Pope John Paul II

So, it's been a while since I posted here. My wife and I were following the pontiff's death and funeral on the TV.

I was raised a Lutheran, but now the closest label to my "religion" is probably that of 'lapsed Buddhist'. I actually find a great many problems with present Roman Catholic doctrine. (On the other hand, I am regularly amused by American Catholics constant 're-interpretation' of those doctrinal issues that are disagreeable to them. When do democratic principles usurp orthodox articles of faith?)

Although I personally do not agree with many tenets of the Roman Catholic faith, I very much respected the Pope for sticking to his principles throughout his Papacy. As one well known protestant quipped, "That Pope can really Pope!"

His election is the first I can recall watching as a youngin' and came at a time that the youth today cannot fathom. We had Carter doing his damage in the White House, the Cold War was in full swing, and the Fonz was the Timberlake of the day.

Enter this Polish Pontiff, this slinger of Slavic Solidarity, the man from the Man...he went to Poland. An anti-commie Congregationalist. While Carter waffled, the Pope kicked ass. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Reagan came. The Age of Actors was upon us. The Pope and the Ronald didn't always see eye-to-eye, but they agreed that Communism wasn't good for the global community. Eventually, although the President was retired and the Pope was still Pope, the Soviet Union didn't survive the Age of Actors.

As the years progressed, the Pope visited more countries and travelled more miles than any other Pope in history, It is estimated that he spoke to more people (in person) than anyone else in history. Even Castro was respectful.

He suffered a great deal in the twilight of his pontificate. Aside from the 1981 assassination attempt, he later suffered a broken femur, a dislocated shoulder, and a hip replacement in successive years.

He was a dynamic leader that didn't equivicate and who wasn't afraid to criticize those persons and practices that were at loggerheads with his beliefs. His presence made the world a richer place and he liberated the opressed.

Requiscat in Pace, padre.

Blogs for Bankruptcy!

Politology is the pivot point for a last ditch effort to kill the bill. No, not that Bill! The bankruptcy bill will be voted on in the Senate today, March 10.

Call your designated pork barrel jockey and make it plain that this is not your will and that you will remember how they voted come Election Day.

This bill rewards the credit card companies for extending credit to poor risk persons by allowing them too much latitude in collecting the resultant outstanding debts.

Are you dialing yet? Go...now...call!

Right To Carry

In (FOXNews.com) Good Samaritan Gun Use John Lott Jr. examines what happened last week in Tyler, TX. Show of hands people, how many of you knew that Arroyo's killing spree was stopped by a private citizen with a Concealed Carry Weapons Permit?

"Only two stories mentioned that the AK-47 was a semi-automatic, not a machine gun, and, while it is understandable, none of the articles provided context by explaining that Arroyo’s weapon functioned the same as deer hunting rifles, firing the same caliber bullets, at the same rapidity, and doing the same damage."

"The citizen, 50 year old Mark Wilson, was one of the two people murdered. As CNN reported, 'Everyone here agrees, Wilson saved lives.' Fox News' website quoted the sheriff as saying 'if it hadn't been for Mr. Wilson, [Arroyo's son] would be dead.'

Wilson, a licensed concealed handgun permit holder, heard Arroyo’s shots and saw the commotion from his apartment window. He grabbed a handgun and headed toward the attacker. Arroyo had already wounded several police officers and there was no one left to prevent his rampage."

"It is not remarkable that someone such as Mark Wilson was there at the scene to stop the attack before police arrived. For example, in about 30 percent of the multiple victim public school shootings that have captivated Americans’ attention starting in 1997, people used guns to stop the attacks before uniformed police were able to arrive on the scene. Few people know about these cases because only about one percent of the news stories on these cases mention how the attacks were stopped."

