3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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First, the easy part. There is no possible way the images of joyous Iraqis holding aloft their ink-stained fingers in celebration of democracy is anything but a good thing. Say what you will about the wisdom of the war or its planning and execution (and there’s plenty to nit-pick if you’re in the mood), but it is clear that many, many Iraqis were ready to select the leader(s) to govern with the consent of the governed for the first time in most voters’ lives.
That the turnout was so high in a dangerous situation is marvelous. Most people are using the 8 million voters figure, which works out to roughly 57% of the more or less accepted 14 million eligible voter figure. And that doesn’t take into consideration the low turnout in Sunni regions, whether that low turnout is because that’s where the terrorist/insurgents are operating or because the Sunnis feel left out of the process or because the Sunni leaders are bitter about losing their control over the rest of Iraqi society. To give some sort of baseline for these figures, consider that the Census Bureau reports that turnout in the 2000 US Presidential election was approximately 60% of eligible voters (111 million votes out of 186 million citizens age 18 or older). And we didn’t face 20% of our population sitting out the election, or threats of RPG attack.
So the success of the election is a Good Thing, and something to be celebrated, even as we acknowledge the challenges ahead. The newly seated assembly will have to draft a Constitution, will have to involve the Sunni minority, will have to move toward securing their society. The "insurgency" will have to be quelled as much as is possible. Democratic institutions will have to be built from the ground up. All difficult tasks to be sure, but not orders of magnitude more difficult than the tasks facing other democracies "imposed by force." Seems to have worked out OK in Germany and Japan. Freedom and Democracy are messy things under the best of circumstances, but their spread is always to be celebrated. Because, after all, is not the alternative worse?
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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Man peed way out of avalanche. One of those headlines I’m sure has never been used before.
He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on
holiday, and after cracking one open to think about the problem he
realised he could urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.
He
said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below
the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my
kidneys and liver hurt. But I’m glad the beer I took on holiday turned
out to be useful and I managed to get out of there."
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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Which Simpsons character are you? I’m Dr. Hibbert.
Well, if there’s one consolation, it’s that you will feel no pain at
all until some time tomorrow evening, when your heart suddenly explodes.
Thanks, Pennywit. That was fun.
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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What music would you load on your MP3-playing toilet? Here are some selections from iTunes:
The Toilet Song - The Bouncing Souls
The Toilet Paper Song - Dennis Gurley
My Toilet and I - Monty Harper
It was in the Toilet - Canadian Studmuffin
I Don’t Want Anything in the Toilet - Negativland
Via Gizmodo.
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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Via Flea, we have 20 Questions to a better personality. Here’s my result:
You are a SRDF–Sober
Rational
Destructive
Follower. This makes you a Fountain of Knowledge.
You are
cool, analytical, intelligent and completely
unfunny. Sometimes you slice through
conversation with a cutting observation that
causes silence and sidelong glances. You make
a strong and lasting impression on everyone
you meet, the quality of which depends more
on their personality than yours.
You may feel persecuted, as you can
become a target for fun. Still, you are
focused enough on your work and secure enough
in your abilities not to worry overly.
You are productive and invaluable to
those you work for. You are loyal, steadfast,
and conscientious. Your grooming is
impeccable. You are in good shape.
You are kind of a tool, but
you get things done. You are probably a week
away from snapping.
Addendum, 2004/07/19:
this fits me 99%, there is a slight
inaccuracy however. We are not necessarily
completely unfunny. If we have a sense of
humor (I do) it surfaces on the occasion with
well-timed, completely dry, very sarcastic,
wit. - Chase
Of the 83374 people who have taken this quiz since tracking began (8/17/2004), 7.5 % are this type.
Wackiness: 24/100
Rationality: 72/100
Constructiveness: 32/100
Leadership: 32/100
I object to being called "unfunny". I’m not funny like Iowahawk or Jeff are funny, but everyone has their moments, right? And since I’m persecuted, you’d expect me to be close to snapping…
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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Who do you think has more credibility and prescience on Sunday’s elections? Is it Teddy Kennedy:
We all hope for the best from Sunday’s election. The Iraqis have a right to determine their own future. But Sunday’s elections are not a cure for the violence and instability. Unless the Sunni and all the communities in Iraq believe they have a stake in the outcome and a genuine role in drafting the new Iraqi constitution, the election could lead to greater alienation, greater escalation, greater death - for us and for the Iraqis. …
Or is it Chaldean Bishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk:
[T]he current government is provisional but, after
the elections, it will be the result of popular vote. Iraqis have the
opportunity to choose their leaders, those they prefer. The elections are
something immense and new. Nothing of the kind has happened in the past 50
years: first because of clashes and revolts, then due to 35 years of
dictatorship. There has never been freedom of expression. But now, anything is
possible: If there are people and parties arguing and clashing, that is
because they are free to do so. Now, Iraqis must learn to discuss in a civil
manner. But the people of Iraq have never been trained for coexistence; they
have always lived in the midst of violence: three wars, a dictatorship, 13
years of embargo. This is why freedom is not used in a responsible way and
problems arise.
