Calblog

A Real War Sim

Found this via Den Beste. As one who spends way more time playing games like Civ 3 and StarCraft than he should I really appreciated this. If you're into War Sims, and possibly even if not, it should crack you up.

The Kindness of Strangers

Over at Dean's World, I asked readers to drop in on Madeleine and give her some advice in response to this post. The responses are pretty incredible.

Little Bits

Prof. Bainbridge writes on the Martial Virtues and he is correct of the necessity of those martial values especially in a republic. Machiavelli has a poor reputation as one who was someone politically crass, but he was incredibly observant and very insightful into the political realm, as he put it "To insure a long existence to religious sects or republics, it is necessary frequently to bring them back to their original principles."


On this memorial day, we remember those who have paid the ultimate price so that I may live in a city in California and idly pontificate on some weblog, I am and shall be, always grateful, Thank you!


Also, Congratulations to Xrlq on the coming son, I imagine he will bring great joy to their household. Congrats. On a similar note, Xrlq and Justene were integral in peaking my interest in this whole blog thing, and it has been especially fun. Thanks, and thanks Justene for providing a soap box! Although I may be a pretty strident conservative I hope none have been too offended (being a little offended is an important part of life though).


Rachel Lucas returns and I am excitied to see not too much ranting but enjoyment of the little things, don't get me wrong I love the rants and they're still there, but for some reason, I love seeing my tomatoes grow, something about working in the land...I love it. I find I could probably write about tomatoes far more often then well Constitutional Interpretation, of course this is also why I have to write about Constitutional Interpretation, because people like me probably would much rather spend their time with their tomato, corn, squash, watermelon, and zucchini...Alas.

Technology is a pain in the rear, not because technology is a pain, but what I call the 6 month effect (basically the consumer's end of Moore's Law) that is, the overwhelming problem I have buying the stuff I want today is because I know that in 6 months it will be even better.

I was at a graduation party the other day and met with some family also over the weekend and I find more and more people trading in low gas mileage vehicles to higher mileage vehicles. For as much as Americans are not changing plans on high gas prices it does seem people are finally giving up the low gas mileage fix. Something I think is positive, even though I strongly oppose higher gas taxes. Also, SUVs have started to get more and more rebates which is likely the result of them not moving off the lot as quickly. This also dovetails with my last tech point in that I have some interest in a new car, but I don't want to purchase anything new until it is at least a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Something I think shows great promise. (A hybrid you can plug in at home so for round trips of 50 miles or less you never need to turn on the gas engine. The potential for gas savings is anywhere from 25-50% now that's real progress fill up maybe once a month when you go on a long trip, but if you have family every 50 miles even better visit fill up the battery and little ways and keep going but the gas engine is there when you need it). Well, these little bits are getting long, so I hope all of you are doing well, and I wish you the best on this Memorial Day, now celebrate your freedom. It's a rare thing in this story we call civilization and we must protect it faithfully or we shall surely lose it.

West Nile Virus

Among the predators here in the Foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains are mosquitos. I have noticed them more this year and gotten a few bites already. So I'm keeping an eye on West Nile Virus.

North County Times has this article on the risk in Riverside County. Looking at the state Dept of Health website though, LA County is the place to be concerned.

WNV has been detected in dead birds from Los Angeles (38), Ventura(1), San Bernardino (9), and Riverside (4) counties and from mosquito pools in Riverside(8), Los Angeles (2), and San Bernardino (1) counties.

LAPublicHealth.org reports (pdf file) that the early indicators of the disease have arrived earlier than expected and are accumulating at a rapid pace, indicating a bad year. (However, no sign of it in chickens yet!)

Prevention tips are pretty obvious like stay inside in the early morning and early evening when mosquitos are most active and uise bug repellent with DEET. However, one thing I didn't know is that you should report dead birds so they can be tested. Reporting number 1-877-WNV-BIRD.

For those really interested in this topic, UC Davis has reports on all similar viruses.

Weintraub and Schwarzenegger Sit Down

Dan Weintraub, aka California Insider, reports in today's Sacramento Bee on his hour-long conversation with Arnold Schwarzenegger. While the rest of us covered the recall when it was interesting and moved on to what's interesting us now, Dan continues his day job of reporting on state government with the same insight he brought to the recall.

