Java Earthquake Relief

I know there's a lot of other things going on right now and the world seems to have forgotten about a lot of other things, but there was a major natural disaster in Java just a very short time ago. Agam over at Agam's Gecko has links to reputable charities that you might consider supporting.

What’s Lost

I think this is well worth the read. In today's Washington Post is an op-ed from Frank Schaeffer that describes a bit about things that can go horribly wrong even in a "good" war.

"I saw an ugly sight: a British officer interrogating a civilian, and repeatedly hitting him about the head with the chair; treatment which the [civilian], his face a mask of blood, suffered with stoicism. At the end of the interrogation, which had not been considered successful, the officer called on a private and asked him in a pleasant, conversational sort of manner, 'Would you like to take this man away, and shoot him?' The private's reply was to spit on his hands, and say, 'I don't mind if I do, sir.'

The description is of the Second World War, a "good" war as we count such things today. You really should read the whole thing, it is a vital perspective. War will never be perfect or "good" in an absolute sense. But it is sometimes necessary, although we can wish it someday will not be.

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.

Major General William Tecumseh Sherman

UPDATE: Do not miss Villainous Company on this subject. A must read.

101st Blog Of The Day

My continuing trek to visit one member of the fighting 101st each day took me over to Pyscmeistr's Ice Palace today. The thong thing is evil. I mean that. Do not look. You've been warned. There's a good review of the review of Al Gore's movie by Roger Ebert, too!

Still More Protests In Iran

Despite a crackdown, still more protests are going on in Iran every day. Gateway Pundit again has an incredible roundup from all over on the situation. This is coming in from all over. But what is the mainstream media reporting?

Well, the Washington Post has a paean to what a great guy the Iranian people think President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is. Not a word about the protests, just about all the promises he has been making to everyone in Iran who asks for something.

UPDATE: Powerline is all kinds of impressed with the WaPo coverage. Really. Go read it yourself. I wouldn't say the kisses for the mullahs were just wet. I'd add French to the descriptor.

UPDATE: Ignorance is not bliss, Thomas Joscelyn informs WaPo.

Chavezism Failing?

Really interesting article in the Washington Post about a strong backlash that is brewing through many areas of Latin America against Hugo Chavez and his heavy-handed attempts to spread his political philosophy around the area. It sounds like his strategy may be backfiring.

FOR YEARS Hugo Chavez's steady dismantlement of Venezuela's democracy and his embrace of dictators and terrorists around the world — from Fidel Castro to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — prompted next to no reaction from Latin America's democratic governments. The silence was shameful, partly because Venezuela's former leaders fought for human rights in countries such as Chile, Peru and Argentina during the 1980s and '90s, but also because the quiet was in part purchased by Mr. Chavez, who lavished subsidized oil and lucrative trade deals on governments around the region.

Now at last, Mr. Chavez is the object of a growing backlash from leaders around Latin America — from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua, among other countries. In part, the politicians are responding to foolish overreaching by Mr. Chavez, who has been busy trying to turn Bolivia into a satellite state while suggesting he has similar plans for much of the rest of the continent. Latin Americans don't like imperialism, whether it comes from Washington or Caracas. And even leftist leaders, like those who rule in Brazil and elsewhere in South America, find it hard to imagine themselves prospering in a Venezuela-led economic bloc that includes Cuba but shuns the United States.

It should be obvious to everyone that Cuba under Castro is a nightmarish failure. Economically, they are in the toilet and have been for decades. Why in the world would anyone want to spread that economic model? Politically, they are even worse, horrible repression of dissent is obvious. Yet Chavez admires the bearded one. The WaPo even praises the Bush administration in a roundabout way for the way it has been handling Chavez.

The Bush administration, which has haplessly allowed Mr. Chavez to exploit the U.S. president as a political foil for years, has hit on just the right response as it has watched Peruvians and Mexicans turn the tables on the Venezuelan: It has kept quiet. The sight of Latin Americans rising up in defense of democratic values, and against the attempt of a would-be regional hegemonist to subvert them, is inspiring — and it requires nothing from Washington save discreet applause.

Maybe it wasn't hapless at all. Maybe it was following the practical method of giving someone enough rope.

UPDATE: Flopping Aces has a lot more information as well.

Driving While Stupid

You get into an accident with your car. Your car is able to drive away, so you do. Then the police stop by your house and arrest you for leaving the scene of an accident. Oh and on suspicion of having had a bit to drink. You're also 17 years old. The police cuff you and put you in a squad car. What to do?

