G-sus-SAVE-s, and the Nazis Surrendering

     GWOT, or the Global War On Terror, a name which often reminded me of something to do with a monster truck rally (hear the words echo... Global...bal..bal...bal  War...ar...ar...  On..  Terror...or...or...or) or perhaps the band Gwar.

     The new name is the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism (G-SAVE).  Why the dash in the name?  A friend of mine, after hearing the new name, instantly countered "Jesus Saves."  Skipping part about Masons using "G" for God.

     On to the Nazis.  One of the best things we might have done during WWII was let it be known that we treated captured German Soldiers well.  Of course the Nazis were going to be more likely to fight to the bitter end if they thought they'd be tortured.  So we didn't torture them, and many, many surrendered.  It's impossible, most likely, to make anything like an estimate to the number of Americans lives saved by treating captures humanely.  The only number I can easily find for the number of total German captures (greater than the number of surrenders, but anyway) was credited to Stephen Ambrose.  He puts it at around 5,000,000.

More Against Lakoffianism

     Lakoff and many of his boosters say we need to "frame the debate."  How useful is this non-strategy?  Well, it would be _somewhat_ useful if it couldn't be turned around, nearly instantly, and adopted by the scum-sucking enemies of rationality!

     For example, from the latest David Brooks column, concerning the (then unknown) choice for Supreme Court Associate Justice...

Nobody will care about superficial first impressions or identity politics tokenism a few years from now. What will matter in decades to come is whether you picked a philosophical powerhouse. Did you pick someone capable of writing the sort of bold and meaty opinions that will shift the frame of debate and shake up law students for generations?

     Bah and Fie

Waron Hate

     If you listen to White House spokesperson Scott McLellan today, you'd come to understand, as I have, that our enemies aren't motivate by any sense of national pride, Arab unity, Muslim comraderie, or any previous injustice.  They are, in fact, motivated by an ideology of hate.

     What I suggest is we start another Waron, this one called the Waron Hate.  How can we possibly defeat hate unless we start a Waron it?

     So, let it out, boys and girls.  Point fingers and name names.  Who are these evil-doing hate-mongers?  I'm sure Sean Hannity never encourages anyone to hate anything.  He always teaches us to respect the views of others.  Not Rush Limbaugh, who carefully analyzes his subject matter from all sides.

     Well, the only one who is safe, for sure, is Barney the Purple Dinosaur.  God hates figs, fags and shrimp, so he's not going to make the cut.

Nice Article To Read

     I think Chavez was elected, and not recalled, in basically fair elections, but the United States has spent effort to overthrow him because they don't like his politics.  That's nasty.  Well, it wasn't just the Bush administration.  This article, from the Columbia Journalism Review, explains how the anti-Chavez sentiment has been pervasive in the Venezuelan media, in part, as one prominent journalist describes in the article "Reporters bought the argument that you have to put journalistic standards aside, that if we don’t get rid of Chavez, we will have communism and Fidelismo."

     UPDATE: I should point out, lest the opposite conclusion be reached, that the opposition was mostly Venezuelan.  Businesspeople and the elites against the government, and who ran most all of the presses.

Why The Estate Tax

     You are born, grow up, go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, retire, maybe have grandkids, die... and ONLY THEN would you pay any taxes.

     Bush and the Republicans hate the Estate Tax, and want to permanently repeal it.

More on Roberts

     Oyez has a page specifically listing cases of JG Roberts, Jr.  I'm listening to Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. Mine Workers now.

     Wikipedia's page is pretty good... last I checked.

Roberts Opinion Tool, Completed

    Note, since almost all 4th Circuit cases are heard before three judges, no one can "join" in a dissent or concurring opinion.

WUD	Wrote Unanimous Decision
WO	Wrote Opinion
WC	Wroge Concurring Opinion
WD	Wrote Dissent
JUD	Joined in Unanimous Decision
JO	Joined in Opinion
JD	Joined in Dissent
CD	Wrote Concurring in Part, Dissenting in Part
PC	Per Curiam
PRD	Petition For Review Denied

