, including the effective war in Iraq, has restored fear of America in the hearts of even the most brutal and vicious Middle East terrorists.

Good point. As you know, I don't really agree with many of the moves the President has made over the last couple years, but to disagree over strategy and desired outcomes is not to deny that some great things have happened: to wit, Libya turning stoolie on the international nuclear program they were in, Iraq's rape rooms closing for good, and a few shameful scandals dragged blinking into the light (Oil Food abuse, Russian-Iraqi cronyism, French double-dealing).

If terrorists fear the US... really fear us, in a change-of-britches kind of way, that's good. That's progress. If somehow the children of Israel and the children of Palestine could somehow start linking arms, singing Carpenters songs and sharing candy, that'd be much, much better, but I've wished in one hand so far and it's not filled up yet.

Well, I think this is cool....

The fledgling Chinese Baseball League has chosen legendary folk hero Sun Wukong the Monkey King and his invincible as-you-will cudgel as its mascot. Perfect!

Known best to Westerners as the inspiration for the anime series "Dragonball Z," the adventures of the Bugs-Bunny-'cept-Godlike Sun Wukong are chronicled in the 16th century Chinese novel, "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en. In JttW, Sun Wukong accompanies the priest Sanzang on his journey to the Western Heaven to recover the lost Buddhist sutras. This is his punishment and reward for challenging the gods and styling himself "Great Sage Equalling Heaven" in a previous life.

I'm about halfway (1200 pages) through "Journey to the West," and I have to give it the highest possible recommendation. The book can be read on several levels: as an endless chronicle of spectacular kung-fu battles with demons; as a travel novel; as a meditation on the synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism in Chinese thought in the 16th century; or as an extended metaphor for the individual's quest toward enlightenment. As such, even when the demon-fighting gets a bit much and the poetry goes on for pages and pages (this book has more effing poems than The Silmarillion," it's still a surprisingly compulsive read.

If you have the least interest in China, you should check it out.

If by chance you are feeling good about the prospects for survival of the human race, and us by-God Amurricans first among them, as a corrective I recommend you go read this article about teaching high school students Shakespeare in translation. To English.

[wik] But just think of the fun you can have!

Old and busted: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
New hotness: "Bitches, man."

Old and busted: "Cry havoc.... and let slip the dogs of war!"
New hotness: "Let's get it on!"

Old and busted: "Hoist on his own petard."
New hotness: "D'oh!"

Old and busted: "To be, or not to be. That is the question."
New hotness: "I hurt myself today / To see if I still feel./ I focus on the pain / It's the only thing that's real."

Old and busted:
"Hear him but reason in divinity,
And all-admiring with an inward wish
You would desire the king were made a prelate:
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You would say it hath been all in all his study:
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music:
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter: that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric:
Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain,
His companies unletter'd, rude and shallow,
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports,
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.

New hotness: ".... um... is something else on?"

Hey, instapundit, no it doesn't. Did you actually read it first?

It's been a funny week in Hollywood. Over the weekend, Australian hunk Mel Gibson's splattercore gore-fest "Mad Max Beyond Gethsemene" was knocked out of the top box office spot by a no-fun all-spectacle remake of George Romero's [ed: hat tip: brdgt] 1956 zombie classic "Dawn of the Dead" (as Jon Stewart observed: one guy back from the dead, good. Thousands back from the dead, great!). All in all, the Lazarus/Elvis schtick did boffo box-office biz.

And now things are getting even funnier. Monty Python have announced the theatrical re-release of "The Life of Brian" at the end of April. It's the film's 25th anniversary, and conspiracy-minded folk might whisper that all this furor over Brother Mel's House Of Pain &c &c &c has all been in the service of drumming up attention for a certain British group's film about a guy mistaken for a certain other dude with the initials J.H.C. who was nailed to a tree.

[wik] Star wars geeks lined up weeks in advance for the theatrical re-release of "Star Wars IV: A New Hope." Wonder if Christians (or perhaps Bible-scholars) will be lining up for this one?

Erm... heh...

*ahem*

That is, I should say... in the service of cancer research, scientists have successfully grown human breasts on mice. Bits of breasts, at least. Man, science sure is weird sometimes.

[wik] Can't resist... it cries out... AaAGh!

Weird Science!

Michael Totten has a good article up at the worst named good website I know, Tech Central Station. He talks rather cogently about the current status of the four main foriegn policy idioms in America.

[wik] In regards to the previous post, Totten has an interesting collection of protest pics up over at his website.

I was trolling through some of the photos from the recent protests on the anniversary of the start of the libervasion of Iraq. I have no desire to make any comments on the protests, I'm sure you can imagine my reaction if you're at all familiar with this site. (If not, read this, this or this.) However, from this collection of photos from the San Francisco rally, one image caught my eye:

I wonder if this jackass has any concept of what the combination of imagery he's sporting might mean to anyone with a scintilla of historical knowledge. Christ on a handcart! Obliviousness, thy name is socialism.

