Storm

I was standing out on the back deck a few minutes ago, watching the storms that are heading this way. The weathermen have been predicting powerful storms since early this morning. It looks like they are finally here - or will be soon.

I enjoy watching thunderstorms rolling in. I especially love the cloud to cloud lightning as it flashes through the sky. Sometimes it is very far away and the thunder is not even audible. Sometimes, like tonight, you can hear it rumbling. Getting closer and closer, more and more ominous sounding, yet still, it is strangely fascinating to watch the storms moving in.

There is an awesome power at play here. The flash and the boom coming closer and closer. The way the clouds, not visible in the dark, suddenly leap into stark relief illuminated by the flash of the lightning. The loud, low-pitched rumble of the thunder gradually getting closer and closer in time to the flash that precedes it. Then the sudden beat of rain as it begins drumming against the windows.

Wave upon wave of rain now. It hits, drums, recedes, drums again. The wind swirls and shakes the house. Water chuckles in the gutters. The flash leads the rumble of the thunder by less and less, the fury of the sound catching up to the blaze of the light. Chasing and eventually catching it until there is almost no lag between the two events.

The rain increases, the thunder and the lightning are almost simultaneous now. The whole house thrums when a gust of wind-driven rain beats against it. But the walls are strong. They shake, but do not yield. The chuckle of rain in the gutters becomes less of a friendly sound. Not so much a laugh as a scream. The sound and the fury outside remains outside, though. The storm seems almost frustrated that it cannot push inside and redoubles it's efforts. Sending wave upon wave of rain has not worked, perhaps it is time to send in the hail.

The frozen rain sounds large this time. Possibly golf ball sized, maybe a bit bigger. Certainly not smaller than that. Accompanied by even greater crescendos of thunder and blazing lightning. Driven by winds that seem almost possessed. Beating and slashing at the house. The lights flicker, dim, go out for a moment. Then, blessedly, they are back. The storm is much less fearsome in the light than in the dark. Then the lights dim again, but stay lit. Then again. Now the thunder itself shakes the house, the sound alone so great it thrums through right to the foundations. 

Suddenly, the storm seems diminished a bit. The rains beats less fiercely. The hail stopped about the time the lights went out. The thunder, still strong, seems less dangerous, less threatening. The gap between the light and the sound is increasing. It seems the danger has passed. It seems that everything will be OK now.

And I look at what is happening in the world right now. And I wonder if the storms are just beginning.

101st Blog Of The Day

Today, as I continue on my mission to visit each member of the fighting 101st at a one-per-day rate, I went over to Brutally Honest. Where I found a bedtime story that won't exactly make me sleep better.

Definition Of Insanity

Doing the same things over and over and expecting the result to be different:

John Kerry, 2006:

Kerry's call for a near-withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by year's end has made headlines. Less noticed is that his new stand puts Kerry back where he first made his name during the Vietnam War: as a voice of the anti-war left.

Whereas Kerry's 2002 vote made him the object of suspicion among anti-war Democrats, who flocked to Howard Dean until that candidacy collapsed, Kerry's new stance places him to the left of the Democratic Party's other major putative presidential candidates. Certainly he has flanked New York Senator Hillary Clinton, widely considered the Democratic front-runner in 2008.

Kerry's proposal calls for a Dayton Accords-like conference, to include the various Iraqi factions, the League of Arab States, Iran, Syria, and the rest of Iraq's neighbors (among others), to try to forge a consensus on Iraq's future; a redeployment of US troops to support roles; and then a withdrawal of US combat troops by year's end.

John Kerry, 1971:

Mr. KERRY. My feeling, Senator, is undoubtedly this Congress, and I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I do not believe that this Congress will, in fact, end the war as we would like to, which is immediately and unilaterally and, therefore, if I were to speak I would say we would set a date and the date obviously would be the earliest possible date. But I would like to say, in answering that, that I do not believe it is necessary to stall any longer. I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madam Binh's points it has been stated time and time again, and was stated by Senator Vance Hartke when he returned from Paris, and it has been stated by many other officials of this Government, if the United States were to set a date for withdrawal the prisoners of war would be returned.

….

