China - One More Protest - One More Straw
Topic: Politics
The orchestrated anti-Japanese protests throughout China are dangerously close to showing once again the power of the law of unintended consequences. My first thought upon the beginning of these protests/riots was that it's excellent training for exactly what the Chinese government does not want. That being the organizing of people in opposition to them. Well, you put citizens in the streets to protest Japan and you are teaching them how to protest and how effective it can be. The history of China and Japan has not been a gentle one and the hatred is and always has been right there under the surface. By attempting to harness those hatreds toward a few foreign policy goals (keeping the Japanese off of the Security Council, winning control of the waters off of Okinawa for oil and gas drilling) the Chinese government begins to wake the beast that they cannot control. So now the Chinese are trying to reign this firestorm in. Riots in China Will they be able to reign this force of nature in? I think the government there has been too clever by half and they have in fact lit a fuse that will cause a terrible explosion and there is no way to know at this time which way the blast will turn. Clearly the Chinese government has been willing to engage in a foreign policy of saber rattling and confrontation. Clearly the government knows it is riding a tiger at home and they are clenched so tight that they know if they fall off they will be consumed. Like countless dictatorial nations the allure of nationalism to unite a population that is loosing faith in the nation state as it exists can work for a while. Clearly the Chinese 'street' is united against Japan in a way that startles and frightens the authorities. They must recognize that they face the danger of being consumed by their own creation.

Unlike the Soviet Union at the end of it's life, the Chinese leadership has not completely lost it's revolutionary zeal. In the USSR the wild eyed zealots of Bolshevik Communism faded with the death of Lenin in the 1920's and died under the heel of Stalin's pogroms in the 40's and 50's. In China the peasant rebellion of Mao's lived beyond Mao's death in the 1970's and while the tired old men of Russia knew when to give it up I don't think the Chinese leadership will let their power and control slip away without a fight. Tiannemen Square proved that and the dead in the streets to quell the future riots can only be imagined. The very real danger to the rest of the world in all of this is clear to see. Nationalism in the guise of focusing energy and rhetoric against Taiwan can and easily will be directed in a war of 'reunification' - While much of the rest of the world seems to believe their own pie in the sky thoughts that China wouldn't risk their economic relations with the rest of the world in a war against Taiwan it is clear from Chinese history that they certainly would do that exact thing if it meant a chance to retain power and control of a splintering China. China has gone it's own way in history many times and will do so again regardless of the perceived costs and disruptions to trade. And while the nations of the world turn a blind eye to it they make this war filled future all the more probable. Much like Neville Chamberlain was unable to recognize the growing danger of Hitler, the leaders of Europe with their desire to reopen military sales to China are equally blind and deserving of contempt. The future is almost here.

Ethiopian Scam for Arabs
Topic: Law
Somehow, don't ask me how, I have found myself on somebodies mailing list for Arab folks. I know this because I often get these emailed invitations to join some Arab website with discussion forums and such in Arab languages I don't even recognize. Probably from visiting a link from LGF lgf site At any rate, got in my mailbox today a version of the somewhat amusing Ethiopian scam. You remember that one, 'I am the ex President of someplace or the other and I need to get my money out of the country and I just need your banking information to transfer a huge amount into your account...blah blah blah.' So blatantly absurd that it's a wonder it ever got anyone to fall for it. But then there is no end to greed and being blinded by it. Which brings me to the email. To my latest 'Dear Friend' email. It's from my good friend ALHAJI ABBAS AZIZ as it states in the email. I'm pretty sure it's for the Arab audience here. I'll let him speak for himself. Notice the spelling of the words specialist, attached and hospital. Great spelling other than that. And if you are googling the contents of this email -IT'S A SCAM!!! Okay? Amusing unless you actually believe it and do something stupid like giving a total stranger your bank account information.