BFL notes

Thanks to the efforts of McGehee in getting his RSS feed into action, I learned some things yesterday and I was then able to get 48 of the 51 member blogs into the headline roll. Check it out on the right. It updates once an hour and leads you to some interesting articles.

Peace in the Sudan

Aaron's Rantblog has the news that a Bush diplomatic victory has led to truce in the civil war in Sudan. Almost a year ago, I was willing to send troops into Sudan.

AtlanticBlog notes that it's not a complete victory. The genocide in Darfur, however, remains unabated.

Nonreligious art

Madeleine made this and gave it to me for mother's day. Something about the colors attracts me.

Kobe Bryant - Soon to be single? (The Lawyer betting pool)

Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa has put on a good game face the past few months. But a multi-million dollar diamond ring and a good NBA playoff series can only buy a husband so much time after he admits his infidelity.

This week, the National Enquirer reports that Mrs. Bryant is "secretly talking to one of Hollywood's most successful divorce lawyers"...

A friend of mine in "mainstream" media circles knows the Enquirer writer on this beat and claims that he has an excellent track record. Not that the Enquirer needs validation from the mainstream media anymore. They have proven their accuracy on big stories that nobody else had for well over a decade now.

Let's admit something that we all know to be true. The National Enquirer has the reputation it has not because it isn't accurate, but because it is often too accurate about stories that mainstream press feels is somehow "beneath them" to cover (though oftentimes - this is merely the excuse that they use, born out of jealousy for not being able to nail the story themselves).

With that said, let's consider what they are reporting. They do not name the lawyer in question, but "one of Hollywood's most successful divorce lawyers" can only mean one of a small handful of people.

If I had to guess the one person who it would be, my money is on

Arlene Colman-Schwimmer from the Beverly Hills form of Colman-Schwimmer & Warren (CA Bar Number 43679; graduate of Brooklyn Law School; Brooklyn NY; and mother of "Friends" television star David Schwimmer)

Among the clients who used her for divorce work:

Julianne Phillips (vs. Bruce Springsteen)
Ann Gelson (vs. Bernie Gelson of Gelson's supermarket fame)
Nancy Daly's (vs. Warner Bros. co-CEO Robert Daly)
Kelly Emberg's (vs. Rod Stewart)
Roseanne Barr (vs. first husband Bill Pentland)
Elizabeth Taylor (vs. husband # ? Larry Fortensky)

Can you say: "Community property...cha-ching!"?

Other possibilities besides Schwimmer would be Dennis Wasser of Wasser, Rosenson & Carter (divorce clients include Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda, Richard Dreyfuss and Tom Cruise) or William Beslow (who repped Nicole Kidman in the Cruise/Kidman split).

But I'd still put my money on Schwimmer who has gained a reputation as someone the wives go to.

Schwimmer's best advice to the husbands caught up in messy divorces? "Give your wives what they want, and then you'll have more time to conduct your business and make it all back quicker." (Ouch!)

If Kobe can stay out of jail by beating his current rape charge, we might see this principle in action sooner than the Bryant's are currently willing to admit.

So my bet goes out to the blogging community: The Enquirer story is true; the attorney in question is Arlene Colman-Schwimmer; and Vanessa Bryant files for divorce within one year of the resolution of Kobe's rape case - guilty or not.

Any takers???

Colossal Blunder

Recently, Smithsonian Magazine ran an article entitled "Colossal Ode", by one David Lehman. It concerns the poem by Emma Lazarus that is found at the base of the Statue of Liberty - "The New Colossuss". We all know part of the lines: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...." In the article, Mr. Lehman writes, "It was not until the 1930s, when Europeans in droves began seeking asylum from Fascist persecution, that the poem was rediscovered, and with it the growing recognition that it expressed the statue's true intention."
This begs the question, then, of how Jews attempting to flee the Nazis in 1939 could possibly have been refused entry to the United States, as were the passengers of the SS St. Louis, while actually within sight of the eastern seaboard of the United States. In light of the fact that the passengers of that ship were returned to Europe, where most eventually perished in the Holocaust, it also begs the question of how Mr. Lehman can justify such a statement as that quoted above. I wrote the Smithsonian's editor, and apparently, my letter has been forwarded to Mr. Lehman's publisher. I have yet to receive a response. Meanwhile, Ms. Lazarus, (an American Jew and proponent of the core concept of Zionism) is, no doubt, still rolling in her grave.

