One of Ours

Intellectually Disarmed

2004-07-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

"Because the Cold War is over does not mean that we are not in a war situation. We are - but our enemy's attack may come at any time, in unexpected form and on unannounced pretext. Our readiness to meet the threat is undermined by the legalistic mood that infects judiciary, police and government. The rhetoric of human rights now predominates over the dictates of defence necessity. We are intellectually disarmed, perhaps the weakest security posture in which it is possible for people to confront danger."

John Keegan

Democrats: Too Nice For Their Own Good

2004-07-29T05:54:00.000-07:00

Washington Post
TV Networks Continue to Fail the Public On Coverage of Politics

...the Democrats' namby-pamby decision to go positive -- not to attack the arguably very, very vulnerable administration of George W. Bush -- has put a pall of niceness over the proceedings that, try as they might, cranky-minded TV commentators haven't done much to dispel...

But a little hard-core, down-and-dirty political colloquy would seem more than appropriate for a time in which Americans are threatened by international terrorism on one side and economic woes on the other...
[...]
A viewer could have come away from the speech with the impression that Edwards was saying "a Kerry-Edwards administration will be even better than Bush-Cheney" rather than "the current administration has got to go." He didn't offer enough motivation for changing leadership in the middle of an apparently intractable war.
[...]
...Katie Couric told viewers of yesterday's "Today" show on NBC that Illinois legislator Barack Obama had "electrified" the crowd with his stunningly eloquent speech Tuesday night. Too bad NBC refused to show it. Too bad profit-mad NBC-Universal was determined to air its lame reality shows and sitcom reruns instead. And then Couric tells us we really should've been there. The networks are just plain nuts.
[...]
Coverage by cable networks lasts longer but strays often from whatever is happening on the vast stage (with the vast screen behind it) in Boston's FleetCenter. On Fox, gabby and opinionated commentators occasionally will allow a few minutes of a speech to air, but then they return to the spotlight they love so much for their own use.
[...]
...The networks have got to look for a better convention story than the hoary old bore about how conventions don't matter any more. It makes them sound like shills for the corporate front offices, who hate to lose an hour of profit-making pap even in the middle of summer.

Edwards' speech was nice, but 12 hours later I can't remember a significant phrase from it. Maybe "not in our America"? This makes it sounds like non-Democrats might be living in an America that is different than the one everyone else lives in. Sheesh.

It may seem trivial, and it is, but the Dems really need to come up with a campaign slogan with some resonance. Remember "putting people first" & "end welfare as we know it", "Building a bridge to the 21st century", "Are you better off than you were four years ago?", "it is morning again in America", and "compassionate conservative" & "leave no child behind"? I do. And I can tell you who said them in and for which winnning campaign (Clinton '92, Clinton '96, Reagan '80, Reagan '84, Bush 2000). These lines are memorable for a good reason. They told us something compelling about the specific candidate that made you want to vote for them, even if it wasn't true.

What is Kerry's theme? "Let's Restore America to...something", maybe? Who knows? God knows possibly but the public doesn't.

In tomorrow's speech I hope he tries for something compelling and superficial, as opposed to something serious and quickly forgetable. This is a big opportunity to connect to the people and he can't blow it.

Allies and Security

2004-07-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

"The best security we ultimately have is the spread of freedom and democracy and justice throughout the world…We are the ally of the US not because they are powerful, but because we share their values."

Tony Blair

Federal court: privacy policies mean nothing

2004-07-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ars Technica (tech news)
Some Judges are Nuts

Following 9/11, commercial airlines were asked to turn over passenger data they had collected to government agencies. These Passenger Name Records (PNRs) can include everything from a passenger's home address to their meal preferences and credit card numbers. In this particular case, Northwest Airlines turned over PNRs of many of its customers to NASA as part of an effort to study ways to increase airline security. A group of Northwest customers sued the company, pointing out that sharing their personal information with NASA is a direct violation of the privacy policy on Northwest's website. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson disagreed, dismissing the case on June 6. Part of the rationale was that

. . . the customer's "personally identifiable information" -- the stuff that the airline agreed to protect -- did not belong to the customer, because the customer "voluntarily provided some information that was included" in the information given to the government, and that when Northwest "compiled and combined" this information with other data it "became Northwest's property." The court concluded "Northwest cannot wrongfully take its own property." This analysis is not limited to airlines. Any company or entity is now free to say anything in order to induce you to part with your personal information (don't worry, it's secure, or we won't sell it), because once you give it up, it "belongs" to them.
Needless to say, this case (PDF) has far-reaching implications for privacy policies, both online and on paper. Further, Judge Magnuson decided that online privacy policies don't constitute a contract between the company and the customer:

The final part of the district judge's opinion threatens to derail a long established body of law regarding the enforceability of language on websites. All companies have them -- you know, the burdensome and oppressive terms on a website that nobody reads (or is capable of reading) that limits the company's liability, or contains grandiose claims of superiority of their vaporware. In this case, the court held that Northwest was not bound by contract to do what it said it would do because there was no evidence that the consumers "actually read the privacy policy."
Essentially, what this means is that all those long-winded fine print agreements you have agreed to may not protect your personal information at all. Without judges who will step up to defend the privacy rights of consumers, it won't matter even if everyone starts reading the fine print thoroughly. By dismissing this case, Judge Magnuson has established that the personal information of online customers is not protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act or deceptive trade practices laws. Nor does sharing customers' personal information amount to an invasion of privacy or a breach of contract. With E-Commerce growth showing no signs of ebbing, the question of how confidential customer information is handled online is going to become increasingly urgent. Without any privacy protection at all, you are at the mercy of the company you are doing business with to honor the agreement. If they do not, then according to Judge Magnuson, you have no legal recourse at all.

