misteramericano

Words on Wednesday

2010-06-02T10:13:00.001-07:00

There are two sides to every issue; often as not, one side is wrong.

-tdr

Consumer Alert

2007-04-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

After some thought, I've decided to consolidate my online writings into one blog. If you want to keep up with me, go to talesoftheheliosphere.com. It's the blog I used to use for writing on space and space exploration only. I've decided to make it my general blog.

-tdr

Stand By Your Man.

2007-04-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last night in 24land, Karen Hayes stood by her man. Unfortunately for her husband, CTU chief Bill Buchanan, her man turns out to be the comatose President, not her husband. Enjoy your retirement in the federal pen, Bill.

The good news is Buchanan's departure means Secret Agent Hottie Pants, the sexy Muslim, Nadia, now heads CTU. Yes!

In related news, yesterday The San Diego Union Tribune devoted an entire page to profiling the Presidents of the United States of 24land since "24" first aired. (Here.) Jack Bauer's country has careened from one crisis to another. It's a wonder 24land hasn't already gone to full-scale war.

Which brings us to the other good news. Finally somebody worthy of wearing the Imperial Purple, Vice-President Powers Booth, is acting as President. Let's get ready to rumble!

-tdr

Technorati: 24

All About The Benjamins.

2007-04-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

California's taxpayers are paying millions of dollars to fund embryonic stem cell research. California lawmakers want to make sure whatever cures eventually come out of this taxpayer-funded research are offered at reasonable prices and that royalty payments come back to the state. You might think the embryonic stem cell researchers taking government money would go along. Out of gratitude, if for no other reason. You'd be wrong. (Here.)

-tdr

Consequences of Iraq War

2007-04-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Leftie surrender monkeys like to say that the war in Iraq has been counterproductive because it is a training ground for terrorists. Well, it turns out Iraq is teaching somebody else how to fight too: U.S. Marines.

"About 90 percent of these [boot camp] instructors are battle-tested. Many have multiple combat tours under their belts. Some have been wounded; some have received medals for valor. In short, they've been there and done that. ...

'The field training has changed dramatically since I joined in 1998,' said [Gunnery Sgt. Anthony] Loftus, the Marine Corps drill instructor of the year for 2006 and a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war. 'It is more combat-focused.'

For example, today's recruits are drilled more heavily on close-quarters shooting, which is suited to urban warfare, and on spotting improvised explosive devices, the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.

They also are getting more training in how to make ethical decisions on the battlefield and how to cope with military and civilian casualties. Commanders often mention the importance of junior Marines making the right decisions, particularly amid high-stress urban warfare in Iraq." (Here.)

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq

Torture Or No Torture?

2007-03-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

This Associated Press story describes the findings of a Red Cross report on treatment of terrorists detained and interrogated by the CIA in secret prisons. The terrorists were interviewed by the The Red Cross and given the opportunity to describe their conditions of confinement and the interrogation techniques employed on them.

"The Red Cross said the techniques reported by the 14 prisoners, including sleep deprivation and the use of forced standing and other 'stress positions,' were particularly harsh when used together. The prisoners were transferred from CIA custody to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in September.
The CIA's detention methods were designed to make detainees more likely to talk during interrogation. Human rights organizations say the CIA's extreme detention conditions and its coercive questioning techniques constitute torture.
The report is the first independent accounting of the detainees' allegations against the CIA since its detention and interrogation program began in 2002." (Here.)

Notice anything that the detainees did not describe about the treatment they received? That's right, no allegations of real torture techniques, specifically, waterboarding.

Not to worry, the reporter helpfully inserts a description of the technique near the end of the story in a paragraph that confuses more than clarifies.

"Widely reported interrogation practices included openhanded slapping, induced hypothermia, sleep deprivation and – perhaps most controversially – waterboarding. In that technique, a detainee is made to feel he is drowning."

It's impossible to tell from this paragraph whether the detainees claimed these techniques were used against them, or if they are simply techniques that have been widely reported in the media and included in this story as a smear.

-tdr

Technorati: War, Terrorism, Torture.

Ginsberg

2007-03-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

(1990 - 3/5/2007.)

Netflix Deliveries Are Slow, Slow, Slow.

2007-01-27T22:48:00.000-08:00

The delivery time for movies has really gotten bad. I've been a Netflix customer since October 2002. DVDs used to arrive at Netflix the day after I mailed them back and I'd get a new DVD the day after. No longer.

Now, it routinely takes 2-3 days for a DVD to arrive at Netflix's site. Last week I returned a movie on Friday, another on Saturday, and a third on Monday. All three arrived at Netflix on Wednesday. This is typical for me now. The shipping delay is becoming unacceptably long.

Here's part of the problem. The Netflix distribution sites are only open Monday through Friday. Yet the mail is delivered on Saturday. Think about that. Even the Post Office is open on Saturdays but Netflix isn't. What kind of American retail operation is closed on weekends? Netflix should be open on Saturdays to receive and ship DVDs. That they aren't is positively un-American.

-tdr

Technorati: netflix.

Jack Bauer's Black Sheep: Baa Baa Humbug.

2007-01-22T23:45:00.001-08:00

Okay, 24 is now officially a joke.

The Cyborg Master of 24, who's been pulling major strings as a bad guy for two seasons now, turns out to be Jack's brother. The brother's wife still loves Jack. Her son is probably not her husband's but is instead her love child with Jack. As if these family dysfunctions weren't enough, Jack's estranged dad may be helping the terrorists.

Meanwhile, back at the White House, the President is in way over his head and his advisors spout insufferable speechettes that sound as if they were written by high school political science students.

On the plus side, Jack is completely out of control this season, and the Islamist Jihadis still have several nukes left and 19 hours left to blow them up real good.

-tdr

Technorati: 24.

TV Is King.

2007-01-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

The new television season is starting up strong.

24 got things off to a fantastic start last week with four hours of non-stop action and thrills. In a concession to the real world this season's terrorists are Islamist Arabs, including a sleeper terrorist. Not to worry, however, previews for tomorrow's episode showed Jack pushing around one of the Cyborg Masters (sans bluetooth earpiece) from last season. The real villians of 24 may yet turn out to be white international businessmen pushing pawns around for megabucks.

And tonight, Battlestar Galactica returned. For the first time in a long while, the producers dropped their artistic and social commentary pretensions to give us a straightforward science fiction TV show about humans far away from Earth in great big cool spaceships fleeing from killer androids and robots. Thank the gods!

-tdr

The Jack Bauer Neck Pinch.

2007-01-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

Of all the ways 24's writers have devised for Jack Bauer to kill bad guys, tonight's Dracula imitation is the funniest. It was laugh out loud funny when Bauer, all tied up, strapped to a chair, and helpless, leaned over, bit a hapless terrorist in the neck, lifted a key from the guard's dead body, and freed himself. Bauer's escape was truly worthy of 24's status as an adult version of the old Saturday morning serial.

-tdr

Technorati: 24.

Look Out Satan, Here Comes Saddam!

2006-12-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

According to Al Jazeera unconfirmed reports out of Iraq claim that Saddam Hussein has been executed. (Here.) Sweet! Congratulations to the Iraqi people on doing with their former dictator what a farcical UN tribunal was unable to do with Slobodan Milosevic: mete out swift and appropriate justice.

This has been a good week for America and our allies and a bad week for our enemies. Ethiopia routs the Islamists in Somalia and Iraq executes the Butcher of Baghdad. Maybe these are signs of hope for better times in 2007.

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq, war, terrorism.

No Way For Padres To Pass LaRussa In 2007 Playoffs.

2006-12-27T19:12:00.000-08:00

The San Diego Padres can't get past Tony LaRussa in the playoffs. At the recent season-ticket holder's rally, Padres management implored the fans to withhold judgment for now. Both Sandy Alderson and Kevin Towers pointed out that the core players who led the Padres to victory in 2006 didn't join the team in trades and free-agent signings until January.

With that in mind, Towers better have some blockbuster deals in the pipeline. Today's San Diego Union-Tribune has an article that floats a trial balloon about that has Termel Sledge starting in left field and batting leadoff. (Here.) So much for going after a power-hitting outfielder.

This is the lineup that's supposed to get the Padres past LaRussa and the first round of the playoffs:

1. Termel Sledge, LF
2. Marcus Giles, 2B
3. Brian Giles, RF
4. Adrian Gonzales, 1B
5. Mike Cameron, CF
6. Kevin Kouzmanoff or Russell Branyan, 3B
7. Josh Bard, C
8. Khalil Greene, SS

This trial balloon won't fly.

Sledge may have success in the minor leagues as a leadoff hitter but he hasn't duplicated that success against major league pitching. Moreover, what the Padres really need in the lineup is a right-handed power-hitting outfielder. Alderson admitted as much at the season-ticket holder rally last month.

Marcus Giles is fine batting second but his brother is no longer a number 3 hitter. He doesn't drive the ball the way he used to and he doesn't move people along on the bases. He takes lots of walks and is an OBP machine. He should be leading off.

Gonzalez does not have the homerun pop to bat fourth but on this team no player does. If the Padres did what is necessary and went out to get a true homerun hitter, Gonzalez would be batting third.

Cameron, Kouzmanoff/Branyan and Bard are fine where they are. Greene belongs batting eighth, if for no other reason than he can't be relied upon to play an entire season. No sense putting him up in the meat of the order and really missing his bat when he inevitably goes down for a month or so. Fortunately, we've still got Geoff Blum to step in and play major league shortstop.

This team is shaping up as a disappointment. There are some really good players on the team but there are still plenty of question marks. First among them is why isn't the team spending the money management said had been freed up to sign a star performer. Instead we get rumors of interest in yesterday's superstars like Randy Johnson and David Wells. Given the Padres track record, I'm predicting that Sammy Sosa will be starting in left field and batting cleanup when the season begins.

-tdr

Republished once for editing.

Technorati: baseball, mlb, Padres.

How Far Should We Go In Fighting Islamism At Home?

2006-12-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

Daniel Pipes recently blogged about a survey of the attitudes of some American Muslims who attended an Islamic conference. (Here.) The question below and its subparts elicited strong negative answers, as the numbers reveal.

It would be interesting to poll the Democratic Party's leadership for their answers.

15. Is it justifiable for the U.S. government to do any of the following in an attempt to prevent terrorist attacks in America:

a. taking religion and ethnicity into account as one factor when deciding whom to interview and search at airports?
Yes 37
No 258
Undecided 12

b. monitoring activities at American mosques?
Yes 43
No 255
Undecided 9

c. listening to phone calls of people in America whom the government claims are connected in some way with Al Qaeda?
Yes 64
No 232
Undecided 11

d. having an informer pretend to support or encourage violence against America, to see if the targeted Muslims will decide to attack American targets?
Yes 35
No 258
Undecided 14

e. monitoring Muslim charities in America, in the hopes of preventing funding for possible terrorist attacks?
Yes 52
No 242
Undecided 13

f. focusing Immigration & Customs Enforcement resources on deporting Muslim illegal aliens, who have not been convicted of terrorism, in the hopes of disrupting possible Al Qaeda attacks?
Yes 29
No 263
Undecided 15

g. allowing Muslim illegal aliens to stay in America if they agree to work as informants, monitoring the Muslim community for the government?
Yes 21
No 277
Undecided 9

h. torturing suspected Al Qaeda members to get information about possible planned attacks?
Yes 14
No 278
Undecided 15

I would answer "yes" to each subpart, except "h."

-tdr

Technorati: War on Terror, terrorism, islam.

War? What War?

2006-12-26T00:06:00.000-08:00

The Democratic Party has a survey at DCCC.org that asks voters how they feel about the Dims' plans when they officially take over the Congress. (Here.) The survey has to be seen to be believed.

There are 9 questions and 8 are about domestic concerns such as the minimum wage, health care, oil prices, spending, education, etc., etc., ect. There is one question about the war that asks voters whether they agree with the Dims' plan to enact all the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

Here's what that priceless question says: "Ensuring the safety and security of America requires that we implement the recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 Commission. We will move quickly to implement the Commission’s recommendations."

I feel safer already. And more secure.

The survey has a space at the end for personal comments. Here's mine:

"Hey, how about supporting pro-active measures in fighting the war on Islamist Jihad. This 9/11 commission stuff is all about being defensive. The only way we can beat these guys is by keeping them off balance by being on the attack. Support aggressive actions in surveillance, in disrupting financing, in undermining regimes that support terrorsts, like Syria's and Iran's and others, support the classification of captured foreign terrorists as illegal enemy combatants triable in special military commissions, stop the focus on getting the troops out of Iraq and change the focus to supporting the mission of the troops and demanding that the administration do whatever it takes to achieve victory. In other words, get serious about fighting our enemy. Do all that, and I could care less what you do on the less important domestic issues."

Not holding my breath.

-tdr

Technorati: terrorism, war, politics, Democrats.

How Iraq Hurts The War On Islamist Jihad.

2006-12-26T00:03:00.001-08:00

Opponents of the liberation of Iraq claim America's failure to catch Osama Bin Laden so far is proof that Iraq is a distraction. Not so.

The real problem with the unresolved conflict in Iraq is that it leaves the United States unable to combat Islamist insurgencies when they crop up elsewhere. Ethiopia shouldn't have to be leading the fight against the Islamists in Somalia. (Here.) We're fortunate that Ethiopia has the ability and the will to take on the fight for us.

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq, Terrorism, War on Terror.

Happy Holy Days And Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas morning in San Diego and the temperature in my backyard is 82. Even better, it's a dry heat. The only semblance of a white Christmas is the occasional cloud in the light blue sky. This part of the country is paradise.

It was interesting to see another blogger using the greeting Happy Holy Days to mark this season. (Here.) I began using it last year as it recognizes the religious nature of December's holidays and is inclusive of the various faiths that populate this country. (Here.)

So Happy Holy Days everybody, Merry Christmas, and Peace on Earth to people of good will.

-tdr

Technorati: Christmas, Religion.

Apocalypto's Naked Prey.

2006-12-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

The structure of Mel Gibson's new movie, Apocalypto, bears a striking resemblance to Cornel Wilde's worthy old classic, The Naked Prey. (Here.) The plots of the two movies follow the same path: a small group of innocents in the jungle are captured by violent savages and taken to the enemy's home where they endure torture. One survivor escapes and leads his captors on a chase through the jungle.

