text:
Says Todd Palin, disgusted that Joe McGinniss is getting attention after putting adequately juicy nuggets in his book about Sarah Palin.
The referenced NYT review is by Janet Maslin, who exposes McGinniss's execrable ethics:
"The Rogue" ... includes this: "A friend says, 'Sarah and her sisters had a fetish for black guys for a while.' " Mr. McGinniss did in 2011 make a phone call to the former N.B.A. basketball player Glen Rice, who is black, and prompted him to acknowledge having fond memories of Sarah Heath. While Mr. Rice avoids specifics and uses the words "respectful" and "a sweetheart," Mr. McGinniss eggs him on with the kind of flagrantly leading question he seems to have habitually asked. In Mr. Rice's case: "So you never had the feeling she felt bad about having sex with a black guy?"...
[McGinniss] even finds a species of Alaska yenta willing to remark on the condition of the Palins' toilet...That last quote might be the most embarrassing sentence written by a journalist that I have ever read.
... Mr. McGinniss suggests both that Ms. Palin is committed to stealth religious control of government, and that she is not sufficiently devout.
With the same imprecise aim he cites conspiracy theories that Ms. Palin may not be the mother of her youngest son, Trig, and questions the circumstances under which he was born. Mr. McGinniss puts forth a provocative case for doubting Ms. Palin's account of Trig's birth, which involved a round trip between Alaska and Texas while she was supposedly in labor. But then he comes to an indefensibly reckless conclusion: "It is perhaps the most blistering assessment of her character possible that many Wasillans who'd known Sarah from high school onward told me that even if she had not faked the entire story of her pregnancy and Trig's birth, it was something she was eminently capable of doing."
ADDED: Here's Filip Bondy in the NY Daily News:
The next time Sarah Palin complains about her treatment by any media member, that reporter might want to inform her that at least he or she is not literally sleeping with sources. Because according to a new book, Palin violated the most basic of journalistic tenets, bedding college basketball star Glen Rice in 1987 when she was a young TV sports reporter for KTUU in Anchorage....
This is the stuff that drives legitimate women reporters nuts, makes members of AWSM (Association for Women in Sports Media) furious because it tears at credibility and plays to false stereotypes. ..


text:
We regularly discuss what anime is new and exciting this season, or what manga we've enjoyed, or what we're looking forward to... and then there are those weekly (or biweekly, or monthly) chapters of a manga that keep coming out and we just keep reading them. They're long past their freshness date, and honestly by the time the next issue comes out you've forgotten what happened last month. I think we all have some, so I figure I'll throw out the main offenders for myself
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi: I remember when I first started this manga I really enjoyed it. For whatever reason I always enjoyed the training in fighting manga more than the fighting, and the beginning of the series was great at turning a wimpy kid into a strong kid. And hey, fan service! Yahoo! Now going over 400 chapters, I haven't read it in a couple of months and thought to myself "What happened?" The story has moved along and there's a huge cast of characters, but with each chapter being only 18 pages on average, NOTHING seems to happen each time a new one is released. I honestly wonder why I even bother. Pretty sure it's the boobs.
Mahou Sensei Negima! (aka Negima! Magister Negi Magi): This one just hurts to list. Love Hina was my favorite manga for most of my high school and college years, and even now holds a special place in my heart (top 5 favorite, for sure). When the series ended and I learned Ken Akamatsu (the mangaka) would be making a new series called Negima!, I was overjoyed! The first arc, which introduced Negi and his class of 30ish high school girls, was rife with comedy, fan service, and magic. The class trip to Kyoto was fun as well! And then... there was the class festival. And the magic world. And for the past several dozen chapters, the only thing that has been happening is a ton of fights. According to what I read online, Akamatsu wanted to make a fighting manga but his publishers were too afraid that it would turn off his fans. So he started in the exact same vein as Love Hina, with a harem romance, and then once it got a good following he slowly changed the formula to a fight manga. I still read it each month when a new issue is released, and I own 21 (!!!) volumes but gave up after I realized that 10 of them are just slow, boring and nothing happens. I can no longer really follow the story (although I read the scans, I don't buy the books anymore).
Just as a note, I really enjoyed the anime but would have rather had some fan service in it, and not have the abrupt (and shocking) events right near the end conjured out of nowhere.
Love in the Mask: Technically manhwa, not manga, but still. Every chapter is practically the same... the main character lives as a boy but is actually a girl, is in love with a boy (who thinks she's a boy but still loves her), but would be soooo much better off if she just said she's a girl... but she never does. Seriously, like 80 chapters follow this formula, where other characters come into the picture, then leave the picture, reinforcing the idea that the girl and boy are perfect together. I actually still enjoy this one, but I just want it to end at this point.
Nurarihyon no Mago: A supernatural fighting manga. At the beginning it held a fair bit of promise with the fun of a kid trying to live as a human while being the successor for the akuma of his clan (he's 1/4th demon). There was also a lot of fun in showing off the different types of Japanese monsters and how they all interact. That was quickly shuffled off to the side and the main action turned to being bigger and bigger fights. Currently in the small fodder gap between fighting arcs, but the next one should (hopefully) end the series. It's dead to me by now anyway.
Fairy Tail: Still keeps me interested, but it's gone on for a loooong time... I enjoyed it before, but again, continuous fight arcs are just so boring after a while. At least RAVE ended eventually.
So, anyone else in the same boat? I imagine followers of Bleach or Naruto would be...
Edited, Jan 21st 2011 3:00pm by LockeColeMA

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The late Paul Conrad's 1991 work "Chain Reaction" is a mass of black chain link shaped into a mushroom cloud. It's in Santa Monica, Calif., where people either love or hate it. Now the end of the world has been delayed long enough for the statue to decay.
'Chain Reaction' Statue In Need Of Repair
By editor • Jul 16, 2012