Sunday’s vote (which has actually started already for Iraqi expatriates in Australia and elsewhere) is rife with both promise and uncertainty, with hope and dread, with opportunity for both freedom for the oppressed and assaults by the would-be oppressors. I am with the optimists on this - the transition to democracy in Baghdad has certainly been messy, victory is far from ensured, and I retain my doubts about the mission that I harbored at the onset. Freedom itself, however, is never a bad thing, and those who would seek to bring freedom to others deserve some measure of praise, even where criticism is also warranted.
Hat tip for the Bishop Sako quote to Belmont Club.
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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There’s been a lot of commentary about the horrible Ward Churchill, Professor at the University of Colorado, who on 9/12/01 appeared to try to justify the WTC and Pentagon attacks:
There is simply no argument to be made that the Pentagon personnel killed on September 11 fill that bill. The building and those inside comprised military targets, pure and simple. As to those in the World Trade Center . . . Well, really. Let’s get a grip here, shall we?…To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and
consequences to others of what they were involved in–and in many cases
excelling at–it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More
likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and
self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and
stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of
sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh
of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other
way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the
little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers,
I’d really be interested in hearing about it.
Greg Djerejian at the Belgravia Dispatch has more, including the good professor’s argument that the mass murder of more than 3000 was humanitarian, medicinal, even coaxing. Greg concludes that there are brad conclusions to be drawn, not only about the noxious state of the Academy, but about the Left in general:
I suspect that a byproduct of the 60’s, that is to say a heightening of a postmodern
condition characterized by incredulity to metanarratives, rank
skepticism regarding the existence of Truth capital T; the moronic
obsession with political correctness and debunking the baddies of the
dead, white, male canon, the obsession with rights, rights rights! (but
never talk of corollary responsibilities), and so on–all contribute to
an intellectual climate characterized by Derrida-like gaming about,
pastiche and bricolage, relativism and innate distrust of ‘power
structures’, a detached, ironic stance.
There is a certain similarity between opposition to Bush’s democratization policies and Reagan’s call for the outright defeat of communism. Both are idealistic policies that many object to, preferring the realpolitik of "containment." That is true of some, but certainly not all, Bush opponents. Most anti-war leftists claim to have supported Bush in Afghanistan but to have gotten off the train on the way to Iraq. Maybe this is true; maybe it’s just as disingenuous as the left accuses the Bush Doctrine of being. Certainly the left felt a deep animus toward Bush even before 9/11 - how could this yahoo, after all, have displaced the intellectual royalty of the Clinton years? Clearly his supporters are even dumber than he is, and he only "won" the "election" through a combination of dishonesty, vote fraud, and manipulation of the "sheeple", right? Our self-proclaimed intellectual betters are constantly amazed that the great unwashed masses don’t welcome the chance to be led by our superiors.
Greg makes good points, so as they say, Read The Whole Thing.
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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This is why I depend on blogs - to remind me of things I miss. Michele reminds us that Nineteen Years Ago Today, the Shuttle Challenger exploded. CNN has archived video of the explosion. Here’s some of what the NY Times had to say on January 29, 1986:
The space shuttle Challenger exploded in a ball of fire shortly after it left the launching pad today, and all seven astronauts on board were lost.
The worst accident in the history of the American space program, it was witnessed by thousands of spectators who watched in wonder, then horror, as the ship blew apart high in the air.
Flaming debris rained down on the Atlantic Ocean for an hour after the explosion, which occurred just after 11:39 A.M. It kept rescue teams from reaching the area where the craft would have fallen into the sea, about 18 miles offshore.
It seemed impossible that anyone could have lived through the terrific explosion 10 miles in the sky, and officials said this afternoon that there was no evidence to indicate that the five men and two women aboard had survived.
