We've known this for awhile, haven't we?

Irony, Contradiction, and Bloodlust- that's me!

Question for the group: how does one become a pagan? Are there rituals involved? Perhaps some Grand Idolater, perpetually clothed in dark robes and crystal jewelry, to whom homage and tithes must be paid? Is black lipstick required?

The answers to these and other related questions might be found by checking out this blog. Personally, I can only speculate as to the motivation of such an individual, though I suspect there is nothing there that couldn't be fixed with daily doses of lithium. In any event, I wonder what hideous secret lies at root of all that narcissistic indulgence. Magic, aliens, vampires, the Bavarian illuminati...nothing is ever what it seems- or so we're pushed to believe. I'll grant that I find it difficult to believe that there are no other intelligent life-forms in our vast universe. But you won't catch me claiming that little green men have contacted me, or plan to. Yet, for a select few, this belief seems to permeate their every thought.

No doubt, many in this curious subset possess intelligence, though it seems reasonable to question their emotional maturity. I can imagine one belting out with great vigor the infamous refrain of the evil Skeletor, arch-nemesis of He-Man, that "my power is beyond your understanding!" Convenient that. Still, what gets me is the relentless hope buried beneath the surface of this vanity. Something MUST be out there which can tie together the unexplainable. The proof is on Mars! What does Art Bell have to say? Maybe an alien will want to date me.

So it is that I have become acquainted with Vampagan, and he/she/it with me. From comments posted there a few days ago, I gather I'm not cut out for this insular community. Shocker. I have neither the imagination nor desire to construct such walls of social isolation. If you do, or would just like a generous helping of self-importance and misanthropy, you've found your match. It's dusk, however, so I'd better go shut the windows. A certain someone may not have rolled out of the right side of the coffin this evening.

The Crash

If it hasn't happened to you, yet, let me spare you the horror- BACK UP YOUR DATA! Yes, you guessed it- my computer crashed. And though the good folks at HP were sporting enough to hold my hand through all of it, their company proved little comfort in the end. No workarounds, no bug fixes, no system restores- just a complete full-recovery launch which brought me back to square one. Sleep is the order of the moment. I'll get back to posting later Saturday afternoon when I'm coherent again.

Roots of hatred

Charles Johnson links Hitler and the House of Saud- with documented evidence of collaboration.

Stuck in the past

Brent Scowcroft is at it again. He starts out reasonably, enough...

"It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace. He terrorizes and brutalizes his own people. He has launched war on two of his neighbors. He devotes enormous effort to rebuilding his military forces and equipping them with weapons of mass destruction. We will all be better off when he is gone."

...until he tells us why we shouldn't remove this monster...

"Even without Israeli involvement, the results could well destabilize Arab regimes in the region, ironically facilitating one of Saddam's strategic objectives. At a minimum, it would stifle any cooperation on terrorism, and could even swell the ranks of the terrorists. Conversely, the more progress we make in the war on terrorism, and the more we are seen to be committed to resolving the Israel-Palestinian issue, the greater will be the international support for going after Saddam."

Let's pick that one apart, shall we?
"the results could well destabilize Arab regimes in the region"? How soon can we start? Between Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria , and Egypt- we have a sum total of zero freedom-respecting democracies. For those who'd argue this part of the world isn't ready, yet, for such a splendid system- PHOOEY! Let's roll the dice and find out. Personally, I'll take the chance that it might not all work out perfectly. We're pretty damned far from perfect over there RIGHT NOW. To hell with this status quo.

"it would stifle any cooperation on terrorism, and could even swell the ranks of the terrorists"? Cooperation is being stifled, already! Frankly, a swift ass-kicking would likely do wonders for promoting "cooperation." Nothing compels quite like the US Marine Corps. As for swelling terrorist ranks, this canard is roughly on par with the notion of an "explosion in the Arab street." Where was this "explosion" after we liberated Afghanistan?

"the more progress we make in the war on terrorism, and the more we are seen to be committed to resolving the Israel-Palestinian issue, the greater will be the international support for going after Saddam." Wrong. The more we are seen to capitulate before repressive regimes who menace the civilized world, the more the world will smell blood from a wounded has-been superpower. The Arab world would like nothing more than for the US to holster it's weapons and focus on a compromise-fest in Israel, swapping land for peace in a deal with the life expectancy of a mosquito. I'm not buying. "Progress in the war on terror" threatens to unhinge complicit regimes throughout the region...and this will earn us their appreciation? "International support" no longer connotes responsibility, Mr. Scowcroft. Ostriches like you are half the reason why.