"Of course, gun control advocates draw their usual conclusion from all this. Kristen Rand, legislative director for the pro-gun control Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., claims the Tyler shooting last Thursday shows that criminals are undeterred by people potentially carrying concealed weapons. But, in fact, more nearly the opposite is true. When Arroyo faced the choice of continuing to shoot others or defending himself, he was forced to defend himself. Making Arroyo's attacks more risky caused him to change his behavior."

"Many people find it hard to believe that 18 national surveys by academics as well as national polling organizations show that there are 2 million defensive gun uses each year. After all, if these events were really happening, wouldn't we hear about them on the news?...This misreporting actually endangers people's lives. By selectively reporting the news and turning a defensive gun use story into one that merely says "police shot him dead," the media give misleading impressions of what actions saved the lives of people confronted by violence. As Wilson's case demonstrates, defensive gun use is not a guns-rights myth. Guns have been and are used by law abiding citizens to protect and save their own lives and the lives of others."

What happens in Vegas, stays in, uh, Grade School?

FOXNews.com reports Vegas Mayor Tells Students He Loves Gin to a class of fourth graders.

Mayor Oscar Goodman: "I answered the question honestly and truthfully. I'm not going to lie to children. I'm not going to say I would take a teddy bear or a Bible or something like that."

No word on what brand hizzoner prefers, although 'Beefeater" would probably help please any Vegans out there that aren't offended by his drinking comments.

Bunker buster anyone?

FOXNews.com Diplomats: Iran Building Tunnels for Arms reports that the IAEA is critical of Iran for building a tunnel in Isfahan--home of Iran's uranium enrichment program--to "increase capacity, safety and security of nuclear material."

Asked for details on the tunnel, a diplomat familiar with Iran's dossier told The Associated Press that parts of it apparently would run as deep as half a mile below ground and would be constructed of hardened concrete and other reenforced materials.

Other diplomats said on condition of anonymity that such moves were clearly motivated by Iranian concerns of air attacks by the United States or Israel, which both accuse the Iranians of trying to secretly build nuclear weapons.

Well, the Clinton Doctrine of high-altitude bombing without the commitment of ground troops would definitely be stymied by this development.

Hopefully, President Bush will continue to push for development of 'new' tactical nucular weapons that can interdict such facilities.

Such weapons should also prove effective against the plethora of underground facilities that North Korea uses as well.

Victor Davis Hanson on Europe

VDH's Private Papers::Soft Power, Hard Reality is a great summary of where we, and the EU, currently stand.

The 51st State--It ain't Puerto Rico

So, here in Washington State a lot of folks are feeling disenfranchised. These are, by and large, those that voted for Dino Rossi (Perhaps the first Governor whose putsch preceded his inauguration.--Ed.) and who are from Eastern Washington.

Eastern Washington is that part of the state east of the Cascade Mountain range.

The following--as the link above--is from King 5, a local NBC television affiliate.

"If Washington Sen. Bob Morton has his way, he’ll soon be a resident and lawmaker in the 51st state of the United States.

To Morton, the Cascade Mountains are more than just the dividing line between wet and dry Washington. They are the indisputable wall between political ideologies that only became more apparent during the recent contested governor’s race.

The Republican from Orient is the prime sponsor on a joint memorial in the Senate that asks President Bush to create a new state east of the Cascades that would comprise 20 of the current state’s 39 counties."

I forget where I first read about an alternative proposal--sometime ago via Instapundit probably--that the Blue areas of the Nation become reservations of Libbies.

Similar to Indian Reservations they could have their own business and cultural interests and may even make items actually worth something in trade. Perhaps "peace" bongs and pamphlets on the various spoor and signs of Liberals in the wild.

That's probably more realistic. Let them have Seattle, L.A., New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C...the rest of us (U.S.?) can visit, buy vegetarian products, and bring hemp T-shirts home to our relatives.

Dershowitz on Summers

H/T to the Belmont Club.

From the Boston Globe.

As critics of Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers step up pressure for him to resign or radically alter the way he leads the university, a few professors have begun rallying to his defense.