No Ideas Yet as to Cause
There were no clues to the cause of the accident. The space agency offered no immediate explanations, and said it was suspending all shuttle flights indefinitely while it conducted an inquiry. Officials discounted speculation that cold weather at Cape Canaveral or an accident several days ago that slightly damaged insulation on the external fuel tank might have been a factor.
Americans who had grown used to the idea of men and women soaring into space reacted with shock to the disaster, the first time United States astronauts had died in flight. President Reagan canceled the State of the Union Message that had been scheduled for tonight, expressing sympathy for the families of the crew but vowing that the nation’s exploration of space would continue.
Killed in the explosion were the mission commander, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee; the pilot, Comdr. Michael J. Smith of the Navy; Dr. Judith A. Resnik; Dr. Ronald E. McNair; Lieut. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka of the Air Force; Gregory B. Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.
It’s really a cliche, but this was one of those moments that define a generation. Not as tragic as a president being shot or a terrorist act, but people of about my age really can tell you where they were when it happened. I, for instance, was in the speech and debate room at Topeka High School in Topeka, Kansas. We had just moved there from Ohio, and I was early in my senior year of high school. Someone came running into the room to announce the shuttle had exploded. As you might imagine, this hit the kids in that room a little hard, as debaters are (1) geekier than most, and thus followers of the space program and (2) attuned to current events and news coverage. Some of us refused to believe the news until the principal announced it over the PA. Now, of course, you could view real time coverage on the internet, but even then, the news spread virally and quickly.
That disaster had even more poignant impact because we had just moved from the hometown of Challenger astronaut Judith Resnick. Reagan’s speech to the nation (transcript, MP3), with explicit references to the schoolchildren who watched it live on TV, was one of his most memorable:
Ladies and gentlemen, I’d planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we’ve never lost an astronaut in flight; we’ve never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we’re thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I’ll meet it with joy.” They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.
I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute. We’ll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.”
There’s a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.” Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake’s, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth” to "touch the face of God.”
The latter lines are a quote from High Flight, by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., an American who served with the Royal Canadian Air Force in WWII. Several months after composing the poem and mailing it to his parents, on December 11, 1941 his Spitfire collided with another plane over England and Magee, only 19 years of age, crashed to his death. Perhaps the best way to honor the Challenger Seven and those who followed them is to quote it in full:
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Godspeed.
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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Today’s Rocky Mountain News letters page features this novel theory on the cause of the tsunami:
‘A bad case of fleas’
The act of war deliberately and thoughtlessly wounds, poisons and handicaps the life-sustaining womb of all mankind. The Earth reacts, as any living thing would, when attacked. Earthquake, tsunami, flood, tornado, hurricane, mudslide, and resulting loss of life may be the natural emotional response.
We must behave responsibly and live peacefully or we may all be "shaken" off like a bad case of fleas.
Millie Mitchell
Fort Collins
Got that? The earthquake and resulting tsunami that killed more than 283,000 people was the "natural emotional response" of earth to our warmongering ways.
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3 years, 10 months ago,,
by Fred (,
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For at least the second time, FTed Turner has compared Fox News and Rupert Murdoch to Hitler:
CNN founder Ted Turner is comparing FOX News Channel to Adolph Hitler , insisting that while FOX News may be popular, Adolph Hitler was also popular when he came to power — was elected to power just before World War II
A FOX News spokesperson says, "Ted Turner is understandably bitter
having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind. We wish him
well."
Of course, Ted Turner’s grasp of history is about as strong as his common sense, in that Hitler was never popularly elected, but was appointed Reichkanzler by President von Hindenburg in January 1933. The only time he ran for popular election, in the 1932 presidential election, he was defeated by Hindenburg (Hitler received 35% of the vote in the second round of voting). The Nazis did receive pluralities in the Reichstag elections of July and November 1932 and March 1933 (44%).
Recall that Turner has previously challenged Murdoch to a pay-per-view boxing match and said of Murdoch that "like the late fuhrer he controls the media for his own personal benefit." Recall also that in 1999, when asked if he had ever met the Pope, he responded by showing the audience his foot and asking if they had ever seen a "Polish mine detector".
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First, the easy part. There is no possible way the images of joyous Iraqis holding aloft their ink-stained fingers in celebration of democracy is anything but a good thing. Say what you will about the wisdom of the war or its planning and execution (and there’s plenty to nit-pick if you’re in the mood), but it is clear that many, many Iraqis were ready to select the leader(s) to govern with the consent of the governed for the first time in most voters’ lives.