AJR on Blogging

Check out The Expanding Blogosphere at the American Journalism Review. Quotes from lots of blogs you know.

New chickens

We continue undaunted at the Calblog "feed the neighborhhod predator" house. We purchased 6 more chicks and converted the downstairs shower into a brooder again. We have this raising the baby part down now (I hope that doesn't jinx it!).

We have 4 rhode island red females, mostly because that was the only breed that was sexed at the store. We also got 2 white bantam (small) silkies. I hope they end up being girls too.

Mostly though, I hope they survive.

That didn't take long

Gay couples moves from "get to marry" to "have to marry."

Friendly Fire? It Shouldn't Matter

This should in no way detract from the heroism of Tillman's ultimate sacrifice, but I cringe when I think how the story will be handled by pundits critical of the war on terrorism.

Gates likes blogs

I have seen a couple of blogs on the Times article criticizing bloggers but no mention yet of this:

Blogs are good for business, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said. In a speech to an audience of chief executives, Mr Gates said the regularly updated journals, or blogs, could be a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing.

He said blogs had advantages over other, older ways of communicating such as e-mail and websites.

More than 700 Microsoft employees are already using blogs to keep people up to date with their projects.

Of course, blogging wasn't good for this former Microsoft employee.

Religious Art

Hidden away, carved into an altar in a chapel in rectory, once attached to a church that has been razed.

Chickenblogging

They turned 2 months old last Sunday. No recent crises. Hooray! Here they are. They have names but I'll save that for an even sillier day.

UPDATE: I jinxed it. They were all killed in broad daylight while grazing in the yard today.

Peace ahead?

Well, this is good news. Well, at least, it can't be bad news.

A Memorial Day Salute

Many of us are quick to say "Happy" Memorial Day. But I have always thought that "happy" is an odd word to use to describe Memorial Day. On the eve of what is perhaps our most solemn holiday, I would like to take a moment and say thanks to all of the veterans and current members of our armed forces that have allowed us to enjoy the freedoms that many of us take for granted as we dive into another three-day weekend of summer fun. For one group of veterans, this weekend has been a long time coming.

For the Record

An interesting way to look at the death penatly. On a similar note, I for one think Coker v. Georgia was wrongly decided. It is one of the cases I'd love to see overturned.

Gas Taxes

Andrew Sullivan not too long ago announced his support for substantially higher gasoline taxes, and as of late so does Professor Bainbridge. I personally think increased gas taxes are a thing to dread. Gas is already relatively highly taxed in compared to other like goods. And while I accept the idea of using a tax to appropriately adjust for externalties like pollution many newer cars are exceptionally low in pollution and older cars are taken off the road and forced to pay for their externalities through the Smog Check II and other ways of insuring that those who pollute more stay off the road.

In any event, my opposition to gas taxes is a simple one really. Gasoline is closely (at least to me) connected to freedom. I grant people will think that I am crazy, but only in America, can someone cheaply drive from S.F. (a week before their first Law Final) and spend a week in Las Vegas and drive from there to the Hoover Dam and to the Grand Canyon, only in America can I get up and cheaply drive to Yosemite to see the wonder that God has created. Only in America, can I decide to drive to Boise, ID instead of flying just because I like to see the land in front of me, to cover the miles. When I travelled in Europe, I rented a car precisely because I wanted to have that freedom, and yes it was dreadfully expensive. Expensive to be in Venice and think "You know what...Let's go drive to Neuschwanstein." Now was I not going to do that because of the cost, well not that trip, but a car allows that freedom, maybe some like to have no room for change or spontenaiety, so you can have your train tickets and airline passes, but for the one who wants to be able to from Vegas say "You know...we could make it to Zion spend 8 hours and make it back in time." Well that's what America is about, that's why gas taxes are insidious, they take away just that little bit of freedom. I love this country, and I want to see it, but so many people would rather just fly over Red America; well let them, but then to want to tax us (those who should want to see this beautiful land more) psheh... People in the states can get up and move 40 miles away from their parents people can live in the exurbs away from the city. After all, there is something true something real about working with one's land, there's a reason land is the only real property. Sullivan must be careful as his policies would lead down the same road as those who want to condemn us to live in miserable apartments detached from the Earth.

