September 2005 Archives

This is a spectacular sunset that was captured from the top of Mauna Kea just after 9/11. I was in Hawaii on vacation when "everything changed^tm". Luckily, we were there for another week while all the airline insanity played itself out. One of the ways we passed the time was going to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain smack in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

And what an observatory "platform" Mauna Kea is. Laminar flow up until the "bump" of the big island. 14,000 feet - a significant chunk of the atmosphere lay below the instruments. Couldn't have asked for a better spot for looking at the stars.

So, how big is the insurgency? Over at Global Guerrillas, John Robb notes that the Iraq insurgency estimates reported by the military do not seem to mesh with the reality of the situation.

* The frequency, dispersion, and depth of attacks indicates a large force.
* The resiliency of the insurgency despite substantial casualties and arrests (estimated at 1-2,000 a month) suggests a larger force.
* The number of men who have become effectively "stateless" and "jobless" is very large.

He points to a report by an associate of Pat Lang (Robb believes the associate is quite likely DIA). The report is rather disturbing and if true shows that the pollyannas on the right are leading us down the garden path of pain and that we're all in for a rather large chocolate surprise.

Given the size of these groups before the war, and the relatively light casualties they suffered during the short campaign, these groups represent a large pool of unscathed participants. Additionally, the ongoing actions of the current government of Iraq to exclude these men from civil life has left them effectively "stateless" and therefore likely very resentful due to falling standards of living and power. I have taken the numbers in the analysis and did some light corrections and additional analysis. The table to the left shows a weighted average of the likely participation of these men in ongoing guerrilla activities. Also, I've added a estimate of the number of Sunni men outside these groups (in tribes and gangs) that are also likely participants. The net result is that we are likely facing an insurgency of 184,800 men.

Perhaps this is why the Generals who were once so optimistic about the chances to significantly draw down the US troop presence in Iraq next year are quickly beating a hasty retreat from these positions.

Best use of Tacitus. Ever.

And so, of course, Tacitus’ attempt to catch supporters of reproductive rights in a contradiction is only useful as an illustration if you’re trying to explain to someone what “begging the question” means.

<heh>

Read the whole thing. You'll be glad you did.

Why does this surprise anyone?

Is that a horse head in your bed or are you just glad to see my PAC?

We know what you are, we're just questioning that you have such a high price

Give me 500 cc's of Terry Schiavo. Stat!

Because they didn't say pretty please with sugar on top

Is conspiracy spelled with a Q?

Turns out that having god on your side isn't all it's cracked up to be

Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."

"Don't Be Evil"

That phrase comes from Google's motto - the point being that Google is a company that is striving to do good and to not do evil. Via Henry @ Crooked Timber comes a rather interesting article by the Rocky Mountain News columnist David Kopel entitled U.S. Web firms aid in repression.

Henry brings up the point that things are likely going to get worse before they get better.

We’re going to see more and more of these problems cropping up. People used to think that the Internet would empower firms and other private actors against the state, helping the spread of democracy, free markets and all that. What we’re seeing instead is that firms and private actors have an interest in keeping powerful states happy, regardless of the impact on global prosperity, freedom and so on. This has always been the case – but it’s being exacerbated by the Internet. I’ve just written a paper which talks about what this means for international politics (although it doesn’t discuss the particulars of the Yahoo! case).

Since I work for House Harkonnen, I've basically given up on the quaint "Do No Evil" shtick that Google is pushing. Still, it's a phrase that stirs a lonely cell or two that are still left alive in that deep black pit where my heart used to be before I sold my soul to further the prospects of world domination by Baron Harkonnen.

In Evolution Suit, a Web of Faith, Law and Science

Mr. Thompson said his side would prove that intelligent design was not creationism because it did not mention God or the Bible and never posited the creator's identity.

"It's clear they are two different theories," Mr. Thompson said. "Creationism normally starts with the Holy Scripture, the Book of Genesis, then you develop a scientific theory that supports it, while intelligent design looks at the same kind of empirical data that any scientist looks at," and concludes that complex mechanisms in nature "appear designed because it is designed."

It's like the entire world has flipped its brain on hold and is running around like a bunch of crazed lemmings.

This is a picture I've been meaning to get for quite some time. This is the famed Devil's Slide that lies between Montara and Pacifica along Highway One. You can see the location on Google Maps here. That big triangular piece in the center jutting out is San Pedro Point in the picture.