text:
Skip to comments.Psychologist Analyzes Liberals
Posted on 06/28/2010 7:45:21 AM PDT by bs9021
Psychologist Analyzes Liberals James F. Davis, June 28, 2010
Recently I attended a lecture explaining the Liberal Mind by PhD. psychologist, Timothy C. Daughtry. He gave his explanation as to how such a minority (30%) in the United States has been able to impose its politics on the majority. When using the word Liberal below we are talking about the political Liberal.
Liberals dominate our institutions, i.e., the schools, universities, media, arts, cinema, nonprofits, government bureaucracies, etc. Anyone challenging their monolithic views is ruthlessly attacked to be silenced.
Daughtry stated there are two types of liberals. First are the hard liners. He suggested one is wasting his time trying to convince them of anything since they will not or cannot think about their underlying contradictory assumptions, for example, their contradictory belief in equality for all and affirmative action, i.e., special preferences for a favored group.
If you try to discuss facts, they generally respond with personal insults, try to marginalize you by getting a group of like-minded individuals to condemn you, demonize you by suggesting you have dark motives, make you a laughingstock, etc. Sara Palin comes to mind. One can always tell who in the mainstream that Liberals are frightened of by the ferocity of their personal attacks.
The second type of liberal is the uninformed liberal. That person may listen and analyze factual information if you can get them away from their monolithic liberal group.
In his overview Daughtry explained that the liberal character is all about dominance and power. They use the rules and the goodness of their opposition against them. For example, most people do not like conflict....
(Excerpt) Read more at academia.org ...
Here's a GREAT column from a former life-long socialist in Berkeley..."Liberals Are from Mars, Conservatives Are from Earth" - By Robin of Berkeley
"...since they WILL NOT or CANNOT think about their underlying contradictory assumptions..."
This is the point in a nutshell. Liberals have invested so much in their stance, that it is impossible for them to admit they're wrong. They don't have the emotional maturity to do so.
Amazing answer.
Correct. Much of their personality is rooted in their perceived rectitude of their opinions, and the obtuseness of the rest of humanity in failing to recognize that rectitude.
Yep. That's one of the big differentiators. Their views are not based on facts, they're based on dogma. "Global Warming" is an excellent example of this.
Conservatives have a few hang ups of their own. But, IMHO and in general, I think that conservatives are more fact-driven, and liberals are more emotion-driven.
And, I'd argue that's a good thing, until the balance between the two sides gets too far out of whack....which is where we are right now.
The so-called 'war on drugs' comes to mind. Conservatives normally make arguments based on facts, but the Drug Warrior crowd that self-identifies as 'conservative' always falls back on emotional arguments to justify tyrannical overreach in the name of the WOD (ie. 'if just one child can be saved' yadda yadda yadda).
great article and links in posts.
Liberalism gives passionate, angry expression to all of these and proposes solutions that are irrational and vengeance seeking, which appeals to a lot of people. Liberalism is like a surreal dream where nothing makes sense but everything is compelling. Liberalism takes legitimate concerns and moral feelings, and then goes too far. Liberalism is moral anxiety untempered by wisdom.
The question is more one of, "Where do you draw the line?", IMHO. Is a little pot on the weekend OK? What about heroin or coke? What about the middle aged housewife who has a friendly doctor write a scrip for a few extra pills of OxyContin? Is it OK if it's just for her own use, or is it OK if she gives a few to a friend? What if she sells them?
Then, once a "line" has been determined, how is it enforced? Do you cut off the source? Or do you go after the demand? Right now, we're trying to do both, and accomplishing neither.
Or, do you say "All rightee....anything goes. Sell it all and tax the hell out of it!" I dunno. Society has dug ourselves so deep that I don't think there's a good answer to any of it.
I think that it's entirely possible that America will become a tyrannical state, and it will all be done incrementally "For the Children".
Liberalism is chaos. I recall in college when the Black Student Union took over our Admin. building for a week. It totally disrupted classes and did absolutely nothing but prevent kids from going to school. This is what I see happening now with Obama. He's disrupting our lives and creating chaos. You cannot run a great country like America based on outdated principles of radical 60's socialism. OBAMA IS CHAOS!!!
It's possible to oppose drug legalization and still oppose the war on drugs.
I support laws against recreational drug abuse. But I don't support no-knock warrants, seizure of assets, or the presumption of guilt.
Bump for later
Also, some conservatives become hypocritical when they have to be responsible, personally.
I have a friend who opposes welfare, social spending, government subsidies, supposedly.
When his dad got sick he went to great lengths to hide his asssets, so they could get MediCare or what have you to cover his permanent placement in a nursing home. He complained about how you had to get the house and the car and the money market funds all switched to other people's names for a certain length of time before you could "collect."
So our tax dollars go for the permanent care of a man in a nursing home who could have paid for several months if not years of that care by himself.
Basically, it's just hypocrisy. There is a lack of principle there in my opinion.
I simply have to call BS on this. There is no way he said this. If he did, the man is a hero, seriously. Or crazy, or both! Wow...
This goes both ways, however. This issue has become so politicized, that the facts don't seem to matter to either side. Evolution, the same thing.. sigh...
Postmodernist liberals approach to restructuring society calls forchallenging power on a day-to-day level. Lyotard suggests we gnaw away at the great institutionalized narrative apparatuses... by increasing the number of disruptive skirmishes that take place on the sidelines." Such as:
pick a quarrel with your conservative neighbor;
refuse to buy a certain brand of condensed milk;
surf the net at work;
deface billboards;
sell pirated copies of CDs;
buy fake designer labels;
celebrate fragmentation, diversity, and deviancy;
teach a safe sex course in church or school;
turn vices into virtues;
make the abnormal normal;
legalize sodomy;
decriminalize marijuana;
legalize same-sex marriage;
praise the concept of a living Constitution;
subscribe to MTV;
attend art exhibits by Andy Warhol, a Madonna concert, a performance of the V-Monologues;
view X-rated movies;
protest Christian prayer in government schools;
support the A.C. L.U;
defend NAMBLA;
label Christians and conservatives as right-wing religious fanatics or Fascists;
support the Green Party;
protest under Godin the Pledge;
remove In God We Trust from U.S. money;
support all tax increases;
publicly burn your fur coat;
drink French wine;
help an illegal alien across the border;
keep Intelligent Design out of the schools;
join the anti-globilization protests;>
These can all be viewed as valuable as disruptive skirmishes in the social system by postmodernist liberals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
They Laughed When They Heard I Wanted to be a Rebbe, but When I Started to Teach...
The bell had just rung, but the classroom hadn't settled. Boys were still out of their seats, paper planes traversed the room, and the bustle was clearly audible in the corridor outside. There was a new Rebbe due to start today and the boys were ready to give him a day to remember. Someone cracked a joke; the boys laughed - this was going to be a riot.
I decided that this would be a dramatic moment for me to make my debut. To the amazement of all the boys, I strode confidently to the front of the class, gave a commanding look across the room and ...
"What do you think of his execution?" called a voice from the rear.
"We're in favor of it!" came back the answer, and the room rocked with laughter.
Then I Started to Teach
Instantly a tense silence fell on the boys. The laughter died on their lips as if by magic. What followed was a fantastic lesson: engaging, interactive and informative. The class was spellbound!
I taught on and as I taught I forgot the world outside the classroom. Only the lesson was real. Only the boys and their questions.
As the class filed out at the end of the morning I breathed a sigh of satisfaction.
This was how I was going to make a difference for Klal Yisrael.
How I Learned to be a Teacher
I never expected or planned to be a teacher. I had been learning in Kollel for a number of years but didn't know what I was going to do next. I needed to support my family, wanted to remain in a Kodesh environment and more than anything, felt a burning desire to continue making a difference for Klal Yisrael. One of my friends mentioned Ohr Lagolah - a two year rabbinic leadership and international teacher training program preparing people for positions in klei kodesh.
A phone-call, an application and a couple of interviews later and there I was - enrolled: learning - preparing for semicha, hearing the most amazing speakers on a fantastic range of topics - inspiration, content and skills, and practical hands-on experience - teaching one-to-one, classes and other opportunities. The faculty was fantastic: dedicated and motivated. They really aim to make an impact.
Make an Lasting Impact
Over the last 25 years hundreds of Ohr Lagolah graduates have found positions across the globe as teachers, community rabbis, outreach rabbis or as members of kiruv-kollelim. They offer active and highly successful job placement assistance. My friends and I are now actively contributing to klal Yisrael.
You too, can make an impact on Klal Yisrael. Spend the next two years preparing yourself, learning how to translate Judaism into the language of the 21st century. Immerse yourself in Torah and practical training, bridge the kollel and klei kodesh working worlds, and grow to be a true ben Torah.
Married candidates who are accepted to the Ohr Lagolah Program may receive a monthly stipend.
If you are serious about wanting to make a difference, if you really want to make an impact for Klal Yisrael contact:
Rabbi Jacobs at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach on 02-5810-315 x111 or email email@example.com


text:
Winners from the month of July:
- Winners of The Crimson Cipher by Susan Page Davis: Keli and Merry.
- Winner of Love Finds You in Calico, California: Janet
- Winner of whichever of my books that they choose: Rachel, Jodi, Rebecca
If you haven't heard from me regarding your winning entry, please contact me at belovedfranklin at msn dot com.
This month MaryLu Tyndall is giving away a copy of her book, Surrender the Heart, and I will be giving away 3-4 of my own books (if we reach 46 comments this month, I will give away 4 books!)


text:
Enriching children's lives with food
Family, friends and food were brought together after children attended one particular summer camp at Penn State. Cook Like a Chef teaches children ages 11 to 13 how to cook and gives them the opportunity to experience new foods with guidance from a seasoned chef, Anne Quinn Corr.
The curriculum is stuffed with lessons designed to last a lifetime. "We don't dumb down the recipes and we use the same equipment that the Penn State students use," Corr told parents of the participants. Giving children adult responsibility -- with supervision from Corr and a group of nutrition majors who help out at the camp each summer -- results in a very satisfying, enriching experience for the children.


text:
Purchase Your NCAA Tournament Tickets Now And Earn A Chance To See Martina McBride
By ODU Athletics
Dec. 12, 2005
NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion University and the Ted Constant Convocation Center will host the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament lst and 2nd round, March 19 and 21, 2006. All fans purchasing a tournament ticket book prior to January 12 will be entered to win one of six pairs of tickets to the Martina McBride concert at the Constant Center on Sunday, January 15. The four-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year will bring her "Timeless" tour to Norfolk that evening at 7:30 p.m.
Martina McBride's powerhouse voice has earned her more than 15 million album sales, six number one hits, 20 Top 10 singles and a bevy of honors. Her fiery, passionate vocals have created such signature hits as "Independence Day", "Wild Angels", "A Broken Wing", "Blessed" and "This One's For The Girls".
NCAA tournament books are $45 for adults and $30 for children 17 and under and include admission to four games on Sunday, March 19 and two games on Tuesday, March 21. Eight of the top women's basketball teams in the nation will come to Norfolk to compete, and should Old Dominion participate in the tournament, they will compete at the Constant Center.
Tickets can be purchased at the Constant Center box office daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or by calling 757-683-4444.