2004 - 12
JUD	03-3077	United States of America vs. Serita L. Morton (Argued 11/12/04 DHG, DST, JGR)
JO	02-1199	Entergy Services, Inc. vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 9/10/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
WUD	03-3149 & 03-3150	United States of America vs. Jake West (Argued 10/14/04 DHG, KLH, JGR)
JUD	03-1423	National Treasury Employees Union vs. Federal Labor Relations Authority (Argued 10/12/04 DBS, KLH, JGR)
JUD	03-3061	United States of America vs. Jeffrey L. Morgan (Argued 10/8/04 HTE, KLH, JGR)
WO	03-3100	United States of America vs. Luther E. Mellen, III (Argued 10/15/04 DHG, KLH, JGR)
JUD	03-1038	Northern California Power Agency vs. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, et al. (Argued 11/19/04 ARR, JWR, JGR)
JUD	03-7165	Christopher Manion vs. Roy W. Krieger (Argued 12/8/04 HTE, JWR, JGR)
2004 - 11
JUD	03-1295	Delta Radio, Inc. vs. Federal Communications Commission (Argued 9/13/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-5228	Thaddeus Fletcher vs. District of Columbia, et al. (On Appellant's Petition for Rehearing DHG, ARR, JGR)
JUD	03-7095	Michael H. Price, et al. vs. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Argued 9/28/04 DHG, HTE, JGR)
JUD	03-7079	United States of America, ex rel. Richard Williams vs. Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, LTD., et al. (Argued 9/13/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-1369 & 03-1422	Resort Nursing Home, et al. vs. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 9/28/04 DHG, HTE, JGR)
JUD	04-7006	Kerry Fox, et al. vs. American Airlines, Inc. (Argued 10/12/04 DBS, KLH, JGR)
JUD	04-7010	Mick's at Pennsylvania Avenue, Inc., et al. vs. BOD, Inc., et al. (Argued 10/15/04 DHG, KLH, JGR)
2004 - 10
PC	03-5169	National Wrestling Coaches Association, et al. vs. Department of Education (On Appellants' Petition for Rehearing and Petition for Rehearing En Banc)
WUD	03-3026	United States of America vs. Anthony L. Holmes (Argued 9/10/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
WUD	03-3139	United States of America vs. Darin M. Tucker (Argued 9/28/04 DHG, HTE, JGR)
WUD	03-7149	Tracey V. Hedgepeth, as best friend to Ansche Hedgepeth vs. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, et al. (Argued 9/17/04 KLH, JGR, SFW)
JUD	01-7203	Cynthia Jacobs Carter vs. George Washington University (Argued 9/10/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
2004 - 09
2004 - 08
JUD	02-3028	United States of America vs. Juan Petis McLendon (Argued 2/6/04 HTE, MBG, JGR)
JUD	02-3102	United States of America vs. Alfred Eli, a/k/a Begod (Argued 2/9/04 HTE, MBG, JGR)
WO	03-7128	United States of America, ex rel. Edward L. Totten vs. Bombardier Corporation, et al. (Argued 4/20/04 JWR, MBG, JGR)
2004 - 07
JUD	03-3037	United States of America vs. Lydell Ellerbe (Argued 2/12/04 HTE, KLH, JGR)
JUD	03-3059	United States of America vs. Dorothy Quigley (Argued 5/10/04 DHG, DBS, JGR)
WUD	01-1480	National Council of Resistance of Iran vs. Department of State, et al. (Argued 4/2/04 KLH, MBG, JGR)
JO	03-7044	Adam Barbour vs. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Argued 2/10/04 DBS, MBG, JGR)
WUD	03-1179	Williams Gas Processing - Gulf Coast Company, L. P., et al. vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 5/10/04 DHG, DBS, JGR)
JUD	01-5432	Cedric Stokes a/k/a Abdus Salaam Muhammed vs. United States Parole Commission (Argued 12/8/03 DHG, ARR, JGR)
WUD	02-1121	Midwest ISO Transmission Owners, et al. vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 4/23/04 DHG, DBS, JGR)
JUD	03-1396	Verizon Telephone Companies, et al. vs. Federal Communications Commission, et al. (Argued 4/22/04 DHG, MBG, JGR)
JUD	03-7121	Rochelle Jaffe, Individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate ofEve Jaffe vs. Pallotta Teamworks, A California Corporation, et al., et al. (Argued 4/20/04 JWR, MBG, JGR)
PC	99-1020	BP West Coast Products LLC vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, et al. (Argued 11/12/03 DBS, JWR, JGR)
WUD	03-3069	United States of America vs. Monte F. Brown, Jr. (Argued 3/11/04 DHG, ARR, JGR)
WUD	03-3087	United States of America vs. Arnett C. Smith (Argued 4/20/04 JWR, MBG, JGR)
JUD	03-1213	Communications and Control, Inc. vs. Federal Communications Commission (Argued 4/2/04 KLH, ARR, JGR)
WUD	03-5329	In re: Gordon R. England Secretary of the Navy et al., vs. Consolidated wit (Argued 4/22/04 DHG, MBG, JGR)
JUD	03-7117	Blake Kilburn, Individually on his own behalf, and as Executor of the Estate of Peter C. Kilburn, deceased vs. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, et al. (Argued 5/14/04 DHG, MBG, JGR)
2004 - 06
JUD	03-1322	American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, Atlanta Metro Area Local vs. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 5/11/04 DHG, DBS, JGR)
JUD	03-3058	United States of America vs. Maurice W. Hayes, a/k/a Mo (Argued 3/12/04 DHG, ARR, JGR)
CD	03-5232	Clifford Acree, Colonel, et al. vs. Republic of Iraq, et al. (Argued 4/7/04 HTE, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-1161 & 03-1192	Stanford Hospital and Clinics vs. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 3/12/04 DHG, ARR, JGR)
JUD	03-7110	The Herero People's Reparations Corporation, a District of Columbia Corporation, et al. vs. Deutsche Bank, A.G., et al. (Argued 4/2/04 KLH, ARR, JGR)
JUD	02-5228	Thaddeus A. Fletcher vs. District of Columbia, et al. (Argued 12/8/03 DHG, ARR, JGR)
WUD	03-1020	Independent Equipment Dealers Association vs. Environmental Protection Agency (Argued 2/10/04 JWR, MBG, JGR)
WUD	03-7092	Bow G. Jung vs. Mundy, Holt & Mance, P.C., et al. (Argued 5/11/04 DHG, DBS, JGR)
JUD	03-7135	Raytheon Company vs. Ashborn Agencies, Ltd. (Argued 5/10/04 DHG, DBS, JGR)
2004 - 05
JUD	03-7075	National Railroad Passenger Corporation vs. Lexington Insurance Company, et al. (Argued 1/9/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-1162	Consumers Energy Company vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 3/8/04 DHG, ARR, JGR)
