Sunday, September 25, 2011
Ponies, ponies everywhere.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Snuff: Fact or Fiction.
While I am no expert on these matters, I can say that though snuff films proper (i.e., porn movies in which one of the actors is killed as the finale) have been rumored to exist for decades, I have yet to hear of or see any real ones, nor do I know anyone who has or can say with certainty that they have seen a real one and with the advancements in movie making nowadays it would be hard for the average viewer to tell a real one from a fake one. However, and I think many people can attest to this, video taped murders and suicides do exist and are readily available on the internet. The video of the “unknown Russian soldier” being beheaded by Chechnya rebels is quite real, so if you have seen it you can now say that you have seen an actual murder (and a very horrible one at that). The video of Budd Dwyers shooting himself at a press conference is also very real (and very horrible), as those here who have seen it can attest. And of course, we now are all aware of the tape of the monstrous Jihadists beheading of Nick Berg in Iraq. Short of seeing an actual murder in front of you, these videos are as real as it gets and they are truly horrifying, so I DO NOT suggest watching them if you have a weak stomach or are prone to depression or nightmares. They will ruin your week.
I do have to say that I am surprised at the naivety of some of the people, who are so shocked that such tapes are out there and that people are capable of such things. I’m not saying this to everyone of course. Just those who say they are shocked or surprised by any of this. I didn’t think one could be so naive in this day and age. As far as I know, people have been slaughtering each other with glee and just for kicks since the dawn of our existence on this lonely planet. Read some history folks, it’s all there. The Romans indulged the human appetite for murderous spectacles on a daily basis at one point in their history. Haven’t you “shocked” people seen Gladiator? They didn’t make that up out of thin air you know. Hell, haven’t any of you virginal folks ever heard of the Nazi’s for crying out loud? Some 50 million slaughtered in all sorts of gruesome ways in World War II alone? How about the Spanish Inquisition? The crusades in the Middle Ages? The genocides in Rwanda just a few short years ago. Public executions were entertainment in many places in the world for much of human history (they still are in some places). Dracula was based on a real Romanian Prince known as Vlad the Impaler, due to his penchant for impaling his Turkish prisoners of war on stakes, and placing their heads on pikes along the road to his castle as a warning. What about the genocides in Kosovo, in China, in Turkey, in the "good old" U.S. of A. (I refer to the American Indians). Hell, there has been mass sluaghter in just about every corner of the globe? This is human reality. Our world today is built on the corpses of yesterday’s billions. Sorry if this opens your eyes for the first time to the reality of human depravity, but I think it’s important to understand that the world can be a very dangerous and awful place, that people are capable of truly horrific crimes, because it shows us just why we need civil concepts like justice and culture, especially now when we are steadily on the course to World War III. Anyway, if you want some insight into why people do these things and enjoy watching them or at least are curious to see them, then read history and literature. There are no final answers my search for the truth about snuff films will continue and my findings published here
I do have to say that I am surprised at the naivety of some of the people, who are so shocked that such tapes are out there and that people are capable of such things. I’m not saying this to everyone of course. Just those who say they are shocked or surprised by any of this. I didn’t think one could be so naive in this day and age. As far as I know, people have been slaughtering each other with glee and just for kicks since the dawn of our existence on this lonely planet. Read some history folks, it’s all there. The Romans indulged the human appetite for murderous spectacles on a daily basis at one point in their history. Haven’t you “shocked” people seen Gladiator? They didn’t make that up out of thin air you know. Hell, haven’t any of you virginal folks ever heard of the Nazi’s for crying out loud? Some 50 million slaughtered in all sorts of gruesome ways in World War II alone? How about the Spanish Inquisition? The crusades in the Middle Ages? The genocides in Rwanda just a few short years ago. Public executions were entertainment in many places in the world for much of human history (they still are in some places). Dracula was based on a real Romanian Prince known as Vlad the Impaler, due to his penchant for impaling his Turkish prisoners of war on stakes, and placing their heads on pikes along the road to his castle as a warning. What about the genocides in Kosovo, in China, in Turkey, in the "good old" U.S. of A. (I refer to the American Indians). Hell, there has been mass sluaghter in just about every corner of the globe? This is human reality. Our world today is built on the corpses of yesterday’s billions. Sorry if this opens your eyes for the first time to the reality of human depravity, but I think it’s important to understand that the world can be a very dangerous and awful place, that people are capable of truly horrific crimes, because it shows us just why we need civil concepts like justice and culture, especially now when we are steadily on the course to World War III. Anyway, if you want some insight into why people do these things and enjoy watching them or at least are curious to see them, then read history and literature. There are no final answers my search for the truth about snuff films will continue and my findings published here
Friday, April 29, 2011
The Big Bang.
Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!
"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!
It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!
Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!
Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!
"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!
It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!
Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!
Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
SECOND THOUGHTS ONLY MATTER TO THOSE WHO CONSISTANTLY DEFEND AN INDEFENSIBLE WAR
Defenders of Israel's Gaza onslaught of 2008-9 can barely contain their joy. In a Washington Post op-ed on Friday, Judge Richard Goldstone offered some second thoughts about it that softened his earlier criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza as 'war crimes'" writes J.M. Rosenberg in Foreign Policy Matters April 4 2011.
He continues "In fact, Goldstone altered only one of his original findings. He now says that he has concluded that the Israeli Defense Forces did not intentionally target civilians during attacks in which 1,400 Palestinians died, of whom half were civilians and 400 were children. Rather they were collateral damage, not the intended targets but people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And this 'exoneration' of Israel's behavior has Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and their defenders in Israel and the United States crazily dancing in the end zone. You see, they shout, Goldstone lied all along. We didn't kill all these people on purpose. Hooray for us.
These celebrations tell us infinitely more about the Israeli government and its cutouts here than Goldstone's column does about what happened in Gaza.
Imagine if the United States government was forced to admit that it killed hundreds of innocent people in a few days and that hundreds of that number were kids. Does anyone imagine that our government would pat itself on the back because the killings were deemed unintentional?
No doubt, many many innocent people have been killed at American hands just as at Israel's in Gaza. But it is hard to recall American officials saying that the discovery that the deaths were unintentional exonerated us. As for victory laps such as those being taken by Netanyahu and Barak, they wouldn't happen here.
The only way Goldstone could really exonerate Israel would be to prove that the hundreds of non-combatant dead, including all those kids, were, in fact, not civilians at all. He would have to prove that they were fighters who were killed while engaged in battle with Israel. But not even the Israelis claim that.
No, the civilian dead were indeed civilians and they are still dead. They are dead because the Israeli government made the decision that taking care not to kill innocents would put more Israeli soldiers in harms way.
Elections were coming and the Israeli government felt that the Israeli public would not tolerate a war that took more than few soldiers' lives. So the army would bombard targets from afar; if civilians were killed, so what. The strategy worked. While 1,432 Palestinians were killed, only a dozen Israelis were. That was a ratio that did not hurt any politician's political standing, being almost unprecedented in the history of warfare. (Actually, it suggests that the Gaza was not a war at all, but rather an attack by a powerful army against powerless militants.)
The jubilation over Goldstone's minor edit is also misplaced because the strong opposition felt in most quarters to the Gaza onslaught had nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not the killings of civilians were intentional but that they took place at all. Even if it could be proven that the United Nations school was destroyed by accident, what difference would it make? It was destroyed. Would Israel exonerate Hamas if it, by accident, hit an Israeli hospital when its target was a nearby army base. It is a distinction without a difference and only the morally bankrupt would point to it with pride.
Furthermore, opponents of the Gaza war were outraged by Israel's actions in Gaza right from the start not following publication of the Goldstone report. The outrage was produced when it became clear that Israel was not exercising its legitimate right to defend itself against rocket fire from Gaza by targeting the people launching the missiles but by targeting the whole Gazan population.
Additionally the whole war was unnecessary. A cease-fire between Hamas and Israel had been in effect for the six months leading up to Israel's decision to invade. Why did it end?
This comes from US News, a newsweekly owned by Mortimer Zuckerman, one of the Israeli government's leading defenders in the United States. (He is the former president of the Conference of Presidents Of Major Jewish Organizations.)
"Why now? Two reasons: the expiration of the Israeli-Gazan cease-fire on December 19 and the Israeli national election coming up on February 10. The six-month cease-fire started coming apart at the beginning of November after Israeli commandos killed a team of Hamas fighters during a raid on a tunnel they suspected was being dug for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. That raid set off more Palestinian rocketing which prompted further Israeli attacks. All this prompted Hamas to declare that it wouldn't extend the cease-fire unless Israel lifted it's punishing siege of the Gaza Strip, which was imposed after the militant group Hamas was elected to power nearly three years ago."