>>>>>>>>>>DEAR FRIEND, I AM ALHAJI ABBAS AZIZ. I AM A CITIZEN OF Saudi Arabia, BUT I AM RESIDENT IN DUBAI ,CANCER RESEACH SPESHALIST HOSPITAL- UNITED Arab EMIRATES. I AM VERY SICK WITH CANCER AND THE DOCTORS SAY I HAVE ABOUT 2 MONTHS LEFT TO LIVE. I SEND YOU THIS MAIL WITH THE HELP OF MY PRIVATE NURSE (FRANCIS NAMANI IBRAHIM) ASSISTING ME. I HAVE LITTLE TIME, SO I HAVE COMMITTED IT TO SPREADING MY WEALTH TOWARDS BETTER HEALTH CARES FOR MANKIND. I DON'T KNOW YOU, BUT DUE TO MY CONDITION I AM CONTACTING YOU WITH THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL CARRY OUT MY INSTRUCTION FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY. I HAVE US$20MILLION DEPOSITED WITH A TRUST SECURITY BANK IN EUROPE. I WANT YOU TO TAKE CUSTODY OF THE DEPOSIT AND USE IT FOR CHARITY WORKS ALL OVER THE WORLD AND ATTARCHED MY NAME TO THEM AS I LOST MY ENTIRE FAMILY IN CAR ACCIDENT (WIFE & TWO CHILDREN) IN CAIRO - EGYPT WHY ON HOLIDAY IN MAY 2003. IF YOU ARE READY TO DO THIS AND CARRY OUT MY WISH, THEN SEND ME YOUR CONTACT DETAILS. WITH THE HELP OF MY PRIVATE NURSE I WILL BE IN CONTACT WITH YOU. I AM IN THE RIGHT WING IN THE CANCER RESEARCH SPESHALIST HOPITAL ALONG WITH ALL OTHER DETAILS IN RESPECT OF THIS TRANSACTION. I WILL ALSO INFORM YOU OF YOUR PERCENTAGE IN MY NEXT MAIL. PLEASE SEND YOUR REPLY TO ANY OF MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESSES BELOW. I AWAIT YOUR REPLY AND MAY ALLAH BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. SINCERELY YOURS, ALHAJI ABBAS AZIZ.
EMAIL:{fnamani5@hotmail.com} <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I let the email address in here for the spambots to spam the dude. Seems only right.

Seven Minutes? Wot?
Topic: Mysteries of Life
I'm stunned - Premature and Mature Ejaculation report I mean really now. Goodness. I'm at a loss for words here. Seven minutes would definitely be substandard and a nonstarter as far as my own experiences go. Heck, anything under the twenty minute quickee standards is just bound to earn hateful stares and sullen partners. And only then when time is short. More like an hour is what I thought it was supposed to be. But, according to the report, and it's a scientific report of some 1500 men, according to the report those who have premature ejaculation lifted off at 1.8 minutes. That's a sad thing indeed. Poor dudes, perhaps some medication and therapy. But the stunner for me was the stopwatched time for those other folks who claimed to not be premature. 7.3 minutes was the average time for the rest, the healthy male folk having no problem at all. Eh? What? Wot? It's too late in the month for April Fool's but this just can't be right.

To Solve All of the Problems of the World
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Ah indeed. I was standing in line at the grocery store with my staff of life stuff - Tea, sugar, cheese-its, ramen noodles, - the classics. My eyes lingered over at the wall of magazines on either side of where I stood. It occurred to me as I read those article titles and teases that if only one of those titles was actually real and did what it said it would do then in short order all of the ills of the planet would be gone. If the article that said I could have rock hard abs in only six weeks was real I can just see all the people who would not only have rock hard abs in the next six weeks but just think of all those people and how their self esteem would soar if they too could really have rock hard abs in six weeks. More smiles, more friendliness, more self assured people who wouldn't need to honk their horns and be inpatient on the highway. Wow. What a concept. If that one article title over at Cosmo was real, 'One hundred things, (twenty, thirty, fifty - they just make up a number) he can't tell you about what he wants, or that other article -'fifty ways to give her the earth shattering orgasm she wants.' Can you imagine how stunned the world would be if any of those articles were true? Happy women, happy men. Fewer murders, divorces, assaults. Paradise in short order. Humm. Perhaps I was too hungry at the time. :-)

Not letting President Carter Go To Pope's Funeral
Topic: Politics
Let's see. This is a simple question, who better to represent the United States at the funeral of the Pope- Condi Rice or President Carter? Humm. Nope, I can't see any reason why you would not have President Carter go to this funeral. Condi can go and talk to whoever needs talking to but to have her instead of the former President of the United States is simply criminal and petty on the part of the Bush gang. Carter may be have been the worst President in recent memory and as President I found him to be ineffective and without any leadership ability. Now, he's been one of the best ex-Presidents. As a person he's probably a better person than most folks and his actions, the actions being the true test of a person, his actions since leaving the Presidency have been honorable and admirable. He's not cashed in personally, he has used his position to do good works. He has been a good representative of the United States. Sure, he did criticize the present President over Iraq and with good reason. Carter was being true to his beliefs in both words and actions. If Bush chooses this to punish Carter then he's a small petty man. At any rate it's a sad turn of events that tarnishes Bush and it will follow his legacy.

Al Qaeda Grand Strategy
A highly informative article over at Tigerhawk Philosophy of al Qaeda Professor Doran at Princeton gave a talk about the overarching grand strategy of al Qaeda. While their reasoning is extremely suspect it is deep and gives their recruits a substantial set of explanations for the world situation and the reasoning why their particular brand of holy war is 'successful' in their own eyes.

