Saturday, June 15, 2002

Off to a bachelor party, so no posts. Check back Sunday night or Monday.

< email | 6/15/2002 04:58:00 PM | link

Friday, June 14, 2002

I just saw the latest Mit Romney commercial. It was great he goes headfirst at the Dem's really pathetic attempt at getting him taken off the ballot, claiming he was a resident of Utah for one year. You know you are in trouble if the best first strike strategy you have is this. It just gives Mit a chance to say I spent alot of time in Utah saving the Olympics over the past few years. And that is just what he did. The Dems are in trouble and it doesn't help that there will be a gaggle of them beating the snot out of each other while before they even get to really deal with Romney.

If they can't take up issues they are run under. Both parties in this state are a joke. The Republicans get no national help because it is a hopeless cause there will never be a Republican Senator and the state will never give its electoral votes to a Republican president. Gore took more than 70% here. And the Democrats are just as disorganized for the opposite reason they own the state so why bother being coherent. Ted Kenndy doesn't need a party and nobody is running against Kerry. This personally disgusts me, how can a national party not even come up with one person to contest a Seantorial seat, sure it is nearly hopeless but it is shameful.

< email | 6/14/2002 07:05:00 PM | link

Another successful test for a sea-borne ABM.

< email | 6/14/2002 10:59:00 AM | link

What is the most valuable object in the world, weight for weight? A deep purple diamond found in the Amazon basin. The only one known to exist, it is between 2 and 5 carats and is estimated to be worth 12 million Pounds, although others have refused to put a price on it.

There is some mystery about the diamond - its exact size, ownership and precise origins are unknown, although it is reported to have been cut in the Amazon region about 25 years ago.

< email | 6/14/2002 10:28:00 AM | link

Corrupt leaders have looted some $140 billion from Africa in the last three or four decades, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has said.

And we should just throw more money into the continent without tying it to some sort of transparency and reform?

< email | 6/14/2002 09:44:00 AM | link

The former head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called for Arafat to step down.

“Although I advise Arafat to seriously consider resigning and stepping down, I don’t believe he will accept this … for a variety of reasons,” Habasyh said. “He wants to be the first president of the state of Palestine ­ any state, irrespective of its nature, even if it is a token nominal state without any of the features of a state other than the flag, the guard of honor and the red carpet.
“Perhaps … Arafat’s role has not ended as far as the US administration is concerned,” he said. “It is banking on him and the PA offering concessions,” especially as “America and Israel have not managed to find a Palestinian Hamid Karzai.”

< email | 6/14/2002 09:40:00 AM | link

Another step toward Saddam? -- Robert Deutsch, a diplomat known to be an expert on Iraq and northern Iraq in particular, has been appointed as the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, the Turkish Daily News reported on Friday.

< email | 6/14/2002 09:23:00 AM | link

Our friends the Saudis. All of the people convicted in the Khobar bombings are Saudi nationals.

"There are no non-Saudis among them and I do not remember exactly how many there are but the preliminary legal rulings have been issued," the official Saudi Press Agency quoted deputy interior minister, Prince Ahmad bin Abdulaziz, as saying on Wednesday.

< email | 6/14/2002 09:21:00 AM | link

Thursday, June 13, 2002

If you came from the Corner, I didn't post anything about the Title IX story. It is not really what I follow, except in that it represents the mind control faction of the left. If you want to know what I think about them see my post on Fred Rogers' commencement speech to Dartmouth below.

< email | 6/13/2002 04:39:00 PM | link

Here is the first half of an essay I have been working on explaining why we have to stand by Israel Taiwan and other democracies even if it means American lives:

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson warned against the United States entering into entangling alliances. This is a core doctrine for Libertarians. Unfortunately, applied to today’s world, this is a is short-sighted belief that could be very costly to the US. The Founding Generation was, arguably (taking the contrary position would be tough), the greatest collection of political minds in human history. Beyond the framework they created(the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Article of Confederation) they expected us to respond to the situations in which we found ourselves, in a manner appropriate to the times. To take as dogma every observation and declaration, beyond the Founding Documents would be suicide. Were we to follow their early proscriptions we would not maintain a standing army. These great men and women (no need to be PC here, Dolly Madison and Abigail Adams found an easy fit with the debates of the day) would not wish us to genuflect blindly to their doctrines while ignoring the barbarians at the gate.

