my thoughts, for what they are worth, on politics, history, military affairs, computer gaming..etc.

Blogs of Note

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Meryl Yourish

A Small Victory

Ghost of a Flea

The Command Post WarBlog

Argghhh!!!

Gaming and such

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Penny Arcade

Excessive Overkill news

Call of Duty.org

Goodfellas

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(NCR Elite Blog Mafia)

Shenanigans

Trudeaupia

Inkless Wells

Autonomous Source

Bound By Gravity

All Things Canadian

Minority of One

Ravishing Light

Obsidian Tempest

Highway 401 Blog

The Phantom Observer

Italics Mine

Contact me

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E-mail me



Archives

 
Today is Pearl Harbor Day. As a student of history, I find that the parallels between the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Base in Hawaii and the Al-Queda attack on the United States are worth some examination.
However, I don't find the most facile parallel interesting: that they were both surprise attacks which roused the United States to a righteous rage which enabled them to smite their enemies mightily. Though this is a legitimate interpretation.
The most interesting parallel for me is that they were both desperate and unsuccessful attempts to strike a crippling blow at the moral strength of the United States. Both the Japanese and the Islamists seem to have bought into the idea that Westerners are effete and incapable of sustaining losses of this magnitude. The openness of our society and the relative luxury that is within the reach of most Westerners has lulled the non-West into a complacency. A complacency that says, "its ok to attack them, kill a few and they back off". Both 9/11 and 12/7 had the same purpose: to compel the United States to stop interfering in the Middle East in the former case and the Far East in the latter. In both cases, it backfired in the worst way. The Japanese militarists and the Islamic fundamentalists needed the United States to go away in order for their plans for hegemony in their respective regions to bear fruit. Instead, what they got was a far more energized and focussed United States involvement. A United States (to borrow a phrase from Oliver Stone) with a personal interest in seeing them suffer.
Neither opponent realized how far the United States was willing to go in vanquishing their enemies. The Japanese learned, and the Islamists are in the process of learning that it can be very far indeed. .

(Inspired by Michele; many of the more cogent ideas cribbed shamelessly from Victor Davis Hanson; arrogance and errors by me alone)
posted by Unknown at 11:47 PM

 
Alright, tonight on History Television, they are playing Interview with a Vampire. Can someone explain that shit to me? I'm sure its a fine film and all, but its not History.
posted by Unknown at 9:49 PM

 
Another gratuitous pussy shot: Psycho as a very young kitten. And already showing the pugnaciousness which helped get her the name.
posted by Unknown at 5:59 PM

 
One of my favorite lines from Band of Brothers:

Private Webster: Say hello to Ford and General Fucking Motors! You have Horses! What were you thinking? You ignorant, servile scum.

posted by Unknown at 9:37 PM

 
Some pictures today. Here is a shot of our cat, Psycho-Kitty.

This one is a picture that was supposed to just be a shot of St Paul's University here in Ottawa, but it turned out to be more about a fast car. Enjoy.
posted by Unknown at 3:27 PM

 
Steven Den Beste strikes to the heart of the matter on Canada et al. in Afghanistan. The fundamental truth is there: there is no strategic interest there for the Western powers. And our involvement there, however laudable, is a negative effort at its basic level. In other words, we put about a third of the combat power of the Canadian Army into a place we fundamentally don't care about. in order to have a plausible excuse not to help the US effort in Iraq. Where, it could be reasonably argued, we do have a strategic interest..... Smooth operators we got running things here.
posted by Unknown at 11:06 PM

 
Reuters strikes again! "...impoverished Atlantic province" Yeesh! Hey Reuters, ever been to like Africa or something? I hope Damian hasn't seen this.
posted by Unknown at 12:00 AM

 
One of those strange ironies of life: Ernest Hemingway's son dies in a Miami jail of heart failure, some years after having had a sex change operation and becoming Gloria Hemingway. Ay caramba! Spotted on this blog.
posted by Unknown at 10:22 PM

 
General Schoomaker, the US Army Chief of Staff paraphrases George Orwell, and inter alia the Silent Running motto: 'As I told our NCOs yesterday, “Americans sleep safely in their beds at night because American Soldiers stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do them harm.”' Schoomaker's full speech is at Jen Martinez. Seen at Argghhh!!!
posted by Unknown at 8:22 PM