Easy! Steal the police car and crash it!

PEKIN, Ill. - A handcuffed teenager told police he was just trying to get home and get to bed when he stole and crashed a squad car after being arrested for leaving the scene of an accident.

"We don't have a lot of empty (jail) beds here, but we found one for him," Tazewell County Chief Deputy Dick Ganschow said.

Police say Joshua Hall, 17, of Manito, was belted in the back seat of the squad car when he somehow wriggled free, crawled through a small sliding door into the front seat, then drove away in handcuffs before crashing through two fence rows, a gate and into a row of trees.

"This is the kind of thing that you can joke about when it's over and no one ends up hurt, but this is a very serious incident that could easily have ended badly," Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston told the Pekin Daily Times.

Hall was first arrested early Thursday on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor, police said. He was arrested at his home and taken back to the crash site.

So now, instead of a few relatively minor charges (since the first accident is not reported to have caused personal injury) Mr. Hall is looking at some serious charges including charges of escape, aggravated possession of a converted vehicle, failure to wear a seat belt, reckless driving and another count of leaving the scene of an accident. Since the police had already arrested him at his home, it should have been evident to Mr. Hall that he was not going to get away.

And he's only 17! We predict great things for Mr. Hall. We look forward to his entry in the Darwin Awards.

I Scream For Ice Cream - Redux

Earlier, we brought you several news items regarding ice cream. Not to be outdone, a Japanese theme park has just held an annual event that features, well, bizarre ice cream flavors.

Anyone for rattlesnake ice cream? Japan is no stranger to bizarre frozen deserts and this year is no exception with cow tongue, Indian curry, cheese and even cactus among the flavours on offer for courageous taste buds at an annual event at the Namjatown theme park.

Other ice creams available at the Sunshine City complex in Ikebukuro until September 30 include saury (a type of fish), shrimp, wasabi (Japanese horseradish), roasted eggplant, rice, tofu and salad.

All are either vanilla or chocolate based, though the fishy flavour of the saury ice-cream creeps in after the second and third spoon.

The cow tongue ice cream is a mixture of vanilla and beef broth with small red chunks of tongue.

Sounds absolutely horrible, thank you very much. There are a few comments from people tasting the concoctions that tell the real story:

"I tried the saury ice-cream. It was disgusting. But you should really try it," said one 19-year-old university student.

"Tasting such weird ice cream gives people something to talk about to their friends," said another 27-year-old woman.

"Or else you can play a prank on a friend," she joked.

If the tastes don't put you off then the price might at 1,050 yen, or about 9.30 dollars, for a somersault in the stomach.

According to the cashier the event attracts many customers, though not all return for a second taste.

The ice cream that's good for practical jokes! Or dares!

Wishful Thinking

Iran's President has rejected any discussion about stopping it's nuclear activities. Not that that is stopping the wishful thinkers from believing he's just "staking out a negotiating position."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments suggested Tehran may have already decided to reject offers of incentives and negotiations from six of the world's top powers in return for ending atomic fuel activities.

"Pressure of some Western countries to force Iran to abandon its right (to nuclear technology) will not get a result," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Although Ahmadinejad did not mention uranium enrichment, Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Iran's plans included such sensitive work.

"Iran is determined to go ahead with its nuclear enrichment work for peaceful purposes," he told students news agency ISNA.

Sorry, I don't see a negotiating position in those words. I'd call it an outright rejection.

UPDATE: Ninth State has a good roundup. If this is all a case of brinksmanship, it's getting awfully squirrelly.

“You Don’t Need Papers For Voting.”

And with those words captured on audio tape, Francine Busby may have assured her own defeat. Busby is running against Brian Bilbray in a special election to fill the seat in the House vacated by Randy “Duke” Cunningham after his conviction. (Earlier post on Bilbray here).

If an election can turn on a sentence, this could be the one: “You don't need papers for voting.”

On Thursday night, Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District, was speaking before a largely Latino crowd in Escondido when she uttered those words. She said yesterday she simply misspoke.

But someone taped it and a recording began circulating yesterday. After she made that statement at the meeting, Busby immediately said: “You don't need to be a registered voter to help (the campaign).”

She said that subsequent statement was to clarify what she meant.

The recording, which was played yesterday on Roger Hedgecock's radio talk show, jolted the campaign.