US News has it exactly right. The ceasefire ended because Israel decided to end it. And then when the rockets started falling, Israel had the pretext it wanted to attack. None of this is surprising, Israeli leaders have never been shy about saying that their goal is not merely ending mortar attacks from Gaza but eliminating the Hamas government (elected, incidentally, in a democratic election forced on the Palestinians by the United States).
The bottom line is that Goldstone's edit doesn't matter except to those who defended and still defend this indefensible war. The damage done to Israel's reputation is indelible. But that is insignificant when compared to the life-long damage inflicted on all those who lost loved ones in the monstrous Gaza war."
Friday, April 1, 2011
I'M BAAAAAAACK!
I know its been a while but lets get right into this
An operation billed as a humanitarian intervention in Libya by President Obama was described in starkly more military terms Thursday by the administration’s top two defense officials.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told lawmakers that continuing coalition attacks on Libyan government troops — even when they were not directly threatening civilians — would encourage senior government and military officials to break with Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and inspire more civilians to join opposition forces.
“His military, at a certain point, is going to have to face the question of whether they are prepared over time to be destroyed by these air attacks or whether they decide it’s time for him to go,” Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The testimony came amid reports that another member of Gaddafi’s inner circle had defected, boosting the spirits of the beleaguered rebels. A top Libyan Foreign Ministry official, Ali Abdel Salam al-Treki, announced his defection in a statement sent to news agencies by his nephew. British Prime Minister David Cameron and White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday hailed the earlier defection of Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa, saying it was a sign that Gaddafi’s power was eroding.
In eastern Libya, rebels fought their way back into the key oil-refinery town of Brega but were soon forced to withdraw under heavy shelling from Gaddafi’s forces, which maintain a huge firepower advantage over the ragtag opposition army.
In his testimony, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, blamed the rebels’ losses in recent days on the heavy cloud cover in Libya, which has prevented U.S. and allied jets from attacking Gaddafi’s ground forces.
Mullen said the sustained bombing campaign had destroyed as much as 25 percent of Gaddafi’s military arsenal and pledged that coalition forces would continue to hammer away at his ground forces.
Some of the United States’ partners have acknowledged that the initial descriptions of the intervention in Libya no longer apply. “What is happening in Libya is not a no-fly zone,” a senior European diplomat told reporters, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity. “The no-fly zone was a diplomatic thing, to get the Arabs on board. What we have in Libya is more than that.”
Although Gates said that unseating Gaddafi was not the stated goal of the military mission, he made clear that the United States and its allies intended to use military force to aid the Libyan opposition and compel Gaddafi and his inner circle to surrender.
“I mean we’re blowing up [Gaddafi’s] ammunition supplies,” Gates said in separate testimony before the House. “He can’t resupply from abroad . . . over time, that should work to the advantage of those in the opposition.”
The defense secretary also made clear his preference that other nations take the lead in training and arming the Libyan rebels. “If there is going to be that kind of assistance to the opposition, there are plenty of sources for it other than the United States,” he said. French officials have been among the most aggressive in pressing for military aid to the rebels.
In the House, lawmakers from both parties berated Gates over the cost of the mission, its undetermined length and what they said were its fuzzy goals. In the Senate, there was more support for the intervention, with several lawmakers saying they worried that the United States was not doing enough to oust Gaddafi.
The militaristic language used by Gates and Mullen prompted some lawmakers who oppose the intervention to accuse the Obama administration of misleading the public about its aims in Libya. “It seems to me, and I think everybody else, that we are clearly involved in regime change,” said Sen. James Webb (D-Va.).
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said the administration’s efforts to label the Libya mission a humanitarian intervention were dishonest. “This is the most muddled definition of an operation probably in U.S. military history,” he said. “To say this is not about regime change is crazy. Of course, it is about regime change.”
Gates acknowledged that the U.N. Security Council resolution approving a no-fly zone over Libya had authorized only the interdiction of Libyan aircraft, the enforcement of an arms embargo and the use of military force to protect civilians. But he defended the efforts to degrade Gaddafi’s military as a means of protecting the Libyan people from further attacks by the government.