text:
Garden Detective: Poetry contest winners
Last month I asked readers to let their creative writing juices flow. The instructions were simple: Send in an original poem of exactly seven lines that embraces seven things about your garden.
I was awestruck by how many local gardeners answered my call, and equally impressed by how much heart and soul was put into each of the beautiful works I received that embodied this year's contest theme: Lucky Seven. Some entries were amusing, others sentimental, and all a pleasure to read. Picking the winners wasn't easy (I spent Memorial Day weekend hemming and hawing), as every submission was deserving of an honor.
Eileen Melia Hession rose to the top of the heap with her lament, "Impatiens Replacements." Sanford H. Weinberg takes second place for "Ode to Nature's Flowers." And in third place we have Rosalie Silverman for her ode "Seven Months." Everyone else gets a well-deserved Garden Detective high-five! Well played, readers!
GRAND PRIZE: Eileen Melia Hession, Long Beach
"Impatiens Replacements"
The Impatiens respite: what a fuss!
This flower was ubiquitous,
Now its leggy stem and moldy leaf
Is causing quite a lot of grief!
Daisy? Lilac? Rose? Phlox? Mum?
Tulip? Sweet pea? ... this is dumb!
Fellow gardeners, hear my rant: Nothing can supplant this plant.
SECOND PLACE: Sanford H. Weinberg, Plainview
"Ode to Nature's Flowers"Observing my garden of exquisite flowers basking in the bright sun
I tremble with joy and contentment at the reflection of jewel-toned mallows
And the fluttering of monarchs to them drawn. My eyes feast complacently upon the myriad
Colors of zinnia, orange, purple, pink and white, mauve snapdragons, violet angelonia,
Pretty calibrachoa and golden marigolds. I breathe deeply and with joyful appetite
The sweet fragrance of lantana, hues of red, yellow and lavender, which make my heart go
Aflutter. Thank God for the opportunity to enjoy the delights of flowers.
THIRD PLACE: Rosalie Silverman, Commack
"Seven Months"
January, plan the new garden
February, I watch the snows mound
March, peruse the garden catalogs
April, waiting for the chill to pass
May, plant, plant, plant
June, water, water, water
July, dinner salads with crisp garden vegetables.
Daffodils come first, both yellow and white, bringing Spring's early delight.
Tulips come second, in bunches so pleasant.
Pansies are silly, but handy when chilly.
Azaleas my favorite, hardy and heavenly.
Ornamental Grasses, some growing fast, others like molasses.
Gladiolus, so gorgeous creating flowers through August.
Ode to my old friend Impatiens, I will wait for your return with great patience!
--Jerry Bilinski, Riverhead
"Enchanted Garden"
For miracles to happen, please observe the grace my Japanese
Maple drapes upon lace ferns, where my cat stalks the peace she yearns
within my garden's foliage, now poised upon the holy edge
of beauty, near where God will sway you with his feathered astilbe,
whose delicacy steals the focus from life's cycle claiming crocus
within the aura of lilac, where there is nothing that I lack
upon my deck, beneath my pine, absorbing wonder, sipping wine.
--Ken Fisher, Franklin Square
"Gardens: God's Reason the World Goes On"In my garden I plant some seeds
Make sure the soil is free of weeds.
Check that the soil gets the water it needs
And I wait and see where all this leads
The flowers bud and the leaves grow
The colors present an awesome show
God's creations give my soul a glow.
-- Frances Pergolizzi, West Babylon
Garden dead
"No, I'm not!"
What's that green thing poking up?
Oriental Lilies
Rose bush, too!
Sandy-garden middle finger to you!
--Lillian Baum, Long Beach
"Six I Love and One I Have Learned to Accept"
My roaming gnome has hit the road.
He took along my garden toad.
The creeping phlox has crept away,
And rose and daisy wouldn't stay.
My heather's left for hither and yon.
The mole is back, my garden is gone.
-- Edie Emeritz, Medford
"Seven Steps to a Successful Garden"
One master plan
Two wheelbarrow loads of compost
Three packets of seeds
Four trays of plants
Five digging tools
Six hours of planting and watering
Seven hours of sleep to recuperate!
--Patricia Barker, Uniondale
"I Love"
I love growing melons and berries for dessert.
I love compost and manure.
I love digging in the dirt.
I love the smell of fresh-tilled soil.
I love the task of planting seeds.
Did you notice when listing the seven things I love,
I didn't mention weeds?
--Donald E. Allen, Amity Harbor
Sandy soil.
Sand-loving plants.
Sandy Storm wipes them out.
Start all over.
Sow my seeds.
Springtime showers.
Sprouting sand-loving plants.
--Maura McCabe, Freeport
"If My Tomatoes Only Knew!"
Competing in the Tomato Challenge since 2006
My beefsteaks and bigboys are feeling the 7-year itch
My tomatoes are all so big and so round
No wicked witch potion all naturally grown from my ground
I wait and I watch as they ripen and grow
Finally becoming the 2013 Tomato Queen
Will make a really great show!
--Janet Hart, Lindenhurst
"My Picture Book Garden"
On page one of my picture book are colorful flowers wherever you look
Page two illustrates the work it takes to sow those flowers and make them grow
A deep red azalea and a blooming dogwood tree can be found on page three
Pictures of my pups digging paw over paw are found on page number four
Butterflies dance among the flowers on page five and make my garden even more alive
Page six shows a robin from blue egg to fledgling, all done without my meddling
Lastly, me relaxing in my garden heaven is found on page number seven
--Elaine Anne Pasquali, Dix Hills
Always impatient to plant every spring
Even though gardening isn't really my thing.
Now you're gone because of a disease.
You were great in the shade.
I took care of you with ease.
Our first year apart, we miss you already.
I hope to find a replacement, as pretty and steady.
--Peter Koutsoukos, Malverne
I am older, I won't fool you
But my plants don't seem to care
I sit upon my rolling stool
And plant them everywhere
So love the Spring, Enjoy the Fall
Let Summer thrill you too
When winter comes only memories will do
--Rosalie Yuknis, Stony Brook
I put you in the ground to grow. You really spread your roots
I didn't want to say goodbye or give you the boot.
I simply had to confine you to pots and other things
I snip you for my summer tea, smash and muddle you for a mojito spree.
I rub your leaves together ... mmmnnn you really smell so sweet.
I toss you in my Sunday sauce ... for that you can't be beat.
I know summer can't be far behind ... Yes I love you, mint ... dear little herb of mine.
--Maria R. DiBenedetto, Wantagh
"Ode to Seven Annuals"
Showstar Melampodium basking in the sun,
Torenia the Clown in clusters are fun.
Million bell petunias cascading in pots,
Vinca color my window box.
New Guinea Impatiens never try mine,
Scarlet Begonias in shade or shine.
Dahlias do dazzle . .. It's summertime!
--Mark Keller, Garden City
"My Garden"
Love to plant and watch things grow — it sometimes seems so very slow;
Love the Spring and the Summer — it brings lots of fragrant flowers like no other;
Love to catch a rainbow just formed — it never seems to last very long;
Love the butterflies taking a rest — funny when it lands on a little bird's nest;
Love the sounds of night raindrops falling — keeps me awake til the morning;
Love the vast colors seen by my eyes — feel always pleasantly surprised;
Love to slow down in the hot part of day — oh just remember to water before the next day …
--Dee Lodato, West Babylon
"Lucky Seven"
Hydrangeas, with their heavenly blue snowball appearance and velvety allure, make me feel deeply beautiful and completely couture.
In pink, red and white, my azaleas sport such a color riot that my garden is anything but quiet.
My rhododendrons, which are truly a gift from heaven, always give me angelic and spiritual pleasure beyond measure — twenty-four/seven.
Peonies, a joy to behold, fill me with happiness beyond compare and keep me tending them with the most gentle care.
The beautiful yellow hue of my forsythias, which shine brighter than the sun, continually make me think of having nonstop fun.
Lilacs, with their soft shade of lavender and precious fragrance, add a luscious essence so sweet; thus making my garden joyously complete.
My rose bushes, while dispensing beauty and love, shower me with God's grace and never fail to put a smile on my face.
--Susan Galligan, Amityville
"Garden Treasure"
It's one of the seven deadly grins, as I crush a grub or Gypsy Moth that spins.
The seventh month, July, wish I, that in all the universe, weeds must die.
The seventh day of rest is not, as the call to the wild, to garden, beckons.
'Twas the seventh year of life, I watched, as Father's corn was planted.
Which, 24/7 is why, I never fail to try to duplicate that twinkle, his eye.
Pulling radish from the earth, greater gift than all of heaven's mirth.
The gold of garden's treasures, true, the garden, promised, source of birth.
--Michael Albert, Port Jefferson
"Seven Feet Seven Inches"
My gardening bed is all of seven feet
How I can't wait for my hands and soil to meet
Seven types of tomatoes surely can't be beat
I have a thumb that's brown, so this is truly a feat
Among the crop are beefsteak and cherries oh so sweet
Weeding and feeding, watering and some peat
Welcome to my garden . . . all of seven feet
--Jacquie Johnson, Lynbrook
"Lucky Seven"
Begonias, marigolds, tomatoes and squash oh my . . .
What else should we give a try?
Mommy, daddy and daughters plant away . . .
What better way to pass the day.
This Mother's Day tradition we shall never break . . .
As we all wonder "grow already for goodness sake!"
Patience my girls . . . Mother Nature will do the rest.
--Renee Mancuso, West Babylon
"Rustler in the Garden"
The nomenclature doesn't truly matter.
Somewhere it found its own pocket of earth
A lacy-leafed fern that added not an ounce of color.
Obdurate root sprouted its leaves from the moist soil
Like an Alfalfa cowlick of mint green,
Pushed aside the variegated leaves of a neighbor and
Trumpeted its independence.
--Sy Roth, Mount Sinai
"All Eyes On Me"
Black-eyed Susan, looking at me.
Greetings from the Buzzing Bee
Swooshing birds and butterflies,
Wave to me as they fly by.
Dripping, Juicy Berry Tree
Some for the Birds and some for me.
And my garden's sound? A Symphony.
--Carmen Rose Chianese, Sound Beach
Compost, soil & shovel work, to compose a comfy bed
Visions of the perfect plants dance within our head
We wish for sun and pray for rain
Our backs they ache and twitch in pain
Oh what is it we wish to gain
Undaunted though we plow ahead, no matter what it takes
With dreams of heirlooms big and red, next to our grilled steaks
--Peter Berdan, Center Moriches
"The 7th Garden"
I finally caught April, the twit, before it came sniveling and strewing the seeds of weeds
A garden attempt every year for seven to finally worm my fingers in the soil and know the dark moods from the cheery buds
Caked-dirt of earth beneath my nails, bees charmed by new beginnings, petal by petal, I'm set for the magical unfolding
I'll conjure the lilies laced lilt, brace for the peonies pop, address the regal roses correct as I will the twists
of the wisteria toward the brambles that once stuck in my hair's tangles before I saw to gather it back
Then I'll yield to the cool, edible October, hanging round and high, just shy of seven months above my succulent plenty
to look at, to share, to taste, and to say, "Look what I have made — didn'<NO><NO1>t we all get lucky."
--Noreen McAllister-Bifulco, Port Jefferson Station
"Dances With Flowers"
With Dreams of Lovely Gardens, With Strategic Plans all Set.
We — Patient and Kind, New York Gardeners — Are Ready to Get,
The Most Astounding Gardens — that One Has ever Met!
With our Fearless Leader — Garden Detective Jessica Damiano,
With her Loving Guidance, and our Heartfelt Prayers,
Our Visions of Landscape Beauty
Await our Awestruck Stares!"
--N. Anne Margaret, Holtsville
"Seven Sisters"
Seven sisters in crooked rows
Lavender, lilac and beautiful rose
Peony, tulip and daffodil
Lovely ladies, my heart be still
Stately blossoms proudly stand
Stargazer lily, none other so grand
Heavenly scents waft over land.
--Linda Frohlinger, Massapequa
"My Garden"
Ah, lilacs blooming bring a smile, that makes me linger here awhile.
Roses budding . . . what a joy to see, My Garden coming alive for me.
My Hostas ring around my trees, their leaves are quivering in the breeze.
Daylilies in profusion grow, putting on their colorful show . ..
Lilies of the Valley and my Butterfly Bush always cause me a bit of a rush
But, when I see my rosy Azalea, Now that's a plant that'll never fail ya! and
When I get a whiff of my Honeysuckle vine, it's simply divine!
Ann Brusca, Middle Island
"Broccoli Rabe"
Start by pulling off the broccoli rabe leaves
and fry with olive oil and garlic, please
Then eat the broccoli rabe with Italian bread
or make a broccoli rabe omelet instead
Try adding broccoli rabe to soups and stews
or toss pasta with broccoli rabe, now that's news
Broccoli raab can't be beat for a real taste treat
--Elaine Anne Pasquali, Dix Hills
"Daffodil Septet"
Narcissistic bloom
Spring's first, bright yellow pinwheel
Towers over the little pansy
Who peeks out of the cool shade
With its monkey-faced
Three petals
--Terri Donahue, Center Moriches
There were gusts of wind, dust storms, summer drought
Rationing and a limit, paper plates, less baths, for animal only
I put away water every day in a tank for my garden to feast on
My neighbors complained that I was cheating, used a magical well
I protested that I've been saving what was not used underground
So to the water, sunlight, weeding, mulching, right temperature, to the pick
Green, yellow, red hot peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, spices, squash, pumpkin
--Harward Steven Brown, Westbury
Goodbye to the dreary days when the garden was so bare
Spring brought back the happy days with flowers everywhere
The crocus and the daffodils and tulips bloom with glee
Showing their brilliant colors and shouting "look at me"
Next on stage come peony, lily, dahlia and rose
A quartet of beauty defying human prose
Their show is short but have no fear, they promise to come back next year
--Dorothy Carbo, Wappingers Falls
"(Lost In) Plant Space"
There are so many more, here are just a few gardening tools needed to do what you do
1. Gloves — Rough, callous hands are something that nobody loves
to protect them in your work you can use gloves.
2. Rake — Cultivation's an art to make soil fertile, smoothing ground without a rake would
be futile.
3. Hoe — A hoe is an implement everyone needs til the end of time to help rid us of weeds.
4. Pitchfork — For loosening dirt and to aerate the soil use a pitchfork, a tool to lessen your toil.
5. Spade — I know it's been said that a spade is a spade how on earth without, can you get
your bed made?
6. Wheelbarrow — From compost pile to garden will leave a gulch running a wheelbarrow's
best for mixing mulch.
7. Hose — with some sunshine, nutrients, water and care in no time you'll see the
bulbs bursting in air!
--Tim Kaler, Brentwood
"Garden of Gratitude"
When irises borrowed from my mom's garden bloom
When clusters of saffron daylilies loom
When forsythia and bell-like foxglove stand tall
When the fragrance of trellised roses calls
When grape hyacinths surround a stone cherub with glee
When hollies sprout bright new berries, you'll see
The garden is Spring's greatest glory.
--Kathy Levine, Long Beach
"My Garden — May 14"
Spirea's veil is dingy; the tulip's out of town.
The dogwood's creamy petal
Has an edge of rusty brown.
But dainty Miss Ajuga wears
A dress of cobalt blue,
And salmon pink azalea
Blazes next to loyal yew.
--Sara Jane Witkin Berman, East Williston


