Trick!

Happy Halloween from our cat Delilah.

Syria Scrubs Attack Site

Pictures can say a thousand words, and the New York Times has a couple of interesting ones from high over Syria.

New commercial satellite photos show that a Syrian site believed to have been attacked by Israel last month no longer bears any obvious traces of what some analysts said appeared to have been a partly built nuclear reactor.

Two photos, taken Wednesday from space by rival companies, show the site near the Euphrates River to have been wiped clean since August, when imagery showed a tall square building there measuring about 150 feet on a side.

I loved this line from deep in the article:

Later in the interview, he said, “ We understand that if Syria even contemplated nuclear technology, then the gates of hell would open on us.”

Did they understand that before or after Israel's attack? I'm guessing it was after a window of hell opened on their nuclear site.

Bobby Caina Calvin, Media Idiot of the Week

Bobby Caina Calvin of Knight-Ridder/McClatchy is a short-sighted, self-absorbed moron.

Calvin's post at his blog is spreading around the web like wild fire, but if you haven't seen or heard it yet, here's the quick and short of it. Calvin wrote on his blog (reproduced here) about difficulties he had getting into the green zone in Baghdad because two forms or ID were required at the checkpoint and not just the one that he had, identifying him as media with Knight-Ridder. The American soldiers at the check point did not know what Knight-Ridder was. No big surprise there; I'd wager that a majority of Americans do not know what Knight-Ridder is. It was a classic "don't you know who I am?" piece from someone that really had no justification for expecting people to know who he was or who he was with.

Calvin was short-sighted because he wanted to breeze in and out of the green zone as if it were a Parisian cafe. Fortunately for Calvin and other media members of his ilk, the green zone is safe because it is not a place that can be entered and exited breezily. Scrutiny of identification is what has kept out the type of people who would love nothing more than to kill someone like Calvin because he doesn't worship in the exact same religion. Calvin doesn't have to like the scrutiny, but if he appreciates the existence of a 'green zone', then he damn well better accept it.

Calvin was self-absorbed because he had absolutely no justifiable reason to expect a soldier at a check point would know or even care what Knight-Ridder, a company that publishes(ed) no newspapers in its own name, is. And even if they did, they would still be absolutely justified in expecting a second form of ID as stolen or faked identification is hardly a rare thing in this world. In his post, Calvin essentially throws a hissy fit about the failure to be recognized by a young man who is basically on the front line in his position as a check point guard to an area that enemies would love to breach. Given that, Calvin's post epitomized selfishness.

Typically, I'd have skipped this story because opinion on it is already a dime a dozen. But Calvin's selfish irresponsibility should be recorded, and now that his original post seems to have disappeared, I'm more than happy to join in with the others who makes sure it stays recorded.

Clearing away Jena 6 myths

As the national media reported on the Jena 6 story, some things just did not seem to add up and the string of the story didn't always seem to connect quite right. In the Christian Science Monitor, a local Jena reporter says that was because the national media did a horrible job covering the story. In his CSM piece, he also addresses some of the 'myths' of the Jena 6 story. It is worth the read.

Quick Hitters

I've read a number of things today that I've found noteworthy. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to write about them and I'm probably not going to be able to in the next couple of days. Just the same, I'd like to share these quick hitters with everyone.

*Fred Thompson has laid out his immigration plan, and it looks pretty good to me. It might help him in the primaries, but it might hurt him in a general election. We'll see.
*Remember the Israeli bombing of the supposed Syrian nuclear site? Last week a Syrian official confirmed it was a nuclear site, and again very quietly. It is as if nobody wants to touch this story. Except Stanley Kurtz at NRO, but even Kurtz leaves many questions unanswered.
*The momentum continues to grow against ethanol.
*I've done a few searches on Flickr in the last couple of days on the fires in Southern California. By and large, it looks like people are being smart and staying the hell away from the flames. Still, a few cool pics like this one have popped up.
*Ya know, anti-war protests keep happening, but does anyone really notice?

China Continues Offensive Military Space Program

Next time you see someone criticizing the U.S. for militarizing space, remember that we didn't start this fire:

A Chinese submarine will send test signals that could change the course of a satellite when China launches its first moon orbiter, as part of the country's effort to develop space war technology, a human rights watchdog said Tuesday.

The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said two survey ships are deployed in the South Pacific Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean to send signals to maneuver the lunar exploration satellite, expected to be launched Wednesday. At the same time, a nuclear-powered submarine will send simulated signals to the satellite as a test, it said in a statement.