The CIA has told lawmakers in classified briefings that Gaddafi’s forces have moved into towns where there are no reporters and killed a “substantial number” of people, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, on Thursday. She advocated expanding the U.S. objectives to include Gaddafi’s ouster.
Mullen and Gates said that the U.S. level of participation in the coalition would begin to decline significantly in the coming days with NATO taking over command. In the Senate, several lawmakers voiced concern that reducing the U.S. role would lessen the effectiveness of the attacks on Gaddafi’s ground forces. They pressed Mullen and Gates for assurances that American AC-130 aircraft, which are among the most effective weapons in the U.S. arsenal against ground forces, would remain in the fight.
“I just can’t understand how we’re going to meet the objective that you’ve identified without going forward in a forceful fashion than we are right now,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).
In the House, mainly Republican lawmakers complained that the United States did not know enough about the rebel forces challenging Gaddafi’s decades-long rule. “We may not know much about the opposition or the rebels, but we know a great deal about Gaddafi,” Gates replied tersely. “This guy has been a huge problem for the United States for a long time.”
A senior administration official said the congressional criticism reflected the lack of options.
“There are appropriately a lot of questions being raised, but apart from those who want to go further and impose regime change militarily, there are not a lot of alternatives put forward,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s a situation that involves bad choices and worse choices.”
An operation billed as a humanitarian intervention in Libya by President Obama was described in starkly more military terms Thursday by the administration’s top two defense officials.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told lawmakers that continuing coalition attacks on Libyan government troops — even when they were not directly threatening civilians — would encourage senior government and military officials to break with Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and inspire more civilians to join opposition forces.
“His military, at a certain point, is going to have to face the question of whether they are prepared over time to be destroyed by these air attacks or whether they decide it’s time for him to go,” Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The testimony came amid reports that another member of Gaddafi’s inner circle had defected, boosting the spirits of the beleaguered rebels. A top Libyan Foreign Ministry official, Ali Abdel Salam al-Treki, announced his defection in a statement sent to news agencies by his nephew. British Prime Minister David Cameron and White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday hailed the earlier defection of Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa, saying it was a sign that Gaddafi’s power was eroding.
In eastern Libya, rebels fought their way back into the key oil-refinery town of Brega but were soon forced to withdraw under heavy shelling from Gaddafi’s forces, which maintain a huge firepower advantage over the ragtag opposition army.
In his testimony, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, blamed the rebels’ losses in recent days on the heavy cloud cover in Libya, which has prevented U.S. and allied jets from attacking Gaddafi’s ground forces.
Mullen said the sustained bombing campaign had destroyed as much as 25 percent of Gaddafi’s military arsenal and pledged that coalition forces would continue to hammer away at his ground forces.
Some of the United States’ partners have acknowledged that the initial descriptions of the intervention in Libya no longer apply. “What is happening in Libya is not a no-fly zone,” a senior European diplomat told reporters, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity. “The no-fly zone was a diplomatic thing, to get the Arabs on board. What we have in Libya is more than that.”
Although Gates said that unseating Gaddafi was not the stated goal of the military mission, he made clear that the United States and its allies intended to use military force to aid the Libyan opposition and compel Gaddafi and his inner circle to surrender.
“I mean we’re blowing up [Gaddafi’s] ammunition supplies,” Gates said in separate testimony before the House. “He can’t resupply from abroad . . . over time, that should work to the advantage of those in the opposition.”
In the House, lawmakers from both parties berated Gates over the cost of the mission, its undetermined length and what they said were its fuzzy goals. In the Senate, there was more support for the intervention, with several lawmakers saying they worried that the United States was not doing enough to oust Gaddafi.
The militaristic language used by Gates and Mullen prompted some lawmakers who oppose the intervention to accuse the Obama administration of misleading the public about its aims in Libya. “It seems to me, and I think everybody else, that we are clearly involved in regime change,” said Sen. James Webb (D-Va.).
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said the administration’s efforts to label the Libya mission a humanitarian intervention were dishonest. “This is the most muddled definition of an operation probably in U.S. military history,” he said. “To say this is not about regime change is crazy. Of course, it is about regime change.”
Gates acknowledged that the U.N. Security Council resolution approving a no-fly zone over Libya had authorized only the interdiction of Libyan aircraft, the enforcement of an arms embargo and the use of military force to protect civilians. But he defended the efforts to degrade Gaddafi’s military as a means of protecting the Libyan people from further attacks by the government.