Signifying nothing

This whole debate about pseudonymous bloggers...oh, who gives a shit? Juan Non-Volokh has some interesting things to say(Are they any more or less interesting without his real name?) on the hot topic of Antonin Scalia...

Scalia is not endorsing the execution of minors or the use of capital punishment for crimes other than murder. Rather, he believes that the Constitution does not prohibit such policies. Whether to impose capital punishment for a given crime is a matter left to the legislature. The bottom line for Scalia is that judges should not impose their views on the death penalty from the bench.

The point is the thing, people. JN-V makes one and that's all that should matter.

WaPo has joined the ranks of the reasonable.

Inside information and the War on Terror

We've been hearing, a lot lately, how the Bush administration needs to make a public case for any military action in Iraq. The global danger Saddam poses apparently still in question for many journalists. On that note, World Tribune reports the US has obtained confirmation of Iraq having weaponized chemical and biological agents...

A key development, officials said, is that Baghdad has managed to weaponize chemical and biological warheads on Iraq's missile arsenal.

For months, the CIA sought to confirm the assertions of the Iraqi defectors, which in some cases appeared suspect, that the regime of President Saddam Hussein had acquired the components and infrastructure through Syria.

But over the last three months, officials said, new information was received that confirmed much of what the defectors had said, Middle East Newsline reported. The information determined that Saddam had abandoned former WMD facilities for new underground facilities and mobile vans.

Officials said the reports of Iraqi successes in WMD development came from a range of defectors.[Emphasis mine]

Our nation's intelligence agencies and Department of Justice have been scolded for lack of progress in their investigations. The Bush administration has been pilloried for its unwillingness to publicly divulge the details of it's military preparations and future plans for covert ops. Relationships with certain questionable foreign "friends" of ours have been roundly condemned. The tie that binds these three truths, however, is not the alleged incompetence or dereliction- rather a new method and strategy for disseminating WoT information.
Hints of operational success, and evidence to support their reason for existence, can be found daily in bits and pieces like the one above. Just don't expect the whole puzzle to be solved on national TV in a shortened news cycle. The simple fact is that this war requires a different set of rules in order for us to succeed. Rules which require that some information be more subtly introduced, lest the operations themselves become subject to the distraction of politics. Pragmatism and strategy are now employed with regard to newly gleaned information- it's value literally measurable in human lives.
Questionable public statements by some nations(ie: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait...) don't necessarily paint the truest picture of their involvement. But more importantly, our official responses don't necessarily indicate the internal assessment of said partners' veracity and cooperation. Apply Occam's Razor to the following question: What is simpler to believe..1) Pronouncements of non-support by Saudi Arabia, et al, go unrecognized by a stubbornly avaricious and oil-bent Bush administration, content to ignore the obvious? OR 2) The administration knows perfectly well, with an infinitely greater amount of detail, the true measure of assistance being offered by these partners?
This is calculus of several variables, folks; difficult to follow, but scientific in approach. Those who would publicize the details of ongoing investigations and secret partnerships ignore the irony of their unmet demands for specific information. The press has no discretion; it has only the news cycle to fill with content. Bush and company will hardly sacrifice the medium-to-long term needs of the country simply to satisfy the media's need for fresh "copy." Too much is at stake. The country cannot afford the luxury of seeking their approval for operations...yet.
The time will come for this, of course, when we are prepared to execute the plan being devised by the executive branch. Until then, evidence of progress in this war will be found in details like those above. The build-up to an offensive in Iraq and perhaps other Middle Eastern states is a tedious process, but rightfully so. It's time for the media to wake up to this new reality.

Not your father's microwave

This NewScientist piece has a bit more on the "E-bomb". Fascinating stuff...

High Power Microwave (HPM) devices are designed to destroy electronic equipment in command, control, communications and computer targets and are available to the US military. They produce an electromagnetic field of such intensity that their effect can be far more devastating than a lighting strike.

Gives new meaning to the phrase, "bomb them back to the Stone Age".

That's a pretty smart bomb

DEBKA is reporting that the US has a new weapon...

Tuesday August 6, at 0800 hours Middle East time, US and British air bombers went into action and destroyed the Iraqi air command and control center at al-Nukhaib in the desert between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The center contained advanced fiber optic networks recently installed by Chinese companies. DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources say the raid made military history. For the first time, the US air force used new precision-guided bombs capable of locating and destroying fiber optic systems. The existence of such weaponry was hitherto unknown.

Interesting, if true. What else do we have up our sleeve, Rummy?