The 18th century was a time when peace and security could be maintained while keeping and isolationist policy. Neutrality was an easy choice, there were no other free Republics to align themselves with. Being too closely tied to a Monarchy could have indeed lead to disaster. For anyone who thinks neutrality is a viable option in today’s world, we need only study what happened in Sweden and Switzerland during WWII. Libertarians will argue that should we face threats to Americans lives because of our alliances with Israel or Taiwan we should hastily withdraw our support from these nations. Their reasoning seems to be that a single American soldier’s life is worth a million of ‘theirs’ (ally and enemy alike). Were a threat to hang over our heads for no other reason than our alliances, withdrawal would be a debatable and defensible position. The reality is, however, that ties we have with these countries will not be what brings our enemies to attempt to harm and threaten Americans - though, it does give them something concrete to focus on.

So, why do they continue to threaten and plot our demise? The President was partly right when he stated that they hate us for our freedom and way of life. But, it is not MTV, scantily clad Brittney Spears, our free-markets, freedom to practice the religion of our choice, the excesses of Las Vegas, McDonald’s, Starbucks or even our representative government that they hate us for. The hate they have for us runs deeper than these. Their hatred is in fact driven by fear, fear of the bedrock from which all of these things spring. It is the Truth that, almost instinctively, we all know. That each human being is an individual with the naturally (or divinely, if you wish) given right to choose their own path through life and not be beholden to a dogma forced on them, nor to be ruled over by any other human. For “We hold these truths to be self evident…”

From this Truth comes the strength and confidence that many outsiders view as a negative attribute. In reality, this confidence is one of our greatest assets. Strength in our common resolve and confidence in our shared Truth allows us to openly discuss debate and determine what path our nation will walk in the future. From the staunchest supporter to the loudest critic all Americans are given a voice and an opportunity to be heard and contribute, without fear of being persecuted or jailed. Newspaper editors, authors and professors that in other countries would be arrested or executed by righteous mobs, here appear on television and have their works published, disseminated and discussed. Those who hate us don’t understand how it is that we choose our leaders from among our own ranks and that these men and women are not our betters but, work in association with others, likewise freely chosen, to better do the things that we cannot do individually. They fear the confidence and strength that these men and women show by not accumulating dictatorial power unto themselves, abolishing laws that may stand in their way.

< email | 6/13/2002 04:26:00 PM | link

Yay for Costa Rica. Their new president made the right choice. "We assured President Bush that we will never let any terrorists live free in our country. We are with you Americans," he said.

< email | 6/13/2002 02:53:00 PM | link

The Distinctive Barbarism of Palestinian Terrorism

< email | 6/13/2002 02:43:00 PM | link

The Senate passed a measure to use force if a US service member is taken by the ICC. Actually it authorizes the president to use "all means necessary" on behalf of U.S. detainees.

The US Embassy in the Hague released a statement that says in part "Obviously, we cannot envisage circumstances under which the United States would need to resort to military action against the Netherlands or another ally,"

< email | 6/13/2002 11:14:00 AM | link

I knew I liked Zell Miller against CFR, for the tax-cut, speaker at the NRA meeting this year, stood up for Judge Pickering. And now he has donated $1,000 to Cynthia McKinney's opponent in the upcoming primary.

< email | 6/13/2002 10:59:00 AM | link

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Winds of change in Iran? An outspoken reformist legislator and advocate of talks with the United States was elected first deputy speaker of Iran's parliament on Wednesday. Behzad Nabavi was one of the Iranian officials who negotiated the release of 52 Americans held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran following the 1979 Islamic revolution. He has advocated talks with Washington to end more than two decades of estrangement between the two countries.

< email | 6/12/2002 09:30:00 PM | link

Oh dear. When spokespeople for dictators get going they don't stop do they? ''The launching of Ofek-5 satellite proves the nature of the Zionist entity (Israel) and its hostile and criminal intentions towards the security of Arab countries,'' an Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement faxed to Reuters in Baghdad. ''It also reflects its reckless and unrestrained nature and its frenzied desire for hegemony, domination and expansion beyond the current extents of its hateful alien presence,''

Of course it may have something to do with preventing another flurry of scuds from striking them. Warmongering Zionists.

He warned the satellite posed a threat to the security of all Arab countries If by all Arab countries he means all those who have threatened to conquer Israel murder as many Jews as they can and push the rest into the sea, I would agree this could be seen as a threat to them. Israel, however, has not threatened to nuke the entire arab wourld out of existence as soon as they are capable (which they could well be right now) as the former President of Iran promised an enthusiastic crowd a few months ago.

