|
Home
|
The Blog - 2002, March 10-30
March 30 U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf have increased from fewer than 25,000 on 9/11 to more than 80,000. Troops in Kuwait are up to 10,500. How does that square with the new peace treaty between Iraq and Kuwait? Iraq promises to respect the independence, soverignty and security of its neighbor, a huge change from a decade ago when Saddam claimed Kuwait was part of Iraq. U.S. and Pakistani authorities have caught 60 people, one of them possibly bin Laden's senior field commander, Abu Zubayda. He's the man the Pentagon says has been trying to reorganize al-Quaida. U.S. soldiers are still finding and destroying Taliban/al Queda ammo stores. As Yasser Arafat frantically calls world leaders in an attempt to save his sorry hide, Andrea Harris has this to say: I dunno, the thought of the Great Terrorist Guy making frantic cell-phone calls, like a girl whose car has broken down in the mall parking lot calling her mom, just seems so... Woody-Allenesque. She goes on to imagine the conversations. Read it. March 29 Good Friday - the day the Prince of Peace died on the cross. Saddam Hussein is probably celebrating by writing another check for $25,000. Victor Davis Hanson takes down American education, political correctness and the Palestinians - There is a postmodern amorality afloat — the dividend of years of an American educational system in which historical ignorance, cultural relativism, and well-intentioned theory, in place of cold facts, has reigned. We see the sad results everywhere in the current discussions of the Middle East and our own war on terror.
Palestinians appeal to the American public on grounds that three or four times as many of their own citizens have died as Israelis. The crazy logic is that in war the side that suffers the most casualties is either in the right or at least should be the winner. Some Americans nursed on the popular ideology of equivalence find this attractive. But if so, they should then sympathize with Hitler, Tojo, Kim Il Sung, and Ho Chi Minh who all lost more soldiers — and civilians — in their wars against us than we did. Read it all. Steven den Beste says Arafat will die very soon. He's also predicting major action by the Israelis. He points to the call up of Israeli reserves. The reason they're needed is that after Arafat accidentally dies, the occupied territories are going to go up in flames. There will be riots, dozens of spontaneous attacks on the settlements, and general mayhem for a while. It will eventually burn itself out, but in the short term Israel is going to need all the muscle it has to defend itself against the resulting uprising. Also, they will need to reinforce the border with Syria as a deterrent. What the Palestinians, ignorant Americans, and the Euroelites don't understand is that there will be no second Holocaust -- just as there will never again be an uncontested hijacking of an American airliner. The model for resistance to aircraft hijackings is now United Flight 93 - the model for Israel is the Jewish uprising in the ghettos of Warsaw. From a young woman's personal diary: The Jewish organisation decided to mount armed resistance against the Nazis. Following terrible torment, debasement and destruction of innocents, the Jewish people still living understood that death was not the most important thing. The young fighters in particular considered that it was more important how and for what one died. And so they decided, in the name of the whole of society, that they would die with honour, weapons in hand. Not a miserable death which brought no glory, but death in defence of the dignity of this nation.
Thus the decision was taken at top level that armed resistance against the Nazis would be undertaken. This decision had been impatiently awaited by the youth within the ranks of the conspiratorial organisation. Everyone wanted to avenge the wrongs and losses among their nearest and dearest as there was not one person who had not lost someone. Many had no member of their families left in the world, no homes - nothing. That was why the decision was accepted with enthusiasm. The decision of the leaders of ZOB that we would die in defence of our own dignity and honour before the whole world and before the history of generations of the Jewish Nation. We would die with dignity, fighting to the end, to the last person with a weapon in their hands, the last bullet. No, the Holocaust will never happen again. If any group tries to drive the Jews out of Israel again, it will pay a horrible price. And speaking of despotic regimes, the one in Havana is under discussion in Coral Gables. Particularly what to do about the embargo. I've never seen starving people overthrow a dictator. Just look at the Arab countries. The 9/11 murderers were middle class. The year castro overthrew The Sergeant (batista), 1958, was one of Cuba's most prosperous. I've thought for many years that the embargo should be lifted. Not a bit at a time, but wholly, all at one time. The US economy will swamp Cuba's. fidel will be unable to stop it. People will eat - people will want to buy new Chevys with the money they make selling their old ones to collectors in the US - they will demand Internet access - communism will fall in Cuba as it did in Russia. March 28 American life, suicide bombers and Saddam. Only James Lileks can put them together this way. Read it - if you read only one thing today make it this. March 27 I guess Saddam's writing another check for $25,000.