The CIA has told lawmakers in classified briefings that Gaddafi’s forces have moved into towns where there are no reporters and killed a “substantial number” of people, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, on Thursday. She advocated expanding the U.S. objectives to include Gaddafi’s ouster.
Mullen and Gates said that the U.S. level of participation in the coalition would begin to decline significantly in the coming days with NATO taking over command. In the Senate, several lawmakers voiced concern that reducing the U.S. role would lessen the effectiveness of the attacks on Gaddafi’s ground forces. They pressed Mullen and Gates for assurances that American AC-130 aircraft, which are among the most effective weapons in the U.S. arsenal against ground forces, would remain in the fight.
“I just can’t understand how we’re going to meet the objective that you’ve identified without going forward in a forceful fashion than we are right now,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.).
In the House, mainly Republican lawmakers complained that the United States did not know enough about the rebel forces challenging Gaddafi’s decades-long rule. “We may not know much about the opposition or the rebels, but we know a great deal about Gaddafi,” Gates replied tersely. “This guy has been a huge problem for the United States for a long time.”
A senior administration official said the congressional criticism reflected the lack of options.
“There are appropriately a lot of questions being raised, but apart from those who want to go further and impose regime change militarily, there are not a lot of alternatives put forward,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s a situation that involves bad choices and worse choices.”
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Obama’s Critical Strategic Mistake – Libya
Ineffective, indecisive, lacking leadership, cowardly. These are words I never thought to use to describe the President of the United States. Yet they are descriptive of his failure in the Middle East and North Africa. Many people (including myself) can talk of morality and the terrible horror that Gadhafi continues to visit upon his own people. We can draw comparisons dating back almost 80 years where we have dithered while people in foreign lands were massacred for having the temerity to stand for what they believed. We can talk about being caring human beings and concerned and “on their side.” But talk is cheap and for Obama it seems to be free. Even today in his press conference (was he expecting the first question to be about Libya? I was happy about that) he danced around the facts. He mentioned that “if” Gadhafi were to go door to door rooting out protesters he (Obama) would see that as an “overreaction.” Well, Mr. President, in Zawia yesterday it is reported that he was doing just that, going door to door and grabbing young men and hauling them off to unknown, and unseen, places. What will you do? Why did you not even acknowledge that he is attacking innocent civilians brutally and without mercy? Why didn’t you acknowledge reports of massacres already happening? Why didn’t you acknowledge that in the last 24 hours he has attacked his own cities with tanks, artillery and aircraft? In my own view it is because you have no passion, no knowledge and no guts.
But, if we step back from all the empty rhetoric, and from the personal tragedy, the central issue from a strategic and diplomatic perspective is that by our indecision, inaction and failure to lead, we are losing the youth of the Middle East. Which means we are losing the Middle East. Now, many would say that the Middle East hates us anyway. True, in some sense, but only because we have supported and continue to support oppressive, outmoded and stifling regimes. With the recent uprisings has come a unique, possibly once in a lifetime, opportunity to not only get on the right side of history but to endear ourselves to an entire generation of Middle Eastern, moderate, democratic, youth. And we are squandering it. Obama is not leading, he is trying to reach consensus. He is making a fundamental strategic mistake.
The Middle East is a developing part of the world, rich in oil reserves and not much else. It is also dominated by youth. It is predominantly Muslim and, as the idiotic hearings being held by Congressman King demonstrate, our relationship with Muslims at home, in the Middle East and throughout the world is at best strained. America has significant long term strategic interests in the region and in peace in the region and therefore in our relationship with Muslim youth. We also have a long term strategic interest in combating terrorism and hatred of the US.
Supporting these uprisings is one strategic opportunity we have to help ourselves with Muslim youth and to enhance our power in the region. We are squandering it by sending the message we are sending in Libya. Hosni Mubarak is probably sitting in his hotel room saying “Damn, why didn’t I just crush the protesters? The US wouldn’t have done anything and I could be sitting pretty.” That is certainly how Asad and Ahmadinejad will think and frankly that is probably similar to what the Saudis are thinking. Therein lies the rub. If we do nothing or if we do to little to late, we will have not only squandered the opportunity but emboldened our enemies. Gadhafi is a relatively easy target. Ahmadinejad is not and if he becomes emboldened he will not only crush his own opposition, he may become adventurous. Oman, Iraq could be targets. Is that the position we want – being forced to fight Iran, when we could have prevented the venture by defeating Gadhafi? That is just stupid. Another word I never thought I would call Obama.