JUD	03-5256	American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO vs. James M. Loy, In his official capacity as Under Secretary of Transportation (Argued 4/22/04 DHG, ARR, JGR)
2004 - 04
JUD	02-1334	Dunkin' Donuts Mid-Atlantic Distribution Center, Inc. vs. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 12/8/03 DHG, ARR, JGR)
JUD	03-1129 & 03-1146	Evergreen America Corporation vs. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 2/12/04 HTE, MBG, JGR)
JUD	03-1127	National Association of Government Employees, Local R5-136 vs. Federal Labor Relations Authority, Washington, D.C. (Argued 2/6/04 HTE, MBG, JGR)
WUD	03-5163	International Action Center, et al. vs. United States of America, et al. (Argued 2/6/04 HTE, MBG, JGR)
WUD	03-1185	Charles R. Duchek vs. National Transportation Safety Board, et al. (Argued 3/9/04 DHG, ARR, JGR)
2004 - 03
JUD	03-1141	Association of Civilian Technicians, Wichita Air Capitol Chapter vs. Federal Labor Relations Authority (Argued 1/9/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-3073	United States of America v. Lawrence E. Thomas (Argued 12/9/03 DHG, MBG, JGR)
JUD	02-1307	S.A. Storer and Sons Co. v. Secretary of Labor (Argued 10/14/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
WUD	03-3104	United States of America v. David C. Stanfield (Argued 2/9/04 HTE, MBG, JGR)
WC	03-1008	PDK Laboratories Inc. v. Drug Enforcement Administration (Argued 11/7/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
2004 - 02
PC	03-1215	Gail Godwin vs. Secretary of Housing and Urban Develpment (Submitted JWR, DST, JGR)
WUD	03-1031 & 03-1099	LeMoyne Owen College v. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 12/9/03 DHG, MBG, JGR)
WUD	02-1060	In re: James M. Tennant (Argued 1/9/04 DBS, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-3006	United States of America v. Adrian D. Williams (Argued 1/13/04 HTE, JGR, SFW)
WUD	03-5025	Gilbert M. Graham v. John D. Ashcroft, in his official capacity as U.S. Attorney General, et al. (Argued 1/13/04 HTE, JGR, SFW)
2004 - 01
PC	02-5387	Natural Resources Defense Council, et al. v. Department of Energy, et al. (Argued 11/6/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	02-7120	Morris J. Warren v. District of Columbia (Argued 11/13/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	03-5020	Julian M. Whitaker, et al. vs. Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, et al. (Argued 11/10/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
WUD	02-1253	Sierra Club vs. Environmental Protection Agency, et al. (Argued 10/10/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-5304	Robert Harris, et al. vs. Federal Aviation Administration, et al. (Argued 10/10/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-7086	English-Speaking Union vs. James Johnson, et al. (Argued 10/14/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
2003 - 12
PRD	02-1300	International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 470, AFL-CIO v. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 10/17/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-5278	Tax Analysts v. Internal Revenue Service (Argued 10/10/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-3113	United States of America vs. Kinley W. Howard (Argued 11/10/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	02-5294	Carey Dunai Lohrenz v. Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness, et al. (Argued 9/19/03 JWR, JGR, LHS)
PRD	00-1369 & 00-1370	BDPCS, Inc. vs. Federal Communications Commission (Argued 11/6/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
WUD	03-7016	I.T. Consultants, Inc. vs. Islamic Republic of Pakistan, et al. (Argued 11/7/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
WUD	02-5391	Sonya G. Stewart vs. Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Commerce, et al. (Argued 11/7/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	03-3003	United States of America vs. Michael A. Riley (Argued 11/13/03 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	03-7015 & 03-7053	Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. vs. Verizon Internet Services, Inc. (Argued 9/16/03 DHG, JGR, SFW)
PRD	02-1311	American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, National Veterans Affairs Council 53 v. Federal Labor Relations Authority (Argued 10/16/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
2003 - 11
JUD	02-3089	United States of America v. Lawrence Michael Seiler (Argued 10/16/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
JUD	02-5277	City of Roseville, A California Charter City, et al. v. Gale A. Norton, in her official capacity as United States Secretary of Interior, et al. (Argued 9/18/03 JWR, JGR, LHS)
WUD	02-1208 & 02-1269	Sioux Valley Rural Television, Inc., et al. v. Federal Communications Commission, et al. (Argued 10/17/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
WUD	02-5311	Felix S. Bloch v. Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State (Argued 10/14/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
WUD	02-7118 & 02-7119	DSMC Incorporated v. Convera Corporation (Argued 10/16/03 KLH, DST, JGR)
2003 - 10
JUD	02-1166	Marseilles Land and Water Company v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 9/18/03 JWR, JGR, LHS)
JUD	02-5056	The Williams Companies, et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 9/16/03 DHG, JGR, SFW)
WUD	02-1283	Tilak S. Ramaprakash v. Federal Aviation Administration, et al. (Argued 9/18/03 JWR, JGR, LHS)
WUD	02-3085	United States of America vs. Steven M. Bolla (Argued 9/19/03 JWR, JGR, LHS)
PC	01-5387	Brett C. Kimberlin, et al. v. United States Department of Justice, et al. (On Appellants' Petition for Rehearing En Banc)
WUD	02-1312	Consumer Electronics Association v. Federal Communications Commission, et al. (Argued 9/16/03 DHG, JGR, SFW)