text:
United States (Español)
Willamy Freire
When and why did you start training for fighting? I started when I was 12 years old, training Muay Thai. I started fighting MMA when I was 15 years old. I started because I love to fight.
What ranks and titles have you held? I'm the Shooto South American Champion and World Shooto Champion.
Do you have any heroes? Wanderlei Silva
What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? My dream come true.
Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? I finished 2 degree in Brazil; for United States it's like 1 step before the university.
What was your job before you started fighting? I never had a different job, just fighting.
Favorite grappling technique: Arm Lock
Favorite Striking technique: Kick to head
Getty Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this image or clip. If you violate our intellectual property you may be liable for: actual damages, loss of income, and profits you derive from the use of this image or clip, and, where appropriate, the costs of collection and/or statutory damages up to $150,000 (USD).


text:
We don't know whether The Rockwell's kitchen is the cleanest in London, however we do know that it is has been awarded 5 out of 5 for hygiene by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Congratulations to all our kitchen staff who continue to serve excellent food. Our restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is well worth a try.


text:
Moderators: December, Bronze Haired Girl, cullengirl
vampirechick101 wrote:It will be amazing if The Host had a sequel. I loved the Host so much and maybe in the sequels we'll get to see what happened in Jared and Melanie's relationship as well as Ian and Wanda's. Maybe Kyle will be nicer now that he has Sunny
I really hope they have a sequel!!
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


text:
Great! It's comforting to be right when I am wrong so often I was wondering if the terms might be almost interchangeable or if people for ease of writing used machi for both machi and emoto.
I still don't understand the need/desire for the machi, it looks to me to be a place for food to collect. Why is there a machi on some knife styles and not on others? At first I thought it might be a mistake where the handle cut out was too shallow
IMHO, YMMV, my $.02, etc...
ETA: Either way, this handle looks really nice. I think everyone should use the tapered ferrule, seems like it would be more comfortable, and it looks awesome.
Just want to report on the edge retention on Marko's current HT: i have had the knife for about a 1.5 months and i only sharpened it the first day i got it. I have touched it up twice on diamond strop and once on jnat for a smoother edge as i was slicing scallops very thin. it only requires a few passes on strop and will come right back and hold it for over a week in a pro kitchen. I am not easy on my edges either we are a busy restaurant and don't have time for that haha.
anyways just so you guys know great edge retention as well as expected i guess nothing but the best from Marko!


text:
Cristiano Ronaldo the superhero, Lionel Messi the sorcerer, or Andres Iniesta the architect - who will be crowned winner of the FIFA Ballon d'Or this year?
Barcelona's pint-sized magician, Messi, is bidding to become the first player to win the award in four successive years, to seal the Argentine's status as the greatest player of his generation.
The 25-year-old is the overwhelming favourite to see off the challenge of Barca team-mate Iniesta, and great Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo for the prestigious prize.
It will crown another landmark year for Messi, who is the top scorer in La Liga this season with 25 goals, having also broken Gerd Mueller's 40-year record for the most goals in a calendar year, finishing 2012 with an astonishing 91 goals in all competitions.
Portugal captain Ronaldo admits he would love to win his first Ballon d'Or since 2008, but added it would not be the end of the world if the prize went elsewhere.
Iniesta, meanwhile, looks set to miss out despite playing a pivotal role not only for Barcelona over the past 12 months, but also in Spain's record-breaking triumph at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Messi and former French star, UEFA president Michel Platini, are the only players to win three straight Ballon d'Or awards, while Dutch stars Johan Cruyff and Marco Van Basten have also won three accolades apiece.
All three nominees will be in action one last time before Monday night's ceremony in Zurich, as Real Madrid take on Real Sociedad, and Barcelona face Espanyol in La Liga on Sunday evening.
Watch the video teaser below and leave a comment on who you think will be crowned football's king of the world with this year's FIFA Ballon d'Or.
Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: https://www.givemesport.com/writeforgms


text:
A fire broke out inside a Grifton mobile home Monday morning after a the man who lived there tried to pour the wrong type of fuel in a heater and he caught fire.
It happened on Smith Street in the Pitt County town of Grifton. A family member says around 10:30 this morning, Marvin Phillips tried to put more fuel inside the heater when it caught fire. We're told he mistakenly put regular gasoline in the kerosene heater and Phillips was severely burned on his legs and taken to the hospital and treated and released.
"When you have that equipment in the house and you're use it have a 3-feet clearance and make sure the room is ventilated.," said Shannon Terry with Greenville Fire/ Rescue
Earlier this month pastor Solomon Adams was taken to the Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill after he turned on the heater at the Love Tabernacle Church in Pinetown and the heater exploded. He was still at the burn center Monday and now listed in fair condition.