Despite the similarity in action, the two movies have differences. Where Wilde's movie takes place in colonial Africa, Gibson's is set in pre-Columbian Central America. Where The Naked Prey never rises above the level of an action movie, Apocalypto uses the action genre to tell a story weighted with a powerful theme of damnation and salvation.

Some have criticized Apocalypto for historical inaccuracy. The Mayan Civilization died out in 900, you see, so Gibson must have made a mistake when he included a brief glimpse of Spaniards in his movie. Tell that to Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, the leader of the first successful Spanish landing on Yucatan in 1517. He was killed by Mayans, who were still around 600 years after the end of the so-called Classical period of their civilization. (Here and here.) Others have criticized the movie for more pedantic flaws: getting Mayan buildings wrong, showing Mayans afraid of an eclipse, and exaggerating the practice of human sacrifice.

These criticisms miss the point. Apocalypto is not a cultural or historical documentary. It is not even a work of historical fiction fleshing out a story ripped from yesterday's headlines, a la Elizabeth or Braveheart. Instead Apocalypto is a work of imagination that uses an historical setting to create an alien world and portray fictitious events in order to make a point about the human tendency towards sin.

Gibson's Christian faith clearly plays a part in his development of this theme. However, the movie is no Christian propaganda movie. That is made clear by the choice the main character makes at the very end of the film.

Apocalpyto is worth a trip to the theater. Gibson's direction and photography, and the film's total immersion into an alien culture, work very well on the big screen with surround sound. And as you're watching the action unfold on the screen, with all the running and jumping and fighting, you suddenly realize that the movie is also making you think.

-tdr

Technorati: Apocalypto,
Movies.

Republished once to fix Technorati tags.

Taking A Plunge.

2006-12-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

Well, my Christmas shopping didn't end quite as planned today. The two pictures in this post show where my Subaru Forester ended up after being rear-ended by a Volvo on a freeway off-ramp at the top of an embankment.

What a wild ride. No rollover, fortunately. The other driver was able to start her car, even with its smashed front end. But rather than driving to side of the off-ramp to get out of the way, she drove away, thereby turning a mere accident into a crime. Too bad for her I was able to climb up the embankment and get her license plate number.

The Forester is a nice little car. It handled the slope really well and didn't roll over. If I have to buy a new car, it's gonna be another Forester. Or a Volvo, like the one driven by the other driver. That car took a beating but still was able to drive away and lose a witness that was following behind.

I'd like to take this moment to thank the guy, named Guy, by the way, who tried to follow the other driver and who then came back to help me out.

No serious injuries so far. Just sore muscles and lots of aches and pains. I'm self-medicating with some bourbon even now.

-tdr

Straight From The Lips Of Padres' Management.

2006-11-30T22:25:00.000-08:00

The Padres held their annual party for season ticket holders and shareholders at Petco Park this evening. The team's management shows up, talks about the team's moves, and fields questions from fans. Here's the breaking news.

Asked by a fan who the team plans to offer arbitration, General Manager Kevin Towers said the team was "leaning towards" offering arbitration to:

Chan Ho Park
Ryan Klesko
Alan Embree
Dave Roberts
Todd Walker.

The team is still deciding on whether to offer arbitration to Mike Piazza.

Towers also announced that Geoff Blum will be a Padre again in 2007. Judging from the applause of the fans, that is a popular move.

Towers also took the opportunity to dispel the bizarre rumors that Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez would be traded. He blamed that rumor on a local radio sports broadcaster known as Philly Billy. Towers said Philly Billy "has the best ideas that don't make sense." That drew a big laugh from the crowd.

Towers also suggested that a big part of the stories about the team going after Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez was intended to drive up the price that San Francisco or Los Angeles would have to pay for them.

Asked about Barry Zito, Towers pointed out that the left-hander is represented by Scott Boras. He also said that the left-handed pitcher is "atractive" but he couldn't make any promises about bringing Zito to San Diego. He acknowledged that the team should have gotten the San Diego native when he was still an amateur. He concluded by saying, "when all is said and done, we'll add pieces to our rotation." Doesn't sound like Zito will be one of those pieces.

Towers said his goal is to add more arms to the front-line starting rotation of Jake Peavy, Clay Hensley, and Chris Young. He wants more depth to join Scott Linebrink, Cla Meredith, and Trevor Hoffman. And he needs to get a second baseman to join Adrian Gonzalez, Khalil Greene, and new third baseman, Kevin Kouzmanoff, in the infield. Asked who was available for that, he said the team is looking at Ray Durham, local favorite Mark Loretta, Tony Grafanino, and Todd Walker.

As for the outfield and leadoff, he said fan favorite Dave Roberts "is not gone yet" but other than considering arbitration he didn't make it sound as if the team is pursuing Roberts. Perhaps because of something Padres CEO Sandy Alerson said about the team's need for improved hitting.

Alderson said the team "needs a couple of right-handed power hitters who can hit the ball out to left field" in Petco Park. Petco has a reputation of being a pitcher's park where homeruns are scarce. Right field and center are pretty far away. But left field is just sitting there, very close and well within reach of right-handed power hitters. Dave Roberts doesn't have that kind of power. Much as Padres fans wouldn't like it, the team would probably be better off finding a left-fielder who can hit the ball out to left field than bringing back Roberts.

The big question of the night for Padres fans involved the Josh Barfield trade. It was very clear from fan reactions that the Barfield trade wasn't popular. Finally asked a respectful question about that, Towers explained the reasoning this way.

Towers said that at every level in the minor leagues Kouzmanoff's offensive numbers were better than Barfield's. He predicted that given the same opportunity to play in the majors in 2007 that Barfield got in 2006, Kouzmanoff "will deliver." More important to the team, Kouzmanoff has the right-handed power the Padres need and he has hit homeruns at every level he's played. The team projects him to be the kind of 3, 4, or 5 hitter they need. Towers said the Padres have a future second baseman in the person of Luis Cruz and that for 2007 they will fill the void at second base with a free agent signing. His reasoning made sense and will be considered brilliant if the gamble pays off.

Which brings us back to something that Alderson said early in the evening when he confronted the issue of trades and change and fan loyalty head on. He said the team's bottom line goal is to put a better product on the field and improve over last year's performance. He said management wants to field a team the fans will love and he described how fans loved Mark Loretta and were upset to see him go, but then the fans came to love his replacement, Josh Barfield.

Alderson didn't come right out and say it this way, but in other words, sports fans, Loretta left and you got used to it. Barfield is gone and you'll get used to that too. That's true. But only if the team wins. Because winning is the only thing that matters in sports.

-tdr

Technorati: Baseball, Padres, San Diego.

No Wal-Mart For You: Not Your Father's San Diego, Anymore: Part III

2006-11-30T00:21:00.000-08:00

We are reminded once again that San Diego is no longer the Republican, pro-business, pro-developer city it once was. (Here, here, and here.) It's more Democratic than ever and the dominant special interest throwing its weight around in local politics is now Big Labor.

San Diego's City Council has a Democratic majority and the vote to ban Wal-Mart superstores, the shopping center of choice for America's working poor, was along partisan lines:

"Those supporting the ban are Democrats; those opposed are Republicans. ... A group of labor leaders and grocers proposed the ban three years ago, while pro-business organizations, including the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, fought it." (Here.)

Although supporters claimed aesthetics and the protection of local businesses motivated the ban, this was a vote about class. Costco and membership stores are exempt from the ban even though they compete with grocery stores and are large unsightly warehouse buildings surrounded by large parking lots, just as ugly as Wal-Mart. But the middle class and people just like the City Council members shop at Costco.

America went through this crisis in capitalism before when grocery stores displaced local specialty markets and department stores displaced smaller specialized businesses. Eventually grocery stores and department stores won out and came to dominate their markets. Superstores are likely to do the same. People can only be expected to spend more money than they have to for so long until the lure of low prices wins out.

But low prices for groceries will have to wait in San Diego. Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders opposes the ban and has threatened a veto but his threat means nothing. You see, San Diego has a Paper-Tiger Mayor form of government in which a veto can be defeated by a mere majority in the City Council. It took 5 votes to enact the ban and it will only take 5 votes to defeat the mayor's veto. Where's Pete Wilson when we need him?

-tdr

Republished once to fix San Diego Union-Tribune link.

Technorati: San Diego, WalMart.

None Dare Call It Christmas.

2006-11-29T23:40:00.000-08:00

San Diego's annual Christmas celebration occurs this weekend in Balboa Park. The San Diego Union-Tribune headlines its article about the upcoming party as "Balboa Park launches 29th December Nights." (Here.)

The headline is false. This is Balboa Park's fifth year celebrating something called December Nights. For 24 years until 2002, the celebration was called Christmas on the Prado. Why the change to December Nights? "A park spokeswoman says the name is meant to reflect San Diego's diversity and the fact that events are now held all over the park, not only on the Prado." (Here.)

In reality the change was made because Balboa Park is a city-owned park and governments don't celebrate Christmas anymore. Now we celebrate December and diversity. Of course, the only reason we celebrate one of the coldest and darkest months of the year is because of Christmas. But none dare call it Christmas because diversity is a one-way street that requires the majority to suppress itself so as not to give offense. So, Happy December to you and yours.

-tdr

Technorati: Christmas, San Diego.

Thanks For Nothing, Pat Buchanan Republicans

2006-11-29T19:42:00.000-08:00

This Zogby poll shows the consequences of the Republican Party's transformation from being the party of Ronald Reagan to the party of Pat Buchanan. (Here.) The GOP's embrace of Buchanan-style nativism has alienated Hispanic voters, who until 2006 were moving towards the Republican Party. President George Bush won 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2004. The 2006 anti-immigration version of the Republican Party saw its share of Hispanic votes fall to 30%. (Here.)

Way to go, guys. It's not as if Hispanic voters are declining in numbers. Says Zogby, "Hispanics were 5% of 95 million voters in 1996, 6% of 105 million voters in 2000, and 8.5% of 122 million voters in 2004." (Here.)

Republicans are reeling and asking themselves what they did wrong to lose in 2006. Here's a thought. Maybe alienating a fast-growing segment of the electorate is a losing strategy not a winning one.

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration, Politics, Elections.

Christmas Film Favorites

2006-11-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

Now that the Christmas season has officially begun with Black Friday's celebration of shopping, it's time to list Mister Americano's favorite Christmas movies.

A Christmas Story, naturally. Mister Americano is proud to say he first saw this movie when it had just come out and he has subjected his family to watching it every year since, even when it was still only available on VHS. We've upgraded to DVD but we still watch it more than once every Christmas season. Whether we want to or not!

Bad Santa, with Billy Bob Thornton as a drunk, fornicating department store Santa, is uproariously funny. The movie pushes good taste to its breaking point but still displays some Christmas spirit. It does have a kid in it. A pathetic loser of a kid, but still a kid. If Bad Santa ever replaces A Christmas Story or It's A Wonderful Life as the most overplayed Christmas movie on cable television, you'll know that America has moved past the point of no return on its slide into cultural degradation.

-tdr

Honorable Mention: It's A Wonderful Life, of course. What would the Christmas season be without George Bailey? And all the South Park Christmas episodes. Hi de ho!

Wish List: A very Jack Bauer Christmas. 24 hours in the life of Fox's super-violent, counter-terrorism agent: 8 AM December 24th to 8 AM December 25th. Watch Jack punch and shoot his way through one shopping mall after another in a desperate last minute shopping spree that culminates in a cliffhanging opening of the gifts on Christmas morning. The final episode will be followed by a rare look at Jack's life 24 hours later as he coerces store clerks to accept returns without proper receipts. Or else.

Technorati: Christmas, Movies., 24.

Daft About The Draft.

2006-11-25T17:18:00.000-08:00

The San Diego Union Tribune does an unscientific reader poll every week. This week's poll asks readers to state whether they support reactivating the draft or keeping the military all volunteer. (Here.)

The poll is unscientific because it makes no attempt to collect answers from a representative sample of the population. Also its questions tend to be argumentative. This week's poll is no exception as the "yes" question demonstrates.

"Yes, a draft is only fair. We want our armed forces to be drawn from the entire nation, not just our poor and minority communities. And with a draft, the nation would be more cautious about using military force abroad."

The reality is that the demographics of the volunteer US military is representative of America. This is the demography as of November 2005:

"The data shows the force is more educated than the population at large. Servicemembers have high school diplomas or the general equivalency diploma. More servicemembers have some college than the typical 18- to 24-year-olds. ...

The statistics show the number of African-American servicemembers is dropping. ...

On the socioeconomic side, the military is strongly middle class ... More recruits are drawn from the middle class and fewer are coming from poorer and wealthier families. Recruits from poorer families are actually underrepresented in the military ...

Other trends are that the number of recruits from wealthier families is increasing, and the number of recruits from suburban areas has increased. This also tracks that young men and women from the middle class are serving in the military.

In fact, urban areas provide far fewer recruits as a percentage of the total population than small towns and rural areas." (Here.)

What's a lefty war opponent to do now?

-tdr

Technorati: Media, Military, Politics.

The Best 9/11 Movie: The Hamburg Cell

2006-11-21T00:25:00.000-08:00

The great flaw of the movie United 93 was that it merely chronicled the events of September 11th. By the end of the movie the audience understood nothing about the passengers who won America's only victory on that day. The artistic decisions to avoid even identifying the passengers and to tell a story of heroism without heroes resulted in a movie with a large hole at its center.

The Hamburg Cell, on the other hand, tells the story of the 9/11 hijackers in depth. The movie follows the lives of the primary hijackers, first in Germany and then in America, as they give their lives over to jihad. The plot focuses on the hijacker who will pilot United Flight 93. He changes from a clean-shaven, modern, lax Muslim with a live-in girlfriend into a bearded, true believer, who seeks to dominate his wife, and who ultimately lies to her about everything he is doing.

The dominant feeling elicited by United 93 was tension, which transformed into rage during the movie's last moments depicting the passengers' counter-attack. The Hamburg Cell creates horror by having us watch the transformation of ordinary Muslim men into cold killers. The movie is a psychological horror story of men giving themselves over to evil in a very matter of fact fashion. Throughout the movie the men remain very ordinary in appearance and outward behavior, illustrating Hannah Arendt's 20th Century insight about the banality of evil.