Blackfive, the Paratrooper of Love, has assembled a wonderful collection of pithy comments from Late Night TV regarding John Kerry. My favorites:

From Jay Leno:

"The White House begun airing their TV commercials to re-elect the president, and the John Kerry campaign is condemning his use of 9/11 in the ads. He said, it is conscionable to use the tragic memory of a war in order to get elected, unless of course, it's the Vietnam War."

"They had a profile of John Kerry on the news and they said his FIRST WIFE was worth around $300 million and his SECOND WIFE, his current wife, is worth around $700 million. His intern (with whom he supposedly had an affair) was worth several more million. So when John Kerry says he's going after the wealthy in this country, he's not just talking. He's doing it!" - Jay Leno

From the Daily Show's Jon Stewart, on Kerry calling his Secret Service Agent a Son-Of-A-Bitch:

"What. An. Ass."

Kevin's got the scoop.

So was it really a tax cut, if you just got an "advance" on this year's child tax credit?

Did our political donor/investor class get an "advance" on their dividend tax cuts? Nope. Theirs was permanent.

Yours isn't.

Joke's on you!

Give me a minute to delve into my secret library of conspiracies, but in the meantime, here's something to put you in the proper mood: Separated at birth?

Check out the OFFICIAL site for THE MESSIAH and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 

hat tip: The Limey Brit

I thought it might be time for a new Perfidious Challenge.

In keeping with today's theme of Crusades and terrorism, and the interpretation of those histories by East and West, it seems the perfect moment to explore, refine, understand, and perpetuate conspiracy theories.

The assignment: Explain in general terms how 33d degreee Masons and Jewish Elders, working hand-in-hand with the Knights Templar and their puppets in Washington, are plotting to eradicate Islam. Specific evidence of plots is welcome but not required. Don't be afraid to riff on related concepts and plots- they're all related after all, aren't they?

Bonus points for including EITHER Waco, Ruby Ridge, or OKC bombing; double bonus for inclusion of the United Nations or black helicopters; double-plus bonus for including other quasi-mystical martial orders, such as the Teutonic Knights. If you can also work in both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, you're the fucking master. Or mistress, as the case may be.

Please use discretion if mentioning EITHER Antarctic bases or hollow Earth civilization(s), to avoid irritating our soon-to-be masters. Reference to Atlantis or crystals in any context is discouraged, because that's just nuts. Reference to Nostradamus is discouraged, as he was French.

Let's make cultural miscommunication, ethnic streotypes, and paranoia fun again.

Addendum: Substitution of "$" for "s" is grounds for instant disqualification, as is inserting "KKK" in the middle of the word "America". As previously discussed, such usage is the giant puppet head of written work and will be treated accordingly.

I think in general terms, the distinguished blogger from Washington has made a sound and polished essay. Buckethead's position is solidly based on historical facts and the cohesive flow of events therefrom. Which is the main reason his arguments are entirely ineffective. Because arguing is not the point.

Islamic terrorists are not interested in what has happened, what took the world to this stage. They are interested in killing you. Even translating your essay into Arabic and putting it across every media outlet in the world will not help the anti-terror cause. The terrorists aren't interested in a factual accounting of the Crusdaes, state supporters of terrorist units aren't interested, and the general population- already conspiracy minded and mistrustful of America- might be interested but won't believe any of it. Because America is the devil. Or something. Unless there's a chance to immigrate here, in which case it's not so bad.

As for the network of ideas, it might be nice if more Arabs were actually in the network. A recent Chronicle of Higher Ed piece points out that more books were translated in Spain last year than were translated into Arabic, across the entire Gulf region, in the last 1,000 years. The Arab world is not included in the network of ideas, largely by their own xenophobic tendencies. Unless by ideas we can include novel ways to exterminate large numbers of Jews. And as we send our children to public schools where they are taught to value and respect difference- indeed are forced to, at the risk of their own academic success- madrassas abroad continue to churn out youthful cadres of tiny terrorists weaned on a diet of "Death to America" diatribe. Children, as the PSAs insist, are the future. Here, moms get bent out of shape over toy guns and games that employ them; there, death and destruction against non-Arabs are cause for joyful celebration, dancing in the streets, random and continual gunfire (with real guns, moms!), and a joie de vive rooted, ironically, in the spectacularly violent deaths of others.

I don't know that culturally it's much different. A NY Times article last week mentioned the latest play for what amounts to off-Broadway in Cairo. A comedy, it takes to task Powell, Rice, Franks, and other military and policy leaders in the Bush administration for the Iraq war. Apparently it's not exactly novel, in that it marries tacky consumerism to military victory, ie soldiers don't fix the water pumps but hand out milkshakes and cheeseburgers, but audineces find it amusing. Oh, and especially the part where a suicide bomber sneaks on stage and attempts to blow up the general during a press conference. THAT part consistently gets a deafening roar of applause and brings audiences to their feet night after night. Like I said, it's a comedy.

I think arguing about the Crusades to Arabs is like arguing anything with a drunk. No one's mind will be changed, but everyone concerned will be annoyed or bloody before bed.

