On The Third Hand

Warblog Archives

Saturday, 29 Dec 2001

Let's see... Ted Rall speaks with God's voice, and Stephanie Salter thinks she is Jesus. What next? Shall we look forward to the day Robert Fisk channels the Holy Spirit?

I read Ann Coulter's article in the Jewish World Review with both eyebrows trying to climb past my forehead to hang waggling in midair. She advocates ethnic profiling because:

In every one of these attacks by Muslim extremists, there appears to be one or more Muslim extremists involved. This ought to help the airlines engage in more accurate risk assessment.

She then goes on to give an impressive list of attacks by Muslim extremists. I'll grant she's quite right, these all were attacks by Muslim extremists. So far, I've seen no case for ethnic profiling. She goes on to state (and I'll admit she is quite witty, albeit illogical):

So naturally, it took the airlines completely by surprise last week when the passenger who tried to detonate a sneaker bomb on a passenger jet turned out to be a Muslim extremist. Doggedly imitating an Alzheimer's joke, the airlines instantly began ever more intrusive examinations of elderly black men, cowboys and Asian women with small children.

I suspect she must have seen my blond cousin and his Asian wife and their (4 year old) daughter get searched. However, I'm still not seeing what good ethnic profiling will do. Richard Reid, John Walker and David Hicks (the Australian) are not Arabs. She finishes up with this blast:

But on another front -- the commercial aircraft war-zone opened by al-Qaida -- bin Laden is right: We refuse to fight. Bedraggled smelly men who make Talibanist John Walker look like Beaver Cleaver are getting on airplanes with C4 explosive material, and we commend ourselves for being so "civilized."

I see now. Ann thinks that searching bedraggled smelly men is "ethnic profiling". The definition of ethnic must surely have changed since I last looked it up. Also, the 911 hijackers were probably neither smelly nor bedraggled.

I suspect that what she is trying to say is "religious profiling". Unfortunately, religious profiling is a bit of a problem. I just double-checked my passport and drivers license, and neither has anything about religion anywhere on it. I suppose you could have people fill out a questionaire but I suspect suicide bombers and would-be hijackers would simply lie.

The best bet for Airport security is to search everyone they think may be suspicious, or search absolutely everyone (yes, I realise what a problem that would be). It would help if they'd get more dogs and better technology for examining bags and passengers. But the best security is still with suspicious passengers and crew members who don't hesitate to keep an eye on someone and stop them if they try something. As Peggy Noonan said a while back, "we're all soldiers now".

Friday, 28 Dec 2001

We may now safely ignore the psychobabble about self esteem and get back to teaching students scholastics--and flunking them if they don't learn. Professor Nicholas Emler's book "Self-Esteem - The Costs and Causes of Low Self-Worth" debunks the theory that low self-esteem is a prime cause of anti-social activity. According to the article:

Scrutinising all the available research on both sides of the Atlantic, he finds no evidence that low self-esteem causes anti-social behaviour. Quite the reverse. Those who think highly of themselves are the ones most prone to violence and most likely to take risks, believing themselves invulnerable. They are more likely to commit crimes, drive dangerously, risk their health with drugs and alcohol.

Maybe we can drop psychobabble now, and study what does and doesn't work? Nah, that would be too reasonable.

If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. Note the gun control advocate's attempt at spin (in the last two paragraphs).

According to the Washinton post report on the new military tribunals:

International terrorism suspects brought before U.S. military commissions would be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, could be sentenced to death only by a unanimous vote of the commissions' members and would have the right to an appeal, according to draft procedures for the commissions.

Thanks to QuasiPundit for the link.

The King of self-loathing has a new article in the Independent, explaining how he met Osama bin Laden and, as William Quick points out, convinced Osama that the American people were responsible for their government. The relevant quote:

"I am not against the American people," he said. "Only their government." I told him I thought the American people regarded their government as their representatives. Bin Laden listened to this in silence. "We are still at the beginning of our military action against the American forces," he said.

Will someone take the man and put him away somewhere before he does more damage? I'd take apart Fisk's latest writing attempt if Tim Blair (who suffers the unfair advantage of being in a time zone hours ahead of mine) had not already done a surgically precise job on it. Tim's comments are in [brackets].

Thursday, 27 Dec 2001

Book burnings seem to be popular this week.

ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico (Reuters) - A New Mexico church plans to burn Harry Potter books because they are "an abomination to God," the church pastor said on Wednesday.

There's another story, which I'm sure would shock and outrage the members of the above church:

BEIT SHEMESH (December 25) - The organization that administers Orot school in Beit Shemesh issued an apology yesterday for publicly burning a copy of the New Testament a student received from Christian missionaries.

Next time, the school should just have the missionaries arrested for attempting to corrupt a minor (the student in question was in sixth grade).

Fox News (tv) is now showing parts of the latest monster video, but with no sound, for fear that Mr. Osama might have "hidden messages" to impart. I do understand that fear -- but don't they realise that Al Jazeera is showing it, sound and all? Furthermore, do they not realise that Al Jazeera has a website from which one can download portions of that video and play it on one's own computer?

Another thing, I can tell you what message he's passing, without resort to any codes. He's been, quite openly, passing basically the same message in every videotape I've seen a translation of.[**] The message is that it is a good thing to attack America and anyone allied (or even cooperating) with her.

