To: Sen. Kerry
Re: Bad Political Advice
From: Sgt Mom

1. Presumptious of me to be offering my advice to you at this time, but if Lumpy Riefenstahl can presume to offer open letters to GWB, and cats can look at kings, then I can offer a few kindly words. My pity as a public relations professional is aroused most particularly because whoever advised you to base your campaign on the image of your service in Vietnam as a Navy officer did you no favor. To put it kindly, that was the second-worst bit of advice I have ever seen administered. The prize for worst in my experience, was that of an oldies radio station in Ogden-SLC ten or twelve years ago, who— when they re-formatted their playlist, took that occassion to announce that while the playlist was being updated and refreshed, they would be the “All Louie, Louie” station. And they played nothing but “Louie, Louie", all day and all of the night, for an entire week!
I think they had lost every listener in the market by the end of the weekend, and carried on for another four days just to be sure. But I digress.
2. Senator, Vietnam was three wars ago, four if you count the Cold War of which it was a part. It is ancient history to most everyone under the age of 40, the stuff of movies and TV shows. To them, Vietnam is about as far away and irrelevent as World War I was to us. Not too much about it is applicable to the here and now of the war in Iraq, and what there is sometimes seems to have been bashed and warped and jammed to fit a wholly new matrix, shoehorned in any old way, according to the preconceptions of those doing the applying.
3. To those of an age to remember Vietnam and the aftermath, the memories are often bitter— especially for those who served in the military. The memories are of shame, of loss, and of being carelessly maligned by the public, levened with the salt of betrayal of people who trusted us, and finally paved over with a couple of decades of getting on with ordinary life. How your political consultants could think that re-opening the bitter divisions of that time would serve a useful purpose goes beyond malpractice. Had you, or they, any idea of how angry the average Vietnam veteran would be, given your prominence in the anti-war faction following on your service?
4. To see the world only as you wish to see it, not as it actually is, may be the particular hazard of those who live in an insular world, deprived of real-world feedback. To make decisions based on what you want the situation to be, and discounting— or being completely unaware of facts to the contrary— is a reciple for folly, and disaster. Your only hope for political victory may be that sufficient voters share your insular, floating world, soaring high above the rabble of cruel realities.
5. At this late date, you might still recoup the recent losses; downplay Vietnam, convincingly take up some rather more down-to-earth amusements, release your military records, confront the realities of this present war with bold, concrete and achievable policies; Audacity, my dear Senator, always audacity, but focusing well above just telling audiences what they want to hear at any one moment.
6. Up to the present, though, your course has been so disasterous and ill-advised, I confess to wondering in dark moments, if you were not set on it deliberatly, perhaps by a trusted someone who has ambitions for a second Clinton administration after the next election. As a rational person, I do not look for sabotage and clouds of conspiracies, but I can be tempted. After all, sometimes the paranoid do have people out to get them.
7. Seriously, Senator, I think you need to get out more.

All the best
Sgt Mom

Contrary to what it may seem at times, I do have a real life. And, as such, I was unable to catch most of today’s GOP convention. But, from what I saw, if the rest of the convention follows the tone set today, I fully expect Bush/Cheney to see the bounce from this that Kerry/Edwards didn’t see from theirs

Rudy Giuliani was in particularly fine form. His joke about Kerry needing Edwards’ ‘Two Americas’ to accomodate his position(s) on the issues was a master stroke.

But I really liked the women that directly preceded him. I broke out in a huge smile when the last one mentioned being proud and happy to :share her son with America” when the Navy sends him to the middle east shortly. I your face, Micheal Moore!

I’m currently watching C-Span’s Washington Journal this morning. And a woman called in from Florida claiming that a person can write the registar of voters claiming they are moving there, and then can vote on the Florida ballot for ten years.

So, Florida readers, or anyone else in the know - any truth to this?

As well as science projects, this competition may be right up your alley:

Enthusiasts on Friday unveiled an effort to establish an annual competition for space-elevator technologies, taking a page from the playbook for other high-tech contests such as the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

Many of the details surrounding the “Elevator:2010″ challenge — including financing — still have to be fleshed out, however.

The project, spearheaded by the California-based Spaceward Foundation, would focus on innovations in fields that could open the way for payloads to be lifted into space by light-powered platforms. Such platforms, also known as climbers, would move up and down superstrong ribbons rising as high as 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.

From fiction to fact
The space elevator concept goes back to vintage science fiction — with emphasis on the “fiction.” But in the past couple of years, researchers at institutions such as Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have been looking into ways to turn the idea into reality.

‘We firmly believe that the set of technologies that underlie the infinite promise of the space elevator can be demonstrated, or proven infeasible, within a five-year time frame.’