Once the satellite-maneuvering technology matures, the group said, China would have the know-how to destroy other satellites in space in wartime. China could launch cheaply-made weapon-carrying objects into space and change their courses to destroy or damage satellites of other countries by sending signals from submarines, the center said.

China shocked the world in January by firing a missile at an old weather satellite without notifying anyone in advance, showing off its anti-satellite weaponry and its ability to shoot down satellites without being immediately noticed.

Some might point out that we got the ball rolling with 'Star Wars'. The 'Star Wars' missile defense idea, while partially located in orbit, is/was a defense system of earthly concern. The Chinese are aggressively pursuing offensive, space focused weapons, and unless we get on the ball soon, they are going to have us, and our communications, completely defenseless.

The Time We Invest in Controversies of Fiction

I couldn't care less if J.K. Rowling has thoughts of a gay Dumbledore dancing in her head. Really, why should we care, besides the fact that some parents of kids that read the news are going to have to explain that gay doesn't really mean happy anymore. You can't really shelter your kids about that for very long anymore, anyway (unlike, say, the early 1980's when it worked on me...partially.) Personally, I think Rowling is just tweaking people now that she's finished the series, and she is probably sitting back with a drink, laughing at the froth she's created.

Your friend, the hurricane

So we are taught that hurricanes and tropical storms are bad, and more of them is worse. With that, I give you Atlanta.

For more than five months, the lake that provides drinking water to almost five million people here has been draining away in a withering drought. Sandy beaches have expanded into flats of orange mud. Tree stumps not seen in half a century have resurfaced. Scientists have warned of impending disaster.

And life has, for the most part, gone on just as before.

Everything has its place in nature. Hurricanes in particular send us into hysterics but they are incredible, if inefficient, contributors to the aquifers they cross.

I am at times amused by our current opinions of conservation. On the one hand, we are hell bent on freezing our ever changing nature as it was at a time in the past we deem as 'perfect'. On the other hand, we view some parts of nature as menaces, but even menaces like hurricanes can be beneficial to us. I'm sure that parts of the east coast would trade a good tropical storm right now for the water conservation they've been forced into by drought. I'm also sure that if we could find a way to eliminate or re-direct those storms, we'd do it.

Rest in Peace, Max McGee

I know that I'm late to this one, and there isn't much to be said that hasn't been said already. I would like to say a few things, just the same. I grew up with McGee. We went on a lot of Sunday rides with my grandmother when I was a kid, and one concession my Raider fan father always made was to flip the radio to the Packer games in the fall. McGee and partner Jim Irwin provided the descriptions that allowed the game to play in my head. McGee played the part of the colorful, knowledgeable fan, and I stress colorful. It isn't every day that you'll hear an announcer today refer to a wrap around draw, common in the early Holmgren days, as an "enema draw". Once in a great while this would get him in trouble, but by and large McGee's commentary was much appreciated by Packer fans who suffered through horrible teams during much of his radio career. His ten Wisconsin "Sportscaster of the Year" awards were much deserved. Rest well, Max.

"Way of the Warrior"

This sounds like it will be interesting:

As a United States soldier in the second decade of the 20th century, Edward DeNomie chased Pancho Villa and fought in all seven major battles of World War I. He took shrapnel in his ear and lost a lung in a German gas attack. He saw some of his best friends die, all while serving a country of which he was not a citizen.

That is because he — like 12,000 other soldiers who volunteered for military service during World War I — was Native American.

Patty Loew, a veteran television journalist and an associate professor of life sciences communication, has long wondered what motivated men such as DeNomie, who also happens to be her grandfather, to fight for a country that considered them outsiders. Now, she has produced “Way of the Warrior,” a one-hour documentary that will air nationally on the PBS network in November, to explore these questions.

In chronicling the war stories of Native American soldiers from World War I to Vietnam, “Way of the Warrior” offers an interesting counterpart to Ken Burns’ seven-part series, “The War,” which was criticized by some for neglecting the contributions of minority soldiers in World War II. Like Burns, Loew uses historical footage, primary documents and interviews with veterans and their families to relate deeply personal tales of bravery, heroism and loss. But she also probes social stereotypes and aspects of tribal cultures that have made the experiences of Native American soldiers unique.