This opinion is so outrageous that I can't imagine that it won't be overturned on appeal. Then again, sometimes "the law is an ass".

Wierd Stuff From Japan #12

2004-07-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

J-Box

Another hop across the Pacific, and I'm back in Japan again. Arriving at Narita, I unconsciously opened myself up to all the little changes that would greet me as I switched modes. Immediately I was impressed with how well-mannered all the Japanese around me were -- around the baggage carousel there's a "no cart" zone, and everyone was politely waiting for their luggage with their carts outside the zone. Several of the girls I saw waiting for their luggage sported "yaeba" (YAH-eh-bah), the famous cute crooked eye teeth that Japanese females often have, since Japanese very rarely get braces on teeth here. To combat the sweltering heat and humidity of the air around me, I went to buy a drink. While there were many choices familiar to anyone from the States -- Coke, Pepsi, even Mello-Yellow, which is being sold in "retro" bottles here this summer -- more than half the drinks available were varieties of bottled Chinese oolong or green tea.

As usual, I lost a day in my return trip to Japan, leaving on Monday afternoon from California and arriving on Tuesday night. It's only fair since I get a day free when I go the other way, leaving Japan at 2 p.m. and arriving in America at 8 a.m. on the same day, in effect arriving before I'd even left. Jumping from one side of the planet to the other means dealing with jet lag, which is never fun. Jet lag is really bad going from Japan to the U.S., since you have to stay awake a whole day before it's time to sleep, however going the other way isn't so bad: you just wake up too early the next day, and start to get dull around the edges in the afternoon.

Japan's cold northern region is home to enka, the blues-like "country music" of Japan that has a very unique sound and is enjoyed by truck drivers and everyone over 50 years of age here. Filled with themes of one's wife running away to marry another man, of images of the cold Tsugaru Straits between Honshu and Hokkaido, and of sake-drenched loneliness, it plucks at the heart in ways few other kinds of music can. Sung by both men and women, enka songs capture the sweet pain that we all feel in life. Enka, which probably originated in Korea, often employs tremolo vocals, singing while changing the pitch of your voice (not totally unlike yodeling) to express the emotion of the singer. Because enka songs are the last thing Japanese would expect a gaijin to be able to sing, I made it a point to learn many songs when I came to Japan, great fun while singing karaoke. Here are some samples of enka if you'd like to hear what it sounds like:

http://www.quixium.com/enka/ayako_fuji.mp3

http://ar.geocities.com/badfish19u/bokyosakaba.mp3

NOTE: This item is part of a continuing series based on weekly emails I have recieved for many months now from this guy from San Diego who now lives and works in Japan. The link listed above is a comercial link to his company. I am sure he would like you to look at it.

Intelligence

2004-07-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

“The sign of intelligent people is their ability to control emotions by the application of reason.”

Marya Mannes

Iraqi Minutemen

2004-07-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

USMC News Release
Iraqi soldiers' sacrifice in Marine zone saves lives of 250

The quick reaction of two Iraqi National Guard soldiers cost them their own lives, but saved those of 250 recently.

"The people who did this are against the advancement of Iraq. They are only trying to start violence and cause a nuisance," said Sgt. Ali Al-Hamdani, a spokesman for the Mahmudiyah ING. "These soldiers were very good at their duties. Their sacrifice is necessary for the security of Iraq."

More than 250 Iraqi men had gathered outside the front gates of the compound here during the morning of July 17. Many were interested in joining the newly formed Iraqi National Guard and working to rebuild their country. One terrorist saw this as the best time to strike.

A taxi approached the front gates at 7:45 a.m., according to witnesses. One of the Iraqi soldiers on duty at the gate that morning was Adil Abed, a young man who was planning to be married next week. He would never see his ceremony or his bride-to-be again. Abed attempted to stop the suspicious taxi. When the driver failed to respond, Abed fired his AK-47 and the driver returned fire with a pistol, hitting Abed.

The soldier's comrade Sadaam Obeeid rushed forward to help his friend when the taxi, packed with explosives, detonated. The blast sent shrapnel and debris a hundred meters in every direction killing the two soldiers, the driver and injuring many of the civilians standing near the gate. The engine block of the taxi landed 80 meters away from the blast. It landed on top of a parked car.

When the confusion caused by the attack died down, the soldiers took time to reflect on what they'd lost a few days later.

"We are very sad. They were our friends and now we've lost them. They were good men," said Deputy Sgt. Thaid Hadiph, an ING soldier from Mahmudiyah. "The sacrifice they made for Iraq will not be forgotten."

The Iraqi solders' actions weren't surprising for the Marines dedicated to training them to take a greater role in security and rooting out terrorism. Lt. Col. Rick Jackson is a 46-year-old from Allendale, N.J. Marine serving as the deputy director of Iraqi Security Forces for 1st Marine Division. He said the actions, while tragic, are telling of the dedication of Iraqis sworn to protect their nation.