If space elevators could actually be built, the cost of sending payloads into space could be reduced from $10,000 or more per pound (455 grams) to $100 or less — opening up a revolutionary route to the final frontier. Like the X Prize for private spaceflight, Elevator:2010 is aimed at jump-starting the revolution.

“We firmly believe that the set of technologies that underlie the infinite promise of the space elevator can be demonstrated, or proven infeasible, within a five-year time frame,” the Web site for the competition declares. “And hence our name. Elevator:2010. We promise to get an answer for you by then.”

In order to work, the elevator’s ribbons would have to be made of materials stronger than any that exist today; carbon nanotube composites are the current favorites. Conventional rockets would launch components of the elevator, which would be anchored to an Earth station to form a bridge to outer space.

Most of the current schemes call for the climbers to be powered by sunlight and/or intense artificial light focused onto photoelectric cells. The climbers would ride on the ribbons like rail cars.

Enlisting student teams
Elevator:2010 seeks to encourage technology development through annual contests that start small: One contest would pit climber prototypes against each other in races up a roughly 200-foot (60-meter) ribbon. A second contest would focus on developing better materials for the ribbons, and a third would encourage construction of power-beaming systems.

The first competition is tentatively scheduled for next June or July in the San Francisco Bay area, said Ben Shelef, a member of the Elevator:2010 team. That time frame would give student teams at universities enough time to build light-powered climbers — just as teams of engineering students build solar-powered vehicles during the school year for the American Solar Challenge.

“We’ve gotten feedback from the universities, so we know it’s feasible,” Shelef said. “It’s the same thing as the solar cars, but on steroids.”

The fastest-moving climber would earn its team a $50,000 prize, with a $20,000 second prize and a $10,000 third prize. The strongest ribbon would win a $10,000 first prize, and the best power-beaming system could win $10,000.

Details of the ribbon and power-beaming competitions have yet to be fleshed out, and the financial foundation of the entire challenge depends on sponsorships yet to be announced. The Silicon Valley mechanical design company where Shelef works, Gizmonics Inc., is listed as an initial sponsor.

Actually, if anyone is interested in talking to me about collaborating on this project, I have some ideas.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Now that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is being released on video, it is again the grist for media talking heads. I just watched a repeat of a fairly good panel discussion from last February on The History Channel’s History vs. Hollywood.

One thing that struck me as particularly interesting - and I can’t necessarily call it a ‘double standard’, as I haven’t heard both determinations from any one single person: The Passion seems not to be a ‘documentary’ for the very same reasons that Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 is.

If you thought America was a biotech-friendly nation, think again:

Stallman, a rice producer from Texas, said anti-biotech groups - which have failed at furthering their agenda on the national level - are initiating local biotech bans, such as Measure D in Butte County, which is up for a Nov. 2 vote. “Local biotech bans threaten agricultural production one county at a time,” Stallman told attendees at a “No On D” rally. He also called on members of the Butte County Farm Bureau to talk with their friends and neighbors about what biotechnology means on their farms.

“You are activists for agriculture,” Stallman said.

Debunking a misconception about biotechnology, Stallman said many top foreign markets for U.S. ag products have readily embraced biotechnology, including Japan, China, Canada and Mexico.

Is this even an issue that should be subject to local legislation?

Compare this headline on Donald Rumsfeld’s prisoner abuse gaffe in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Rumsfeld first denied key finding on abuse

He corrects himself after aide points out what U.S. report says

To this one in the New York Times:

Rumsfeld Denies Abuses Occurred at Interrogations

Both for the same Eric Schmitt article. As well, the Times version doesn’t even mention the correction until the end of the fourth paragraph, where the typical busy reader is likely to miss it. The PI version splits it off into a separate paragraph.

Schmitt then followed t up with this snide remark:

Yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita sought to play down Rumsfeld’s comments, saying, “He misspoke, pure and simple. But he corrected himself.”

It’s this sort of opinion disguised as reporting that makes me avoid the NYTimes (and several other publications).

Huntington Beach, California is going off the deep end to control cell phone use in their public library:

A new ordinance that takes effect September 15th bans all cell phone use in libraries. That includes talking, text messaging and ringing tones of any kind.

First-time violators will be warned, then fined 250 dollars if they don’t comply. A second offense gets a 500 dollar fine and third-time offenders will pay a thousand bucks.

Note that the actual fine includes a penalty assessment, which currently runs about two and a half times the original fine. But will someone tell me why cell phone use in libraries can’t be controlled in the same manner talking to other library patrons, or other disruptive behavior has been for years: the librarian asks you to tone it down, or cease. And if you don’t comply, you are ejected. Why do we need a new law here?