The stretch of one that I took this from is basically falling off the coast. Every winter brings the battle closer to the sea when the rains pound the slide and a good part of the hillside comes sliding down. A few years back, during some really heavy rain, good old mom nature managed to do enough damage that it took CalTrans over 6 months to repair.

Right now, they're finally getting to the hard work of replacing this stretch of road with a tunnel that goes from Pacifica to Montara. They claim they're going to keep the original section of the road open to bikes and hikers but I can't imagine it will be very long before it finally succumbs to entropy and slides off into the pacific.

Taking this picture is kind of putting yourself at the mercy of nature as well. The section of road is quite narrow and I'm essentially standing on the edge of a crumbling cliff about 250 feet or so over the crashing ocean below - not the best situation for someone with a severe case of vertigo.

But the day was stunningly beautiful (we're now starting the best time out on the coast where it seems that every day during October is made in heaven). Seeing as how I hardly ever seem to think about stopping and have my camera in the car and I'm passing by when the sun is blazing beautiful in the sky, I figured I'd risk it. Seeing as how my wife wasn't in the car to tell me what a stupid fool I was to go out there on the edge, the luck plane was indeed tilting.

Here's the view from Google Earth (coordinates -122.5152945796469, 37.58248899059142,0). It isn't a completely accurate representation of what the slide looks like, but it's close - just imagine the cliff far more vertical. The way it's portrayed here, it's almost a gentle slope from the highway to the rocky shore below.

It's not.

Go check it out.

Can't wait to see how the Parrot-based community reacts.

You know. That THING.

That I sent you.

Well, did you?

I know that it's not the kind of thing that'll be noticed in a Friday news cycle - especially during yet another Cat 5 hurricane and the attending evacuation fiasco of over a million desperate people from the path. But hey, this shit is still important. And like everything that you ignore that you shouldn't ignore, this festering wound is filling with pus.

Army to probe new Iraq abuse allegations

The Army has opened an investigation into a Fort Bragg soldier’s allegations that he witnessed and heard about widespread prisoner abuse — including torture and a beating with a baseball bat — while serving at a base in Iraq.

Just another routine Friday document dump. Well, except for the torture and beating with a baseball bat.

Still.

The abuse, one of the sergeants said, was like a game and a way for soldiers to work out their frustrations. The soldiers said there was a great deal of confusion about what types of treatment were allowed under the Geneva convention, and senior officers provided little guidance.

So, blowing off steam involves torture these days. It's a game.

Kind of like Baseball. They even use the same bat.

You know things are bad when the Saudis start freaking out.

Saudi Warns U.S. Iraq May Face Disintegration

Prince Saud argued: "But what I am trying do is say that unless something is done to bring Iraqis together, elections alone won't do it. A constitution alone won't do it." Prince Saud is a son of the late King Faisal and has been foreign minister for 30 years.

The prince said he served on a council of Iraq's neighboring countries - Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Kuwait as well as Saudi Arabia - "and the main worry of all the neighbors" was that the potential disintegration of Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish states would "bring other countries in the region into the conflict."

Turkey, he noted, has long threatened to send troops into northern Iraq if the Kurds there declare independence. Iran, he asserted, is already sending money and weapons into the Shiite-controlled south of Iraq and would probably step up its relationship, should the south become independent. Saudi Arabia has long been wary of Iran's influence in the region, given that it is a Shiite theocracy.

"This is a very dangerous situation," he said, "a very threatening situation."

Another great one by Danziger capturing our brilliant strategy in Afghanistan and the amazing success it's having.

I still have the cartoon in my collection - unfortunately, this was before the Internet and the whole notion of GIFs, JPGs became common place - which shows Washington in tatters with the caption: "Hurricane Bush-Reagan: 4 trillion dollars worth of damage".

So it was with that fond memory that I found today's cartoon by Tony Auth.

Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

I know this is probably obvious to anyone with brain one, but I think it should really become one of the dominant themes of whatever party with a spine replaces the democrats (crap! did I really say that out loud? fuck Joe Lieberman while I'm at it).

Anyways, what I think should be manifestly obvious to anyone with more than a single active neuron is the simple fact that despite their plaintive claims to the contrary, Republicans - at least the Republican party that has defined itself over the past 20 years - not only hates competition, they run in blind fear whenever there is even the hint of competition.

They're a bunch of wimps in the most literal meaning of the term.