Al Qaida and its fellow terrorist groups run in independent cells, it is unlikely they need explicit instructions, and if they do, I'm sure there are far more secure ways to get those instructions to them.

[**]Anyone who complains to me about ending sentences with prepostions will be treated to a quote from Churchill.

Is he here or could he be there?
We cannot find him anywhere!
Is he alive or is he dead?
In a cave or under my bed?
Catch him please and claim the award,
Lest we all get totally bored.

I am really becoming sick of all the reports, none confirmed, that have been coming in almost hourly since Tora Bora fell. I expect to hear soon that he's been spotted in a Burger King, flipping burgers and humming "Blue Suede Shoes" under his breath!

(Sorry about the ditty, but it could be worse, I usually write limericks.)

Wednesday, 26 Dec 2001

Mark Gebel has been acquitted on charges of criminal abuse of animals. Since they had no proof of any abuse, the suit mostly amounted to a bid for publicity. Extremist activists in animal rights (or any other area) simply give their whole movement a bad reputation.

Tony Adragna... heads up over there. We've now got an excuse to annex Canada and make it the 51st state! According to Daimnation:

According to the Washington Post, a Canadian citizen is on a 'most wanted' list of Al-Qaida terrorists being circulated by anti-Taliban forces - and our esteemed PM put pressure on the Pakistanis to have him sprung from jail a few years ago.

To my Canadian friends: I'm kidding! Honest!

Blogspot.com and all the bloggers were unavailable today for far too long. Hope this just means that the hack problem was being fixed, and not that the whole site was under attack. This, of course, means that I can finally go and read the latest Pundit Watch!

In short, I'm messing around with the Greymatter program and site configuration again. Some links may move around, and some may become temporarily missing. I assure you that if they are missing, they will return shortly!

Also, a happy Boxing day to those who celebrate it, and a Happy Kwaanza (sp?) to those who celebrate that.

Update: all done!

Tuesday, 25 Dec 2001

Rand Simberg has written this positively scathing story about the elite media. Go read it. And have a very Merry Christmas.

Quasipundit has been doing a minute by minute update of Santa's location. He's here now! I've got to go pretend to be asleep so I get my presents! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

I second that emotion by Moira Breen. I also second her appreciation of Fred Pruitt's dream (page down to the "Home Front" section). I'd quote him, but I'd rather you go read him. He's one of the most informative war-bloggers in cyberland.

Monday, 24 Dec 2001

Many Christians bemoan the "secular" Christmas, and urge people to get back to the original "meaning" of Christmas. I sympathise with the viewpoint that the birth of Jesus is important... but Christmas was originally created to give an alternative to (and override) pagan mid-winter celebrations. Biblical scholars figure that the birth of Jesus was probably in April, not December.

There is a secular "spirit of Christmas" which has partly come out of the old pagan celebrations, and partly out of the entirely human urge to connect with family and friends, and to show appreciation to them. The best Christmas I ever had was in Thailand, a Buddhist county (that is the official national religion, although they guarantee--and enforce-- religious freedom, much like the UK). They understand that Christians are celebrating the birth of "their god"; yet many Thais have taken to celebrating Christmas, not because they are Christian, but because they like to gather around a feast and exchange presents with those they care about. I found their take on Christmas charming.

I also know Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Wiccans, and atheists who celebrate the "secular" side of Christmas. There is something about the idea of Christmas that seems to warm the hearts of people everywhere. I think that is a good thing. Those who don't might consider moving their birthday celebration to the month in which Christ was born.

Tony Adragna interviews Santa. I too believe in Santa, Tony, and for much the same reasons. Besides, how could I disbelieve when NORAD is tracking him?

According to the Guardian,

"After a struggle the man, who is 6ft 4in tall [emphasis mine], was belted into his seat. Two doctors on board sedated him and passengers took turns to guard him while the aircraft was escorted into Boston's Logan airport by two US fighter jets."

You can track his progress through Norad's special website. He's in Eastern Australia as this is being posted.

Sunday, 23 Dec 2001

To those who celebrate it. And I hope you have (or had... a happy holiday... for those who celebrate a different one--or celebrate no religious holiday). Sheesh. Will y'all quit worrying about which holiday gets the most mention and just go enjoy yourselves? I have a new deal for "victims of religious discrimination" I'll celebrate yours if you'll celebrate mine. (Again... I'm not holding my breath).

Will Vehrs has posted his Pundit Watch. It includes some gems: George Stephanopolous describes Clinton's effort to settle on a strategy to burnish his legacy as a "séance."" and Bash of the Week "I think Attorney General John Ashcroft would like to extend the death penalty to being born in Marin County. Margaret Carlson. Go read.

I should be a Time editor. I would have made the same choice. Bush is the Commander and deserves admiration, but Mayor Giuliani has managed to be both commander of NYC and "one of us". He was our voice when we were shocked silent, our tears when we were still too traumatised to cry, and our inspiration when we despaired.

I've spent holidays far from home. It can be very lonely, especially if you are in a place which does not celebrate those holidays. More so if you are young, and in danger. If I had a sled with flying reindeer I'd happily fly in with presents and hugs for them all. Unfortunately, writing is the best I can do, so I do that. I have some friends who are stationed here and there, and I know how much they value e-mails from home. If a letter from me can help their morale, then I can spend a few minutes writing one. So can you!

To send American Servicemen overseas holiday greetings via the Internet. If anyone knows of a similar service for our allies' armed forces, please let me know!