Preliminary Research Tools for Judge JG Roberts, USSC Nominee

     Here is every decision (2005 to start) in which Judge JG Roberts of the 4th Circuit Court, the DC Circuit, heard.  Chances are that the gray-ish opinions are less interesting than the non-gray opinions.  Non-gray implies that there was some dissent, a minority report, so to speak.

WUD	Wrote Unanimous Decision
WO	Wrote Opinion
WC	Wrote Concurring Opinion
WD	Wrote Dissent
JUD	Joined in Unanimous Decision
JO	Joined in Opinion
JD	Joined in Dissent
CD	Wrote Concurring in Part, Dissenting in Part
PRD	Petition For Review Denied
PC	Per Curiam

2005 - 07
JO	04-5393	Salim Ahmed Hamdan vs. Donald H. Rumsfeld, United States Secretary of Defense, et al. (Argued 4/7/05 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	04-5061	Melvin Porter vs. Andrew S. Natsios, Administrator, United States Agency for International Development (Argued 5/6/05 DHG, JWR, JGR)
JUD	04-7089	Timothy R. Booker vs. Robert Half International, Inc. (Argued 3/10/05 ARR, JGR, SFW)
WO	04-1058	Mike Brady, et al. vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 3/4/05 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	04-5048	National Association of Home Builders, et al. vs. Gale A. Norton, Secretary of the United States Department of Interior, et al. (Argued 12/3/04 KLH, DST, JGR)
2005 - 06
JUD	03-1308	City of Naples Airport Authority vs. Federal Aviation Administration (Argued 3/4/05 ARR, JGR, SFW)
JUD	03-5370	Milton Joseph Taylor vs. United States Probation Office, et al. (Argued 4/4/05 HTE, JWR, JGR)
JUD	04-3135	United States of America vs. Talib D. Watson (Argued 5/5/05 DBS, ARR, JGR)
WUD	04-3067	United States of America vs. Willie Lawson (Argued 4/12/05 ARR, MBG, JGR)
JUD	04-5006 & 04-4007	Amoco Production Company vs Rebecca W Watson, Asst Secretary for Land and Mineral Management, et al. (Argued 2/14/05 HTE, DBS, JGR)
JUD	03-7191	TMR Energy Limited vs. State Property Fund of Ukraine (Argued 11/15/04 DHG, DST, JGR)
JUD	04-1280	Town of Springfield, New Jersey, et al. vs. Surface Transportation Board, et al. (Argued 5/19/05 ARR, MBG, JGR)
WUD	04-7059	Phyllis J. Outlaw vs Airtech Air Condition and Heating, Inc., et al. (Argued 4/5/05 HTE, JWR, JGR)
JUD	04-1172 & 04-1198	ITT Industries, Inc. vs. National Labor Relations Board (Argued 4/12/05 ARR, MBG, JGR)
2005 - 05
JO	05-5131	CSX Transportation, Inc. vs. Anthony A. Williams, In his official capacity as Mayor of the District of Columbia, et al. (Argued 4/27/05 KLH, ARR, JGR)
JUD	04-5197	John F. Kreis vs. Secretary of the Air Force, In his official capacity (Argued 4/5/05 HTE, JWR, JGR)
PRD	04-1127	Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. vs. Secretary of Labor (Argued 12/6/04 DHG, JWR, JGR)
JUD	03-1147	SBC Communications Inc. vs. Federal Communications Commission, et al. (Argued 2/17/05 DBS, JGR, SFW)
PC	04-1182	Xcel Energy Services Inc. vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Submitted DHG, JWR, JGR)
JUD	04-7060	Marian R. Wagener, On behalf of herself and on behalf of all others similarly situated, et al. vs. SBC Pension Benefit Plan - Non Bargained Program (Argued 2/11/05 HTE, DBS, JGR)
JUD	04-5240	Luck's Music Library, Inc., et al. vs. Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, et al. (Argued 3/10/05 ARR, JGR, SFW)
CD	04-5057	American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations vs. Elaine Chao, US Secretary of Labor (Argued 12/08/04 HTE, JWR, JGR) (Concurring in part and dissenting in part)
2005 - 04
WUD	04-5138 & 04-5142	Universal City Studios LLLP, et al. vs. Marybeth Peters, in her official capacity as Register of Copyrights, et al. (Argued 2/17/05 DBS, JGR, SFW)
JUD	04-1049	Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation Garland vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, et al. (Argued 2/15/05 DST, MBG, JGR)
WC	04-1157	National Treasury Employees Union vs. Sentelle Federal Labor Relations Authority (Argued 2/11/05 HTE, DBS, JGR)
2005 - 03
JUD	03-7129	Kathleen Robertson vs. American Airlines, Inc. (Argued 11/16/04 DHG, MBG, JGR)
PC	03-3087	United States of America vs. Arnett C. Smith (On Petition for Rehearing) (JWR, MBG, JGR)
2005 - 02
WUD	02-3082	United States of America vs. Ronald James Toms, a/k/a Block (Argued 11/15/04 DHG, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-3103	United States of America vs. Robert D. Garner (Argued 10/14/04 DHG, KLH, JGR)
WUD	03-1092 & 03-1097	Public Service Commission of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 1/7/05 ARR, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-1355	Augustin B. Jombo, vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service (Argued 12/3/04 KLH, DST, JGR)
2005 - 01
JUD	03-5303	Martha Hutchinson vs. Central Intelligence Agency, et al. (Argued 11/15/04 DHG, DST, JGR)
WUD	03-5313	Michael J. Koszola vs. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Argued 11/16/04 DHG, MBG, JGR)
JUD	03-1455	Carus Chemical Company vs. Environmental Protection Agency (Argued 10/14/04 DHG, KLH, JGR)
JUD	03-3119	United States of America vs. Ricky Moore (Argued 10/15/04 DHG, KLH, JGR)
WUD	03-1431	AT&T Corporation vs. Federal Communications Commission, et al. (Argued 11/12/04 DHG, DST, JGR)
JUD	03-5182	Oscar L. Thomas vs. Anthony J. Principi, Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs, et al. (Argued 11/12/04 DHG, DST, JGR)
JUD	04-1020	DTE Energy Company, et al. vs. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Argued 12/6/04 DHG, JWR, JGR)
WUD	04-1021	American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Capital Area Council 26 vs. Federal Labor Relations Authority (Argued 11/19/04 ARR, JWR, JGR)
WO	04-5026	Frank Taucher, et al. vs. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, et al. (Argued 10/8/04 HTE, KLH, JGR)

Weird

     How bad were the guys _before_ the Taleban, that made the Afghans appreciate the young Islamists?  So bad, that the UK has just jailed one of the 1992-1996 warlords, Zardad by name, for "heinous" offences like conspiracy to commit torture and take hostages.    Zardad supposedly kept a guy chained up, and would release him to attack, bite and eat people.  This is being hailed as a victory for human rights, as I hear "the human dog" didn't get minimum wage, and had neither medical nor dental insurance.  What kind of monster must Zardad have been to ask someone to chew people alive for a living, and _not_ provide world-class dental coverage.  Zardad will likely do twenty years in prison.  H Karzai had the human dog put to death a couple years ago.

     As a side note, Zardad was found running a pizza parlour in South London... and you wondered why that slice tasted funny.

Why Not Free Trade?

     It would be one thing to shoot to shit the stupid arguments of people like pro-trade Republicans who claim that only through riches do we find Democracy.  It is more important, however, to make the positive argument, why is free trade with tyranny a bad idea.

     First, what is tyranny?  I will use China as an example because so much effort was expended by corporate America to get Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China.  Here is Nader's group, the pro-PNTR US China Org, Human Rights Watch, and the vote tally from ConservativeUSA. 

     China is basically a one-party state, and kills political activists.  All unions are organized by the party, and you can be killed for trying to start an independent union.  The top ranks of the Chinese government is self-selecting, i.e. the last dictator chooses his own succesor, often by gaining enough power to purge opposition figures from government, if not from life itself. 

     Which is going to be cheaper, labor in a free country,

• where people can (ostensibly) unite to demand higher wages,
• are free to politically agitate,
• and are regulated by alternating powers who form a check on each other's excesses,

or China, where none of this is the case?

     Obviously, a dictatorship has not a marginal but an absolute advantage in all trade relations.

     Representative S Brown (D-OH) seems to be the most vocal voice in Congress against this type of stupidity.

     I would like to be in Congress fighting against the stupidity of "free" trade with "slave" peoples.

     UPDATE: No sooner did I finish this than C-SPAN aired former Democratic Reprentative of Florida, James Bacchus, pontificating that trade = freedom.  He is a freaking one-note wonder.  He argues for Trade Adjustment Assistance.

     UPDATE2: C-SPAN 3 ran five hours on trade this day.  Two airings of J Sununu(R) and a M Cantor(D) arguing for more trade.  Two of J Bacchus(D) arguing for trade with more TAA, and one of a woman who blamed problems that emerge after trade opens up on ethnic hatreds.  Fuck C-SPAN on trade.

Corporatism

     We've got pro-trade corporate Democrats, mostly from the Democrat Leadership Council, and pro-trade corporate Republicans.

     Nothing I've said in this blog meant to suggest that R Nader was completely incorrect when he said the parties were identical.  They are not identical.  They both, however, are serving corporate interests above any others.  Here's Adam Smith's 1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, page 267, Glasgow edition, on the topic of corporate sponsored legislation.

The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted, till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.

