Rightist Hypocrisy

     Imagine if a female prostitute, without journalist's credentials, was granted regular access to the White House Spokesperson, and was even called upon by the President.

     Thanks to L Beyerstein.

Half Backwards

     Like the US used Navajo, is it possible that secessionist/terrorist/militant movements are more succesful if they speak a very different language than their opponents?  Isn't the US "intelligence" suffering for a lack of translators?

Kansas AG Denies Virgin Birth

     The Attorney General of Kansas has demanded the records from abortion clinics concerning, among other things, abortions by women under the legal age of sixteen.  He argues that the State of Kansas was never alerted to obvious cases of statuatory rape.

     I guess he is saying it is impossible for a woman to become pregnant without sex.  Guess that rules out Jesus.

UPDATE: As of 2008, please check this site

The Solution to the Problem of International Terrorism, in Four Parts

Part One (Version 1.1)

Correctly Identifying the Source of Conflict, or, "What seems to be the trouble?"

     This is my proof that the basis of terrorism is linguistic.  I will show that the linguistic basis is present, and non-trivial, in all the major internal terrorism problems in the world.  I will show that cases where it does not appear to be the case have alternative explanations which do nothing to undermine the main case.  I will then establish the parallel with the "war on terror."

     I started this project with the idea that religions, which are all based on lies, are a problem which can only be solved by their destruction.  I still think that religions are a major problem, but during my research I came to the conclusion that language was more important.  Without the ability to communicate, agreement or disagreement can hardly be reached.

     To pull up terrorism by the roots, you must know those roots.  Usama bin-Laden is right, from the perspective of Islam, that non-Muslims on the Saudi penninsula is an anathema.  The United States might well have needed troops stationed there for the first War in Iraq, but they stayed years and years after.  Why is it that so few Americans were aware of this insult to a billion religionists?  The absence of cross-culture communication, the lack of the ability to easily transfer or relevant ideas, can become critical.

     There are roughly twenty language families in the world.

     A person can learn a language closely related to their own more easily than they can learn a language from another family.

     Now, a detailed look at some of the world's largest nations, and their internal terrorism problems.

	Conflict	Language Descent	Maps	Language Info	Extra
China - Uyghur	(*) • China's Uyghur Dilemma • US Navy paper • Uyghur Info Bulletin Homepage
		The Uyghur, of China's northwestern Sinkiang Province, live in what was formerly known as East Turkestan
		Chinese Sino-Tibetan	A-B Map, Boeree Map, Starling Map	Chinese Family (E), Chinese Family Page	Word Comparison in Sino-Tibetan Languages
		Uyghur Eastern Turkic Turkic Altaic	Boeree Map, Gippert Map, Turkestan Map	Uyghur Language Family	Uyghur Language Program at Kansas University
Russia - Chechnya	(*) • CFR writeup • Convoluted Apt Bombings Case • Voice of Russia Links
		The Chechen live just north of the Caucasus mountains.  Ingushya, Dagestani and Georgian are the commonly known related languages, all in the Caucasus area.
		Russian East Slavic Slavic Indo-European	A-B Indo-European Map, A-B Slavic Map, Another Slavic Map	Russian Language Family(E)
		Chechen Chechen-Ingush North Central Caucasian North Caucasian	CIA Caucasus Map, Dryer Map, Another Caucasus Map	Chechen Language Lineage(E), Humphries
India - Tamil	• Tamil Tigers accused by UN • Tamil Terrorism Links • Tamil Liberation Links
		Dravidian might have the oldest roots of any non-African language group.  It is mainly spoken in Sri Lanka and southeastern India.
		Indic Indo-Aryan Indo-Iranian Indo-European	Boeree Indo-European Map, Indo-Iranian Map, CIA 1973 India Map	Indic Language Group (E), Creighton's Language Tree	Ignore Religion
		Tamil Tamil-Malayalam Tamil-Kodagu Tamil-Kannada Southern Dravidian Dravidian	Boeree Dravidian, Another Dravidian, And Another Dravidian	Tamil Family (E)
Spain - Basque	(*) • Basque Terrorists • Basque Homeland Links • News
		The language of the Basque has no known roots or close relatives.  They live on both sides of the channel-side of Franco-Spanish border.
		Spanish Castilian West Iberian Ibero-Romance Gallo-Iberian Italo-Western Romance Italic Indo-European	Boeree Indo-European Map, Romance Language Map, Spanish Dialects Map	Spanish Language Lineage (E)
		Basque Basque	Basque Areas Map, Basque in France Map, Basque in Europe	Basque Language Lineage (E)	ETA Demands Map

(*) indicates alleged al-Qaeda connection of which I've heard.

     What I hope you take away from the above table can be most quickly seen by examining the "Language Descent" column.  The languages in question aren't related, like English and German, or Chinese and Tibetan, but as alien to each other as human languages can be, each from one of the 20 different language families.