Senator AIKEN. Mr. Kerry, the Defense Department seems to feel that if we set a definite date for withdrawal when our forces get down to a certain level, they would be seriously in danger by the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. Do you believe that the North Vietnamese would undertake to prevent our withdrawal from the country and attack the troops that remain there?

Mr. KERRY. Well, Senator, if I may answer you directly I believe we are running that danger with the present couse of withdrawal because the President has neglected to state to this country exactly what his respons will be when we have reached the point that we do have, let us say, 50,000 support troops in Vietnam.

John Kerry, 2006:

The Bush administration, of course, is highly unlikely to adopt his blueprint. If not, “they will be morally bankrupt for creating a Vietnam II decent-interval withdrawal situation or a stay-the-course policy," Kerry said. “Either way, it is a loss for the United States of America. It is unacceptable both morally and practically."

John Kerry, 1971:

I would, therefore, submit that the most expedient means of getting out of South Vietnam would be for the President of the United States to declare a cease-fire, to stop this blind commitment to a dictatorial regime, the Thieu-Ky-Khiem regime, accept a coalition regime which would represent all the political forces of the country which is in fact what a representative government is supposed to do and which is in fact what this Government here in this country purports to do, and pull the troops out without losing one more American, and still further without losing the South Vietnamese.

And this guy thinks John Kerry can run again for president in 2008. Good luck on that in the age of the internet.

Just One Problem

Who?

Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd has announced an intention to explore running for the position of President of the United States.

He is highly regarded among his Senate colleagues as a skilled backroom negotiator who has won passage of major legislation, notably the Family and Medical Leave Act, help for minority voters and huge budget boosts for Head Start and child care.

He has been able to get liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans to back such measures, yet he's known among Democratic insiders as an outspoken advocate for partisan causes.

Dodd came within one vote of being chosen Senate leader in 1994, and weeks later he became the Democratic National Committee's general chairman. He overcame early skepticism by many party leaders outside New England and proved to be a popular partisan speaker around the country, particularly with minority constituencies.

But a Dodd White House run would faces numerous hurdles. He lacks the name recognition of candidates such as 2004 ticket-mates John Kerry and John Edwards, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., and others. And the $2 million Dodd has on hand for a race is dwarfed by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's estimated $20 million and Kerry's estimated $17 million.

Well, it's an interesting development. Is Connecticut going all weird right now?

McCain Denies Running While Running

One thing you can count on is that would-be presidential contenders will never admit they are actually presidential contenders. Especially when they are out campaigning for the nomination. John McCain gave a warm-up in New Hampshire (where it just so happens I am a land baron, owning something like 1/45th of a 40 acre parcel of land (which actually surveys out as somewhat less than that - that's a really long story).

I'm not a fan of McCain, as anybody who's been reading here for any length of time knows. But the headline of this article is something I happen to believe in. We need more nuclear energy in this country.

I worked in that field for many years. I know how safe those plants are. I know that despite what the media and the activists tell you that Three Mile Island was not a disaster, but rather a testimony that reactors are incredibly safe with incredibly overbuilt safety systems. Despite the operations crew at TMI doing literally almost every, single thing wrong still were not able to breach the vessel, much less the containment. (There is a fabulous engineering autopsy of the event which I have read, but I cannot find online. I am still looking and will update if it is available). BTW, the reactor layout diagram in the linked article is, I believe wrong. The Babcock and Wilcox reactor design had a major flaw in that the pressurizer was physically at a lower level that the reactor core. It has since been redesigned.

Update On Stolen VA Data

Please pass the word to any veterans you know. Please pass the word to anyone who is active in the military as well, since it is not really clear who's data has been compromised at this point.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has recently learned that an employee, a data analyst, took home electronic data from the VA, which he was not authorized to do. This behavior was in violation of VA policies. This data contained identifying information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings. Importantly, the affected data did not include any of VA's electronic health records nor any financial information. The employee's home was burglarized and this data was stolen. The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

Appropriate law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the VA Inspector General's office, have launched full-scale investigations into this matter. Authorities believe it is unlikely the perpetrators targeted the items because of any knowledge of the data contents. It is possible that they remain unaware of the information which they possess or of how to make use of it. However, out of an abundance of caution, the VA is taking all possible steps to protect and inform our veterans.

