Reader Tips
Tips for today.
It’s Not Over By A Long Shot
This morning on local radio they are pondering the question – “is it time to put 9/11 behind us?”
My response – when did we put the invasion of Poland and Pearl Harbor “behind” us? When the war was over.
“A bomb-sniffing dog in Ankara helped Turkish authorities stop a massive terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11. A van full of explosives in a parking garage would have devastated the center of the large city, and it would have served as a counterpoint to the messages released by Osama bin Laden in the past week […] This would make three terrorist attacks thwarted in the past week.”
Letter to a Friend: On Islamic Fundamentalism (Sept. 11, 2006);
Today is September 11th and I suppose every single person in this country knows what they were doing on this date five years ago. I recall the feeling of unreality I had as I watched a small TV screen here at home repeatedly play tiny images of two towers collapsing. And then, in the immediate aftermath, do you remember how many in this country – especially among intellectuals and academics – wanted to discuss what “we” had done to “deserve” this? Those were hard days, and in many respects the years since then have been harder still, for although I had by then already spent decades in the strange ideological climate of American academic life, I never expected to see such an orgy of “blame America first” unleashed in this country. Nor did I have any way of anticipating how serious the real consequences would be when those attitudes, nurtured in the idle confines of academia, spilled over into the very dangerous world outside.
I would hate it if our old friendship were to dissolve over politics, mere politics. But I can’t not respond to your last letter, in which you stated that you were just as worried by Christian as by Muslim fundamentalists. Repeatedly in the past few years I’ve heard acquaintances, even relatives, express the same view. To my mind, however, this is a preposterous comment, for it evades the crucial recognition that something new has been unfolding before our eyes. Not that 9/11 inaugurated that new stage. I think, rather, it marked the end of the beginning, and the subsequent stage, the middle part, is still underway.
h/t
At Wizbang, 6 Years Later.
Roger Simon reviews World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism – “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”
And Lileks.
Related links are welcome in the comments.
Bison
Taken today a couple of miles from town. I stayed on my side of the fence.
Tony Blair’s Britain
Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and happiness is a confiscated television set;
THE Conservatives will propose banning plasma screens and other energy-guzzling electrical goods in a report to be unveiled next week.
The proposals target white goods like fridges and freezers, as well as TVs, personal computers and DVD players that use too much energy or operate on stand-by.
The ideas come from a Conservative group set up by David Cameron to develop policies to protect the environment and although the measures to make household electrical appliances more energy efficient are not binding on Mr Cameron, they are thought likely to be warmly received by the Tory leader.
The group will also suggest scrapping Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of the nation’s success in favour of a model that measures people’s happiness drawn up up by Friends of the Earth.
God save the Queen.
Petraeus Reports
Source: Selected Figures from the Report of the Jones Commission on the Iraqi Security Forces
Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq (PDF)
Charts (PDF)
From a longer exerpt;
“I will not minimize the enormity of the challenges faced by Iraqis, nor the complexity of the situation. Yet at the same time, I intend to demonstrate that it is possible for the United States to see its goals realized in Iraq and that Iraqis are capable of tackling and addressing the problems confronting them today. A secure, stable, democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors is attainable.
“Some of the more promising political developments at the national level are neither measured in benchmarks nor visible to those far from Baghdad. For instance, there is a budding debate about federalism among Iraq’s leaders and, importantly, within the Sunni community. Those living in places like al-Anbar and Salahaddin are beginning to realize how localities having more of a say in daily decision making will empower their communities. No longer is an all-powerful Baghdad seen as the panacea to Iraq’s problems. This thinking is nascent, but it is ultimately critical to the evolution of a common vision among all Iraqi leaders.
Update: A critique from Michael Yon;
General David Petraeus’s first day of testimony was completely accurate, and consistent with my recent experiences around Iraq. Everything he said during the public hearing on Monday was measured, cogent, and demonstrably accurate. That his reputation was attacked in an entirely inaccurate full-page advertisement in the New York Times is a smear on the reputation of the New York Times.
I wonder how the Times’ regular commercial advertisers will react when they learn about this?
More thoughts on the timing of an Iraqi poll – The media’s Tet offensive – “‘Coming at a crucial moment?’ Is the BBC serious? Would they really have us believe that the release of the poll results on the day of the Petraeus/Crocker testimony was some kind of coincidence? Polling was carried out between August 17 and August 24, so the BBC and ABC have been sitting on these results for two weeks…”
The Left’s Alignment With Islamic Fascism
Has a Canadian champion.