My first place, aside from rooms in various barracks, was a tiny studio apartment in the R housing area, close to the POL gate at Misawa AB, Japan: a long, narrow room with three largish windows in each segment: bedroom, living room, and kitchen. The bedroom segment was screened off from the rest by a 3/4th wall, and a narrow counter with cupboards underneath divided the remainder. A tiny, windowless bathroom— tub, sink and toilet all together in a tiled cubicle was behind a narrow door off the kitchen. In the summer mushroom-like fungus grew in the corners, and in the winter, the bathtub tap sprouted a stalactite of ice.

The windows gave onto a view of three tiny houses on the other side of the driveway where I parked my little green Honda mini, and the fields and treeline along the road towards the POL gate, a view entirely snow-covered for the first months that I lived there, a vista of white snow and blue shadows, and the cold crept in through the single-pane windows, especially around the area closest to the kitchen sink, in which I was supposed to bath my baby daughter.
“It’s just too chilly, I’m afraid she would catch pneumonia.” I said to the visiting nurse practitioner, who said thoughtfully,
“What about the bathroom tub?”
“It’s warm enough, especially if I fill the tub with hot water… but it’s a Japanese tub. Square, but deep…would it be safe? It would be pretty awkward, I’d have to kneel on the floor and it’s an awful reach. I’d be afraid of dropping her. ”
“When in Rome,” said the nurse, “Take your baths together. Get into the water, and then hold her, safe.”

The more I thought about it, the more it looked safer than bathing her in a shallow sink, in front of a drafty window. The metal bathtub was a deep square thing, a comfortable fit for an adult to sit cross-legged, filled to chest level with steaming hot water, which even on cold winter days raised the temperature of the little bathroom to a comfortable level. I would line the baby carrier with towels, another wrapped around my daughter, then undress and step into the tub first. Kneeling in the water, I could lean over and pick her up, then sink back into shoulder-deep hot water, cradling her head above water level with one hand, and the rest of her propped on my knees. It felt much more secure, and much warmer, bathing together Japanese-fashion, close together in the square bathtub, my daughter gurgling and looking up at me with trusting adoration, eyes so dark blue they looked like purple pansies. Sometimes I would just hold her face above water, my hands cupping the back of her head, and let the pink and froglike little body float freely. She splashed and kicked, utterly secure in the confidence that I would not let anything happen to her, that she would be born up by the water and my hands.

At the end of her first year we went back to the States, and bathtime reverted to something a little more American Standard, and at the end of that second year, I had to leave her with Mom and Dad and go to Greenland. Being a hardship tour, a remote sentence to very nearly the end of the earth, Air Force personnel were permitted a month of leave halfway through the year. It was the Air Forces’ way of keeping us from going rock-happy, and of helping us maintain some sort family life, but it was Mom’s idea that my daughter should be taught to swim. Having read all too many sad accounts of toddlers and small children falling into unguarded and unfenced water, she and Dad had practically to padlock the gate to the pool enclosure at Hilltop House.

“There’s a mother and child swim class at the Y, on the same days that I am teaching stained-glass” She told me, almost the first moment that I was home, while Blondie clung to me like a limpet, crowing “MommyMommyMommy!”
“But she’s only two and a half,” I said, “Isn’t that too young?”
“No, it’s a special class for babies and toddlers; the instructor teaches the mothers, and the mothers teach the children. Apparently, the younger they start, easier it is for them.”
I would have to take that on faith, I decided on the first day of the class; ten or twelve mothers standing chest-deep in the shallow end, each with a baby or small child— the oldest a girl of three or so, as fair as Blondie, although her mother was older than I, and as dark as Mom. She was the most assured about leaping off the side of the pool, landing in her mothers’arms with an air of trustful affection— obviously, she had been to swim lessons before— but all the rest clung to their mothers with a desperate grip.
“When you are only two feet tall,” allowed the kindly instructor, “The whole pool is the deep end.”

The first and most essential lesson was to teach them how to hold their breath, and hold it on cue. We stood in a circle, holding our children upright in the water, our hands holding them under the arms, a little away from us, also chest-deep in the water
“Ready?” said the instructor, “One-two-three—blow, and duck!”
Counting one—dip the child a little, and bring up—two—dip again—three—dip a third time, blow a breath on their faces, and quickly duck them all the way under the water for a couple of seconds. The natural reaction of the babies with the air blown on their faces the first time was to close their eyes. Hopefully repetition of the dip-dip-dip-blow-duck! sequence would have them holding their breath, although at least half of the junior members of the class that first day came up from their first time, howling with astonishment and shock. The instructor coached us to calm the children and then do it again, and again, until that first lesson was learned. That would be the start of each lesson, reinforcing the cue to hold breath. The instructor pointed out how they very youngest of the babies caught on to it the fastest, having perhaps some atavistic memory of amniotic fluid. And the fair-haired little girl hardly needed that coaching at all, but paddled confidently from the side of the pool to her mother, standing four or five feet away—practically an Olympic champion, in comparison.