Because Native Americans were not guaranteed U.S. citizenship until 1924, most Native American soldiers in World War I wore the uniform of a country that did not permit them to vote. Some chose to serve in guard units for a steady income, Loew says, but many others were motivated by tribal values of obligation, service and protection.

About 8 years ago, I met Loew and and I had the opportunity to have a long discussion with her. I was very impressed with her intelligence and her depth of knowledge. I'm sure that this will be a very interesting documentary.

B.S. Alarms Hit Rare Eddie Haskell Levels in Eau Claire

This amused me. The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram brings us the story of the Girls Gone Wild bus that visited the Water Street bar The Pickle last Friday. In it, they talk with a UW Eau Claire freshman who had this to say:

"I'm against the objectification of women," he said. His friends declined to comment.

What a fine lad, right? Well, now let's work in the context.

UW-Eau Claire freshman Dan Bock and two of his friends took cell-phone pictures of each other in front of the coach bus Friday afternoon. Bock said he has never seen a "Girls Gone Wild" video.

I'm guessing his friends declined to comment because they were laughing too hard. But hey, if smarmy works for Bock, more power to him.

AFP Taxpayer Rally in Madison

Taxpayer Rally 128
Originally uploaded by Jibby7

I had the opportunity to hit the Americans for Prosperity's "Defend Wisconsin Taxpayers Rally" in Madison today. It was interesting, to say the least. To see some of my photos, go here.

I decided right off the bat that since I was already on board with what the AFP was saying, I wanted to hang with the counter protesters. They were going to be much more...amusing. I also figured that they'd make better photography subjects. I was right on both accounts.

The first thing that struck me was that a portion of the counter protesters seemed to be under informed. Before the rally, AFP blasted a campaign promise made by Jim Doyle over their speakers. In it, Doyle promises, amongst other things, to not raise taxes and to be open to solutions to Wisconsin's budget problems. After it had come over the speakers a couple of times, I heard one counter protester turn to another and say, "That's funny. Look at all these no new taxes signs. They don't seem very open to solutions." She had no idea that the voice coming over the speakers was not someone with AFP, but Jim Doyle.

The second thing that struck me was that the many of the counter protesters were completely divorced from reason and completely married to emotion. Emotion is a fine thing, but by itself it is merely dangerous. When the rally began, I was standing between two male counter protesters. I did not hear one intelligent thing come out of the mouth of either all day. One was very skilled at spewing vitriol. He in fact, after pulling out all the expletives he knew, started several of the "Do your job" chants that were yelled out today. The only problem? They were yelling "do your job" at people who weren't lawmakers but private citizens. The other gentlemen joined in all of the chants at the top of his very voluminous lungs. But he did one other thing that I found pointless. As if he thought he could drown out the speakers all by himself, he'd blare "Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah!" over and over and over and over again. Counter protesters such as these seemed to have no interest in winning over converts to their beliefs, but rather seemed more interest in just making sure their opponents couldn't be heard themselves.

And speaking of emotion. The prime emotion that seemed to be the currency of the counter protest was rage. And at least in the area where I was standing, bloggers seemed to particularly evoke rage. Bloggers Fred Dooley and Owen Robinson both spoke at the event, and some of the most vile things I heard all day were directed at them. It was at that point that I actually began to get nervous about the froth the counter protesters were working themselves into. I started to work my way to the opposite side of the counter protest to see if the rage was all consuming on that side. Thankfully, it wasn't, but quite another thing dawned on me as Madison and Milwaukee talk show host Vicki McKenna finished up her speech, and that was that the end of this event was going to be potentially dangerous. You see, the rally was held on one of the malls that led up to the capitol building. It was blocked off on both sides leading up to the capital in order to keep the protesters/rally members and the counter protesters separated. Unfortunately, that meant that there was only one way out for the rally participants. As Mckenna finished up her speech, I worked my way back to that choke point. When I first got there, the counter protesters had left the exit unmolested. As more rally participants began to leave, that changed. I began to be pushed forward by people coming up from behind me to crowd the exit. I went with the flow and followed around to get a better look, but while I was crowded out, I heard a guy shouting at someone who in hindsight I think was Karen Carpenter. I ended up in a crowd of counter protesters that created two very narrow and curvy lanes for rally participants to leave. While they harassed the participants aggressively at first, they calmed down a little bit when it became apparent that police were not going to tolerate a free for all. It was still a potentially ugly situation that I hope can be better planned for the next time around.