     And these terrorists aren't simply random choices.  They represent some al-Qaeda connected (China,Russia,Spain) groups and problems that plague some of the largest countries on Earth (China,Russia,India).

     If you are with me so far, I'd ask you to draw the following parallel.  America is the premiere power on Earth.  Its influence in matters cultural, financial, and diplomatic are generally paramount, even as culture and diplomacy require language.  And yet, for justice to prevail, I hope you will agree that America needs to be cognizant of the likes, bottom-lines, and lines-not-to-cross of each faction.  If only the tiniest handful of Americans speaks Arabic, we can't expect to "hear" if they have a problem.

     I know we all have had experience with miscommunication.  In the high stakes world of diplomacy, or the exacting world of the courts, a result can hinge on the understanding of a single word.

     To complicate the limited communication avenues between the English and Arabic cultures, and the unavoidable miscommunications, there is what I would term 'discommunication,' namely, the intentional messages of "distrust" or "hate" sent by each side to its own.  Notable hatemongers spread the rumor that the 'other' is simply not rational, or is bent on destruction of a way of life.  This holds for both sides, and comes from ignorance.

     In Part 2, the solution, probably already obvious, will be outlined.  Part 3 explains why seeming counter-examples, Israel, Chiapas and Colombia, actually cement the case.  Part four throws in some material that may not fit anywhere else.

NOTE: I am not a linguist.  Even though some of the links probably contradict some of the others, this doesn't change the merits of the case.

     Overall, the most comprehensive and quick-to-peruse set of maps and descent trees can be found on this page.  Unfortunately it is missing some maps, having split Indo-European into four parts, and only mapping three, for example.

     A Global Indo-European Map, a result of Europe's Imperialism.

A more primitive version of this post can be found in my archives.

Give Me Access!

     Was cruising the conservative drek sites and found out that Howard Brush Dean is debating Richard Lying-Gasbag Perle.  Might be aired on C-SPAN on Saturday.

     Almost famous are the Chomsky-Perle debates, from the late 1980s.  I should give a listen.  I hope Dean did, too.  Here they are.

DeLay(Religious Right) Packs the Ethics Committee

     After firing two members of the US House of Representatives Ethics Committee, second ranking House Republican, Tom DeLay of Texas picks two people who have contributed to his defense fund to replace them.  DeLay is also using his force in Texas to prevent prosecutors from bringing cases against Representatives unless a _partisan_ panel OK's it.

This?

     For a fuller discussion of John Negroponte see the link, from SourceWatch (formerly Disinfopedia).  Includes this most telling of tidbits

[F]rom 1971 to 1973, Negroponte was the officer-in-charge for Vietnam at the National Security Council (NSC) under Henry Kissinger

     Meanwhile, ever stalwart ally Britain claims to have lost 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of Plutonium.  British officials declare nothing's wrong and that "This is an accounting exercise."  Perhaps next time they can do accounting exercises with pencils and paper.
UPDATE: David Corn, at The Nation, has another article on John.

     Meanwhile, in East Asia...

     Now, the Remain Calm "Orange Team" (this naming pre-dates Yuschenko's efforts) in China/Taiwan, (4th or 5th in prominence, after Red, Blue and Green teams), believes China has no right to Taiwan (despites PRC's claim) and Taiwan has no right to China (despite Kuomintang claim's).  The US is (no surprise) being complete idiots now. 

• US criticizes China for increasing military.  US claims this upsets Taiwan/China balance.  I believe China plans to take advantage of the US extension of forces (Iraq, Afghanistan, perhaps waiting for one more) to invade Taiwan.  I believe it is a rational strategy.
• US criticizes Japan for engaging in trade talks with North Korea.
• US Ambassador to Japan, former Senate Majority Leader, Howard Baker, III, critcizes North Korea, calling it an "irresponsible regime" and "a deadly threat.

     NOTE: Bush has placed hopes for a resolution to the crisis in North Korea on six-party talks, those six parties include, China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and America.

     NEW NOTE: Bush has replaced the old guy for the six-party talks, and put in Christopher Hill.  This, actually, might be a good thing.  After a little more research, here and here, it looks like Mr. Hill isn't any sort of hero, take this exchange

Q: I have met some Korean officials who have said that the U.S. seems to be limiting its information sharing with South Korea regarding the North. For example, the Yanggang-do explosion last September. Because the U.S. did not provide timely information, South Koreans had a difficult time analyzing the situation. Could you provide your comments?
Hill: I don't want to sound too much like a diplomat, but let me just say, we don't discuss specific intelligence issues. But, generally, and I must say including that incident, we have an excellent, excellent intelligence relationship, and an excellent relationship in sharing. I've worked with a lot of countries, I've never seen a better one.