The Hamburg Cell is available on Netflix. It is directed by the gifted Antonia Bird, whose previous horror movie is Ravenous, which told a story of cannibalism in America's Old West.

-tdr

Technorati: United 93, The Hamburg Cell, film, Movies.

What Part Of Illegal Don't These 9/11 Survivors Understand?

2006-11-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

The short-hand reference for the casualties of the 9/11 attacks is usually the "3,000 Americans" who died in the World Trade Center. What's always overlooked is that some of the casualties were foreigners. Some were illegal aliens.

Legalization for the illegal alien survivors has not come yet because the bill to address their plight is pending in Congress.

"The bill, called the September 11th Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act, is attached as an amendment to the immigration reform package that is tied up in the lame-duck Congress.

Bill Fugazy Jr., vice chairman of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, said the bill should be pulled out of the immigration package and given a vote on its own merits." (Here.)

You might think even the opponents of illegal immigration would be willing to make an exception for this small group of families. You'd be wrong. Check out this choice quote in the same article from Jack Martin, spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

"'Those people have come into the country in violation of the laws,' Martin said. 'We don't think that the fact that they have suffered a loss of this type should be grounds for awarding them the permanent residence they would have tried to maintain illegally in this country, without that event having happened.'"

Does that seem FAIR to you?

The anti-illegal crowd is the cruelest, least compassionate political movement to rise up in America in a long time. That this tribal crowd is making inroads into the Republican Party and conservatism dismays this long-time Republican.

Conservatives and Republicans are searching their souls trying to figure out where they went wrong and why they lost. One thing that keeps being said is the need to return to their principles. Maybe so. But if they decide their principles include the kind of mindless, knee-jerk response to tragedy demonstrated by FAIR, then count this Republican out.

If you're a Republican or a conservative, ask yourself this question about the plight of these 9/11 survivors. Would you rather do what Ronald Reagan would do or what Pat Buchanan would do? You know in your hearts that Ronnie would let them stay. But Pat? He'd throw them out with his own two hands.

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration, Illegal immigration.

Climate Prediction Models Can Be Wrong?!!?

2006-11-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well, the hurricane season came in with a whimper and is leaving the same way. Despite dire predictions of terrible hurricanes the season was a bust.

"That means the hurricane experts, who pride themselves on their sophisticated computer models and state-of-the-art forecasting tools, were less accurate than even the average TV weather forecaster on the 10 p.m. news.

"The biggest mistake forecasters made this year was failing to predict the onset of an El Niño weather pattern during the summer. El Niño, a periodic warm-water trend in the Pacific, almost always suppresses hurricane activity in the Atlantic by creating more crosswinds in the upper atmosphere that tear apart tropical storms before they can become hurricanes.

"Experts said other factors impeded the formation of hurricanes as well, including large dust storms off West Africa and a strong sinking of warm air over the Caribbean. And currents over the Atlantic pushed storms northward and back out to sea." (Here.)

What a shock. Scientific modeling failed to take account of all possible variables and as a result reality failed to conform to predictions. Yet we are supposed to believe computer models can predict the climate 50 years from now? O wait, that's right. Global warming predictions are made by "supercomputers." A computer that's super can't be wrong. Can it?

-tdr

Technorati: Environment, Global Warming,

The Vatican's Border Policy

2006-11-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Anti-immigrationists are up in arms because the Vatican dared to criticize plans to build a wall between Mexico and the United States. The Pope of the Church of Nativism himself, CNN's Lou Dobbs, is especially outraged.

"Well, I'm frustrated and I'm a little angry about something, and that's the Vatican holding forth on U.S. policy. I've about had a bellyful of bishops, cardinals and the Vatican telling the United States what it can or cannot or should or should not do, and I don't care what religion it is." (Here.)

Even worse. Apparently, The Vatican has a wall. (Here.) Ooo, hypocrisy. Papists who live in glass houses and all that.

But wait, what about those millions of tourists and immense crowds in St. Peter's Square that always show up on TV? How do they get into the Vatican? The Vatican has a wall! What does it do? Not much, apparently.

The online World Travel Guide describes the onerous procedures necessary to enter the country known as Vatican City.

"There are no formalities required to enter the Vatican City, but entry will always be via Rome, and Italian regulations must therefore be complied with." (Here.)

Maybe we should adopt the Vatican's policy. Build a wall that does nothing and let people enter the United States without formalities. Since entry to the US would generally be from Canada and Mexico, visitors would have to comply with the travel laws of those two countries. But as for entering the United States? No problemo!

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration, border, Lou Dobbs.

When "Jaw-Jaw" Is No Better Than "War-War."

2006-11-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

When Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball talks about Iraq he likes to dredge up the 1954 statement from Winston Churchill about diplomacy being better than war. The quote goes something like "It is always better to jaw-jaw than to war-war" or "It is better to talk jaw to jaw than to have war." (Here.)

That the quote came from one of the greatest war-time leaders of the 20th Century, who spent his time before he became Prime Minister futilely warning the West about Hitler, appears to be lost on Matthews. If Churchill were alive today he might amend his quote to say, "It is better to talk jaw to jaw than to have war. Except when it's not."

Today America is being led to believe that we need to talk to Iran about achieving stability in Iraq. As if Iran can be a partner in peace. As if Iran even wants stability in Iraq.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards are training hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters to carry out attacks against coalition forces throughout the Middle East. ...

"Al Qaeda fighters stay at guest houses on the outskirts of Tehran used by the Revolutionary Guards for conducting training in sophisticated terror techniques. Some of the training is carried out by the guards' elite Quds (Jerusalem) force, their main paramilitary unit. Apart from standard training in firearms and combat drill, the fighters all learn how to prepare car bombs.

"Many of those trained in Iran then travel to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where they use their new skills to carry out attacks on coalition troops." (Here.)

Iran does not want stability in Iraq. Iran is using Iraq as a battlefield in its war against the United States. Rather than making a deal with Iran, America needs to recognize that defeating Iran is a necessary precondition to winning the war on Islamist Jihad.

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq, War, Iran.

The Real Meaning Of President Bush In Vietnam.

2006-11-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

Much is being made of the President's visit to Vietnam. Apparently, Ted Koppel joked recently about Bush joining the National Guard to avoid Vietnam but now going there. Ha, ha, that is so funny, Ted. What a laugh riot. And what irony. What a shallow point of view.

The real significance of Bush's trip to Vietnam is much darker and not funny at all. Three decades ago America abandoned Vietnam and stood by while it was overrun by the Communists from North Vietnam. Today, America is once again poised to abandon a fight and leave allies to their fate. The Dims and the media are finally getting their Vietnam in Iraq.

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq, Politics, Bush, Vietnam.

A Rabid Society

2006-11-16T22:19:00.001-08:00

What the hell kind of government permits the wanton killing of dogs to fight rabies? (Here.) O wait, that's right, China also forces women to have abortions.

Beijing's government sounds like a giant condominium association gone mad. Unreasonable pet restrictions. Unilateral rule-making by an out-of-touch government. All with the power of life and death.

-tdr

Gas Prices And The Election.

2006-11-12T20:54:00.001-08:00

The whining about gas prices has begun again. The latest complaint is that prices have gone up since the election. (Here.)

Whatever.

The website Gasbuddy.com tracks gas prices over time. This graph (here) shows gas prices declined to a low in early November 2005 and then started rising again. Just like they're doing this year.

-tdr

Republished once to add Technorati tags.

Technorati: Economics, Oil, Politics.

A Relationship Of Trust Between Government And Citizens.

2006-11-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

Mister Americano has added another item to his Second Amendment Disaster Preparedness Kit. (For prior additions, see here, here, and here.) It's an authentic M-1 Garand. The M-1 Garand was the rifle used by American soldiers in World War Two. It's a great rifle, if heavy. Mister Americano got his through the kind auspices of the U.S. Government.

The feds long ago established something called the Civilian Marksmanship Program "to provide civilians an opportunity to learn and practice marksmanship skills so they would be skilled marksmen if later called on to serve the U.S. military." (Here.) Law-abiding American citizens can participate in the CMP and buy surplus military firearms.

To get a gun from the CMP, you have to submit to a background check, and send proof of participation in a CMP-sponsored shooting match, an application form, proof of American citizenship, and $550 to the CMP. A few weeks later, your rifle arrives in a box delivered by Federal Express.

What a great country!

It says a lot about the relationship of trust between the federal government and its citizens that Americans can buy surplus military firearms from the government. That relationship puts the lie to the belief that governments should fear their people.

The recent movie, V for Vendetta played on the fears of leftwing hysterics who believe America and England are rushing into fascism. (America's fascists must not be very good at it, what with that pesky free election voting in the Democrats just the other day. But we digress.) Mister Americano has to admit that he liked the movie even if he doesn't agree with its premise.

The movie's promotional tagline was "People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people." (Here.) First of all, we don't belong to the government, so we aren't "their people." But more important than that, in a free society the people and their government trust each other. Although as President Reagan was always saying about the Russkies, "trust but verify."

-tdr

Reposted once to fix grammatically mangled sentence.

Technorati: Guns, Second Amendment, Politics, Disaster.

Whither Iraq?

2006-11-11T13:46:00.000-08:00

Now that the Democrats have taken the House and the Senate what will they do about the war? One thing that's not too promising is the statement by the Democrat's leader, Nancy Pelosi, the next Speaker of the House, that Iraq is not a war to be won, but a situation to be solved.

It's bad enough that so many Dims seem to think the war against terrorism is not a real war. Now apparently, their leader believes even the war in Iraq is not a war. Whatever. It's ironic evidence of the denial Dims are in about the current state of the world. For all the talk about the President being in a state of denial at least he recognizes that America is fighting a war.

So what is next for Iraq? Washington is waiting for the Iraq Study Group report to give everybody political cover to do something. If the report leads to a bipartisan consensus on how to achieve success in Iraq, it will be useful. But if the report just gives Washington cover for America to wash its hands of Iraq and fully withdraw from the country, it will be a tragic mistake and a repeat of the mistake we made in Vietnam.

The mistake of Vietnam was not getting involved. The mistake of Vietnam was abandoning our Vietnamese allies. That abandonment led to more violence in Southeast Asia in the immediate aftermath of South Vietnam's fall and to 30 years of oppression in Vietnam.

More important, Vietnam started a pattern of American conduct which has emboldened the Islamist Jihadists fighting us. In their view, they don't have to defeat us militarily. All they have to do to win is bloody America enough so that America withdraws on its own. Witness Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia, and now Iraq.

If America "redeploys" out of Iraq and leaves the Iraqis to their own devices, it will be trumpeted as a victory by the Islamist Jihadists, it will embolden them to fight us harder, and it will attract more followers to their cause. The risk to America is great at this time. The recent election of the anti-war Democrats reveals that America is losing its resolve and listening to its fears.

Despite this there is one hopeful sign in this article. Retreat disguised as redeployment may be giving way to a true redeployment strategy that will not abandon Iraq.

"In calling for a timeline for U.S. troop reductions, some Democrats have advocated a parallel increase in the number of U.S. military trainers to improve the quality of Iraqi security forces. Some have called for maintaining substantial numbers of U.S. ground forces in nearby Kuwait – or perhaps at major bases in parts of Iraq, such as the Kurdish-dominated north, that have lower levels of violence.

Under this scenario, the U.S. troops would generally be pulled out of harm's way in Iraq, but could act as a 'quick-reaction force' to reinforce Iraqi security personnel if overwhelmed by insurgent attacks." (Here.)

If we're going to redeploy it's better to keep troops in Iraq. If we redeploy all of them elsewhere, there's no way we'd ever send them back in again. We owe it to the Iraqis who relied on us, especially the Kurds, to stay. But especially we owe it to ourselves to stick this out. If we retreat from Iraq it will reinforce our enemy's perception that America is a paper tiger and embolden them to attack us elsewhere. You want more terrorism? Then abandon Iraq.

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq, War.

No Longer A Democratic Minority But A Plurality.

2006-11-11T12:38:00.001-08:00

We wrote the other day that the Senate Democrats will take control as a minority party because they held 49 seats plus 2 independents versus the Republicans' 49. Now Joe Lieberman says he's still a Democrat even though he ran as an independent. (Here.) Fine. The Dims have 50 seats in the Senate plus 1 independent. And of course there's that huge majority in the House. Congratulations.

-tdr

Technorati: Politics, Democrats.

Democratic Minority To Control Senate

2006-11-08T22:36:00.001-08:00

It's looking like James Webb is going to win the Virginia Senate race without having to go through a recount. (Here.) According to this story if that happens the Democrats will have 51 seats to the Republican's 49. That's not exactly true. The Democrats will have 49 seats if Webb wins. They will control the Senate because two independents, Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, have agreed to caucus with the Democrats for the leadership votes.

-tdr

Mister Americano Goes To The Polls

2006-11-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

Mister Americano headed to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters on Saturday to vote early. Not often, unfortunately. (Don't tell Lou Dobbs but the overweight security guards protecting the polling place spoke Spanish. Yet another mortal threat to our fragile democracy and not a Minute Man in sight. Don't forget, that's pronounced "my newt" as in small and insignificant.)

Statewide offices in California show the consequences of term limits. Two offices, Governor and Secretary of State have Republican incumbents running. The rest are open seats. Most candidates for the other offices are professional politicians term limited out of one position and running for another. Term limits hasn't led to the rise of citizen politicians who serve and then return to private life. Instead we get a political version of musical chairs.

Perhaps the most pathetic candidate this year is Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante. He failed to beat Arnold in the recall election, he's term limited out of his current office, and so he's running for, drumroll please, Insurance Commissioner. And he stands a good chance of losing to one of the few neophytes in the election, businessman Steve Poizner. We can only hope.

You've to to look to the federal ballots for the other pathetic candidate. Dianne Feinstein's opponent, Richard "Dick" Mountjoy. He is such a nobody that he lists his occupation on the ballot as, get this, "Immigration Control Consultant." These border security types have got their heads in a very dark place. Five years after 9/11 they suddenly have decided Mexico is the enemy. Wrong! It ain't Catholic workers from Mexico that the US has to worry about. It's those other monotheists who thnk God has a harem of 72 virgins waiting for them in heaven if they blow themselves up and kill a few Jews and Christians in the bargain. Mountjoy is the one Republican Mister Americano refused to vote for.