The Federalist Society Fraud

     Why does the Federalist Society call itself that?  It is a fraud.  The Federalists believed in a strong, centralized government, while the Democratic-Republicans believed in State's Rights.  The Federalist Society is, in some degrees, a secret society.

DoD Presents

     The Brookings Insitution has put together a bunch of Iraq facts called the "Iraq Index" and, giving them the benefit of the doubt on the numbers, here is a selection (from pages 14 and 15 of the pdf).

5000	Number of Insurgents, At Large Nov03-Apr04
35,000	Number of Insurgents, Killed or Captured, Nov03-Jun05
15,000-20,000	Number of Insurgents, At Large Jun05

It MUST Be True

     I mean, Joseph Farah, owner/operator of the ever-reliable WorldNetDaily, has this to say, here

According to captured al-Qaida leaders and documents, the plan is called the "American Hiroshima" and involves the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons already smuggled into the U.S.
...
Al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union
...
In addition to detonating its own nuclear weapons already planted in the U.S., military sources also say there is evidence to suggest al-Qaida is paying former Russian special forces Spetznaz to assist the terrorist group in locating nuclear weapons formerly concealed inside the U.S. by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Osama bin Laden's group is also paying nuclear scientists from Russia and Pakistan to maintain its existing nuclear arsenal and assemble additional weapons with the materials it has invested hundreds of millions in procuring over a period of 10 years.
...
It is designed as a final deadly blow of defeat to the U.S.
...
Bin Laden, according to Williams, has nearly unlimited funds to spend on his nuclear terrorism plan because he has remained in control of the Afghanistan-produced heroin industry.
...
According to Williams' sources, thousands of al-Qaida sleeper agents have now been forward deployed into the U.S. to carry out their individual roles in the coming "American Hiroshima" plan.
...
There is virtually no doubt among intelligence analysts al-Qaida has obtained fully assembled nuclear weapons, according to Williams. The only question is how many. Estimates range between a dozen and 70.

     Will this fucknut get a talking to?

A Fresh New Movie, and a Classic

     I don't even know who made it, but here is the hilarious George Bush Spindoctor movie, starring George Bush, Andy Dick and Arianna Huffington.

     And this, from the 2004 GOP Convention, often called Keeping America Scared.

     Enjoy, but please don't link to this site for these movies.

Interviewing the Iraqi Resistance

     From CounterPunch today.  The cover story is Paul Craig Roberts pointing out how terribly "free-trade" is working for America.  This interview with someone familiar with the resistance, however, includes this paragraph, which helps a person distinguish the different types of attacks in Iraq. 

LS: How should the world distinguish between those groups who belong to the Iraqi National Resistance and those who do not?

MO: By actions. It is known to all Iraqis that any operation carried out by the resistance targets the occupation and the security forces. It must be kept in mind that at this point in time, with the absence of any true sovereignty in Iraq, the security forces are merely an extension of the occupation itself. Those operations that do otherwise and target civilians can be said for certain to not belong to the National Resistance. For example, hundreds upon hundreds of university professors, military pilots, scientists and doctors have been killed in Iraq. What possible benefit would the resistance have in attacking our country's most talented and educated people? It is clear to all Iraqis that there are foreign fingers pulling the triggers to commit these crimes and murder the human resources of Iraq, all the while attempting to steal the country's natural resources.

American Prospect is Often Good

     Please ignore Matt Yglesias, but they have Robert McIntyre, who is simply outstanding on tax matters, as the linked article shows, and Cass Sunstein, perhaps the premiere lefty article writing lawyer in the country.  In fact, on tax matters I generally defer to Mr McIntyre, who also runs the invaluable Citizens for Tax Justice, and Mr. Sunstein once replied to an e-mail of mine :).

     Welcome to my echo chamber (from the McIntyre peice)...

First and foremost, we need to stress that Bush’s panel is flat-out lying when it pretends that its recommendations are "revenue neutral." In truth, the panel is promoting a $7 trillion tax-cut plan designed to bankrupt our country in perpetuity.

Second, we need to condemn Bush’s panel for proposing to further shift taxes away from the rich and onto everyone else. We’ll have plenty of allies, because the public is decidedly against paying higher taxes for fewer public services.

Too Funny

     Near the 80th Anniversary of the Scopes "monkey" trial, one of the premiere proponents of ID (Idiotic Design) says

I’m predicting that Bush and Benedict XVI will play much the same role in the distintegration of evolution (i.e., the ateleological materialistic form of it that currently dominates the West) as Reagan and John Paul II did in the disintegration of communism.

Teleology (I had to look it up) talks about function and design, and was used in the original Darwin battles.  A statement like "the eagle's wing is designed for soaring" is an example.

ALERT! ALERT!

     This has been a test.  This has only been a test.  If the terrorists were really on the verge of undermining the entire basis of western civilization, or even capturing Florida, you would already have heard about it.  In they manage to nuke DC (rather than attack with kitchen knives or homemade explosives), we can carry on.  The people there are very replacable, in the grand scheme of things, although it might take a week or two for things to get back to normal.

     In fact, we should be more on guard for those who would cancel elections and representative democracy (as aristocratic-republicanism is now known) in the face of such an attack far more than these imaginary, nuke-wielding attackers.  They are the allies of the terrorists, for in abandoning democracy, they abandon the principles that make this whole damn system worth participating in.

     Please return to your normal activities.  This has only been a test. 

     How's the weather?  Terrible president we're having.

Thomas PM Barnett, The Pentagon's New Map

     On the one hand, if you want to know the Kool-Aid the Pentagon has been drinking lately, this guy is mixing up the batches.  That said, it's such crap!  Terrorists are generally educated people.  This guy flips things upside down and claims that, generally, the problem is with cultures who are disconnected (socially? definitely economically) from the happy, global economic system.  No bias whatsoever.

     UPDATE: OK, there is a level at which he is right, but, still, it's way too go-go-markets and seems to ignore reality and politics, imposing the map on the world.

     UPDATE: Further reflections. Was America part of Europe, or out in the gap, back in 1776?   MORE: He seems blind to the idea that it is "our" (American, Western) "core" that he is so blithely spreading.  Sure, I like being smart, too.  But whether it is Jefferson and Franklin leading American newspaper readers or Lenin leading Russian peasants, it is usually the leaders who are educated, and others follow (or not) for reasons totally unrelated to "core-gap."

