Friday, January 30, 2004
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Connect the Dots
From a Slate journal entry of a person studying Jordanian culture:
Hmmm, a well-known non-Arab Stanford professor of Middle East Studies, I wonder who that could be?
Of course, Google it.
And our mystery prof is: Joel Beinin, him of "Sabra and Shatila...was partly facilitated by the fact that US Marines who had been dispatched to protect Palestinian civilians in Lebanon left precipitously, leaving the Palestinians to the mercies of their Lebanese and Israeli enemies" belief. If he is stupid enopugh to not know why the US left, he should never have graduated college. (And for those who aren't history buffs, its because that grat bastion of Lebanon and Israel, Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, bombed the Marines barracks. So you see, it was planned by Syria and Iran that the US would abandon the Palestinians in Lebanon so that a deeply-partisan Stanford prof could make points off of it.)
But isn't it bad publicity that a professor of Middle Eastern Studies discouraged a foreign Arab student from going to Stanford? Charles, take it away!
From a Slate journal entry of a person studying Jordanian culture:
One young Egyptian journalist told me how he'd thought about coming to the States to study but felt that now it wasn't safe. Wrong, I said. Who told you that? A well-known Stanford professor, not an Arab, in Middle East studies had discouraged him from coming since it was a bad time for Arabs in the United States. Well, maybe it's not a good time in Palo Alto, Calif., and the rest of the academy for certain ideas about the Middle East, but it's a bad time for Arabs only insofar as they're not coming. [my emphasis]
Hmmm, a well-known non-Arab Stanford professor of Middle East Studies, I wonder who that could be?
Of course, Google it.
And our mystery prof is: Joel Beinin, him of "Sabra and Shatila...was partly facilitated by the fact that US Marines who had been dispatched to protect Palestinian civilians in Lebanon left precipitously, leaving the Palestinians to the mercies of their Lebanese and Israeli enemies" belief. If he is stupid enopugh to not know why the US left, he should never have graduated college. (And for those who aren't history buffs, its because that grat bastion of Lebanon and Israel, Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, bombed the Marines barracks. So you see, it was planned by Syria and Iran that the US would abandon the Palestinians in Lebanon so that a deeply-partisan Stanford prof could make points off of it.)
But isn't it bad publicity that a professor of Middle Eastern Studies discouraged a foreign Arab student from going to Stanford? Charles, take it away!
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
More Mars Photos
I wonder if this is the de facto insignia for the Rover missions. Hmmmm... (Lego Men on Mars would be a very bad movie title)
Joysticks on Mars. And here too.
"Look, they left a return address for the Martians!"
The memorial to the crew of the Columbia.
"I'm a reasonable man, so I know that this isn't a sand dune."
Pseudo-update: Apparently Lego Man is an official logo. (Scroll down) Also in the same link, the joystick is actually a sundial.
Darn.
I wonder if this is the de facto insignia for the Rover missions. Hmmmm... (Lego Men on Mars would be a very bad movie title)
Joysticks on Mars. And here too.
"Look, they left a return address for the Martians!"
The memorial to the crew of the Columbia.
"I'm a reasonable man, so I know that this isn't a sand dune."
Pseudo-update: Apparently Lego Man is an official logo. (Scroll down) Also in the same link, the joystick is actually a sundial.
Darn.
Very Cool Mars Photos
A photo and computer generated perspective view of the Martian Grand Canyon...at 12-meters per pixel! (From Mars Express Orbiter)
Color photos of Martian bedrock. (Opportunity Rover)
Photos from the Spirit Rover, taken before it malfunctioned. Scroll down to slideshow link. The article is an update on Spirit's condition.
Another slideshow of Spirit pictures from an article about the strange consistency of the Gusev Crater soil.
A zoomable color panorama of the Opportunity landing site, including that bedrock. There is another panorama here.
A cool view of the crater rim from Opportunity. (And just think, it hasn't even left the pad yet!)
The Spirit landing platform.
A panoramic of the Spirit landing site. In the distance are the Apollo 1 hills.
A whole bunch of Mars photos, including more perspective computer images from Mars Express.
And finally, the Mars Exploration Rover Mission website. Enjoy.