I want to extend this entry into something else, so I must be careful, but I will say this much, I have often found that if you scratch an "environmentalist" 9/10 times you merely find a person who already has their real property and merely wants to artificially constrict supply as to inflate the value of their property. But that is a story for another time.

Define Profound

From the Washington Post:

Bush's doctrine of preemptive military action is the perfect example, according to Kerry's foreign policy advisers. Bush has asserted the United States' right to preemptively strike a nation it deems an imminent threat to U.S. security. Kerry would not rule out preemptive strikes, nor have past presidents, but he would de-emphasize this option in stated U.S. policy. Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, a top Kerry adviser, said this represents a "profound difference" between the two candidates.

Go Play In Traffic - Reader Survey

I would like the help of Calblog's readership on this post - especially those of you with children. The brief set-up is as follows: (Please read on)

A few years ago, our city fathers and mothers decided to revamp our downtown area. In their zeal to institute "traffic calming" measures, they reduced the width of lanes through the downtown area, and slowed traffic there to a crawl. The unintended consequence of this short-sightedness is that, almost overnight, our residential side street became a popular shortcut to bypass the downtown area. So we did what all good, involved citizens should do: We brought the issue before our local city council more times than I care to mention before we FINALLY got them to agree to install a median that would channel through-traffic down nearby arterial streets. So far, so good we thought. The trouble is, another group of neighbors in a PUD behind our house decided to use the new median as an excuse to air a longtime grievance: The fact that they are asked to endure ANY traffic has been too much for these poor dears to bear since they first moved in. Incredibly, they want the median removed, even though they are too obtuse to realize it is to their benefit as well. Now comes the part I need help with: In their petition to have the median removed, they are claiming that an increase in traffic has occurred, and can't be tolerated on their streets because, and I quote: "Jorgensen ... is a narrow street... where children regularly play." Is it just me, or does anyone else out there find it incredulous that thirty-two adults and parents would actually sign a petition that states that their children should have the right to play in the street before it is used for the purpose for which it was originally designed, namely, on which to drive a car? I put this to our city council last night and received nothing but blank stares in return. In addition, I am stymied by the apparent lack of concern of some parents for their children who are allowed to play in the street with no adult supervision while society as a whole finds it inconceivable that a parent would leave a child in a car unattended for even one minute. Please chime in, I value any and all feedback on this issue.

Boys, Girls and What's Between Them

We're at the end of 7th grade in the Calblog house and boys certainly take up a lot more of our discussion time than ever before. Mostly, it's Maddy who does the discussing. Amanda is interested in boys but seems to have been plucked from the 19th century when one just did not talk about such things.

Recently, I explained to Maddy the meaning of a certain word that referred to a certain sexual act that happened to come up in conversation. Normally those things don't come in conversation but I was so shocked that Sex and the City was going to be shown on TBS that I blurted out the names of certain things that would HAVE to be editted out. After Calblog husband resumed breathing, I decided it was better that she learn that from me than at school. Fortunately, she was duly disgusted. She doesn't have to always be disgusted, but at 12, I want her to be disgusted.

Now we have the actual boys to deal with. No sex, thank heavens. No dating either. Much discussion of dating and who one would date if one were dating. Last night, the answering machine bore the voice of a boy who asked her out. He loves her and she's hot. She has no idea who he is or if he exists. There have been rumors swirling about him for 2 weeks now. I predict a long puberty.

APB

Where's Irish Lass?

CA to Raise Minimum Wage?

The Assembly has voted yes.

MoveOn Counterprotest

What could be more fun? It's tonight! Survivor's ended. Friends has ended. You know you're not doing anything.