As usual California voters had to decide on a long list of ballot propositions. Mister Americano surprised himself and voted in favor of increasing property taxes in order to fund education. All the bond propositions to upgrade California's infrastructure got a thumbs up too, except for the one to build so-called affordable housing. Housing is not the government's job. You want affordable housing? Let developers build lots more houses, condos, and apartments.

The hot button propositions this year involve, what else, abortion and the issue of the moment, sexual predators. Of course parents should be notified if their minor daughter is seeking an abortion so Proposition 85 got a "yes" vote. Mister Americano works in criminal law. Contrary to popular belief, sexual predators do not get off easy in California. Proposition 83, which among other things will force all paroled sex offenders to live in the countryside to avoid living within 2,000 feet of a school and require them to wear a GPS tag for life, is overkill. That got a big "no" vote from this Republican.

And speaking of overkill, the proposition to tax cigarettes an additional $2.60 per pack got a big "thumbs down." Cigarettes are taxed enough. We've already got enough of a crime problem with the real illegal drugs in California, we don't need to create a black market for tobacco.

Proposition 90, which will curb government's eminent domain power and also give property owners the right to compensation from so-called regulatory takings, got a thumbs up. Proposition 90 is California's answer to the United States Supreme Court's Kelo decision that upheld an overly expansive interpretation of eminent domain. The national movement to curb eminent domain is an example of how the states will handle the abortion issue if the US Supremes ever get around to throwing out Roe v. Wade.

Locally, San Diego's biggest time waster on the ballot is Proposition A, which is solely an advisory vote on whether San Diego should pursue Miramar as the site for a new commercial airport. Right now Miramar belongs to the Marines but the movers and shakers in San Diego's political and business communities want the base. Five years after 9/11 in the midst of a shooting war in Iraq and a terror war with no end in sight, the Marines need the air base just a bit more than San Diego does. So, Proposition A got a very big thumbs down. When the Marines no longer need the airbase, maybe then San Diego can put a commercial airport there.

Proposition B, requiring a vote of the people before city workers can get a big retirement increase again, and Proposition C, allowing for outsourcing city jobs, got hearty "yes" votes. Government workers should get 401K's like the rest of us and businesses should be allowed to compete for non-essential government jobs. It's the American way.

Now get out there and cancel my votes.

-tdr

Technorati: Politics, Elections, San Diego.

An Atheist World At War

2006-11-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

One of the myths atheists like to believe is that the world would be a better and more peaceful place without religion. You'd think the 20th Century would have put a end to that one. That atheists still believe the myth is proof that they believe in fairy tales just as much as religious people do.

Leave it to the South Park guys to take a whack at the peace-loving atheism myth. Last weeks's episode saw Cartman frozen in suspended animation and awakened 500 years later into a world without religion where three atheist factions are at war with each other. (Here.)

The South Park writers are smarter than atheists. They know that the problem is within us no matter what our beliefs or nonbeliefs. Humans have a will to power that will always result in warfare somewhere. As Kyle said at the end of another great South Park episode, "war is the natural order of life." (Here.)

-tdr

Technorati: South Park, Religion, Atheism, War.

Rats Jumping Ship?

2006-11-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

This Vanity Fair piece (here) about neocon recriminations over Iraq is disgusting. The piece runs quotes in which all the big neocons who supported the liberation of Iraq and the Bush Administration's war strategy to attack terrorism by pushing democratic regime change turn on the President. The story will be told in full in January's edition but the magazine has published a preview. Just in time for the November midterm election. What an odd coincidence.

The preview presents quote after quote from prominent neocons all turning on the President or his Iraq policy. It's a shameless display of rats seeking to protect their personal reputations. In their defense several of the neocons quoted in the piece claim that Vanity Fair is distorting their positions. (Here.) Let's hope so.

America is passing through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The threat from Islamist Jihadism is real yet many discount the threat. The President and his neocon supporters saw that threat more plainly than many and pushed an aggressive strategy to fight it.

This war is a contest of wills. The side that loses the will to fight first will be the side that loses. The Democrats have lacked the will for a long time now. Many Americans in the middle are losing the will. The midterm elections will show that. Now if even the architects of America's war policy lack the will to stick it out for the long haul, we've lost already and we might as well bring all of our soldiers home now. And God help the brave Iraqis - Kurds and Arabs alike, Afghans, and Kuwaitis who counted on us for help. The most dangerous thing to be in this world is an ally of the United States.

As Michael Rubin says in his own defense:

" ... I am a Republican, but whether the Republicans or Democrats are in power, Washington’s word must mean something. Leadership is about responsibility, not just politics. We cannot go around the world betraying our allies — in this case Iraqis who believed in us or allied with us — just because of short-term political expediency. This is not just about Iraq: If we abandon Iraq, we will not only prove correct all of Osama Bin Laden’s rhetoric about the US being a paper tiger, but we will also demonstrate — as James Baker and George H. W. Bush did in 1991 — that listening to the White House and alliance with the United States is a fool’s decision. We can expect no allies anywhere, be they in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, if we continue to sacrifice principles to short-term realist calculations. It’s not enough to have an attention span of two years, when the rest of the world thinks in decades if not centuries."

-tdr

Technorati: Iraq, War, Bush, Terrorism, Neocons.

Health Regulation And The Market For Food.

2006-10-31T09:25:00.000-08:00

A California agricultural group is calling for compulsory health standards in the wake of the recent food scares linked to contaminated produce from California farms.

"Western Growers President Thomas Nassif said calling for compulsory adherence to safety standards, which have been voluntary, and inviting the government's oversight showed how seriously the industry took the outbreak – one of nine linked to California vegetables in the past decade.

'It is not normal for a business to say, "Please regulate us and enforce it if we don't do the right things,"' Nassif said. 'But that, we believe, is essential to restore public confidence.'" (Here.)

Actually that is how regulation works. Large companies welcome regulation because they find it easier to comply and it clears the competition of smaller companies. For example, New York City is banning transfats from food sold in restaurants. KFC and other major fast-food chains are phasing out transfats. (Here.) They acknowledge some difficulty with the phaseout but they are proceeding. Why? Because they can. On the other hand, the greatest opposition to the ban comes from the city's restaurant association which represents lots of small businesses. For them, compliance will be extremely difficult.

Which is not to say regulation is inherently bad. It just doesn't come without cost.

-tdr

Technorati: Food, Government, Politics.

Memo To Padres Managerial Prospects

2006-10-31T09:06:00.000-08:00

For job security listen to upper management:"[Kevin] Towers said he last spoke to [catcher Mike] Piazza in early October. 'Mike was open-minded about still feeling he had the ability to catch 100 games,' Towers said. 'We still plan on having some dialogue about bringing him back there. [Josh] Bard did a great job. He certainly didn't get the opportunity that Mike did.'" (Here.)

Got that? Play Josh Bard.

-tdr

Technorati: Baseball.

Conservative Myopia

2006-10-31T07:17:00.000-08:00

All or nothing Conservatives this election are turning on the one American party that welcomes their input and sometimes implements their policies. And why? Let's see what purist conservative pundit Bruce Bartlett has to say about his decision to vote for Democrats:

"In short, when I vote Democratic next week for the first time in my life, what I am really voting for is gridlock. I am not voting for the Democratic Party's policies, most of which I still oppose. Rather, I am voting for change, congressional oversight and White House accountability. I am voting against Republican corruption and out-of-control spending. If that takes putting Democrats in charge of Congress, then so be it." (Here.)

Five years after 9/11 with America fighting a world wide ideological war against Islamist Jihad, conservatives are putting domestic politics first, violating their own principles, and voting for a party opposed to everything they believe in. Which begs the question: Are conservatives adults?

-tdr

Technorati: Politics, Bush, Republicans, Conservatives.

Guns And Money

2006-10-30T19:44:00.000-08:00

If this study (here) is to believed, 40 million American hunters and recreational gun users will spend $4 trillion over their lifetimes on firearms, ammunition, supplies, and activities related to their guns. That is a whole lot of money flowing into the American economy and perhaps an effective way to preserve the Second Amendment.

-tdr

Technorati: Guns, 2nd Amendment.

Lou Dobbs Congress Redux

2006-10-29T13:44:00.000-08:00

Last week we argued that Democrats should thank Lou Dobbs for his hard work preparing the way for them to take over the Congress. (Here.) Apparently, Peter Beinart says that Democrats are moving closer to Lou Dobbs's simple-minded positions on illegal immigration. (Here, via John Derbyshire on NRO's Corner.) It's understandable really. Five years after 9/11 Democrats still don't know who America's enemy is. Lou Dobbs provides an answer. The enemy is Mexico and all those oh so scary Mexicans who come to the United States to work.

This is another issue that George Bush has got right and his base has got wrong. He proposes some additional border security and legalization for illegal aliens. Dobbs brands this amnesty because it forgives people who broke the law. For Dobbs and his supporters it's all so simple. Illegal aliens broke the law so anything less than deportation is amnesty. But many illegal aliens actually add value to this country. Many have put down roots here and this country is now their home. Legalization would benefit them and us.

In the criminal law context, defendants who break the law but who can be reformed, or who pose no threat to society, or who have something to offer don't necessarily get sent to prison. They get probation. We should offer the same option to illegal aliens in this country.

Probation for illegal aliens not amnesty.

-tdr

Technorati: Illegal Immigration, Border, Bush, Democrats.

Bye Bye Bochy.

2006-10-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a very useful article today on the reasons for Bruce Bochy's departure from the San Diego Padres. (Here.) It's all about Bochy's favoring veterans over younger players.

Bochy's preference for veterans has been obvious for years. But what surely must have puzzled the front office this years was how Bochy used Todd Walker in the last part of the season. Walker was brought over to the Padres to play third base. When that experiment looked bad, Russell Branyan was brought in. Rather than going to the bench, Walker got lots of playing time as a platoon player at second base with Josh Barfield. Barfield, who was a star on this team during the season ended up sitting a lot near the end of the season.

It's doubtful that the Padres traded Mark Loretta last year to make room for Todd Walker to play second base. Loretta was dealt so that Barfield could play.

Bochy did play another rookie at a key position this year: Adrian Gonzalez at first base. Gonzalez even slumped a bit during the year and Bochy essentially stuck with him. But there was nobody on the team good enough to play first base regularly so Gonzalez's position as a starter was safe and ended up one of San Diego's most potent bats. Lucky for him Ryan Klesko was not available until the very end of the season.

This fan is not sad to see Bochy go. He's often touted as San Diego's winningest manager because he has more wins as a Padres manager than any other. But he's also the losingest manager because he has more losses than anyone else. More importantly, he's got a losing record as a manager.

In sports, winning is everything. The St. Louis Cardinals are the only real winner in Major League Baseball this year because they won the World Series. The Detroit Tigers are first among the losers for having lost the World Series. Everybody else is just a loser.

-tdr

NASA Dominates At X-Prize Cup 2006

2006-10-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Las Cruces, New Mexico, hosted a rocket show promoting private development of space last weekend. There is a budding market for private space ventures. Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites has partnered with Virgin Galactic to build a fleet of spaceships to fly private tourists into space in the near future. Las Vegas-based hotel billionaire Robert Bigelow's company, Bigelow Aerospace, has an inflatable prototype space station in orbit right now. Bigelow plans to launch a full-size space station for human habitation by 2010.

A host of companies attended the X-Prize Cup and showcased their plans for private human space travel. Yet NASA was a dominant force at the event. One private space company and teams of college and high-school students competed to win NASA prize money. A private market for space is developing but government is still the biggest player. (More here.)

-tdr

The Lou Dobbs Congress

2006-10-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

The pundits overwhelmingly are predicting Democratic gains, if not takeovers, in the House of Representatives and the Senate. There's a lot of bad news in the world and it is rebounding back on the Bush Administration's political party. Even the good news of the economy does not appear to be making a difference for Republicans in the minds of the voters. Anyone who watchs Lou Dobbs Tonight knows why. Dobbs has been hawking gloom and doom on CNN for a long time now. To Dobbs, there is a "War on the Middle Class" and ordinary Americans are being squeezed by corporate fat cats, uncaring government officials, and an invasion of illegal aliens from Mexico.

In 1994 when the Republicans took the Congress, the incoming freshman class of GOP Congressmembers made Rush Limbaugh an honorary member of their class. If the Democrats sweep into power this election, they probably would not want to make Dobbs an honorary member of their class. His harsh position on illegal immigration is antithetical to most Democratic politicians. But they should send him a great big thank-you card. They wouldn't have been able to do it without him.

-tdr

Neocons In Space?

2006-10-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

The Bush Administration has published a new space policy for the United States that emphasizes America's national interest. Naturally, some are worried about the Administration's new policy."The updated policy rejects the development of arms control agreements that could restrict or limit U.S. access to or use of space. It also calls for the development of space capabilities that support U.S. defense and intelligence initiatives. ... Critics of the Bush administration tell the Washington Post newspaper that they believe the policy could lead the U.S. to develop, test and even deploy space weapons." (Here.) We can only hope. More here.

-tdr

Gingrich Plans Comeback?

2006-10-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

It's hard to figure exactly what this is supposed to mean.

"GOP sources said Mr. Gingrich does not plan to run for president, but intends to be available as the savior of conservatives dismayed by candidates who seek to move the party to the left in the aftermath of George W. Bush’s presidency." (Here.)

Republicans were seriously hurt when Speaker Gingrich had to resign. Newt is one of the smartest and most creative politicians of the Republican Party.

Contrary to the common perception of him as angry and reactionary, he is very much a forward-looking and visionary public figure. Talk to anybody who has taken the time to think about America's space program, for instance, and Newt Gingrich's name is bound to come up. Newt has long been an advocate of government prizes as a way of jumpstarting the space program and commercialization of space.

The GOP could use his leadership these days and conservatives could use his wisdom. As it stands now the party and the conservative movement have swung way too far over in Pat Buchanan's direction. But how Newt could become the savior of conservatives in 2008 without running for president is a bit of a mystery.

