See You July 7

I'll be back up posting July 7. Take care.

State of the Salt Shaker

The blog is going to be on hold for a little while. I'll re-start again in early July. I'm hoping to post a book review for The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman either late tonight or tomorrow.

I'll be doing some thinking on how to revitalize this site. I've had some great periods of traffic and I've had extremely slow times. Ultimately, my book reviews have given me the most long term traffic, so I'm thinking of heading in that direction. My policy is to only review books/movies/television that I enjoy. However, maybe I should treat blog as if I'm a reviewer for a newspaper, where like it or not, you are assigned books/movies/television to review and you have to write a column about it.

I think my political posts suffer from my lack of a coherent ideology. Partisanship is what drives successful political blogs. You get traffic from people of your stripe and you get the haters, who want to see what the enemy is up to. I simply can't do that. That bores me.

Be sure to get out and enjoy the summer in the next little while.

Iranian Security Forces Regaining Control

The situation appears to have quieted down in Iran:

"I had insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue," Khamenei said. "Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost."

Now that police and religious militia have regained apparent control of the streets after the biggest anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran's hardline leadership is blaming the discontent on foreign powers.

"Britain, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) were behind the recent unrest in Tehran," Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The uprising needs more organized leadership. The spontaneous nature of it will peter out if it doesn't have direction.

Obama Press Conference Live

It's on the television right now. I'll look for a transcript for his comments on Iran. Let's just say this: He is kicking ass. He's saying the exact right things. After eight years of the dummy, it's amazing to watch. Witty, articulate, quick on his feet. (Are these idiots who make teleprompter jokes watching this?)

He's talking about some domestic issues as well. I don't care about the US healthcare system. I disagree with almost all of his domestic initiatives.

Foreign policy is what interests me, and I think he's handling the Iran file masterfully.

UPDATE: I don't have the transcript yet, but to paraphrase, he said it's up to the Iranian people, not the United States. How bloody refreshing. What a concept!

UPDATE II: Here are his opening remarks:

First, I’d like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.

The Iranian people are trying to have a debate about their future. Some in the Iranian government are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others outside of Iran of instigating protests over the elections. These accusations are patently false and absurd. They are an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran’s borders. This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won’t work anymore in Iran. This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they – and only they – will choose.

The Iranian people can speak for themselves. That is precisely what has happened these last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to the peaceful pursuit of justice. Despite the Iranian government’s efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers, and so we have watched what the Iranian people are doing.

This is what we have witnessed. We have seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands Iranians marching in silence. We have seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and their voices heard. Above all, we have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights, and heed the will of its own people. It must govern through consent, not coercion. That is what Iran’s own people are calling for, and the Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government.

Iran Axes Footie Players For Displaying Green

In an act of solidarity with the uprising in Iran, some soccer players wore green wrist bands during a World Cup qualifying match. Suddenly, they have been retired.

Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran's political turmoil. Now the country's authorities have taken revenge by imposing life bans on players who sported green wristbands in a recent World Cup match in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players – Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul.

They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the colour of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen.

What a great "F-you" gesture by the players. I admire their courage.

Things I Didn't Know About Iran

Some interesting articles have popped up in the wake of the Iranian Uprising. Here are a few shocking things, I never would have thought about Iran:

David Frum:

The collapsing economy has exacerbated Iran's already horrific social problems. Iran is home to some two million narcotics users. Despite (or perhaps because of ) the regime's repressive sexual attitudes, prostitution flourishes: An estimated 85,000 prostitutes work in Tehran alone. Last year the head of Iran's anti-vice police force was arrested cavorting with six naked prostitutes in a Tehran brothel. It's generally estimated that Iran is home to 80,000 cases of HIV/AIDS -- three-quarters of these cases traceable to intravenous drug use.

Anne Applebaum:

Since 2006, the "One Million Signatures Campaign" has been circulating a petition, both online and in print, calling for an end to laws that discriminate against women: for equal rights for women in marriage, equal rights to divorce, equal inheritance rights, equal testimony rights for men and women in court. Though based outside the country, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, founded by a pair of sisters, translates and publishes fundamental human rights documents online; it also maintains an online database containing names of thousands of victims of the Islamic republic. In the last decade, Iranian women have participated in student strikes as well as teacher strikes and in organizations of Bahai, Christian, and other religious groups deemed "heretics" by the regime.

Junkies, hookers and women's rights protests. Not as pious, and conservatively Islamic as I had assumed.

Classic Clint

Oh Yeah, That War

The BBC reports: At least 21 people have been killed and 75 people wounded in a spate of bomb attacks across Iraq, police say.

Three students on their way to sit exams, three Iraqi soldiers and a four-year-old child were reported to be among the dead.

More than 70 people were killed and 200 wounded by a massive truck bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk on Saturday - the deadliest single bomb this year.

The attacks come days before US troops pull out of Iraq's towns and cities.

With so many attacks in such a short space of time, it appears insurgents are determined to make things look as unstable as possible as the pull-out deadline approaches, the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged Iraqis on Saturday: "Don't lose heart if a breach of security occurs here or there."

He said the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq's towns and cities by the end of this month would be a "great victory".

You don't hear much about Iraq these days.

I've said it before on this blog, it's not going to be an easy thing for the US to withdraw from Iraq. Fires are going to be burning. There won't be a smooth handing over ceremony and the country won't be at peace. There will be calls to stay. It will take an act of pure will by Obama, and that would mean turning his back on what could be an out of control situation. Whether he has the nerve to go through with this, is the question.

Beatings and Shootings Continue in Iran

It appears that the Iranian government sees no choice but to crack down even harder. Perhaps they realize if they give in to the protestors they'll be thrown out of office.

Today, the regime is threatening to play an even stronger card.

Earlier Monday, the elite Revolutionary Guard issued its sternest warning so far in the post-election crisis. It warned protesters to "be prepared for a resolution and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security forces and disciplinary forces" if they continue their near-daily rallies.

The Basij, a plainclothes militia under the command of the Revolutionary Guard, have been used to quell streets protests that erupted after the election result was announced.

The Guard statement ordered demonstrators to "end the sabotage and rioting activities" and said their resistance is a "conspiracy" against Iran. On Sunday, acting joint chief of the armed forces Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid issued a thinly veiled warning to Mousavi, saying "we are determined to confront plots by enemies aimed at creating a rift in the nation.

Let's hope this does not turn into a horrible massacre. The only way out of it, is if the army disobeys orders.