"These guys are out training with us every day," Jackson explained. "We do joint patrols together. To hear they stood their ground and acted the way they did isn't that surprising at all."

Jackson refuted rumors that ING soldiers were unwilling or unable to perform their missions. He compared their training to that of Marines.

"If you enlisted a Marine in February, when these guys stood up, he wouldn't be to his first unit by now," he said. "Now, they're not Marines, but if you look at the amount of formalized training and the threat, they're doing a pretty good job."

The soldiers of the ING here showed some sadness when they talked about their friends killed in the explosion. However, through the loss, they also found new resolve to continue protecting the people of Iraq.

"They are holy victims of the war on terrorism," said Iraqi Sgt. Haair Ahamy, an ING soldier. "They stood up and were brave, protecting their people. They were cowards, the terrorists who attacked us."

[...]

Every hour, men approach the gate to join the ING. One recruit said he did not like the deaths of the soldiers but he was not afraid of it.

"The terrorists were trying to discourage people from joining the ING with their attack," Ahamy said. "In the days following it we have had many, many men come to us wanting to join. They see the attack as proof they are needed. Terrorists will not win here."

via Blackfive

Despite the near certainty of mortal danger, young Iraqi men are volunteering in large numbers for the security forces such that they have continued to exceed the capacity to train them. Even hearing near daily stories of men in line waiting to join up being attacked by suicide car bombers, these brave young men continue to go into public places and stand in these vulnerable lines for hours.

I am awed by the bravery and determination of the Iraqis to build a normal country. It is to their great credit.

Good news from Afghanistan, Part 2

2004-07-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Chrenkoff

...If there is one place where good news is harder to come by than Iraq, it's Afghanistan. For that we should partly blame our poor understanding of Afghan realities, and consequently, unrealistic expectations. An isolated, poor, largely rural country with harsh landscapes and limited natural resources, Afghanistan has been for the past quarter of a century cursed with constant violence and oppression. Good news from Afghanistan will not in any foreseeable future mean mushrooming shopping malls and health care clinics in every village. For the people who have suffered so much for so long, relative peace and absence of theocracy are a good start.

But, as is the case with reporting from Iraq, we shouldn't let the media off the hook so easily, either. For all the fashionable talk about Iraq distracting the Bush Administration from the war on terror, it's largely been the media who have ignored Afghanistan except for the occasional story about another skirmish with the Taliban remnants or the explosion in opium cultivation.

CBS's veteran journalist, Tom Fenton, recently had this to say about the work of his media colleagues: "You know the old saying: No news is good news. But in the news business, it is just the opposite: Good news is no news - which is why you have been hearing so little from Afghanistan recently.

"Iraq has been grabbing the headlines. Even the most confirmed optimist would find it hard to see a ray of light there today. But there is a growing body of evidence that things are beginning to improve in Afghanistan. To see why, you need to travel around Afghanistan a bit. That's something the media find hard to do in Iraq now - many news crews rarely venture out of their hotels in Baghdad."
Not to mention in Kabul. If they did, they would arguably find more stories like these:

DEMOCRACY: The Afghanis eagerly await their chance to participate in free and democratic elections...

The Afghanis are growing increasingly optimistic about the future of their country and approving of its current political direction. According to a poll conducted by Chaney Research, AC Nielsen India Org-Marg and the Afghan Media Resource Center for the Asia Foundation, Hamed Karzai remains popular in Afghanistan, enjoying favorable opinion of 62% of those polled. The interim government's performance gets a tick of approval from 57% of Afghanis. In other results from the same poll, 64% of Afghanis believe that their country is moving in the right direction (versus only 11% who think Afghanistan is moving in the wrong direction). More significantly, two thirds of those polled support the United States, and only 11% still favor Taliban. 81% plan to vote in the coming elections, although majority expresses concerns whether the poll will be completely fair...

SOCIETY: Afghani refugees continue to vote with their feet: "The pace of return to Afghanistan remains strong, with thousands of refugees going back daily. So far this year, we've seen some 450,000 refugees repatriate."...

...And the government seems to be succeeding [in improving the status of women]: "Now, a good share of the women have shed the burqa the Taliban forced on them and instead wear scarves draped loosely around their faces. Many have gone back to work in the capital, Kabul. More than 2 million have registered to vote, and a few hold high-level government positions."...

...After the puritanical Taliban rule, Afghanis are enjoying an entertainment explosion:
"...many shish-kebab restaurants and ice cream shops now play music videos and foreign films on DVD, giving new meaning to the idea of dinner and a movie. And unlike the films shown at both government and privately owned theatres, these films are uncensored and can be seen in the evenings."

RECONSTRUCTION: In a huge vote of confidence and a sign of optimism, the Afghan International Chamber of Commerce is formed in Kabul: "Three hundred people were expected; 2,500 showed up to vote. Obvious was their energy, their enthusiasm, their pride and their strength. They were creating one of those institutions that becomes a pillar of a free society, an economic power independent of the state."

The trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan stood at just $20 million two years ago, but today it's $700 million...

SECURITY: For the Coalition troops things seem a lot calmer than in Iraq. "People are more apprehensive about us in Iraq... Here, they stare at us like we're a circus act, but they accept us," says Michael Englert, a Navy bomb-disposal expert who travels with the Marines to help detect roadside explosives and mines.