But, if we step back from all the empty rhetoric, and from the personal tragedy, the central issue from a strategic and diplomatic perspective is that by our indecision, inaction and failure to lead, we are losing the youth of the Middle East. Which means we are losing the Middle East. Now, many would say that the Middle East hates us anyway. True, in some sense, but only because we have supported and continue to support oppressive, outmoded and stifling regimes. With the recent uprisings has come a unique, possibly once in a lifetime, opportunity to not only get on the right side of history but to endear ourselves to an entire generation of Middle Eastern, moderate, democratic, youth. And we are squandering it. Obama is not leading, he is trying to reach consensus. He is making a fundamental strategic mistake.
The Middle East is a developing part of the world, rich in oil reserves and not much else. It is also dominated by youth. It is predominantly Muslim and, as the idiotic hearings being held by Congressman King demonstrate, our relationship with Muslims at home, in the Middle East and throughout the world is at best strained. America has significant long term strategic interests in the region and in peace in the region and therefore in our relationship with Muslim youth. We also have a long term strategic interest in combating terrorism and hatred of the US.
Supporting these uprisings is one strategic opportunity we have to help ourselves with Muslim youth and to enhance our power in the region. We are squandering it by sending the message we are sending in Libya. Hosni Mubarak is probably sitting in his hotel room saying “Damn, why didn’t I just crush the protesters? The US wouldn’t have done anything and I could be sitting pretty.” That is certainly how Asad and Ahmadinejad will think and frankly that is probably similar to what the Saudis are thinking. Therein lies the rub. If we do nothing or if we do to little to late, we will have not only squandered the opportunity but emboldened our enemies. Gadhafi is a relatively easy target. Ahmadinejad is not and if he becomes emboldened he will not only crush his own opposition, he may become adventurous. Oman, Iraq could be targets. Is that the position we want – being forced to fight Iran, when we could have prevented the venture by defeating Gadhafi? That is just stupid. Another word I never thought I would call Obama.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Random fact Saturdays!
If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
The numbers '172' can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.
President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.
In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.
Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.
The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottles represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.
In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, "Well, are you there?". It wasn't until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase "number please?"
The surface area of an average-sized brick is 79 cm squared.
According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.
Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.
Karoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
Rhode Island is the smallest state with the longest name. The official name, used on all state documents, is "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
The newspaper serving Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, the home of Rocky and Bullwinkle, is the Picayune Intellegence.
It would take 11 Empire State Buildings, stacked one on top of the other, to measure the Gulf of Mexico at its deepest point.
The first person selected as the Time Magazine Man of the Year - Charles Lindbergh in 1927.
The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.
It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write "War & Peace".
The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.
On the new hundred dollar bill the time on the clock tower of Independence Hall is 4:10.
Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class.
The names of the two stone lions in front of the New York Public Library are Patience and Fortitude. They were named by then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.
Lucy and Linus (who where brother and sister) had another little brother named Rerun. (He sometimes played left-field on Charlie Brown's baseball team, [when he could find it!]).
The pancreas produces Insulin.
1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.
There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye hip arm leg ear toe jaw rib lip gum).
A skunk's smell can be detected by a human a mile away.
The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache.
Henry Ford produced the model T only in black because the black paint available at the time was the fastest to dry.
Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman, but was changed to Mario to honor the Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segali.
The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
Every year about 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced.
Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump.
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
World Tourist day is observed on September 27.
Women are 37% more likely to go to a psychiatrist than men are.
The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet (9 m).
Diet Coke was only invented in 1982.
There are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones in the King James translation of the Bible.
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.
American car horns beep in the tone of F.
Turning a clock's hands counterclockwise while setting it is not necessarily harmful. It is only damaging when the timepiece contains a chiming mechanism.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.
Police dogs are trained to react to commands in a foreign language; commonly German but more recently Hungarian.
The Australian $5 to $100 notes are made of plastic.
St. Stephen is the patron saint of bricklayers.
The average person makes about 1,140 telephone calls each year.
Stressed is Desserts spelled backwards.
If you had enough water to fill one million goldfish bowls, you could fill an entire stadium.
Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old.
Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.
Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (2 m) away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.
A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away.
The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; "7" was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. "UP" indicated the direction of the bubbles.
