On Torture:
Questioning and torture
There seems to be this insistence that people are only being treated humanely if they are afforded every one of the Geneva protections. This is simply not so. There are many things you want to prevent terrorists from doing such as sending and recieving mail which may indicate who has been captured, who is talking and sending other signal messages. Similarly you don't want to allow them to fraternize openly as this will only raise their level of resistance and give them an opportunity to shank the squealers.
It is not only important but vital to remember they are not, in any way, covered by international law. They are literally subject to summary execution. This is a gaping hole in the Conventions. That sort of problem tends to crop up with 19th century documents in the 21st century. US law should be filling in the gaps here and for the most part it is. The Bybee memo notwithstanding there is a real difference between agressive ...
Posts
Coming home
For the uninitiated I'm a daddy of three. They're all under 5 and they're all boys. At one point I actually had 3 under 3 years old. Yes, they're that close and no, there are no multiples. My wife and I are, however, convinced we know what it's like to have triplets. After all #2 (Connor) and #3 (Ian) are only 10 months apart. They are so close in age that people often ask us if they are twins. This is not an unreasonable assumption as Connor is average sized for his age but Ian is a big boy.
I was explaining what it's like to come home at the end of the day. On the receiving end of this tale was my single, childless friend. Essentially, I live in a world he doesn't understand and he lives in a world I hardly remember.
After my workday I have a modest commute home. Usually it takes me about half an hour. Not bad but it can be frustrating.
When I walk in the door I immediately hear cries of "Dad-eeeeee!" ...
Sutton Impact
This encapsulates how the Dean wing of the Democratic party sees the people in the red states. Sutton has managed to include every possible negative stereotype in one cartoon. I'm amazed at the vitriol of which people like him are capable.
As anyone who reads this site (You mean IF anyone actually read this site -ed.) knows I'm no Democrat. I used to call myself Libertarian and am registered as such but the total lack of a serious party or foreign policy has soured me to the Libertarian Party on a national basis. Locally, I still support them but not nationally. As such, I identify more closely with free-market Republicans. While I disagree (sometimes vehemently) with much of what Democrats are promoting I don't think they are all lemmings or evil or whatever. Mostly I think they're well intentioned but misguided. Democrats are the ones always talking about the need for "healing" and telling us we should "come together" or "...
FOXBlocker
I was going to say, "Words fail me." Actually, they don't. This device should be called "Seal My Echo Chamber." If you cannot manage to use a remote control to either skip FoxNews or delete the channel from the list of channels how are you supposed to figure out how to install this? Is there really a market for this thing? Are there people who's sensibilities so fragile they would be psychologically damaged by micro-exposure to a non-leftist viewpoint?
The Secret Lives of Just About Everybody :
"'In a very deep sense, you don't have a self unless you have a secret, "
Interesting article about secrets. According to the author, we all have them and we all keep them. Even from our spouses or most trusted confidants. I'm inclined to agree. I think most people have some aspect of themselves they're afraid to reveal to anyone lest they be seen as a lunatic or a pervert. There has been a noticable trend in the last 20 years for people to air all the things that, in the past, would have been regarded as secrets if not simply private. Emotions were private things and not readily displayed in public. This held true for grief (think Jackie O or the British Royals pre-Diana's death), love and the possible lone exception, happiness.
Some of the erosion on that front is good thing. People are less likely to hide things that were considered shameful that are not (mentally ill or physically disabled ...
"And we wonder why we have all but lost this war."
Andrew is getting the vapors again. Every time something goes "boom" in Iraq he shrieks and cowers under the nearest potted plant. Seriously. It's be something to behold watching him slide from fearsome hawk to chicken little inside of a year. I wonder if he knew what war was before we had one. He's not a dumb guy by any stretch but I think the entirety of his understanding of war is shaped by Gulf War 1. That was a truly remarkable feat at its time but it's not even in the same ballpark as what we're up against now.
The casualty rates we're seeing now pale in comparison to Vietnam, Korean War, World War II and so on.
The Iron Lady once remarked "Don't go all wobbly on me now George." I feel the same way.
This is an ugly business and whether you supported the war or not, whether you believe it's connected to the GWOT or not, you have to admit that we c...
Adventures in Dubai
Ok, so I've been blogrolled.
I must say I have a mixed reaction to this one. Keith the webmaster of the above link was kind enough to link to my 'blog on his own accord. I can only surmise this is due to my annoying habit of commenting on his posts and not the total lack of content here.
I initially started this thing for me and haven't given the link to anyone as I'd pretty much be mortified that anyone would be reading my lame, uninspired, untimely posts.
I am, however, grateful. Thank you, Keith and welcome Adventures In Dubai reader(s).
If I see any evidence of actual visitors (i.e. the hit counter rising above 1) I'll make a concerted effort to improve. Promise.
Adventures in Dubai
Ok, so I've been blogrolled.
I must say I have a mixed reaction to this one. Keith the webmaster of the above link was kind enough to link to my 'blog on his own accord. I can only surmise this is due to my annoying habit of commenting on his posts and not the total lack of content here.
I initially started this thing for me and haven't given the link to anyone as I'd pretty much be mortified that anyone would be reading my lame, uninspired, untimely posts.