Infinite Waste

     I started another blog.  In the past, I've started a number of other blogs.  Most of them have fallen by the wayside.  This one is based on everthing I hear on C-SPAN Radio, which I live blog.

Feeding the Rumor Mill

     I haven't said much about Guckert/Gannon here.  Was talking with someone last night about it, and I think I have (yet another) guess.

• Either
  1. Guckert didn't have the regular security check, or
  2. The background check system sucks.

For the sake of the rest of this post, I am going with 1.

• To get past the security check either
  1. He was part of a White House orchestrated plot (i.e. "Let's get someone in there and lob softballs at McClellan when we need it"), or
  2. He was having sex with someone important, who made the problems go away

I think I have a proof it is 2.  In times past, when the White House/the Republican Party, have wanted someone to do stuff for them, they usually go with lawyers.

• Donald Segretti, lawyer, shady trickster during Watergate
• Ann Coulter, lawyer, hatchet-lady pundit.
• John O'Neill, lawyer (and Nixon supporter), hatchet-author of anti-Kerry "Unfit for Command"
• Buckhead, lawyer, Freeper who made a whole bunch of false allegations about Killian Memos (re: typography).

I argue that lawyers are selected precisely because they know the law so well.  O'Neill and Coulter would _have_ to be very familiar with libel and slander laws to do what they do, wouldn't they?  Therefore, if Rove had tried to hire someone to sit in on White House Press Conferences, he would have hired some partisan, down on their luck lawyer, not some gay prostitute.

Media Wants War in Iran/Syria

     Lots of news stories about an explosion "near" a nuclear plant today.  In fact, the explosion was 110 miles from the (non-operational) nuclear plant.

     The media is reporting that Bush has withdrawn the Envoy from Syria.  The article I'm reading, from the SF Gate, ignores any help Syria has been in capturing al-Qaeda and related groups.  It's a "hit" peice, in the sense that it seems to encourage war.  No sense linking to it.  Also reported are large protests over the death of Hariri.  Based on (secret evidence? sheer belligerence? no one seems to know) the US is blaming Syria for the death of a popular Prime Minister, Hariri, who resigned in protest after Lahoud got a second term by having the Parliament change the Constitution, ostensibly at Syria's discretion.

     Too bad stupid RW Reagan backed the wrong forces in Lebanon back in the 1980s.  There would likely be a stable, pro-US government in Beirut today.

Tip to Faf

     House votes to keep section of law that allows Secretary of Homeland Security (we are all safe from terrorists engaging in shady Arkansas land deals, Whitewater prosecutor) Chertoff. for any reason he sees fit, to ignore all American laws.  A little background information, from OMB Watch

This feeling

     It's quite sad.  I love writing, but I base my writing on my reading.  A few days ago my laptop got hosed.  Fell off the table (my fault) with the lid open.  Over 2.2 years, but still, it's sad.  It's harder on this machine.  At least, as of today, this machine is working pretty decently as a desktop (had been just a server).  Expect the Great Seal of the United States (reverse) to dissapear from the blog, and no new ones to appear.

A Road Map Which Lies

     A new, planned settlement in the West Bank.

Screw 'em

     Without asking you, or telling you, slimy, greedy corporations have managed to collect and store every single peice of data they could get their hands on, firms like the SCUMBAGS who rigged the Florida election for Bush in 2000 (ChoicePoint) to market leader Axciom are doing what, in Republican memory circles, you could blast someone with a shotgun for in other times.

     "Why, you, coming up here on my porch, wanting information about me (for free) and selling it?  Why don't I just kill you? Git, ya dang whippersnapper."

     Ah, I can't really claim that all these data thieves (yes, theieves, did they ask? No, they just took) are with one party or not, but I do know that the corporate media and NPR are making sure to put THEIEVES in a fair and balanced light.

     I believe the just thing to do is to force them to empty their databases, and start over, this time with no theft at all.  Actaully, I'm not sure there is any non-spying application of this data.  There is no way to fix it if they are wrong (and they have a vested interest in saying they are right, even when they aren't.)

     Aha!  I figured it out.  I think I know how to nail them, now.  I had momentarily felt a bit powerless before these corporate scumfucks.

(The First) Good News for America (in Iraq)

     Election results which show the United States did not rig the elections to let their favored candidate win amount to the first good news for Americans concerning, as the Daily Show has dubbed it, Mess-o-potamia.  It's good news for Ameicans both because corporate profits are enured and because if Ba'athist Allawi had won, everyone would have known it was a set-up.

   .  Now, I don't see why this couldn't have happened months, or more than a year ago.  We have done little to nothing to get Iraqis ready for the event in the meantime.  Had we acted earlier, the voter turnout in Al Anbar province would have been closer to 70%, instead of 2%.