The VA is working with members of Congress, the news media, veterans service organizations, and other government agencies to help ensure that veterans and their families are aware of the situation and of the steps they may take to protect themselves from misuse of their personal information. The VA will send out individual notification letters to veterans to every extent possible. Additionally, working with other government agencies, the VA has set up a manned call center that veterans may call to get information about this situation and learn more about consumer identity protections. That toll free number is 1-800-FED INFO (1-800-333-4636). The call center will operate from 8 am to 9 pm (EDT), Monday-Saturday as long as it is needed.

Here are some questions you may have about this incident, and their answers.

I hope this investigation is, indeed, thorough.

Economics 101

Any business that deliberately offends 50% of it's potential customers is going to be in serious trouble very quickly. Even if the business can survive with half the potential business it could have, there is a point beyond which it cannot grow without those offended and presumably lost customers.

As the Dixie Chicks are learning the hard way.

The band is promoting "Taking the Long Way," its first album since Natalie Maines told a London audience in 2003 she was ashamed to be from the same state as U.S. President George Bush. The comment sparked a radio boycott of the group's music.

Although the album hits stores Tuesday, the first two singles from the album are not getting widespread airplay, Billboard.com reported Monday.

The first single, "Not Ready to Make Nice," only peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and the second single, "Everybody Knows," is moving downward after its peak at No. 48.

Some commenter a while back held up the Dixie Chicks as an example of how people were being "suppressed". You know - their freedom of speech was being violated. Which is complete nonsense. What happened to them, and what continues to happen to them are known as consequences. Freedom of speech does not grant freedom from consequence. That would be anarchy. This is a case of employer/employee whether some people can understand that or not. You may have the right to express your negative opinion about your boss to his face, but you may not - in fact likely will not - have a job shortly after you do. In this case, if you are a performer who offends your core audience, you really should not be surprised that your employers, they people who buy your records "fire" you by not buying any more.

There used to be a pretty well understood rule that it was pretty much a path to career suicide to discuss politics or religion in the work place. There's a reason for that.

UPDATE: The estimable Captain William Teach weighs anchor on the subject. Yar!

Bear Naked

From Florida Cracker we now have the ultimate bear trifecta for today! Do not have liquid in your mouth. Monitors cost money.

Don't say we didn't warn ya.

A Threat To Us All

Writing in the Pasadena Star-News, Mort Kondracke has an op-ed piece that hits the nail on the head (and is in line with what I have been saying all along). This irrational, hate-driven drive to get Bush, no matter what the cost, is going to cost all of us plenty in the long run.

ENOUGH already! It's harmful enough that ideological conflict and partisan politics are preventing this country from solving its long-term challenges on health care, fiscal policy and energy. Now it's threatening our national survival.

I do not exaggerate. Bush-hatred has reached such intensity that CIA officers and other bureaucrats are leaking major secrets about anti-terrorism policy and communications intelligence that undermine our ability to fight Islamic extremism.

Would newspapers in the midst of World War II have printed the fact that the United States had broken German and Japanese codes, enabling the enemy to secure its communications? Or revealed how and where Nazi spies were being interrogated? Nowadays, newspapers win Pulitzer Prizes for such disclosures. In Congress and in much of the media, the immediate reaction to news that the National Security Agency was intercepting international terrorist communications was not to say, "Good work - and how can we help?" Rather, it was to scream about a "domestic spying" scandal, as though Richard Nixon were back in the White House and tapping the telephone of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

And the reaction has been much the same to USA Today's story last week that the NSA "has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans" in a program that "reaches into the homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, reacted by asserting that "these are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything but we're just going to collect their phone information for the heck of it. Where does it stop?"

Similarly, Newsweek's cover this week blares "Spying On Your Calls" - no question mark used - and implies that the Bush White House could be tapping everyone's telephones. In fact, what seems to be happening, though the details are secret, is that most long-distance phone companies have given the NSA their billing records identifying what numbers are calling what other numbers, when and for how long. Names are not included. And the NSA - not for the heck of it but to protect us from attack - is using the records to track terrorist networks and calling patterns. If a known terrorist in Pakistan calls a number in Los Angeles, I want the government to know what number that person calls. Don't you?