Get all the details at the BoifromTroy.

Infotel and the Democratic Party

Make of this what you will (but share your thoughts if you like!). In 2003, the Democratic Party paid for an Infotel Directory.

The Problems with Slippery Slopes

Most of my experience with slippery slopes is anecdotal, and so, is not any sort of empirical study or the like, but I have often noticed that the biggest problem, despite what your logic or philosophy professor told you, with slippery slopes is that they very rarely do not come to pass given time. It seems like with many things once a path is started down it is rarely turned from. Once a blog or something similar turns its focus on the seedier side of life it quickly begins to focus more and more on it. And more so, does it seem that one rarely escapes from that downward spiral. And then, that thing that used to value or utility is absorbed by the seedier discussions and all utitlity is lost. Alas, so is the life of a conservative.

Step 5

There are five steps to adding a member of the Bear Flag League, once they have been accepted.

1. Put them on the blogroll.

2. Get their RSS feed into the headline roll.

3. Put them on the email list.

4. Get them the codes they need for their site.

5. ANNOUNCE THE NEW MEMBER!

Welcome to Raincross Conservative, our first member from Riverside County.

Schindler-Schiavo Update

Her parents were allowed to visit on Sunday for an hour. This after they were completely exonerated of Mr. Schiavo's latest imagined wrong.

Their visits have to be monitored now.

BFL Headlines

With a bit of jerryrigging, I now have the Headline roll to the side expanded to more than 30 blogs. 31 of the 50 Bear Flag members are on it. I have some emails out to people who I think I can get on it easily enough and who I am certain are not on it.

If you are not showing up in the headline roll and you want to show up in the headline roll, email me with your RSS feed.

If you used to show up and you have dropped off, holler.

With this administrative glitch corrected, I am now taking new BFL members again. Get your requests in.

Recommended Reading

If you are interested in the spiritual journey, I highly recommend Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics by Monica Sinetar.

I do not, however, recommend the Yahoogroups mailing list of the same name, said to be inspired by the book but which bears little relation to what I read.

Wictory Wednesday

I finally remembered Wictory Wednesday on a Wednesday. Now I have to remember every Wednesday. Today's the blogger day to donate or volunteer for Bush.

Here's the evergrowing list of other people who do the same:

The Clinton Speeches

A comparison of recent speeches by Bill and Hil.

Patterico's Star is Rising

He continues to get some well-deserved recognition for his LA Times-watching.

Indian Tribe Gets Waterfront Hotel

in San Diego:

The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation has won approval to build a $30 million hotel and conference center on the San Diego, California, waterfront.

The San Diego city council voted unanimously to accept an agreement with the tribe. Some changes were made to the agreement affecting the land's possible trust status and future attempts at gaming.

Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

The issue that won't die.

One of Schwarzenegger's first acts following his election was to repeal the newly enacted law, which granted licenses to undocumented migrants living in California. At that time, the governor said he would work with Cedillo to craft a bill that protects national security but also takes care of immigrants.

Since then, Schwarzenegger has moved the issue to a back burner, calling it an overly complex problem that wouldn't soon be resolved. ::: Advertisement :::

On Tuesday, Cedillo said, he plans to move ahead with his own measure, and although he downplayed conflict with the governor, said he hoped his newest bill would expedite the process.

Disney's War Toons Almost Suppressed

It turns out that Disney almost pulled a Lynn Cheney/John Kerry in trying to suppress some historically significant documents through an abuse of intellectual property laws. (By "abuse", I mean so in the moral sense of the term. Not a legal sense. That unfortunately is the whole point - current copyright law allows for such moral abuses all the time.)

As in the Cheney/Kerry cases, the Mouse was worried about their corporate image in refusing to allow the re-release of previously published works. Economic incentives had nothing to do with it.

Fortunately, 9/11 and determined animator succeeded in cutting through the corporate culture in order to finally get the Disney Wartime Cartoons released again.

Read all about the project here. Then run out an buy yourself a copy before Eisner, et al. get

cold feet and decide to pull these works from the marketplace after the inevitable criticism from leftist loons screaming about racial and cultural stereotypes.