Absurd Afghan Push Under Way

Newly deployed American troops are in Afghanistan looking for a fight. They're going after Taliban and their cash crop:

The assault capped a day of fighting Saturday in the poppy fields, orchards and walled compounds of southern Afghanistan between newly arrived U.S. Marines and well dug-in Taliban fighters. It was a foretaste of what will likely be a bloody summer as Washington tries to turn around a bogged-down, eight-year-old war with a surge of 21,000 troops.

"This was the first time we pushed this far. I guess they don't like us coming into their back door," said Staff Sgt. Luke Medlin, who was sweeping the alley for booby traps as Marine Gunner John Daly covered him from behind when the Taliban struck.

Does anybody think this is going to work? All the Taliban have to do is retreat over the Pakistan border to safe havens. Or fight and die, because they'll be more to replace them. The Americans and NATO can go on like this for the next 20 years and they can't win. There's no winning. Afghanistan isn't going to turn into a western style democracy.

The poppy crop is their only economy. To bring "Drug War" morality to the situation is folly. It's not going to win friends.

The only argument for continuing this war is that it is combating terrorism. But with safe harbors in Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Algeria,(to name a few) it's like swatting at a single mosquito in Winnipeg during bug season. A small accomplishment that doesn't solve the problem.

Retreat. Get out. We have a great thing over here in North America. Let's stick to our territory and defend against it.

Summer Solstice

June 21st, the lightest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

Burrard Bridge

Have a good weekend!

BS Detector: North Korea Is Going to Launch a Missile at Hawaii?

Who knows, Kim Jong Il is crazy, but this seems a bit far fetched to me:

North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii on American Independence Day, according to Japanese intelligence officials.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched in early July from the Dongchang-ni site on the north-western coast of the secretive country.

Intelligence analysts do not believe the device would be capable of hitting Hawaii's main islands, which are 4,500 miles from North Korea

It was announced today that the U.S. has deployed anti-missile defences around Hawaii in response to the threat.

Hitchens Interview in Walrus Magazine

Outside of the Iranian crisis, the news has been pretty slow. Here's a great interview with Christopher Hitchens, who is never boring. (read here.)

Excerpt:

Walrus: But let’s presume that most people who claim to be moderate Muslims, or in fact, moderate believers of any stripe, would be open to hearing alternative views such as yours.

Hitchens: But they don’t ask me. I told you I get Catholics and Rabbis wanting to debate me on a regular basis. [But there are] people who don’t take up the challenge. Mormons don’t and Muslims don’t. They just don’t. They don’t think there’s anything to discuss. They don’t want someone to come and say, “You know what? The Koran is not a holy book, and Muhammed was not spoken to by god, there is no god, there is no messenger.” They’re not going to have that — that’s how moderate they are!...

Ayatollah Defiant: Crackdown Looms in Iran

Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran made a highly anticipated speech today and there was no attempt at reconciliation.

There were threats:

"Rioting after the election is not a good way. It questions the election. If they continue [the consequences] will be their responsibility. ... If they continue they will be receiving other consequences, behind the scenes. I'm asking my friends and brothers to follow the laws. Let God give us blessing to follow those ways."

There was denial:

"The election showed that people with belief, hopes and joys are living in this country. Our enemies are using it. If the young did not feel free they would not have participated in the election. This trust is the biggest asset of the Islamic republic. "There were claims of fraud before the election. Don't listen to those allegations.

There was the old bag of tricks in the blame game:

"The competition for the election was very clear. Enemies and dirty Zionists tried to show the election as a contest between the regime and against it. That is not true, all four candidates support the regime." [He lists the government positions of the opposition candidates]. All of the candidates are part of this system and regime. Zionists and the bad British radio said it was a challenge to the regime.

The question of course, is whether this uprising is too big for a crackdown. It's much larger than the one at Tiananmen, and cuts across age and class in Iranian society. They are going to have to kill a lot of people. Let's hope they don't.

Artie Lange Flips on Joe Buck

Broadcaster Joe Buck has a new talk show on HBO. Every baseball and football fan out there can't stand the guy. I've never met a person who said: "I like Joe Buck, he's a great announcer."

Anyway, so the first episode of his show aired Monday. I have HBO-Canada, but we don't get the show up here. (Thank you Can-Con.) Crazed comedian Artie Lange was a guest and went berserk on Buck, with profanity laced cut-downs. It's incredibly awkward to watch.

They posted a clipped video of it an the Huffington Post. (Click here to view.)

Lange took some digs at the Dallas Cowboys too, and sorry if I laughed, I'm a Giants fan.

"As a Giants fan, and a well-known homophobic," Lange said, "it's like a white trash gift from god that the fucking Cowboys have a quarterback whose last name rhymes with homo."

Iranian Uprising Continues

Another massive protest in Tehran. I have a feeling the Mullahs and Ahmadinejad might try to sweat this one out and hope the world, with it's short attention span news cycle, become bored of the story. Yesterday, Obama swatting a fly was the biggest story.

Bush Supporters Flail

I'm still shocked that neo-con Bush supporters are poo-pooing the Iranian uprising and claiming that somehow Obama has messed this whole thing up. During the entire eight years of the Bush administration, they were trying to promote a civil uprising against the government in Iran. Now that we have a full blown one going on right now, they seem annoyed by it.

I was listening to Dennis Miller Show yesterday and he was interviewing Mark Steyn. They both had a dour tone, that the situation is a bad thing. I don't have a transcript, but I wrote down some of the things they said. (Please note these are not exact quotes, but transcribed as best I can.)

Miller: The world seems like a much more fragile place, because the bus driver up front, President Obama doesn't have a stern look on his face.

(...)

Steyn: Iran has been to emboldened to act much more like a thug state such as Egypt and Syria. [Because of Obama's perceived weakness.]

(...)

Steyn: Iran has concluded that the US are no longer serious... They are pastsies, dupes, pushovers.

There's a civilian uprising against Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs! This is a dream scenario. What the hell are they talking about? The government got panicky and rigged the election, and the people are fighting back.

Today I was listening to Hugh Hewitt who had on the number one Bush apologist, Victor Davis Hanson. (Recorded from yesterday.) Again the tone was dour. VDH gets going:

Well now, we have the political correct version of that, which says we have no right to judge another culture, multiculturalism taken to the Nth degree. So we’re not judging, we’re not making any moral judgments. We’re just keeping out of it, and this thug is going to kill a lot of people, and then we’ll deal with him. This is, if anybody else did it, it would be considered heartless realism. But when Obama does it, it’s sort of a postmodern, ‘who are we to say what’s good and bad’?