text:
April 9, 2006
Nuking Iran.
72 comments:
- MadisonMan said...
Well come on! Bush and those who work for him have done a heckuva job in Iraq! I suspect the drumbeat for war will start in plenty of time for the election. We certainly can't decide something like this using anything close to quiet reflection!
But seriously -- I agree with you. This can't be true. Really -- it just can't. The Israelis say that Iran will implode. Why would the USA open up another front?
- Scott said...
I don't think there is much to it. I have a funny feeling that the guys at Pentagon have dozens of plans on file for dealing with Iran and the is probably the 'worst case senario' plan. I have a feeling this was leaked to attempt to put the fear of Allah into the Mullahs in hopes that the will reign their President in. Question is, will it work?
- chuck b. said...
Is using bunker busters to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities the same thing as "nuking Iran"?
With the bunker buster, most of the explosion happens underground. I think that means it's not so much a Hiroshima/Nagasaki scenario.
(I'm not saying it's okay...I haven't wrapped my mind around it either.)
- Sean said...
If you have followed Seymour Hersh over the years, he is phenomenally unreliable. Yet his work keeps getting printed. So it must be that his stories check out, i.e., that he explains his sources to his editors and they are real. That being the case, my theory has always been that certain sources within the military-intelligence bureaucracy use him primarily as a conduit (witting or unwitting, I am not sure) for disinformation.
- Goatwhacker said...
I have to agree with Sean, Seymour Hersh is wrong a LOT. I'm not sure I've ever seen him use an attributed source. I will say he seems to hate all presidents equally.
I believe he was the guy that said the Army wouldn't make it halfway to Kabul before we went into Afghanistan, though I'm just going by memory here.
- ignacio said...
Hersh has a known agenda, is unreliable and never called on his exaggerations or misstatements later on, but in any case -- get ready for War with Iran.
This isn't exactly news to anyone who's been paying the tiniest bit of attention. Moreover, the mullahs believe they can win.
- Johnny Nucleo said...
Nukes are on the table. How else do you take out the facilities? Every military blog I've read says that other then invasion, bunker-buster nukes are the only sure way. We should take Bush at his word. He will not allow Iran to get nukes.
Iran must not get nukes. Diplomacy will fail. Where does that leave us? Invasion or nukes. Choose.
- Alan said...
It's better them than us. Come on, this whole thing is about nuclear weapons. We can't play De'tente with friggin religious whack jobs.
- Captain Ned said...
If you've got a better way of dealing with ImAMadDinnerJacket that doesn't consign Israel to destruction, I'm all ears.
- quietnorth said...
its funny how people are responding to the topic:
1. Hersh is unreliable, nothing to look at here!
2. Of course we have to nuke Iran!
From everything I read, most people in Iran hate the current Iranian regime. The Bush administration seems determined to do everything it can to put the Iranian people in the Mullah's corner.
- chezDiva said...
The operative word is "plan". In the military there are two types of "planning". First there are the plans that you will definately carry out. Second are the contingency plans which are based on possible scenarios. Good contingency planners look at worst case, best case and most likely scenarios.
Planning occurs at different levels such as at the Pentagon and at the Combatant Commands (e.g. CENTCOM). You could easily imagine a scenario where Iran has used a Nuclear weapon and the USA retaliates. That could legitimately be called a "plan". That doesn't mean that we plan to attack Iran only that we have contingency plans in place to handle that particular action by Iran.
- HaloJonesFan said...
It's been said, but I'll say it too: I read up until "Seymour Hersh", and then I stopped reading. Honestly, the guy's as bad as Pete Salinger.
- Alan said...
QuietNorth, I'd be happy if the Iranian People overthrew their whack job government. But there's a tipping point for when we need to act. I don't know when that is, but to deny its existence can be fatal to many people besides Iranians. And I'd be more inclined to believe Bush more capable of seeing that tipping point than the current Democratic Party leaders, who collectively seem to be staking their hope for political power on the failure of the United States in the Middle East.
- Balfegor said...
1. Hersh is unreliable, nothing to look at here!
2. Of course we have to nuke Iran!
I'd stop short of the full "we have to nuke Iran!" but we'd be fools if we didn't make perfectly clear that ultimately, that option is on the table. We have nukes as a deterrent. A deterrent is worthless if no one actually thinks you'll use it.
On the other hand, given Hersh's record, we can't take anything in the article as substantiated. The Bush administration is probably seriously considering detonating nuclear warheads across Iran. And perhaps some military personnel really have tried to take that option off the table, and been overruled by the civilian authorities. But I doubt the option has been finalised.
On yet another hand (the gripping hand?) we've had experience threatening prospective nuclear powers with nuclear oblivion if they didn't abandon their nuclear program. South Africa -- I think it was the USSR that first verified a successful nuclear detonation in South Africa, and then we and the USSR made plain that if South Africa did not abandon their nuclear ambitions, we would destroy them. They made a great show of filling in their facilities with cement, but they kept at it anyhow, and even developed a number of sophisticated implosion-type devices, only giving them up, at the end, because they did not want the Black governments after apartheid to have nuclear weapons (or so I understand). From this we might draw a conclusion: that threatening to blow them up isn't going to work. They know what happened in South Africa, and they know they can wait us out. So that inclines against Bush's threat. But what we also know (from just about every proliferation incident in the past 40 years) is that diplomacy doesn't work either -- there's just no meaningful downside to having nuclear weapons, especially for Iran, given the proximity of the Arabian oilfields. Nukes are a blank check for them, if they care to cash it.
Now, if Bush can convince them that he's crazier than they are, then possibly Bush's threat-strategy will succeed. But I don't think he can do that, because they know (or will think they know, like Saddam Hussein) that before any American nuclear attack, we need to clear things with China and Russia, both of which are quite friendly with Iran.
I think that our best bet, as always, is for concerns about domestic instability to incline against the regime's permitting the successful development of doomsday weapons with which they could someday be threatened (a la South Africa). But the regime does not seem to have reached that conclusion, and given the kinds of people they've got in power, I don't think we can expect them to show much restraint, once they have nuclear weapons.
- Bruce Hayden said...
I don't find it credible that the Administration is seriously considering nuclear weapons. I do find credible that the military has contingency plans for using them, as it does for hundreds of other scenerios, including what can/should we do if the PRC invades Taiwan, N. Korea invades S. Korea, etc. That is what planning staffs do, and occasionally, but very rarely, do these plans get dusted off and used.
I also question the "General" speaking. If he is indeed in active service, he is in the know, and if the plan is real and imminent, look for a military court marshal - which is why I doubt his credentials. This would be the illegal disclosure of classified information, including war plans, and isn't taken lightly by the military, at least in this Administration.
If the rumor did indeed originate within this Administration, I expect that it is intentional misinformation aimed at pushing the Iranians into giving up their nuclear ambitions.
- Simon said...
It's never going to happen. Now, I can believe that the Israelis will do so, a rerun of the Osirak strike. I can even believe that they would do so as surrogates for the United States (certainly, that will be how it will be interpreted on Al Jazeira) rather than purely of their own motives, but I simply don't believe that we will see a direct U.S. strike on Iran.
It's just a little too tinfoil-hatted, it smells a little too much of these "Bush is eveil" types - "what can we say he's planning next?" Prior to the last election, there's a chap I know passingly out from California who predicted stridently that the election would never happen. It happened. Shortly thereafter, he declared that Bush would never leave office. Bush will, at the end of January 2009. There was a chap who posted "uncontrovertable evidence" that there would be a skills draft on February 1st, 2005, to be followed by a general draft that summer. Neither took place. Now the same sorts of people who brought us these blockbusters are saying that we're about to nuke Iran. Forgive me if I don't get up.
- Sloanasaurus said...
It is good to have someone like Bush whom people may think would be crazy enough to nuke Iran. The Russians thought Reagan was crazy enough to use nukes which is why they took Reagan seriously.
Instead if Hearsh was writing articles saying bush was a big wussie, we would have many more problems then we do with the nuclear threat.
- Maxine Weiss said...
USA should take the lead. No one else is going to clean up the Mid-East. Better to get it over with sooner rather than later.
And, it's no scarier than Clinton's bombing Kosovo, or Britain's bombing the Balkins.
Sometimes you have to force a confrontation....
Peace, Maxine
- Brando said...
We can't play De'tente with friggin religious whack jobs.
and when the friggin religious whack job is the president "god speaks to me" of the united states?
- Finn Kristiansen said...
I presume then that everyone has bought into the premise that some nations should have nukes, and that others should not?
Is the primary purpose of getting nukes to use them? Or to keep other nations from interfering in one's own country?
There is probably no tactical or practical value to any nation actually using nukes after aquiring them. It means instant death of that nation (if used against the U.S. or the other major powers).
It takes a certain level of superior thinking to just assume that much of the world, even the Arab/Persian world, is filled with crazies.
The policy of trying to keep nations from acquiring nukes is outdated and defies human nature. To maintain a no-nuke stance will mean fighting real battles that cannot be won. And bombing alone won't do what needs to be done in any conflict with Iran.
I suspect someone in the government is just floating a balloon, or trying to provoke actions and reactions in Iran.
- Johnny Nucleo said...
"I presume then that everyone has bought into the premise that some nations should have nukes, and that others should not?"
Are you suggesting that the nuclear club be opened? This is madness, man! When tin-pot dictators get nukes we will have nuclear war.
Even if nukes are the best option, we won't use them because we are a rational power. We will choose another way, a way that will cost many American lives (and we will blame Bush) but we will not use nukes.
We cannot allow non-rational powers to get nukes.
- Jacques Cuze said...
You lawyers should consider reading the articles before you post on them.
One of the military's initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites.
This is not nuclear weapons as a deterrent or a contingency.
This is the use of a nuclear weapon as a first-strike tactical method to destroy an Iranian facility.
Google up more on this bunker-buster and you will find that it can only penetrate 20 feet into dry ground and that it will create quite an enormous amount of fallout. It is very dirty.
Osama's nuclear device is labelled a "dirty bomb" conveying the impression that America's B611-11 is "clean" The "dirty bomb" is developed from nuclear waste.
America's tactical nuclear weapons are said to be "safe" in comparison to those of Osama. Administration statements suggest, in this regard, that a so-called "low-yield" earth penetrating tactical nuclear weapon such as the B61-11 would "limit collateral damage" and therefore be relatively safe to use.6
These new buzz words are being spread by the US media to develop public support for the use of "tactical nuclear weapons" against an an opponent which now possesses nuclear capabilities. Yet the the scientific evidence on this issue is unequivocal: the impacts on civilians of the "low yield" B61-11 would be devastating "because of the large amount of radioactive dirt thrown out in the explosion, the hypothetical 5-kiloton weapon ... would produce a large area of lethal fallout."
Hey, don't look at me, all you poor victim Christian nutjobs are happy with the President that God speaks through.
And you insist that at 36% approval, the President and your own views are the American mainstream, and the other 64% of America has Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Well Madisonman, at 36%, maybe the President is thinking that if he invades Iran he can get the country to support him once again.
Suddenly even Ms. Althouse is tasting a bit of vomit in her throat.
- Jacques Cuze said...
Are you suggesting that the nuclear club be opened? This is madness, man! When tin-pot dictators get nukes we will have nuclear war
Did you read the article?
- Jacques Cuze said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- Jacques Cuze said...
I'm trying to get my mind around this story. It can't be, can it?
The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi's role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the "U.S. Home Audience" as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.
- Chum said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- Jonathan said...
Did someone leave the door to the bat cave open?
- Johnny Nucleo said...
The Hersh article is propaganda. Wheels within wheels.
If we use nukes to take out Iran's nuclear program I won't be surprised. I think it's unlikely and probably dumb, but it might not be.
Do we have to stop Iran from getting nukes or don't we? If we don't, you're right, we should do nothing. If we do, then what should we do?
- anonymouscoameq said...
Using nuclear weapons on population centers is not being considered, only on burried underground facilities for which there are no other weapons that can destroy them.
The decision to attack Iran is a difficult one.
The events of 9/11 should make us aware that the unthinkable is possible. If the 9/11 terrorists had nuclear weapons would they have used them? Those terrorists sincerely believed that they were doing something good and would go to heaven for it.
Iran has already attacked Americans with proxy terrorists. The president is responsible for protecting the country and its citizens.
- Palladian said...
Jonathan, they're attracted to quxxo's stench. Like flies on sh... well, you know.
- Jacques Cuze said...
Do we have to stop Iran from getting nukes or don't we? If we don't, you're right, we should do nothing.
You have fallen into the fallacy of the excluded middle. It is not an either/or situation.
We should do what we can and what is reasonable to keep them from getting nukes. We should not do what is not reasonable and we should not do what is detrimental. As we did in Iraq.
It should be noted that respected experts believe that a nuclear Iran is not the problem that it is made out to be. And I am Jewish and a supporter of Israel, and fully aware what a nuclear Iran with missiles can do to Israel. But it is also noted that Israel is currently not was worried about a nuclear Iran as the United States is.
It is also signifant to note that many experts believe Iran is 5-10 years away from getting a nuclear weapon.
Remember President Rice telling us "But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Turns out Saddam had no WMD and no WMD program.
It is also noted that the Iranian people are not Arabs and the people themselves are very educated, relatively western, and were not too long ago (as in 4 years, not 30 years) reforming and democratizing.
Rather than beome the first nation to NUKE another nation in 60 years, and in fact the only nation to do so ever, a situation which would certainly make the United States a pariah across the world, it may be better to try alternative plans.
Encourage trade. Encourage westernization. Encourage democracy. Ratchet down the threats. Encourage Iran's participation in the NPT. Strengthen the IAEA as is needed. Hold a regional summit on the problem of Iraq and invite the Iranians.
Get better intelligence. Use the time to create better, non-nuclear bunker busters.
Do not threaten to use nukes which will only Iran hardliners into a froth and increase the chances of attacks against Americans in Iraq, and Jews in Israel, and increase the speed in which Iran seeks WMDs (NBC) themselves.
Or, you can have a dickfight with the hopes of keeping the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.
The Axis of Evil speech was probably provably the most detrimental speech to world peace and nuclear non-proliferation since Kruschev slammed his shoe on the table. The Axis of Evil speech and the Iraqi war is directly responsible for incentivizing Iran and North Korea to seek nuclear weapons as fast as they can, and is directly responsible for strengthening crazies and hardliners in those countries.
You're doing a heckuva job Chimpy McBushitler!
- Chum said...
Palladian and Jonathan you make my point beautifully.
Thank you.
- Jacques Cuze said...
TIME.com: Why Iraq was a mistake Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war. Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized. Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's top operations officer, voiced his objections internally and then retired, in part out of opposition to the war. Here, for the first time, Newbold goes public with a full-throated critique: ... In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem Won't Get Fooled Again. To most in my generation, the song conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam. To those of us who were truly counterculture--who became career members of the military during those rough times--the song conveyed a very different message. To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: the Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again.
Johnny, Ann, Illudium-Q36, you owe it to your families and your country to not be fooled again.
Newbold's critique is very germane to the notion of letting President Cheney nuke Iran.
It's not that long Ann, you can get read this.
- Chum said...
'It should be noted that respected experts believe that a nuclear Iran is not the problem that it is made out to be.'
Hans Blix says Iran is at least 5 years away from developing a nuclear bomb. Plenty of time to negoiate a peaceful settlement.
'Do not threaten to use nukes which will only Iran hardliners into a froth and increase the chances of attacks against Americans in Iraq, and Jews in Israel, and increase the speed in which Iran seeks WMDs (NBC) themselves.'
This assumes that this administration wants peace.
Not much profit margin in that I'm afraid.
- Johnny Nucleo said...
Quxxo said: "It is also signifant to note that many experts believe Iran is 5-10 years away from getting a nuclear weapon. "
Just so I'm clear. If the happy scenerio you hope for doesn't come about, you're in favor of taking decisive military action against Iran's nuclear program in 5 to 10 years. Am I wrong?
- Jacques Cuze said...
Johnny, I have spent the majority of my career in the defense industry. Reread my earlier message in this thread. And do read Newbold's critique.
You have asked me for a hypothetical. So yes, hypothetically I can envision a situation in which we need to take decisive military action against Iran. I cannot imagine such action including the use of nuclear bunker busters in a first strike tactical action.
- Johnny Nucleo said...
Let me attempt to stimulate your imagination. It is possible to build nuke factories underground. The only way to disable these factories is to send lots of soldiers in or to nuke them.
- The Cranky Insomniac said...
Having senior officials "leak" the "fact" that the use of nukes is being seriously considered is a great piece of psyops if you want to scare the hell out of Iran and bring them to the bargaining table.
In fact, almost all of the hyperbolic claims made by Hersh's anonymous sources fit this same pattern, raising the question: in writing this article, did Hersh unwittingly help a brilliant Bush administration psychological warfare campaign aimed at convincing the Iranian leadership that the "cowboys" in DC will do whatever it takes to remove them from power (and in all likelihood send them straight to Allah) if they don't end their nuclear program?
Consider how much of the information (in addition to the nuclear option) given to Hersh has either a "this is a done deal," or a "he's just crazy enough to do it" vibe to it. Hersh tells us that:
* US special ops troops are already in Iran and could be in position to "lase" targets, to insure bombing accuracy and minimize civilian casualties.
* The Air Force is already drawing up lists of hundreds of targets, and that "ninety-nine per cent of them have nothing to do with proliferation,' but more to do with regime change.
* Bush will never let the Iranians begin a pilot program to enrich uranium that's scheduled for this spring.
* Bush views Iranian President Ahmadinejad as "a potential Hitler."
* Bush "believes that he must do 'what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,' and 'that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.'"
* A former defense official, when told that current US military planning is "premised on a belief that 'a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government,'" asked himself, ""What are they smoking?'"
* A member of the House Appropriations Committee says there's "'no pressure from Congress'" for the US not to take military action, that the pressure is only "'from the guys who want to do it.'" This same House members adds his scary take on President Bush: "'The most worrisome thing is that this guy has a messianic vision.'"
* The Europeans, whom the Iranians might be counting on for their usual willingness to achieve appeasment at any cost, find themselves "rattled...by their growing perception that President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney believe a bombing campaign will be needed, and that their real goal is regime change."
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic in believing that the Bushies are capable of such a grand deception, but even if I'm wrong, doesn't Hersh's article help the US by telling the Iranians that we mean business? I know they're not the most rational people in the world, but even crazy people often have a strong sense of self-preservation.
So if you're part of the current Iranian regime, do you read Hersh's piece and think America is a paper tiger that doesn't have the will to pick a fight, or do you get the message that if forced to go to war, we will, as Ralph Peters urges, "make the conflict so devastating and painful that even our allies are stunned"?
More at The Cranky Insomniac
- Wickedpinto said...
The Same guy, said the SAME thing a year ago.
This is news? is this NEWS? or is this a NEW way for someone to be wrong?
It's like millerite morons, if you KEEP predicting the end of the world every year, ONE year, you will be right.
- Ernst Blofeld said...
Hersh is notoriously unreliable on military affairs because he usually bungles the story. He seems to be more connected to the diplomatic side and probably some civilians in the Pentagon; his contacts in the active SF world seem to be nil.
As pointed out by another poster, I don't doubt that there is a contingency plan somehwere in the bowels of the Pentagon for using nukes to take out the Iranian bunkers, just as there were contingency plans to invade Canada. Probability of execution of the plan is nil.
The "message sending" aspect is probably over-determined; both the people wanting to send the message and the people who want to derail the message would benefit by the leak. Given that it's Hersh, it's probably the latter group who leaked, because those people are more friendly to him. The hawks would leak through their own preferred reporters.
- Noumenon said...
The only reporters at the New Yorker whose names I know are James Surowiecki and Seymour Hersh. Surowiecki because he wrote Wisdom of Crowds and Hersh because I noticed his name, all by myself, on every completely damning and completely unreliable article about Abu Ghraib or whatever. I believe most articles about Abu Ghraib and secret CIA prisons, too, but his are just over the top.
He does make a good Tokyo Rose to the Iranians, though...
- dick said...