This is hardly the only example of this controversy in the cartoon world. Some historically and/or culturally significant cartoons produced decades ago remain hard to find due to the confluence of P.C. racial sensitivity and copyright overbreadth.

Sometimes the racial controversy is contrived, in which case it allows a small special interest group to force great works to be locked up for a lifetime.

Other times, the claims of racism are not so contrived (even though some politcally motivated groups may inflate their signifcance in some instances), in which case it allows a small group of corporate executives to force historically or culturally significant works to be locked up for a lifetime, even though such works might be vital towards an understanding of how corporate media works have shaped national dialogue on certain issues over the decades.

Baby Chimps

A story like this one just tickles me. Lots of chimp babies on the way.

Well, Lookee Here

Frequent commenter, Bob Kirchman, makes news in Canada in a story about scams. Before you get suspicious, he is the blogger behind Scamfighter's Tips.

Ch-ch-changes

In the past two weeks, I have moved my office for the second time in 3 months, resigned most of my volunteer positions, shut down the mediation practice and ended a friendship that was partly the cause (but not the blame) of all of this.

Am I happy now? Not yet. I am, however, relieved. There are various theories about change. One theory is that you shouldn't make too many changes at once. That has never worked for me. I need to condense the upheaval, get through it and rebuild. On to the rebuilding.

Spaceport Mojave

Mojave Airport Civilian Flight Test Center is about to be certified as the first private spaceport.

US Civil War and Iraq

Via Tonecluster: An article recalling the South after the Civil War and comparing it to Iraq.

Initiative Good News

The headline on So Cal Law Blog says it all:

Initiative to Reduce 17200 "Shakedown" Lawsuits Qualifies for Ballot

As always, he's got all the details and links to the original sources.

Blog Story of the Day

Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette.com was on Fox with Jessica Cutler who posted her sexual escapades under Washingtonienne. Jessica has been fired from her Senate aide position for her blog. Wonkette has a picture of the two together.

Don't feel sorry for Jessica just yet. It looks as if this will propel her into the spotlight.

Random thought: Which BFL'er do you think will be the first to hit national TV for their blog?

Random BFL notes

Patterico is putting together a group lunch with a special guest this week. Contact him if you didn't get the email -- or even if you did.

I'm having technical difficulties with the expansion of the headline roll. Note to Rollup -- I'd pay for a rollup that handles more than 30 blogs. I've got a few ideas on how to do what I want to do but need to carve out a couple of hours to try them all. No new BFL members until I can get to that. If you're in the queue, I know who you are and I have not forgotten.

I can't believe I'm writing about Michael Moore again

Via Prestopundit, a Fred Barnes article on the lies of Michael Moore. See also Patterico on the speed of the LA Times reaction to the latest lie.

Boxer Takes a Ride on the Reading

Remember when Boxer was running around extremely worried about shoulder mounted rocket launchers? Now she is concerned that someone will bomb the trains. Of course, her worry accompanies a spending bill she is pushing.

Strange Bedfellows

Moveon.org is touting the new disaster film, The Day After Tomorrow, which is apparently based on a book by two famous UFO believers. Skeptical Inquirer, which dislikes the movie, but does think climate changes are coming, makes the connection.
A long, long time ago(late 70s? early 80s) I read a series of books by Ruth Montgomery in which she claimed to talk to spirits who predicted such a climate change around now, along with a President who had gone through a spiritual change before becoming President. My general bias is that, if there was a psychic predicition of all this, then it won't happen. Now that I know the UFO guys are also behind this climate deal, I'm not going to worry about it.

Celeb Poker

The absolutely wonderful Irish Lass pointed me to this article of celebrity sightings at the World Series of Poker. I played a couple of satellites to try to win my way to the WSOP but failed miserably.

Je T'adore, Monsieur Moore

Why is this a surprise to anyone?

Of Bikes and Men

As I'm sure most of you have heard, the President fell off his bicycle today.

According to Matt Drudge, in response, "Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?'... Reporters are debating whether to treat it is as on or off the record... Developing... "

You also might remember that, less than a month ago, Kerry fell off his own bicycle.

I wonder if he's learned to ride without those training wheels since then?