Is that what Obama is saying? Who believes this shit? You can see the mind-set though. VDH can't seem to grasp that the President of the USA has the option of keeping out of a foreign country's business.

Warning, prepare the vomit bags, Hugh wants to talk about what their hero would do in this situation:

HH: I asked the question last hour, I’ll ask it of you, what WWWD, what would W. do? What do you think George Bush would have done by now?

VDH: Well, he would have given a statement like he did in Iraq, and like he said about Iran earlier. He would have said our hearts are with people who yearn for universal freedom, and then say it’s not predicated on any particular culture. It’s something we all share. And he would have come out, I think, pretty strongly. But you know, once you’ve apologized to a dictatorship, and you’ve said that we don’t meddle in the affairs of a dictatorship, and we’re sorry for what happened in the past, then you’ve sort of self-censored yourself. And that’s what Obama’s done, that he’s already predicated that he wouldn’t make, exercise moral judgment, and he wouldn’t meddle. He only meddles in democracies. So if it’s a democracy like Iraq, or it’s Uribe in Colombia, or if it’s Israel, then he will meddle and dictate and tell them what he thinks of them, but not an autocracy.

Good grief. Obama didn't apologize to a dictatorship. Speaking to the people, he acknowledged the hand of the US in a coup to overthrow the Iranian government in 1953. It's a universal grievance among Iranians. He was throwing them a bone. It's called diplomacy.

Bush's phony platitudes mixed with military threats didn't win over the people. The Bush supporters still can't get over that the people of the Middle East didn't hold him up as THE champion of freedom and democracy. It's killing them that: a) Maybe the people are running toward freedom without US help and b) Maybe Obama inspired them.

There was a time that I actually bought the neo-con program. I'm still kicking myself.

UPDATE: Allow me to qualify: I think Obamas running of the economy is terrible. However, I think this diplomatic initiative he began is worth a try.

UPDATE II: The neo-cons want Obama to start screaming about it, this is why it's better to keep a low profile.

IRAN ACCUSES US OF MEDDLING AFTER DISPUTED ELECTION

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of "intolerable" meddling in its internal affairs, alleging for the first time that Washington has fueled a bitter postelection dispute. Opposition supporters marched in huge numbers through Tehran's streets for a third straight day to protest the outcome of the balloting.

Watching a Revolution in Real Time

If there were a Pulitzer Prize for blogging, it should be rewarded to Andrew Sullivan for his coverage of the Iranian uprising. The government of Iran has blocked most broadcasts in the country, but the regular person on the street are using cell phones and digital cameras to film the carnage. They are using Twitter to communicate with the world. Sullivan has been tirelessly compiling coverage, as well as collecting a variety of opinions in the US. I doubt he's getting much sleep. I've been glued to my monitor since Saturday. The internet as a medium has reached a new level. I've watched a bit of television news and it's just not enough information.

He makes a great point today, above a youtube clip of gunfire in the streets:

They're shooting directly at civilians, but the civilians are undeterred. Have we ever been able to watch a revolution like this in real time? Has any mainstream media ever been able to broadcast scenes like this? Now that everyone is a broadcaster, revolutions will always be televised (or, broadcast anyway, since much of cable news is uninterested):

Check out his website at the Atlantic.

Not the Prussian Army of Old

For centuries the German army were the most fearsome and disciplined army in the world. Not these days. Reports from Afghanistan paint a different picture. German soldiers 'drink and complain too much to fight Taleban'

Now Germany’s most senior officer has berated his troops for going soft. “We cannot guarantee soldiers that they will have an all-round feel-good experience,” said General Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

His outburst follows complaints made by German soldiers to the official ombudsman about their tours abroad. Some have grumbled about unsuitable sleeping bags for their Congo peace-keeping mission — “there is no reason why this issue should have come before Parliament,” said General Schneiderhan — while others moaned about the long hours, a lack of childcare for their families at home and poor medical care.

All in all, this is a good thing. Having started two world wars, it's good to see they aren't up for another.

Hollywood Is the New GM

Forbes magazine listed the top earners for actors over the last year.

1. Harrison Ford
2. Adam Sandler
3. Will Smith
4. Eddie Murphy
5. Nicolas Cage

Yep, you read that one right. If that isn't a sign that Hollywood has no new ideas, I don't know what is.

I guess these washed up, cardboard cut-outs are what the public wants? When's the last time you and your friends talked about a great Eddie Murphy movie? 1983? Do people actually enjoy Adam Sandler movies? I guess so. Since my IQ is in triple digits, I find it hard to relate.

There was actually a time that I liked Nicolas Cage. Wild at Heart, Raising Arizona. Since then, he has done so many bad movies it literally makes me nauseous if I see his face on the screen. I feel like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, after his rehabilitation: "TURN IT OFF! PLEASE, TURN IT OFF!"

Will Smith. Hate to be a snob, but the Fresh Prince doesn't do it for me. All big laughs and high fives.

The only movie I can name from any of these guys over the last few years is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I saw about 20 minutes of it before turning it off. An 88 year old Harrison Ford, hides in a refrigerator at ground zero of a nuclear blast. The fridge gets blown into the air several miles, and lands in a thud. Ford opens the door, dusts himself off and walks away unharmed. It was so bad, a new phrase was added to the Urban Dictionary: Nuke the Fridge.

Nuke the fridge is a colloquialism used to refer to the moment in a film series that is so incredible that it lessens the excitement of subsequent scenes that rely on more understated action or suspense, and it becomes apparent that a certain installment is not as good as previous installments, due to ridiculous or low quality storylines, events or characters.

Hollywood is the new GM. They're going down. Those big budget, unwatchable movies with cardboard actors mean the studios won't be able to sustain themselves.

Pat Buchanan Praises Obama While Neo-Cons Seeth

Old school conservative Pat Buchanan has encouraging things to say about the situation in Iran and a hat tip to President Obama and it is published in Townhall of all places.

The dilemma for America is that the theocracy defines itself and grounds its claim to leadership through its unyielding resistance to the Great Satan -- the United States -- and to Israel.

Nevertheless, Obama, with his outstretched hand, his message to Iran on its national day, his admission that the United States had a hand in the 1953 coup in Tehran, his assurances that we recognize Iran's right to nuclear power, succeeded. He stripped the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad of their clinching argument -- that America is out to destroy Iran and they are indispensable to Iran's defense.