More from Anne Anne Bayefsky;
While Arbour was hobnobbing with anti-semites, butchers and anti-democratic forces from around the world, Iranians were being prepared for public hangings. Arbour was reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency as having “expressed pleasure with being at the NAM meeting and described Iran’s representation office in the UN in Geneva as “very good.” In an unusual move, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has so far neglected to put her official statement on their website.
The day after Arbour left Iran the government felt sufficiently buoyed by their UN stamp of approval, that they executed 21 prisoners. People are executed in Iran for charges like “enmity against God” or “being corrupt on earth.”
Unfortunately, CBC Newsworld’s coverage of this important international event was pre-empted by the airing of Fahrenheit 9/11 in commemoration of the 6th anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers.
“Every man and woman who participated in this battle should be friggin’ proud…”
Damian Brooks interviews BGen David Fraser;
Before speaking with the general, I talked and corresponded with people who had served under him in Afghanistan. I heard two main things from them: that Fraser took each casualty on his watch very personally, so the idea that he would risk troops lives recklessly would be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious matter; and that he has big shoulders, so he won’t be pointing any fingers at anyone else. On the first point, I’ll have to take their word. On the second, he proved true to their assessment.
We spoke for over an hour about the circumstances leading up to Operation Medusa, about the operation itself, about the consequences of Medusa, and about some widely held misconceptions about the mission and its effectiveness.
Only When His Lips Move
Osama Bin Laden’s widely publicized video address to the American people has a peculiarity that casts serious doubt on its authenticity: the video freezes at about 1 minute and 36 58 seconds, and motion only resumes again at 12:30. The video then freezes again at 14:02 remains frozen until the end. All references to current events, such as the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, and Sarkozy and Brown being the leaders of France and the UK, respectively, occur when the video is frozen! The words spoken when the video is in motion contain no references to contemporary events and could have been (and likely were) made before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Or during the Democratic national convention. There’s word today that there’s another Bin Laden video set for release. If the previous one is any indication, expect a cameo appearance by Michael Moore.
Reader Tips
92 year old “Grandma Aitken” is preparing for her 14th Terry Fox run. You can top up her pledge form here, if you’re so inclined.
A surge in the polls.
If an ACLU kiddie-pornster were arrested in a Minneapolis airport, would it then make a sound?
“Citing United Nations research that the meat industry is worse for the environment than driving and flying, animal rights groups are directing a campaign at the former American vice-president’s diet.”
Add yours in the comments.
Because Nothing Says “Recycling” Like A Morgue Full Of Dead Jews
“I remember going to a protest (in Sydney during the recent Hezbollah-Israel conflict in Lebanon) and seeing environmental groups going Allah Akhbar (God is great) in harmony with some Lebanese groups,”
Guaranteed Not To Leak!
Y2Kyoto: Is That A 90-Horse Johnson Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Drowning the polar bears, one promotional video at a time.
Don’t be too hard on Jack – they were due for a cull anyway.
(h/t “muttsrus” in the comments)
“the enemy has become thefriend and the friend became the enemy”
Armchair chickenhawk warblogger Bill Ardolino reports from Fallujah. One of his readers comments:
I have sat and cried just seeing the pics and reading the article. I have 2 Marines in Fallujah right now and I cannot wait to show this article to any and everyone I see. Do you think if enough of us sent the article to foxnews they would put this story up front? NOWHERE else have I seen pics like these, of the actual work that has been going on. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough for the author and I know it isn’t enough for these Marines. And I would venture to say neither is expecting one. But from the bottom of this Marine momma’s heart, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
Bill is supported by reader donations – there’s a link at the bottom of his page.
The Sound Of Settled Science
At Climate Audit, it’s candy day for geeks. Hansen has released his temperature analysis source code and documentation – finally;
Hansen says resentfully that they would have liked a “week or two” to make a “simplified version” of the program and that it is this version that “people interested in science” will want, as opposed to the version that actually generated their results. […]
In recent posts, I’ve observed that long rural stations in South America and Africa do not show the pronounced ROW trend (Where’s Waldo?) that is distinct from the U.S. temperature history as well as the total lack of long records from Antarctica covering the 1930s. Without mentioning climateaudit.org or myself by name, Hansen addresses the “lack of quality data from South America and Africa, a legitimate concern”, concluding this lack does not “matter” to the results. […]
So United States shows no material change since the 1930s, but this doesn’t matter, South America doesn’t matter, Africa doesn’t matter and Antarctica has no records relevant to the 1930s. Europe and northern Asia would seem to be plausible candidates for locating Waldo. (BTW we are also told that the Medieval Warm Period was a regional phenomenon confined to Europe and northern Asia – go figure.]