Meanwhile, the new US-trained Afghan Army continues to grow steadily, and it now numbers 13,000 men...

...Let's never forget that none of this would have been possible without the United States and allies who two and half years ago helped to bring peace and freedom to the long-suffering people of Afghanistan. Let's hope that, with the world's help, the Afghanis will now make the most of it.

The most essential next steps are the elections, and building the new Afghan national army to about 80,000 men in size. These two items will do more to build stability in Afghanistan than anything else that can be done.

Terrorists' Strongholds

2004-07-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hammorabi (from Baghdad)

There are several outlawed groups working inside Iraq. Al-Qaeda represented by the Jordanian Fadhel Nazal Al Khalaylah (Zarqawi) and the remaining of the security forces of the previous regime are on the top two on the list...which includes the Baathists especially among those from the previous security systems who were involved in murder and torture and knew they will have no where to go or hide once the security issue settled. Most of these people are illiterate or semiliterate. Wahabists of course are the main moving drive for Al-Qaeda and the nescient and uncultivated people.

Among the other outlawed groups are the real criminals including those released from prison by Saddam. The last group includes killers, rapists, robbers, and money seeking but masked under religion or resistance. Most important and among these groups especially Al-Qaeda and the Wahabists are many Arabs insurgents like Syrians, Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Somalians, Sudanese, Libyans reaching up to 75% in some cases.

The problem started in Falluja and some other parts of what is called the Sunni triangle...They succeeded to convert Falluja into a city under Talaban like rules and they then tried to create another stronghold inside Baghdad in Al Adhamyiah but to some extent they failed there with few seats. They are certainly supported by what is called Hiyat Uolama Al Muslimen (Sunni group from those Mullahs appointed by Saddam and joined by the Wahabists then) lead by (Sheikh Hareth Al Thari). The later are supported by (Sheikh) Karthawi in Qatar and the Oil (Sheikhs) in Dubai plus Al Jazeera as their mouthpiece.

[...]

The terrorists then succeeded recently to get the second strongest hold in Samarra!...For the last few weeks until now Samarra is under the terrorists' control. They are mixture of all above mentioned groups. More than 300 of them are armed and controlling the city completely now. About 45% of the residents have been forced or moved by their choice to Baghdad and other areas. The government and coalition troops tried to solve the problem peacefully to avoid creating another Falluja but the insurgent get the benefit and enforced their control. They not only controlling the city but imposing their Talaban like law on the inhabitants.

Stories about this have been mentioned by the immigrant families. They are imposing their jungle law on the people including the colour and type of dress, the Wahabists women Hijab, the way to walk or talk or listen to music and so on. In one story the armed thugs stopped a school aged boy and after they pointed a gun to his head they asked him not to wear blue jeans next time and to cut his hair or they will shot him! The boy went to the hairdresser and cut his hair before he goes home to change his jean!

Samarra is close to Baghdad and the terrorist will use it in any scenario to extend their grip over the region...

Our surprise is why the government don't like to take the issue seriously! We think that the more time pass without treatment the more serious the cancer will be. The cancer has to be treated early with very imperative and radical therapy or you will get the consequences. We believe that enough time has been given to the terrorists and outlawed in Samarra and Falluja and those supporting them in Baghdad from the Mullahs. The situation is an Iraqi issue and it have to be solved by an Iraqi way. Toady they attacked the oil supply to a power station in Baghdad just near Samarra.

The criminals in Sammara should be dealt with immediately. First we need to give them a 3 days truce to surrender to the authorities of course after surrounding the city from all sides with tanks and armoured vehicles and heavy guns supported by air. Drop leaflets to warn the civilians not to hide any insurgent or face consequences and to leave the city (only children and women and old allowed. All others are suspect until proved otherwise.) The number of insurgents is 300-500 armed thugs, so if they refuse to surrender wipe them out once and forever. Only by this way we will be able to prevent this from happening again. On the same time any media or logistic or inciting for terrorism or helping it should be arrested including the Mullahs of the previous regime and those who broadcast for Al Jazeera.

On the other hand if you want the law to be respected there should not be any discrimination in applying it. The suspected killers should be tried and either convicted or freed by the justice...Yesterday; this happened with Muqtada Sadr who speak in public after 2 month hiding. He attacked Alawi for allowing his newspaper to be published again after it was closed by the CPA! We think that Alawi deserve such attack because he is the one who allowed Sadr paper to open again! If there are evidence against Sadr that he killed some one before why the law is not applied on him?! ...

The issues need to be solved to get security is from inside and not only from outside countries. Falluja, Samarra, the Black Triangle, Sadr, Al Thari, the Mullahs of Saddam, and the other criminals all need to be dealt with by determination and capability.

Since Samarra became stronghold for the terrorists the attacks and the kidnapping increased significantly. On the other hand Falluja lungs start to breathe in and out strongly. The news coming about decapitated bodies found here and there, assassinations, killing, kidnapping, attacks, and other crimes on daily basis are countless.

For how long is the government postponed dealing firmly with these areas and its thugs?!

The Iraqis are certainly more willing to deal strongly with the insurgents and the terrorists than we ever were.

Eventually the Iraqi government will have to retake Samarra and Fallujah, and when they do the results will be very bloody. Fewer civilians would have been killed if we had done it instead of waiting for the Iraqi security forces to do it.