Yes, I think Mars exploration is very cool.
A photo and computer generated perspective view of the Martian Grand Canyon...at 12-meters per pixel! (From Mars Express Orbiter)
Color photos of Martian bedrock. (Opportunity Rover)
Photos from the Spirit Rover, taken before it malfunctioned. Scroll down to slideshow link. The article is an update on Spirit's condition.
Another slideshow of Spirit pictures from an article about the strange consistency of the Gusev Crater soil.
A zoomable color panorama of the Opportunity landing site, including that bedrock. There is another panorama here.
A cool view of the crater rim from Opportunity. (And just think, it hasn't even left the pad yet!)
The Spirit landing platform.
A panoramic of the Spirit landing site. In the distance are the Apollo 1 hills.
A whole bunch of Mars photos, including more perspective computer images from Mars Express.
And finally, the Mars Exploration Rover Mission website. Enjoy.
Yes, I think Mars exploration is very cool.
Monday, January 26, 2004
Humor
Hamlet (and other literature) Powerpoint -From Radosh (See also "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
Also, this oldie but goodie from Amish Tech Support:
My response:
All those who have not seen Monte Python and the Holy Grail can go to the back of the room.
Merry New Hampshire Primary!
Hamlet (and other literature) Powerpoint -From Radosh (See also "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
Also, this oldie but goodie from Amish Tech Support:
When people ask me what denomination the chocolate gelt is, I say that they are the real currency of the modern State of Israel.
Yes, it's true. The NIS is a chocolate coin with a gold wrapper. This is why in the summertime, when it gets hot out, the economy melts down.
My response:
"What...is the denomination of chocolate gelt?"
"Religious or monetary?"
"I don't know...Ahhhhh!"
All those who have not seen Monte Python and the Holy Grail can go to the back of the room.
Merry New Hampshire Primary!
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Fun With Iowa
Dean Loses It
The problem is not passion. The problem is not immaturity. The problem is that Dean is a manic egotist bent on...national domination!
(Scroll down to "Click here to view Dean's speech")
Gephardt Loses
"...You've lost that lovin' feeling..." (Hat tip: Outside the Beltway)
A Gephardt biograph from the Weekly Standard I've been meaning to link to.
Check out Lileks' Dean remix. Also, see Kausfiles on why Iowa is badly counted and undemocratic (The Fraud of Iowa, 2004 Edition).
Dean Loses It
The problem is not passion. The problem is not immaturity. The problem is that Dean is a manic egotist bent on...national domination!
(Scroll down to "Click here to view Dean's speech")
Gephardt Loses
A Gephardt biograph from the Weekly Standard I've been meaning to link to.
Check out Lileks' Dean remix. Also, see Kausfiles on why Iowa is badly counted and undemocratic (The Fraud of Iowa, 2004 Edition).
Monday, January 12, 2004
The Mother of all Posts
Where are/were Saddam WMD programs? And what the bigger issue is.
Kenneth Pollack thinks he knows the answer. Interesting conclusion:
The point still stands that the world was dangerously ignoring Saddam Hussein. One thing that was ridiculously overblown by some people was the comparison of Saddam to Hitler. Yes, both were mass-murdering dictators, but Saddam doesn't even approach the persistence and scope of the Holocaust. Saddam is also in a very poor position to threaten any sort of world war given that the list of powers with stronger militaries than his army at his peak include India, China, the United States, Russia if it remobilized, and, of course, the combined forces of NATO. The only real comparison, and the most alarming one, is that most of the world has not shown any resolve in policing Saddam. He was pretty much ignored in his use of chemical weapons on his own people in the '80s. When we invaded in Desert Storm the world was surprised to find that he was close to manufacturing nuclear weapons, which should have surprised no one given the Osirak program that was made with assistance of France, and destroyedby Israel after the international community refused to take action, for which it was widely condemned. Fast-forward to 1998, and Operation Desert Fox.
