Cheap crap and more of it

What’s the Internet, really? Martin Geddes knows: Which brings us to our old friend, the Internet. In many ways this is the Wal-Mart of data communications. It’s hideously inefficient at real-time communications. Every penis extending spam packet needs to be delivered at the same speed as my webcam with the oldies back home. Just as … Continue reading “Cheap crap and more of it”

What’s the Internet, really? Martin Geddes knows:

Which brings us to our old friend, the Internet. In many ways this is the Wal-Mart of data communications. It’s hideously inefficient at real-time communications. Every penis extending spam packet needs to be delivered at the same speed as my webcam with the oldies back home.

Just as Wal-Mart is a hideous place, so is the Internet, but it’s just good enough for plain folks, and there’s a lot more of them than there are of us toney high-tech elitists.

So as we figure out how to build and pay for more advanced networks, we should probably realize that the Internet, for all its many flaws of concept and execution, won’t go away any time soon.

Lee Kuan Yew speaks out on Islamist militancy

Singapore is a tiny little island with a predominately Chinese population of 6 million surrounded by 150 million Muslims. Despite its dearth of natural resources, it has managed to cobble together one of the highest living standards in the world, and the highest rate of home ownership in the world. So when its founder and … Continue reading “Lee Kuan Yew speaks out on Islamist militancy”

Singapore is a tiny little island with a predominately Chinese population of 6 million surrounded by 150 million Muslims. Despite its dearth of natural resources, it has managed to cobble together one of the highest living standards in the world, and the highest rate of home ownership in the world. So when its founder and former prime minister speaks out on Islamist militancy, we would all do well to listen. Here’s an article from the Singapore newspaper I gleaned from Tim Blair:

THE Europeans have got it wrong in thinking the terrorist threat can be contained by taking a localised, kid-gloved approach.

What the world is grappling with now is a new, globalised menace, one that has to be fought jointly by developed countries and moderate Muslims, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview with Newsweek.

‘The Europeans underestimate the problem of Al-Qaeda-style terrorism,’ he said. ‘They compare it to their own many experiences with terror – the IRA, the Red Brigade, the Baader-Meinhof, ETA. But they are wrong.’

He goes on to say that Bush is missing the point by going after the “worker bees” instead of the “queen bees”, and that ultimately it’s up to moderate Islamic leaders to win this war.

Portland’s balmy climate

I stepped out the house where I’ve been staying in Greater Portland the other morning to be greeted by this sight. People in the Frisco Bay Area have to drive three or four hours for this stuff, which was all gone the next day.

I stepped out the house where I’ve been staying in Greater Portland the other morning to be greeted by this sight.

snowy.jpg

People in the Frisco Bay Area have to drive three or four hours for this stuff, which was all gone the next day.

President’s speech in London

A robust defense of freedom – The Washington Times has a good summary of the President’s speech in London yesterday. Here’s the beef: The president forcefully rebutted critics who complain about the supposedly “unilateralist” foreign policy approach pursued by the United States and the Bush administration in particular. “In all these cases, military action was … Continue reading “President’s speech in London”

A robust defense of freedom – The Washington Times has a good summary of the President’s speech in London yesterday. Here’s the beef:

The president forcefully rebutted critics who complain about the supposedly “unilateralist” foreign policy approach pursued by the United States and the Bush administration in particular. “In all these cases, military action was proceeded by diplomatic initiatives and negotiations and ultimatums, and final chances until the final moment. In Iraq, year after year, the dictator was given the chance to account for his weapons programs, and end the nightmare for his people. Now the resolutions he defied have been enforced,” the president said. “And who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing, or that the world was safer when he held power? Who doubts that Afghanistan is a more just society and less dangerous without Mullah Omar playing host to terrorists from around the world?”

Apparently some people doubt that Iraqis and Afghans are better off today than they were before their respective liberations, as some 30-50,000 objectively pro-fascist demonstrators turned out in Trafalgar Square for the kind of protest that’s been commonplace in England since the 1930s, when “anti-war” meant “pro-Hitler”.

Suppose they gave a protest and nobody came

According to The Guardian, Brits have better things to do than protest Bush: Peace campaigners dressed as the US president and the Queen in a horse-drawn carriage headed the procession, which also included a pink “love tank” and demonstrators dressed as weapons inspectors and Guantanamo Bay detainees. Around 200 protesters gathered at Jubilee Gardens on … Continue reading “Suppose they gave a protest and nobody came”

According to The Guardian, Brits have better things to do than protest Bush:

Peace campaigners dressed as the US president and the Queen in a horse-drawn carriage headed the procession, which also included a pink “love tank” and demonstrators dressed as weapons inspectors and Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Around 200 protesters gathered at Jubilee Gardens on London’s South Bank for the parade, which was due to finish at Trafalgar Square.

