Lex Libertas

I am participating in the “New Blog Showcase,” and one of the entry requirements is to vote for (ie. link to) posts of at least three other participants. Here are the three I find most deserving.

1. “Mojo Reader” - If pure water is merely moist, I can’t even imagine what “wet” is.

2. “12 Lives in Parallel Dimensions” - Not necessarily notable for the content, but the concept. I’m sure I’d like the material more if I actually knew the blog’s author.

3. “Regan” - This poor girl doesn’t like her name very much. She should be proud to share a name with one of the greatest presidents to ever lead our country. It is a bit ironic, though, in that she describes herself as an “open-minded lefty.”

PS: I hate that phrase “open-minded.” It is simply used to declare that anyone opposed to one’s viewpoint is “closed-minded.”

Back in the early 90’s, I never would have thought that Alan Dershowitz would be a man I could respect. He helped defend one of the most obvious murderers ever put on public television, and his defense team got OJ off by racializing the trial. But recently, I’ve begun to read more and more by Dershowitz, and I like what I see.

You simply must read his most recent article about how the UN has done more to legitimate terrorism than any other institution in the world.

For more than a quarter of a century, the U.N. has actively encouraged terrorism by rewarding its primary practitioners, legitimating it as a tactic, condemning its victims when they try to defend themselves and describing the murderers of innocent children as “freedom fighters.” No organization in the world today has accorded so much legitimacy to terrorism as has the U.N

He continues on to list several points backing up this claim. His conclusion (mine as well):

Now that the victims of “national liberation terrorism” are U.N. employees instead of Jewish babies, maybe the U.N. will finally come to its senses and understand that by legitimating and rewarding terrorism, they have created a Frankenstein monster that can be turned against any nation, organization or group. Unless there is a change, no one will be safe from this U.N.-created, -fed and -rewarded monster that threatens the entire world.

France has outdone itself again. Apparently, there is not enough evidence to convice France that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are terrorist organizations.

“While the U.S. State Department lists the groups as sponsors of terror, the European Union has only flagged what it calls a “military wing” of Hamas � Izzedine al-Qassam.”

Two problems: First, these groups should stop having militant wings. Until they do, they should be treated as the terrorist supporting organizations they are. The argument “we only fundraise for the people who blow themselves up,” shouldn’t count. Second, these groups themselves, not subgroups, have claimed responsability for bombings - including the most recent one. “Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack and Hamas released video of the 29-year-old Hebron man it said was the bomber.”

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “Since 1994, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have dispatched more than 80 suicide bombers.” And that number probably doesn’t count the most recent ones. How many suicide bombers do you have to send before France will consider you a terrorist group?

“Adviser to President Chirac, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne … told the Israeli ambassador in France, Nissim Zvilli. “… we mustn’t limit ourselves to one, clear cut, position.”

Actually, France does seem to have “one, clear cut, position,” they back whoever is killing the most Jews. At least they’re nice about it, “Laval even went so far as to defend his decision to deport Jewish chldren on the humanitarian grounds that it was unfair to separate children from their parents.”

In case you’re not too sure why we’re recalling the governor, here’s a succinct article to peruse.

Right Wing News held a survey of some right-wing bloggers on the 20 worst figures of the 20th century.

My submission was as follows:
(Note, near the end there just wasn’t anyone quite on the same scale as the others, so I got a bit partisan)

-Hitler
-Stalin
-Pol Pot
-Kim Jong Il
-Saddam Hussein

-Fidel Castro
-Mao Tse Tung
-Slobodan Milosevich
-Vladimir Lenin
-Neville Chamberlain

-Henri Petain
-Josef Mengele
-Mullah Mohammad Omar
-Osama bin Laden
-Yasser Arafat

————————— Cutoff of truly evil

-Jimmy Carter
-Noam Chomsky
-Ken Lay
-Michael Moore
-Barney

It being the weekend, I dredged up a satire piece I wrote back in May, around the time of the official end of the Iraq war. Oddly enough, it’s still relevant four months later.

——————————————————————————–

The Many Facets of the Anti-War Movement

Los Angeles, CA � Anti-War demonstrators are up in arms over the perceived march to war by the Roosevelt administration. �The administration has beat its drums of war ever since the December 7th attacks, with no respect for the international community or the German people,� explained one student activist leader.

Many people around the country, and the world, are disturbed by President Roosevelt�s proclamation of an �Axis-of-Evil� consisting of Germany, Japan, and Italy. �We shouldn�t just lump countries together and say they�re evil. That only makes enemies and pushes those others away from a peaceful settlement of conflicts,� added John Marshall, a senior member of the anti-war organizer A.N.S.S.E.R (Act Now to Support Stalinism and End the Republic). �Besides, he�s just standing up to American and British hegemony, and I like that.�

Echoing a common sentiment, protesters at the federal building shouted �No Blood for Coal,� a reference to the fact that Germany has huge coal deposits. Since the American economy is largely dependent on coal for its domestic energy needs, some argue that this is simply an imperialist war to gain exclusive control of these reserves.