Late yesterday, one of Harvard's most famous faculty members, law professor Alan Dershowitz, issued a statement backing Summers's presidency, in which he said the storm of opposition "sounds like the trial of Galileo."


"In my 41 years at Harvard, I have never experienced a president more open to debate, disagreement, and dialogue than Larry Summers," wrote Dershowitz, adding that "professors who are afraid to challenge him are guilty of cowardice."


Dershowitz noted that he disagreed with Summers's comments last month that innate differences might help explain why more men than women are top achievers in science and math, but he defended the university president's right to raise the proposition.


"This is truly a time of crisis for Harvard," he wrote. "The crisis is over whether a politically correct straightjacket will be placed over the thinking of everybody in this institution by one segment of the faculty."

I rarely agree with Alan Dershowitz, but the professor seems to have hit the nail on the head this time. Kudos to Professor Dershowitz.

Chris Muir's Day By Day

01-28-2005
Originally uploaded by sashasdoc.

The Long Tail: The case against the Shuffle

Long Tail's The case against the Shuffle misses the point somewhat. Yes, the iPod Shuffle lacks a display. One must, however, consider the market niche that Apple is targeting with the Shuffle.

The original iPods provided a previously unseen level of portability for music (and data) and were a niche unto thenselves.

The iPod mini--introduced at MacWorld a year ago--was specifically designed to go after the high-end flash-memory based MP3 player market. It has captured nearly its entire niche--catapulting Apple's market share from 30% to nearly 70% in one year.

In this year's Keynote Address, Steve Jobs explained that the iPod Shuffle is specifically designed to go after the remainder of the flash-memory based MP3 player market.

In comparison, typical MP3 players have 256Mb or 512Mb of memory and cost $99 or $149 respectively. That level of memory represents about 60 (256Mb) or 120 (512Mb) songs.

The iPod Shuffle provides two 'flavors'. The 'small' one is 512Mb of memory (120 songs) for $99 and the 'large' one--with an unheard of 1Gb (240 songs) worth of memory--is only $149!! Apple is bringing their slick user interface combined with double the memory--per relative pricepoints--of their competition.

The loss of a display is a small sacrifice for the amazing practical value.

As to the signal-to-noise ratio argument, except for those songs that eventually get old through repetition, the iTunes store--Apple's online music store--sells individual tracks for 99 cents each. Gone are the days of ripping an entire album into the computer to capture a few choice cuts. (Although I don't know anyone who still does that with the built in abilities of iTunes to selectively import tracks from any given album.--Ed.) That online storefront has recently passed 250 million downloads.

In this case, the 'Long Tail' is in the heads of late adopters. Those of us who embrace the Mac and Mr. Jobs' concept of the digital lifestyle get it. Got it?

Now if Jobs and Co. can only replace the Newton...

DUI versus Zarqawi

Paul Boutin posits that more Americans are killed by drunk drivers every day than were killed in Iraq on election day.

(As always, thanks to Instapundit--the nexus for all things punditry--for the link.)

Ukraine West

"Down for the Recount" by Byron York has an excellent summary of how Christine Gregoire has stolen the Washington State Gubenatorial race.

About 2.8 million people went to the polls in Washington State on November 2, and what happened after the voting became one of the most vertiginous political roller-coaster rides in recent history. On election night, Rossi was slightly ahead. By the next day, as the votes from heavily Democratic King County, home of Seattle, continued to come in, Gregoire took a lead that grew as large as 16,000 votes. By the morning of November 9, that lead had been cut in half. But at that point, more than 200,000 ballots had not yet been counted. Later that night, results came in from a number of Republican-leaning counties, and Rossi took a lead of about 2,000 votes. The day after that, it stretched to 3,500.

About 85,000 ballots were still uncounted. Most of them were provisional ballots, meaning they were cast by people who came to the polls and could not show that they were registered to vote. They were allowed to cast ballots anyway, with the understanding that the ballots would be counted later if it could be shown that those voters were indeed registered.