(Oh, and by the way, yes it is the real Clam. Justene was kind enough to allow me to post, infrequently, here.)

Blogger Down

Another blogger, Suzi, who tackles the problem of spyware, is coming under fire. Some sites get threatened a lot and handle it well. I ran across one that had a whole page of complaints. I've had some threats and actual filed papers but I practice law and can generally take care of myself.

Suzi is not in a position to just laugh off even the most baseless threats like this one and she is helping on an issue -- spywire -- that has become a serious problem. So we have to rally around her. There's some behind-the-scenes support. Blogosphere support is starting to build here and here. Please join in.

Not Ready for Prime TIme

There are a couple of blogs out there that I know about and the owners haven't started publicizing them.

Inspired by the Infotel brouhaha, Scamfighter's Tips has opened it's doors.

Frequent commenter, Clark, has a blog but hasn't told me where it is. Public pressure is obviously in order.

Shot In The Ass, or Ass Gets Shot? You Decide

According to SF Chronicle correspondant Colin Freeman, anyone at all can get shot in Iraq, even a journalist with a written guarantee of safe conduct issued by Sheikh Sittar al-Bahadli.
I guess my question for Mr. Freeman is, "How many of the people in the crowd surrounding you when you got shot did you think could read the Sheikh's "safe passage" guarantee?" Assuming, of course, that any of the crowd, whipped into a fervor of anti-American and British sentiment at the time by the Sheikh himself, would bother to take the time to read a piece of paper proffered by an American. It is incidents like this that underscore exactly how ignorant many Westerners really are. And these are the people who are entrusted to bring us fair and balanced reporting?

Good News

Details are sketchy, but CNN is reporting that four of the five reprobates that beheaded Nick Berg were arrested a week ago by Iraqui police. The four are said to be former members of Saddam's Fedayeen. No news, however, on al-Zaqarwi, although another report this morning stated that one of the four arrested is an al-Quaeda leader. No one is saying who has the four in custody. Perhaps it will be best, if the Iraqis are so inclined, to leave them in Iraq for swift, eye-for-an-eye (or four-heads-for-one, in this case), justice.

Update: Now this, from CNN: (CNN) -- "Coalition forces apprehended four people in connection with the beheading of U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg, a military coalition official said Friday, but have since released two of them.

The senior official said the two remaining might be released after more questioning. He provided no further details."

So we have four of the five, but two have been released and the other two aren't likely to be held? But wait, now we see that the four were arrested IN CONNECTION WITH the beheading of Nick Berg. This is starting to sound quite different from CNN's earlier report. I suspect this is another example of CNN sensationalizing a mundane news report on a slow news morning.

How Not to Win Friends and . . .

Both sponsor and entrants seem to have slipped off the edge of propriety. Sponsor has at least toned down the statement from the first version.

How to Win Friends and ...

Arnold shows how it's done.

The Iraq "Wedding" Raid Dispute

Many reports today about a disputed raid in Iraq.

The U.S. claims it was against a safehouse for insurgents, some Iraqis claim it was a wedding party that was firing guns into the air in celebration.

The only thing agreed upon is that about 40 people are dead.

I must say I get suspicious when an Iraqi hospital official proclaims, ''We received about 40 martyrs today, mainly women and children below the age of 12."

Martyrs??

Note to Iraqis: If you wish to convince Americans that people are innocent, do not refer to them as "martyrs".

It's also curious that the Iraqis admit that the raid happened at close to 3 in the morning, Iraq time. (But maybe weddings go much later over there...Who knows?)

Still, while I tend to believe the military over the Arab media in a case like this, I don't completely discount the possibility that

U.S. soldiers mistakenly (and justifiably, I might add) mistook celebratory gunfire for an attack.

What I completely discount is the possibility that the U.S. conducted a raid in the middle of the desert near the Syrian border just because they thought it would be fun to shoot up a wedding.

All of which brings me to my main point here -

Regardless of the truth in this situation, Iraqi culture must change its behavior in regards to firing weapons in celebration.

The entire reason for this war is to change some aspects of Middle Eastern culture - by force if necessary.

This one should specifically be put on the list. In a war zone, firing guns into the air defies common sense.

