All posts by Rand Simberg

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My Credibility

In comments on this post, Marcus Lindroos wrote, apparently from some other planet:

Simberg: I suspect that what the EU is really worried about is that, with Arafat’s death, as with Saddam’s downfall, a lot of dirty laundry may come out in terms of the depths of the corruption of their dealings with him. Old Yasser reputedly has a some pretty sizable European bank accounts. How much of his thievery has he been kicking back to the Eurocrats?

So you “suspect” this is the case… Where is the evidence? Why always suspect the darkest of motives when discussing something that (quite frankly) isn’t perceived as a very important issue over here?

Really, Rand, it’s sad to see how a previously level-headed intelligent guy like you keep firing one dumb anti-European tirade after another. Why do you keep undermining your credibility like this? Why not simply stick to (commercial-) space policy? You make so much more sense talking about that.

While it doesn’t talk about kickbacks, there’s obviously abundant evidence that EU money has been funding terrorism, and that EU bureaucrats have been studiously looking the other way.

The tragedy, of course, as I replied to Marcus then, is that corruption and under-the-table support of terrorism in the EU “isn’t perceived as a very important issue” over there. It explains much about the continuing decline of Europe. Why do I suspect the darkest of motives, Marcus? Because I’ve been observing them for too long, and I know their character.

As for my credibility, I’ll let others judge that, but you might want to consider that it’s not my level-headedness that’s being inconsistent.

Just a thought.

War Commentary

If He’s So Rich, Why Ain’t He Smart?

George Soros has a cliche-ridden wrong-headed polemic against the Bush administration in today’s Puppy Trainer. This is hardly surprising, because he’s openly declared war on this administration, vowing to spend as many of his millions as necessary to end it this fall. But it demonstrates that, just as being smart doesn’t necessarily make one rich, the corollary is apparently true as well–Mr. Soros doesn’t seem to be very smart, at least not about anything other than making money.

The Bush administration is in the habit of waging personal vendettas against those who criticize its policies, but bit by bit the evidence is accumulating that the invasion of Iraq was among the worst blunders in U.S. history.

Hmmmm…a “habit”? Can he cite the innumerable examples of this to justify this statement? In fact, I can’t think of a single instance of “waging personal vendettas.” The only ones that I can think of that Mr. Soros and his ilk might come up with are Valerie Plame and Richard Clarke, but in neither case do these meet the “personal vendetta” threshold.

In the case of the former, while the matter remains under investigation, the simplest explanation to me is that, rather than having the intent of harming Mr. Wilson’s wife, the intent was simply to explain to Mr. Safire why the administration made the dumb decision to send the ambassador to Niger to sip sweet mint tea, instead of making a serious effort to investigate the possibility of yellowcake sales.

As for Mr. Clarke, I hardly think that pointing out inconsistencies in public statements, and conflicts of interest, when under attack, constitute a “personal vendetta.” Yes, they helped damage his credibility, but they were only helping him damage his own–in his apparent mission to attempt to rewrite history, he was much more active in that goal than anyone else.

And as to “one of the worst blunders in American history,” like “the worst economy in fifty years,” such hyperbole might be rhetorically effective with people unfamiliar with American history (which Mr. Soros, not being native born, may very well be), but to those more informed, it sounds more like shrill volume is being used to compensate for a lack of solid argument.

And that’s just the first graf.

…to protect ourselves against terrorism, we need precautionary measures, awareness and intelligence gathering

War Commentary

If He’s So Rich, Why Ain’t He Smart?

George Soros has a cliche-ridden wrong-headed polemic against the Bush administration in today’s Puppy Trainer. This is hardly surprising, because he’s openly declared war on this administration, vowing to spend as many of his millions as necessary to end it this fall. But it demonstrates that, just as being smart doesn’t necessarily make one rich, the corollary is apparently true as well–Mr. Soros doesn’t seem to be very smart, at least not about anything other than making money.

The Bush administration is in the habit of waging personal vendettas against those who criticize its policies, but bit by bit the evidence is accumulating that the invasion of Iraq was among the worst blunders in U.S. history.