The National Resources Defense Council, Energy By Sector

     Does anyone remember this post of mine, about the uses of petroleum by sector?  Well, check this article out, from the National Resources Defense Council, entitled "Blueprint for Disaster?".  The article is about overall energy usage by sector, and the interviewed architect, Ed Mazria, says buildings are the real culprit in the overall (rather than oil) picture.  By the way, the 4-way split found by Mazria is Industry 35%, Transportation 27%, Residential 21% and Commercial 17%.

     So, I made my own graph of the data

     One note, the "Energy" line refers to the energy consumed in electricity production (after 1989 it includes independent power producers.)  Energy is separate from the total.  In other words, total energy consumption is represented by the four non-energy lines, and the red line represents the amount turned into electricity first.

Alger Hiss, Yeah Right

     Cashill says so much crap I can't believe it.  He says there weren't more than 2,000,000 Indians in all of North America when Colombus arrived.  But I also looked up Alger Hiss.  You find a dipshit who believes the Alger Hiss crap, that he wasn't more than a victim of scare mongering?  This website is very complete.

     Now he is saying there is a Ward Churchill in every college and university in America except 3 or 4 he can name.

Fraud Jack Cashill

     Dipshit Jack Cashill says that nobody covered Alex Haley having to settle out of court for half his profits.  This dipshit says that the only paper that covered it at the time was a local Besthesda paper.  I guess this dipshit didn't ever hear Time Magazine.

     Then the dipshit says a journalist named Matthews was so powerful that the CIA simply went to sleep (re: Cuba).

     Then he goes off on Durante, who reported favorably on the Soviet Union... during the 1928-1932 period.  It is simply a fact that during the Great Depression that put 25% of Americans were out of work, the Soviets were booming. 

     He blames it all on a lack of faith in Jesus.  Sorry, I had no idea how stupid he was.  I wouldn't have brought it up if I'd known.

     How much of a dipshit is he?  He claims that Mumia is like a rock star, and his fame is what got him off death row, but that nobody knew who he was.  Aren't those entirely statements contradictory?

The Defense Of Rove, I channel the Neo-Cons

     I think anyone who tries to compare the crimes of Karl Rove to the crimes of Saddam Hussein is clearly anti-American.

Brit Pull-Out Memo

     A link to the text of the memo.

Spare Time?

     A website dedicated to the subway system of North Korea.  Lots of pictures in both the "photos" and "guidebook" sections.  I have to tell you, it looks quite nice.  The photographer has this comment at one point "This April 1999 picture of the entrance to Puhing Station was provided by Leonid Petrov. The fact that the Korean passengers are all very smartly dressed suggests that foreigners’ visits to the Metro are carefully organized."

Iraq

     Thanks to WIIIAI for the link to this former Tory MP opinion peice on Iraq.  It is very good.

     Brookings, who I increasingly distrust as they get more and more connected with AEI, has published 40 pages that they call the Iraq Index. I don't know where they are getting their poll numbers, but at first glance they look good.  Note: The report shows a lot of graphs with the most recent month trending down.  That is, in part, because the most recent month is July, and it is only one fourth over.

Pape Again

     Before, Pape got quickly ignored when he showed that most suicide bombers weren't religious, nor were they criminals.  But the NY Times made up for it a little when they ran an Op/Ed by Pape today.  It includes this quote.

In December 2003, the Norwegian intelligence service found a lengthy Qaeda planning document on a radical Islamic Web site that described a coherent strategy for compelling the United States and its allies to leave Iraq. It made clear that more spectacular attacks against the United States like those of 9/11 would be insufficient, and that it would be more effective to attack America's European allies, thus coercing them to withdraw their forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and increasing the economic and military burdens that the United States would have to bear.

     Pape is not an idiot.

Bullshit Wars of the Past, Supported

     Neo-fascist "John O'Sullivan" says, at the Corner, "In retrospect the Falklands war was a turning point in postwar British history. It restored national self-confidence (hammered after Suez)"  I won't play with such small minds as John O'Sullivans on a regular basis, but I get particularly offended at people hurrah-ing past murderous stupidity.

     Was British self-confidence hurt after Suez?  I have no idea, but I do know that every Franco-British-Israeli axis that tries a Suez in the future deserves destruction, not a loss of self-confidence.  Let's look at brief history

Anthony Eden, the British prime minister, feared that Nasser intended to form an Arab Alliance that would cut off oil supplies to Europe. On 21st October Guy Mollet, Anthony Eden and David Ben-Gurion met in secret to discuss the problem. During these talks it was agreed to make a joint attack on Egypt.
On 29th October 1956, the Israeli Army, led by General Moshe Dayan, invaded Egypt. Two days later British and French bombed Egyptian airfields. British and French troops landed at Port Said at the northern end of the Suez Canal on 5th November. By this time the Israelis had captured the Sinai peninsula.
President Dwight Eisenhower grew increasingly concerned about these developments. On 30th October he decided to take action and announced he was going to suspend aid to Israel in protest against its invasion of Egypt. The following day Eisenhower's secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, criticised Britain and France for trying to take the Suez Canal by force.

     Fuck Britain, France and Israel and that war of aggression (and no reader of this blog thinks I don't think Iraq is of the same mold).  And fuck John O'Sullivan for thinking the British people suffered some self-confidence for failing in their aggression.

     President DD Eisenhower wasn't perfect.  But I enjoy, greatly, reading his response to the stupid, fuckheaded plans of Britain, as relayed on Aug 1, 1956

We recognize the transcendent worth of the Canal to the free world and the possibility that eventually the use of force might become necessary in order to protect international rights. But we have been hopeful that through a Conference in which would be represented the signatories to the Convention of 1888, as well as other maritime nations, there would be brought about such pressures on the Egyptian Government that the efficient operation of the Canal could be assured for the future.
For my part, I cannot over-emphasize the strength of my conviction that some such method must be attempted before action such as you contemplate should be undertaken. If unfortunately the situation can finally be resolved only by drastic means, there should be no grounds for belief anywhere that corrective measures were undertaken merely to protect national or individual investors, or the legal rights of a sovereign nation were ruthlessly flouted. A conference, at the very least, should have a great education effort throughout the world. Public opinion here, and I am convinced, in most of the world, would be outraged should there be a failure to make such efforts. Moreover, initial military successes might be easy, but the eventual price might become far too heavy.

     President Eisenhower might not have been a saint, but he knew fucking war, and knew that the British should have been smacked down for their ignorant, militaristic stupidity, recently defended by John O'Sullivan in the blog of the National Review Oncrack.