At the end of the second or third lesson, the instructor brought out a pair of floatee-cuffs for each child or baby.
“It will give them an idea of what it is like to float freely.” Even with the floatee-cuffs on their upper-arms, most of the babies and toddlers still clung to their mothers with desperate fervor— only the older girl and Blondie took it in stride. Blondie, full of confidence once she realized that the floatee-cuffs did indeed hold her as well above water, determinedly wriggled free and away from me, heading toward the deeper end. There was a class of older children there, going off the diving board, a great deal of excited shrieks and splashing, much more fun than a group of babies clinging to their mothers. This was my first realization that my daughter was almost entirely fearless, in the water and practically everywhere else— it would not be a surprise that she swam like a fish by the age of seven, and nonchalantly dove off the high-board by eight. But this was early days, yet, and the other little girl still swam better.
“Your daughter swims very well,” I said enviously to her mother, as we were all getting dressed again in the locker room, that day.
“I’m the housekeeper,” She replied, “Her mother works.”
I hadn’t contemplated that— after all Mom looked nothing like Pippy, Alex or I, with blond to light-brown sugar colored hair and blue eyes. But still. I thought of the little girl, leaping off the side of the pool, trusting and affectionate. Not her mother. The housekeeper.
Oh dear. I worked too…. But at least I could teach my daughter to swim.

My mother and I are currently watching Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” together. It was the first movie she’d ever seen, on her sixteenth birthday.

Recieved this e-mail yesterday:
“Just to say I have received my copy of the book down here in New Zealand
yes - you have overseas readers !!!”
And last week I got an e-mail from a retired NCO who lives in Greece, and remembers working with me there, and he has ordered a copy, and I am sure that Tim Worstall has ordered a copy, as well, so on that basis I can describe “Our Grandpa Was an Alien” as an international sensation!
I have also a limited quantity of copies on hand for anyone who wants an autographed copy with a personal inscription; just e-mail me directly for particulars.
Today, publish-on-demand! Tomorrow— the New York Times best-seller list!

(Later Note: It’s listed in Amazon, too! What a thrill!)

Whether or not we really need something like this, I bet we will see them as a huge fad item

Honda Hybrid Scooter Prototype

This from Honda’s Press release:

August 24, 2004—Honda has developed a 50cc hybrid scooter prototype that offers reduced emissions, exceptional fuel economy, and ample storage space. Employing both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, the new prototype takes Honda one step closer to a mass-market hybrid scooter.

The new prototype features an alternating current generator (ACG) with an idle stop function and the Honda PGM-FI electronic fuel injection system. In addition to an electronically controlled belt converter and a range of Honda environmental technologies, the new scooter features a dual series and parallel hybrid powertrain with a direct rear-wheel drive electric motor. Thanks to a compact power system and a rechargeable nickel hydrogen battery located under the front cowl, the hybrid scooter is about the same size as the Dio Z4, a standard-size 50cc scooter, and is only 10 kg heavier.

The hybrid scooter’s internal combustion engine and direct rear-wheel-drive electric motor function in two distinct modes. In series mode, when riding on flat ground and when high output is not required, the engine alone powers the electric motor. In parallel mode, used during acceleration and when high output is required, the electric motor assists the engine. In parallel mode, an electronically controlled belt converter automatically selects the optimum assist ratio.

To make the most efficient use of energy, the hybrid system charges the battery during deceleration and whenever possible and utilizes this power when higher output is required. In addition, the scooter enters idle stop mode, when the scooter is stopped, and whenever power is not needed, during deceleration. These advanced features allow the hybrid scooter to achieve 1.6 times the fuel economy of the Dio Z4 (when riding on flat ground at 30 km/h) and to produce 37% less carbon dioxide.

As if 200 mpg isn’t enough?

I am honored to be given the opportunity to email interview best-selling author Michelle Malkin. Michelle is the daughter of Filipino immigrants, wife and mother of two, blogress, TV commentator, nationally syndicated columnist, author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores and her just released book In Defense of Internment: The Case for “Racial Profiling” in World War II and the War on Terror.

Before we get on with the interview I want to state three things. First I want to say that I think that this is an important book that proves there is an intellectual case for the 1942 evacuation order. That there were abuses that occurred as a result of that order is undeniable, but they were not the reasons for the order. Second, my wife and I agree that this book is an impressive achievement given that Michelle gave birth while writing it. (Dr. Wife gave birth to Darling Daughter#2 while finishing her PhD long distance, so we empathize.) And thirdly, I personally want to thank Michelle for writing this book. After my posts on the 1942 Evacuation Order, I received many requests that I write a book on the subject. Michelle has written a book better than I could have imagined. So thank you, Michelle, for getting me off the hook!