Since we're indulging in speculation, perhaps Newt could get back his old job as Speaker of the House. The Constitution doesn't explicitly require the Speaker to be a Congressmember. Article I, Section 2 states "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states ..." A subsequent paragraph in the same section states "The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers ..." (Here.) It may be implied that the speaker must be a duly elected member of the House but the text does not explicitly require the speaker to be a member. Newt might not even have to run for office. Wouldn't that be interesting?

-tdr

We Are The Battlefield

2006-10-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Daniel Pipes has an insightful column today about war in the modern world. (Here.) His basic point is that wars today are not won or lost on the battlefield but are won or lost in the area of public opinion.

"First, battling all-out for victory against conventional enemy forces has nearly disappeared, replaced by the more indirect challenge of guerrilla operations, insurgencies, intifadas, and terrorism. This new pattern applied to the French in Algeria, Americans in Vietnam, and Soviets in Afghanistan. It currently holds for Israelis versus Palestinians, coalition forces in Iraq, and in the war on terror. ...

"Second, the solidarity and consensus of old have unraveled. This process has been underway for just over a century now (starting with the British side of the Boer War in 1899-1902). As I wrote in 2005: 'The notion of loyalty has fundamentally changed. Traditionally, a person was assumed faithful to his natal community. A Spaniard or Swede was loyal to his monarch, a Frenchman to his republic, an American to his constitution. That assumption is now obsolete, replaced by a loyalty to one's political community – socialism, liberalism, conservatism, or Islamism, to name some options. Geographical and social ties matter much less than of old.'

"With loyalties now in play, wars are decided more on the Op Ed pages and less on the battlefield. Good arguments, eloquent rhetoric, subtle spin-doctoring, and strong poll numbers count more than taking a hill or crossing a river. Solidarity, morale, loyalty, and understanding are the new steel, rubber, oil, and ammunition. Opinion leaders are the new flag and general officers. Therefore, as I wrote in August, Western governments 'need to see public relations as part of their strategy.'"

Democracies are at a disadvantage in this kind of war. Democratic governments must respond to the popular will. The longer a war continues without resolution the more likely it is that opposition to the war will increase. This leaves a democratic government that hopes to win a modern war with limited options.

The first option is to fight an all out and brutal war to destroy the enemy in the shortest time possible and then get out. In the early stage of a war popular support tends to be at its highest. In addition, when a war is in its "major combat" phase the military is given greater leeway to kill the enemy and destroy its infrastructure.

If a short war is not possible, a democratic government fighting a long war absolutely must reach out to its political opponents and get a consensus on the goals and strategies in the war. Consensus across political lines first helps to insulate the war's goals and strategies from political attack. Consensus also helps to ensure that the prosecution of the war will not change much when voters decide to change governments.

The Bush Administration understands that the war we fight against Islamist terrorism is a long war that will require a generation to win. Judged by its action, what the Administration does not seem to understand is that winning the war requires reaching out to political opponents and forging a consensus. In the Administration's defense, its political opponents have never been in much of a mood for achieving consensus with this President. This country deserves better on both sides of the aisle.

-tdr

The More The Merrier

2006-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

October 2006 is the month in which the population of the United States is expected to pass 300 million. (Here.) That's a lot of people and some find the population increase to be very scary. Georgie Anne Geyer indulges in a little bit of scaremongering and argues that the United States is heading towards overpopulation.

"...if immigration is not controlled, it's not far to the 1 billion mark and all that means, in terms of more cities such as Los Angeles, where people can already barely move, severe shortages of water (not only in the Southwest), deadly competition for water and land between farmers and cities, and the domination of the country by the cynical philosophical view that sees man merely as an economic creature." (Here.)

Geyer gives over the bulk of her column to the Earth Policy Institute's Lester Brown, to make an argument in favor of so-called sustainable growth and against population growth as sapping the human spirit.

This is so much hogwash. Every human being who is born isn't just another mouth to feed. Every human being is born with a brain for solving problems and adding creativity to human culture, as well as two arms and two legs for working and creating wealth for themselves and others. People aren't necessarily a problem. People are also an asset. Sustainable growth advocates such as Brown claim to value human beings but their true view of humans is that people are nothing but a threat to the environment.

Population growth does not threaten the United States. On the contrary, population growth benefits the United States. The United States is the only developed country among the countries with the highest population growths. Most developed countries are either barely producing enough people to replace their current populations or they are actually declining in population. The other countries with high population growths tend to be undeveloped nations. Let Europe die a slow death of depopulation if it wants to. America's population growth adds vitality to our nation, both through immigration and reproduction, and helps our country remain number one.

-tdr

Marriage And Family Households Hype.

2006-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

This story (here) from the French news service AFP was one of the most viewed stories on Yahoo for several days starting this weekend. The story argues that family demography shows that marriage is on the decline in the United States and is rivaled by unmarried couples, both straight and gay.

Certainly family demographics are changing but the AFP story seems to have seriously overstated the change by misreading the data. The AFP story says,

"The findings, which were released in August but largely escaped public attention until now because of the large volume of data, indicated that marriage did not figure in nearly 55.8 million American family households, or 50.2 percent.

More than 14 million of them were headed by single women, another five million by single men, while 36.7 million belonged to a category described as "nonfamily households," a term that experts said referred primarily to gay or heterosexual couples cohabiting out of formal wedlock.

In addition, there were more than 30 million unmarried men and women living alone, who are not categorized as families, the Census Bureau reported.

By comparison, the number of traditional households with married couples at their core stood at slightly more than 55.2 million, or 49.8 percent of the total."

The great thing about the internet is that facts like this can be checked by going to the source document. (Here.) The source document in this case shows that the AFP story seriously overstated the case for the decline of married households and rise of unmarried couples living together, whether straight or gay.

The Census Bureau's document reveals there are only about 6 million unmarried couples living together in the United States not 36 million. Compared to these 6 million unmarried couple households, there are 30 million households with one person living alone and 55 million married couple households. There are an additional 19 million households headed by a single parent.

The AFP story uses the study to make an argument that the Bush Administration's domestic policy promoting traditional family values and marriage is failing. It's not clear how 55 million married households compared to 6 million unmarried couple households supports that contention. This is especially true when one looks at this page (here) of the Census Bureau's study which shows that out of 227 million adults over 15 years of age, 121 million are married now, and of the rest only 63 million have never been married. For a less tendentious news report on the Census Bureau's findings go here. The AFP story proves once again that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

-tdr

Padres Season Goes To Waste

2006-10-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

Nothing in baseball matters but winning. The team that loses the World Series is just the top loser. Winning the Western Division is cold comfort for this Padres fan when the season is followed by the team's embarrassing performance in the playoffs.

Despite Sunday's loss the pitching staff did not lose the series. The series was lost by the hitters. The worst thing about the team's offensive performance in the playoffs is that it was typical of what fans had to watch all year. The players on the Padres have got to be some of the worst situational hitters in major league baseball. And has the team ever heard of a hit and run? The strange thing is there was a time when manager Bruce Bochy would do the hit and run and other offensive plays to get the defense moving and open up holes. Now he seems to sit back and wait for one of his players to deliver the big hit. All of us have been waiting pretty much all year for that.

O well, there's always next year. But if the same players and management all come back fans will have to suffer through the same offensive malaise. Some kind of reconstruction is in order. Here are some suggestions.

FIND SOME RIGHT HANDED POWER. Enough with the lefthanded bats. Petco's left field is not that deep and homeruns can fly out of the park in that direction. Get some players that can take advantage of that.

Keep Roberts.
Exercise the option on Cameron.
Trade Giles for a true number 2 hitter.
Put Gonzalez in the third slot.
Play Barfield every day.
If Walker stays make him a bench player not a platoon player with Barfield.
Keep Greene.
Keep Blum for when Greene injures his hand for the third year in a row.
Get A-Rod and put him at third.
Keep Piazza and Bard but even out their playing time.

Let Bochy go.

-tdr

Padres Win One And Give The Ball To Woody.

2006-10-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

The Padres came back from the brink yesterday and beat the Cardinals to remain in the playoffs. (So, what's new for Padres fans? This team does nothing the easy way.) Woody Williams will start today. Some have questioned that move and suggested that Jake Peavy should start. I'll go on the record today, 5 hours before the game, in support of manager Bruce Bochy's decision. Williams is the unsung hero of the Padres pitching staff. He's been successful this year, he pitches like a pro, and he can be counted on to keep it together under pressure. If anybody can get the Padres back to San Diego for a fifth game on Monday, Williams can.

-tdr

Battlestar Galactica Finds Earth.

2006-10-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Battlestar Galactica's two hour episode last night struck very close to home. After a year of occupation by their Cylon overlords the human insurgency is now resorting to suicide bombers, blowing up police graduation ceremonies, and targeting civilians. The Cylons are rounding up suspected insurgents, transporting the "detainees" in shackles and canvas hoods, and torturing them in prison while the human puppet president denies it happens.

Hmmmm. Does any of that sound familiar?

BSG, or the best show on TV, as we fans refer to it, has flirted with contemporary wartime events over the past two seasons. This was successful in the past because the writing hinted at current events more than paralelling them. With this new season it looks like the writers may have decided to tell stories "ripped from today's headlines" as those awful unoriginal shows on broadcast television do.

It's too soon to tell from one episode whether the show will turn preachy and convey an overt message about the war. To date the show has avoided that temptation and that's one reason it is so good. Good fiction doesn't preach. Good fiction tells stories that let the viewers or readers come to their own moral conclusions. Time will tell if the writers remain committed to producing good fiction or if they have decided to produce sermons.

-tdr

Technorati: Battlestar Galactica, Science Fiction, war.

Note: This post is duplicated on Tales of the Heliosphere, my blog on science fiction and present space policy.

Padres Game 1 Fiasco

2006-10-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

When I wrote last week that the Padres look like a team of destiny, today's game is not what I had in mind. The game was a typical Padres loss. No clutch hitting.

It didn't help matters that Mark Bellhorn was sent up to pinch hit with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 7th inning. Fine, the pitcher was leftie Tyler Johnson and Bruch Bochy clearly was going with the lefty-righty matchup. But here's a question. What is Bellhorn doing on the post-season roster? Whose decision was that? He's batting under .200 and has struggled miserably for the last month of the season. Here's another question. Why not break convention and send up a lefty against the lefty? Especially when the lefty available to pinch hit was Ryan Klesko. Klesko has been pinch hitting since he came off the DL and he has looked great. He's also a proven hitter who can drive the ball and he doesn't strike out as much as Bellhorn does. Klesko batting would have increased the odds for a productive out.

The Bellhorn at bat was the crucial at bat of the game and deserved a proven hitter who is on his game, not somebody who has struggled for more than a month now. Instead, Bochy sends up Bellhorn and saves Klesko for the 9th with nobody on when the game was all but over. The fact is, Tony LaRussa outmanaged Bochy.

Here's another fact. Chris Carpenter outpitched Jake Peavy. Padres fans like to believe that Jake is our team's superstar pitcher. Today should cast a lot of doubt on that belief. Peavy may not be a number 1 starter and he probably shouldn't be the go-to guy for pressure games in post-season.

Next game will have David Wells starting. He's another guy who doesn't deserve to be on the post-season roster for any game in which he has to bat or run the bases. He'll probably pitch well enough but his fielding, hitting, or baserunning will hurt the team at least once on Thursday. There's a real possibility the Padres will head to St. Louis two games down and only then will the team's most reliable pitchers, Woody Williams and Chris Young, take the mound.

-tdr

Padres Playoff Rotation?

2006-09-26T22:05:00.000-07:00

The Padres are looking like a team of destiny this year. Hey, we can dream can't we? Apparently it's too soon for the team's real coaching staff to think about the playoff starting rotation. (Here, third story down.) Not too soon for an opinionated fan, however.

Woody Williams has been there and done that in many years in the majors. He's been sharp all September and is pitching like the veteran he is. He's a pro who can be trusted not to meltdown in the crucible of the playoffs. He'd be my number 1 starter.

Jake Peavy would be second just because he's Jake Peavy, an intensely competitive pitcher, who is brilliant when he is on. His competitiveness shows on the mound and is the thing that apparently ticked off the Dodgers first base coach when the Padres played in Los Angeles last week. The Jake Peavy Show can get a bit old, even for a loyal Padres fan, especially when the sizzle is not matched by the steak. There's been more sizzle than steak most of the year from Jake, as evidenced by his losing record this year, but his last start looked like the Jake Peavy of old.

Chris Young deserves to pitch second or even first based on his excellent performance all year. The guy is also as calm as a plant on the mound. But I'd pitch him third because with home field advantage in the playoffs, (it's looking that way at this time), he'd start the first away game. Young has not lost an away game since, well, it seems like forever.

Then Clay Hensley because of his consistently strong September performances and because David Wells does not deserve to start any post-season game in which he has to bat.

Then for game 5, back to Woody Williams.

Why diss Boomer, you might ask? Well, the team isn't winning when he starts. He pitches fine, but he can't hit, he can't field, he can't run, and each of those weaknesses has hurt him in his starts for the Padres. He's out of shape. The only reason he would take up space on my post-season roster, would be for World Series games when a designated hitter could take his place in the batting order. But, hey, I'll admit it, I'm still ticked at him for playing for Boston last year and not the Padres when we needed him more than we do this year.

-tdr

Technorati: Padres, Baseball, MLB.

San Diego's City Attorney/Wannabe Mayor

2006-09-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

San Diego's City Attorney Michael Aguirre continues to believe he was elected to set policy for the city. His most recent misguided venture involves a lawsuit regarding the city's homeless policy. (Here.) He defends his attempt to settle the case on his own terms in a letter to the San Diego Union-Tribune's editor.

"Unfortunately, the problems of homelessness have not been adequately addressed by our municipality. Our police have unfairly been asked to manage the problem. We are using our county jail as a homeless shelter, which puts additional stress on our criminal justice system. The problem has gotten so out of hand that it has now become a question of cruel and unusual punishment. The U-T cites the creation of Petco Park as having transformed 'the East Village and much of the rest of downtown into a livable, family-friendly environment.' Excuse me, but have you seen or visited the streets of downtown San Diego lately? We already have de facto areas where the homeless congregate. Addressing complex issues such as these are never easy. I believe advancing real solutions that comply with the law are what San Diegans would like to see." (Here.)