Pope John Paul II
Topic: Mysteries of Life


It's hard to not cry during this whole thing. The Pope is one of the few people who I would consider to really be holy. Someone to be admired for his strength and for his faith. A father figure even for long lapsed Catholics like me.

I remember when the last two Popes died and the time of the newsmen and cameras at the Vatican. I'm watching the St. Peter's Square filling up with people and listening to the prayers and the vigil being held. It's a monumental moment in history as with the death of the last Pope and the events that led up to John Paul the 2nd becoming the Pope. The weeks ahead will definitely have an influence on all of us.

Kuomintang delegation visits mainland China-WTF?
Topic: Politics
The Kuomintang - wiki entry goes to China to talk with the Red Chinese Government. view article Now, the Kuomintang, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek fought against the Japanese in World War II and also fought a civil war in China against to the Red Chinese who were under the leadership of Mao. Bitter enemies to be sure. The Kuomintang party lost control of Taiwan in 2000 and have been the opposition party since then. The Kuomintang lost to a coalition of Taiwan nationaists and others who believe that Taiwan is and should be and independent nation. What brings the Kuomintang to China and talking to the Communist government is their mutual desire for a one China. In this brief instant the nationalism overcomes political philosophy and a history of warfare between the two.

Interesting news in a region full of really interesting news. There is an article on BBC about 22 million Chinese signing a petition to keep Japan off of the Security Council of the United Nations. The Japanese had pledged their support to keeping Taiwan safe from invasion. The Chinese Submarine in Japanese waters sent as a threat and was taken as such - the opposite effect as wished having happened. That being the Japanese are becoming more keen on improving their defensive abilities and generally not cowering against Chinese attempts at intimidation. A large puzzle with many pieces still being moved around the board. Do the Chinese think they will acquire Taiwan by intimidation or do they think they will be able to acquire it by invasion? Will the rhetoric and saber rattling inflame their own military to the point where they will be uncontrolled? We should all remember when the US surveillance plane came down after knocking Wrong Way Wong out of the sky the control of Beijing over it's southern military was not there. It's not unreasonable to assume that the display of weakened central control from the capital has not been addressed satisfactorily. Scary.

Sent running for Spybot, Ad Aware and AVG -
Topic: Mysteries of Life

Ack. Last night I tried to punch up Drudge Report and got this site -http://find-it.web-search.la/ . Punched up Wonkette and go the same site. Holy Crap thought I. I've been hijacked. Pulled the internet, ran AVG and nothing came up. Ran Spybot and nothing came up. Ran Ad Aware and nothing came up. Wow, it's worse than I thought. No sign of anything actually hijacking my Firefox browser I tentatively plugged back in and tried the BBC. Well heck, that came up. Tried Drudge again - I get either the above crap hijack 'find-it' page or I get this
"This IP is being shared among many domains.
To view the domain you are looking for, simply enter the domain name in the location bar of your web browser." Drudge, Wonkette, Gizmodo, Ain't it Cool and Andrew Sullivan, but not Ars Technica, Boing Boing, Daily Kos or Fark. Very odd and I can't find any info about why this is.

Linked by 'Pro Death Penalty' site - hello spam

After the Nigerian email scam there is this one -"By way of introduction, I am Brown Denis Guei, the son of the late General Robert Guei who was the former military President of Ivory - Coast." Blah blah blah..not even amusing anymore.
Ah yes, the joys of being linked by pro death penalty sites means a large increase in directed spam to me personally. A bunch of these hitting the spam wall of death along with the other various viagra, porn, weight, loan crap that also dies a splattery death against my firewalls. I did look over at the pro death penalty site, I found the sort of folks you find who are gratified at death and who cheer what they perceive as justified deaths. I like the son of the late General Robert Guei better.

Easter
Now Playing: Within Temptation -Memories
Topic: Mysteries of Life

My favorite song of the moment. Video is good as well and the singer is pleasingly beautiful. The website with a preview of the Memories video is here.

CNN is running their 'Special Report' what with it being Easter and all, about Mary Magdalene being possibly the first pope, wife of Jesus and generally in charge of the whole thing. A repeat of something designed to anger those folks who wouldn't even watch CNN. They get to firm up their base by obliquely attacking Christianity so generally it's a plus plus for them. Religion is one of those things that you can't talk about without offending someone but if you are going to do it do it to maximum benefit like CNN does.