Michelle: Thank you for your kind comments about the book. As you know, I embarked on this project in part because of your debate with Eric Muller last spring. If not for you, I doubt that this book would exist.

Sparkey: Thank you! I really appreciate that. Now, you once wrote that you believed the internment of “ethnic Japanese was abhorrent and wrong.” What changed your mind? Was there a specific “Aha” moment, was it a gradual process, or what?

Michelle: My “Aha” moment occurred as I read David Lowman’s book, especially the MAGIC cables and intelligence memos that he reproduced in the back of the book. I put many of those documents in my book and online. Many more are available at www.internmentarchives.com, which was founded by Lowman’s publisher, Lee Allen.

The memos show that U.S. intelligence agencies regarded ethnic Japanese on the West Coast as a serious national security threat. My critics have written dozens of blog entries assailing my book. They have accused me of being a self-hater, of slander, of shoddy research methods, of providing too few footnotes (there are more than 600), and of being physically repulsive. But as of this morning, they have not addressed the concerns about Japanese espionage discussed in the intelligence memos reproduced in my book. Why? Because anyone who spends even ten minutes perusing these memos is likely to conclude that the evacuation and relocation of ethnic Japanese on the West Coast was rooted in legitimate national security concerns, not simply wartime hysteria and racism.

Sparkey: In the introduction to In Defense of Internment you state that it is forgivable that American’s don’t fully appreciate “the wartime exigencies of early 1942.” How do you feel the prism of Vietnam has distorted people’s view and understanding of 1942?

Michelle: In the late 1960s and the 1970s, anti-war agitation and ethnic identity politics became all the rage. Third- and fourth-generation Japanese-Americans embraced the America-bashing, victim-card culture and launched a nationwide bid for blanket payments to evacuees and their families. That movement led to the formation of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, which issued a biased report that reached the predetermined conclusion that Roosevelt’s policies were motivated by racism and wartime hysteria.

Sparkey: How widely publicized was the Niihau incident in the States, and how significant was the event to the Administration at the time? [Niihau is a Hawaiian island where ethnic Japanese Americans assisted a downed Japanese pilot after the Pearl Harbor raid. -S]

Michelle: It was written up by naval intelligence officers in Hawaii and was publicized by the local papers. The incident appears to have been very significant to the Roosevelt Administration-as evidenced by inclusion of reports related to the incident in the proceedings of the Roberts Commission.

Sparkey: After both Pearl Harbor and 9-11 many security fears were not realized. Critics point to these as evidence that such fears were unfounded. How do you respond to this?

Michelle: Obviously this is a logical fallacy. If X (say, an appendectomy) causes the absence of Y (say, a burst appendix), it is incorrect to conclude that since Y did not occur, X was unnecessary.
[I would like to add that just because a threat was not realized doesn’t imply that the concern for that threat was unjustified. - S]

Sparkey: Eric Muller insinuates that (based on the name of your book) you’re really advocating an Arab roundup of a sort. You address this charge in your rebuttal, but it does beg the question, why name the book In Defense of Internment if you’re not really advocating internment?

Michelle: The title is In Defense of Internment because the bulk of the book (including all 12 chapters between the introduction and conclusion) is devoted to a defense of the evacuation, relocation, and internment (policies collectively referred to as “internment") of ethnic Japanese during World War II. This is very relevant to the War on Terror, obviously, and I tease out some lessons in the introduction and conclusion. But it is clear that my book is a defense of internment in 1942, not today. I do support racial profiling and other policies that my opponents have repeatedly likened to the WW II internment.

Sparkey: What do you see as the biggest benefits resulting from the 1942 Evacuation Order, and do they justify the policy?

Michelle: The greatest benefit was to severely disrupt Japanese espionage cells on the West Coast. Given what was known at the time, I believe the decisions made in early 1942 were justified.

Sparkey: What do you see as the biggest negatives of the policy and their effects on public perception?

Michelle: The biggest negative was the adverse impact on Japanese-Americans who were loyal to the U.S. and the PR campaign on their behalf that followed. The effect has been to wrongly discredit any and all homeland security policies that apply heightened scrutiny based on race, ethnicity, religion, or nationality as well as any detention policies that bypass the criminal justice system.
[It also didn’t help that the Government dragged its feet to the point of abuse in providing direct compensation for actual incurred losses after the war. - S]

Sparkey: How do you think the Evacuation Order could have been handled differently or better?