I think that Clinton should have gone further than he did in Desert Fox, But I think it was a case of running into the same problem that Bush did. Most of the same countries opposed the war, and no one supported taking major action against Saddam, including the Republicans who were too busy criticizing him for distracting the U.S. from...the Lewinsky scandal. The reason the war was launched was that Saddam had shuttered the UN inspections, and his cooperation had reached record lows, to such an extent that the UN withdrew its inspectors to let the United States and Britain bomb Iraq into compliance, briefly returning on a bluff by Saddam that resulted in more stonewalling, and the second removal of inspectors, concluding with a formal report by the UN that the situation on the ground was unacceptable. After the report was released Desert Fox began.
It lasted three days, and created the spectacle of the world criticizing the US and Britain for forcing Iraq to cooperate with the UN in accordance with resolutions passed unanimously by the UN Security Council. Saddam crossed a red line then just as much as Hitler crossed a red line when he began rearming the German military, and in both cases the world marched on by. In hindsight, the only extreme response that should have been on the table in 1998 should have been a decapitation nuclear strike on Baghdad, anything to send the message that there are punishments for flouting international law and military-backed international resolutions. The ultimate disgrace is that Desert Fox ended on what was likely a compromise of future military action as necessary and constant vigilance from the forces in the Gulf region. The result of this compromise was international foot-dragging, repeated complaints about the presence of US troops in the Gulf, and the failure of the UN to take any sort of action on Iraq until Bush went to the UN with the offer of not going to war if inspections were effectively reinstated. When they turned out to not be effective, there was more foot-dragging and a general refusal from certain members of the Security Council to finish the job.
People wonder why tragedies like the Holocaust, Rwanda, Kosovo, 9/11, Bosnia, and the gassing of the Kurds happen. They happen because the world-at-large doesn't have the morals or the initiative to raise a finger against any scum on the planet with a government title before his name. They happen because so many "responsible" nations would rather irresponsibly ignore a clear threat to humanity and international peace and security than make any serious effort to prevent future conflict and massacre. And they happen because time and again no one has meted out consequences for the crimes and violations of the worst of the world in the highest of places. Only when everyone around the world agrees that the end of the Gulf War should have been to kill Saddam will we really have anything approaching world peace.
Where are/were Saddam WMD programs? And what the bigger issue is.
Kenneth Pollack thinks he knows the answer. Interesting conclusion:
The war was not all bad. I do not believe that it was a strategic mistake, although the appalling handling of postwar planning was. There is no question that Saddam Hussein was a force for real instability in the Persian Gulf, and that his removal from power was a tremendous improvement. There is also no question that he was pure evil, and that he headed one of the most despicable regimes of the past fifty years. I am grateful that the United States no longer has to contend with the malign influence of Saddam's Iraq in this economically irreplaceable and increasingly fragile part of the world; nor can I begrudge the Iraqi people one day of their freedom. What's more, we should not forget that containment was failing. The shameful performance of the United Nations Security Council members (particularly France and Germany) in 2002-2003 was final proof that containment would not have lasted much longer; Saddam would eventually have reconstituted his WMD programs, although further in the future than we had thought. That said, the case for war—and for war sooner rather than later—was certainly less compelling than it appeared at the time...[my emphasis]
The point still stands that the world was dangerously ignoring Saddam Hussein. One thing that was ridiculously overblown by some people was the comparison of Saddam to Hitler. Yes, both were mass-murdering dictators, but Saddam doesn't even approach the persistence and scope of the Holocaust. Saddam is also in a very poor position to threaten any sort of world war given that the list of powers with stronger militaries than his army at his peak include India, China, the United States, Russia if it remobilized, and, of course, the combined forces of NATO. The only real comparison, and the most alarming one, is that most of the world has not shown any resolve in policing Saddam. He was pretty much ignored in his use of chemical weapons on his own people in the '80s. When we invaded in Desert Storm the world was surprised to find that he was close to manufacturing nuclear weapons, which should have surprised no one given the Osirak program that was made with assistance of France, and destroyedby Israel after the international community refused to take action, for which it was widely condemned. Fast-forward to 1998, and Operation Desert Fox.