He then pulled his shirt over his head and wandered around the room declaring that he was the Great Cornholio and was in search of TiPi for his bungholio. He also repeatedly asked if he was being threatened.

< email | 6/12/2002 07:53:00 PM | link

Frankly I'm skeptical about this. "Mullah Omar" has given an "interview" via email and claims bin Laden is alive and well. After so many videos and radio transmissions early on I am getting very doubtful about these faxes, emails, pamphlets and flyers. I don't know if I am convinced bin Laden is dead, maybe he has sustained serious enough injuries that he can't give live interviews. Being out of the public eye is not a good strategy for him. Lying low like this will not rally the 'Arab Street' to rise and overthrow those regimes he wants to see gone. It just doesn't seem to be good strategy for him if he is capapble of proving his continued existence. The tens of thousands of Pakistanis that went to Afghanistan are now disillusioned and his words don't hold the weight they did. Where once paraphanalia sporting his face was selling like mad it is no longer selling. He called them to his side in Afghanistan with ppromises of vitory then he headed for "ze hills". How likely are they to come running a second time. Kashmir is a different matter, it was an issue before Osama came and will remain on for the forseeable future.

And, I couldn't care less about Mullah Omar he was a poor copy of Theodon (to Bin Laden's Wormtongue), zealous, pitiful and vain to begin with delusional and vainglorious to begin with but now defeated and in hiding.

< email | 6/12/2002 07:42:00 PM | link

Muslim leaders in Britain.

"Everybody was happy when the planes hit the World Trade Center. Anybody who tells you that they are not happy, they are hypocrites on the Muslim nation. I am telling you, everybody." Abu Hamza is the religious leader in charge of the Finsbury Park mosque in London.

< email | 6/12/2002 04:28:00 PM | link

Archaeologists are uncovering evidence of a 2,000 year old Roman-Indian seafaring trade that rivals the Silk Road.

``We talk today about globalism as if it were the latest thing, but trade was going on in antiquity at a scale and scope that is truly impressive,'' said the co-director of the dig, Willeke Wendrich of the University of California at Los Angeles.

< email | 6/12/2002 01:36:00 PM | link

The British government showing some good common sense. They snubbed Nelson Mandela in his request to ease the restrictions on the cinvicted Lockerbie bomber and to move him to a jail in a Muslim country.

< email | 6/12/2002 10:38:00 AM | link

Four Norwegian F-16's are headed to Afghanistan with some fighters from Denmark and Holland to take over for the French Mirages and American F-18 flying combat missions out of Manas air base just outside the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Of course the jets are capable of taking on the mission because they have been modernization of Dutch, Belgian, Danish and Norwgian F-16's was financed in part by the US.

< email | 6/12/2002 10:17:00 AM | link

I'm only about halfway through this article by Robert Kagan roght now. It is excellent. He delves into the reasons behind the foreign policy divide between the US and Europe.

Update: Den Beste writes his take on Kagan's thesis here.

< email | 6/12/2002 08:36:00 AM | link

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

I got a chuckle out of this story. A new movie in Indonesia is getting a huge draw. It is an Indonesian movie about two youngsters who fall in love. In it the movie they show the two lead characters kissing. While living in SE Asia I spent a lot of time in Indonesia (my wife is Indonesian and I was always going back to visit her) and sat about watching a lot of TV (mostly American cartoons, Mexican soaps and Indian and Kung Fu movies) kisses were assiduously edited out. Two faces would start drawing together and it would skip a few seconds. So, seeing this story brought back those memories.

< email | 6/11/2002 10:25:00 PM | link

That's an interesting move. The former Afghan President, Rabanni, has removed his name from the pool of leaders. ``I am proposing Chairman Karzai as the sole candidate before the loya jirga,'' Rabbani told reporters before the opening session of the loya jirga was to convene. Maybe there will be peace in Afghanistan.

< email | 6/11/2002 08:16:00 PM | link

Okay, that's wacky and a bit disturbing. Clowns in Afghanistan.

< email | 6/11/2002 08:02:00 PM | link

More Americans captured by the Pakistanis? They say yes.