They *own* all three branches of government - literally and figuratively - and if you count the limp wristed, access worshiping jack asses that make up the bulk of the media, they own all four estates of our our collective. Hands down.

So why are they so fucking scared? Because they're a bunch of cry babies who can't stand competition.

Ye gods. Sometimes I wonder how on earth it is that humans have survived for as long as they have. Still, every once in a while I get that warm feeling in my heart when some group of innocents embark upon a path of learning an enlightenment.

Mark Schmidt tells us one such tale about the stirrings of knowledge by those on the right wing of American blogging politics.

A Million Here, A Million There

After just a few days, the project has identified over $14 billion in spending that could be cut, a small down payment on the $200 billion reconstruction project. And a lot of it is true waste, mostly the earmarked projects in HUD and Transportation spending that were under control in the late 1990s but have exploded recently. (Who knew there were so many bike trails being built?)

Wonder Twins Power Unite!

Because, there's nothing like the combined power of the right wing blogosphere to get down to the raw issue - to uncover the seedy underbelly of government waste.

Or, maybe not.

But cut all these million-dollar boondoggles and you would still never have anything close to the cost of reconstruction. I did a quick skim of the list, and there are only three items that amount to more than bike trails. One is the seismic upgrade of the Golden Gate bridge, a billion-dollar undertaking which its would-be cutter says could be paid for by raising tolls. One participant proposes to eliminate all domestic violence programs (and runs an anti-feminist blog apparently dedicated to the repeal of the Violence Against Women Act) – that would save $3.1 billion over five years. Another wants to cut a light rail project in Charlotte, NC, but the $2.8 billion ascribed to that project includes state as well as federal costs. Federal funding for that was only $30 million last year. So just by looking closely at the two biggest suggestions, that $14 billion becomes $8 billion.

But this project should continue, because it will provide participants with an education in the actual insignificance of domestic discretionary spending, of which "pork" is a small part, in the bigger context of war, reconstruction, and tax cuts. Eventually participants will grasp the truth of what budget expert Stan Collender writes this week in his National Journal column

So, we can take the tact of the valiant members of the Fighting 101st - scraping, trimming and ultimately hacking programs that are seriously needed. Or we can come up with 145 BILLION dollars with one fell swoop.

There's lot of other good stuff at the Center on Budget site today, including a paper showing that just the two tax cuts that are scheduled to go into effect in January, and that benefit almost exclusively the very wealthy (97% of benefits go to households with incomes over $200,000), would cost $146 billion over ten years. How about that as a place to start paying for reconstruction? Also, a good breakdown of the demographics of people affected by Katrina, by poverty, race, lack of vehicle, etc.

The Right Wing BlogoSphere: "Looking for our keys only where the light is since 2001"

Courage, my Right Wing Friends. Courage.

I must say, this would go a long way in explaining quite a bit that has consistently puzzled me throughout life.

Psychopaths could be best financial traders?

"Wanted: psychopaths to make a killing in the markets."

Such an advert will not be appearing in the world's newspapers any time soon, but it may have a ring of truth after research revealed the best wheeler-dealers could well be "functional psychopaths."

A team of U.S. scientists has found the emotionally impaired are more willing to gamble for high stakes and that people with brain damage may make good financial decisions, the Times newspaper reported Monday.

In a study of investors' behavior 41 people with normal IQs were asked to play a simple investment game. Fifteen of the group had suffered lesions on the areas of the brain that affect emotions.

The result was those with brain damage outperformed those without.

Well, I think the fat lady is about to sing. Defense Weekly is clearing the collective throat of the US in preparation.

‘Things Are Getting Worse By the Day’ - Undeclared Iraq Civil War Signals Worse to Come

”Even if U.S. and Iraqi officials do not want to admit it, the facts on the ground are overwhelming and they do indicate that Iraq has plunged into a civil war, and things are getting worse by the day,” said Qassem Jaafar, a Doha, Qatar-based Middle East security analyst.

Jaafar listed the symptoms of a civil war as:
• A weak central government with incompetent security apparatus.
• Spread of sectarian and ethnic killings.
• Existence of armed sectarian and ethnic militias.
• High threat perception among the sectarian and ethnic groups of the country.
• Insistence of each group on its demands.
• Foreign interference and support to feuding groups.

Jaafar said all these symptoms are present in Iraq now.

But don’t worry! It’s always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

Some experts say the United States might eventually sacrifice Iraq’s unity to maintain Washington’s interests in the country.

