Atomic Power is Grrrrreat

NY Times magazine, Atomic Balm, has an article about the rebirth of nuclear power. Three Mile Island discouraged the construction of new plants. Now new plants are going through the developemnt and planning process. Speaking as someone who wore a radition badge I see this a good thing. A character from Repo Man has summed up some of the best argruments about atomic power.

J. Frank Parnell: Ever been to Utah? Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too. When they canceled the project it almost did me in. One day my mind was full to bursting. The next day - nothing. Swept away. But I'll show them. I had a lobotomy in the end

Spooky Pictures of Child Brides

On NPR is a photographer is discussing her photo essay of Afghani child brides that will appear next sunday in the NY Times magazine. One of the "brides" is payment of a gambling debt.

The justification for child brides in Islam is that Mohammed the child molester married a girl of 9. In fact any and almost everthing that Mo did is emulated by "sincere" Moslems. This modeling of aspects of behavior on all the actions of a "prophet" has few counterparts in other religons. King David wrote deep and beautiful psalms but that doesn't mean that his wacking of Uriah is used as a moral guide for Jews and Christians today who also want the date the currently married.

El Presidente, a Tyrant's Title

When I hear the title "president" I don't think of some constitutionally elected democrat instead it brings to mind a thug in thug's clothing. Most of the presidents around the world preside depotically. It is the title of some one who doesn't have convince anybody ever again. Mubabe started out as a limited Prime Minister in a renamed Rhodesia. Eventually he became a full dictator, the Thug-in-Chief we know today as president Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Here is an article, In the Time of Presidents, that muses on the non-democratic nature of presidencies.

Terrorists Demand Isreal Release Murderer

One the demands of Hezbollah, Party of Wogs, is to release a Samir Kuntar. Samir Kuntar has a website dedicated to him. His fansite calls him a detainee. On the fansite is a demand to release him and "jailed legislator" Barghouti who like Kuntar is a convicted murderer.

I guess it is not murder if it is you are inspired by your moon god.

Anarchists in Power

The general view of the smirking chimp Bush is that he and his administration is corrupt and/or stupid. Alan Wolf in a recent Washington Monthly article, "Why Conservatives Can't Govern" explains that anti-statist conservatives have a belief system/ideology that predicts that government never works. It explains much of the madness that results when "sincere" conservaties get power.

Long Live the Armed Struggle, Until the Other Side Shoots Back

That pretty much sums up the attitude towards war of the enemies of Isreal/US/Spain/Thailand/India/Britian/etc in the continueing worldwide jihad against civilization. After a civilization reacts to constant low level war and violence and actually counter-attacks against Moslems and then begins to win. Moslems then cry for peace and offers a hudna or ceasefire. This is not a traditional peace treaty that ends a war or conflict which often involves the relinquishing of territory claims. But as many have stated a hudna is usually can be boiled down to a "stop firing while I reload" plea.

Crazy Wogs Attack

An IDF soldier was torn apart by a mob when he was killed in Nablus. Quote from newsreport:

Immediatley after the explosion, dozens of residents gathered around the soldier's body and burst into shouts of happiness in front of the Arab media's television cameras.

After the incident, a senior member of the Brigades told Ynet that his people hold part of the killed soldier's body, but another activist made it clear that there was no plan to negotiate on the body parts, which were later transferred to the Palestinian Authority and then to IDF representatives.

Considering the respect that muslims show to their enemies maybe it is time to repeat the practice of General Pershing when he was dealing muslim terrorists in the Philipines, always bury dead terrorists with pigs.

Ship in Book and News the Same Day

I was reading a book about the history of oil, A Thousand Barrels a Second. The book details some the techniques to increase whaling yield among which was making a whalers search the seas for black fish rather then remaining inshore whalers. An whale oil merchant built a bigger and longer range "factory whaler" then previous models. The ship, The Charles W. Morgan, is in the news for using oak casualties of Katrina for renovation and repair.