< email | 6/11/2002 07:52:00 PM | link

The whiners at Dartmouth, over the selection of Fred Rogers to give the commencement speech, is a perfect microcosm of the problem with the Left. There is no other figure in our nation who has more embodied multi-culturalism and understanding but he is not a cutting edge dissenter who hates America or would come out in his speech and attack people. He is a positive person while many of the new left are focussed exclusively on the negative. Then he comes out and gives a speech that was excellent. The screechers should feel nothing but shame but of course that doesn't fit in with doing what feels good so they will soon forget and move on to the next person they want to denounce.

Just a taste:

I'd like to give you all an invisible gift. A gift of a silent minute to think about those who have helped you become who you are today. Some of them may be here right now. Some may be far away. Some, like my astronomy professor, may even be in Heaven. But wherever they are, if they've loved you and encouraged you and wanted what was best in life for you, they're right inside yourself. And I feel that you deserve quiet time on this special occasion to devote some thought to them. So let's just take a minute in honor of those who have cared about us all along the way. One silent minute.

Whomever you've been thinking about, imagine how grateful they must be that during your silent times you remember how important they are to you. It's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our lives from which we make our choices is very good stuff.

< email | 6/11/2002 07:35:00 PM | link

I don't understand all of the crying about tracking foreign visitors. My wife and little girl came here on k-1 & k-2 visas and have adjusted their status so that they are now restricted permanent residents. They had to give fingerprints, police certificates to show they had never been in trouble, get medical exams and are required to inform INS if we move I had to give background information and financial information and in a few years we have to go back and go through another interview. Where was all of the hand-wringing for us?

< email | 6/11/2002 06:41:00 PM | link

Joseph Nye explains why isolantionism, in defiance of a true 3 dimensional view of world power, can't work. I definitely agree with the general direction that Mr. Nye is proposing that America take in looking to the future. To ignore the proliferation of resources and capabilities that were once strictly in the domain of nation states and the cross-cutting currents would be very destructive. Of course, being a 'l'ibertarian (with very strong foreign policy views), I think that our best course is a freeer market, less restrictive and omnipresent government that blocks our free access to markets and drains off excessive amounts of capital from the productive sectors of the nation.

As Henry Kissinger has argued, the test of history for this generation of American leaders will be whether they can turn the current predominant power into an international consensus and widely-accepted norms that will be consistent with American values and interests as America's dominance ebbs later in the century. And that cannot be done unilaterally.

This is very true. We can't stop the tide of globalization so we should take a better lead in getting our values out there at the forefront. Our culture is at the forefront but giving them Brittney Spears without giving them the Constitution just won't do in the future.

< email | 6/11/2002 06:34:00 PM | link

Okay, I'll throw my 2 cents worth of research in on John Doe #2 conspiracy theory. Washington Post and CNN both reported that John Doe was decsribed as Hispanic looking. And it would also fit that he knew alot about bombs.

< email | 6/11/2002 03:27:00 PM | link

The massacre that wasn't take......oh I've lost count by now. This is part of a speech given by the Ha'aretz editor-in-chief.

First, the good news: Abu Ali's nine children are alive and well - as well as children can be among the ruins of the Jenin refugee camp. Please deliver this news to all of your friends who may have read, a few weeks ago, Abu Ali's mournful declaration: "All my nine children are buried beneath the ruins." Abu Ali's photograph was spread across a double page in a very distinguished and influential European magazine, under the title: "The survivors tell their story."

< email | 6/11/2002 11:43:00 AM | link

African kidnap gangs roaming Canada?

< email | 6/11/2002 11:39:00 AM | link

Is the ICC going to start charging Israeli 'settlers' with war crimes?

< email | 6/11/2002 11:37:00 AM | link

God Bless the Aussies. "Can I simply say to you Mr President, thank you for what you are doing not only for your own nation, for the cause of freedom, but also for mankind generally around the world," [PM] Mr Howard said. "The leadership of the United States has been magnificent. Your own personal contribution to the values we share and hold so dear has been exemplary."

< email | 6/11/2002 10:19:00 AM | link

Eu taking a good stand on a murderous dictator for once. Chris Patten said of Mugabe's presence at the Rome meeting: "It is distasteful to see the president of Zimbabwe giving the impression he is really caring about the poverty and the provision of food of his people,"

Of course they are doing nothing but scowling really hard at him but at least they are on the right side.

< email | 6/11/2002 10:16:00 AM | link

Muslims (including a former Bangladeshi Ambassador) talking about Europe's shift to the right. Interestingly, both letters emphasis the need for immgrants to assimilate. Why are we denounced as hateul for suggesting the same?

I havne't read these in detail yet. It is late and I am off to bed.