On November 15, the count moved in Gregoire’s favor when King County announced that it had 10,000 more ballots to count than election officials originally thought (it’s still not entirely clear how that happened). Those votes went heavily to Gregoire, putting her in the lead by 158 votes. It was a kick in the teeth for Republicans, but Rossi remained calm. “We still knew how many ballots were outstanding in the counties that we had,” Rossi told National Review recently, “and we were confident that we were going to win.”

Sure enough, when those Rossi-leaning counties sent in their final totals, the Republican pulled back into the lead. On November 17, the counting was finished, and Rossi had won by 261 votes.

COUNT AND COUNT AGAIN
A recount was guaranteed: Washington State law requires a recount if an election is decided by less than one-half of one percent of the total votes cast. The recount was done by machine. It might seem obvious to say that it was intended to recount those ballots that had already been counted in the first round, but that fact was not obvious to officials in King County. They decided to “enhance” some ballots that had not been legible or otherwise countable during the first go-round. More and more ballots went into Gregoire’s column. The King County votes cut into Rossi’s lead, but not enough to put Gregoire into the lead. By the time the machine recount was finished, Rossi won by 42 votes.

Gregoire refused to concede. Democrats wanted a hand recount of all the votes, but the law required that they pay for it, which meant they would have to raise nearly $1 million. For a while, Democrats wondered where the money would come from, but their worries were eased when checks came in from John Kerry, who donated $250,000 in unused campaign funds; from MoveOn.org, which pitched in another $250,000; from the Democratic National Committee, which sent still another $250,000; and from former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, who raised about $200,000 for the cause.

The recount began December 8. At first, it seemed to make little net change in the vote totals. Rossi appeared to be headed for a final, unquestionable victory when King County officials announced they had found 573 “new” ballots, which — they said — had been mistakenly disqualified. Republicans went to court, arguing that the time for counting “new” ballots was past, and that to count them now would require changing the rules in the middle of an election. But the state supreme court ruled against the GOP. The “new” votes were counted, and in the final tally Gregoire won by 129 votes. On December 30, she was certified the winner.

Republicans were stunned. “We thought that if it was a straightforward operation, a hand recount would work for us,” Rossi says. “But King County kept finding ballots and finding ballots and finding ballots until they had enough to win.”

What should the GOP do? Rossi and his allies began collecting the voting records from several counties around the state, and found what might be charitably called serious irregularities. They found counties where the number of votes cast exceeded the total number of registered voters. They found counties that had made mistakes in the counting of provisional ballots. And they found counties in which — shades of Daley’s Chicago — dead people apparently cast ballots."

Go read the whole thing.

Our congratulations to the Iraqis for what appears to be a wildly successful election. My wife grew up in Communist Romania and had tears in her eyes watching Fox News' coverage of the voting in Iraq.

Perhaps the Iraqis, the Afghanis, and the Ukranians can send us some help here in Washington State so that we might also enjoy free and fair elections.

Chrenkoff on the Iraqi Election

Arthur Chrenkoff has a wonderful editorial about the Iraqi election on the WSJ editorial page.
(Via Instapundit)

Center for Religious Freedom

Center for Religious Freedom has a disturbing report about hate propaganda in US mosques proliferating from Saudi sources.

The Diplomad

The Diplomad is a wonderfully written blog that should be required reading in any PoliSci course.