With the mask of patriotism and the legacy of true revolution lost through this election fraud, Iran's regime stands exposed as just another dictatorship covering up a refusal to yield power and privilege with a pack of lies about protecting the nation.

It sure seems that he's right. The regime did panic and you have to think the Cairo speech was a part of that.

Meanwhile the Bush defenders seeth. You'd think they'd be happy that Iran is crumbling, but not if it's under Obama's watch.

Steyn:

Obama? They don't care about his speeches. The nukes? They'll happen regardless, with wide support. This election was stolen for reasons of internal survival and long-term regional strategy by a regime confident enough to snub not just a U.S. government promoting impotence as moral virtue but those allies in Europe who regularly jet in to offer cooing paeans to the vibracy of Iranian democracy.

Victor Davis Hanson:

There is some value to the present irony. Erstwhile U.S. allies can begin to fathom the wages of their much-desired “post-American world.” It appears that it wasn’t George W. Bush’s Manicheanism that “played into the hands” of Mr. Ahmadinejad, who now has a fresh lease on power, despite the U.S. charm offensive of the last six months.

The Neo-Con experiment, unfortunately didn't work. Continuing to threaten and scold Iran was meaningless. They knew the US could not invade, especially after the Iraq debacle. There was no big stick to fear. More creative diplomacy was needed. We have to move on to new ideas. Some people don't want to let it go.

Meanwhile in Canada...

Iggy threatened to force an election, but decided not to.

Yawn.

Breaking: Protestors Fired Upon in Tehran?

Reuters reports

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Armed men fired on people at a rally held by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi on Monday, killing one person and wounding many, a witness said.

The witness, an Iranian photographer, said people in the crowd had attacked a building housing members of the Basij religious militia, who then opened fire.

What's going on in Iran has a 1989 feel to it. Unfortunately, we don't know if that means Tiananmen or Prague. Gunfire starts to tilt it towards Tiananmen.

This is a huge story, and I'm following closely.

Again, Andrew Sullivan's blog is the place to be.

Cable news is not doing enough. There's almost no coverage.

UPDATE: The shooting was filmed. (click here) Warning: Some graphic images.

Popular Uprising in Iran Leads to Results

UK Times Online: Tens of thousands defy ban to march in Tehran in support of Mousavi

Tens of thousands of Iranian opposition activists have taken to the streets of Iran for a third day protesting against the disputed presidential election, defying a ban by the Interior Ministry.

Chanting crowds wearing green campaign colours greeted Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate in Friday's disputed presidential elections, as he slowly moved through the streets on the back of a four-wheel drive car.

"Mousavi we support you! We will die but retrieve our votes!" shouted the crowds of thousands, young and old, who packed his route.

...

New York Times: Khamenei Calls for Vote Inquiry Amid Calls for Calm

Mr. Moussavi met with the supreme leader on Sunday night, several news agencies quoted state television as reporting. Ayatollah Khamenei then asked that the powerful Guardian Council “precisely examine” Mr. Moussavi’s charges of irregularities, state media said.

The council will make its findings known in 10 days, according to the state media reports.

The ayatollah’s call appeared to be a shift in his position. Earlier, Mr. Khamenei had said the vote, which gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an overwhelming victory, had been fair.

...

Slate Magazine: Events in Iran prove that even a little bit of democracy is a powerful thing.

Yes, this was a highly managed, deeply illiberal election, and it didn't even change the composition of the Iranian government: After all that, Ahmadinejad is still president. But the voting process did open a crack where none had existed before, the possibility of choice did inspire what had seemed to be a passive society to protest, and the campaign rallies allowed people to shout political slogans in front of the police without the police reacting. One could argue—and many Iranians do—that the poll was farcical. But Iran goes to show that a bad election is better than none at all.

What comes next? As I write, the Internet rumor mill says that Mousavi is under arrest. By next week, he may be president—or he may be in prison. But that, too, is the point: The impact of democracy—even halfway, tentative, incomplete democracy—is unpredictable. Which is, of course, why dictators try to control it in the first place.

The Battle of Algiers Trailer

Lately, I've been somewhat obsessed with the 1966 film The Battle of Algiers. I wrote a review of it recently: here. Today, I did a simple youtube search and found the trailer. It gives a taste. It's one of the greatest movies I've ever seen.

PJ O'Rourke on Hugh Hewitt

PJ O'Rourke is on a tour for his new book Driving like Crazy. On Friday, he was a guest on Hugh Hewitt's radio show and it proves to be a fun 35 minutes of audio. (Click here to listen.)

While We Slept

I spent a pleasant, unelectronic Saturday morning reading, so I just got on to the computer now and it appears that chaos is breaking out in Iran over the election. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner but the people believe the election was rigged and rioting has broken out. Supposedly protesters have been beaten and killed.

This could be very serious and profound. Cracks in the Islamic regime widen.

Andrew Sullivan's blog is on top of it. That's where I'll be tuning in today.

The Main Stream Media seems a little tepid with coverage of it.

Lousy Cartoons of the 70's

I remember we got a channel converter at home to hook up to the tv. It enabled us to get channel 19, which we couldn't get on the 13 station dial. That meant ABC, and that meant Super Friends for Saturday morning cartoons. Some kids at school talked about it, so I was excited to get it, and join the elite club. Unfortunately, even as a seven year old, I knew it sucked. I hated the Wonder Twins especially.

What's the Point of Listening to (Macro) Economists?

Steve Chapman writing in Reason Magazine has a good point:

So why should we listen to what macroeconomists say? Some economists think that often we shouldn't. Russell Roberts, a scholar at George Mason University and the Hoover Institution, told me, "I think some of macro is useful—what causes inflation, for example. I just don't believe we're very good at testing theories at the macro level in a convincing way." Many times, he says, all macroeconomists can do is concoct stories that explain events after the fact.

Microeconomists, by contrast, make predictions about the effect of policies on individual markets, and those predictions are easier to confirm or refute. They virtually all agree, for example, that price controls lead to shortages, and governments occasionally take the trouble to prove them right.

But macroeconomists can almost always claim to be right, no matter what happens. If they recommend Policy X and the economy weakens, they can say it prevented a complete disaster. If they say Policy X will hurt and things improve, they can say without it, we'd be even better off. Being a macroeconomist means never having to say you're sorry.