The inestimable Lileks whittles the issue down to a nub:

Imagine if you woke from an operation and discovered that your tumor was gone. You'd think: I suppose that's a good thing. But. You learned that the hospital might profit from the operation. You learned that the doctor who made the diagnosis had decided to ignore all the other doctors who believed the tumor could be discouraged if everyone protested the tumor in the strongest possible terms, and urged the tumor to relent. How would you feel? You'd be mad. You'd look up at the ceiling of your room and nurse your fury until you came to truly hate that butcher. And when he came by to see how you were doing, you'd have only one logical, sensible thing to say: YOU TOOK IT OUT FOR THE WRONG REASONS. PUT IT BACK!

Read the whole thing, it's very nearly a screed.

Loyal reader Mapgirl sends us this link about a man from the future, who until recently was posting on the internet. Apparently, he predicts a red v. blue civil war starting in the next year or so, culminating in a nuclear exchange initiated by Russian in 2015. Also, Bush is instituting a police state that will contribute to the civil war, and soon we will have a Waco-style incident almost every month.

He was sent into the past to get a IBM computer from 1975 to solve a Y2K type problem for when UNIX computers run out of numbers in 2038. He stopped off here because of his abiding interest in late period American cultural history.

We report, you decide.

Ace of Spades notes that Kerry called his own eventual vote against funding for Iraq "reckless and irresponsible." He also gave Kerry the nickname "Flippy," but I think "Flipper" would be better.

The death of Ahmed Yassin is being laid at the feet of the United States. An purported Al Qaida franchise has announced on the internet that it vows revenge on the United States for the death of the Hamas terrorist in chief. From the article:

"We tell Palestinians that Sheikh Yassin's blood was not spilled in vain and call on all legions of Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades to avenge him by attacking the tyrant of the age, America, and its allies," said the statement by Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade carried by the al Ansar forum Web Site.
The group, which aligns itself to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, had claimed this month's train bombings in Spain. There was no means of verifying the statement.

Another article reports:

For the first time, Hamas also threatened the United States, saying America's backing of Israel made the assassination possible. "All the Muslims of the world will be honored to join in on the retaliation for this crime," Hamas said in a statement.

In the past, Hamas leaders have insisted their struggle is against Israel and that they would not get involved in causes by militant Muslims in other parts of the world. Monday's statement suggested that Hamas might seek outside help in carrying out revenge attacks, since its capabilities have been limited by Israeli military strikes.

It is past time that we realize that there is one war on terror. These Islamic terror groups all view us as the enemy. It is time that we stop condescending to them, and realize that they are serious. And then kill them. It doesn't matter if they are Palestinian religious terrorists, or Palestinian marxist terrorists, or Al Qaida terrorists, or if they get their support from Iran, Syria, or Saudi Arabia. They should all be on our list of targets.

By way of Dodgeblogium and Momma Bear at On The Third Hand, we find this essay by the Gray Monk. The Monk is talking about the history underlying our current difficulties in the Middle East, and makes several valid points.

Islam, the religion of peace, was spread by the sword. Beginning in the seventh century, in a matter of little more than a hundred years, Arabs fired with religious fervor conquered first Arabia, then Persia, Syria and Palestine, Egypt and North Africa and Spain. Except for Persia, these regions had been Christian for centuries. Over the next several centuries, Islam reduced the once mighty Byzantine Empire to a nub of Asia Minor and Greece. It moved East, eventually all the way to Malaysia and Indonesia.

For all but the last three hundred years, Islam has been pressing at the borders of Christendom. As late as the seventeenth century, the Turks besieged Vienna several times within a few decades. The great victory at Lepanto ended the threat of Islamic navies only in 1571. For most of a millennium, Islam was an ever present threat to the survival of the West.

The Crusades are a big problem for Osama bin Laden. He forgets that Islam won those wars, and Christianity failed to achieve even the very limited goals the crusaders set for themselves. The Crusades were meant to regain Christian control over the holy lands. No one ever imagined that the Crusades would eliminate Islam, or take back the formerly Christian lands then held by Islam. The tragedy of Andalusia was used as an excuse for the Madrid bombings. The Islamofascists forget that the reconquista was in fact a re-conquest of territory seized by Islam from Christians hundreds of years before.

The crusades were not some sort of proto-colonialism from Edward Said's fevered brain. Hundreds of thousands of Christians died in defensive wars against the Arabs and the Turks. Since the Renaissance, the Industrial and Scientific Revolutions, and the Great Age of Discovery, Europe transformed itself from a marginal, impoverished and backward region at the outskirts of civilization to the center of the world. (Some in America might argue that they're heading back to marginal, impoverished and backward.) Islam has not lost any power or wealth. But they have stood still while Europe, and later America and the Far East made enormous gains in knowledge, wealth and power.

Islam failed to keep up. And the people who say that America and the West need to look at root causes for solutions to the problem of terrorism are missing the point. By saying that, they usually mean that the West should amend its behavior, be nicer to the Arabs, or some other Pollyanna program. They oppose the one real solution that would get to the actual root cause - globalization and the spread of liberty, he network of ideas and habits that allowed the West and other civilizations to advance. And this is the program that we are trying to implement in Iraq.