I suspect the delay in dealing with these issues is mostly due to the relative weakness of the Iraqi security forces. It will take 6-12 months before they have the sufficient capacity to handle an operation such as the siege of Fallujah.

"Thank You"

2004-07-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

“One time, while out on a patrol in the Sunni Triangle of Iraq I had a small little Iraqi girl hand me a flower, and say the words: ‘Thank you.’ That's something the protesters back home will never understand.”

CBFTW

Wierd Stuff From Japan #11

2004-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

J-Box

Transliteration is the act of transcribing from one writing system into another, for example from Japanese to the Roman alphabet. There are several aspects of Japanese that make writing Japanese words in English an inherently vague and challenging process. For example, there are long vowels in Japanese that are meaningless when written out in English and which don't affect the pronunciation of words at all. The correct way to write "pretty girl" in Japanese is "bishoujo" with the extra 'u' in the middle, and yet it's often shortened to "bishojo" for brevity's sake. Is it better to leave the long vowels in the word, which complicates pronunciation and makes the words harder to remember, or should they be omitted? There's no simple answer. Famous place names like Tokyo and Osaka also have long vowels that are cut to avoid making the name needlessly long -- actually, Toukyou and Oosaka would be more accurate ways of writing the names, but it would be silly to do this. Another area where there is vagueness about how to write Japanese words or names in English is L and R. Is Japanese AV idol Aoi Sora better written as Aoi Sola? There's often little agreement and so both names are used sometimes -- there's no "right" way to write it. It can be very confusing, especially to search engines that can't tell that two similar words are the same.

Another problem is how to transliterate some Japanese syllables into Roman characters. Japanese is syllable-based: you can express sounds like ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko in Japanese, but not the consonant "k" all by itself. Three of the syllables in Japanese are pronounced "shi" "tsu" "chi" and thus, it's natural that they be written that way. This is part of the Hepburn system of transliterating, and most gaijin favor it because it makes the word easier to pronounce when read by English speakers. Another system, the Nihon system, forces these three syllables into neat "consonant + vowel" pairs, producing "si" "tu" and "ti" for the above three syllables even though the sounds aren't pronounced like that at all. As with computing platforms, the inferior system has been adopted as the official standard, and millions of Japanese children are forced to learn the Nihon system in Japanese schools -- a girl whose name was Chikako would be taught to write her name as Tikako, rendering it so that no one could pronounce it properly. Typical...

Dying for your country

2004-07-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

General George S. Patton

Wierd Stuff From Japan #10

2004-07-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

J-box

One aspect of child-rearing in Japan I've been surprised at is how much
responsibility is given to kids. My son had to take off school a few days
earlier than the other kids to come to the U.S. with me, and I was
surprised to see that it was his own responsibility to write a note and
deliver it to the principal to get permission to leave school early, not
his mother's. In Japan, public school isn't completely free, and parents
have to pay around $100-150 each month for various school-related expenses,
and his money is delivered each month in cash by my kids, even though
they're only in the second and third grade. Kids also are more free to make
important decisions about their future than they would be in the U.S., too.
My own son, for example, made the decision to go to the new experimental
English school that's opening up next April, and if he'd said he didn't
want to go, we wouldn't have forced him. When kids are in their last year
of Junior high school, they have to decide what to do next: study hard and
try to get into a good high school, which will help them get into a
top-name college; go to a less challenging high school that's easy to get
into; or, in very rare cases, not bother with high school and just get a
job, since compulsory education ends after the ninth grade. Of course
parents and teachers have input in the child's decision about his future,
but in general I've been surprised to see that the child is usually the one
making most of the decisions.

It's fun to live in Japan, and I really enjoy it, but you do without some
things from home. There's no central heating in Japan, and so on rooms are
either heated or cooled as you use them. This is great for conserving
energy, but it's hard to walk from a very warm room to one that's below
freezing in the winter. Often you learn to make do with what's available to
you. You make do with what's on television, too: I was never
really a fan of Beverly Hills 90210 or all the films of Steven Segall, but
when that's all that's on in English, you'd be surprised what you can
watch.

All gaijin seem to have a special love of Kyoto. Built in 794 A.D., it's
built in a grid pattern that's very logical and easy to navigate, amazing
for a city so old. Originally named Heiankyo, the life and times of ancient
Japanese court life are recorded in the famous book (considered to be the
first modern novel), Genji Monogatari, A Tale of Genji. One of the most
famous sights of the city is the amazing Golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji),
rebuilt after it was burned down in 1950 by a young monk who thought that
the gaudy building didn't mesh with the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism.
Amazingly, the city is one of Japan's most modern cities, with a recently
completed large train station of gleaming glass and steel girders.
Foreigners are always captivated by the city when they go there the first
time, and Kyoto holds a special place in the hearts of everyone who visits
the city.