In defense of the administration�s actions, Secretary of War Henry Stimson responded, �In all honesty, Hitler declared war on us first, we�re just responding. After the December 7th attacks, he showed video of them non-stop on German television to a soundtrack of �The Reich is Great.� Moreover, we have reason to believe that Germany is developing weapons of mass destruction that would cause global imbalance and lead Hitler to be able to easily dominate the European continent. Hitler has been rearming for close to a decade in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and several League of Nations resolutions, and he has aggressively invaded neighboring countries. But even if all that weren�t true, we would still have a moral obligation to enact regime change from fascism to democracy, and stop the atrocities being committed against the Jewish people within Hitler�s borders.�
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NY Times columnist Bob Herbert made an impassioned plea for an increasing international presence in Iraq, while decrying the American invasion. In doing so, his argument makes a non-sequitur common to the Anti-War crowd - he claims that the Iraqi people will resist until the end, but that we should replace the US with a multinational body.

The entire first five-sixths of his article sets up an argument for why the US shouldn’t be in Iraq.

1. Islam hates America, and Iraq is now the focal point of all their attention:

“This is a dream for the jihad,” said one high-ranking U.N. official. “The resistance will only grow. The American occupation is now the focal point, drawing people from all over Islam into an eye-to-eye confrontation with the hated Americans.”

2. We are woefully unequipped for this battle:

“They are fighting in a terrain which they know and the U.S. does not know, with cultural images the U.S. does not understand, and with a language the American soldiers do not speak. The troops can’t even read the street signs.”

3. We have no purpose in Iraq:

The American people still do not have a clear understanding of why we are in Iraq. And the troops don’t have a clear understanding of their mission. We’re fighting a guerrilla war, which the bright lights at the Pentagon never saw coming, with conventional forces.

4. The situation is getting worse, with growing resentment:

The carnage from riots, ambushes, firefights, suicide bombings, acts of sabotage, friendly fire incidents and other deadly encounters is growing. And so is the hostility toward U.S. troops and Americans in general.

5. The problem is the occupation:

Beefing up the American occupation is not the answer to the problem. The American occupation is the problem. The occupation is perceived by ordinary Iraqis as a confrontation and a humiliation, and by terrorists and other bad actors as an opportunity to be gleefully exploited.

The last sixth suggests an alternative to current policy:

The U.S. cannot bully its way to victory in Iraq. It needs allies, and it needs a plan. As quickly as possible, we should turn the country over to a genuine international coalition, headed by the U.N. and supported in good faith by the U.S.

I will attack this article on two main grounds, internal inconsistency and faulty assumptions.
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Let’s all wish Aaron the Liberal Slayer a happy one year anniversary by visiting Aaron’s Rantblog. He is, after all, a large mammal and he threatened to maul my tiny crunchy crustacean self if I didn’t comply.

Bill Janklow, a former governor and current Republican House member ought to be treated like a regular citizen. Rep. Janklow killed a motorcyclist while speeding, and running a stop sign. What complicates matters is that Janklow has a long history of poor driving. One that includes seven accidents in the last ten years, and twelve citations for speeding between 1990 and 1994 alone, some for faster than 20 miles over the posted limit. Janklow has even joked about his speeding in the 1999 State of the State address.

This is worse than a tragedy, it is the result of a lifetime pattern of negligence. Janklow deliberately engaged in dangerous behavior. I understand that most people speed when driving, I’ve been known to do it too. But in order to get caught twelve times in four years, you have to do a lot of speeding.

A normal person wouldn’t walk away from this trial unscathed, and neither should Janklow. If it were an accident, perhaps rainy and his brakes failed, the situation would be different. But as it stands now, someone is dead, and Representative Janklow is clearly to blame. Not only is this particular incident his fault, but he has had many occasions to change his habits. He chose not to, and now he should face the consequences of that decision.

Thanks, Arnie, for clearing up your platform:

“I stand for fiscally responsible government, rebuilding California’s economic engine, putting the needs of children first and reforming our political system so that the public interest comes before special interests.”

Now we all know what you stand for … good stuff - and against bad stuff.

Briliant analysis brought to you by A Little More to the Right:

Letter from a California Wife to Husband …

I also saved us $2,100 by not making our December mortgage payment until January, giving us a little extra cash this year. Once again, I can’t claim credit - it was Gray’s idea. He took $1.2 billion that the state owes to the schools and pushed it one month into the next fiscal year.

Read the rest …

I have to seriously question the intelligence of any organization that damages the institution that has done the most to protect it. The UN was decidedly against the invasion of Iraq, and yet these terrorists deem it a target. Why won’t the UN and other nations understand that this isn’t just a war against Israel and America, it’s a war against the West.

A french oil tanker off Yemen, french citizens in Pakistan, a nightclub for Westerners in Bali, a concert in Moscow, bombings in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, the Jordanian embassy in Iraq, innumberable attacks on Americans and Israelis, and now this at the UN in Baghdad.

These killers do not want self-determination - they would prefer pan-Arabic Islamism, they don’t want democracy, and most of all they don’t want the West to exist in any form. This is a new Reconquista, and we are all the target - from the most hawkish of Americans to the most dovish, birkenstock wearing, granola eating Danish hippies.