March 26 I say nuke him now. Saddam Hussein is paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. (Thanks to Ken Layne for the link.) $US 25,000 each. Hussein regards Palestine as some kind of Iraqi protectorate - sounds like his expansionist plans are still in place. Folks, he wants a return of the Babylonian Empire. (note to my former news slave co-workers - this is from history, something you were never required to study) The link is to the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald. Why haven't we seen this in US papers? Or on TV? Well, yeah, I know. Ken Layne advances the story here. It's even worse than the above indicates. Why aren't we hearing about this on CNN. Is the network really the Crescent News Network, as talk show host Michael Savage says? Why was it up to bloggers to alert folks in the US to this. Congratulations, to my good friend Juliet Huddy. She's just been made anchor for the weekend edition of Fox and Friends on the Fox Newschannel.It's a great gig for her - she'll get to use her intelligence and her hilarious personality. She's also sporting a huge rock on her left hand. Matt Welch has some good comments on the Oscar winning documentary "Murder On A Sunday Morning." It's about the murder of a woman at a Jacksonville motel, and the subsequent arrest, confession, trial and acquittal of a 14-year old kid. The cops blew the arrest and faked the confession. It was a shameful episode. March 25 Since 9/11, we've all heard that this is a war against terror - not against Islam. I've sort of believed this. I have a number of good friends who are Muslim, some war refugees themselves, who are good people and who live lives of peace. But something has always lurked in the back of my mind that there's something wrong - that we can't co-exist with Islam as it is now. Steven den Beste compares modern Islamic thought to Japanese thought in the first part of the 20th century. Japan had a deep cultural ethnocentrism. Its religion told it that it was favored on earth; and its emperor was called the "Son of Heaven" because he was directly descended from God. In the 13th century, it had been saved by a heavenly miracle, the kamikaze. Go read the whole thing - I'll wait. OK, I like what he has to say, but he leaves out something I think important. After the war, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur was put in charge of government in Japan. He listened to a number of Japanese leaders beg for their lives as they were carried away to prison. According to the stories told, on September 27, 1945, the fate of Japan changed when Emperor Hirohito called on MacArthur. Hirohito asked MacArthur to seek revenge against him, not against his people. MacArthur was impressed. Hirohito agreed to abandon his image as a "Son of Heaven" and to promote the change among the Japanese people. He also promoted Western ideas among his people. I think Steven's comparison in a good one, but who in the Muslim world has the courage and leadership shown by Hirohito? I fear no one. Later - Victor Davis Hanson rather agrees. The truth is that there is a great storm on the horizon, one that will pass — or bring upon us a hard rain the likes of which we have not seen in 60 years. Either we shall say "no more," deal with Iraq, and prepare for a long and hard war against murderers and terrorists — or we will have more and more of what happened on 9/11. History teaches us that certain nations, certain peoples, and certain religions at peculiar periods in their history take a momentary, but deadly leave of their senses — Napoleon's France for most of a decade, the southern states in 1861, Japan in 1931, Germany in 1939, and Russia after World War II. And when they do, they cannot be bribed, apologized to, or sweet-talked — only defeated. March 22 For news from Cuba in English, go to Cubanet here.
March 21 Neal Boortz has been on a rant about a "three strikes and you're out law" for politicians. That's one of the best ideas I've heard. If a law is ruled unconstitutional by a court, all politicians who voted for or signed the bill get a strike. Accumulate three strikes and the politician is out of office - forever. Remember Professor Instantman, Bull Connor was a Democrat. Why is it that Democrats forget the men they love to trash the most - George Wallace, Orville Faubus, Gene Talmadge, Ernest Vandiver, even Ol' Lester Maddox - were all Democrats? James Lileks has another Screed up. He takes down Michael Moore, the California Green party, bunches of PC stuff, and Ted Turner all in a way only Lileks can. Read the whole thing.
March 20 Jonah Goldberg wants to see more of the horrible images from 9/11. He says you need to see them, too. On to this. Pentagon police handcuffed a Fox News photographer and seized his tape. He was shooting video of them stopping an Iranian truck driver on a Virginia state highway. The photographer says he was on public property. In my days as a shooter, police tried that on me. I confounded them with a simple reply. "I'd be happy to give you the tape if it were mine. But it's not. It belongs to the TV station. You'll have to call them to get it." I don't know why such a simple reply worked, but it did. The police never went to the trouble of contacting the station. If it's true, this means the terrorists have won. The terrorists in D.C. and the state houses, that is.