The Japanese language has a great many kotowaza or old proverbs, recounting
the wisdom of past generations. It's fun for gaijin to study these
proverbs, because no one expects a foreigner to know archaic Japanese
sayings. One of my favorite kotowaza is "ningen banji saiou-ga-uma" which
means "All things are like Saiou's horse." This refers to an old Chinese
story about a man named Saiou whose horse broke his leg -- making everyone
say how unfortunate he was. Because he had no horse, though, he didn't have
to go off to battle to be killed, so this was a good thing. The moral of
the story is, when something good or bad happens, no one can say for sure
if it is truly a good or bad thing in the end. Another proverb you hear a
lot is "ishi no ue ni mo san-nen" which is translatable as "Three years
sitting on a stone makes it comfortable." In other words, if you're going
to try something new, keep at it for at least three years before you give
up. Also: "suki koso mono no jozu nare" which means "What one likes, one
does well," or, you become good at doing things you actually like doing, so
choose your career based on what you like to do. If you want to see more
Japanese proverbs, here's an interesting page:
http://www.ite.ie/proverbs/jproverb.htm

Real Heroes

2004-07-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

“Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they've stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments.”

Kevin Costner

Be Back Thursday

2004-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Bad news folks. I will be out of town for the next three days so you won't see an update here until Thursday.

God Bless America, Baseball & Apple Pie

Zayphar

Victory and Defeat

2004-07-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

Iraq the Model

Our Muslim and Arab leaders are good at making their worst defeats look like great victories and they’re great experts in this field. And I see that the free world is an expert in making their great victories look like defeats and this is the reason why Arab leaders lose again and again while the free world triumphs again with less sacrifices.

The sharp criticism to each process enables you to avoid the mistakes of the previous experiments and turns errors to useful lessons, and this is great. But this time I see that the western media has went beyond the limits of objective criticism and rational pursue for truth.

The media are not displaying their view point leaving the decision making to the audience. I see that the media are pushing us to adopt their opinions and this is totally unacceptable.

The media is losing credibility among the audience and this is happening so fast and it is a huge mistake.

I want to say to the media: by continuing like this you’re taking the dictators and terrorists’ side and you’re feeding their arrogance when you say "We were wrong when we went to Iraq" or "Iraq was better off before the war and Iraqis and the world are suffering because of the war" and you’re using the failure to find the Iraqi WMDs and the casualties among Iraqi civilians as a weapon in this media war.

[...]

...I’m going to list what I see as the most important questions that must be asked to verify whether the operation was a success or not and whether it served Iraqis and the world or not.

- Do you think that Saddam had he been left alone would have developed WMDs?
- Do you think that Saddam’s regime represented a danger to his people, the region and the whole world?
[...]
- Do you think that dealing with such threats, if you believe they existed, was a matter of urgency?
[...]
- Do you think that Iraqis were going to revolt against Saddam soon and what would it have cost Iraq?
[...]
- Do you think there’s a real possibility for a totalitarian regime or a dictatorship to rule Iraq and kill millions of people again?
[...]
- Do you think the fact that Iraqis keep volunteering to serve in the new army, police, National Guard; doing their jobs in every field; preparing for elections despite the terrorist attacks is a good sign that gives hope in the future?
[...]
- Do you think that future governments in Iraq will be an ally for terrorists or make Iraq a training base for terrorists?
- Do you think Iraq now has a better chance to be a democratic peaceful nation that will not threaten anyone than before?

We always support the free media as they watch the authorities, criticize them and expose their faults and corruption but it seems that the media's role has increased considerably lately and about to become more like a first authority rather than the fourth one as its role in affecting governments decisions and policies has expanded and this great expansion in power has given the opportunity for corruption to creep in...I want to say to the media: keep watching them and we’ll keep watching you.

This has always been my big peeve. The media is reflexively reactionary when it comes to progressive economic and social policies, and radical when it comes to national security issues.

I prefer the old way -- Guns and Butter. Instead the media seems to prefer cap pistols and hardtack.

Iraqi Celebrations: A Rain of Lead

2004-07-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

Iraq the Model

...Shooting in the air in funerals or weddings-or when something important happens-is an old tradition used in Iraq...

When I reached the health center I discovered that not only one man was dead; a woman was killed and three other people (one of them is a 7 year old kid) were injured by the falling bullets. In addition to that, a bullet had penetrated an eight thousand gallon gasoline tanker that was waiting to be evacuated near the gas station and it blew up causing a huge damage to the station (the suburb suffered from a severe shortage in gasoline for 5 days after that).
I also discovered that this wasn’t the first time for such accidents to happen. People told me that several similar accidents took place in the last several months but I wasn’t aware of those because I spend a considerable portion of my time in Baghdad.

This accident made me believe that strict measures must be taken to avoid the recurrence of such unnecessary loss because sometimes this random shooting in the air in a residential area can cause casualties not less than those caused by a car bomb and actually it did more than once; I recall that in 1988 when the war with Iran ended there was enormous shooting that lasted for a whole night and the result was catastrophic; hundreds were killed and more than a thousand were injured and last year, when Uday and Qussay were killed, sources from the ministry of health reported that over 70 people were killed and a larger number injured. This wasn’t because of some clashes or bomb attacks, it was because of the free falling bullets...

The problem with traditions is that they are very hard to stop even when they are obviously stupid and self-destructive traditions (e.g. clitoridectomy in Africa, wife-stealing from central Asia, smoking tobacco, etc.).

The only way to combat this is through a sustained public education campaigns by the athorities. As in the example of smoking, this campaign may need to be sustained for a generation or more (20-40 years) before substantial reductions in the behavior are realized.

Accusation: Iraqi PM executed six insurgents

2004-07-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Sydney Mornning Herald
by Paul McGeough in Baghdad

Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.