Hmmmm…a “habit”? Can he cite the innumerable examples of this to justify this statement? In fact, I can’t think of a single instance of “waging personal vendettas.” The only ones that I can think of that Mr. Soros and his ilk might come up with are Valerie Plame and Richard Clarke, but in neither case do these meet the “personal vendetta” threshold.

In the case of the former, while the matter remains under investigation, the simplest explanation to me is that, rather than having the intent of harming Mr. Wilson’s wife, the intent was simply to explain to Mr. Safire why the administration made the dumb decision to send the ambassador to Niger to sip sweet mint tea, instead of making a serious effort to investigate the possibility of yellowcake sales.

As for Mr. Clarke, I hardly think that pointing out inconsistencies in public statements, and conflicts of interest, when under attack, constitute a “personal vendetta.” Yes, they helped damage his credibility, but they were only helping him damage his own–in his apparent mission to attempt to rewrite history, he was much more active in that goal than anyone else.

And as to “one of the worst blunders in American history,” like “the worst economy in fifty years,” such hyperbole might be rhetorically effective with people unfamiliar with American history (which Mr. Soros, not being native born, may very well be), but to those more informed, it sounds more like shrill volume is being used to compensate for a lack of solid argument.

And that’s just the first graf.

…to protect ourselves against terrorism, we need precautionary measures, awareness and intelligence gathering

War Commentary

If He’s So Rich, Why Ain’t He Smart?

George Soros has a cliche-ridden wrong-headed polemic against the Bush administration in today’s Puppy Trainer. This is hardly surprising, because he’s openly declared war on this administration, vowing to spend as many of his millions as necessary to end it this fall. But it demonstrates that, just as being smart doesn’t necessarily make one rich, the corollary is apparently true as well–Mr. Soros doesn’t seem to be very smart, at least not about anything other than making money.

The Bush administration is in the habit of waging personal vendettas against those who criticize its policies, but bit by bit the evidence is accumulating that the invasion of Iraq was among the worst blunders in U.S. history.

Hmmmm…a “habit”? Can he cite the innumerable examples of this to justify this statement? In fact, I can’t think of a single instance of “waging personal vendettas.” The only ones that I can think of that Mr. Soros and his ilk might come up with are Valerie Plame and Richard Clarke, but in neither case do these meet the “personal vendetta” threshold.

In the case of the former, while the matter remains under investigation, the simplest explanation to me is that, rather than having the intent of harming Mr. Wilson’s wife, the intent was simply to explain to Mr. Safire why the administration made the dumb decision to send the ambassador to Niger to sip sweet mint tea, instead of making a serious effort to investigate the possibility of yellowcake sales.

As for Mr. Clarke, I hardly think that pointing out inconsistencies in public statements, and conflicts of interest, when under attack, constitute a “personal vendetta.” Yes, they helped damage his credibility, but they were only helping him damage his own–in his apparent mission to attempt to rewrite history, he was much more active in that goal than anyone else.

And as to “one of the worst blunders in American history,” like “the worst economy in fifty years,” such hyperbole might be rhetorically effective with people unfamiliar with American history (which Mr. Soros, not being native born, may very well be), but to those more informed, it sounds more like shrill volume is being used to compensate for a lack of solid argument.

And that’s just the first graf.

…to protect ourselves against terrorism, we need precautionary measures, awareness and intelligence gathering

Political Commentary

Poseur

Mark Steyn doesn’t believe John Effing Kerry:

”Oh sure. I follow and I’m interested,” says John Kerry. ”I’m fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think there’s a lot of poetry in it. There’s a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you’d better listen to it pretty carefully, ’cause it’s important . . . I’m still listening because I know that it’s a reflection of the street and it’s a reflection of life.”