Aguirre continues to be confused about the difference between a client and a lawyer. He forgets that the client is the city and the city's policy-makers are the City Council and Mayor not the city attorney. His job is to advise the client what to do but if the client chooses a different course of action, he has to abide by it.

This is not the first time this politically ambitious city attorney has apparently tried to implement his own policy preferences through a lawsuit settlement. One time before Aguirre, who represented the city, sided with the plaintiffs who filed suit attacking the city's condo conversion policy. (Here.) In that case, a third party sought to intervene in order to "prevent collusion between the Office of the City Attorney and the plaintiffs, which would harm the city and the condominium conversion industry." (Here.)

San Diego needs an appointed city attorney.

-tdr

Technorati: San Diego.

Padres Trade For David Wells Pays Unusual Dividend.

2006-09-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

David Wells was scratched from the Padres lineup for tonight's game against the Cardinals due to an outbreak of gout. (Here.) What century are we living in again? This is the first risk factor listed on the Mayo Clinic's website:

"Lifestyle factors. Excess consumption of alcohol is a common lifestyle factor that increases the risk of gout. Excess alcohol generally means more than two drinks a day for men and more than one for women. Gaining 30 pounds or more than your ideal weight during adulthood also increases your risk." (Here.)

Enough said.

-tdr

Technorati: Padres, MLB, Baseball.

Let's Hear It For The Aussies.

2006-09-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

"AUSTRALIA'S Muslim leaders have been "read the riot act" over the need to denounce any links between Islam and terrorism." (Here.)

-tdr

Technorati: Islam, Terrorism.

Due Process For Gitmo Detainees

2006-09-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

Due process is a flexible concept that essentially requires people to get the process due them given their circumstances. This story (here) reveals the due process given to every detainee that has ever gone to Guantanamo Bay.

"Every one of the other roughly 450 detainees at Guantanamo, who began arriving in 2002, have already undergone the tribunals. The tribunals for the 14 new arrivals will be held almost certainly using the same procedures, Waddingham said.

"The tribunals are conducted by a three-member military panel, which examines evidence against a detainee, can speak to witnesses, and determines if the detainee is an enemy combatant and should be held. The detainee is represented by U.S. military counsel.
"Those judged not to be enemy combatants are generally transferred out of Guantanamo to their home countries. Those determined to be enemy combatants stay locked up here. They then face annual Administrative Review Boards that examine whether they still pose a threat to the United States or have intelligence value.

"Congress and the Bush administration are currently working on guidelines on how detainees should be interrogated and put on trial. Ten Guantanamo detainees have been charged with crimes but their military trials were put on hold after the Supreme Court last June ruled that the tribunals were illegal — partly because the Bush administration had set them up without Congressional approval."

Those who claim the detainees are without due process are liars.

-tdr

Technorati: War, Terrorism, Bush,

Padres v. Dodgers: National League Championship Preview?

2006-09-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

This last weekend's games between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers was a great baseball series, with pitching duels, a blowout, and a slugfest that ended historically with 5 homeruns by the Dodgers over the 9th and 10th innings. For this Padres fan last night's game was painful to watch. The final two innings of the game were the most unbelievable baseball I've ever seen and I hope never to see its like again. But as Josh Barfield said, "We split the series, and they're a half-game ahead. We can pick up that half-game, no problem." (Here.) As Neil Young once sang, "Tonight's the night."

The two teams don't face each other again in the regular season this year. But both teams have a good chance of making the playoffs and might face each other in round two of the National League playoffs. This Padres fan hopes so. That would be one heck of a playoff series.

tdr

Iranian President Adamant Jihad Calls For World To Convert To Monotheism.

2006-09-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

The Iranian President "His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nej ad" spoke to the UN today. The full text of his remarks is available on the UN's website here. Most of the speech attacks the United States for creating all the troubles of the world and even worse, "abusing" the UN Security Council for America's own ends. The most revealing part comes in the final paragraphs:

"The Almighty and Merciful God, who is the Creator of the Universe, is also its Lord and Ruler. Justice is His command. He commands His creatures to support one another in Good, virtue and piety, and not in decadence and corruption.

"He commands His creatures to enjoin one another to righteousness and virtue
and not to sin and transgression. All Divine prophets from the Prophet Adam (peace
be upon him) to the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), to the Prophet Jesus Christ
(peace be upon him), to the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), have all called
humanity to monotheism, justice, brotherhood, love and compassion. Is it not possible to build a better world based on monotheism, justice, love and respect for the rights of human beings, and thereby transform animosities into friendship?

"I emphatically declare that today's world, more than ever before, longs for just
and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect
righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and
who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet.

"0, Almighty God, all men and women are Your creatures and You have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause."

There you have it. Monotheism and the return of the Shiite savior, the Hidden Imam, are apparently what is needed for world peace.

-tdr

Technorati: Iran, Islam, United Nations.

Young Master Keith's Very Special Comment

2006-09-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

What is up with Keith Olbermann? On September 11, 2006, he delivers a long rant against President Bush. Last night he does another long rant demanding that "Mister Bush," as he childishly calls the President, apologize to the country. (Here.) Master Keith's demand for an apology was prompted by the President answering a question at a press conference with this remark "It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective,..." (First Q and A in transcript here.)

Master Keith played a little word game and worked himself up a fine little temper tantrum because President Bush said, "it's unacceptable to think." Master Keith's rant is just nonsense. The President isn't making thought a crime or saying that thought is unacceptable.

Two can play this silly game.

Back in 1994 President Clinton said this in his State of the Union speech:

"We can't renew our country unless more of us--I mean, all of us--are willing to join the churches and the other good citizens, people like all the ministers I've worked with over the years or the priests and the nuns I met at Our Lady of Help in east Los Angeles or my good friend Tony Campollo in Philadelphia, unless we're willing to work with people like that, people who are saving kids, adopting schools, making streets safer." (Here.)

O my God! . It's clear that the former President has given up on America, "We can't renew our country." Even worse, Mister Clinton, or should that be Reverend Clinton, apparently believes America's only hope is for all Americans to become Christians: "We can't renew our country unless ... all of us -- are willing to join the churches." Mister Clinton, have you no shame? This country is a secular republic not a theocracy!

-tdr

Technorati:

Is The Pope Mormon?

2006-09-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

A small bomb exploded in a Salt Lake City library today. (Here.) Nobody was hurt and there was little damage.

-tdr

Technorati: Terrorism, Crime.

Padres Won't Make Playoffs With Silent Bats.

2006-09-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

For the second Friday in a row the Padres were almost no-hit. Last night it was Greg Maddux and the Dodgers. (Here.) Last Friday it was Matt Cain and the Giants. (Here.)

Last night's victim was David (Boomer) Wells, who pitched decently but not well enough to win for a team that could manage only two base hits. Worse, he had to leave the game because of a painful ankle he injured running the bases in a prior game.

The Padres' weakness all year has been hitting not pitching, but instead of trading for an impact hitter to get the team to the playoffs, management traded for Wells. Wells has pitched three times since joining the Padres and well enough to win twice. But the team has scored only seven runs and gone 1-2.

The trade for Wells has gone as could have been predicted: no real harm but also little benefit. Good pitching keeps you in the game so your hitters can win the game, and if your hitters don't hit, you can't win. But this has been discussed before. (Here.)

So let's talk about Padres pitching instead. The conventional wisdom about the Padres is that having Wells in the rotation for the final month and the playoffs benefits the team because he's a seasoned pro who has performed in the post-season. In addition to Wells, the sports commentariat and fans talk about starters Peavy and Young and then the bullpen.

One name is nearly always missing from discussions of Padres pitchers and he was here all year: Woody Williams. Williams deserves more recognition than he gets. He's a solid veteran starter who knows how to pitch, and, unlike Wells, he can field, hit, and run the bases too. He's been a boon to the Padres this year. I'd start him over Boomer any day. (Woody is on the mound against the Dodgers tonight. It will be interesting to see how he fares.)

-tdr

Technorati: Major League Baseball, San Diego Padres.

The Pope Was Talking About Reason Not Islam.

2006-09-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

The internet is just better because source documents are usually available online. The full text of the Pope's speech that punctured the thin skins of Moslems worldwide can be read here.

Surprise, surprise, surprise. The Pope's speech was not about Islam at all. The story of the Byzantine Emperor and the Persian scholar was merely a jumping off point for a reflection on reason and faith. After speaking of the interplay between reason and faith in the West in history and today, the Pope concluded his talk by referring back to the Emperor's statement that "'Not to act reasonably (with logos) is contrary to the nature of God,...'" The Pope then invited dialogue between cultures "... to this great logos, to this breadth of reason ..." The angry denunciations from Moslems worldwide is probably not the reasoned dialogue he was hoping for.

Will he get a reasoned response to this?

"... The scientific ethos, moreover, is the will to be obedient to the truth, and, as such, it embodies an attitude which reflects one of the basic tenets of Christianity.

"The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening our concept of reason and its application. While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them.

"We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically verifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith.

"Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions.

"A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology. Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept the rational structure of matter and the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based.

"Yet the question why this has to be so is a real question, and one which has to be remanded by the natural sciences to other modes and planes of thought -- to philosophy and theology. For philosophy and, albeit in a different way, for theology, listening to the great experiences and insights of the religious traditions of humanity, and those of the Christian faith in particular, is a source of knowledge, and to ignore it would be an unacceptable restriction of our listening and responding."

-tdr

Technorati: Islam, Pope, Science, Skepticism.

So, What Else Is New?

2006-09-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Moslems worldwide are reacting in anger to the Pope's criticism of using violence to spread religion. (Here.) The reaction is entirely predictable. Moslems will brook no criticism of their religion, especially when it strikes close to home. You can read excerpts of the Pope's remarks here.

The Pope's statement that has Moslems in a rage once again is a quote from a 14th Century Byzantine emperor who said:

"'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"

The Pope continues:

"The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. 'God,' he says, 'is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.'"

There's nothing unreasonable about the Pope's remarks and they are especially relevant today. Just recently two Fox News reporters were coerced into "converting" to Islam at gunpoint by Islamist terrorists in the Palestinian territories.

There's another dark irony to this latest controversy about the violent history of Islam's relations with The West. The Byzantine Emperor's remarks were made in 1391. A little over 60 years later, in 1453, Moslem armies captured Constantinople, ended the Byzantine Empire, and made the city the capital of the Moslem Ottoman Empire.

-tdr

Technorati: Islam, jihad, Pope.

Social Injustice From Personal Irresponsibility

2006-09-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

A new study shows great disparities within the United States in longevity. (Story here, study here.) Such disparities could be said to reveal social injustice in our society among classes, sexes, and races. But what's most interesting about the story is how much personal behavior is responsible for creating the disparities.

"Moreover, the longevity gaps have stayed about the same for 20 years despite increasing national efforts to eliminate obvious racial and ethnic health disparities, he found.

Murray was surprised to find that lack of health insurance explained only a small portion of those gaps. Instead, differences in alcohol and tobacco use, blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity seemed to drive death rates."

-tdr

Technorati: Social Justice, Health Care.

"Are We Safe" Is The Wrong Question

2006-09-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

The Council on Foreign Relations' website hosts a special report that asks a number of experts "are we safe yet?" (Here, here, and here.) That's the wrong question. So long as the current crop of terrorists remain alive and active we can never be safe. It is impossible to protect a large free country from every terrorist attack.

"How do we win" is the question that should be asked because victory is the only guarantee of safety.

-tdr

Technorati: Terrorism, War.

The Real Shame Five Years After 9/11

2006-09-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Keith Olbermann used his platform as a news reader Monday night to deliver a partisan rant against the Bush Administration. (Here.) Its early paragraphs complained that five years after 9/11 there is no memorial or new building at the site of the former World Trade Center.

"Five years later this space is still empty.

Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.

Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.

Five years later this country's wound is still open.

Five years later this country's mass grave is still unmarked.

Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.

It is beyond shameful."

Actually, there's no shame in it at all. We are still fighting the war brought home to our country by the attacks on 9/11. The time for memorials will be after the war is over.

The real shame in our country is that five years after 9/11 there is no bipartisan consensus over how to fight this war, and what victory will look like. For that, the blame can be spread far and wide among both Republicans and Democrats.

-tdr

Technorati: Terrorism, War, Bush, Olbermann.

On The Road And Offline.

2006-09-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

Heading to the Bay Area for a family visit and to watch the Padres play the Giants in San Francisco on Friday night. Leaving the computer at home.

-tdr

Fascism, Extremism, Islamism, Whatever. Let's Just Kill 'Em And Let The Lexicographers Sort It Out.

2006-09-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

Apparently the President spoke today about the war today and didn't use the word fascism to describe our enemies. (Here.) Calling our enemy Islamic Fascism or Islamo-fascism apparently bent some people out of shape. Patrick Buchanan, for instance. (Here.)

Buchanan's commentary is absurd. He starts by arguing that fascism can't be defined. Here's an adequate definition:

"1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism. ..."

Okay, maybe our Islamist enemies aren't fascists because they don't have that single dictator thing. The rest of the definition fits pretty well, however.

Buchanan then spills a lot of words whining about the leftist tendency to slur conservatives as fascists and suggests the word is being applied to our terrorist enemies because of the nefarious neocons, who used to be lefties. Apparently, it's just old leftie habits. Here's a question? When exactly were Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush lefties again?

Buchanan then says that Syria is not an Islamic Fascist state and neither was Saddam's Iraq. Okay, fine, they aren't religious dictatorships the way Afghanistan was. How about plain old fascists then? Baathist rule in Syria and Iraq certainly fits the definition of fascism.

Buchanan finally gets around to discussing our terrorist enemy and betrays an abysmmal ignorance of Al Qaeda's war aims. He says the goal is to get America and Europe out of the Middle East. But that's not the final goal. Al Qaeda wants the West out of the Middle East in order to try and overthrow the regimes in the region and replace them with Islamist governments. Afghanistan was their utopia and they want to replicate it throughout the Middle East.

Buchanan then betrays an appalling ignorance of Syria's and Iran's tactics.