Some campaigners expressed disappointment at the modest turnout but Aiden Hutton from Suffolk, who played the role of George Bush, said: “There have been about 14,000 police, I think that’s a wonderful turnout.”

Some scheduled protests didn’t even happen, according to this from Iain Murray’s source on the ground:

The tannoy said there may or may not be a peaceful demo at Victoria Station at 3pm. It’s now 3.45. Heard nowt.

I tell you, civil disobedience isn’t what it was…

Suppose they gave a protest and nobody came.

We owe Iraqis an apology

Omar, an Iraqi blogger, says we owe his countrymen an apology … for waiting so long to liberate them from Saddam: I don?t know really know why Saddam?s regime lasted for over three decades, but I am sure as an Iraqi who survived that period that there?re no legal or moral justifications for it to … Continue reading “We owe Iraqis an apology”

Omar, an Iraqi blogger, says we owe his countrymen an apology … for waiting so long to liberate them from Saddam:

I don?t know really know why Saddam?s regime lasted for over three decades, but I am sure as an Iraqi who survived that period that there?re no legal or moral justifications for it to remain.

I was counting days and hours waiting to see an end to that regime, just like all those who suffered the cruelty of that brutal regime.

It?s been really a disgrace chasing the world ,the world of the 21st. century, reminding it how incapable it was to aid the oppressed and to sue those who dispised all the values of humanity.

Through out these decades I lost trust in the world governments and international committees. Terms like (human rights, democracy and liberty..etc.)became hallow and meaningless and those who keep repeating these words are liars..liars..liars.

I hated the U.N and the security council and Russia and France and Germany and the arab nations and the islamic conference.

I?ve hated George Gallawy and all those marched in the millionic demonstrations against the war .It is I who was oppressed and I don?t want any one to talk on behalf of me, I, who was eager to see rockets falling on Saddam?s nest to set me free, and it is I who desired to die gentlemen, because it?s more merciful than humiliation as it puts an end to my suffer, while humiliation lives with me reminding me every moment that I couldn?t defend myself against those who ill-treated me.

I’m sorry, Omar, that we waited so long, and that we supported and then tolerated Saddam as long as we did. We’re on a different course now, and I hope it won’t happen again. During the Cold War it was our policy to support any regime that wasn’t overtly Communist, but we’ve come to realize that sort of thing isn’t productive, so President Bush intends to make the USA an evangelist for democracy.

Some of our citizens, mainly those on the Left but some on the far Right as well, oppose him on this new direction, but I’m counting on the good will of the majority to overcome their selfishness and short-sightedness. We’ll see who wins this battle in the years to come, but I’ve got faith in the good will of the American people, perhaps naively.

Meanwhile in London, former Iraqi blogger and new house Arab for the Guardian Salam Pax sounds more like a Baathist agent than ever (scroll down):

I hate to wake you up from that dream you are having, the one in which you are a superhero bringing democracy and freedom to underdeveloped, oppressed countries. But you really need to check things out in one of the countries you have recently bombed to freedom. Georgie, I am kind of worried that things are going a bit bad in Iraq and you don’t seem to care that much. You might want it to appear as if things are going well and sign Iraq off as a job well done, but I am afraid this is not the case.

Some suspected Salam of being a Baathist stooge during the invasion on account of his nasty tone and uncanny ability to escape detection, but now that he’s moved to London and taken up residence at The Guardian’s offices, it’s becoming quite clear that he was a friend of the old regime all along.

Whinertalk

Our favorite loon, Dave Winer, is on the soapbox again seeking support from politicians for his media-hating jihad: Over the weekend I sent a simple idea to Cameron Barrett, who works for the Clark campaign, and to Jim Moore who works for Dean. The message: I would love to see their candidates make an impassioned … Continue reading “Whinertalk”

Our favorite loon, Dave Winer, is on the soapbox again seeking support from politicians for his media-hating jihad:

Over the weekend I sent a simple idea to Cameron Barrett, who works for the Clark campaign, and to Jim Moore who works for Dean. The message: I would love to see their candidates make an impassioned plea to keep the Internet free of interference from the entertainment industry…I would happily give money to candidates for ads that warn that the media industry is trying to rob us of our future, and explains how important it is to protect the independence of the Internet.