I am, however, grateful. Thank you, Keith and welcome Adventures In Dubai reader(s).
If I see any evidence of actual visitors (i.e. the hit counter rising above 1) I'll make a concerted effort to improve. Promise.
The Tankrod
One of the things I love about Jay Leno is his unbridled enthusiasm for cars. He's a car nut of the first order and the wallet to be a really great one. This is a prime example. Who else would think to do something as absurd as this? I would love to see this thing in action. Only in America can a guy build a car that gets 3 MPG!
The Unrepentant Leftist
I try to refrain from meta-blogging but this post encapsulates the lefist view of the GWOT. The author misses the point that he has postulated a false dichotomy. This is not simply a question of either war or peace. You can do both at the same time. The US Navy is doing more than all others combined to help the tsunami victims in South Asia. Will we get credit from the Muslim world? From some, yes, from many, no.
There is a great mass of people in the Muslim world that want only what your average westerner wants. Freedom to speak, worship (or not) and elect their officials. To have a job, raise a family and otherwise be left alone.
There is also the unrepentant thugs who will never compromise or even tolerate the existence of the infidel. That's who we're fighting in Najaf, Falluja and Afghanistan.
The author's posit that we are seeking endless war is too silly to address. He further ignores the concept of limited resourc...
Confessions of a Political Junkie ? Family Planning with Planned Parenthood :
This one just about pegged my irony meter. It seems that the condoms handed out by Planned Parenthood are the least reliable. Some pundits theorize that this is to encourage people avail themselves of PP's "other services". Not me. I suspect this is simply a case of the lowest bidder winning the contract. In my admittedly limited contact with PP and their propents I've found they view the mere distribution of contraceptives as an end. That they might not be reliable is beside the point. Providing them for free is the point.
When I was in college, some students were running for student government, they decided to use free condoms as a marketing gimmick. (Keep in mind I attended a Jesuit school.) They stumbled upon this idea and the nearest PP office provided them with the two biggest boxes of jimmy hats I've ever seen. They were about the size of bankers box. Each one...
The nation is quite drunken enough
When I first saw this headline, I was thinking of The Nation which made perfect sense to me. What else could account for their histrionics and poor logic.
Upon further reading, imagine my surprise that 1. The article is talking about Britain and 2. That they are just realizing this is how they are. The rest of the world has long known of boozy behavior on the part of your average Brit. The English in particular. Say the phrase "English Soccer Fan" to an American and it conjures up images of flaming stadiums, drunken brawling and ceaseless off-key singing of some unintelligible Pro *ahem* "Football" team song.
I find all of this rather quaint. Not to take anything away from them but they really don't know how to riot very well. Even the Canadians do better. Canadians!
Canadian expats in London even forget how to throw a proper riot .
Witness: "In Toronto, 19 people were arrested while 11 ...
My new friend Keith over at Adventures in Dubai speaks about the changing state of television in the UAE. His post led me to regurgitate my theory about the future of television here in the US. In the comments I wrote:
In the US people in the various entertainment industries talk about this convergence as "Siliwood" the unholy matrimony of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Pointy headed prognosticators think that your PC and home entertainment centers will merge sometime in the near future. I tend to agree. In the US TiVo is becoming very popular which further complicates/distorts the market by frustrating market segmentation. How can they pitch advertisers to buy a premium time slot of they can no longer provide demographic data showing dominance in the highly prized 18-49 demo? Bottom line, they can't. Now that I have TiVo, I don't care when anything is on. I program the thing and whenever I feel like watching something, I do. Plus I have the added bene...
Pentagon ousts official who tied Russia, Iraq arms
This seems both typical and unfortunate. There are sometimes reasons to keep things of this nature quiet. One is leverage. The US may have wanted to use the leverage disclosure to encourage the Russians to play nice. This "leverage" is also known as "blackmail" when performed by entities other than governments. In this case, I suspect that Powell's State Department would not dream of squeezing Putin over this one. He doesn't seem the type. Were it Rice things would be differnt. More on this as it develops.
FBI Probes Laser Beam Directed at Cockpit
Ask me this is a probing attack to test our responses. Initially I thought this would be found to be something like a kid with a wad of laser pointers doing something stupid. After reading that the attacker managed to shoot this beam into the cockpit when the plane was at 8500 feet clearly indicates this is not the case. I wonder if they recieved this beam weaponry from the Russians who blinded an American pilot . Tracing the beampath backwards to find the source of the beam is helpful. I suspect they'll use metering equipment going forward to triangulate the position of the attacker. I'll venture the attacker will move his location significantly and thereby frustrate such efforts. It would also behoove airports like Newark and O'Hare to pro-actively place metering/tracking equipment around their airports to frustrate similar efforts. They won't, however, as it will be deemed too costly. They'll petition for fed...
J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings. You are entertaining and imaginative, creating whole new worlds around yourself. Well loved, you have a whole league of imitators, none of which is quite as profound as you are. Stories and songs give a spark of joy in the middle of your eternal battle with the forces of evil.
Which literature classic are you? brought to you by Quizilla
I am Lord of The Rings. Go figure.