Economics is an art, not a science. Any given economist can look at a set of numbers and all have different subjective opinions. Forecasting the course of the economy is like picking who is going to win a football game. Nobody knows.

Sarah Palin Milking the Letterman Joke Controversy for All Its Worth

I thought it was a shrewd move for Palin to lash out at David Letterman's jokes. She piled on the hyperbole, and implied that the joke about her daughter was about rape, and that Letterman was a perv. It made Letterman look bad, and people weren't talking about her being a dummy for once.

(In case you've been on a deserted island this week, link here for a summary. )

The joke was awkward, but was clearly not implying rape. However, talk radio, and right wing blogs were leaping to her defense, summoning all the outrage they could muster. Finally it was something they could sink their teeth into, instead of the usual routine of trying to pretend that she's bright enough to hold a major political office.

Today, she's back for more: Sarah Palin Calls for Uprising Against Letterman for Joke About Her Daughter

In her interview, Palin said that Letterman does not owe her an apology.

"He doesn't have to apologize to me. I would like to see him apologize to young women across the country for contributing to that thread that is throughout our culture that makes it sound like it's ok to talk about young girls that way."

Gov. Palin was apparently pleased to see women organizations speaking out against the comments and then proceeded to read from her BlackBerry an e-mail she received from someone she described as not a typical feminist. "Every male organization. . . should rise up and shout in defense of their daughters, their sisters, their mothers," Palin read to NBC's Lauer.

You go girl! This should help her in her pursuit for the Republican nomination for 2012.

When Drugs Were Legal

Check out other classic "medicine" ads from days gone by.

via: Andrew Sullivan

Sealed in Ideological Purity

David Frum has had a war of words right wing talk radio host Mark Levin, throughout the year. Recently Levin screamed at a woman caller on his show, that her husband should kill himself for being married to her. Many conservatives, including Frum, thought these radio screamers were hurting, not helping the cause. Levin shot back that his show is popular and that he has a best selling book, hence, he is helping the cause.

In that spirit, Frum promised to read and review Levin's book Liberty and Tyranny. I thought there were some very interesting nuggets in the piece that made me think. (Read the full review here at The New Majority)

Some conservatives say, “No more bailouts.” That’s a fine principle, up to a point. Only – if it had been applied in the fall of 2008, the world economy would very probably have tumbled into a true depression. And it has to be recognized too (as Milton Friedman no less acknowledged in his lifetime) that it is to some degree the existence of those maligned government programs that protects modern America from economic depressions like those of 1929-1941 (or 1919-21, or 1893-96, or 1857, or 1837). The stock market may crash, factories may close – but Social Security checks continue to flow to seniors, doctors collect their fees from Medicare, faculty at state universities earn wages, and depositors at failed banks can still withdraw their funds from cash machines. Conservatives “know” this, but we tend not to emphasize it. Yet it too is part of the story of our times, and as we regroup for the political struggles of the next era, we ought to keep this knowledge somewhere in mind.

None of this interests conservatives very much right now, and it interests Mark Levin not at all. Levin thinks there is nothing to learn from the present crisis, and indeed seems to regard the whole enterprise of learning as ideologically suspect. It’s very striking that nowhere in this book does he ever engage the ideas of intelligent people on the other side. He quotes stupid statements from a fringe group like Earth First! But he flinches from any encounter with any more substantial opponent. He lives in a sealed mental universe, into which nothing new or unsettling can ever penetrate.

It's a wonder to me that there are so many sealed off people who listen to the same talk radio everyday, only read rightist blogs, and read books like Levin's and see and hear nothing else. Even if you agree, isn't that extremely boring? It's the inverted version of a commie country where the people listen to the commissar’s speeches every day, wave red flags and read the little red book.

Robert Kaplan: The Revenge of Geography

Heavyweight writer Robert Kaplan has a huge essay in Foreign Policy, about how we need to view the world, and its realities for the 21st Century. The focus is on Asia and the Middle East. All the big shot US government officials and policy makers read Foreign Policy.

I increasingly think a certain amount of isolationism is necessary for Europe and North America, away from the Middle East, and this article underlines some catastrophes and conflicts that could happen. Not to mention a power reorganization of Asia and the Middle East. (Guess what? There's not a lot of room for Americans.) We have to start looking at geopolitics in a new way and Kaplan gets the ball rolling. It's definitely one of those articles to plug in the coffee pot, find a comfortable chair, print it out (too long for on screen) and have a good read. There are too many parts to excerpt, but I'll put in this taster from the opening:

So now, chastened, we have all become realists. Or so we believe. But realism is about more than merely opposing a war in Iraq that we know from hindsight turned out badly. Realism means recognizing that international relations are ruled by a sadder, more limited reality than the one governing domestic affairs. It means valuing order above freedom, for the latter becomes important only after the former has been established. It means focusing on what divides humanity rather than on what unites it, as the high priests of globalization would have it. In short, realism is about recognizing and embracing those forces beyond our control that constrain human action—culture, tradition, history, the bleaker tides of passion that lie just beneath the veneer of civilization. This poses what, for realists, is the central question in foreign affairs: Who can do what to whom? And of all the unsavory truths in which realism is rooted, the bluntest, most uncomfortable, and most deterministic of all is geography.

(READ the entire article here.)

Interplanetary Smash Up

Earth-Venus smash-up possible in 3.5 billion years: study

Terrorists on Air France 447?

As I wrote last week: Why Is a Terrorist Attack So Quickly Dismissed as the Cause for the Missing Air France Plane?

Today the New York Post's headline story is: 2 PASSENGERS ON FLIGHT 447 HAD ISLAMIC TERROR TIES

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives, it has emerged.

French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31st.

Flight AF447 crashed in mid-Atlantic en route to Paris during a violent storm.

While it is certain that there were computer malfunctions, terrorism has not been ruled out.

Soon after news of the fatal crash broke, agents working for the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), the French equivalent of MI6, were dispatched to Brazil.

It's interesting that the media were reporting right away that terrorism was ruled out as a cause, when clearly it wasn't. France dispatched the DGSE immediately.

I don't understand why they do that. Isn't the job of the press to open mindedly ask questions and try to find answers instead of ruling something out, with no proof?

There's no definitive proof of the cause yet, and we may never know.

UPDATE: Bomb threats were made days before flight 447

Today, ABC News has confirmed that Air France received a bomb threat over the phone concerning a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Paris days before Air France flight 447 disappeared over the Atlantic.