"On this crucial day in Iraq, we must also remember two sets of non-Iraqis. The first set, we must apologize for, and nobody represents them better than Sen. Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts. The man has gone from being a killer, to a buffoon, and now to criminally irresponsible. Next July, Mary Jo Kopechne would have celebrated her 65th birthday; she probably would have grown children and be a grandmother. She, however, will always be 28 years old, thanks to Ted Kennedy, the man who killed her in 1969 just days before her 29th birthday; tried to cover it up; and then lied and used his family's considerable political power to evade punishment. From killer he went on to buffoon: Who can forget his absurd run for the Democratic nomination of 1980, or, his pontificating about women's rights during the Clarence Thomas nomination hearings? As he has aged, he apparently has begun experiencing a second adolescence, in other words, he's returning to his 1969 persona, to wit, he wants people, American people to die or, at best, doesn't care if they do as a consequence of his actions. How else can one explain his comments about pulling out of Iraq -- gleefully replayed by Al Jazeera? For a Kennedy to compare Iraq and Vietnam is doubly obscene: not only are the facts on the ground completely different, but it was JFK -- Teddy's elder brother -- who got us into Vietnam with no exit plan."

Go, visit. Read. Repeat.

Seriously. Go, now! What are you still doing here?

Belmont Club on Iraqi Election

Belmont Club is a must read, as usual.

Via Instapundit, as usual.

You can't please everyone all of the time

(Via Instapundit)

From Balloon Juice.com--The Shifting Goalposts

Matthew Yglesias writes:

"Looks reasonably successful so far, no mass casualties, turnout low only in a few trouble spots. It's time to prepare for three weeks of gloating from the hawks before they realize that nothing has really changed and they return to previous hawk practice of not mentioning Iraq. The interesting thing to watch, I think, will be whether or not Shiite political unity starts to break down now that the elections are behind us."

To which Balloon Juice responds:

"Pessimism masquerading as realism should not be regarded as insight, and you should note the real cause for concern- hawk's gloating. We aren't gloating, we are just happy and relieved, and no one thinks this is the final step for our involvement in Iraq. It is, however, an important real and symbolic victory, and everyone should be happy."

...and then:

"John Kerry, btw, was on Meet The Press this morning, and did everything he could to piss all over the administration and the election. According to him, we need to have a massive outreach to the international community in order to make sure the election is viewed as legitimate. And the Democrats wonder why they are the minority party. "This is the last chance for the President to get it right." Go fuck yourself.

I am so sick and tired of playing Charlie Brown to their Lucy."

Ah, well. Massachusetts must be so proud.

Kennedy's Disgrace

Power Line: Kennedy's Disgrace

Iraqi-American Haider Ajina fills the void:

I have read a number of articles in Iraqi newspapers reporting on senator Kennedy’s speech at Johns Hopkins University. (They call him a senior senator)

They are quoting him using words like “war of liberations, armed resistance, war of independence” to describe the terrorist acts in Iraq. Also asking for our complete withdrawal from Iraq by 2006 and describing what we did in Iraq as a calamity.

I think that AlZarqawy could not have rallied his troops with a better speech. What is he doing giving speeches like this so close to the elections in Iraq? Iraqis will brave threats to their lives to vote in hope that we will stay with them till they are ready. Now a U.S. senator tells them we must pull out quickly and leave the Iraqis with no help.

Thanks to Instapundit for the original link.

What is wrong with the people of Massachusetts (and California Re: Barbara Boxer) that they continually re-elect such a buffoon as Ted Kennedy and his even more-Liberal counterpart, John Kerry?

A Marine's Perspective

The following is supposed to be from a US Marine in Iraq. Author is unknown. It was received via e-mail from Doc Rakofsky--a friend out on the pointy end of the stick.

Subject: Living in the Now

Hello everyone,

This is reality in Fallujah.

In response to the news blurb about the Marine who put two rounds in a wounded insurgent's head in Fallujah, here's a response from a Marine:

----------------------------

It's a safety issue pure and simple. After assaulting through a target, we put a security round in everybody's head. Sorry al-Reuters, there's no paddy wagon rolling around Fallujah picking up "prisoners" and offering them a hot cup a joe, falafel, and a blanket. There's no time to dick around on the target. You clear the space, dump the chumps, and moveon.org.

Are Corpsman expected to treat wounded terrorists? Negative. Hey libs, worried about the defense budget? Well, it would be waste, fraud, and abuse for a Corpsman to expend one man-minute or a battle dressing on a terrorist. Its much cheaper to just spend the $.02 on a 5.56mm FMJ.

