Thursday, January 19, 2006

Good news, Bad news

Well, we missed Zawahiri it seems but we got one of the primary bomb makers for Al Qaeda. According to reports, and it will probably take another week for this all to shake out, it seems we got 3-4 other high level operatives along with the bomb dude. In addition, we also probably killed the entire family that was in the house and possibly other women and children. Tragic that women and children had to die to get this guy.

This does beg the question of whether or not the raid, in Pakistan, was worth it. The Pakistan problem of it being in their border is pretty easily seen as it would have been better to let them know before hand but then its possible you lose operational surprise. That is an unfortunate case but its the bottom line.

The question of whether or not killing up to 14 bystanders to get these 4 guys is a totally different question. The first thing i would look at is: whose fault is it that they were there? Is it the US's fault that the bystanders were killed because we fired the missle (probably from a Predator), is it the terrorist's fault for being near bystanders and putting them in harm's way, or is it the family's fault for having freaking Al Qaeda operatives over in the first place? I

n my opinion, the primary fault is with the parents of the children and the family. When you invite terrorists over to dinner, its unreasonable to expect that you will be safe. There are men with millions of dollars on their heads and that the US is actively hunting, if you sympathize with them, and harbor them, then you are a legitimate target. The primary fault here is with the people doing this. That for me is most of the blame, probably about 95%. The terrorists and the US both have a much smaller blame here but i would say that both share that. You can blame the terrorists for alot of other things. They are evil, dispicable men that want to use violence, mainly against civilians to force their own political agenda of Islamic Fasicism onto the world. But I don't think they are too responsible because its seems they were invited there. The US can't let terrorists hide behind sympathizers and must take risks. We didn't want to kill the bystanders but even if we knew they were there you have to think the raid would have happened anyway because it could save so many more people by having this guy dead. Even more is we got Zawahiri. So really, its a tragic event that children and women who are held completely in check by their husbands, people with no say in the situation, are killed but in the end you have to blame the male head of the family for that in my opinion.

Good idea, wrong problem

Its definitely too early to be blogging, but then again its way to early to be in class but i am there anyway. So this will at least keep me awake and it will also let me disseminate some more interesting news. Since both parties have put forth plans to work on ending the corruption, i see this as a very good thing. The party in power is usually the one what is focused on because they can effect more changes. Common sense really. This whole lobby scandel involves 5 congressmen last time i checked, 3 Republicans, and 2 Democrats. I'll try to look up names later but don't hold your breath. Really, the democrats plan here seems better, as i am not a fan of lobbiests in the first place. But there is still the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.

What i think really needs to be done isn't to limit the contact with lobbiests and the small kickbacks, although this does help. The problem i have is the total motivation behind the effort. The root cause if you will. The reason that lobbiest can do so much and peddle so much influence is that the congressmen can support their special interests without seeming too. Its the whole culture of spending and pork projects that is the problem. When you can slip a few million here and a few million there, or even worse tack riders onto existing legislation that has nothing to do with what is being voted on, then its easy to slide stuff around. Until this problem is tackled, the measures that are being taken by both parties will help, but not end the corruption in Congress.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

One last post for they day on: Why the NYTimes Sucks

Well, i'm gonna take a cue from Powerline on this one, and look at the same issue that they have posted on. Since some of the people that read my blog (shout out to all 4 of ya!) don't think that Powerline is a good site and makes baby Jebus cry, I'll not link them but try to look at the story in my own way. If you read the NYT article, you will see that the majority of the article goes on about how unlikely it is that Saddam could buy uranium from Niger. The NYT gives the impression that with so many doubts, and there were plenty, about whether Saddam could get the uranium that the "16 words" that Bush had in his speech were a lie.

They entirely miss the point. The point isn't whether he COULD get them, but that he TRIED to. Neither this memo, from the State Dept. nor Wilson's trip, which if you read the accounts of his testimony to Congress you will see it did the opposite and showed that Iraq was more likely trying to get his hands on uranium enrichment technologies. And of course the latest rehashing also must say that the source was entirely British, was said to be British, and the British still hold fast to their report that Saddam did try, and failed, to get uranium from Niger.

I hate to beat a dead horse yet again, but the facts of the Niger situation are not really in dispute if you look only at what occured instead of posturing. And yet again we have the NYT to thank for writing an article that questions facts with vague accusations and paints a totally untrue picture. Its like me trying to give you all the reasons the sun goes around the earth even though anyone that looks for the facts can plainly prove me wrong. I can cast all the doubt on it I want, and give you lots of doubt if you don't know any better, but the facts are still the facts.

Laura vs. Hillary: Coming soon to Pay per View!

I mean really, can you be any more of ass than Hillary? I mean you lose any bit of high ground you have when you accuse the senate of being run like a plantation. Well some people (cough, cough, KENT) might think its true but the majority of people wont stand for that kind of crap. So we got Hillary, and also Nagin saying the city is gonna be chocolate. I don't wanna draw conclusions from only 2 democrats making racially charged statements or assertations.