Certainly, the government will find out the names of people in a terrorist calling chain. If it wants to tap a domestic phone, it needs a warrant, and unless officials are lying through their teeth, it is asking for them.

It goes on from there. He's right.

Well, It’s Different

The oldest man to ever climb mount Everest marked the occasion by leaving a photograph of his dog at the summit of the world's tallest peak.

Takao Arayama, aged 70 years and 225 days when he topped the world's highest mountain last Wednesday, beat the record held by a fellow countryman by just three days.

Arayama, who confessed to suffering headaches and breathing difficulties during the oxygen-aided ascent, said it was a wonderful feeling when he finally reached the top of the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) mountain.

"I am very happy to be the oldest man to scale the world's highest peak," the fit-looking and ruddy-cheeked Arayama said on his return to Nepal's capital Kathmandu.

The previous record holder was Yuichiro Miura, a professional skier, who made it to the summit of Everest in May 2003 aged 70 years and 222 days, according to Guinness World Records.

"I stayed for 30 minutes on the top of the mountain and took some pictures and left a picture of my dog, Pacu," said the married father of two.

I mean, I've heard of climbers leaving all kinds of things behind to mark their achievement. They also occasionally leave themselves, but that's another story.

Maybe he just should have sung a song. You know, Nearer My Dog To Me.

Big Fish

The Israelis have captured a very big fish. The commander of the Ramallah area Hamas military wing, Sheikh Ibrahim Hamed, was captured in Ramallah today.

The force surrounded the house in which Hamed was staying, but Hamed refused calls to come out. The troops then opened fire on the house, and when a bulldozer began to push against the walls of the structure, Hamed emerged, alone and apparently unarmed.

Local resident Mohammed Azzam, 48, said he watched the arrest from his balcony facing the two-story building where Hamed was holed up. The ground floor of the hideout consisted of shops with large iron doors. Two apartments were on the floor above.

Azzam said that at the start of the operation, an IDF bulldozer rammed the iron shop door. Over the loudspeaker, troops then called out Hamed's name in accent-free Arabic. They told Hamed they would demolish the building with him inside if he didn't surrender, Azzam said.

Hamed emerged, wearing a light-colored shirt and gray pants. Following instructions over the loudspeaker, he took off his shirt and pants, then walked toward the soldiers in his underwear. Palestinian militants surrendering to troops are routinely asked to strip to make sure they are not wearing explosives on their body.

They have been trying to catch this guy since at least 1998. He's suspected in planning bombings that killed at least 78 people. The list is in the Haaretz article and it's just sickening to read.

I Can’t Wait To See The Instant Karma For This One

Thieves made off with the statue that has become the symbol for the Sakura restaurant in Stuart, Florida. The owner believes the 600 pound gold painted statue has brought the restaurant luck over the years as well as becoming the symbol that customers remember. But the payback for this one is gonna be bad, folks. You just don't steal a Buddha statue without instant Karma! I mean, it's not just a Big Boy statue, is it?

On Slime And Gullibility

Brad over at Just Citizens names Jess(i)e MacBeth Nimrod of the Week. Boy, is he kind.

Today, the Army ran a check on Mr. MacBeth’s credentials. It turns out, not surprisingly to anybody with half a mind, that Mr. MacBeth has NO Army service record. Anywhere. Period. This is a direct quote given to me by Army spokesman John Boyce:

“Initial research by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg shows no Soldier with the name of Jesse Macbeth having ever been assigned to the Special Forces or the Army Rangers — which are, in fact, two separate disciplines. This appears to be some sort of hoax. No Soldier by that name at Fort Lewis to our knowledge, in the past, either. Of course, the line about "go into the Army or go to jail" is vintage TV script not heard since the 1960s. There are also numerous wear and appearance issues with the Soldier's uniform — a mix of foreign uniforms with the sleeves rolled up like a Marine and a badly floppy tan beret worn like a pastry chef. Of course, the allegations of war crimes are vague, as are the awards the Soldier allegedly received.”

I’m sure that this simply means that the Army is covering up Jesse’s involvement in the entire affair.