I realize that someone from Los Angeles shouldn't be lecturing anyone on cultures that fire guns for celebration, but that doesn't change the fact that our troops cannot reasonably be put into a position where they have to figure out if someone is actually celebrating a legitimate cause every time they hear a gunshot.

In light of this latest incident, Zeyad's post entitled 'Celebrating Iraqi Style' over at www.healingiraq.com seems extremely prescient. (Keep in mind that he wrote this last Sunday - four days before this latest U.S. raid in the desert.)

Not only does he report an incident regarding celebratory gunfire that amazingly wasn't reported in the U.S., but he covers the whole history of this cultural practice in the region.

A few choice excerpts from Zeyad's post:

"Two days ago, Adhamiyah residents talked about clashes with American troops following the celebrations on the Iraqi Olympic football team's qualification to the Athens Olympics. Baghdad's night sky was red with celebratory gun fire at that day. Apparently, American patrols were bewildered and had mistaken the gun fire as attacks against them, possibly returning fire at foolish Iraqi football enthusiasts.
...

The practice almost disappeared during the sixties until the nineties, when the former regime had controlled arms possession, and strongly prohibited any use of them. It returned again with a vengeance in the mid nineties after the regime implemented his controversial tribal policy and removed restrictions on tribal laws, but it was still mostly limited to rural parts, except when the regime granted permission for a specific event (such as Saddam's birthday or the Zahf Al-Kabir), or after the Iraqi football team wins a critical match. I remember my father (a man educated in the west) shooting in the air like crazy when the first Gulf War ended, that was the first and last time he ever did it.

Now, on Thursdays (the usual wedding day for Iraqis) you will have to remain indoors because of the ridiculous amount of gun fire in the air, the same for funerals, football events, and some creative instances such as getting your ancient car fixed! Yes, they do know that 'what goes up, comes down', but that won't change it. It is a bad habit indeed but if you lived here rest assured that you would be doing the same. Every individual is a product of his society."

There is much more good stuff from this post. Read the entire entry if you wish to educate yourself.

Healingiraq.com once again proves to be an invaluable source for Iraqi coverage.

If only the traditional media would pay more attention to blogs. Their coverage would be so much more enriching.

It is also very interesting to read the headlines of various newspapers covering this incident as reported using a Google search.

Notice how the different papers reveal their biases? It's especially interesting to note the country of origin of the newspapers...

40 reported killed in disputed airstrike
Boston Globe, MA

40 Killed in US Attack on Iraqi Border Village
Los Angeles Times

US Army Disputes Reports It Killed Civilians
Reuters

Pentagon Challenges Allegation That US Aircraft Struck Iraqi Wedding Party
Voice of America, DC

Foreign fighters or Iraqi wedding party?
Today (Singapore), Singapore

US targets Iraqi wedding party
The Age, Australia

US airstrike kills 40 Iraqis at wedding
Xinhua, China

US helicopter attack kills 40 'at Iraqi wedding party' (this one uses quotes at least)
Telegraph.co.uk, UK

US air raid kills 40 of Iraqi wedding party
Daily Times, Pakistan

45 DIE AS US BOMBS WEDDING
The Mirror, UK

Wedding party massacre
Guardian, UK

Journalist objectivity massacre
calblog.com, U.S.A.

ACK! The Sixties

The nighttime routine at the Calblog house is that Calblog husband and I watch an episode of Dark Shadows on DVD in the bedroom before we dose off. Usually, it is very relaxing and I find that I really don't sleep well when we skip our routine.

Sometimes, it is less relaxing. Last night, we watched Burke Devlin propose to Victoria Winters in that romantic, overwritten soap way that puts me right out. Then, Vicki hesitated. She thought out loud. Raised in an orphanage, she's been searching for her identity her whole life. Then she realized, if she marries him, she'll finally have that identity she's been looking for. Yes, Burke agrees, she'll be Mrs. Burke Devlin.

Ack. Ack.

Lying

This article suggests failure to make eye contact is a sign of lying. I have always doubted that. When I fail to make eye contact, it's invariably because I am furious and I am trying to remain calm by not looking at the person making me angry.