 
The California recall is today. I've been wondering for some time why this election has fascinated people so. (including me) And it just occurred to me today...It is outside the normal way of things in US elections. Most American elections are pretty bland affairs, all things being equal. You have two parties, they run two safe conventional candidates and one or the other wins... The wide-open, almost wild quality of the recall has attracted attention. This is pure Democracy, people. Its been quite a ride.
Whoever wins, democracy is the real winner. And so are the people of California.
Check out the CalBlog for blogs on the vote. And the California Secretary of State has a live site with raw results here.
posted by Unknown at 10:50 PM

 
The Twin Otter will fly anywhere, especially when flown by some Canadian lunatic. To the South Pole, Again!
posted by Unknown at 11:12 PM

 
The Immigration and Refugee Board, or at least one of its members, may actually have a clue about terrorism.

"We do not live in a vacuum," one IRB member ruled. "We realize that the current climate is one of heightened concerns when it comes to the issue of terrorism and security in this particular time, and if the Federal Court wishes to slap my hand for this they can feel free.

"The 'Western world,' so to speak, have this concern by virtue of comments made by extremist groups that they are out to get, more importantly, those in the United States and, of course, any and all who are part and parcel of that particular culture.

posted by Unknown at 9:19 PM

 
Yet another joint law enforcement thing..the PSAT (Public Security and Anti Terrorism unit). Now if I were one of these conspiracy minded folk, I'd be putting on the tinfoil hat about now. But what is with all these acronyms coming out of nowhere dealing with terrorism and such. And this PSAT unit seems to have done a good job dealing with these 19 guys, (and that number has shadows to chill the bones, no?) but who the heck are they and who is watching over them. (Hat tip to LGF for the TorStar link)
posted by Unknown at 12:01 AM

 
TBS not making movies anymore: Woo-Hoo! TBS making more reality TV: Doh!
posted by Unknown at 2:25 PM

 
"Phish Bassist Arrested: Allegedly Found in Secluded Area with 9 Year old"

Not all that funny a story. But this line makes it worth the read: "The Hell's Angels, who detained Gordon for police, were not, the sources say, gentle with sensitive areas of the rock star's body." Ow.
posted by Unknown at 1:56 PM

 
ColbyCosh.com had some interesting things to say about INSETs which are some kind of joint thing that the RCMP are doing to deal with external threats operating on Canadian soil. Another useful point is why don't we have some way of coordinating all these federal agencies in terms of what they are doing to deal with terrorism? After all, there is Customs and Immigration (part of Canada Customs and Revenue), the RCMP (subject to the Solicitor General of Canada), the Military (subject to the Minister of National Defence) and the Coast Guard (which works for the Minister of Transport). Complex scene, with no real co-ordination that I can see....
posted by Unknown at 9:35 PM

 
Steven Den Beste has some darned interesting things to say on the power outage. Go already, read.
posted by Unknown at 7:45 PM

 
So, the great blackout of 2003. It was kind of an odd experience. (I was tempted to post some lousy pictures that I took another time that turned out black, but I respect YOU, the faithful readers, more than that. All 2 of you.) The power went off while I was still at work, seemed like your normal power cut that we get there on occasion. I kept working, since I was using hand tools anyways..and I was near enough to the door to have light. The cut went down about 20 minutes before quitting time anyways. On the way home, I'm listening to the radio and am clued in before I get to the first traffic light. Some of the main intersections were a bit tricky to navigate with the faithful Funk-Cycle, but I got home alright. We barbequed dinner and ate it under some really bright stars, that are normally obscured by the city lights. Got up this morning, power was still out. No big deal for me, but my roommate was worried sick about the thousands of dollars worth of meat that they have in the freezers. My roommate, you understand, is some kind of weird compulsive meat buyer. Everytime she comes home from CostCo we expect her to have a half of beef, or something. But the freezers were sufficiently packed, and we kept the doors closed, so that they were still good when the juice came back on at 2pm. Watching things carefully, though. Rolling blackouts are still possible, so we have about a tonne of ice in the various freezers for that eventuality. Which we bought in Quebec, whose power never even flickered.
That was the great blackout experience here at Casa de Funk.
posted by Unknown at 6:40 PM

 
Here is those pictures that were promised below. This is sort of a photoblog of my commute to work.