Authorities at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza Airport delayed the May 27 flight before takeoff and conducted a 90-minute search of the threatened aircraft. Passengers were not evacuated during the search, which yielded no explosive material. After the inspection, authorities allowed the plane to take off for Paris.

Four days later, flight 447 departed from Rio de Janeiro. There was no known threat against the missing flight.

A Hard Deadline For Success in Afghanistan?

My excitment jumped seeing this Yahoo headline: Pentagon: Next 18 months key to Afghan victory

What does it mean?

He and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen told senators they're more optimistic now than in recent months about efforts to combat insurgents and extremists along the remote Afghan-Pakistan border.

But, Mullen said, "I think the next 12 to 18 months will really tell the tale."

Gates emphasized that he did not mean the Afghan campaign would achieve success in that time, but rather that officials hoped to "see a shift in the momentum" by then.

"It's very important for us to be able to show the American people that we are moving forward ... to show some shift in momentum," Gates said. "This is a long-term commitment, but I believe the American people will be willing to sustain this endeavor if they believe this is not just a stalemate."

Oh. I see. So by 2011 we can at best expect a momentum shift. (Whatever that means.) At that time the war will be a decade old. If that's not a stalemate, I don't know what is.

And They Say Women Are the Gentler Sex

Don't give me the "if women were in charge, there'd be no wars" line....

Yglesias: The Status Quo Remains the Policy in the Middle East

As the bills for the Middle East wars continue adding up in lives and treasure, and the US in poor economic health, they really have to figure out a new shift of direction. Obama had a great speech in Cairo, but it's the actions that are going to be important. If he keeps up what Bush started for his term as President, the words won't matter.

In a search to find alternative ideas, I stumbled across this Matthew Yglesias piece in the Daily Beast. He doesn't offer great solutions, but at least points out that the status quo isn't working. (Read the full article here.)

What we can do is change the way we relate to the existing governments. Currently, whether we're officially on record as favoring democracy or not, we're still deeply in bed with status quo regimes. Our global network of military bases includes installations in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iraq and our warships operate constantly in the region's coastal waters. After Cairo, Obama went to Germany where America also has military bases. But unlike the German bases, the Middle Eastern ones are deeply unpopular and seen as a legacy of colonialism. When the president of the United States stands besides a German chancellor, a French president, or a British or Canadian prime minister, it is seen as a meeting of equals; in the Middle East, it's more like a visit from the imperial center to the provinces.

And while we shouldn't be naïve enough to think that Osama bin Laden would just pack up and live a quiet life in the absence of the heavy American military presence in the region, it can't be denied that they're frequently cited as a rallying cry and recruiting tool. What's more, it's their presence that undergirds the broader logic of al Qaeda's view that Muslims must attack the "far enemy"—the United States—in order to express their grievances with local governments. The invasion of Iraq, needless to say, did a great deal to intensify Arab fear that the United States is seeking the imperial subjugation of their lands (and oil). And Obama's disavowal of the invasion helps in this regard, but there continues to be speculation about "residual forces" remaining in Iraq even after Obama's promised withdrawal of "combat forces."

More tellingly, the bulk of our bases in the region were first established in the wake of the first Gulf War in order to "contain" the threat from Saddam Hussein. Today, Saddam is gone. But the bases aren't. On the merits, there's no need for them. The balance of power in the Persian Gulf is of some interest to the United States, but forces kept "over the horizon" could move into place if for some reason they were needed. Meanwhile, as long as the bases exist, they continue to serve as visible reminders of the ties between the U.S. and Arab autocracies—reminders that speak more powerfully than any speech can.

This is a big dilemma for the Americans. They can't understand why, and refuse to believe that the Arabs don't like their presence. America is a great force of good in the world, but they have to face up to the fact that the people in that region don't see it that way.

They need to pull up the stakes and get out of there. There's nothing in the US Constitution that says America has to protect democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's messy, it's ugly: Let them work it out alone. Don't think of it as a loss but a gain for the good of the country.

Novel Idea from the European Right: Budget Sanity

Anne Applebaum goes to Europe and sees it tilting to the right. For economic reasons:

For the record, Ferguson is, at least by origin, a British Tory. For the record, there aren't any U.S. Republican polemicists making the same arguments in quite as public a way. With a few exceptions, the American center-right's loudest and most articulate voices have been focused almost exclusively on national security for the better part of the last decade. Lip service was paid to "small government" and "reduced spending" while successive Republican Congresses, hand in hand with a Republican White House, enlarged government and spent like crazy. How can they now criticize Obama's possibly lethal budget deficits when their own were so vast, so recently?

None of this is to say that any of Europe's conservatives would necessarily go down well in the United States. (Picture Silvio Berlusconi, paparazzi and alleged teenage mistresses in tow, campaigning in Mississippi.) It's also true that they don't necessarily have much in common: Allegedly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy can hardly stand to be in the same room at the same time. But if nothing else, the success of the European center-right during the current crisis proves that there is something to their political formula. They are fiscally conservative. They are, if not socially liberal, then at least socially centrist. They haven't been swayed by the fashion for big spending. They are trying to keep some semblance of budget sanity. And, at least at the moment, they win elections.

It's not rocket science is it?

Sass Palin: Economic Genius

Sass Palin made the top story on Drudge Report today. In it she gives her opinions on the economy.

HANNITY: You know but it goes back - It does go back a little to the campaign. I mean, ‘spread the wealth, patriotic duty…’

PALIN: Kind of a ‘we told ya so’.

HANNITY: Well, is that how you feel?

PALIN: That’s how I feel! I feel like… and I think that more and more constituents are going to open their eyes now and open their ears to hear what is really going on and realize ok… Maybe we didn’t have a good way of expressing that, or articulating that message of ‘here is what America could potentially become if we grow government to such a degree that we cannot pay for it and we have to borrow money from other countries, some countries that don’t necessarily like America.

Well, what was Sass saying back in the campaign? Listen to her field the question from Katie Couric about bailouts. And GOP diehards say it's a smear to call her stupid:



UPDATE: Palin lays groundwork for 2012 presidential bid

At one event in Auburn, New York, over the weekend, Palin was greeted by the crowd with a revised version of her campaign-trail mantra of "Drill, baby, drill". As she arrived on the podium, the 20,000-strong audience erupted in a chant of "Run, Sarah, run."

What a joke.

Snapshot of a Failed State

Recently I had seen, and written a review of the movie: Battle of Algiers. It depicts a successful guerilla campaign to force the French out of Algeria.