"Why did the Ayatollah let the American hostages go, as Reagan raised his right hand to take the oath of office? Why did Syria not rush to the rescue of Hezbollah? What [sic] did Ahmadinejad not rocket Tel Aviv in solidarity with his embattled allies in Lebanon? Res ipse loquitor. The thing speaks for itself. They don't want war with Israel, and they don't want war with the United States."

What Buchanan misses is that Syria and Iran already are fighting a war through their proxy paramilitary groups, like Hamas and Hezbollah.

Buchanan continues with this:

"'Islamo-fascism' should be jettisoned from Bush's vocabulary. It yokes the faith of a billion people with an odious ideology. Imagine how Christians would have reacted, had FDR taken to declaring Franco's Spain and Mussolini's Italy "Christo-fascist."

One wonders if Buchanan has ever listened to a single thing Osama Bin Laden, to name an example, has ever said. He and his fellow travelers specifically claim to be fighting a jihad against non-Muslims in the name of Islam and of Allah, and recently, their message has been, convert to Islam and we won't fight you. Their objectives are specifically religious, inspired by their view of Islam.

Finally, the term Islamic Fascism or Islamo Fascism does not yoke the faith of a billion people with fascist ideology. Instead it differentiates Islam from the terrorists, while still recognizing the obvious truth that the terrorists get their inspiration from their Islamic religious views.

Buchanan did say one thing worthwhile about our enemies:

"They are out to kill us, and we have to get them first."

Can we get an "Amen" here?

-tdr

Technorati: Bush, Islam, Terrorism, War.

Legalizing Illegal Aliens Benefits American Workers

2006-09-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

The San Diego Union Tribune contributes an objective analysis of the costs and benefits of illegal immigration. (Here.) There are costs associated with illegal immigration but there are benefits too. More importantly, legalizing illegal aliens would benefit American workers. For instance:

"History shows that wages rise after undocumented workers are legalized, as they did after the government offered amnesty to 2.7 million undocumented workers in 1986. Within five years, real wages of formerly undocumented workers rose an average of 15 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Wages for many of the jobs had been declining prior to legalization.

Wages would also rise for native-born workers or legal immigrants who work in similar jobs. A University of California Los Angeles study five years ago estimated that if undocumented workers were legalized, wages for all workers would rise by about 5 percent in agriculture, 2.75 percent in services and 2.5 percent in manufacturing.

Legal immigrants or native-born workers who lack the skills or education to qualify for less-strenuous work would be the beneficiaries, economists say."

Anti-immigration demagogues who profess to care about the American worker should take note.

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration.

Iranian President Adamant Jihad And The White Jacket.

2006-09-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

What is up with the white windbreaker? Every day it's the same damn jacket. Does he own one or a whole closet full? Did he loan his wardrobe to the Hidden Imam and he's waiting for the imam to return and give him back his clothes? Maybe it's a tyrant thing. Mao had his suit, Castro had his fatigues, and Ahmadinejad has his favorite windbreaker.

-tdr

Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Technorati: Iran.

Big Pitch Little Hit Wins One For The Padres Today

2006-09-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

The Pads beat the Reds today, but barely. (Here.) Weak-hitting San Diego took the game 2-1 when a Josh Bard grounder just made it through the infield with the bases loaded.

The hefty lefty David Wells pitched a strong six innings, and Cla Meredith, and Trevor Hoffman nailed down the victory. Meredith is nearly unhittable this year.

Portly pitcher Wells pitched well but was an embarrassment on the bases when he got thrown out by a mile at home plate in one inning. The defense of the southpaw with the masticating maw was a bit off too when he was slow coming off the mound in another inning allowing a bunt single. But overall, the beer-bellied mercenary hurler earned his money today.

-tdr

PS: Today's victory raised the Padres record to 8-10 for home games with Mister Americano in the stands. They're 1-0 when Mister Americano follows them on the road due to a victory in Anaheim. I'll be at Wednesday's game against the Rockies in San Diego and Friday's against the Giants in San Francisco on Friday.

Technorati: Baseball, MLB, Padres.

David Wells, The Padres, And The Playoffs.

2006-09-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Mister Americano is going to today's Padres game against the Reds. David Wells is set to start his first game for the Padres this year.

Judging by the talk radio phone calls, Padres fans are excited about Boomer "coming home" to San Diego. Count this fan out.

Last year, the Padres needed Wells more than they need him this year but he wasn't around because two years ago Wells abandoned the Padres for the Red Sox. So much for home town loyalty.

The Pads remain ahead in the Wild Card race but have fallen four games behind the Dodgers in the Western Division. San Diego's weakness all year has been hitting. Pitching has been the team's strength.

Two trading deadlines have come and gone now and what have the Padres done to increase the team's chances for the playoffs? Not much, really. Russell Branyan and Todd Walker to play third base. Both players are looking pretty good so far but neither is an impact player and the team still considers third base a hole that needs filling.

The one impact player the Padres picked up is Wells. The portly player is a proven playoff pitcher. But the team has to make it to the playoffs first. Wells is a starting pitcher so he will play every five days. He's not going to make an impact day to day the way a proven major league hitter would have.

That being said, the trade is not bad for the team. If Wells performs like he has in the past month for Boston, his addition will be positive. The team has not given up much to get him in George Kotteras, a minor league catching prospect. The Pads are strong behind the plate and won't miss his loss much.

Nevertheless, the team has done next to nothing to fortify its weak hitting and instead has done what it always does, concentrate on strengthening their already formidable pitching staff. The team has a shot at the playoffs through the Wild Card but it will be lucky if it makes it far in the playoffs. Pitching keeps you in the game, but it's hitting that wins the game and this team doesn't hit.

-tdr

Technorati: Baseball, MLB, Padres.

An Armed Population Is Not Enough To Guarantee Safety Or Freedom.

2006-09-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's a given of gun-rights supporters in the United States that a well-armed population is a guarantor of freedom and is safer from crime than an unarmed population. Middle Eastern societies prove that more is needed. Gaza is the latest example.

"In Khan Yunis, a gritty southern Gaza city that features a thriving gunrunning trade, Brig. Gen. Mustafa Wafi's police force struggles to keep up. 'People have a lot of weapons, and the slightest things set them off,' he said. Thefts, burglaries and violent neighborhood arguments in Gaza City have risen 70% in recent months, one police officer estimated. Many of the new offenders are teenagers whose families can no longer provide spending money. Their favorite targets: car stereos, generators and especially cellphones. 'It used to be one or two cases a day in our area. Now it's at least four or five,' said the officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. 'It started once the salaries stopped being paid.'" (Here.)

America's population is well-armed and relatively safe. Our society remains free after 200 years of republican self-government. The second amendment's right to bear arms guarantees that individuals will have the means to protect themselves. However, that is not enough to guarantee safety from crime and freedom from tyranny. One man alone, even armed with the latest firearms, is no match for an out of control mob, for equally-armed criminals, or a tyrant's police force.

-tdr

Technorati: Firearms, Freedom, Second Amendment.

Humiliating Lebanon.

2006-08-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has weighed in on Israel's blockade of Lebanon. Annan says it's an "humiliation" that must be stopped. (Here.)

Shame words get used a lot to describe events in the Middle East. Everything is so humiliating. The Americans had to liberate the Iraqis because they couldn't do it themselves. The presence of Americans in Iraq is a continuing humiliation. The American bases in Saudi Arabia were humiliating. Israel's treatment of Palestinians is a humiliation. Iran won't be humiliated by giving up their nuclear program under international pressure. Now Israel's blockade of Lebanon is humiliating. Never mind that the blockade is in place to prevent Hezbollah from receiving weapons from Iran or Syria. Something Lebanon and the UN supposedly favors.

What ought to be humiliating for Lebanon is the infection of its body politic by the Hezbollah virus.

Hezbollah is a state within a state. It's got its own armed militia that is so strong Lebanon's army is reluctant to take it on. The UN is reluctant to carry out the mandate of the ceasefire and disarm the Hezbollah paramilitary force. Hezbollah operates at will within Lebanon and without regard to the interests of the Lebanese government. It dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel when its paramilitaries crossed the border and killed and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. It has shot rockets from Lebanon into Israel and the Lebanese government was unable to do anything about it.

Hezbollah's presence and strength within Lebanon shows the world that the Lebanese government does not control its own destiny and does not rule its entire country. For a government, it doesn't get much more humiliating than that. But don't hold your breath waiting for any Arab or Moslem leader to put the situation in those terms. Apparently only the actions of Crusaders or Jews are humiliating.

-tdr

Technorati: Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, United Nations.

Republished once to fix Technorati links.

They Are Fighting A Holy War Whether We Are Or Not.

2006-08-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Two Fox News journalists were finally released by Islamist terrorists but only after the captives "converted" to Islam. (Here.) Not that there's much room for doubt but the conversions were coerced.

"'We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, and don't get me wrong here, I have the highest respect for Islam and learned a lot of very good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns and we didn't know what the hell was going on,' [Steve] Centanni said."

This event demonstrates a problem for the United States about the War on Terror that ought to be obvious to everybody but apparently isn't. Our enemies are not fighting a geopolitical war; they are fighting a religious war.

The Islamist motivation of the terrorists imposes a special burden on their fellow Moslems. Moslem leaders must demonstrate that Islam is not the enemy. To do that they must condemn each and every atrocity committed by Islamist terrorists in the name of Islam.

Moslem leaders must condemn the forced conversions. They also must disavow the forced conversions as theologically invalid.

This is just like the question of the meaning of "jihad." Moslem leaders constantly tell us that jihad means personal struggle not holy war. Of course, we don't need to be told since we're not the ones killing people in the name of jihad. The people who need to be told what jihad means are the terrorists. In this situation, non-Moslems don't need an explanation that the conversions aren't valid. We don't recognize their validity. The people who need to be told that forced conversions aren't valid, are the terrorists who forced non-Moslems to convert or die.

There's an old saying that "silence gives consent." The terrorists forced their captives to convert to Islam. By doing so the terrorists believed they were acting on behalf of Islam. If Moslem leaders or clerics remain silent about these forced conversions their silence will amount to an acceptance of the conversions. Their silence will be consent and permission for more forced conversions to come.

Modern Christians aren't fighting the Crusades. They don't conquer for the cross anymore. Non-Christians are no longer forced to convert or die. It's time for modern Moslems to mirror that and put a stop to forced conversions. Stop your fellow Moslems from fighting this jihad. You're either with us, or you're with the jihadists. There is no middle ground.

-tdr

Technorati: Islam.

Hold Those Natural Disasters Until Late Morning, Please.

2006-08-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Fox News Sunday was supposed to have New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas as a guest this morning. (Here.) Show host Chris Wallace announced on the air during the show that Thomas had overslept and would miss the show. He also announced that Thomas missed a meeting on Hurricane Ernesto. Can that be true? What does that say about the city's performance recovering from Hurricane Katrina and preparing for future hurricanes.

-tdr

Padres Land Utility Player With Weak Bat.

2006-08-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

The Padres have made another blockbuster trade. Tampa Bay's utility player Russell Branyan is now a Padre. He played the corner outfield and corner infield positions for the Devil Rays in 64 games this year. Productive hitters are the Padres most pressing need. So how does Branyan measure up?

"He's hitting .201 with 12 home runs, 10 doubles and 27 RBIs." (Here.)

O boy!

-tdr

George W. Lincoln Meet Abraham Bush.

2006-08-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Some commentators have noted parallels between George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln. The wartime presidencies, the internal political dissension over the war, the curtailment of civil rights, the changing rationales for the war. Mister Americano believes the comparison is apt and that Bush will one day be regarded in the pantheon of great presidents along with Lincoln. Although it would help matters if there were modern parallels to Grant and Sherman.

Now Best of the Web's James Taranto points to another similarity between Bush and Lincoln.

"Nor is Bush the first president to be elected and re-elected while losing his state of birth both times. That distinction he must share with Abraham Lincoln." (Here)

Bush is such a Texan that people tend to forget he was born in Connecticut, a state he failed to carry twice.

-tdr

It's The English, Stupid.

2006-08-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

A story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune shows a way forward on immigation. The article describes the improvements in English proficiency among California students from Spanish-speaking households. (Here.)

School officials say the increase in fluency among students is real, and they credit new laws at the federal and state levels for the improvement.

Proposition 227, which California voters passed overwhelmingly in 1998, changed the focus of schools from bilingual education to an English-immersion model. Now, parents who want their English-language learners taught in a bilingual setting must go to the school and sign a waiver. Otherwise, the children are “immersed” in English in the regular classroom.

Since 2002, the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act has required schools to report test scores of English-language learners, and other special-needs children, in their own subgroup rather than lumping them in with the scores of all students.

Both laws have placed significant pressure on schools, and more specifically classroom teachers, to raise the English proficiency level of their students. If schools don't, they risk being cast as “underperforming” and face sanctions.

Laws designed to improve English proficiency among immigrant children are working. Proficiency in English is probably the most important step in assimilating immigrants into America's culture. For those Americans who are afraid of the influx of immigrants from Mexico this story should offer reassurances at America's ability to assimilate that population. For those Americans who claim to care about immigrants but oppose laws that mandate English education and accountability in education, may this story cause them to reconsider their opposition.

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration.

The Wrath Of Aguirre Continued: Why San Diego Needs An Appointed Not Elected City Attorney.

2006-08-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

Face it San Diegans, you made a mistake when you elected Michael Aguirre to be our city attorney. I'm excluding myself because I voted against the guy. Today's Union-Tribune article about Aguirre's management has led to excessive turnover and a loss of expertise is just the latest example of the serious problems in the city attorney's office. (Here.)

Being city attorney should not be a political position. The city attorney is a lawyer for the city not a politician or a policy maker. The position should be an appointed job. It's time for San Diego to stop electing our city attorneys and start hiring them instead.

-tdr

There's Wildfire Fuel In Those San Diego Canyons Too.

2006-08-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

Several years ago wildfires decimated San Diego County. (Here.) Many homes in the backcountry and on the outskirts of the city were destroyed. Their proximity to the fuel, brush and trees, doomed the homes. Three years later some in San Diego are pushing an initiative to preserve the many canyons that exist within the city limits. (Here.)