Galloway on the BBC

     The interviewer was really awful, refusing to concede anything to Galloway, refusing to acknowledge that Bush and Blair attempted to use the deaths in London to further their own political ends.  Galloway handled himself well.

A Totally Unusual View

     Via Lenin's Tomb I find the text of the Socialist Worker's response to the bombings in London.  I don't have much to say about these matters.  al-Qaeda, or whomever, are attacking vulnerable points.  Transportation is basically impossible to regulate without uber-fascist police state level control, to the best of my knowledge.  I still think it would be wiser to make some allowance for the religious beliefs of 1 billion Muslims as it respects the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, and the efficacy of avoiding bullshit wars, like Iraq.  Continued occupation of foreign lands, and support for the occupation of Palestine, are also problematic.  The settlers are being removed from Gaza (although I never have heard mention of post-exit occupation by IDF troops) even as Sharon encourages the wall to go up faster.

     Without further ado, the Socialist Worker...

London is a centre of peace, the most multiracial city in Europe and a global centre of opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. A majority of those killed and wounded will have opposed the war in Iraq; some will have joined the huge marches for peace.

These bombings followed the biggest ever protest in Scotland’s history against world poverty. The anti-war message was everywhere on that magnificent march.

These bombings target ordinary people travelling by bus and underground to work and study; people who oppose Tony Blair’s support for George Bush and their occupation of Iraq. They are in no way a blow against imperialism or the G8 leaders, who are ensconced in a luxury hotel 450 miles north of London.

New In Timeless

     I added P.T. Barnum's ART OF MONEY GETTING or, Golden Rules for Making Money to my timeless (timeless) section in my navbar.  Have I ever mentioned that JAPAN'S OTHER EMPEROR: Taoist Politics and the Nancho Resurgence is one of the most, if not the most, interesting story on the entire internet?  It's also in my timeless section.

US Encouraged To Set Date Certain

     Hoping to get America to set a date for withdrawal from Central Asia (Uzbekistan and Afghanistan) are... Democrats? no. Russia, China, and Four out of Five Stans.  Turkmenistan, I jokingly suggest, thinks that the US presence helps their allies in Islamic terrorism in their recruiting efforts.

Rove Named as Criminal

     Might as well link you to this by Lawrence O'Donnell, the guy who leaked the fact that Rove leaked Plame's name.

Innocent Mistake or Academic Fraud

     In the paper "Condom Promotion for AIDS Prevention in the Developing World: Is it Working?" by Norman Hearst, MD, MPH1 and Sanny Chen, MHS1,2, the authors use footnotes fraudulently in an attemp to prove their points.  This paper is available from the pro-abstinence Medical Institute for Sexual Health, in a pdf called "Evidence Monograph."

     First, a little background.  Human Rights Watch has this report which is pretty useful.  Basically, in 1987, Uganda began what it calls the ABC program for fighting HIV/AIDS, then ravaging the country.  This included, but was not limited to, education of primary and secondary school children about HIV/AIDS, condoms, and the value of being abstinent before marriage and faithful after marriage.  Uganda is often considered a success story, which, it turns out, is part of the problem.

     For Christian leaders, like President GW Bush, want to credit abstinence and faithfulness, and others want to credit condoms.  Apparently, some groups are getting rich off condom distribution.  Others want condoms stopped, because it violates their ethical or religious sentiments.

     Let's look at this one paragraph of the "Condom Promotion" paper by Hearst and Chen.

Condoms were not central to the initial (ie, pre-donor) response to the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. Messages focused on delaying sexual debut, abstinence, being faithful to a single partner (called "zero grazing"), and condoms, roughly in that order.41,48 Large- scale condom social marketing did not begin until the arrival of the foreign donors in the mid-1990s.54 In fact, as late as 1995, only 6% of Ugandan women and 16% of Ugandan men had ever used a condom, with consistent use being much lower.48 Although Ugandans now use more condoms, particularly with casual partners, these recent condom use rates cannot be credited for what happened earlier.51

     Powerful facts, if they happened to be true.  Let's look at the footnotes cited.

• 41: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Thailand Epidemiological Fact Sheets on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (2002 Update). Geneva: UNAIDS; 2002. Link (pdf)
• 48: Kilmarx PH, Palanuvej T, Limpakarnjanarat K, Chitvarakorn A, St. Louis ME, Mastro TD. Seroprevalence of HIV among female sex workers in Bangkok: evidence of ongoing infection risk after the "100% condom program" was implemented. Journal Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome 1999; 21(4):313-316. Link(abstract)
• 51: Stoneburner R, Carballo M, Bernstein R, Saidel T. Simulation of HIV incidence dynamics in the Rakai population-based cohort, Uganda. AIDS 1998; 12(2):226-228. Link(pay subscribers only)
• 54: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Commercial market strategies, Uganda report; 2001 Link(pdf)

     First, link 51 isn't an article, it is a letter, and as such didn't meet the same scrutiny requirements of other material.  Second, link 54 has a chart (PDF page 11, numberered page 7) which says "socially marketed condoms" were trivial in amount before 1991, but this doesn't mention that "socially marketed" condoms are a special type of sale, defined by the UN as "For example, social marketing programs offer condoms for sale at lower prices and at many non-traditional outlets, like markets, hotels and bars." Socially marketed condoms make up what % of total condom sales?  No information is presented.  Link 51 also says "The decline in incidence and prevalence [of HIV/AIDS] are complex and not yet completely understood. This is especially true regarding the earlier years (i.e., there is little HIV-related Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data prior to 1995)."  Link 41 and 48 don't mention Uganda at all, so we are left wondering "where do Hearst and Chen get the idea that only 16% of Ugandans have ever tried a condom?"  Well, in the paper HIV incidence and sexually transmitted disease prevalence associated with condom use: a population study in Rakai, Uganda they do provide that number, limiting it only to one, rural province in Uganda.

     I believe the explicit STD, sexual health and HIV/AIDS education provided to primary and secondary school children, now being removed by President Museveni, probably had the largest impact.  That education stressed A, B and C, but now C is being removed from the picture by a christian revivalist movement.

     Whatever the truth turns out to be, nothing in Hearst and Chen's paragraph above is supported by the footnotes provided, although one (link 54) does provide some indirect evidence.

     This reminds me too much of Dr. Page, Bush's choice for Secretary of Education, and the way Houston School District numbers were rigged to make them far better than they really were (by throwing kids out of school who weren't testing better).  A complete lack of suspiciion of voices on their own side.