Sainted Cop

Photo Credit: Yoav Lemmery

An Israeli policeman stands in front of a building in Nahariya, Israel, as it burns following a hit by a Katyusha-style rocket fired from Lebanon. AFP/Getty

Safety Regulations

The Dear Laeder

"Tragic" Death of Mob Figure Kenny Boy

Mob boss "Kenny Boy" Lay died yesterday while awaiting trial on collapse of of his front company. As reported in today's Globe many of Kenny Boy's friends and associates sympathized with his plight. Kenny Boy's life was the American dream, from being a lowly worker in the rackets to heading his own syndicate, until brought low by the justice system. Other associates however describe him in the typical manner of mob bosses.

In contrast to the genial, big-picture executive that Mr. Lay claimed to be, the jurors said they saw glimpses of a man who could be intensely controlling and who had a big chip on his shoulder. And that didn't jibe with the defence's portrayal of Mr. Lay as an unwitting victim of the collapse, along with thousands of employees and millions of shareholders.

Strangely in all the lists of well wishers and mourners Kenny Boy's pet politician is missing. DoubleU, a client of Kenny Boy has not shown any gratitude to his one time patron at this time.

Crazy Anger from the Wives of Terrorists

In today's Globe there is a story about the wives of muslim terror suspects. These wives ionhabited an online space where they exchanged opinions about how to keep to strict sharia law. They also had harsh opinions about Canada.

Ms. Farooq's hatred for the country is palpable. She hardly ever calls Canada by its name, rather repeatedly referring to it as "this filthy country." It's a sentiment shared by many of her friends, one of whom states that the laws of the country are irrelevant because they are not the laws of God.

This group didn't find much to like about Canada, or any country.

Ms. Jamal's list of forbidden institutions goes beyond politics. Banking, membership in the United Nations, women's rights and secular law are all aspects of Canadian society she finds unacceptable.

What is scary about this story is that it shows that there is alot more Khadr families here.

PS: In the comments for this article there is a comment by an Elliott Leyton who also happens to be an expert on psychopaths, see Hunting Humans. For an expert in evil he has an interesting opi9nion. (see below)

Elliott Leyton from Paradise, Newfoundland, Canada writes: No one could possibly have more respect than I for the gallant guys and gals at the 'Refugee' board and the Dept of Immigration; but they've really outdone themselves this time by importing a pack of persons who hate this country and would love to destroy it. Just as a matter of interest: do we have any criteria at all for prospective 'New Canadians'?

Lynching Victim's Odd Morality

I listened to an archived interview with the founder of the "Black Holocaust Museum" James Cameroon. 1930 he was almost lynched in the Marion, Indiana, his friends were, (see above). Cameroon recounts the entire episode from hanging with his friends to nearly hanging with friends in a more deadly way. The odd part of the story for me, that wasn't picked up on by the interviewer, was at the point of the armed robbery that got him arrested.

Cameroon and his friends hang out. They decide that they need beer money, I understand. Cameroon and his friends come upon a couple in an isolated car in lover's lane. One of Cameroon's friends hands him a gun. Then Cameroon notices that the man is one of his shoeshine customers. The man is the car is nice guy. Cameroon tells his "friends" he can't rob one of friends and hands over the gun and leaves. It turns out later that of the couple in the car come to bad end, the man is killed and woman raped.

What I don't understand is if James Cameroon was unwilling to rob someone he knew why was willing to standby and let someone else do the "job". At the point when Cameroon decided, as he says, that he wanted no involvement in an armed robbery he was holding a gun.

US Soft on Terror (Saudi Arabia Terror that is)

Here is properly footnoted article about US-Saudi relations by Daniel Pipes. The article details instantances of US authorities adapting to Saudi prejudices. American companies as behaving badly to please the desert barbarians. American law enforcement authorities not prosecuting Saudis for criminal actions that extend to slavery. Spooky.