Canadian researchers have found that Einstein's brain was 15% wider than normal.
The average person spends about 2 years on the phone in a lifetime.
The fist product to have a bar code was Wrigleys gum.
The largest number of children born to one woman is recorded at 69. From 1725-1765, a Russian peasant woman gave birth to 16 sets of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets.
Beatrix Potter created the first of her legendary "Peter Rabbit" children's stories in 1902.
In ancient Rome, it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.
The word "nerd" was first coined by Dr. Seuss in "If I Ran the Zoo."
A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain.
The bagpipe was originally made from the whole skin of a dead sheep.
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Any cup-shaped object placed over the ear produces the same effect.
Revolvers cannot be silenced because of all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel.
Liberace Museum has a mirror-plated Rolls Royce; jewel-encrusted capes, and the largest rhinestone in the world, weighing 59 pounds and almost a foot in diameter.
A car that shifts manually gets 2 miles more per gallon of gas than a car with automatic shift.
Cats can hear ultrasound.
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
Children grow faster in the springtime.
On average, there are 178 sesame seeds on each McDonalds BigMac bun.
Paul Revere rode on a horse that belonged to Deacon Larkin.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down -- hence the expression "to get fired"
Nobody knows who built the Taj Mahal. The names of the architects, masons, and designers that have come down to us have all proved to be latter-day inventions, and there is no evidence to indicate who the real creators were.
Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
7.5 million toothpicks can be created from a cord of wood.
The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain.
The earliest recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679, when Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku, Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco." He died one month later.
"Goodbye" came from "God bye" which came from "God be with you."
February is Black History Month.
Jane Barbie was the woman who did the voice recordings for the Bell System.
The first drive-in service station in the United States was opened by Gulf Oil Company - on December 1, 1913, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.
Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to wear tail lights.
The numbers '172' can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.
President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.
In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.
Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.
The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottles represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.
In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, "Well, are you there?". It wasn't until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase "number please?"
The surface area of an average-sized brick is 79 cm squared.
According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.
Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.
Karoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
Rhode Island is the smallest state with the longest name. The official name, used on all state documents, is "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
When you die your hair still grows for a couple of months.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
The newspaper serving Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, the home of Rocky and Bullwinkle, is the Picayune Intellegence.
It would take 11 Empire State Buildings, stacked one on top of the other, to measure the Gulf of Mexico at its deepest point.
The first person selected as the Time Magazine Man of the Year - Charles Lindbergh in 1927.
The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.
It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write "War & Peace".
The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.
On the new hundred dollar bill the time on the clock tower of Independence Hall is 4:10.
Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class.
The names of the two stone lions in front of the New York Public Library are Patience and Fortitude. They were named by then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.
Lucy and Linus (who where brother and sister) had another little brother named Rerun. (He sometimes played left-field on Charlie Brown's baseball team, [when he could find it!]).
The pancreas produces Insulin.
1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.
There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye hip arm leg ear toe jaw rib lip gum).
A skunk's smell can be detected by a human a mile away.
The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache.
Henry Ford produced the model T only in black because the black paint available at the time was the fastest to dry.
Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman, but was changed to Mario to honor the Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segali.
The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
Every year about 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced.
Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump.
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
World Tourist day is observed on September 27.
Women are 37% more likely to go to a psychiatrist than men are.
The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet (9 m).
Diet Coke was only invented in 1982.
There are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones in the King James translation of the Bible.
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.
American car horns beep in the tone of F.
Turning a clock's hands counterclockwise while setting it is not necessarily harmful. It is only damaging when the timepiece contains a chiming mechanism.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.
Police dogs are trained to react to commands in a foreign language; commonly German but more recently Hungarian.
The Australian $5 to $100 notes are made of plastic.
St. Stephen is the patron saint of bricklayers.
The average person makes about 1,140 telephone calls each year.
Stressed is Desserts spelled backwards.
If you had enough water to fill one million goldfish bowls, you could fill an entire stadium.
Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old.
Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.
Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (2 m) away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.
A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away.
The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; "7" was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. "UP" indicated the direction of the bubbles.
Canadian researchers have found that Einstein's brain was 15% wider than normal.
The average person spends about 2 years on the phone in a lifetime.
The fist product to have a bar code was Wrigleys gum.