Michelle: There were numerous problems with the way evacuation was carried out. Military authorities did not initially appreciate how hard it would be for ethnic Japanese to move east on their own. They initially allowed Terminal Island residents 30 days to evacuate, then abruptly shortened that length of time to 48 hours following the Goleta shelling and Los Angeles air raid scare. This caused considerable hardship for the evacuees, who scrambled to sell off household goods (typically at rock-bottom prices) and pack for their move. The conditions in some of the assembly centers were miserable. (It is worth bearing in mind, however, that the centers had to be built quickly and at the time construction materials and equipment were scarce.) Some of these problems could not have been prevented, but others might have been with better planning.

Sparkey: It’s obvious many critics haven’t even read your book before casting aspersions. It’s as if you attacked some article of their religion. How do you expect to “kick off a vigorous national debate” with those who believe in the infallibility of their faith?

Michelle: There are many people who feel the issue is settled and should not be debated. This is unfortunate. If they are confident that their position is right, they should have nothing to fear from an open, vigorous debate. There are others, however, who are willing to debate the issue-most notably Eric Muller and Greg Robinson.

A word about that debate. Muller mainly addresses side issues, such as the book cover and my research methods and terminology and the book’s title and why he didn’t receive an advance copy of the book from my publisher and whether I slandered Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga and whether I mischaracterized Sarah Eltantawi of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and whether I took too long to respond to his critique.

Robinson, to his credit, focuses on the core issues-but much of what he says is flat out untrue. He says most of the MAGIC cables I discuss in my book came from Tokyo or Mexico City and refer to areas outside the United States. Wrong. He says those cables that do speak of the United States detail various efforts by Japan to build networks, and list hopes or intentions rather than actions or results. False. He says I said that Hoover’s opinion was not reliable or relied upon. Nonsense. He says ONI opposed evacuation. Rubbish. He says the Navy opposed evacuation. Wrong again. I pointed out these errors 18 days ago, but he has yet to acknowledge any of them.

Sparkey: Your book Invasion didn’t receive the attention it deserved from the mainstream press. How does the reaction to In Defense of Internment compare?

Michelle: I was heartened by the pre-release response, particularly the coverage my Bothell, Wash., speech received in the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Invasion was never covered as a news story by any major newspaper. Though I sent In Defense of Internment to every major newspaper, it appears it will not be reviewed, just as Invasion was not reviewed (except by a few small-town papers).

Sparkey: The next time you are in the Dallas area, would you give my family and me the honor of having dinner with us?

Michelle: If time allows, I would be delighted. I will be in Houston later this week, by the way, at an event sponsored by the Houston Forum. More details here.

In California today, the Senate hurriedly approved a slightly amended version of AB 50, which will ban .50 caliber rifles in the state.

DIGEST : This bill, effective January 1, 2005, prohibits the sale of .50 caliber BMG rifles. This bill authorizes the State Department of Justice to register legally-possessed BMG rifles until April 30, 2006, to assess a $25 registration fee, and to issue dangerous weapons permits for their possession, sale, manufacture and transportation. This bill makes it a misdemeanor to possess a BMG rifle that is not registered after April 30, 2007. This bill expands existing law to make assault with a BMG rifle a felony punishable by four, eight or 12 years in state prison.

This is a nonsense ‘feel good’ bill. Just how many .50 BMGs have been used to commit crimes anyway? And why just this caliber? Why not, say, the equally lethal Weatherby .460?

The confrontation in Najaf is the prototype for all near-future confrontations with insurgent elements in Iraq, with coalition forces accomplishing containment, and Iraqi forces going in for the kill:

NAJAF — A Shiite insurgency appeared to be weakening Tuesday night as Iraqi forces moved to within 200 yards of the revered Imam Ali Shrine and Iraq’s defense minister once again demanded fighters loyal to a radical cleric surrender or face a violent raid.

The militant force, which once waged fierce battles with U.S. troops throughout the Old City and Najaf’s vast cemetery, seemed considerably diminished in number and less aggressive after days of U.S. airstrikes and relentless artillery pounding.

In Baghdad, assailants bombed the convoys of two government ministers in separate attacks that killed five people and a suicide bomber, but left the ministers unharmed, officials said.

Hundreds of insurgents have been spotted leaving Najaf in recent days, witnesses said. Those that remained appeared to have pulled back to the area around the shrine, where the fighting Tuesday was concentrated, U.S. troops said.

Police say radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has not been seen in public for days, has fled the city.

His aides, however, vigorously denied that, saying al-Sadr was in a secret hideout here. Regardless, the fiery, charismatic cleric’s absence from the battlefield may have withered his followers’ morale.

U.S. warplanes bombed the Old City late Tuesday for the third night in a row, witnesses reported. Huge blasts rumbled throughout the city for about 10 minutes followed by gunbattles and smaller explosions.