“I believe some U.S. officials have started entertaining the idea of dividing Iraq on ethnic and sectarian lines to ensure stability and facilitate their exit after establishing some military bases in the oil-rich Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq,” Attiyah said. “In this case, Washington would blame the Sunnis and other neighboring states like Iran and Syria for the breakup of the country.”

I guess that’s what they mean by “accountability” in Washington these days.

Of course, this is always a great sign

Using enemy body counts as a benchmark, the U.S. military claimed gains against Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led fighters last week even as they mounted their deadliest attacks on Iraq's capital.

But by many standards, including increasingly high death tolls in insurgent strikes, Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, could claim to be the side that's gaining after 2 1/2 years of war. August was the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops.

This has always been one of my favorites, taken just 2 days short of three years ago in September of 2002.

Morat has some clear thoughts on the matter of responsiblity which is worth the read.

In short, the bulk of the blame lies with the Feds. The state and local governments requested -- days ahead of time -- a declaration of emergency. They fully expected -- and rightfully so -- that FEMA, the Guard, and the Army and Navy would arrive as soon as the storm cleared to provide basic services like food, water, medical care, electricity, and shelter for the residents unable to evacuate.

It appears the single biggest mistake made in Louisiana was to expect that federal resources would arrive quickly and competently. They failed to plan for a President who stayed on vacation for two days after his largest port city was wiped off the map, for an executive branch that appeared to be completely on vacation, and for FEMA to spend the first three days preventing any other aid from arriving.

New Orleans managed to evacuate it's citizens, and to get many others to shelters. The bulk of the dying didn't start until several days after Katrina made landfall -- a time period when any competent administration would have had the situation well in hand, instead of focusing on managing the "political impact" of fiddling while Rome burned.

But, but what about the FEDERALISM?

More inside baseball snarkiness below the fold.

Or, slather the skin from executed Chinese prisoners for that vampire fresh look.

A British newspaper said that a Chinese cosmetics company was using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe.

Truly, we live in an age of miracle and wonder.

Season starts tomorrow night next week. Just rewatched the season finale of Lost tonight.

Going to be good.

No, this isn't a photoshopped image.

Not particularly sure why, but this post about simply acting like an adult is consistenly the most popular page on this site, day after day for about half a year.

Just wondering.

Here's a great tip for all reporters looking for a completely new - and extremely important - angle on the situation in New Orleans. As far as I can tell, no one has yet mentioned the biological research labs located in and around NOLA. For example, in nearby Covington, Tulane University runs the Tulane National Primate Research Center, a cluster of Level-3 biological labs containing around 5,000 monkeys, most of which are housed in outdoor cages. According to an article in Tulane University Magazine, "The primary areas of focus today at the Tulane National Primate Research Center are infectious diseases, including biodefense related work, gene therapy, reproductive biology and neuroscience. The Tulane primate center is playing a key role in the federal strategic plan for biodefense research." [Google cache | Memory Hole mirror.]

So what happened to these diseased monkeys living outside in cages? Granted, Covington didn't get hit nearly as hard as NOLA, but it still got hit.

Somehow, I'm reminded of the initial days of the Iraq war - right after the fall of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Insurgents Seize Key Town in Iraq

Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, tribal leaders and other residents in the city and surrounding villages said.

A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation."

Oh, and special kudos to John@powerline (no link, you know where to go) for the most idiotic commentary so far.

It is not clear to me why the terrorists would deem it a good idea to surface in force like this; one would think it makes them easier to kill. But perhaps they think they need to grab a headline or two and let Iraqis know they are still formidable, despite ongoing losses.

WHOOOOOEEEEEE! Can't you just smell the brain rot?

The Bursting Point

It appears I can no longer stand behind Abu Ghraib, the failure of planning in Iraq, the intelligence failures, the corporate scandals, the media scandals, a general fuck-the-poor mentality, an attempted evisceration of Social Security, outing and active CIA agent for personal pique, the no-bid looting of the Iraqi and American treasure-houses at the hands of the Vice President’s cronies...

However, I still stand firmly behind the administration's plan for plundering the planet, tax cuts for billionaires in the face of war, natural disaster and record deficits, and the burning the last vestiges of a strong federal government to the ground to pave the way for Big Business and Big Religion to run amok.

Stupid poetic justice!

Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost in droves.

World stunned as US struggles with Katrina

The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.