As someone who used to work in the intel area of the Pentagon, this is not news at all. One of the primary functions of the intel areas is to have plans for all possible scenarios that the military might run into. There are probably still plans there for invading Russia, the Baltic states, the Balkans, etc. Of course there are plans for dealing with Iran and the nuclear plans. The US would be totally insane not to have plans for this scenario. If you wait for the situation to start before you start to plan, then by the time you have a plan in place you are already out of date to start with. All Hersh is doing is blowing smoke to get an article out there and make some money. The man is a ludicrous fool who gets an idea and blows it totally out of proportion.
I notice that someone mentioned the Abu Ghraib story that Hersh wrote. What Hersh did not include in that story is that the military had already dealt with most of the problem and was on the way to dealing with the rest of it before he even wrote his bit. The military had also already put out the story for the MSM 4 months earlier and the MSM did not publish it. The man is a total tool of the anti-US establishment and does not even realize it.
- Simon said...
"'One of the military's initial option plans, as presented to the White House by the Pentagon this winter, calls for the use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, against underground nuclear sites.' This is not nuclear weapons as a deterrent or a contingency . . . This is the use of a nuclear weapon as a first-strike tactical method to destroy an Iranian facility."
I agree that it isn't deterrence, to the extent that to be a deterrent, the U.S. would have to have a declared policy that should Iran continue production of nuclear weapons, we will destroy their nuclear sites. That would be a deterrent. But I think you're dead wrong to suggest that this can't be a contingency plan merely because it calls for a first strike.
- HaloJonesFan said...
dick: I'm sure that he would rather say that he's the spokesperson for a massive groundswell of anti-Bush, pro-Iraqi opinion, and you don't see more of it because it's being suppressed by dirty descendants of McCarthy.
- TWM said...
Seymore Hersh is about as an unreliable reporter as there is in the world today. AND he is politically biased. Put the two together and his report is trash.
That being said, the military plans for all sorts of things. That is their job.
Still, if it came to keeping Iran or any other rogue nation from having nukes, then all bets are off. If it was good enough for Truman . . .
- Jacques Cuze said...
So educate us then with specifics. What specifically has Seymour Hersh gotten wrong about Abu Ghraib?
- jeff said...
Better to have a plan and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
As for Seymour Hersh, I believe that the investigation into the Abu Gharib thing was almost a year old when he "broke" it, was it not?
- Jacques Cuze said...
Hey Ann,
Check out your blogroll buddy, Stephen Green as he says we are losing because we are not ruthless enough and killing enough people.
Then after talking about the need to be ruthless, he goes on to intimidate anyone that dissents for, wait for it, you'll love it Ann, partisan reasons.
Dissent is a necessary good in a free country. Mindless harping for minor partisan advantage entails great danger in time of war. I certainly don't want anyone to shut up. I just wish they'd sometimes keep the big picture in mind.
Ann, read the comments in your own echo-chamber, and read Stephen Green. Try to wrap your mind around that the genocidal mindsets inherent in your buddies, and then consider, if the people you hang out with Ann, are this whacked out, why wouldn't you think that the Administration has a plan for a first strike nuke against Iran?
- TWM said...
I hope they have a plan to first-strike Iran. Hell, I hope they have a plan to first-strike any potential enemy, and some of our so-called friends.
You act like planning for stuff like this is a bad thing, quxxo. Better to have a plan that you never use than needing one when it is too late to use.
BTW, if there is any nation that has a genocidal plan it is Iran. They would love to wipe out America down to the last conservative and liberal alike.
- Jonathan said...
-The Hersh article does not make sense to me at face value or as an attempt by the Bush administration to scare Iran. It seems much more likely to be an attempt to weaken Bush by making him appear reckless and stupid. It's certainly no secret that many of our intelligence bureaucrats are hostile to Bush's program and that some of them have been using the press for years to undermine him.
-Quxxo, the problems with your nice plan are that 1) it weakens us, because the mullahs are going to know that we're avoiding some options, which inherently puts us in a weaker position and 2) it does not allow for surprises. If you don't think there are unpleasant surprises ahead you aren't thinking realistically. If you're in a fight, the priority has to be victory. Excluding particular options from consideration in a fight with a determined adversary raises the question whether victory really is your goal. Part of the reason we're in the current situation is that for years we ignored or responded minimally to Iranian attacks (the embassy hostages, Marine barracks bombing, etc.). You seem to want more of the same, or to think that we can deter Iranian aggression by means (diplomacy, self-limited military operations) that have failed so far.
BTW, your comments about "genocidal mindsets" on the part of some people you disagree with reflect more on your own mindset than on anything else. I realize that you enjoy the drama of speaking truth to power in Ann's McCarthyite echo chamber that tolerates no dissent. However, is it not possible that you share most of the same goals as the rest of us but differ merely on how to achieve them (that is, on the particular set of tradeoffs that is desirable), rather than that the other guys have bad motives? Just asking.
- Jacques Cuze said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- knoxgirl said...
All you anti-Bush, anti-Iraq-War commenters decided long ago that it was a big, incompetent mistake to *actually* believe that Saddam had WMDs.
So how can you even have an opinion--now--on the subject of Iran's nukes? Do you believe that they do? WHY?????
Why don't you just wait to see how it all shakes out in the end, and then you can just state your 20-20 hindsight then.
In the meantime, if we get nuked, well, whatever...
madisonman said: "I suspect the drumbeat for war will start in plenty of time for the election..."
This is exactly the sort of statement that makes people not trust democrats to be in charge of national security.
Are you saying 9/11 happened to help Bush's political prospects?
Are you saying Iran doesn't have nukes, it's just being said to help Bush/Republican political prospects?
Because it sounds like you don't REALLY think there's an enemy, there's just fearmongering for votes.
How do you type the sound you make when you spit in disgust?!
- Jacques Cuze said...
is it not possible that you share most of the same goals as the rest of us but differ merely on how to achieve them (that is, on the particular set of tradeoffs that is desirable), rather than that the other guys have bad motives?
Oh I agree with you entirely, but I am neither the one saying we should preemptively nuke another country, nor am I the one that constantly talks about the treasonous pussy Democrats that are too ready to sell out the country.
1) it weakens us, because the mullahs are going to know that we're avoiding some options, and 2) it does not allow for surprises.
So what do the mullahs do after observing what we did in Iraq, after realizing how over-stretched our military is in Iraq, and after realizing how much we have caved in North Korea, how much we have ignored AQ Kahn in Pakistan, and how we have accepted India's nuclear ambitions nukes without requiring India to sign the NPT?
And what do the mullahs do after hearing that we are going to nuke them?
Do they suddenly cave against an enemy they perceive as insane, immoral, weak and pinned down?
Do they make good backups of their materials and distribute them across the country? Do they distribute even further their weapons facilities and go so far as to place them in urban and residential settings in order to protect them (and to generate massive unrest with the US should the nuking take place?)
And how do they respond after the nuking? With conventional weapons? By taking us to court? Or with dirty bombs and other NBC elements directed against our civilian population?
And okay okay, we nuke Iran and the Iranians say "uncle." And Osama? What does he do? What does the "arab street" do? What is China's reaction to a first strike by the US?
April 27th last year, the NRC released a study saying, "Current experience and empirical predictions indicate that earth-penetrator weapons cannot penetrate to depths required for total containment of the effects of a nuclear explosion ... casualties ranging from thousands to more than a million."
Have you thought this out?
- Jacques Cuze said...
All you anti-Bush, anti-Iraq-War commenters decided long ago that it was a big, incompetent mistake to *actually* believe that Saddam had WMDs.
So how can you even have an opinion--now--on the subject of Iran's nukes? Do you believe that they do? WHY?????
So let me see if I have this correct.
We learned from public sources that Iraq was not a threat, we learned from experience that Bush was incompetent and duplicitous, we listened to current and former US Military tell us that Iraq did not have these weapons, and so we concluded that Hussein did not have WMDs, and we did that a year before the war.
And you did just the opposite. You listened to Bush, and excoriated anyone that disagreed, and you made a big mistake since it turns out that Hussein did not have WMDs.
In fact over 60% of America now agrees, the war was not worth fighting.
And so us dissenters have no credibility now and we should be listening to people like you.
This is what passes for moderate logic on the mainstream Althouse blog.
Go figure.
- Simon said...
"Check out your blogroll buddy, Stephen Green as he says we are losing because we are not ruthless enough and killing enough people."
This is basically the thesis of Imperial Hubris, by Michael Schauer - something that, I suspect, came to the chagrin of those leftists who bought the book expecting it to be an anti-Bush polemic.
- Jacques Cuze said...
Are you saying 9/11 happened to help Bush's political prospects?
No, we are saying that Iraq happened just to help Bush's political prospects. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, even Bush has said so. As I pointed out earlier, the US Military is admitting they are participating in a propaganda campaign aimed at YOU to hype Al Qaeda in Iraq to make YOU think there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11.
Are you saying Iran doesn't have nukes
Are you saying they do? Because absolutely no one else thinks they do.
- Jacques Cuze said...
The Nuclear Power Beside Iraq
Now that Iran unquestionably intends to build a nuclear bomb, the international community has few options to stop it—and the worst option would be a military strike
by James Fallows
Don't bother reading Fallows, before Iraq he wrote this:
The Fifty-first State?
Going to war with Iraq would mean shouldering all the responsibilities of an occupying power the moment victory was achieved. These would include running the economy, keeping domestic peace, and protecting Iraq's borders—and doing it all for years, or perhaps decades. Are we ready for this long-term relationship?
by James Fallows
Clearly knoxgirl, by your axioms of logic, since he got it dead on absolutely correct before Iraq, he is just a spitting, weak, absolutely wrong traitor liberal on Iran.
- Kirk Parker said...
You and I appear to have the same opinion of Hersh and his material--but what has he ever said that makes you think he's an unwitting tool?
- Simon said...
"A[m] [I] saying Iran doesn't have nukes? Are you saying they do? Because absolutely no one else thinks they do."
I think everyone else absolutely thinks they are trying to develop them, which in practical terms - depending on how far along in that program they can reasonably presumed to be - may amount to the same thing. There is a fairly strong argument that a nation such as Iran should be denied access to nuclear weapons; I personally don't entirely buy that argument, and doing so will be painfull for me, since I strongly believe that Iran has an important role to play in the advancement of democracy in the middle east. But despite my personal misgivings, I'm not - and surely you aren't - so blind as to believe that Israel wouldn't be acting in self-defense to eliminate an emerging Iranian nuclear progam if it turned out that they were approaching viability?
- Jonathan said...
"Are you saying Iran doesn't have nukes"
"Are you saying they do? Because absolutely no one else thinks they do."
Are you saying they won't have them?
What if you are wrong?
What if the best estimates are wrong?
You have hubris. The intelligence services of the USA, UK, France, Germany and others thought that Iraq had WMD. They may (it's still unclear) have been wrong. The reasonable response is to note how imperfect the best information was and try to do better the next time. That's one of the reasons why the Bush administration is being so circumspect in its approach to Iran. Your response is: Nyah, nyah, somebody made a mistake.
Another reason behind Bush's caution on Iran is the fact that hindsight critics like you have raised the political cost of false positives. Now we aren't likely to try to stop the Iranian nuke program until there is absolutely no choice and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are clamoring for Bush to do something. Because if we bomb Iranian nuke facilities and oil terminals without knowing for a certainty that Iran will bomb NYC on July 4, 2011 (or whatever) the mullahs might, you know, get angry at us, and that would be bad.
The big risk, as all along, is that one or more of our cities will be nuked. The mullahs would be happy to do it, and I for one am not so clever as to second-guess their statements. You seem to be willing to risk a lot of American lives in order not to risk killing Iranians. That's the tradeoff here, and unlike you Stephen Green is honest enough to make it explicit. Some of the people who casually toss around terms like "genocidal" don't seem as concerned about genocidal risks to Americans.
Perhaps you should reevaluate your position.
- Jacques Cuze said...
Oh I think they are trying to get them alright. I think BushCo had a window of opportunity to head that off, but that he screwed that pooch.
And I am saying nothing about Israel in this regard, Israel isn't the one with the B61-11 massively dirty bunker buster.
I am merely asking a question of knoxgirl who seems assured that Iran already has nukes, that anyone that opposes Bush is a deranged spitter, and that individuals that were absolutely right about Bush and Iraq 3 1/2 years ago have blown all of that credibility by the mere fact of being right.
- Jacques Cuze said...
You seem to be willing to risk a lot of American lives in order not to risk killing Iranians. That's the tradeoff here
Uh, that's not the tradeoff at all. That is nowhere near the tradeoff.
Read Fallows. Rinse. Repeat.
- dick said...
I don't think he is an unwitting tool. I just think that he has his own agenda for the articles and does not see that the others are using him for their agenda.
As an example, take the Abu Ghraib story he wrote. He wrote it as if it were brand new news that only he knew of instead of being old news from 4 months previously. He got his story from the uncle of the sergeant who was being brought up for a court martial for what he did there in hopes that the court martial could be squelched. The article was then used by Al Qaeda to paint the US as being torturers in the prison worse than Saddam. In the US the tools like Qxxxxo went along with this because it became an anti-Bush story in our media that was repeated and repeated on the front page of the anti-Bush media. End result was that the story that the military had found out and were taking note of the Abu Ghraib activities and were court martialing those responsible and demoting others who were in the chain of command was blown totally out of proportion and even today you see the Qxxxxo class of anti-Bush people trying to paint the administration and the military with this overblown story from Hersh that misrepresented what was going on and Hersh is now treated as if he were a credible source of military intelligence instead of just a tool for those who are anti-Bush.
In the present case the fact that the military has plans for almost any eventuality that are likely to be activated and other plans that are not likely to be activated is misrepresented by Hersh to play up the idea that the administration will bomb the country of Iran back to pre-civilization with nukes. Totally irresponsible reporting by Hersh and totally irresponsible referencing by the anti-Bush people.
- Sigivald said...
Man, quxxo is goint to town with this one.
The Axis of Evil speech was probably provably the most detrimental speech to world peace and nuclear non-proliferation since Kruschev slammed his shoe on the table. The Axis of Evil speech and the Iraqi war is directly responsible for incentivizing Iran and North Korea to seek nuclear weapons as fast as they can, and is directly responsible for strengthening crazies and hardliners in those countries.
Really? That assumes that neither nation was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons before that speech, or that somehow something would have changed if they'd been treated more "nicely".
Do you have the tiniest bit of evidence for the latter? (The former being undeniably incorrect, as both nations had long-running nuclear ambitions before Bush was elected.)
Of course, Bush's policies seem unquestionably linked to Libya's WMD-abandonment, Syria's pullout from Lebanon (and Syria's general desire to not do anything that might attract unwanted attention), Pakistan being much more careful with its nuclear technologies, and Iran being increasingly isolated in the same context.
And this is detrimental to peace and antiproliferation? As if somehow the only reason Iran and NK might want nukes is because Bush made a speech?
Not to achieve their own regional goals, bully their neighbors, and have an ironclad way to really laugh in the face of the UN/EU/etc. if they ever grew a spine and attempted actual sanctions?
Please to explicate; here on planet Earth that sounds pretty ludicrous.
- knoxgirl said...
I meant do you think they're not trying to get nukes not do they have em
- Jacques Cuze said...
"The Axis of Evil speech and the Iraqi war is directly responsible for incentivizing Iran and North Korea to seek nuclear weapons as fast as they can, and is directly responsible for strengthening crazies and hardliners in those countries."
That assumes that neither nation was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons before that speech, or that somehow something would have changed if they'd been treated more "nicely".
Do you have the tiniest bit of evidence for the latter?
I said "as fast as they can" and history shows that I am right, esp. wrt NK. NK and the US engaged in a bit of two-sided blackmail for 17 years: money and food and energy in exchange for signing the NPT and limiting their nuclear ambitions. Within 12 months of being called the axis of evil, and watching Iraq (a state without nukes) be invaded, NK dramatically ramps up its rhetoric and its activities and exits the NPT.
Since then, after the US pledged to respect North Korea's sovereignty and to take steps to normalize relations with the country, NK agrees to return to NPT.
So we have a historical trend. We have a step function applied to the body. We see the body's reaction. We remove the step function. We see the body return to the historical trend.
There's no control, so there is no experiment here, but that's about as close as we can get, right?
Bush's policies seem unquestionably linked to Libya's WMD-abandonment
Read the full debunking of that
You're dreaming Sigi.
- Balfegor said...
Really? That assumes that neither nation was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons before that speech, or that somehow something would have changed if they'd been treated more "nicely".
The bit you excerpted from quxxo's ravings doesn't quite imply that, though. Note what he says:
incentivizing Iran and North Korea to seek nuclear weapons as fast as they can, and is directly responsible for strengthening crazies and hardliners in those countries.
I'd quibble with the second bit, at least with respect to North Korea (I know and care rather less about Iran), but that they have been incentivised to seek weapons as fast as they can seems an entirely commonsensical conclusion. I think drawing the line of causation to the Axis of Evil speech is kind of silly (I think it was the Iraq War, which demonstrated that it wasn't just the usual blather for domestic consumption) but the general sense is quite right, I think.
Iran and North Korea have been actively pursuing nuclear capabilities for some time. In the case of North Korea, I think they've actually had nuclear capabilities since the early 90's -- this I understand to be the conclusion drawn by the South Korean and Japanese intelligence agencies, as opposed to our own, which are evidently incompetent -- but have probably not been able to miniaturise the device for delivery on the Nodong or Taepodong ballistic missiles, so as to threaten Tokyo properly (Seoul, of course, is already targeted by several thousand pieces of heavy artillery, so a nuclear weapon would just be overkill).
But after the Iraq war, it's been made crystal clear to both the Persian and the North Korean regimes that if they don't get operational nuclear weapons soon, they have to get rid of their nuclear programs pronto, and do so verifiably (i.e. not just for pretend, like South Africa), and the verification process will involve significant encroachments on their ability to exercise total control over their subject populations.
Suppose you were them. Wouldn't you be throwing every resource you had towards development of a nuclear weapon?
[Oh, it looks like quxxo has replied already. Well, I'll post anyhow]
- Jacques Cuze said...
Ravings! Why you @#@#!! /drools, slams table, spits in disgust, walks away.
- Balfegor said...
So we have a historical trend. We have a step function applied to the body. We see the body's reaction. We remove the step function. We see the body return to the historical trend.
This is only the case if you actually think North Korea joining or leaving the NPT has a strong connection with their internal nuclear development. I don't. During the 70s, when reunification talks were going on between the North and the South, the North was digging invasion tunnels under the DMZ. In addition to which they have 11,000+ pieces of heavy artillery ranged along the border. Which does not endear them to me. Frankly, I think they are completely untrustworthy. Maybe that's just because my family are GNP all the way, but their joining or abandoning the NPT seems like a cost-free carrot for them to dangle in front of us to make us dance to their tune.
On the plus side, KEDO has taken away their Light Water Reactor.
- Jacques Cuze said...
Frankly, I think they are completely untrustworthy.Maybe that's just because my family are GNP all the way, but their joining or abandoning the NPT seems like a cost-free carrot for them to dangle in front of us to make us dance to their tune.
Well, I am certainly about as far from an NK expert as you could find. I will agree that they certainly seemed to have blackmailed us many times over these issues, and it's because they seem so completely crazy that in large part we seem to have agreed to the blackmail. But up until now, they had not left the NPT, and they had agreed to our terms.
But this is a really dead thread now, and I need to get back to work, so I am willing to agree that the case is ambiguous, and I do agree with you that the reality of the Iraq war was probably a far bigger incentive than the speech itself.
- sparky said...
Though this thread appears "dead" thought I'd say--
What exactly is the basis for dismissing Hersh? He's not always right, but he's right quite frequently. So far as I know, none of his Iraq stories have had serious errors. The initial impression sometimes is that he's wrong because the administration gives out carefully worded denials but if read closely they don't actually deny the substance of the report.
Relatedly, today the Washington Post carried a story that indicated the administration did not deny the essential accuracy of Hersh's story.
My own guess is that the military people leaked this story to Hersh as a kind of pushback against the civilians in the administration. It's probably the best avenue they have for airing a disagreement.
Oh, and by the way, there are plenty of "nuke Iran" comments floating out and about in the ether. Redstate had a number of people supporting the proposition that Tehran be turned into "a sheet of glass."
- J said...
quxxo, thanks fo the link to the Time article. Everybody here should read it. How long do you think it will be before Gen Newbold runs for political office?