Busby, a Cardiff school board member, is in a tight race with Republican Brian Bilbray, a congressman-turned-lobbyist, who has based his campaign on a tough anti-illegal-immigration stance. Busby has focused her campaign on ethics reform. The two are vying to replace Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who was jailed after pleading guilty to taking bribes.

Although Busby is backpedaling furiously, the words are what they are. Misstatement or not, she may have ended up galvanizing her opposition. You can bet that there will be additional scrutiny over who is voting as well. Bilbrays campaign has focused on controlling illegal immigration, Busby just handed him a club.

Terrorism Arrests In Canada

Stephen Taylor has a very thorough round-up of the series of arrests made yesterday and last night in Canada. It would appear that the RCMP broke up a major terror plot. Taylor reports 12 men and 5 minors were arrested. The official RCMP statement states:

TORONTO, June 3 /CNW/ - On Friday, June 2, 2006, members of the RoyalCanadian Mounted Police and partners of the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team arrested 12 individuals and charged them under Section 83 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

This group took steps to acquire three tonnes of ammonium nitrate and other components necessary to create explosive devices," said Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell. "To put this in context, the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people took one tonne of ammonium nitrate."

Three tons. One hopes they got all the suspects.

UPDATE: The arrests in Canada may only be the tip of the iceberg:

TORONTO - A Canadian counter-terrorism investigation that led to the arrests of 17 people accused of plotting bombings in Ontario is linked to probes in a half-dozen countries, the National Post has learned.

Well before police tactical teams began their sweeps around Toronto on Friday, at least 18 related arrests had already taken place in Canada, the United States, Britain, Bosnia, Denmark, Sweden, and Bangladesh.

The six-month RCMP investigation, called Project OSage, is one of several overlapping probes that include an FBI case called Operation Northern Exposure and a British probe known as Operation Mazhar.

At a news conference Saturday, the RCMP announced terrorism-related charges had been laid against a dozen Toronto-area men and five teens under the age of 18.
The group “took steps to acquire components necessary to create explosive devices” including three tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, commonly used in terrorist bombs, police said.

By comparison, the truck bomb used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people, contained a single tonne of ammonium nitrate.

“It was their intent to use it for a terrorist attack,” RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell said.

“This group posed a real threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks.”

Police declined to identify the intended targets because the investigation is ongoing but said they were all in southern Ontario and did not include the Toronto transit system, as some media outlets had reported.

As senior RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service officials spoke to reporters, some of the evidence seized during police raids was displayed on a table guarded by police officers.

The materials included a bag of ammonium nitrate, a handgun and ammunition clip, computer hard drive, and what appeared to be a cellphone activated electronic detonator hidden inside a small black fishing tackle box.

Police also displayed bags of camouflage clothing and boots apparently seized from a camp north of Toronto that some of the members of the group had allegedly used for combat training.

In a speech to new Canadian Forces recruits and their families Saturday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadians can’t escape a dangerous world by turning a blind eye to it.

“As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism,” he said.

“Through the work and co-operation of the RCMP, CSIS, local law enforcement and Toronto’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), acts of violence by extremist groups may have been prevented.”

More Details On The Raid In London

This really does not sound good at the moment.

A DESPERATE search is under way for a “chemical vest” that a British suicide bomber was ready to deploy in a terror attack on London.

Police fear that the strike, using a home-made chemical device, was imminent after an informant told MI5 that he had seen the lethal garment at the home of two young men.

Last night detectives were at the hospital bedside of a 23-year-old postal worker shot during a pre-dawn raid on his parents’ home, while his younger brother, aged 20, was being questioned at Paddington Green high security police station.

Armed officers who led the assault on the terraced house in Forest Gate, East London, wore oxygen masks and protective chemical gear after a tip-off from MI5 that the device had already been assembled.

Security chiefs are deeply concerned that there was no sign of the vest inside what they believe is a chemical bomb factory.

No weapons were found either as officers searched the two adjoining properties that have been converted to accommodate a large Bangladeshi family.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said that the raid, codenamed Operation Volga, was ordered in response to “specific intelligence”.

He said that there had been no time to conduct further surveillance, which suggests that the police believed a terrorist was close to launching an attack. The fear is that if chemicals were to be used then a likely target could be a train compartment on the London Underground.