---

CORRECTION: The Evidence Monograph containing this paper also contains a paper by Dr. Green of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.  I didn't notice the pdf contained two papers, and originally, mistakenly, connected Dr. Green with the fraudulent footnotes.

Ray Takeyh on the recent elections in Iran

     People often define Iran's government as a despotic regime.  Takeyh quote clearly says that the Guardian Council had a candidate in the elections, and their guy didn't even get to the second round of the elections.  Talk about a flawed tyranny, they can't even get their favored candidate elected!  Takeyh describes the new President of Iran as critical of the self-serving economic actions of the old Guard.  He says young conservatives like him, but the old conservatives don't.  This talk was given at the Nixon Center and was hosted by Robert McFarlane (National Security Advisor to President Reagan).  Hardly some left-wing ideologue.

Boring, Boring Politics, Absent Breaking Kneecaps

     I like C-SPAN.  Last night the 25+ year President and CEO of C-SPAN, B Lamb, was interviewing two contest-winning teachers, both teachers of government.  One taught it as an elective, and her students were very interested.  The other taught it as a required course, and she said they were about as distinterested as could be imagined.  Lamb asked "Why?" and the teacher responded "Because they've watched C-SPAN and they think government is boring."  I thought it was hilarious.

     Doesn't this guy sound like he knows what he is talking about?  It's all about int'l trade.

By offering candy, the Administration has picked up:
Sen. Chambliss, after agreeing to buy up excess sugar imports beyond a certain point and make the surplus available for ethanol production.

Author Edwin Black, "Banking on Baghdad: 7,000 Year History of Iraq

     It's not a 7,000 year history, it's mostly a story of the persecution of Jews of Iraq, a story leading up to the "Farhud"(sp?), the dispossession the Jews of Baghdad after WWII.  This guy is obviously an anti-Arab bigot.  Someone in the Ottoman Empire came up with a very modern Constitution, so his Pasha had him killed, according to Mr. Black.  It would have been more democratic than American in the 1780s, he says.  He calls it "the first, best and last hope" for democracy in the Middle East.  Edwin Black is a racist peice of crap, who should be rejected by C-SPAN, who is, instead, giving him a forum.  If this is any indication, he presents the "Golden Square" Iraqi coup of 1941 incorrectly.  He suggests that the Nazis sent crack air force to fight at Habbaniyah (the RAF base near Basra).  The other article suggests that the Nazis were quite late in providing any assistance, although it doesn't discuss the quality of the pilots provided by the Nazis during this period.  He's a bad historian.  This is an RAF report from 1941, including this paragraph, which shows that the Germans were neutralized by the mostly trainee-level British troops...

The operations of the German Air Force, to whose neutralisation so much attention had been paid, consisted for the most part of bombing and machine gun attacks on the hangars and dispersed aircraft at Habbaniya together with occasional low flying attacks on our troops in the Habbaniya area and on Army convoys approaching this area from the West. The scale of the attacks was never heavy and on the whole the damage done and casualties inflicted by the German aircraft were not serious. In one bombing attack, it is true, the ERRS of the Aircraft Depot was destroyed and in another a hangar containing 6 aircraft was burnt out, but apart from this and a few other less noteworthy incidents the German bombs did surprisingly little material damage. The low flying attacks of the Me110s were carried out with very little apparent plan, the pilots appearing content on many occasions to spray the whole Cantonment Area with cannon shells and bullets without any definite objective. It is true they made occasional attacks on aircraft around the aerodrome, but by making full use of dispersal and using dummy aircraft damage was reduced to a minimum. On the other hand the moral effect produced by the German attacks was considerable and was due more to their frequency than their accuracy.

Today I'm...

     I'm listening to the committee meeting on the ~1.5 billion in unexpected funding needed by the Veteran's Administration for medical care.  You should, in part, blame my former bosses at the Boston Development Center(now Allocation Resource Center) in Braintree, Mass.  They had spent 60-120K on a peice of software to help them draft their budgets.  It went through the millions of lines of database records they had and produced an annual report on overall usage of the VA hospital system.  In my spare time, in a few weeks, I rewrote the whole thing and added tons of functionality.  My version allowed looking at subsets of the hospital system, and months, or quarters, instead of the whole year.  I was fired soon after I showed it to them.  Interestingly, the program they had paid for only ever worked once (for one year), and we were three months behind producing the 2nd report the day I was hired, and I never heard about it until almost three months later.

     CONCLUSION? No one missed any health care service, and only a portion of the 1.5 billion is associated with Iraq.  Sadly, the cost of prosthetics made available to veterans through the health agency will increased, from 05 to 06, from 900,000,000 to 1,200,000,000, an increase of 33%.

     I'm also reading this report from Human Rights Watch, DRC: The Curse of Gold.

     CONCLUSION? The Second Congo War was, in large degree, ignored by the US media.  It pitted the Lake Victoria bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi vs the Congo-Kinshasa government, Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe.  Uganda, Rwanada and Zimbabwe were all, it seems, involved in illegally funding their armies via local Congolese gold.  Now, things are less international in scope, and much gold from the northeast of the Congo leaves into Uganda, where it is laundered into the global gold market.

Belated Notice

     Thanks to a link at Crytome (offsite section, dated July 1st) I've received about 500 hits to this post I did back in August, 2003.

     I pay attention _real_ good, sometimes.  It costs, though, and I'm no longer in the position I was then.

Link-A-Mania

     I know a lot of you were saying to yourselves "The internet is empty, I'm done reading the whole thing."  Well, I found some stuff you may not have seen yet.

• Some on the right (no links) are all atwitter re: this Times of London interview with His Infallability, GW Bush.  Included is this quote, reminding me mostly of SH al-Tikriti and other lunatics of war-mongering history "And he remains messianic about his ambition of promoting democracy around the world — not only in the Middle East, but in Africa and Europe."
• Via Cursor, I learn of this Princeton University Press work , Choosing Your Battles about the splits between people with, and without, military experience and the decision to use force.  Not amusingly, the page I linked to has a link to the first chapter of the book, but the link is (intentionally?) wrong.  The correct link to the first chapter of the anti-chickenhawk work is here.
• Ever wonder where the media markets are?  Project Lydia is producing heatmaps (good sample page) for news.  The heatmap shows where the news is getting.  Also available is a complete word-to-word correlation engine called TextMap.