text:
Love is in the Air on most servers by now, and players should notice a substantial change in the way the event is being run this year. No longer do you have to furtively log on each hour on the hour during the course of the event in the hopes that you'll get that candy bag with that ONE piece of candy you need for the Be Mine! achievement. The candy bag, as well as all other random rewards from previous years are available on vendors in each capital city, and purchased with Love Tokens. How do you get the tokens? Well, you certainly don't have to run around begging people to give you cards and building gifts. This year, the tokens are available through daily quests. Since it's the first day of the event, we may not have seen all of the possible dailies, but here's the rundown on two of them:
Remember the Gifts of Adoration? This year, faction leaders are looking for jewelry. You can turn in a Lovely Charm Bracelet to the faction leader of your choice for a Lovely Card that will give you an hour long buff, and 5 Love Tokens. The method used to obtain these bracelets? Kwee will give you a Lovely Charm Collector's Kit with the following flavor text: "Pliers, bone saw, scalpel and sundry other tools allow for the collection of Lovely Charms from worthwhile enemies. Collect 10 charms to make a bracelet!"
Yes, you read that correctly. You murder beasts and creatures in your level range, and hack Lovely Charms off of their corpses.
I'm thinking I love this event already.
Other ways to obtain Love Tokens include the daily quest "A Perfect Puff of Perfume," which requires you to hose down ten players or NPC's with perfume. Vendors and city guards will work just as well as other players, so don't worry about running out of people to spray. This quest will also earn you 5 tokens.
The changes so far to the event make it much, much simpler to get that coveted Fool For Love meta achievement, and should provide a welcome change to players used to the same old grind from previous years. Check out the gallery below for the complete list of items available on the vendors, and stay tuned for more Love is in the Air info as it comes in!