I get out the door and this is what I see:



A short distance into my trip and I look right and see this:



A few metres further on, a better look at Frank Clair Stadium across the canal. This is where the Ottawa Renegades of the CFL play:



Two kilometres further along and I cross Billings Bridge over the Rideau River:



After two hill climbs, I get to the railway bridge on Bank Street:



Almost at work. Looking East on Leitrim Road:



Well, that's the commute, basically. I know the pictures leave something to be desired...I'm new at this. Enjoy.
posted by Unknown at 10:23 AM

 
The deaths of the distasteful sons of Hussein are a postive step in this whole war thing. The only shadow upon the acheivement is that it was not possible to take them alive. There are two basic reasons for this. One is simply that they might well have had useful information, such as the location of their dear old dad. The other is that their deaths may well lend them, in the eyes of those Iraqis and other Arabs who still keep the faith, a legitimacy in death that they lacked in life. Dead martyrs are far more dangerous to the cause of the West on the Arab 'street' than live war criminals. Well executed operation by the 101 Airborne and assorted Special operations units.
posted by Unknown at 8:46 PM

 
I missed Blair's speech to the U.S. Congress. Check out the transcript. This passage really spoke to me:

Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

Amen, brother Tony, amen.
posted by Unknown at 5:10 AM

 
Whew, been a while since I posted anything. I'll be posting again shortly. And I promise some pics...of what, I have no idea, but there will be pictures. Like this one of my computer. Woo!

posted by Unknown at 3:12 AM

 
New note on Victoria Day...I ran across a calendar printed in Quebec..where it is called Dollard Day. The name refers to Dollard des Ormeaux The link is to a site that basically follows the heroic legend (in French, sorry). As an interesting side note, I recently saw the statue of Dollard in Montreal. It was covered by sk8ers, lounging after a hard afternoon of insolence and skateboarding.
Anyways, I found it interesting that English Canada celebrates the birthday of the Queen whose government gave us our independence whereas Quebec chooses to celebrate a guy who basically wanted to hijack some Iroquois canoes and take their furs. And who failed to do even that, in the process getting himself and most of his men killed. At least the Hurons had the sense to get out of the fort.. Ah well, another day in this most schizophrenic of countries. I blame Abbé Lionel Groulx myself. Though I guess Guy Frégault can also be blamed....

 
I was reading today's Citizen. Today's edition has a column. by Barbara Yaffe on the subject of meat eating and the recent case of BSE ("Mad Cow Disease") in Alberta. Its mostly the usual drivel about how animals suffer in the meat system.

What I have always wondered though is what would happen if these people got their way. After all, if no one were eating meat or drinking milk, etc...the millions of livestock on farms in the Americas and in Europe would lose their raison d'etre. What then? They would all have to be slaughtered..every one of them. And not just the livestock, which are killed as a matter of course, but also the breeding stock, the milch cows and all. Millions of animals killed, and wasted, since no one would want to eat them.

And that brings us to another problem: how do we produce enough protein from non-animal sources to sustain all these people? Sure, there is soybean products...but that's something of a boutique industry now..producing for the 5 or so percent of the population who are vegetarians in North America. But enough to support the other 280 million or so North Americans? Another case of people who wish for something without understanding what they are really asking for.

As for me, I have to stand with a slogan I saw on a bumper sticker yesterday: "I love animals, they're delicious!"
posted by Unknown at 4:22 PM

 
Today is Victoria Day here in Canada. A rather strangely colonial holiday that we celebrate. Queen Victoria was, of course, the monarch when Canada became a country in 1867 and we've continued celebrating her birthday as a holiday ever since. In English parts of Canada ( I mean English-English, not English speaking), there are usually fireworks and so forth on Canada Day{oops, I meant Victoria Day}. One doesn't see that much anymore in most of the country. I spent a couple of hours at the gym then rode my bicycle around for a while. Excellent weather for it.