Watched another one of my favorite old movies, "Going My Way" with Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald as a couple of Catholic Priests. Barry being the 65 year old leader of a fading inner city church and Bing Crosby being the replacement sent in by the Bishop to revive the church and ease the old fella out. A very slow, wordy, corny, black and white treasure that will never see the light of day outside of perhaps Turner Classic Movies channel. Sweet and comforting. At the end of the movie when Bing Crosby surprises the priest played by Barry Fitzgerald with his 90 odd year old mother from Ireland whom he hadn't seen in 45 years and you see the reunion it's just wonderful and brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. It's a shame that this image of Catholic Priests isn't the one that most people think of when they think of Catholic Priests. The message of the movie or at least one of them is that it's good to do good things regardless of the reward. Do good for the sake of doing good. At Easter one tends to think of the positive values and thoughts that religion embraces and it's really a shame that those good ideas aren't put more into practice. Do good, be good, make amends, be forgiving. All good ideas honored more in a trip to church at Easter and at Christmas for many. Many others not even that if they profess to believe. Talk and action. I always am of the mind that the actions say more than the words do.

David Attenbourough and Kakapo's
Now Playing: Within Temptation - Memories

The Life of Birds by David Attenbourough tells the sad story of the nearly extinct Kakapo, a rare New Zealand Parrot, flightless and nocturnal. It's thumping cries in the middle of the night as it calls for a mate that is not there any longer. Sad, touching and with a slight bright end to the story. It turns out there were a few Kakapo left and every effort was being made to save the species. I mention this because the BBC has a story about the gradual building up of the population of Kakapo. Kakapo baby birds Have been born in good numbers and it's nice to see these fat little things rebounding.

Kaboom -Nuclear Weapon Effects Calculator
Now Playing: Gilmore Girls

A FAS page, nuke calculator provides a look at the blast area of various sized nuclear bombs whether detonated from a wheeled vehicle or from a plane. Of course this is because the blast profile is different. For purposes of destruction putting a nuke on a plane can create more destruction. The folks who would likely nuke Washington DC or Cincinnati or Atlanta would have the 'mother of all car bombs' to work with. Either way and whatever the size of the bomb you can use this nice java based creation to see where you wouldn't want to be standing in any of these cities if perhaps you knew when and where a nuke would be detonated by the folks who would want to do this.

Gilbert in Gilmore Girls
Now Playing: Something on WGN with Selma Blair in it

One of my favorite shows, Gilmore Girls on today on ABC Family I think. Heard the jarring sound of my own name from Lorelai Gilmore as she spoke to Luke. (Those would be character names and not the real names of the actors involved) A wooden lawn goat, not even a whole goat but the front end of the wooden goat which was named "Gilbert" as in "Gilbert the Goat" had suffered a terrible weed wacker injury and was beheaded. Gilbert was examined by Luke who said that he could fix it good as new. Nobody would ever know that Gilbert had ever been headless. The name Gilbert danced around for a minute which was cool. Don't hear Gilbert that often. Also of note, and you wouldn't know this unless you actually watched a number of the episodes of this show, he had his tool box with him also named by Lorelai. I mention this because the tool box is named "Bert" which is also a name I've been called. So it was a double Gilbert reference.

Since I'm on the subject of the Gilmore Girls it's very odd when I think about it. The character Lorelai, played by Lauren Graham is of course a beautiful woman. After watching and enjoying the show for some time I saw a movie that she was in. Keanu Reeves was in it as well and in fact Lauren was the girlfriend to Keanu. The thing was, she was in either a bikini or skimpy underwear and you know, it was jarring to see. Odd since of course I generally love to admire beautiful women in skimpy clothing. Not this time. She's still beautiful as can be and I love the character she plays. I've know the character she plays in real life. It's oddly jarring to see her in a bikini. When I figure this out I'll be the first to know.

1950 Technology - Nukes to you

Operational in 1952 and using the technology that was top of the line in 1952 comes the Mark 7 - a nuclear bomb of a small enough size to fit on the planes of the day. A few years later there were hydrogen bombs this size that fit on planes. This would be nuclear weapon technology 50 years old. The usual official Government talk states something about nuclear weapons being too large to be easily transportable. It seems to me this would not be the case. Even with overly large 50 year old technology a nuclear bomb could be put in a truck, a boxcar or a shipping container with no difficulty. I think that in fifty years the technology available to interested parties would allow weapons of this size or smaller. I'd feel better about this if stories like this missile sales didn't happen with some regularity. The fact that the CIA and the US didn't know that about the Ukraine missile sales to Iran and China isn't unusual and when you think about the thousands of nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union and the number of those nukes that are unaccounted for you might start to be concerned. The officials in the Ukraine said not to worry, we didn't sell them the nukes that were on those missiles. Self regulation, a beautiful thing and a wonderful thing to rest your security on.
I just think that when in five years or so when a nuclear bomb is detonated in the United States the cries of how could this happen will be deafening. By that time it will be too late. The rest of our civil liberties will evaporate along with part of a large city.