Winer’s political sophistication is less than remarkable; his analysis holds that any organization he can describe as “big” is necessarily a force for oppression and probably out to get him personally, and he’s even invented a word (BigCos) to express this profound view. So he naturally takes it as given that Big Media Cos are out to destroy the Internet because it’s his livelihood, and for no other reason.

So we need only ask for the evidence that media companies are out to destroy the Internet to put this silly complaint to bed, sure in the knowledge that Winer can’t produce, just as Lessig can’t support his claim that the Original Internet was a free-for all, first-come first-served, random access network. These myths are extremely popular these days, but there’s not much to them.

See also Doc Searls and Jeff Jarvis.

Backlash

The anti-war and anti-liberation brigades are pretty upset over the Feith memo, as it clearly sinks their claims of a firewall between Saddam’s goons and Osama’s goons. Consequently, they’re pushing back with their own memo, this by advocate Anthony Cordesman on an exhaustive search he conducted during a harrowing ten-day trip to Iraq spent mostly … Continue reading “Backlash”

The anti-war and anti-liberation brigades are pretty upset over the Feith memo, as it clearly sinks their claims of a firewall between Saddam’s goons and Osama’s goons. Consequently, they’re pushing back with their own memo, this by advocate Anthony Cordesman on an exhaustive search he conducted during a harrowing ten-day trip to Iraq spent mostly in David Kay’s offices with a note pad and a pencil. Read this and tell me who Cordesman works for:

The CIA’s search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found no evidence that former president Saddam Hussein tried to transfer chemical or biological technology or weapons to terrorists, according to a military and intelligence expert.

Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, provided new details about the weapons search and Iraqi insurgency in a report released Friday. It was based on briefings over the past two weeks in Iraq from David Kay, the CIA representative who is directing the search for unconventional weapons in Iraq; L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator there; and military officials.

“No evidence of any Iraqi effort to transfer weapons of mass destruction or weapons to terrorists,” Cordesman wrote of Kay’s briefing. “Only possibility was Saddam’s Fedayeen [his son’s irregular terrorist force] and talk only.”

Can I see a show of hands from those who think he’s a CIA operative? The first paragraph implies that he is, but the second says that he’s not. So if Cordesman isn’t a CIA operative, why would the CIA appoint him to publicize the findings of an ongoing investigation, when they have their own in-house PR staff?

They wouldn’t, of course, and they didn’t.

From the Guardian

President Bush visits the UK this week, and the usual elements of the sanctimonious left intend to demonstrate against the murderous ways of the American hegemon with red paint, papier mache, and the rest of it. Writing in The Observer (the Sunday edition of The Guardian), David Aaronovitch asks why the protests are so selective: … Continue reading “From the Guardian”

President Bush visits the UK this week, and the usual elements of the sanctimonious left intend to demonstrate against the murderous ways of the American hegemon with red paint, papier mache, and the rest of it. Writing in The Observer (the Sunday edition of The Guardian), David Aaronovitch asks why the protests are so selective:

Where is the red paint to protest against the blasts at Najaf, of the UN in Baghdad, of the Red Cross, of the synagogues, of the Bali night-club, of the Arab-Jewish restaurant in Haifa? Where are the ‘No Suicide Bombings’ posters in the Muswell Hill windows? Or do you really believe we can save ourselves by constructing a huge wall around these islands, or around America, and painting it with smileys? That maybe then the ills of the world will leave us alone?

…and welcomes the president to the Isles.

The connection

Those still skeptical about the Saddam/Al Qaeda connection had best read the Weekly Standard article on a 50-point memo detailing the connections: OSAMA BIN LADEN and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda … Continue reading “The connection”

Those still skeptical about the Saddam/Al Qaeda connection had best read the Weekly Standard article on a 50-point memo detailing the connections:

OSAMA BIN LADEN and Saddam Hussein had an operational relationship from the early 1990s to 2003 that involved training in explosives and weapons of mass destruction, logistical support for terrorist attacks, al Qaeda training camps and safe haven in Iraq, and Iraqi financial support for al Qaeda–perhaps even for Mohamed Atta–according to a top secret U.S. government memorandum obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

This really should come as no surprise.

Via Roger Simon, Michael Totten, and Little Green Footballs.