text:
Commentary & Opinion
Recognizing Japan's Contribution to African Health, Development
May 31, 2013
"As we gather in Yokohama this week for the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, I'd like to take a moment and reflect on how far we have come," Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog. "Just 10 years ago, the African continent was plagued by a terrifying spread of HIV and AIDS, at the same time that malaria was still killing millions of children under the age of five, and tuberculosis was threatening as well," he states, discussing interventions. "Today, we have those scientific tools and that implementation experience, and it gives us an historic opportunity to completely control these three major killers," he writes, adding, "Japan needs to play a critical role, if we are to succeed in defeating AIDS, TB and malaria. Only with global support, and with Japan's leadership, can this cause succeed."
"Japan has consistently contributed to the development of Africa" and "was instrumental in the creation of the Global Fund, with the summit of G8 nations in Okinawa in 2000 that called for the creation of this global financing organization, strong technical support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, tireless participation on the Global Fund Board and consistently strong financial support," Dybul notes. "The Global Fund's modern, 21st century approach to partnership -- which Japan played a key role in creating -- engages partners from every sector, involves partners in the decision-making process, and shares the success of our common cause," he continues, and states, "We are immensely grateful to the Japanese people allowing us to play a role in saving and dramatically improving the lives of millions of people, their families, communities and countries" (5/30).
Back to other news for May 2013
This article was provided by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a part of the publication Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report. Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's website to find out more about their activities, publications and services.
Add Your Comment:
(Please note: Your name and comment will be public, and may even show up in
Internet search results. Be careful when providing personal information! Before
adding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.)