Earlier in the day, fierce fighting broke out near the shrine compound, with rockets launched from U.S. helicopters kicking up clouds of smoke and debris. Bradley fighting vehicles patrolling the nearly deserted, bullet-scarred streets attacked militants, who responded with mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

“We are under constant enemy small-arms, mortar, and RPG attack,” said U.S. Lt Chris Kent, whose unit was about 300 yards from the compound. “U.S. forces are consolidating positions to allow for future operations. Morale is very high.”

Iraqi forces, accompanying U.S. troops into the Old City for the first time in recent days, combed through the neighborhood, approaching as close as 200 meters to the shrine, controlled by militants loyal to al-Sadr.

Both the Iraqi government and the U.S. military say no military moves are being made without the approval of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan, addressing Iraqi National Guard troops in Najaf, said Tuesday that Iraqi forces would head toward the shrine “tonight” to await the signal for a raid or the capitulation of the militants.

“When your brothers approach the holy shrine compound, they will direct calls of mercy to those militants to surrender,” Shaalan told the troops. “They have hours to surrender.”

By late Tuesday, there was no indication Iraqi forces had advanced on the shrine.

Shaalan made a similar threat a week ago, saying the government could raid the shrine by the end of the day last Wednesday to free it of “its vile occupation.” The government later backed down and said it would work for a peaceful solution.

Any raid on the shrine, the holiest Shiite site in the country, risked igniting a massive Shiite rebellion throughout Iraq against the fledgling interim government, already battling a persistent and bloody Sunni insurgency.

“I tell Shaalan to throw his new declaration in the same garbage that he already threw his earlier declarations in,” al-Sadr aide Sheik Aws al-Khafaji told Al-Jazeera television.

But other al-Sadr lieutenants reiterated their appeal for talks, a request the government has repeatedly rejected.

“We are ready to negotiate to end this crisis and the suffering of our persecuted people … but this government doesn’t want negotiations,” said Sheik Ali Smeisim, a senior al-Sadr aide.

The militants have repeatedly accused U.S. forces of damaging the shrine during the fighting. The U.S. military accused the militants of launching attacks from holy sites, but said it has restrained itself from attacking those positions.

The military released aerial photos Tuesday purportedly showing a complete militant mortar system set up just outside the shrine compound.

Iraqi officials have said that any raid on the shrine would be conducted by Iraqi forces, since the presence of U.S. troops at the holy site would future inflame Shiites here.

In other violence, clashes between British forces and al-Sadr militants in the southern city of Amarah killed eight people and injured 18 others, said Dr Saad Hemood, of the Zahrawi General Hospital.

The fighting started when militants attacked a British foot patrol with small arms and fired mortar rounds at a building housing British troops, residents said.

Residents said British warplanes bombed the city, but Squadron leader Spike Wilson, a British military spokesman, said no planes were used in Amarah and he had no reports of coalition casualties. (Wire reports)

Last week, I went into Burger King, and ordered an Angus Steak Burger. By the ads, I had thought it was comparable to Carl’s JR’s Six Dollar Burger. But this is hardly the case.

Just because I am a skeptic, I asked the counter worker how much the patty weighed. He didn’t know, but went back and asked. He came back with the answer “10 ounces” - wow, over a quarter pound!

However, if you consult the nutritional information on their website, you will see that, not only is the patty much smaller than that, the whole burger weighs only just over ten ounces. Further, if you compare it to Carl’s Six Dollar Burger, you will see that it hardly measures up.

But, beyond that, this was perhaps the most gross hamburger I have ever eaten! Upon delivery (yes, it was a take-out order), the girl called “extra mayo” - I had ordered extra onions and pickles. After a few minutes, the clerk that took my order said “that’s his.” Well, not only did it not have extra onions or pickles, but the bun was soggy, as if it had been soaked in that extra mayo. Further, the lettuce was old and wilted, and there were two wafer-thin slices of tomato, more white than red.

Another Burger King scam.

I’m so serene. I not only have a TV in every room, but satellite as well, by way of DirectTV. We’ve had Dish in the living room for a couple of years; and have been quite satisfied. But they wouldn’t match Direct’s promotional deal to keep our business.

Idiots.

I just got this via email from BusinessWeek:

Consensus is growing among scientists, governments, and business that they must act fast to combat climate change. This has already sparked efforts to limit CO2 emissions. Many companies are now preparing for a carbon-constrained world

The idea that the human species could alter something as huge and complex as the earth’s climate was once the subject of an esoteric scientific debate. But now even attorneys general more used to battling corporate malfeasance are taking up the cause. On July 21, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and lawyers from seven other states sued the nation’s largest utility companies, demanding that they reduce emissions of the gases thought to be warming the earth. Warns Spitzer: “Global warming threatens our health, our economy, our natural resources, and our children’s future. It is clear we must act.”