Unfortunately, I’m sure that the reaction to this glimpse of truth underlying the terrorist agenda will be more navel contemplation and a condemnation of America for ever going to war in this arena.

Update: The top UN official, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was killed in the blast. I’m outraged and waiting to hear what the UN cowards and terrorist apologists have to say about this incident.

Everyone thought the AOL - Time Warner merger was going to dominate every market and destroy the world with an ubermonopoly. Not only has that claim been proven empirically false, but in fact the company is in trouble. When the merger closed in 2001, the price per share was $47.23, today it closed at $15.61. That a drop of two-thirds.

The FCC will allow AOL to trasmit video through it’s instant messenger. Oh thank you dear government! Thank you for allowing a company to improve its product. Any other decision would have been outright ludicrous. Of course, the two democratic members of the panel voted to disallow the use.

On what grounds did anyone ever think was objectionable?

As a condition of merger approval, the FCC zeroed in on the area where AOL had particular dominance: instant messaging

AOL members are not required to use Instant Messenger, but AOL has not allowed the system to work with competing systems, such as Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Messenger service or Yahoo Inc.’s Messenger. As a result, users of the different systems cannot communicate with each other

AOL’s Instant Messenger is free, anyone can use it. Even if it wasn’t, that would be no justification for action. There have always been alternatives, ICQ and IRC were around well before AIM, and are still options. I personally prefer ICQ. About the compatability, what’s the problem? Just coordinate with your friends. Or, if that’s too difficult, download Trillian, in one program it handles five messengers - AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, and IRC.

Further monopoly misses:

They reasoned that a combined company that included a large cable television system, magazines, CNN, and Warner movies and music could dominate news and entertainment over the Internet and lock out competitors.

GASP! - How can we allow CNN to merge with print? It’ll be too powerful! Oh, wait, Fox News, a competitor, is kicking its ass. And how can one corporation “lock out competitors” over the internet. It’s at the same time the most decentralized and most far-reaching medium on the planet.

These monoploy-crying idiots are not only wrong, they’re dangerous. Their two year restriction on AIM carrying video may well have set us back in terms of this technology. While that one particular item may not seem like a big deal, it’s the philosophy that will run amok and be applied to other areas.

These anti-business types with an irrational fear of anything productive, effective, efficient, and popular have faith neither in the people to choose or to innovate. Their actions do nothing but suck the life out of a healthy and productive tech sector. Thanks guys.

Why not regulate Movable Type because it’s used by so many bloggers? MT 2.64 is just too good, make them stop before MT 2.65 comes out and “locks out all competitors.” In the name of fairness and equality (not to mention mediocrity and stagnation), force them to stop innovating now, before it’s too late.

On an unrelated google search, I found a list of trivia from 1997. The site brings back fond memories of late nineties homepages (everyone on Geocities, before it was bought by Yahoo). I honestly think it should be declared a historical site under protection by UNESCO, and kept secure for all time. Onto the content:

Blue-eyed people have better night vision.

That doesn’t outweigh the fact that I’m blind during the day.

The minute hand did not appear on clocks until 1687.

It would be pretty cool to have some clocks today without it. It’s not really necessary.

Continental drift is causing the Atlantic Ocean to increase its width by about an inch per year.

Insert random reason as to why we’re trying to get even farther away from Europe.

The Star-Spangled Banner is the only national anthem whose lyrics do not include the name of the country.

Whereas many national anthems tend to be profoundly bloody, or very proud, the message behind ours seems to be “Holy F***, are we still here? … Right on!”

People who wanted to get rid of other people without killing them used to burn their houses down. From this we get the term “being fired”.

This gives me some inspiration for a future post. An alternative to the Death Penalty may well be a return to Banishment. It gives people a new chance at starting over if they’re truly repentant (Think Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter or Pale Rider). Of course the downside is that it essentially exports all ones criminals to other places (Think Al Pacino in Scarface).

About the fact that Bill Simon will be running attack ads against Arnold, ballon-juice opined:

There is a reason California is dominated by Democrats- the California GOP is fundamentally unfit to lead. If you can not learn from your past mistakes, can not learn to run a palatable candidate and have both wings of the party come together, you simply do not have the presence to run anything more complicated than a lemonade stand.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that Republicans weren’t allowed voice their opinion about the issues that matter most to them, in this case taxes. There is good reason for various Republicans to question whether or not Arnold is a conservative, and hence fit to represent their party.

1. He hired Warren Buffet, a big time Democrat.
2. He hired Rob Lowe, a big time Democrat.
3. His economic advisor (see above) has said that property taxes in CA ought to be raised.
4. He’s against most conservative social issues, eg. pro-gun control, pro-abortion, etc…
5. He’s seems unwilling to be straightforward about his agenda.
6. He backstabbed a long-time friend, and fellow Republican.
7. He’s given more money to Democrats than Republicans.

We can’t have “both wings” come together to support Arnold, because it seems he’s on the right wing of the Democratic Party.

And on a last note, with the CA GOP running the lemonade stand, it would make money, and not be $38 billion in debt. With Arnold in charge, it would pay so much property tax that the lemonde would have to sell for $20 a glass to break even.