The news is more carnage in Israel. Dang it.
posted by Unknown at 6:39 PM

 
"It's Cheaper to Send Someone to Penn State Than to State Pen!" Interesting commentary on the state of affairs in California. Check it out at The Irascible Professor. Link from the Invisible Adjunct.
When a society spends so much more on its tools of coercion than it does on its tools of nurturing..that is a society in decline. And don't feel smug about Canada being different...the neo-cons that control a good part of the federal agenda, and the provincial agenda in all of the larger provinces are busily working to bring about the same results here.
posted by Unknown at 4:52 PM

 
I've been reading a most interesting article on exam writing..and essay questions in particular. Take a look, courtesy of John Cowan via the Invisible Adjunct. (Look in the comments to that post)
posted by Unknown at 7:36 PM

 
I will be adding links to some more blogs that amuse me shortly.
posted by Unknown at 1:12 PM

 
I hate Noam Chomsky. (Courtesy of Meryl)



Been reading some John Ralston Saul. Profound thoughts on Canada and its weltanschaunng. "All of us, it can't be denied, are victimized from time to time. But this is quite different from believing ourselves to be victims all the time." From "Reflections of a Siamese Twin: Canada at the End of the Twentieth Century." He particularly looks at the whole "two founding peoples" ethos...and throws it in the garbage can, where it pretty much belongs. Just a thought on what I'm reading these days.


Another nice sunday..perhaps I should hit the roads again. Too bad I don't have a digital camera anymore, or I'd cap some nice photos for the blog. Maybe next month....
posted by Unknown at 6:57 AM

 
Victor Hanson Davis (one of my favorite historians..read his Carnage and Culture. Now!, read it now!) has some interesting things to say on Europe and the United States in the aftermath of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is a realignment in world politics that has been a long time in the making..probably since the mid 1980s or so. Ever since the Soviet Union revealed itself for the paper dragon that it had become by then. Once that happened, realignments were bound to occur, it was just a matter of when and why. Interesting times.
posted by Unknown at 2:12 PM

 
So, I can just imagine this dialogue between Hussein father and son on the 18th of March:
Saddam: Qusay, drop by the ATM and get us some shopping money. The Americans are coming by, and things might get hectic.
Qusay: Sure, Dad, how much?
Saddam: Well, could be a while before we get a chance to go to the bank again. Get a billion dollars.
Qusay: No problem, Dad.

News link courtesy of Judith by way of The Command Post.
posted by Unknown at 6:55 AM

 
Well, comments are finally working. I guess I should do some posts so that people can actually have something to comment on. I got this 6 am, been up all night, got rained on kind of thing going on. If I weren't such a goy, I could write a blues song about it. Yeah, I know April showers bring May flowers..but that just means hay fever and such, so I'm not exactly thrilled at that prospect. I'm too negative at this time of day...I'll blog later after I've slept.

posted by Unknown at 6:36 AM

 
A fine sunny Sunday..so instead of labouring in the dank confines of my gym, I went for a bicycle ride. 25 kilometres along the Ottawa river and the Rideau Canal .

Here's a view of one of the paths I was on.


posted by Unknown at 5:42 PM

 
Lately, I've been out of sorts...just getting angry over everything and nothing. I've picked fights with people in cyberspace, while being nice to people that I'd like to wail on in the RealWorld. Sort of a 'despite all my rage, I'm still trapped like a rat in cage' thing. (Apologies to the Smashing Pumpkins) Ah well, life goes on..in its own dysfunctional way.


Funny to see the reactions of Americans to the Shi'ite demonstrations at Karbala. "They're so ungrateful to us!" seems to be the prevailing feeling. But there's two things about that..one is that the Americans encouraged them to rise in 1991, then left them to the tender mercies of Mr. Hussein. The other aspect is that they have received a lot of their doctrine and training from the more rabid elements of the Iranian government...which would not teach them to love America, no matter what America did. Just a thought...
posted by Unknown at 1:30 AM

 
First post. I don't know where I'll go with this..but sometimes the most interesting journeys start out that way. I've been reading a lot of the war blogs and some associated blogs..and I thought perhaps it might help me, if no one else, to get my own thoughts on the screen.

posted by Unknown at 7:31 PM