Another theory is that a suicide attacker, wearing the vest under a shirt, could trigger the device in a crowded venue, such as a pub full of people watching an England World Cup match.

It is understood that the main target in yesterday’s raid was the postal worker, who was hit in the shoulder by a single shot fired by a police marksman.

This is a very scary scenario.

UPDATE: More about the way the authorities were tipped to this here.

Ace Is In Rare Form

From the sexed up title to the challenge at the end, the Ace has a great take on journalism.

Sedate, Sober Media Professional Calls Bloggers "Stupid Poopypants Fartheads"

Well, okay, that quote is, umm, paraphrased. But sometimes (and I know this from my media professional betters) a quote needs to be juiced up a little.

I want to congratulate you all upon your graduation from the University of Maryland College of Journalism, and wish you luck as you prepare to embark on exciting careers in telemarketing or large-appliance repair. My point is, this is a challenging time for journalists.

…

What are your challenges, specifically? Let us begin with, quote unquote, getting a job. Good jobs in journalism have become scarce as newspapers shrink and die, broadcast media fragment to smaller niche audiences and the public appears more and more willing to receive its "news" online from nincompoops ranting in their underpants.

His attempts to be funny are, well, let us be charitable and say he "showed a lot of energy" and "has some real promise."

They feel threatened. They ought to.

It's about time they owned up to something. They're not particularly good at their jobs, and their jobs aren't particularly demanding in any event. Being a reporter, it seems, requires the following scary-advanced skills:

1) Dialing a phone number

2) Talking to people

3) Asking those people questions

4) Writing their answers down in a notepad or on a cocktail napkin

5) Putting a series of coherent sentences together to describe what you've learned

and of course

6) Larding the article up with as much political bias as possible without being blatantly obvious about it

It's true that these guys are better at these things than bloggers. But then, bloggers aren't on a straight salary, given two weeks or so to track down a story. And bloggers don't do these things every day.

We hasten to add that we sometimes wear underpants while ranting. Go read the whole thing. Ace throws down the gauntlet at the end. We do not want to know what he was or was not wearing, though.

Manufacturing Quotes

Greyhawk over at Mudville Gazette has an outstanding dissection of some of the "quotations" being commonly used by the media. It's pretty damning.

Whilst avoiding a larger discussion of what happened in Haditha, let's take a look at some of the media coverage of the story.

Starting with this headline - Investigators: Unprovoked Marines Killed Civilians

You've likely seen it before, perhaps heard other references to this unprovoked attack business. But regardless of what happened, unless there was no bomb, unless Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas wasn't really killed, unless Lance Cpl. James Crossan wasn't really wounded, there was a provocation that the Marines responded too. To the best of my knowledge, no one disputes the IED attack that started this incident, and no one disputes that civilians were killed. It seems indisputable that the attack was indeed provoked - a point that's actually a substantial factor in answering other questions regarding the ensuing events.

But quite clearly, according to this headline, the investigators say unprovoked.

Or do they? Here's the first paragraph of the story:

(AP) WASHINGTON Investigators believe that their criminal investigation into the deaths of about two dozen Iraqi civilians points toward a conclusion that Marines committed unprovoked murders, a senior defense official said Friday.

Read that again if you didn't get it the first time. To clarify, we'll name the actual source up front: a senior defense official said investigators believe that's what their investigation points towards. But that's certainly not the stuff of good headlines, so presto change-o, eliminate the middle man and roll out the 24-point Times New Roman. "Investigators: Unprovoked Marines Killed Civilians"

But nowhere in the story are investigators quoted as saying any such thing. A "senior defense official" is.

Or is he? Skip forward one paragraph:

The official …said the evidence developed by investigators strongly indicates the killings last November in the insurgent-plagued city of Haditha in the western province of Anbar were unjustified.

That's closer to an actual quote than the first paragraph, and it says the killings were "unjustified" - something significantly different in meaning than "unprovoked". But quotation marks are noticeably absent from the story - meaning that what we really have is a reporter claiming that an unnamed senior defense official claims that people conducting an ongoing investigation currently believe that the attack was unprovoked.

All beneath a headline that reads Investigators: Unprovoked Marines Killed Civilians. As noted, you must ignore an IED, one death, and one serious injury for that to be true. ("Unjustified" may or may not be more accurate - but it certainly doesn't "sex up" the story to the same degree.)

The media continues to twist things and continues to escalate risk to all of our troops. It's sickening to watch.