Jiblog on The Google

Search terms are fun, especially when they are goofy terms and your site ranks high in the search. Take for instance the search that brought some poor, unsuspecting soul here last night. She (I'm assuming it was a she) did a Google search for "All Men Are Pigs." Interestingly enough, Jiblog is the number 2 result for that search right now. So what sage wisdom about men did she receive from me? Only this post wherein I encourage guys to ogle Milka Duno.

Sorry, but I did say we're all pigs.

Bonfire Displays Pope John Paul II?

Some people think so. Here's the picture:


Normally I'm not one to pick on religion, but give me a break. Two things. First, this is like looking at a cloud-you can see whatever you want to see. I looked at this pic and two famous movie characters came to mind before Pope John Paul II did:


Now keep in mind, I'm much more religious than I am a fan of Star Wars (of which I'm not very much at all).

Second, this is a photograph, and not one at a very high shutter speed. That means the light had a little bit of time to "play" while the shutter was open. A faster shutter speed, and the fire/light never forms this image.

I'm not a Wisconsin blog...

...according to BlogNetNews. But then again, neither is the Badger Blog Alliance.

Two Things You Might Not Have Known, Baseball Edition

I enjoy the occasional random factoid, so it is my pleasure to pass along a couple that I learned today. Did you know...

1. Robin Yount won as many MVPs in his career as Ted Williams and Willie Mays did?

2. Over the course of their franchise histories, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cleveland Indians have won the same number of MVPs with 3. The Indians were a charter member of the American League. The Brewers are less than 40 years old. If Prince Fielder were to win the NL MVP this year, something that seems unlikely at this point, then the Brewers will move into an MVP award tie with another charter member of the American League, the Chicago White Sox.

The Iranian "Threat" to Putin

Over the weekend a Russian news service reported that Russian officials were aware of a specific assassination threat against Vladamir Putin during his upcoming visit to Iran. It is entirely possible that there is a threat to Putin's safety in Iran, but something struck me as unusual about this story, and I just can't quite put my finger on it. I then began to wonder if Putin wasn't doing a little PR to continue to bolster his brave, manly image in Russia as he refused to cancel his trip, which then got me wondering if the "threat" was completely made up by the Russian government to begin with. It's thin, I know, but not something I'd put past this current rendition of the Russian government.

The Heineken Bottle Brick

It's too bad this never caught on.

Mr. Heineken’s idea came after a visit to the Caribbean where he saw two problems: beaches littered with bottles and a lack of affordable building materials. The WOBO became his vision to solve both the recycling and housing challenges that he had witnessed on the islands.

The final WOBO design came in two sizes - 350 and 500 mm versions that were meant to lay horizontally, interlock and layout in the same manner as ‘brick and mortar’ construction. One production run in 1963 yielded 100,000 bottles some of which were used to build a small shed on Mr. Heineken’s estate in Noordwijk, Netherlands. One of the construction challenges “was to find a way in which corners and openings could be made without cutting bottles,” said Mr. Habraken.

I knew guys in college that made virtually all of the furniture in their apartments out of cases of returnable Leinie's bottles. They'd have switched brands for bottle bricks and then they'd have built an addition onto their apartment.

U.S. to Owe $100 Billion Gambling Debt?

Maybe.

A Brussels think-tank has accused the US government of reneging on commitments made to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over internet gaming.

Panellists at a trade forum levelled harsh criticism at the US, focusing on a burgeoning trade clash between the US and Europe over internet gaming.

The forum believes that the US could be liable for up to US$100 billion in trade concessions to European industries after placing illegal discriminatory trade restrictions on European gaming operators.

The disputed concessions arise from Antigua's victory earlier this year when the WTO ruled that the US violated its treaty obligations by excluding online Antiguan gaming operators, while allowing domestic operators to offer various forms of online gaming.

Instead of complying with the ruling, the Bush administration withdrew the sizeable gambling industry from its free trade commitments.

As a result, all 151 WTO members are considering seeking compensation for the withdrawal equal to the size of the entire US land-based and online gaming market, estimated at nearly US$100 billion.

The European Union, along with India and five other countries, has filed notice that it intends to seek compensation.

What are they going to do if we don't pay, break our Florida? Cut off our Maine with a cigar cutter?

And now, the rest of the story

Heh. When you read the stories today about former Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez criticizing the war effort, make sure you wash it down with this post at Power Line. In it, they reprint the portion of the speech that the media is largely ignoring-the part where he launches heavy criticism of them.