I think that Clinton should have gone further than he did in Desert Fox, But I think it was a case of running into the same problem that Bush did. Most of the same countries opposed the war, and no one supported taking major action against Saddam, including the Republicans who were too busy criticizing him for distracting the U.S. from...the Lewinsky scandal. The reason the war was launched was that Saddam had shuttered the UN inspections, and his cooperation had reached record lows, to such an extent that the UN withdrew its inspectors to let the United States and Britain bomb Iraq into compliance, briefly returning on a bluff by Saddam that resulted in more stonewalling, and the second removal of inspectors, concluding with a formal report by the UN that the situation on the ground was unacceptable. After the report was released Desert Fox began.
It lasted three days, and created the spectacle of the world criticizing the US and Britain for forcing Iraq to cooperate with the UN in accordance with resolutions passed unanimously by the UN Security Council. Saddam crossed a red line then just as much as Hitler crossed a red line when he began rearming the German military, and in both cases the world marched on by. In hindsight, the only extreme response that should have been on the table in 1998 should have been a decapitation nuclear strike on Baghdad, anything to send the message that there are punishments for flouting international law and military-backed international resolutions. The ultimate disgrace is that Desert Fox ended on what was likely a compromise of future military action as necessary and constant vigilance from the forces in the Gulf region. The result of this compromise was international foot-dragging, repeated complaints about the presence of US troops in the Gulf, and the failure of the UN to take any sort of action on Iraq until Bush went to the UN with the offer of not going to war if inspections were effectively reinstated. When they turned out to not be effective, there was more foot-dragging and a general refusal from certain members of the Security Council to finish the job.
People wonder why tragedies like the Holocaust, Rwanda, Kosovo, 9/11, Bosnia, and the gassing of the Kurds happen. They happen because the world-at-large doesn't have the morals or the initiative to raise a finger against any scum on the planet with a government title before his name. They happen because so many "responsible" nations would rather irresponsibly ignore a clear threat to humanity and international peace and security than make any serious effort to prevent future conflict and massacre. And they happen because time and again no one has meted out consequences for the crimes and violations of the worst of the world in the highest of places. Only when everyone around the world agrees that the end of the Gulf War should have been to kill Saddam will we really have anything approaching world peace.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
Best Use of an Adjective as an Adverb to Confuse Everyone West of the Atlantic:
From the Times of India:
Watch as I incorporate "pear-shaped" into as many future posts as possible. Bwa-hahahaha!
From the Times of India:
General Musharraf is under enormous pressure - as much from the jehadis as from Washington - and a single wrong step could mean things going pear-shaped. [my emphasis]
Watch as I incorporate "pear-shaped" into as many future posts as possible. Bwa-hahahaha!
Friday, January 09, 2004
Search Requests to Meanderings
search #rank (search engine)
Teams Left in the NF #1 (Yahoo"!")
I think they meant NFL, but I'm number one because of my use of the byline NF. And yes, the "!" drives me bugshit.
david brooks on antisemitism #5 (Google)
My weblog does not talk about this, but it's obviously about this.
"howard dean" antisemite #3 (Google)
Probably not. Stupid, yes. Antisemite, no.
"propaganda" in the "present day" #1 (MSN Search)
I'd like to iterate that my position is to influence readers, not propagandize.
present day anti-semitism #1 (iWon Search)
Anything searching for "present day" or antisemitism ppoints to my blog fairly frequently.
post modern jews #1 (Google)
Try post-post-modern jew (I don't show up).
There are probably more searches that pick up my archives, but those aren't site-metered.
search #rank (search engine)
Teams Left in the NF #1 (Yahoo"!")
I think they meant NFL, but I'm number one because of my use of the byline NF. And yes, the "!" drives me bugshit.
david brooks on antisemitism #5 (Google)
My weblog does not talk about this, but it's obviously about this.
"howard dean" antisemite #3 (Google)
Probably not. Stupid, yes. Antisemite, no.
"propaganda" in the "present day" #1 (MSN Search)
I'd like to iterate that my position is to influence readers, not propagandize.
present day anti-semitism #1 (iWon Search)
Anything searching for "present day" or antisemitism ppoints to my blog fairly frequently.
post modern jews #1 (Google)
Try post-post-modern jew (I don't show up).
There are probably more searches that pick up my archives, but those aren't site-metered.
I like Citizen Smash's immigration plan:
As Glenn Reynolds would say, read the whole thing.