Read the whole thing.

I personally don’t deny the possibility of human-influenced climate variation. But, at this point, the science is simply far from conclusive. To be taking such radical measures based on such sketchy knowledge is, to me, the ultimate ‘Chicken Little’ play.

Exciting news for fatties and athletes alike from Forbes:

NEW YORK - By attacking the same basic biology drug companies are targeting for new anti-fat drugs, researchers have genetically engineered mice with abilities far beyond those of normal rodents.

These “marathon mice” can run twice as long as their unmodified brothers and sisters– and, in a paper coming out right at the time of the Olympics, that’s leading to hand-wringing about the possibilities of applying this knowledge to create performance-enhancing drugs.

But these would not merely be performance-enhancing drugs to be abused by athletes. They might help stave the toll of cardiovascular disease, the No. 1 killer in the developed world. By treating the same gene these researchers modified in mice, drug companies are racing to create super drugs that would reduce multiple risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and even high blood pressure.

Well, the Swiftboat Veterans story has finally broken out in the main stream media outlets; and I swear, NPR’s Juan Williams actually sounded rather aggrieved this morning, being made to eat the broccoli, along with everyone else. So far, they are saucing it with the assumption that of course this is all part of the Dark Lord Rove’s evil plan… for what other reason could their be, but politics as (dirty) as usual?
I think it is a great deal more complicated than that, and believe me, if I am one of the Dark Lord’s puppet pawns, than the contract and paycheck are conspicuously absent, and you don’t have to look any farther for a motivation than to the experience of Vietnam veterans; those of them that are not John Kerry.

Those veterans served their full tour, and did their jobs honorably and to the best of their abilities, even if it was on a rear-echelon base, or out at sea, or in a hospital. Some may have been wounded, some were decorated, some volunteered for the riskiest assignments, some looked for a safer billet, some were traumatized, others were unscathed, but not unchanged by the experience of being plunked down into an alien place and circumstances for a year. Just about all of them, contrary to what the popular media would show you, came back and got on with their lives. Some of them stayed on in the military, the rest became CPAs, doctors, teachers, technicians, police officers, actors and a hundred other professions, with more or less ordinary lives. And what did they get for their service, when they stepped off the Freedom Bird, and for a good long time after? Spit on occasionally, sometimes physically harassed, called baby-killers and mercenaries, despised and, painted in the popular media as unstable, violent drug-abusing degenerates… the list of injury and indignity went on and on, even when the war was long over.

I remember veterans being advised to not include military service on resumes and job applications, and the way that the older NCOs who had been there never, ever talked about it, unless among friends and very, very drunk, Gunny Kev confessing that he had volunteered for three more tours, since he could stick being shot at by the VC, but not being called a baby-killer by Americans. The subject was unmentionable, outside the military family, and even inside, people were pretty tight-lipped. On a Christmas night in Greenland, I was sitting between the public affairs officer, and the senior air traffic controller, talking of nothing much in particular. Then the PAO, rather lubricated, let it slip that in a previous service incarnation, he had been an Army infantryman, and how in the field they never washed, because the smell of soap would give you away, and the air traffic controller started, as if he had just been jolted by an electrical short— he also, had been an infantryman in Vietnam. Here, they had been at the same base for months, casual acquaintances for months, and yet never knew until then how much they had in common.

So, here we have people who have been proud of their service, and conduct, slammed by accusations of having committed atrocities— while war crimes committed by the VC and North Vietnamese got a free pass, falsely pictured in the media as being traumatized losers by movie producers and lazy reporters, even as they build quiet and successful lives. And as the final straw, the long bloody fight, all that sacrifice was for nothing at all. South Vietnam falls, in 1975, having been rendered politically untouchable.
So, in this year of 2004, three years after 9/11, when Vietnam is as far away in time as World War 1 was from the Korean War, irrelevant to a fight against the forces of Islamic fundamentalism, long after most of those involved have made their peace with it; here we are, going back into the jungles of 1968. John Kerry, who made his political bones as a leader of an anti-war group, rejecting his decorations, and testifying to a long series of improbable and unproven atrocities, was somehow advised that campaigning as a heroic war veteran would be just the winning ticket; that men whom he had maligned, and born false witness against had somehow magically forgotten their own experiences, their own pain, and guilt, to serve his ambitions.

The man who had no small part in creating the image of the unstable veteran, and in putting South Vietnam beyond the pale…. Oh, the response to that is anger, deep and abiding anger. I don’t know how it could have been otherwise, and I don’t know why the Democrats and Kerry advisers didn’t see it. Just anger…. Not political machinations, but anger, as unstoppable as a flood, and just as impossible to reason with.