This movie had a great affect on me. I have been studying guerrilla/insurgencies/terrorism movements. It is with interest that I read this compelling AP article: In Algeria, al-Qaida extends franchise

What we see in Algeria is a failed state.

Four years ago, the Algerian terrorists — then known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat — were running out of steam.

Born in an insurgency in 1992, the group took part in a near-civil war the next decade that killed about 200,000 people. But its fighters had lost popular support after killing Muslim civilians. Many leaders had turned themselves in during government amnesties, and the group was weak from internal feuds.

So its new emir or leader, Abdelmalek Droukdel, reached out to the superstar of international jihad: Al-Qaida.

(....)

Still, violence is persistent. Data obtained by the AP from Western diplomats in Algeria shows 85 significant bombings in 2008. Some 639 people died that year because of terrorism-related violence: 409 suspected militants, 158 security force members and 72 civilians.

This year, there were 64 bombings from January to April alone, with deaths of 19 civilians and 61 security force members. The data also shows 167 suspected militants killed amid police sweeps, army raids and aerial bombardments.

Construction entrepreneur Mohammed remembers his terror in February, when he and his son returned late from a construction site, unarmed. They saw five gunmen blocking the road and waiting for them, said Mohammed, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of retaliation.

Clearly, the lesson is that once terrorist, insurgent tactics take hold in a society, it's hard to get rid of them. The French are long gone but the civilian Algerians live a miserable life in fear of bombings and kidnappings.

The extent of Al-Qaida in North Africa is shocking to read. Quietly, that too is becoming a major front for the war on terror. The Europeans are seeing it spread to their own soil:

It shows that the battle against radical Islam in Algeria has become crucial — and not only for North Africa. Intelligence officials throughout Europe are convinced that AQIM [Al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb] wants to expand in their region.

A senior counterterrorism official in France, who was not authorized to talk on the record, told The Associated Press that his services work "daily, constantly" with Algerian security to contain this threat. He says at least six AQIM-related cells, dormant or getting ready for action, have been dismantled across Europe in recent years.

Last month, the Spanish judiciary announced it had caught 12 Algerians from a suspected support cell. And last week, Italian authorities issued arrest warrants for two Tunisians, two Moroccans and an Algerian suspected of plotting attacks on a church and a subway line.

"For now, we've been good," the French official says. "But we've basically been lucky."

This is a very disturbing article. It's seems like yet another smoking volcano in that region. After eight years in the war on terror, it seems the situation is worse, not better.

Poseur Alert

Be prepared when a written piece on pop music is titled: Cultural Sorbet

Random sentence: Waits acted as a palate cleanser, allowing them to care about new sounds once more.

As I've written before: What's with pretentious Tom Waits' fans?

D-Day: Never Forget

Popular Posts

I have some book and movie reviews coming up starting Monday. I'm frustrated and bored by the news lately, so I'm going to take the weekend to re-charge the batteries.

I want to take this opportunity to thank US military members on bases around the world who have read my book review of The Devil's Guard. It's my all time most popular post.

My second ranked is my review of The Afghan Campaign, by Steven Pressfield. I hope Mr. Pressfield reads my review, but I understand he has piles of fan emails to plow through.

Ernie and Bert in Casino

This is as good as it gets on youtube. Language warning.

New Bud Light Ad

No comment from the editorial staff of the Daily Salt Shaker, other than we disapprove of such subject matter. We only post this as a news story.

The Concept Is Irony Grasshopper

David Carradine from the show Kung Fu passed away in Thailand, apparently from suicide.

I don't want to make light of the situation, but Kung Fu meant something to me. I didn't have a word for it at the time, but in hindsight it was irony.

It used to be the only thing on around 1 or 2am when I was in Grade 8 and 9. The show took itself very seriously, but I watched for comedic purposes. I wasn't the only one, and it became a cult club of people at school who watched. We would make Master and Grasshopper jokes and laugh uproariously.

Some people didn't get it and would say: "You watch that show? Geeze, it seems really silly."

To which you would reply: "Are you kidding me? It's not silly, it's profound." This would make Kung Fu cultists laugh harder.

Quentin Tarantino gave a nod to this in Pulp Fiction, with this exchange with a rattled Jules after surviving a shoot out:

Jules: I'll just walk the earth.
Vincent: What'cha mean walk the earth?
Jules: You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung
Fu."

Anyway, no disrespect to David Carradine. I enjoyed his work in my own way. He was a pop culture icon.

Obama's Cairo Speech a Home Run

Even a cynic like me thought Barack Obama made a fantastic speech to the Muslim world today in Cairo. (see the whole thing here.)

Personally, I think we need to get out of the region immediately. That isn't going to happen. So, if the US wants to play the Beacon of Liberty, and continue an influential role over there, the speech hit the exact note. It was honest, he admitted that the US was not perfect, and cited examples on that note. But it was an appeal to the better angels of our nature as human beings. He was asking if the Muslims were up for the task. I have no idea how they took it over there, but from my point of view it seems that it has to influence people.

I've sheltered myself from reaction to it, so far today. I'm not sure what others are saying about it, but I imagine Rush and Ann's heads are exploding right now. No doubt the left wingers are having pillow talk about what they just experienced. I think regular Americans are thinking to themselves: This is why we elected this guy.

Game 4 of the Pittsburgh Penguins v. New Jersey Devils Detroit Red Wings Series Continues Tonight

The Wings are boring. The trap is alive and well.

William Butler Yeats: The Second Coming

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

-1919

Adios Atkins

I needed to lose weight, so took the Atkins Diet route for three weeks. I decided to end it today. Heaven is a ham-on-rye and a brewski. (Beer pictured left)

America In Desperate Need of a Competent Opposition

Poll: Palin, Huckabee, Romney are in the lead for 2012 Republican Ticket.

With Obama and the gang bankrupting the country, there desperately needs to be a decent candidate for the GOP. These religious kooks aren't going to get elected.

I picture Sarah Palin looking for a high five after being pulled from a tank full of spiders on Fear Factor, not somebody in the White House. (Boy, that hockey mom from Alaska looked tough but wait until she has to eat the cockroaches in the next contest!)

Huck is two bits short of being a televangelist who heals people and Romney is a Mormon. Romney seems the more competent of the three, but Mormonism is up there with Scientology.

These people are silly! Republican supporters, you have to do better than this! Turn off Rush Limbaugh for a minute and try to think.

