Whew, We CAN Win

Maybe President Bush just meant "not the way I'm doing it..."? Anyway, believe me when I say... oh nevermind.

Mother... mother? Can we win the war on terror?

And by the way... NORTH KOREA!!!! AAglk A A A A A Argph!!!!!

Mother, You'll Never Catch Up With This

Rep. Ed Schrock: I guess it's ok that he's gay and the wrong part is the sleazy sex line and the being married. Or something. I can't keep up with this stuff. Or maybe he's not even gay and just resigned suddenly for some other reason. We'll know shortly.

Bush on terror war: 'I don't think you can win it'

“I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”

New York Daily News - Breaking News - Bush on terror war: 'I don't think you can win it'

Important Analysis On Swift Boat History

Found here.

Irony

Well... the point of this blog is to debate politics with my mother... but the real point is for me to get more and more provocative as I wait. Now, before you think I'm complaining... my mother is on dialup again (the hardest thing is that she knows the joy of high bandwidth, but no more!) and with all the pictures on this page you can see how cruel a son I am.



Mother... turn off images... then you can click on the image only if you want to view it... at least in some browsers.

Vietnam War

I don't think the Vietnam War is a good election year topic. It's fine to go over that war, and all the other wars (e.g. the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the Peloponnesian War). It might even be time to revisit that now... asking, what lessons did we learn? How can we apply them. Now we have hindsight... look what happened to Vietnam after we left... does that tell us to leave Iraq in the same evacuative way, or does it tell us the opposite? But even those better questions are not really good for this election, because they should be discussed as a national memory, not as an election issue, the answers will apply to us all, not point us toward the right man for the job of President.

But having said that and watching this long phenomenon of the SBVT/AWOL "debate"... I wonder, aren't the SBVT really motivated by Kerry's war protesting? They are bitter, perhaps understandably, about this, and it's not really his service they question. If he had not testified before the Senate and been in the VVAW they would not question his service... would they?

And of course the same is true of Bush's AWOL "scandal"... if Bush wasn't a "war president", people would not be bitter about his skirting the edges of the Vietnam War.

In both cases this is pointless... Bush then is different from Bush now, and the same is true for Kerry. Kerry is not going to withdraw from Iraq, Bush is not going to skirt the outlines of war, both men have changed and learned from their experiences. If either has learned for the better is a matter of debate, but there can be no debate that neither of these are really being criticised for their service history.

PS: There is one question more important than "Who is the best man for President?" and that is "Why isn't he running?"

Ted Kennedy Put On No Fly List

Putting him on a no driving list... well I could understand, but let the man fly!

Story here. "Just a little mistake, Mr. Kennedy, heh hehhe heh" <--- Tom Ridge smiling.

John O'Neil Debates John Kerry on Dick Cavett

Well, not actually -on- Dick Cavett, which really would be something to watch, but on his show back in 1971. This is of course the John O'Neil behind "Unfit For Command" and "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth".

Here it is thanks to CSPAN.

A Nicer View Of America

Oh wait, that's Canada... Here's america...

and this jalepeno eating contestant

and of course this is America, a serious cowboy dealing with a stubborn horse

Is this too provocative?

"Free speech in 21'st Century America"...? or is it "Kids Today Need To Learn Their Manners"... or just a case of battery having nothing to do with anything. Mother, is this offensive?

Cool site... Text to Speech, with language translation

Play with it here.

Thank you AT&T.

Cemetery in Najaf

This is where there has been a lot of fighting. Local Sadr-associated rebels are said to be stockpiling weapons in this sprawling cemetary, and there have been reports of air strikes and fighting there. It's an astounding site and sight, no?

Nonpartisan Anger Rant

You know what I really hate? The answer to that will never be a group... usually there are a few gems even in the most vile group, a few misled or wandering people, at least. No what I hate is conformity. That's the thing that gets those people stuck in those groups, for example.

I file-system-checking hate conformity. Mom taught me this. Never conform. Be unique, have your own style, when you put pen to paper, draw something new. I never use the instructions that come with legos... that's the sort of rebel I am. Yeah, I could use all the pieces and make something that looked cool, but it wouldn't be mine. I wouldn't have made anything, really, because I would have made something for someone else, specifically, for the guy that gets the cozy job at lego designing lego creations and this guy already has it too easy.

I forgive you for giving my legos away mom, I can see why you thought that would be OK since I had left for college. It's a common mistake. I should have brought my legos with me. And my dog. See, I conformed too much to the "no dogs in the dorm" rule and I regret it.

The conformity train came to the station and I missed it, thank god, I overslept.

Humility Is The Root of All Spirituality

I believe in a living universe, as such it's loving, but it's also busy with it's own life so I expect no special treatment, and in fact, I am here to learn what it has to offer. All the friction of life is here to help educate me and to keep me interested.



Humility is the root of all spirituality, and if you study many religions you will find this truth, and also, hopefully, that it is true for good reason.

It's a Scam, I mean "Metaphor"

Hierarchy. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind that people have different responsibilities, and I don't mind that it may mean, at work, for example, that people have the power to override my decisions, or even terminate my involvement with some endeavor. Distribution of responsibility is a key belief of mine in all system design.

But Hierarchy is different. Everyone probably knows it means you have a boss, that your boss has a boss. and it travels up like that to the top somewhere. Perhaps there is even a commitee at the top, but of course this in general has a Chairman who is The Boss. It does mean there is ultimately one boss of everything, But it means more than that. Let me explain what it's about in terms you might not have considered.

Hierarchy is based on a metaphor of the roman arch. The roman arch is a curved arch with a single stone at the very apex and center.

This metaphor, and this particular idea of Hierarchical organization is essentially used to control modern society, and although we have democracy now it's no different than before, people have always had the power, and this is apparent from the top of the arch. The arch is an elegant metaphor for the appraoch.

The force gravity represent the "real" or "hard" labor of the arch. At the base you have stone holding the entire weight of the arch, and as you go higher and higher the stones feel less of this weight. Instead they feel an increasing lateral tension, the back and forth forces in the arch until the keystone. At the keystone nothing is being supported in the direction of the force of gravity which would pull the whole thing down. The left and right legs of the arch being curved would of course tend to topple. By arranging them so they oppose one another, the keystone is able to support a far lesser pressure at either edge than what gravity offers the lower stones, but it also gets to feel that by holding these forces in ballance it keep the arch up. Remove this one stone and the arch collapses!

But come to think of it, remove any stone at all from the arch and it collapses. This is generally beyond where the methaphor is taken.

This is a design metaphor, like a software engineer using the metaphor of a piece of paper for a word processor. That is, it's practical, it works, it's a working system. Other systems would also work, that is, function, with different characteristics of course. But this system works and is the system that has held republics together for some time.

It's too simple and too centralized for much more modern use, that's all.

George Bush Campaigning

"Let nothing come between me and the people of America!"



ok... cheap shot... but momma ain't here to stop me.

Centuries Old Bridge Restored in Balkans

This centuries old bridge was rebuilt in the Balkans after beeing destroyed by local fighters during the Yugoslavian conflicts. It's a great symbol of reconcilliation yada yada... actually, I'm posting it because - GOD what a beautiful set of structures over a beautiful body of water.



Here is a story on the bridge at the UN website (everyone has a website now I guess).


PS: And here is more (pretty credible) reporting by a post at tacitus which is interesting because the bridge was destroyed for it's symbolic meaning (confirmed by the UN report), rather than by accident or for tactical reasons.

Back In Town, Hope Iraq doesn't Implode

I hope things stabilize there. Our National Security not to mention our Moral Authority rely on it.