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Friday, September 27, 2002
Here's a CNN article on the files mistakenly given to Moussouai, or however you spell his name. It's weird--I swear this has already happened once. In which case Uncle George is doubly right about idiots finding work with the government.
Here's the Washington Post article on the same subject. I got both of these articles effortlessly from the front page of news.google.com, which I will not stop shilling for until you all are devoted users.
.: posted by andy 9/27/2002
Now this is the kind of reporting I like to see.
.: posted by Jeremy 9/27/2002
I have tried five times to post a link to a story about some jerk in the Justice Department giving classified FBI files to the terror suspect Moussaui, and have failed every time. Yahoo couldn't find the story from either AP or the NY Times, even tho it was published this morning. So I give up. Maybe the problem was that the url was about five miles long. My point would have been that if one is an idiot, one has a bright future in the Government.
I heartily concur with Andy re Communicator 7.0. It sucks. I thought upgrades made something better, not worse.
.: posted by George 9/27/2002
Thursday, September 26, 2002
I just heard President Bush say on TV that there are Al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq. The last time I heard anything about that, it was that some Kurdish faction was sheltering those terrorists. I guess Bush has conveniently forgotten that we've given those Kurds a virtually autonomous region in Northern Iraq, which Saddam Hussein has little or no influence over.
Bush also said that if some country donates fissile materials and special components to Iraq, Saddam Hussein could develop nuclear weapons within a year (previously it was 2-3 years). How retarded is that? If some country donated fissile materials and special components to me, I could probably build a nuclear weapon in a year or two. But why would anyone do that? If you're one of the less than ten nuclear powers in the world, why would you want to introduce another country to that exclusive club? Besides that, every single nuclear power is pushing Iraq to accept the weapons inspectors unconditionally. Why would they suddenly reverse course and give Hussein the ingredients to make a bomb?
These claims just don't make sense. Why aren't more Americans alarmed about this?
.: posted by andy 9/26/2002
Speaking of "everything you thought you knew is wrong," here's a fun little quiz designed to rattle your world view. At this point, I've had my world view rattled by so many quizzes and articles like this that I don't get very surprised anymore. Little factoids like these, taken completely out of context, have incredible power to amaze and shock. Put into context, I think we'd see that it's just the status quo all over again. I scored 20 out of 27.
By the way, here's some information about the Suburn missile mentioned in the quiz. I think the Phalanx would still most likely be able to defend against it.
Someday, when I'm very rich, I will buy a Phalanx to defend my mountain stronghold.
.: posted by andy 9/26/2002
Incas rode dinosaurs. Everything you thought you knew is wrong.
.: posted by andy 9/26/2002
It is certainly worth noting that opium production in Afghanistan has risen from 185 tons a year in the last days of the Taliban to 2700 tons a year under the US/Karzai regime. I recognize that the reasons for this that were given in the article are legitimate. Nevertheless, I wonder if some shady organizations like the CIA may occasionally use the drug trade to fund some of their shadier operations. A lot of people say that happened in Vietnam, and this seems like an even better opportunity.
.: posted by andy 9/26/2002
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Donald Rumsfeld is one of the most uniquely entertaining administration officials I've ever heard of.
Rumsfeld on US-German relations:
"It's not for me to give advice to other countries," Rumsfeld said. "We have a saying in America, if you're in a hole, stop digging."
"I'm not sure I should have said that," Rumsfeld said. "Can we pretend I didn't say that?"
.: posted by Jeremy 9/25/2002
US sailors still winning vietnamese hearts and minds.
.: posted by Jeremy 9/25/2002
Now we're sending Special Forces to the Ivory Coast. Good grief, how many special forces do we have? I always got the impression that the Special Forces was a relatively small number of soldiers in the grand scheme of things. Right now though, we've already filled Afghanistan with special forces, and we've also got them in Pakistan, Phillipines, Georgia, and somewhere else that I can't think of now. Do we have any regular soldiers? Isn't this the kind of mission we could have used regular soldiers for? Seems like some Bradleys and armored cavalry would do the job nicely.
In what way are these soldiers special, anyway? I mean, my mom says I'm special, but you don't see me growing a beard and riding a donkey in the Afghan boonies...
.: posted by andy 9/25/2002
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
While I stand by my previous statements regarding Palestine's inability to develop a winning strategy in their bid for independence, I would like to point out that many in the international community are unhappy with Israel's behavior. Rightly so. In any case, this resolution will just be added to the mountain of other UN resolutions regarding Israel and what the UN refers to as the "Palestinian Question."
.: posted by andy 9/24/2002
White blood cells used on cancer again. This time with medium success. Pretty exciting stuff.
.: posted by andy 9/24/2002
Monday, September 23, 2002
Google now offers news. Or links to news, anyway. On a page with no ads and a very readable format. I like it. No more wasting time on CNN or MSNBC's front pages. Hooray for Google.
.: posted by andy 9/23/2002
Sunday, September 22, 2002
If the Palestinians can't recognize a losing strategy after 2 years, maybe it's just time to consign them to their fate. Nature is unkind to those who can't or won't adapt. Despite everything, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are convinced that the most successful strategy is suicide bombing. Everytime one innocent Israeli is killed by a Palestinian, the Israelis kill or arrest at least as many Palestinians, destroy Palestinian homes, shut down the Palestinian economy. Nevertheless, Hamas and Islamic Jihad never reevaluate their strategy. They have this pig-headed fatalism that prevents them from changing tactics. I guess their whackjob belief in the glory of martyrdom gives them a certain mindset--one that makes them fight to lose, and prevents them from considering more successful strategies in which they don't die.
.: posted by andy 9/22/2002
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