Hitchens Cracks Wise on Religion in Toronto

The National Post has a series asking the question whether the Ten Commandments are really enough for today's society. Up to the plate: Christopher Hitchens

Mr. Hitchens described the first few commandments, those concerning idols and not taking the Lord’s name in vain, as “prolonged throat clearing.” In God Is Not Great he wrote that the Ten commandments could only be man-made because of the “monarchial growling about respect and fear, accompanied by a stern reminder of omnipotence and limitless revenge, of the sort with which a Babylonian or Assyrian emperor might have ordered the scribes to begin a proclamation.”

LOL!

Read the comments below the article. Religious people lash out frantically.

UPDATE: Little known fact: There were originally 15 Commandments

Waste of Time Diplomacy in the Middle East

Obama is going off to Cairo on Thursday, for a highly anticipated speech to the Islamic world. He'll try to make a big impression on the Arabs to stop hating the US:

He has his job cut out for him:

Al-Zawahri urged Egyptians to reject Obama when he makes his speech, calling him "that criminal who came seeking, with deception, to obtain what he failed to achieve in the field after the mujahideen ruined the project of the crusader America in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia."

He said Obama's decision to come to Cairo showed the U.S. had not given up its alliances with dictatorial and corrupt Mideast governments.

"It is a clear message that America does not stand with reform and change and other lying American propaganda, but it stands with the continuation of the existing tyrannical, rotten regimes," said al-Zawahri.

Meanwhile a United States Poll: Few Americans have favorable view of Muslim world

That view compares with 46 percent of the people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey who say they have an unfavorable opinion of Muslim countries. That's up 5 percentage points from 2002, when 41 percent indicated that they had an unfavorable view.

Meanwhile, three in 10 say they have a neutral opinion of Muslim countries.

The poll also suggests that most Americans suspect people in Muslim countries don't think highly of the United States. Nearly eight in 10 questioned say people in Muslim countries have a unfavorable opinion of the United States, with 14 percent saying Muslims hold a favorable view.

But the poll indicates Americans seem to be split on whether such negative opinions by Muslims matter. Fifty-three percent of those questioned say they think Muslim views of the United States matter greatly or moderately, with 47 percent saying that Muslim opinions of the United States don't matter very much or at all.

More and more I'm becoming a isolationist when it comes to the Middle East. Too much trouble, and the American public increasingly don't want to get involved.

Can you see Afghanistan and Iraq becoming full functioning democracies? Allies? Where western tourists visit on holidays? No way. So why are we there? If it's because of oil, we sure have wasted precious lives and lots of money on something we still buy at market price. Maybe if the damn stuff were cheaper....

Modern Financing: Go Straight to Government

Frank Stronach wants to build electric cars:

OTTAWA -- Fresh off his company's acquisition of Germany's Opel, Canadian auto parts magnate Frank Stronach was in Ottawa on Tuesday seeking federal funds to start building electric cars in Canada for sale within as little as three years.

Banks? Private capital? Private investment? Naw, go where they are giving out the free money.

1. I'm sure he'll get the dough.
2. I'm sure the majority of the public will approve, as well.

The Inevitable California Bailout

Peter Schiff makes the case that California should be refused a bailout:

California, like many states, expended its bureaucracy as the nation’s bubble economy inflated. When condos flipped like hamburgers and homeowners flush with equity spent like lottery winners, extra tax revenue flooded into Sacramento. However, instead of saving the money for a rainy day or paying off prior debts, the state government simply ballooned its spending. Now that the bubble has burst, and revenues are severely depleted, it is time for California to reconsider its excesses.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s claim that a federal guarantee is not a bailout is ludicrous. No one in the private sector will lend California any money because the state can’t pay it back. Just like AIG and GM, it needs federal help to stay solvent. And although the Federal balance sheet is in far worse shape than California’s, there is one crucial difference: Washington has a printing press, and Sacramento does not. With the ability to pay off debts with newly created funds, a federal default is not a concern.

However, if Obama comes to the rescue, none of the needed cuts will be made. Instead, California will continue to operate its bloated bureaucracy and will be in constant need of more bailouts. In other words, if Schwarzenegger gets his bailout, look for him to utter his famous line – “I’ll be back.”

But hey, Arnie can be proud of his "green initiatives." What a joke.

You know he'll get the money. I'm finding it very grating to follow the news these days.

Hat Tip: Pat

UPDATE: Not a bad quip from Conan O'Brien about his new show debut

After all those months of breathless network preparation, the program began with a semi-monologue in which O'Brien poked fun at himself. He said he's doing a show on the last-place network and has moved to a bankrupt state to do a show that was sponsored by General Motors.

Why Is a Terrorist Attack So Quickly Dismissed as the Cause for the Missing Air France Plane?

I've been reading and watching on television about the Air France disaster. Investigators don't know what happened, and don't believe lightning and/or turbulence caused it. The crew never radioed a May Day call. Doesn't a bomb and sudden explosion make sense? So why does the New York Times report it this way:

As a search for wreckage began over a vast swath of ocean between Brazil and the African coast, experts struggled to offer plausible theories as to how a well-maintained modern jetliner, built to withstand electrical and physical buffeting far greater than nature usually offers, could have gone down so silently and mysteriously.

There were no suggestions on Monday that a bomb, a hijacking or sabotage was to blame. Whatever of the plane’s final minutes was recorded in its black box may never be known, because it is presumably at the bottom of the Atlantic. As is common with trans-ocean flights, it was too far out over the sea to be tracked on land-based radar from Brazil or Senegal. Whether its location was captured by satellite or other planes’ radar is not known yet.

I find it strange, they have no idea what happened, but rule out a bomb or sabotage?

Updates

It seems that a gazillion things have popped up in the last few days, and my blogging has suffered as a result. Things should be back to normal later today.

50 Billion Smackeroos Buys You...

60% of a bankrupt car company.

The fallen icon of American industrial might will rely on $30 billion of additional financial assistance from the Treasury Department as it reorganizes. That's on top of about $20 billion in taxpayer money GM already has received in the form of low-interest loans.

GM will follow a similar course taken by Chrysler LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in April and hopes to emerge from its government-sponsored bankruptcy this week.

The plan is for the federal government to take a 60 percent ownership stake in the new GM. The Canadian government would take a 12.5 percent stake, with the United Auto Workers getting a 17.5 percent stake and unsecured bondholders receiving 10 percent. Existing GM shareholders are expected to be wiped out.

This is absolutely stunning madness. The leadership of the USA (and Canada) do not know what they are doing.