But then the Republican Party under Lincoln was against slavery. The current Republican Party however in more in favor of deregulation to help the economy.

Spooky Sniper Training Film

While trolling around in a torrent tracking site looking for World Cup footage I came accross an oddity of a documentry, German Snipers - Der deutsche Scharfschütze 1944 (English-German) was a British trianing film put together from captured German training films. Here is the copy from the Pirate Bay listing.

Silent, motionless and deadly, German snipers lurked on the European battlefields of World War 2, hunting enemy sharpshooters, supporting assaults and laying diabolical traps on defense. Drawn from two German military training films made in 1944, this program provides fascinating views of tactics, weapons and camouflage techniques that are still viable today.

When I play Counter-Strike I hate the snipers. Because They are able to pick me off before I can use my spray and pray technique. However on the rare occasions when I can get nice clean kill it is more satistifying than all random hits from recconaisance by fire.

The photo is a Soviet sniper from an photography dealer. I remember coming accross another exhibit of Soviet photos from Stalingrad. In one case the photographer never changed the film, no film and/or didn't know how. So in the entire battle of Stalingrad he only took 20 frames.

Security Risks

"I took Jim Judd aside and said, 'What the hell are you doing?' " Mr. Hamdani recalls. "If you flag everyone who supports Palestine, that's 98 per cent of the Muslim population. I support Palestine -- am I a security threat?"

Communists were considered security threats in the Cold War for two reasons because were more loyal to their party, and the Soviet Union, than to their own countries. And because they supported violent revolution, if not in their own countries then somewhere else in the world, communists could not be good security risks.

Today many if not most Muslims in western countries can also be considered security risks for similar reasons. Many Muslims are more loyal to global community of Islam, The Ummah, then to their own fellow citizens. Secondly there are many supporters in the Muslim community of violent revolution, or jihad, in this case to impose Muslim rule. They may not support violent revolution here and now but many Muslims do support jihad somewhere right now. That is enough reason to consider Muslims in non-Muslim countries security threats.

Article in Friday 9, July 2006 Globe and Mail
Alienation at home, criticism form aboard
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060609.TERRORMUSLIM09/TPStory/Front

Current Reading: To Afghanistan and Back

Ted Rall, one of my favorite editorial cartoonist, has a book out about his trip to the start of the latest Afghan War. The book, To Afghanistan and Back, is great war reportage as well as being an adventure story. Adventure has been defined as someone having a horrible time far awayMy favorite section is where he goes into details about bathing facilities. He pays extra to get a rusty can cold water to pour over himself. He finds out later that water comes from a open sewer. Yum.

The story of foreign corespondents has been coverage in many other books. Philip Knightly wrote a history of the war corespondents, The First Causalty. The story is told from The Times corespondent Russel in the Crimea to now. Russel, in his relation other war correspondants called himself "the miserable parent of a luckless tribe". See here for more discussion about Russel and jouralism history with Knightly on On The Media. In the book Good Omens, the incarantion War one of the four Horsemen is the best war corespondent in history. Finally, I have a memoir of a war correspondant with the horrible title of Anyone here's been raped and speaks English.

Skyscaper Mania

The Economist has an interesting article about the Skyscapers. The Economist article repeats the way that skyscrapers are negative indicator of prosperity, the biggest are designed in boom times and by the time they are finished sit empty.

The article mentions the Skyscraper Museum, where the picture on the right is from. The Skyscraper Museum has a number of interesting web exhibits including this these images of a tower under construction. And a gallery of the favorite NYC towers.

Don't forget to look at James Lileks' archive of old, forgotten and never built towers.

Bussiness Action Figures

A group DotCommunist refugees in Toronto, called Happy Worker have created "action figures" of the business world. The figure on the right is Bossman, he also has other accessories such as MBA diploma and cigar. There are several other toys in this line, Moneyman, Geekman and Supermom. ha ha.