The kind of damage a twit like this can do is incalculable. He smears decent and honorable men and women doing a difficult job. His slime gets passed around and believed by the gullible who want so badly to prove the "evil intent" of the men and women who serve. And even though he has been revealed to be a fraud, some of the gullible will continue to eat up a full, heaping plate of his slime and regurgitate it to other gullible people. Even if they acknowledge the MacBeth lied, they'll still try to maintain he spoke a "higher truth."

But thanks, Jess(i)e for helping discredit your fellow travelers. Because average people in this country will be sickened by what you tried to pull off. I wouldn't show your lame face anywhere where someone who supports the troops can recognize you.

There is a cautionary tale here, though. Those of us who support the military must be sure we are quoting reliable sources when we pass information on the war and on our troops. We don't want to get caught believing a charlatan.

UPDATE: Allah Pundit has THE roundup.

Not A Great National Record To Hold

A Lithuanian man appears to have  earned an unofficial national record of somewhat dubious distinction. When stopped by police, the 41-year old truck driver had a blood alcohol level 18 times higher than the legal limit. It was so high that it was more than twice the level that doctors consider lethal for most people.

Police said Tuesday 41-year-old Vidmantas Sungaila registered 7.27 grams per liter of alcohol in his blood repeatedly on different devices when he was pulled over for driving his truck down the center of a two-lane highway 60 miles from the capital, Vilnius on Saturday.

Lithuania's legal limit is 0.4 grams per liter.

"This guy should have been lying dead, but he was still driving. It must be an unofficial national record," Saulius Skvernelis, the director of the national police traffic control service, told the AP. "He was of high spirits and grinning the whole time he was questioned."

….

Sungaila, who was slapped with a 3,000 litas ($1,110) fine and the loss of his license for up to three years, told police he had been drinking the night before and tried to freshen up by downing a pint of beer for breakfast.

Yeah, he was of high spirits alright. No word on whether the Lithuanian medical authorities are considering using his blood to sterilize instruments.

Which brings us to another Blazing Saddles moment (must be the day for it!):

Bart: "A man drink like that and he don't eat, he is going to DIE."

Jim: "When?"

Evil Genius?

Craig Whitlock, in today's Washington Post has a disturbing biography of Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, an influential al Qaeda strategist captured in Pakistan last year. What emerges is a portrait of a very, very harsh and unyielding foe of the West.

Counterterrorism officials and analysts see Nasar's theories in action in major terrorist attacks in Casablanca in 2003, Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005. In each case, the perpetrators organized themselves into local, self-sustaining cells that acted on their own but also likely accepted guidance from visiting emissaries of the global movement.

Nasar's masterwork, a 1,600-page volume titled "The Call for a Global Islamic Resistance," has been circulating on Web sites for 18 months. The treatise, written under the pen name Abu Musab al-Suri, draws heavily on lessons from past conflicts.

Nasar, 47, outlines a strategy for a truly global conflict on as many fronts as possible and in the form of resistance by small cells or individuals, rather than traditional guerrilla warfare. To avoid penetration and defeat by security services, he says, organizational links should be kept to an absolute minimum.

"The enemy is strong and powerful, we are weak and poor, the war duration is going to be long and the best way to fight it is in a revolutionary jihad way for the sake of Allah," he said in one paper. "The preparations better be deliberate, comprehensive and properly planned, taking into account past experiences and lessons."

Intelligence officials said Nasar's doctrine has made waves in radical Islamic chat rooms and on Web sites about jihad — holy war or struggle — over the past two years. His capture, they added, has only added to his mystique.

"He is probably the first to spell out a doctrine for a decentralized global jihad," said Brynjar Lia, a senior counterterrorism researcher at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, who is writing a book on Nasar. "In my humble opinion, he is the best theoretician among the jihadi ideologues and strategists out there. Nobody is as systematic and comprehensive in their analysis as he is. His brutal honesty and self-criticism is unique in jihadi circles."

It's a long article, but is a must read. This is where a lot of the strategy that is being used today comes from. We must understand this doctrine if we are to be able to defeat it. That this man has been captured is a good thing. That he was not captured in time to stop the publication of some of his tracts is not.