The largest number of children born to one woman is recorded at 69. From 1725-1765, a Russian peasant woman gave birth to 16 sets of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets.
Beatrix Potter created the first of her legendary "Peter Rabbit" children's stories in 1902.
In ancient Rome, it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.
The word "nerd" was first coined by Dr. Seuss in "If I Ran the Zoo."
A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain.
The bagpipe was originally made from the whole skin of a dead sheep.
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Any cup-shaped object placed over the ear produces the same effect.
Revolvers cannot be silenced because of all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel.
Liberace Museum has a mirror-plated Rolls Royce; jewel-encrusted capes, and the largest rhinestone in the world, weighing 59 pounds and almost a foot in diameter.
A car that shifts manually gets 2 miles more per gallon of gas than a car with automatic shift.
Cats can hear ultrasound.
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
Children grow faster in the springtime.
On average, there are 178 sesame seeds on each McDonalds BigMac bun.
Paul Revere rode on a horse that belonged to Deacon Larkin.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down -- hence the expression "to get fired"
Nobody knows who built the Taj Mahal. The names of the architects, masons, and designers that have come down to us have all proved to be latter-day inventions, and there is no evidence to indicate who the real creators were.
Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
7.5 million toothpicks can be created from a cord of wood.
The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain.
The earliest recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679, when Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku, Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco." He died one month later.
"Goodbye" came from "God bye" which came from "God be with you."
February is Black History Month.
Jane Barbie was the woman who did the voice recordings for the Bell System.
The first drive-in service station in the United States was opened by Gulf Oil Company - on December 1, 1913, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.
Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to wear tail lights.
Friday, March 25, 2011
minecraft friday
There are manly men with powertools in our office, punching floors and walls in an attempt to make things look better. As a result, we haven’t been able to work from the office this week, and worked from home. Jens spent most of the week working on a new mob; the wolf! You can tame it and order it to follow you around, and it’ll work as a pet. They’re fairly rare, but they won’t despawn once you’ve tamed them.
I worked on the achievement and stats system. One design issue was dealing with offline mode and synching the achievements once you get a connection again, but that’s been solved. We’ve got a couple of people in the office who don’t like achievements in games at all, so the goal is to design something that they’re fine with.
Achievements will NOT be chores like “cut down 10000 trees”, but rather challenges like “ride a pig off a cliff”. Stats, however, will be used to keep track of how many trees you have cut down. The long term plan is to show achievements and stats from the profile page on minecraft.net as well, in case you want to brag.
Just keep in mind that because you can design your own levels and run your own servers, people will be able to cheat with achievements and stats! ;)
Oh, and here’s a vid of the wolves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Lp9p5yjuo
I worked on the achievement and stats system. One design issue was dealing with offline mode and synching the achievements once you get a connection again, but that’s been solved. We’ve got a couple of people in the office who don’t like achievements in games at all, so the goal is to design something that they’re fine with.
Achievements will NOT be chores like “cut down 10000 trees”, but rather challenges like “ride a pig off a cliff”. Stats, however, will be used to keep track of how many trees you have cut down. The long term plan is to show achievements and stats from the profile page on minecraft.net as well, in case you want to brag.
Just keep in mind that because you can design your own levels and run your own servers, people will be able to cheat with achievements and stats! ;)
Oh, and here’s a vid of the wolves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Lp9p5yjuo
this comes directly from notches blog personally i cannot wait for wolves and achievements what do you guys think?
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Libya
There was a recent pole done on whether or not the American people thought the air strikes in Libya was the right way to go in the on going confrontation. 68% of the people polled said it was the right thing to do and 28% said it was wrong. How ever, When the same group was polled on if they thought the Obama administration was handling Libya well or not (keep in mind this is the same guy who approved the air strikes that Americans overwhelmingly support) only 50% think he is doing the right thing while 29% disagree. What is the cause of this massive 18 point loss you may ask yourself well if you ask me It's the damage done by the GOP propaganda machine, that machine includes people like Newt Gingrich of course who wont back the president no matter WHAT he does. Just a few weeks ago Gingrich was interviewed on fox and he HAMMERED Obama for not intervening in Libya. Then after the President orders the air strikes he says he would NOT intervene and there are plenty of other ways to effect Gaddfi. Republicans you guys really need to get your act together if you ask me. Well on that note ill go ahead and christen this page with its first blog post.
-Brian Sutton
-Brian Sutton
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