First, we dump the unrealistic quotas on immigrants from Mexico and Central America. If there’s work to be done, let them in. Establish employment offices in Mexican towns all along the border, and invite prospective employers to send agents down in search of labor. This way, immigrants wouldn’t have to cross the border illegally to look for work – they could apply for a job in Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, or any other frontier town, and take a bus across the border.
Of course, we would want to make sure that terrorists or other undesirables didn’t abuse the system -- or that honest workers wouldn't be abused by unscrupulous employers -- so we would take photos and fingerprints of all of the applicants, and provide them with a guest-worker card. Their employer would be reponsible for paying them at least minimum wage, as well as all the applicable taxes. If the guest worker diasppeared, the employer would be responsible for reporting them to the INS.
Hand in hand with stiff penalties for abusing the system, this would largely take care of the problem of economic immigrants crossing the border illegally.
As Glenn Reynolds would say, read the whole thing.
Quoth Glenn, James Lileks interviews a terrorist. Okay, it's not a real terrorist, but it is still funny as all heck.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
My question for the Newsweek Dean Live Talk by Howard Fineman:
Some of Dean's foreign policy Advisor's have some very anti-Israel views. Clyde Prestowitz: "Looming far above all other causes of alienation from America are two transcendent issues: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American unilateralism. (7/21/2002 Op-Ed, Oakland Tribune)" Prestowitz has also compared the religious schools in Saudi Arabia that serve as recruiting grounds for terrorists to religious schools run by Christian and Jewish groups that support Israel (8/17/2003 Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune). Benjamin R. Barber has implied that Israel's actions caused 9/11, and that, "Sharon's policies are not clearly directed at military and security issues; they seem aimed to humiliate the local population, and that can't help Israel and its security. (Q & A at speech at Commonwealth Club)" Will Dean repudiate these views or do they have official status as the foreign policy ideas of the Dean campaign?
Errata: (8/17/2003 Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune) should be (1/11/2003 Op-Ed, Los Angeles Times).
These examples are actually just the surface of the issue.
Some of Dean's foreign policy Advisor's have some very anti-Israel views. Clyde Prestowitz: "Looming far above all other causes of alienation from America are two transcendent issues: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American unilateralism. (7/21/2002 Op-Ed, Oakland Tribune)" Prestowitz has also compared the religious schools in Saudi Arabia that serve as recruiting grounds for terrorists to religious schools run by Christian and Jewish groups that support Israel (8/17/2003 Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune). Benjamin R. Barber has implied that Israel's actions caused 9/11, and that, "Sharon's policies are not clearly directed at military and security issues; they seem aimed to humiliate the local population, and that can't help Israel and its security. (Q & A at speech at Commonwealth Club)" Will Dean repudiate these views or do they have official status as the foreign policy ideas of the Dean campaign?
Errata: (8/17/2003 Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune) should be (1/11/2003 Op-Ed, Los Angeles Times).
These examples are actually just the surface of the issue.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Meryl Yourish has a post on her political views that is surprisingly close to my own views on most issues, disregarding the part about Edwards having potential (I haven't been paying attention to Edwards). And yes, this is not a Blog for Bush. Its not a blog for Lieberman either. It is a blog for the person whose pseudonym is below this post.
Am I being too literal?...Nah.
Am I being too literal?...Nah.
Happy New Year!
The Trifecta
I am adding the Jewish-American weblogger trifecta to my links: Meryl Yourish at Yourish.com, Charles at Little Green Footballs, and the non-estimable "madhouse-bound" "outcast rogues" at Amish Tech Support, hosts of the counter-estimable Amish Tech Support Dead Pool. More on all this soon.
Okay, I'm pretty sure some of the webloggers at ATS are not Jewish. But they are American, making me half-correct.
The Trifecta
I am adding the Jewish-American weblogger trifecta to my links: Meryl Yourish at Yourish.com, Charles at Little Green Footballs, and the non-estimable "madhouse-bound" "outcast rogues" at Amish Tech Support, hosts of the counter-estimable Amish Tech Support Dead Pool. More on all this soon.
Okay, I'm pretty sure some of the webloggers at ATS are not Jewish. But they are American, making me half-correct.