March 19 I've been thinking about a rant on the Libertarian Party, and how my views on some of its positions have changed post 9/11. For now, read an excellent take-down of two-time LP presidential candidate Harry Browne by Andrea Harris: Time to put Harry Browne, Libertarian party chief guy or whatever he is, in a home, if this latest screed is anything to go by: This just in: Bin Laden wins Afghan war. (Update - hey, Andrea's takedown made the Fox News website.) I'll write about that later, but first, I was distracted by the totalitarians tramping the halls of the legislature in Tallahassee, blocking out Florida's Sunshine Law, and using 9/11 as an excuse. Florida has a long history of open government. The legislature passed an open records law in 1909. By 1967, accusations of government corruption and cover ups swept the nation. Government at all levels was criticized for hiding information from the public. Florida drew national attention by passing its Sunshine Law that year (effective 1968.) Since then, many other states have followed Florida's lead. Last week, however, Florida state senators passed bill after bill that make 14 exemptions to the Sunshine Law. There was no public debate. Reporters in attendance say some passed in just a couple of minutes. Some were even hand written. Some of the bills allow politicians to close meetings where spending taxpayer's money will be discussed. Some will withhold information about certain professionals under review by licensing agencies. But the bill that upsets me most is the one that will keep secret the addresses and telephone numbers of elected officials. One of these elected officials said he didn't want his address and telephone number made public because he was afraid after 9/11. Who was it? I don't know. Radio news in this market uses what I call "phantom sound bites." The station plays a sound bite, but does not identify the speaker. Terrible news writing, but that's another rant. This is just another example of politicians making themselves inaccessible and unaccountable. I think I'll go back to may old way of voting - never vote for an incumbent. Moving on, Juan Gato proves life and international diplomacy are understandable if you only watch enough TV. Especially The Simpsons. And speaking of 1967, Tim Blair compares the protesters of The Summer of Love with today's street demonstrators. Thoughts of The Summer of Love lead to Bill Clinton. Mickey Kaus says the Campaign Finance Reform bill will make Mr. Clinton a political force again. March 18 On 9/11 New York and Washington lost thousands of people in minutes. The Islamofascists are picking off folks from Florida's First Coast in ones, twos, and threes. The latest were two women. They were murdered in church. The younger was only 17. More Daniel Taylor, The Dreaded Purple Master, has a nice take-down of TV news, radio, and, of course, Cheap Channel. March 16 The First Coast says goodbye to more victims of the war. The three died when their helicopter crashed off the coast of Greece. Lt. Terri Fussner was one of the Navy's few female HH-60B pilots. Her friends called her a female top gun. Lt. Wayne Roberts was a naturalized American citizen. He wife says he loved this country and the opportunity it gave him. Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Lawson was a third generation sailor. They were on their way home from the war. More
March 15 I told you so.
March 14 Fourteen people who survived the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahome City sued the Republic of Iraq today. They claim that Iraqi agents took part in the planning, execution and financing of the bombing plot. Lots of folks have blogged on the amazing story of Mohammed Atta’s visa approval just this week. I wasn't surprised at all. Understanding why requires a bit of southern history. Back in 1965 in some southern counties, the idiotarians of the day were doing all they could to keep black folks from voting. The powers-that-were used literacy tests to keep undesirables away from the polls. Such a test required a prospective voter to read out loud a portion of the U.S. or State Constitution. White folks were given English versions – blacks were given versions written in Hebrew. The tests required a prospective voter to write a dictated sentence on a piece of paper. Black folks were given ballpoint pens and waxed paper to write on. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed to eliminate a lot of that foolishness. It’s applicable in the states in the south, and a few counties elsewhere, so it’s not a nationwide enforcement program. But as with most federal initiatives, enforcement still became a bloated bureaucracy. Here’s an example. At the time of the presidential election in 1988, I was working for a TV station in Georgia, one of the states where the Voting Rights Act is in force. Two days after the election, I dropped by the county elections office to get the final vote count in the presidential race. While I was there, the Elections Supervisor took a phone call. He hung up laughing. Supervisor – You'll never believe who that was. Br’er Juan – Who? Supervisor – The Justice Department. The office that certifies compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Br’er Juan- What'd they want? Supervisor – Back in June, the local NAACP wanted to have a voter registration drive at The Mall. They complied with all the rules and we helped them set it up. They registered several hundred people. Br’er Juan – Well, that sounds good. Supervisor – But understand that under the Voting Rights Act, we have to get approval from the Justice Department when we register voters anyplace other than a registered voter registration office. Br’er Juan – And? Supervisor – That phone call was to let us know we had permission to conduct the drive. Br’er Juan – Wait a minute. The drive was in June. Several hundred people registered. Did those folks vote on Tuesday? Supervisor – I don't know if they voted, but