Hot on the heels of the whole Iraqi occupation fiasco which pushed us face down in the mud, removing the sheen of US invulnerability from our nation like a sub Saharan sandstorm we find that there are lower depths we can plumb due to our current Administration's preternatural ability to ignore reality.

The pictures of the catastrophe -- which has killed hundreds and possibly thousands -- have evoked memories of crises in the world's poorest nations such as last year's tsunami in Asia, which left more than 230,000 people dead or missing.

But some view the response to those disasters more favorably than the lawless aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."

You know you're stepping up on the world stage when people start thinking that a tsunami which killed over a quarter of a million people, which had pictures of hundreds of corpses washing up on the shore is looked upon with more favor than the disaster in the back yard of the richest country on earth.

But it keeps getting better.

"A modern metropolis sinking in water and into anarchy -- it is a really cruel spectacle for a champion of security like Bush," France's left-leaning Liberation newspaper said.

"(Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden, nice and dry in his hideaway, must be killing himself laughing."

Damn those French! Must they always bring up Osama at a time like this? Can't they just leave the guy out of the discussion like we do here in the US?

David Fordham, 33, a hospital anesthetist speaking at a London underground rail station, said he had spent time in America and was not surprised the country had struggled to cope.

"Maybe they just thought they could sit it out and everything would be okay," he said.

I think that's precisely what this administration thought.

After all, these are the same jackals who thought we'd be greeted as liberators in Iraq.

So, I'm out of the country on business again and have only just been plugged back into the information traffic jam. Man,it ain't pretty. I'm watching CNN and it's non stop Katrina coverage. Lord. Words fail. And on top of just the sheer humanity of the situation, it's truly surreal to hear Chris Lawrence talk with the female CNN anchor (don't have her name). The images pouring in are just insane. It's literally impossible to not notice that you don't see a single white person in the aftermath. Okay,that's not completely true. I think I saw one or two (I'm only sure about one - I'm throwing in the other out of sheer probability).

And it's pretty hard to stop drawing the obvious political conclusions - i.e. that we're completely unable to handle disasters of this scale. There's the bizarro world right wing perspective best represented by Jonah Goldberg - i.e. the Social Darwinist view that "evolution happens, baby". Saving property, it appears, is the top priority on the right - people are expendable.

All I got to say is that I bet Ussama bin Laden is laughing up a storm. The US looks like a complete and incompetent boob. Four years after 9/11, it's still the same old story - political appointees at FEMA unable to deal with a real emergency and so the aftermath of the emergency transforms into an "apocalyptic" vision straight out of revelations. Hey, I just heard that on CNN, so it must be true.

Still, you gotta love the right wing apologists for the war. After all, it is simply not the case that we're hollowing out our military capability with this insane war in Iraq. As Jeff will tell you, anyone who is complaining about the lack of the national guard are the same people who would be appeasing Hitler, Pol Pot and any number of evil people who are somehow equivalent to Saddam (hey, it was only tens of millions in WWII compared to... Well, compared to however many that Saddam killed back in 92 or so. Because you have to remember that Saddam == Hitler). Morons.

Predictably, Kevin Drum is calling on everyone to stop their political sniping. If you ever needed an object example of why the Democrats are permanently relegated to minority party status, Kevin will fulfill that need. Just remember the golden rule: "If there's obvious advantage to be gained so you can stop the insanity, remember to keep your big mouth shut". It's only fair.

Okay, so what the heck are you reading this drivel for? Get ready for gasoline supply crunches and the escalating horror out of the gulf due to "just the way things are" (no political interpretation can be made, remember).

That laughter you hear in the background? That's Ussama figuring that our pitiful ability to respond to disasters will ensure that whatever attacks they may be planning will be magnified almost beyond belief due to our complete incompetence and hollowing out of our national guard.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. After all, the most important thing is to pull together and stand behind the political forces in power so they don't get any criticism in this their time of greatest need.

And let us remember that as bad as this disaster gets, this does not - in any way - buttress the notion that government is useful. It's still the most evil thing on earth.

Update: Do see James Wolcott's excellent piece on the politics around Katrina.

No, this is the time for politics, none better, because I can tell you just from being out of NY a few days that a lot of people in this country are shocked and sobered by New Orleans, but they're also worried and pissed off. They're making the connection between the money, manpower, and resources expended in Iraq and how raggedy-ass the rescue effort has been in the Gulf. If you don't say it now when people's nerves are raw and they're paying full attention, it'll be too late once the waters receded and the media-emoting "healing process" begins.