< email | 6/11/2002 12:07:00 AM | link

Monday, June 10, 2002

Does Karl Rove know about this? It is pure genius. In Prague the Christian Democrats are trying to garner votes by handing out free shots of Plum Brandy. The Communists have countered by having five topless women hand out party literature.

< email | 6/10/2002 11:59:00 PM | link

An assesment of Megawati's chances of maintaining power in Indonesia. She may be helping us quietly but I'm unsure of how much. I think she has squandered a very clear early madate to rule by being too timid. When she first took the presidency she was viewd by many as the first popularly chosen leader that country has had since her father. People were jubilant and willing to give her a great deal of lattitude in order to set the nation on the proper course but she has not shown strong leadership or a clearly defined policy. It looks like this will cost her power in the near future.

< email | 6/10/2002 11:43:00 PM | link

A retired Pakistani Brigadier General has written a piece in the Independent Bangladesh adressing the situation between India and Pakistan.

< email | 6/10/2002 11:18:00 PM | link

How can the press even write this with any thoughts of being taken seriously. They pritnt a former Hibullah prisoner's statement on being released after 15 years. The one line they decide to pass on is ''I thank God who brought me out of Israeli prisons and cells. I cannot describe to you what is happening in the (Israeli) Nafha prison. There is complete darkness in that prison.'' And immediately under that is: Israel is negotiating with Hezbollah — through German mediators — to try to get back the bodies of the three soldiers who were abducted while patrolling the Lebanese border.

So let's see. A place that is complete darkness where a terrorist managed to survive for 15 years or three dead abducted soldiers from 2 years ago. How can MSNBC even try to equte the two here?

< email | 6/10/2002 10:30:00 PM | link

If you want to know anything about Iran's energy industry there is this report from the Energy Information Administration".

< email | 6/10/2002 10:16:00 PM | link

Hmmmm......could this be a dry run to prove the effectiveness of the Kurd fighters? The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is massing troops along the Iranian borders in what Kurdish sources predict to be a major fight to eradicate Kurdish Islamic militants.

< email | 6/10/2002 10:10:00 PM | link

How moronic is the bureacracy? A $62 million facility in California used to store low-level nuclear waste has been deemed as not secure enough. The solution? Store it in tents right outside the building! "You're not trying to tell me that between the building and a tent, the tent wins?" asked [Rep.]Tauscher, a Democrat. "In a post-Sept. 11 environment, you've got to say to yourself, 'Let's find a way to get that stuff in the building."'

< email | 6/10/2002 03:57:00 PM | link

Any friend of el Jefe update. Mr Carter has accepted the invitation from Hugo Chavez.

< email | 6/10/2002 03:15:00 PM | link

Andrew Natsios, head of the United States agency for development (USAID), has said "I am uncomfortable when any head of state that is tyrannical and predatory comes to a conference like this, and he (Mugabe) fits that category," of Robert Mugabe being at the World Food Summit in Rome.

Even the EU representative was harsh: "Obviously it is distasteful to see the president of Zimbabwe giving the impression as if he was really caring about his citizens and about the fight against poverty and in particular the provision of food for his people, because there are so many policies that go against this," EU Commission spokesman Gunnar Wiegand told reporters in Brussels.

< email | 6/10/2002 02:47:00 PM | link

The EU has said that the 'allegations' of Palestinian schoolbooks, printed with EU and UNRWA (i.e. US taxpayer dollars), anti-Israli/Semitism are unfounded. For the full CMPI report on the contents of the schoolbooks in question go here.

< email | 6/10/2002 02:18:00 PM | link

I hate the regime in North Korea. Any 'government' that can force its population into this sort of situation does not deserve to exist. No nation nor people should stand silently by and try to defend this type of regime.

< email | 6/10/2002 12:50:00 PM | link

Apparently, Hizbullah attempted to set up a cell in Singapore in the 90's to attack US and Israeli targets including the embassies and ships.

< email | 6/10/2002 12:43:00 PM | link

Main players in the Loya Jirga.

< email | 6/10/2002 12:29:00 PM | link

Ethiopia apparently has enough undercover armed guards on their flights. Why don't we?

The men, who were armed with knives, were killed by undercover security guards moments after announcing they were taking control of the plane. The unnamed Ethiopian hijackers struggled with cabin crew before they were shot.

< email | 6/10/2002 11:15:00 AM | link

The history of the Loya Jirga.

< email | 6/10/2002 10:53:00 AM | link