they were certainly on the rolls and eligible. Br’er Juan – What would have happened if the phone call had said the drive was not approved. Supervisor – I don't know. It’s possible they would have made us hold the election over again. I ran to the car, grabbed my camera and deck (Oh, the days of ¾), and had my story for the day. After seeing how the Justice Department handles elections, I'm not at all surprised that the INS just approved Atta’s visa. Later - Andrea Yates sentencing hearing begins today. I don't think the jury will vote to kill her. I think they've already decided to give her life. Jurors took 4 hours or so to convict her in a case that had no facts in dispute other than Yates' sanity. I think they used the time to compromise on a verdict of guilty, but a sentence of life. Read Mickey Kaus for a takedown of Natasha Berger's anti-blog fantasy. Yes. Eddie Sutton lost. March 12 I couldn't bring myself to write yesterday, the six-month anniversary of The Day. The sounds of the bodies still thudded in my ears. Yeah, those bodies. Plus, the wars came home to Jacksonville yesterday. Not only the War Against Terror (WW IV), but the Gulf War, also. Thousands of people spent the middle of their day lining Blanding Boulevard to pay their last respects to Sgt. Bradley Crose. Bradley was only 22. He was one of the heroes who died last week when their helicopter was blasted by those murderers in Afghanistan. One of Bradley's closest friends, Spc. Marc Anderson, also died in the attack. As Bradley was buried in Orange Park, Marc was buried in St. Petersburg. Marc's parents live in Jacksonville, so we claim him as ours, too. The Florida Times Union has more, and so does WJXT-TV. Also, the Naval Station Mayport based carrier John F. Kennedy launched it's first sorties against Al Queda, yesterday. The first combat since the Gulf War. The Gulf War. On January 16, 1991, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher hopped into the cockpit of his F/A-18, took off from the deck of a carrier, and was shot down by an Iraqi fighter. He was listed as the first American casualty of the Gulf War. "Spike" was also a Jacksonville boy - a graduate of Forrest High School. But a bit more than a year ago, reports indicated Spike lived through the crash and might still be held prisoner. The Clinton Administration changed his status to MIA. Now British intelligence says Spike is still alive and is held prisoner by the Iraqis. The national story is here, the local (with links to background stories) is here. Maybe the brewing fight with Iraq will bring Spike home. This morning, I woke up and remembered it's the anniversary of my personal tragic day. Most years recently I've forgotten, but I remembered today. 17 years ago, I was driving along a street, moving with traffic, minding my own business, when a little girl ran into the street directly in my path. I jerked my car to the right and turned over in a ditch. My head banged around and dumped a bunch of useless data. I stuttered badly and couldn't remember so I couldn't work. What's-her-name-#2 threw me out. It was my third of a life crisis. I was desperate for a job, so I began working in news. I was prepared to be depressed today, remembering. But while driving on Butler Boulevard this morning, a thought came to my addled brain. I've had the wonderful experience of filling my belly, paying rent, buying stuff - all from writing. I make a living writing. Not a good living, but a living. What a wonderful life I have. Later - Thanks to Andrea Harris, here's a link to an old story about the musical genius, Phil Spector. Life imitates Star Trek. "Mr. Sulu, sound yellow alert." March 10 This is the day that usually makes me madder than a Freeper unexpectedly encountering Bill Clinton, and it made me mad this day. Selection Sunday. The day the teams are picked for the greatest of American sporting events - the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Here's why - Oklahoma State got in. I have nothing against the school - just the coach. Eddie Sutton is a cheater. It all happened more than a decade ago, but I'm still mad. Sutton was coach at Kentucky. Eric Manuel was a poor kid graduating from a less than stellar high school in Macon, Georgia. I knew Eric. I watched him play many games. I interviewed him several times. Eric showed a lot of promise as a big shooting guard, but he obviously needed good college coaching to have a future in basketball. Unfortunately, Manuel's grades were poor, and so were his SAT scores. Sutton wanted Manuel badly. He had Eric take the ACT exam, another college entrance exam recognized by the NCAA. Manuel's scores were dramatically higher, and he was admitted to Kentucky for his freshman season. He played a lot while showing he needed that coaching. Before the season ended, his ACT scores came under examination. Officials realized that one of Sutton's sons had been one of the students at Manuel's table during the exam. The son had already passed his exams and been admitted to school An investigation showed cheating. Eric Manual was banished from NCAA basketball programs. He never got the coaching needed to fulfill his promise. He dropped off the edge of the basketball world. Sutton was fired. But he and his son merely transferred to Oklahoma State where Sutton has had a successful career. Sutton's in the Big Dance - Eric Manuel is God-only-knows-where. I'm sitting in my writing shack thinking thoughts as black as a James Ellroy novel. Later - Just saw the trailer for Star Wars, the Revenge of the Clones, or whatever they're calling it. At least there was no Jar Jar Binks. Still Later - Watched 9/11 on CBS. Tears all over again. Can't sleep. Bastards. But the NYFD displayed exactly what Hanson is talking about in the post below. March 8 Victor Davis Hanson has a great article on war as traditionally conducted by the West, its moral and military superiority, and the probable consequences for bin Laden. Here's a highlight:
|