As is the norm for McIntyre’s site, the comments are a must read. He adds –
I’m sure that one other consideration in freeing the code were the [Climate Audit] threads patiently reverse engineering what he did plus the fact that we were having some success in pinning down the steps. In combination with the “Y2K” publicity, I can’t imagine that NASA was pleased with the prospect of this playing out on the internet over the next few months and simply decided to cut their losses, regardless of Hansen’s views on the matter.
Click here to download the code.
Microchips Linked To Cancer
As a dog breeder who has occasionally been obligated to use them, I’ve always hated these things.
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients’ medical records almost instantly. The FDA found “reasonable assurance” the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005’s top “innovative technologies.”
But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had “induced” malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.
“The transponders were the cause of the tumors,” said Keith Johnson, a retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining in a phone interview the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich.
[…]
Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous “sarcomas” _ malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.
_ A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent _ a result the researchers described as “surprising.”
_ A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors’ cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, “These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence” of cancer.
_ In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors “are clearly due to the implanted microchips,” the authors wrote.
In the handful of dogs I’ve had them in (it’s usually mandatory for export), two migrated and one formed a substancial cyst over the chip. Two years ago I was shown a dog who had endured a foreign body reaction, her body scarred by long running rivers of infection that ran from the chip implantation site down her back and ribcage. They had been treating it for months.
Now, cancerous tumours. I can’t say I’m surprised.
“What’s the difference between OSM and the New York Times editorial page?”
“While I can well believe that al Qaeda has no clue about America—they rely on the MSM, after all—how does one explain the apparent mixup of the Vietnam chronology? It reads as if the evil Rumsfeld started the war and then the noble Kennedy was elected to stop it, but then he caved to the forces of monopoly capitalism. Except that the evil Rumsfeld—the Nixon/Ford Rumsfeld—came AFTER the noble Kennedy who fell from grace to make some money for his impoverished family.
Related – has anyone seen Rove lately?
This too – “There’s an echo in the room…”
Hillary Hears A Hsu
I’m following this story for the same reason everyone else is – the gratuitous punnitry!
Mr. Hsu’s past, illuminated by documents fished out of storage at various courts and interviews with former partners and friends, is full of failed businesses, a kidnapping, lawsuits and bouts of financial ruin followed by hard-to-explain recovery.
[…]
Just how or why he got involved in politics is unclear. In 2004, Mr. Hsu donated $2,000, the most then allowed, to the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry.
Mr. Hsu began contributing generously to an array of Democrats, including California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu. He donated $5,000 to Bob Hertzberg, who was running for mayor of Los Angeles. When Bill Richardson ran for governor of New Mexico, Mr. Hsu was among the top contributors, donating $37,000 in all. Mr. Richardson, like most other recipients, now says he’ll donate it to charity.
In 2004, Mr. Hsu began giving to federal candidates, including Mrs. Clinton and Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. He also donated checks from others.
And he frequently threw parties. To celebrate the Democrats’ victories in Congress, the Senate and gubernatorial races, he rented a New York club called Buddakan. With several governors and others in the audience, Mr. Hsu grabbed the microphone, according to someone who was there, and ordered anyone who wasn’t supporting Hillary Clinton to “get out!”
[…]
Mr. Hsu also is listed on the roster of members for the Clinton Global Initiative — an effort by Mrs. Clinton’s husband, the former president, to recruit people to tackle problems like poverty and disease — in 2005 and 2006. Members are required to donate $15,000 a year.
The story details a trail of shakey ventures and burned investors. “Mr. Woo met Mr. Hsu” – It’s like the Wall Street Journal meets Dr. Seuss!
Related: A Boy Named Hsu.
Update – Beltway Blogroll: A Man Of Many Puns
“There is no denying”
Cosh;
… that what is about to happen to Tory is somewhat unjust. He may, after all, end up as the first Conservative party leader anywhere in Canada to lose an election because he advocated relativism and multiculturalism. These are twin creeds that Liberals and public-school teachers are happy to profess when the subject is government or sexual morality, but just watch how quickly they are abandoned when someone challenges the science curriculum.
Reader Tips
Matt Sanchez – the Taliban of Tolerance.
Mr Me pushing his wares on the taxpayer’s dime?
A flock of plastic turkeys. Remember this one the next time media types look down their noses at bloggers for our “lack of fact checking”.
Ex-ACLU chief gets 7 years for kiddie porn.
Add yours in the comments.