They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum-security cell block in which they were held at the Al-Amariyah security centre, in the city's south-western suburbs.

They say Dr Allawi told onlookers the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they "deserved worse than death".

The Prime Minister's office has denied the entirety of the witness accounts in a written statement to the Herald, saying Dr Allawi had never visited the centre and he did not carry a gun.

But the informants told the Herald that Dr Allawi shot each young man in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from the Prime Minister's personal security team watched in stunned silence.

Iraq's Interior Minister, Falah al-Naqib, is said to have looked on and congratulated him when the job was done. Mr al-Naqib's office has issued a verbal denial.

[...]

There is much debate and rumour in Baghdad about the Prime Minister's capacity for brutality...

...the witnesses did not perceive themselves as whistle-blowers. In interviews with the Herald they were enthusiastic about such killings, with one of them arguing: "These criminals were terrorists. They are the ones who plant the bombs."...

Since only the SMH has this story (not even Al-Jazeera), there is no way to balance it off of other news souces.

More Arab conspiracy theory nonsense I suspect.

Not enough troops in Iraq?

2004-07-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Anonymous wrote "They should have stationed more troops in Fallujah and throughout Iraq to suppress the insurgency."
Anon, you are making a common mistake, which you often hear parroted wrongly on the TV news.

The Army had plenty of troops in Fallujah. First the 3ID then the 82nd. But the local people rioted when the 3ID clamped down on insurgent activity. When the 82nd Ariborne division took over, in order to avoid a fight or be seen as being opressive, the US commanding general decided to move his troops to bases outside of town. The local leadership and IP promised that they would contain the radicals within the town (the general bought a bridge).

This was a huge strategic blunder on the part of the commander of the 82nd. There were always plenty of troops. The problem was that most of them were sitting around doing nothing, or patrolling areas that were removed from the actual hot spots.

Let us be bold and name the guilty party: Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack, Jr.

There were always plenty of troops. The problem was poor intelligence, poor operational deployment, and too many troops carrying out cold war jobs that were basically useless.

Occupation

2004-07-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

PBS News Hour
The News hour did an extended interview with the Iraqi Ambassador to the US, Anbassador Rend Al-Rahim Francke.

JIM LEHRER: How can there not be occupation when there's still 140,000 foreign troops in Iraq?

REND AL-RAHIM FRANCKE: Well, there are troops in Japan, there are troops in Germany, until recently there were multi-national troops in Germany. There are troops in Korea, and in various other parts of the world. Do we deny that Japan is a sovereign nation? Do we deny that Germany is a sovereign state, or South Korea?

I do not think that the presence of troops in the country undermines sovereignty. The Iraqi government is sovereign to the extent that it determines the disposal of its resources, of its funds, it determines its own political development. And it also organizes its relationship with the multinational force that is in the country. And that is what sovereignty means to us.

She also discusses the creation of and expected efficacy of the new internal security forces, the nature of the insurgency, the believed existance of WMDs, the neccesity of removing Saddam and his sons from power.

Read the rest of this interview with this very composed and well spoken lady. The transcript includes pictures of the interview.

Our ongoing detainee release missions

2004-07-16T06:07:00.000-07:00

Dagger JAG (US Army JAG lawyer in Tikrit, Iraq)

In the late morning we took part in one of our ongoing detainee release missions. I remember reading some newspaper articles when we first started the large releases from Abu Ghraib but you don't hear too much about them anymore.

Our convoy left FOB DAGGER and drove to a link up point on the outskirts of Tikrit. There, after a short wait, we met an Iraqi bus carrying about 25 Iraqis that were being released from Abu Ghraib. We escorted the bus to a more secure location and then started to process the detainees. As we drove through downtown Tikrit the detainees on the bus were leaning out of the windows waving to everyone on the street. And everyone on the street was waving back, police men, iraqis on bicycles, kids, they were all waving smiling and yelling encouragement. Cars were honking their horns. They must all have known what was going on.

All of the detainees had been detained by 4ID before we had arrived in country so we didn't know too much about them. We were only supposed to release eleven individuals here in Tikrit and the rest were going to go up to Kirkuk...

After getting the bus sorted out we sat our eleven guys in some bleachers, gave them water and a new dishdasha (the robes that are popular here) and an Iraqi National Guard major welcomed them back to society. The speech wasn't translated into english but I imagine he told them that, now that they are free again, they needed to keep out of trouble and help support the new government's efforts at establishing security.

At previous releases we've had Al Jazeera and CNN reporters present and filming the release. Yesterday we had two Iraqi reporters for Agence France Presse. They were videotaping everything and got to interview a number of the released detainees. I would be curious to see if it makes it on the air and what kind of angle they put on it.

It is good to hear about a normal day for some of our guys over there. It is easy to forget that they have normal days.

Tikrit is Saddam's home town but there has been little trouble there because the Army assigned an entire brigade to hold the city and therefore the insurgents have not had a chance to get started there.

Why do our fellow Arabs wish us Iraqis harm?

2004-07-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

THE MESOPOTAMIAN (Sunni from Baghdad)

...it would be nice if they could become less selfish, less hypocritical, less addicted to lying, treachery and jealousy. That would be nice. And perhaps they could show a little more concern about the murder of our people, the destruction of our livelihood, the sabotage of our national assets and infrastructure. It would be even nicer if they could actually stop perpetrating these rather unfriendly acts.