It's not known to many outside San Diego that our city is not just a coastal town. The attraction of a canyon view within San Diego's city limits rivals the best coastal views along our beaches. There are many canyons running throughout the city bringing a bit of the backcounty into urban neighborhoods. My densely populated neighborhood is flanked by canyons and is three miles from downtown and the harbor. In my twenty years of living here I've seen possums, racoons, skunks, and squirrels cross my backyard. One summer a pair of small foxes spent their days lounging on a ledge of the cliff that encloses my yard. Once a hawk swooped down to my patio and grabbed a dove that was feeding there.

I have to admit I like the canyons, the skunks notwithstanding. Canyon preservationists use a pretty metaphor to describe the canyons as "the lungs" of San Diego and relentlessly accentuate the positive. (Here.)

Yet there's something else about canyons that isn't so benign. The vegetation in the canyons is fuel for wildfires. And these canyons aren't far away in the backcountry next to a few scattered homes here and there. These canyons are found throughout the city right next to thousands of homes.

The people who lost homes in the Cedar fires three years ago mostly lived in rural San Diego County. But back in 1985 residents of Normal Heights, a neighborhood well within the city limits of San Diego, saw their homes burned to the ground by a fire that started in a nearby canyon. (Here.) Perhaps preserving the canyons isn't such a great idea, after all.

-tdr

Technorati: San Diego, wildfires, environmentalism,

Flaunting The Cracker Within.

2006-08-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

If you're an anti-illegal immigrationist and you don't want to be called a racist (here and here), you might not want to make statements like the one made recently by a leader of a group affiliated with the Minutemen. (That's pronounced my-newt-men, as in men who are minute: "Exceptionally small; tiny. See Synonyms at small. Beneath notice; insignificant.")

"'These people coming here are the poorest of the poor, the undesirables – not everyone, but the vast majority,' [Jeff] Schwilk said. 'They include a large criminal element, and many of them are diseased. We are all compassionate people, but there is a limit to our compassion'" (Here.)

You've got to wonder whether somebody who uses the word "diseased" to describe illegal immigrants is thinking of them as human. The word "diseased" is not typically used to describe people who are sick. It usually refers to animals or meat. Don't agree? Well, I hope you keep your diseased kids home from school when they aren't feeling well.

-tdr

Technorati: Immigration, Illegal immigration.

A Well Deserved Kiss Off

2006-07-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

You've got to hand it to the Fox News PR people. They've got a way with words when they want to give a celebrity critic the kiss off. The San Diego Union Tribune runs an AP article on Fox's way with words today. Here's a sweet sample:

"Ted Turner. The CNN founder called Fox a 'propaganda voice' of the Bush administration and compared its popularity to Adolf Hitler's rise in Germany before World War II. [Fox PR person Irena] Briganti: 'Ted is understandably bitter, having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind. We wish him well.'" (Here.)

Fox should also be credited for its choice of targets: Besides Turner, Fox has gone after Tim Russert, David Shuster, and George Clooney. Now, best of all, Fox has trained its sights on the execrable Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's "news" show Countdown. Here's what Fox's Briganti said about Olbermann:

"'Because of his personal demons, Keith has imploded everywhere he's worked. From lashing out at co-workers to personally attacking Bill O'Reilly and all things Fox, it's obvious Keith is a train wreck waiting to happen. And like all train wrecks, people might tune in out of morbid curiosity, but they eventually tune out, as evidenced by Keith's recent ratings decline. In the meantime, we hope he enjoys his paranoid view from the bottom of the ratings ladder and wish him well on his inevitable trip to oblivion.'"

Mister Americano is well pleased. Olbermann's Countdown has got to be the worst news show on television.

Fox News is criticized by rival networks as being ideologically conservative and Republican leaning. Fox balances out the liberal news networks. Of Fox's competitors Olbermann's Countdown is notable for being the most liberal and most agenda-driven. If you despise all things Bush, Countdown is where you go to get your news.

Although Countdown is presented as a news show what it really aspires to be is a news comedy show like Comedy Central's great The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The trouble is, Keith Olbermann just isn't funny.

Nor does he appear to have much input into the show's content. That comes through loud and clear when he takes a vacation. The tone of the writing, the format, and the jokes remain the same. The only difference is Olbermann's substitute hosts read the news and the jokes with infinitely less bombast.

That Olbermann is such a bombast is ironic since he has made it his calling to wage war on the Right's most bombastic news reader, Bill O'Reilly. Or perhaps irony is the wrong word. Fitting might be better. There's only room at the top for one most bombastic newsman in journalism. So far, O'Reilly reigns supreme. But Olbermann is closing fast.

-tdr

Technorati: Keith Olbermann, FOX News, Bill O'Reilly.

On Your Way, Jose. (Canseco, That Is.)

2006-07-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

San Diego's minor league team, the Surf Dawgs, traded Jose Canseco to Long Beach. (Here.) Canseco lasted one game in San Diego and then demanded to be traded for family reasons.

Good riddance. San Diego doesn't need an admitted steroids user playing baseball in town, especially at a stadium named after a true class act, Tony Gwynn.

Canseco's short tenure in San Diego stands in stark contrast to another famous former leaguer who played for the Surf Dawgs. Rickie Henderson was on the team last year. He was a joy to watch. Henderson looked like he was having fun on the field and there was something about him that said Major Leagues.

Below are some low res photos of Rickie at bat taken with my cellphone at a Surf Dawgs game last year. Enjoy.

-tdr

Technorati: Baseball.

America's New Lepers.

2006-06-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the Surgeon General's advice for how non-smokers should relate to smokers: "Stay away from smokers." (Here.) What's next? Smoker colonies?

-tdr

Technorati: cigarettes, Tobacco.

You Are Not Jack Bauer.

2006-06-27T00:57:00.000-07:00

According to Timothy Carney writing at National Review Online (here), Jack Bauer is Everyman. Carney comes close when he puts Bauer in a line of heroes that stretches back to the Old West:

The American hero is the cowboy: He is Maverick, he is Han Solo, he is Batman (though, when Batman is in trouble, he turns on the Jack Bauer signal), he is the rag-tag minuteman fighting the well-trained Lobsterbacks.

So Jack Bauer is not Big Brother, and he is not the establishment. Jack Bauer was expelled from CTU and he disobeys orders. He does what needs to be done and he does it in his own way. (Jack Bauer once played Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun, and won.) He is the fitting heir to Rambo and Maverick.

And like Rambo and Maverick, Bauer’s inhuman excellence (Jack Bauer, for example, could strangle you with a cordless phone) still doesn’t keep us from identifying with him. “Jack Bauer is an everyman,” Writer and Executive Producer Howard Gordon said on Friday, “he is the guy who stands for that American, can-do thing.”

Let's leave Rambo out of it, shall we? That dude is just messed up.

Jack Bauer is a contemporary version of an Old West hero but not the ordinary cowboy hero who fights to defend himself and what's his as best he can. No, Bauer is too expert a killer to be a modern version of the cowboy, an Everyman.

Instead Bauer is the gunslinger who fights for the good guys. Like the gunslinger before him Bauer is a professional who fights with expert skills to protect other people who are less able to protect themselves.

We mortals may admire Bauer and be inspired by him to fight as well, but we can never be him. He's too professional, and he's too much an outsider for the ordinary person to be like him.

As we put it before, Jack Bauer is Shane. (Here.) Like Shane Bauer is a professional killer who operates outside the law to protect civilization because sometimes that's what civilization needs to protect itself. The problem for heroes like that is they have no place in civilization when the fighting stops. That's why Shane has to ride away at the end of his movie, and that's why Jack Bauer's personal life is always in such turmoil. In fact, some say that Shane is dying from his wounds as he rides away. Bauer probably has a bullet waiting for him in his future too.

Sorry, Audrey. When all this is over, Jack won't be hanging up his guns and settling down to a lifetime of domestic bliss. No, he'll be getting the hell out of Dodge. Maybe not because he wants to, but because he has to.

-tdr

Technorati: 24, Jack Bauer.

San Diego Prays For Global Warming.

2006-06-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

The weekend games between the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners saw a record number of homeruns hit at Petco Park in a three-game series: 14. Petco is notorious for being a pitcher's park where it is nearly impossible to hit the ball out. Padres fans wonder why opposing players don't seem to have a problem going yard there but that would be another story.

Here's the reason given for all the baseballs flying out of the park in San Diego this weekend:

"The ball's really carrying well right now," right fielder Brian Giles said yesterday after the Padres' 40th home game. "It's warm and humid. Hopefully it stays warm and humid the rest of the year."

Reliever Scott Linebrink, who sits in the home bullpen beyond center field, said "the atmospheric conditions are what causes (the ball) either to jump or fall short. The weather being hot like it is, and watching the ball jump out of the yard in batting practice, I think everybody wasn't surprised."(Here.)

The news story gave other possible reasons including changed air flow due to new construction and some other flat earth theories that prevent San Diegans from facing Al Gore's inconvenient truth. The Earth's warming will cause more homeruns to get hit out of Petco Park. Maybe the future doesn't look so bad after all.

-tdr

Technorati: Global Warming, Baseball, San Diego Padres.

Mount Soledad Cross Closer To Fate Of Bamiyan Buddhas.

2006-06-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

The City of San Diego suffered another legal defeat in its fight to keep a cross displayed on top of Mount Soledad. (Here.) Unless the cross is removed by August 1, 2006, the city will have to pay a fine of $5,000 for each day the cross remains. San Diego will lose an historical landmark once the cross is removed. There has been a cross on top of Mount Soledad since 1913; not quite as long as the Sixth Century Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan, which the Taliban destroyed in 2001. (Here.) But once the cross is removed the result will be the same.

-tdr

Technorati: ACLU, Atheism, Taliban.

The Duel Between Make Believe And Sport.

2006-06-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Mister Americano will be witnessing a duel this evening. There will be veggie burgers after the duel. It's a meatless event. How far the honor code has fallen in America.

It won't be a duel to the death or even to injury. It's a sword fight between a participant in the Society of Creative Anachronisms and a competitive fencer. Apparently the SCA guy challenged the fencer to a duel to prove that SCA rules are better than fencing rules or more realistic or something. My money is with the fencer.

-tdr

Epilog: The competitive fencer won. The SCAer acquitted himself well. The veggie burgers were very good. Tofu dogs, not so much.

It's Christmas In June!

2006-06-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Karl Rove committed no crime. (Here.) Ha, ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha. HA! Take that you whiny leftie shmucks!

-tdr

Making Sacrifices In The War On Terror.

2006-06-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Liberal opponents of the war like to slam President Bush for not asking Americans to sacrifice in the War on Terror. It's an insincere charge, of course, because the sacrifices they want Americans to make just happen to coincide with liberal policy preferences that predate 9/11. You know, tax the rich, regulate the SUVs, save the Arctic wasteland. Moveon.org is rallying their troops to fight the latest Congressional effort to reduce funding to public broadcasting. (Here.) If we're going to have to make sacrifices, public broadcasting is as good a place to start as any.

-tdr

Technorati: PBS, Terrorism.

Ban Grimsley From Baseball.

2006-06-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

While baseball's attention has been focused on the steroids rumors surrounding Barry Bonds, it turns out that the Justice Department has been quietly investigating a journeyman Arizona pitcher who has used performance enhancing drugs, including steroids, for years. (Here.) Worse yet, Jason Grimsley is using Human Growth Hormone, which is not detectable with a urine test.

Grimsley supposedly names other players who have been cheating. It's past time for baseball to clean house. Last year's Congressional hearings proved that baseball won't do anything unless Congress forces it to. Maybe it's time for some more show hearings in D.C.

The first action baseball should take is to ban Jason Grimsley from baseball. Grimsley is no Shoeless Joe Jackson or Pete Rose but he's put himself in their class with his actions.

-tdr

Technorati: baseball, steroids.

Our Constitution En Espanol Courtesy of Lou Dobbs

2006-06-06T00:07:00.000-07:00

Anti-immigrationists made a big fuss a few weeks ago about a Spanish-language interpretation of our national anthem. They have also argued in favor of making English America's national language so that all government business would be done in English only.

So imagine Mister Americano's shock at discovering the official website of the anti-immigrationists' demagogue in chief has a link to a Spanish translation of the Constitution. (Here.) That's right, the website of Lou Dobbs links to a site that translates America's most hallowed document into the language of the invaders flooding our country from the south. The site translates the Constitution into the language of another enemy, French. It also translates the document into Arabic, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portugese, Russian, and simplified Chinese. (Here.)

How odd that Dobbs would allow a link on his website to foreign language translations of the Constitution, especially since he put the link in a special box that lists required reading for Americans. Here's his personal message introducing the link.

"Required Reading

'I believe there are two historical documents that should provide a frame of reference for every American. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are too often ignored or poorly understood by our elected officials from City Hall to the White House. We're providing these two documents on our Web site for your convenience, and I hope you will join me by reading them often and regularly.

All the best,'
Lou Dobbs"

It's wrong to do a Spanish riff on the national anthem but it's okay to translate the Constitution so that Americans can read it in other languages? Isn't multilingualism a threat to America's unity as a nation? Maybe Dobbs is a multiculturalist at heart.

-tdr

Technorati: Illegal Immigration.

Gotta Love Deborah Norville.

2006-06-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Back when Ted Turner started the 24 hours cable news industry they said it would never succeed because there isn't enough news to fill 24 hours. They were half-right. Cable news is successful but there isn't enough news to fill 24 hours of programming. So instead we have national news shows increasingly covering local news events like crime and missing persons or fluff.

Deborah Norville sums up the problem with 24 hour news coverage bluntly in an interview with Melanie McFarland from the New York Times News Service.* Talking about her experience at MSNBC she said,

"And increasingly they wanted to do the show live. They wanted it live because Lacey Peterson's mother might cry at the trial. You know, the show they have on now has a lot in common. And I'm sure Rita Cosby is a very hardworking woman, but you will never see Deborah Norville anchoring a show from a whorehouse. I don't think that's the definition of news in this country."

Unfortunately, she's wrong about that.

-tdr

* This post quotes from the interview as it was published today on dead trees in The San Diego Union Tribune's TV Week insert.

Technorati: MSM, Media.