By the way, in our view, terrorists who chop off civilian's heads are not prisoners, they are carcasses. Chopping off a civilian's head is another reason why these idiots are known as "unlawful combatants." It seems that most of the world's journalists have forgotten that fact.

Let me be very clear about this issue. I have looked around the web, and many people get this concept, but there are some stragglers.

Here is your situation Marine: You just took fire from unlawful combatants (no uniform - breaking every Geneva Convention rule there is) shooting from a religious building attempting to use the sanctuary status of their position as protection. But you're in Fallujah now, and the Marine Corps has decided that they're not playing that game this time. That was Najaf. So you set the mosque on fire and you hose down the terrorists with small arms, launch some AT-4s (Rockets), some 40MM grenades into the building and things quiet down. So you run over there, and find some tangos (bad guys) wounded and pretending to be dead. You are aware that suicide martyrdom is like really popular with these idiots, and they think taking some Marines with them would be really cool. So you can either risk your life and your fire team's lives by having them cover you while you bend down and search a guy that you think is pretending to be dead for some reason. Most of the time these are the guys with the grenade or vest made of explosives. Also, you don't know who or what is in the next room. You're already speaking English to the rest of your fire team or squad which lets the terrorist know you are there and you are his enemy. You are speaking loud because your hearing is poor from shooting people for several days. So you know that there are many other rooms to enter, and that if anyone is still alive in those rooms, they know that Americans are in the mosque. Meanwhile (3 seconds later), you still have this terrorist (that was just shooting at you from a mosque) playing possum. What do you do?

You double tap his head, and you go to the next room, that's what!!!

What about the Geneva Convention and all that Law of Land Warfare stuff? What about it. Without even addressing the issues at hand, your first thought should be, "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

Bear in mind that this tactic of double tapping a fallen terrorist is a perpetual mindset that is reinforced by experience on a minute by minute basis. Secondly, you are fighting an unlawful combatant in a Sanctuary, which is a double No-No on his part. Third, tactically you are in no position to take "prisoners" because there are more rooms to search and clear, and the behavior of said terrorist indicates that he is up to no good. No good in Fallujah is a very large place and the low end of no good and the high end of no good are fundamentally the same ... Marines end up getting hurt or die. So there is no compelling reason for you to do anything but double tap this idiot and get on with the mission.

If you are a veteran, then everything I have just written is self evident. If you are not a veteran, then at least try to put yourself in the situation. Remember, in Fallujah there is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only now. Right NOW. Have you ever lived in NOW for a week? It is really, really not easy. If you have never lived in NOW for longer than it takes to finish the big roller coaster at Six Flags, then shut your hole about putting Marines in jail for "war crimes."

For those who would criticize this position, there is no question that the Marine's would take prisoners if the terrorists presented thenselves unarmed, hands open, and arms extended above their heads with their clothing open to allow inspection from a distance.

Barring that, the terrorists must be considered as hostile, imminently dangerous combatants. They choose to eschew the portions of the Law of Land Warfare that require combatants to wear a clearly distinguishable uniform and to use legally proscribed weapons for combat. These choices remove them from the protections of the Laws and Conventions regarding warfare and justify the actions that the Marines have taken to protect themselves.

SF already has gun ban!

CNN.com - San Francisco considers handgun ban - Jan 20, 2005

Although the SF City Council is considering banning the sale and possession of handguns within the city limits (current owners would have to turn them in--hello, Adolph; hello Uncle Joe), they already have a de facto ban. There are currently only TEN authorized CCW permits granted by the city.

How about requiring all residents to possess a firearm, at least at home, and see where the homicide rate goes? Let's get some hard data before making a decision.

Of course, if the denizens of the city handle weapons like their former Mayor--now Senator--Feinstein, maybe the ban is better. Diane's AK-47