Also, somewhat it seems to us that cutting the heads of hostages is not a particularly good way of illustrating the Arab and Islamic nobility of spirit; especially if it is done in the name of Allah. I mean we are puzzled, because we thought that Allah was The Merciful; the Compassionate. But hard as we try to understand our brothers, we don’t seem to be able to comprehend the merciful nature of their actions. Perhaps we are not sufficiently well trained philosophically and too ignorant to appreciate the finer points of theology and the relationship between beheadings and various forms of murder to monotheism and Jihad in the name of The Merciful, the Compassionate.

...We have yet to appreciate that the true way of the Lord calls for drenching the earth with human blood. We seem to remember that the Gods of paganism craved for human sacrifice; “The Gods are thirsty – Les Dieux Ont Soif”. Do we have sneaking suspicions that these ancient creeds have crept back into your system of belief?...

The bitterness shown here by Alaa shows an essential truth.

It seems strange that the Arab public thinks it perfectly fine to cheer on the slaughter of Iraqi civillians in the name of liberating Iraq from an occupation that no longer exists. This appears to show a sense of blood-thristy cruelty that is very disconcerting to observe.

Judge strikes down Washington state's violent video game law

2004-07-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

Ars Technica (tech news)

In May 2003, Washington state passed a law that prevented sale of video games to minors that portrayed "realistic or photographic-like depictions of aggressive conflict" against law enforcement officers. Retailers would have been subject to a $500 fine per violation of the law. The ban never went into effect after Judge Robert Lasnik ruled the law was likely unconstitutional and issued an injunction against its use. Now, a year after that injunction was handed down, Lasnik has ruled the law is a violation of free speech. The judge called the law too narrow because it banned violence against police officers and not violence against others. He also called the law too broad because the law guidelines were unclear on what would trigger a ban. Would Yosemite Sam be considered a law enforcement officer?
"Would a game built around 'The Simpsons' or the 'Looney Tunes' characters be 'realistic' enough to trigger the act?" he wrote. "The real problem is that (a store) clerk might know everything there is to know about the game and yet not be able to determine whether it can legally be sold to a minor." Lasnik also noted that violence against tyrannical or oppressive police officers would likely fall under the ban.

To obey the law, he said, store clerks would tend to be overly cautious in selling games to minors and game makers would tend to be overly cautious in designing them - resulting in a chilling effect on free speech.
The state had argued that the law was important in helping curb violence among youths, including that against law enforcement officers.

Another bit of idiocy from my revered State Legislature bites the dust.

What a waste of time. Don't those idiots in Olympia have anything better to do?

Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act signed into law

2004-07-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

Ars Technica (tech news)

Identity theft has become one of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States. Depending on the source, it is estimated that between 7 million to 10 million Americans are victims of identity fraud at a cost over a billion dollars a year. For victims of identity fraud, it may mean months of headaches trying to recover monetary losses and repair credit. For perpetrators, if caught and prosecuted, it may only mean probation with restitution. That may change with today's signing of the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act (ITPEA). The new law strengthens penalties against identity fraud by setting up sentencing guidelines for those who possess another's identification-related information with intent to commit a crime.

I am not a big fan of mandatory sentancing, but the goverment has to make a stand of some sort because this has gotten way out of control.

Wierd Stuff From Japan #9

2004-07-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

J-Box

When you become bilingual in a second language, you actually develop a second personality that's "turned on" when you speak that language. My Japanese personality is much more humble and polite than my English one, and I get laughs by the J-List staff when, during phone conversations in Japanese, I accidentally bow to the person on the other end of the line. I've noticed a strange development in the Japanese side of my brain, too: a ridiculous sense of humor. For some strange reason that I can't comprehend, my brain comes up with incredibly corny jokes in Japan (called "ojisan gag" or jokes that a middle-aged man would make), which I constantly torment the J-List staff with. For example, I'll observe that "Pyramids are zig-zag shaped" (in Japanese, "Piramiddo wa giza giza suru"), marginally funny because "giza giza" describes the zig-zag shape and the most famous pyramids are in Giza. Or I'll use the word for "properly" ("kichin to," which sounds like the English word "kitchen") on purpose when asking someone to clean the J-List kitchen, thus making a really bad gag. The word for manual transmission in Japanese is "mission" and when my wife complained that she couldn't drive my stick-shift car, I made a bad joke involving the movie "Mission Impossible." I don't make these lame jokes in English, but the Japanese side of my brain can't help spitting a few out every day. I guess I must be an "ojisan."

All language is fluid, and when a word is passed from one country to another, it's common for meanings to change slightly. In Japan, for example, the term manga can describe both comics and anime on TV, but in English, the meaning has been redefined to refer only to Japanese comics. When I came to Japan I was surprised to see advertisements recruiting girls to work as "companions." This seemed vaguely unsettling to me -- was it some kind of prostitution? I learned later that attractive girls who work at various public events, serving customers or working at information counters (or in one case I saw, smiling while holding a no smoking sign for several hours), are called companions in Japanese. Also, when men have a party, they'll often hire pretty girls who smile and pour drinks for them and act interested in their conversations -- these girls are also called companions. Although the concept of girls being paid to smile and look pretty isn't the most progressive one, at least there was nothing nefarious in the concept.