Bad news in Africa

More problems with former colonial nations, and worse, more problems with the UN not being able to decisively act in a situation. They held the mob back with warning shots and tear gas, but they had to give up the bases that they occupied. The UN needs to be able to deal with situations like this with more than just "great concern" and either needs to get the fuck out or impose a solution that guarentees the safety of the peacekeepers.

IAEA calls emergency meeting

Well, negotiations in their current form seem to have failed, and pretty miserably at that. The EU3 has called off negotiations with Iran. Now, even after Iran has proposed restarting them, the EU3 has pretty told them to go fuck themselves because there is nothing else to talk about. The EU3 want nuclear fuel to be supplied from another country, Russia being an option but would accept strict monitoring of any enrichment processes. Iran sees either of these options as unacceptable and want to freely enrich uranium with little oversite. Neither side is willing to give in to the other side so negotiations are done. No use talking neither side is willing to comprimise. The IAEA will meet starting Feb 2nd and will most likely refer the matter to the UN Security Counsel for possible sanctions or other actions. Britain, France and the US all support doing whatever it takes to resolve the situation and China has stated it prefers negotiations but will not veto any sanctions. Russia is taking a more pro-Iran tone but has not said it will veto any actions the Security Counsel decides to take.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Motivated by Beer

I'm feeling motivated by the term "beer blogging" term used by Greta (Hooah wife). So much so that I'm gonna post on a beer i had recently. Its a Sam Adams brew, odd since i thought i had about all of them. They have a white ale that is pretty good, though might be a bit exotic tasting for some who are used to more standard beers from Sam. The white beer style is not one of my favorites from the start so its tough for me to really endorse this beer cause i don't think its the best representative of the white ale family. I am more of a fan of the blue moon family of white ales than this Sam Adams offering. Its their seasonal beer so it won't be around as much, but i really only look for the sesaonal in fall to winter with the october fest and the winter warmer. However i did have a very good beer recently that most people have not had the option to try. Murphy's Red is a quality ale. Mike gave it to me at Keith St a few days ago when i asked for a random beer and man was i pleased. Its a smooth ale that comes in a can, not a bottle, with a dark red look to it. It is not a sweet beer for those looking for a malty taste but is also lightly hopped so the real subtle flavors come out. Its gives me a real earthy feel to it and drinks moderately heavy. Definitely a sipping beer. I highly recommend it and if anyone else had it, leave me your feedback on it.

Posting on Semi-Auto

Here are some of the hot stories of the day and weekend so far. Apologies for no posts in the last few days but I have been either busy, drunk, or sick. Feeling much better today be I am certainly still sick.

Clarence Allen, a 76 year old man tried and convicted in California for murder, was executed. His appeal was denied both by the state supreme court and Gov. Schwarzenegger. Both of the bodies said that the circumstances of his crimes had not changed and that the serving of 23-24 years on death row were not punishment enough since the sentence handed down was death. The BBC has a link here.

The big three in Europe: France, Germany and the UK, are pushing for a referral of Iran to the UN Security Counsel. Earlier, Iran stated that a referral would be tantamount to war. After months of wrangling, Iran has broken UN seals and has not resolved issues that have arised with the IAEA. Russia, who is building the reactor that Iran is trying to get, is resisting the move by the Big 3. It should also be noted that Russia has a vested interest in not seeing Iran in the Security Counsel as Iran is a large trading partner of Russia, especially weapons. Here is a link.

Alito's vote is being delayed one week. As far as I understand the procedural rules of the Senate, unlikely, this is a standard issue delay that works for only one week. The judiciary committee will vote on Alito on the 24th and the full-floor debate will occur the following day. A vote to confirm by the judiciary committee is expected easily as 10 members have already said they will vote to confirm. The big question is whether the democrats will use the filibuster option on Alito.

Should be my last wiretapping post, but I just wanna show the craziness going through the head of Al Gore. Here is his statements regarding his desire to see an independent counsel. Now you really have to think he missed the boat on this issue that is a good month old. It also doesn't help that pretty much every serious legal mind has said that it is legal. Now there is an argument, and maybe a very good argument, that the President SHOULD NOT have these powers but given legal precedent, stated on this blog weeks ago, the President does have the power to do set up the monitoring that he has. Gore even came out in favor of a similar program when he was vice, if anyone wants to know about it, google the clipper act.

There will be new elections coming up in Israel. With Sharon suffering his serious health problems and being in a coma, it is becoming clear that he will not return to office. His new political party might have enough of the vote to keep a similar vision for the ME in sight but we will not know for a few more weeks. Its very likely however that if Sharon's new party does not win, a hard line right party will take power. Israel is accepting the transition of power away from Sharon according to Reuters, as you can read here

We are seeing a very different approach to foreign relations from Germany in the past few months since Merkel has taken power. Schroder was very much in agreement, or if you are more cynical like me subservient, with the desires and policies of France and Russia. Merkel seems to be much more involved with the US and UK positions though even there she is not creating very close ties. She seems to be taking Germany toward a more leadership role that does not want to blindly follow any other country, even though she is more open to relations with the US and UK. The independent shows the more prickly relations with Russia here

There is a cabinet reshuffle going on in Taiwan right now with the minority party that holds the presidency losing popular support. Not an area of huge concern right now but could develop into it.