Snakes On A Bride!

A woman in Eastern India recently married a cobra in an hour long ceremony. About 2,000 people attended the blessed event.

NEW DELHI - A woman who said she had fallen in love with a snake got married to the reptile in a ceremony in India’s eastern Orissa state, it was reported on Friday.

The wedding took place on Wednesday near the state capital, Bhubaneshwar, with nearly 2,000 people celebrating the event, believing that the union would bring good fortune to the village.

Thirty-year-old Bimbala Das was married to the creature by Hindu priests in an hour-long ceremony, the PTI news agency reported.Since the snake, which lives in an ant-hill, was not present, a brass replica of the serpent was kept by the bride’s side.“Though snakes cannot speak nor understand, we communicate in a peculiar way. Whenever I put milk near the ant hill where the cobra lives, it (the snake) always comes out to drink,” Das was quoted by the news agency as saying.She said the cobra never harmed her.Villagers were thrilled when Das confessed her love for the snake. Some even offered to arrange a grand feast.

Das’s mother and relatives were happy with her choice as well and have constructed a hut near the ant-hill where the woman now plans to live.

I was trying to think of a really good tag line for this story when my wife read it over my shoulder. Then she snorted and said, "This is news? It's not like it's the first time a woman has married a snake."

I think that's good enough!

I was trying to think of a really good tag line for this story when my wife read it over my shoulder. Then she snorted and said, "This is news? It's not like it's the first time a woman has married a snake."

I think that's good enough!

UPDATE: More details on the happy couple from Excellent Fodder.

Freedom Of Speech In Canada

What exactly does the term free speech mean? Does it mean to that you have an absolute right to say whatever you want, whenever you want? Actually, yes it does within certain limits.

Does it mean you will see no repercussions from exercising that right? No, it does not.

Are there times when the exercise of free speech should be curtailed? Yes there are. The famous example of yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater - when no actual fire is present - is the perfect example. Advocating violence against someone is another.

Should someone's speech be curtailed because they disagree with you? I would hope this one is a no-brainer for everyone. Absolutely not.

Do you have to listen to someone else whether they agree with you or not? Nope. Freedom of speech does not guarantee an audience. You - and I - may have a right to free speech, but it does not mean that you - or I - have to listen to what someone else says.

Do you have a right to demand that someone listen to what you are saying? Again, no.

Do you have a right to silence someone you disagree with?

Apparently, some Canadian politicians believe so.

Early yesterday, the website address was flying into the inboxes of politicians, political staffers, journalists and even the strategists from other leadership campaigns.

Mr. Volpe's campaign had the site shut down without knowing, it seems, who put it up: "Hi Everyone," wrote Brenden Johnstone, who is with the Volpe campaign, in an e-mail to other leadership campaigns. "There has been concern about how the issue of the Volpe donations was reflecting on the leadership race.

"My Office has had the website suspended through CIRA [Canadian Internet Registration Authority] and CDNS [Canadian Domain Name Services] and it will be down as soon as 6 p.m. I think the issue with the website has been dealt with. . . ."

I'm of the opinion that letting someone you really think is being wrong-headed about a position should be allowed to speak. Because they'll either convince you that you are wrong or will show themselves to be idiots. That said, I have a limit with how much I'll tolerate here on my bandwidth and will ban someone who crosses the line in my opinion (calling the host names = ban - I'm not that tolerant, sorry). I think that policy is in line with my earlier statements - you're not guaranteed an audience, certainly not when someone else is paying for it. You may have a right to put up a sign in your front yard announcing your views to the world, but you do not have a right to nail your sign to someone else's house.

Sadly, as the Canadian example shows, too many people think the proper way to deal with dissent is to shut it off. And that group of people are NOT on the right, but on the left. Don't bother to try to tell me about how you're being suppressed in this country. Move to Canada, where your freedom of speech depends on not offending a politician. And a so-called Liberal politician at that.

This is absurd, censorship and an abuse of power. As a citizen, regardless of your political affiliation, and as a Internet consumer, this should outrage you. The Internet is for free speech, and this fundamental freedom is really only labeled as such because it is one of those elements of our liberty that had to be protected from tyrants with power. If one cannot lampoon a political candidate (the archetype of free speech in a free society) then we aren't truly free. What is perhaps most chilling is that this censorship has come from a candidate for the Prime Ministership.

I think Mr. Taylor has it about right there.