Really? You’re ”fascinated” by rap and ”listening” to hip-hop? You’re America’s first flip-flopper hip-hopper?…

…If only that MTV guy had said to Kerry, ”Yeah, right. Name a song.” Think Kerry could’ve? Reckon if you bust into his pad and riffled through his and Teresa’s CD collection you’d find a single rap album? Of course, you wouldn’t find any in George and Laura’s CD collection either. The difference is that President Bush doesn’t feel the need to pretend…

… This isn’t entirely a matter of trivialities. The fads and fashions of the world aren’t confined to the Billboard Hot 100. All over the planet, men in late middle age are pretending to like stuff just ’cause it’s what the likes of Maureen Dowd tell them people want to hear. John Kerry pretends to like gangsta rap. Russia pretends it supports the Kyoto Accord. The European Union pretends Yasser Arafat is committed to peace with Israel. The Security Council pretends its resolutions mean something. Kofi Annan pretends the Oil-for-Fraud program is a humanitarian aid effort for the Iraqi people. The International Atomic Energy Authority pretends the mullahs in Tehran are good-faith negotiators on the matter of Iranian nukes.

It’s easy to pander to fashion — whether on pop music, the environment, the Middle East ”peace process” or sentimental transnationalism. But on MTV, Kerry wasn’t done yet. After coming out for hip-hop, he managed to blame the Bush administration’s ”behavior” for making terrorists become terrorists. I guess that terrorism’s just a ”reflection of the street,” too. Doubtless there’s ”a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it.” The MTV crowd loved the line, and no doubt Jacques Chirac and the Arab League will as well. Welcome to John Kerry’s hip-hop foreign policy: Ask the multilateral gang what’s hip, and hop to it.

General Science

A “Transitional” Species

Despite the date, I suspect that this is on the level. They’ve apparently discovered a link between fish and amphibians.

The fossil, a 365-million-year-old arm bone, or humerus, shares features with primitive fish fins but also has characteristics of a true limb bone. Discovered near a highway roadside in north-central Penn., the bone is the earliest of its kind from any limbed animal.

“It has long been understood that the first four-legged creatures on land arose from the lobed-finned fishes in the Devonian Period,” said Rich Lane, director of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) geology and paleontology program. “Through this work, we’ve learned that fish developed the ability to prop their bodies through modification of their fins, leading to the emergence of tetrapod limbs.”

I have the word “transitional” in quotes in the post title because it’s a meaningless, superfluous adjective. All species are transitional species, in the sense that they evolved from one and are likely (assuming they don’t go extinct) to evolve into yet others in the future. Or at least that was the case until we came along.

General Science

A “Transitional” Species

Despite the date, I suspect that this is on the level. They’ve apparently discovered a link between fish and amphibians.

The fossil, a 365-million-year-old arm bone, or humerus, shares features with primitive fish fins but also has characteristics of a true limb bone. Discovered near a highway roadside in north-central Penn., the bone is the earliest of its kind from any limbed animal.

“It has long been understood that the first four-legged creatures on land arose from the lobed-finned fishes in the Devonian Period,” said Rich Lane, director of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) geology and paleontology program. “Through this work, we’ve learned that fish developed the ability to prop their bodies through modification of their fins, leading to the emergence of tetrapod limbs.”

I have the word “transitional” in quotes in the post title because it’s a meaningless, superfluous adjective. All species are transitional species, in the sense that they evolved from one and are likely (assuming they don’t go extinct) to evolve into yet others in the future. Or at least that was the case until we came along.

General Science

A “Transitional” Species

Despite the date, I suspect that this is on the level. They’ve apparently discovered a link between fish and amphibians.

The fossil, a 365-million-year-old arm bone, or humerus, shares features with primitive fish fins but also has characteristics of a true limb bone. Discovered near a highway roadside in north-central Penn., the bone is the earliest of its kind from any limbed animal.

“It has long been understood that the first four-legged creatures on land arose from the lobed-finned fishes in the Devonian Period,” said Rich Lane, director of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) geology and paleontology program. “Through this work, we’ve learned that fish developed the ability to prop their bodies through modification of their fins, leading to the emergence of tetrapod limbs.”

I have the word “transitional” in quotes in the post title because it’s a meaningless, superfluous adjective. All species are transitional species, in the sense that they evolved from one and are likely (assuming they don’t go extinct) to evolve into yet others in the future. Or at least that was the case until we came along.

General

Demeaning Men

Glenn is having a little dispute with Josh Chafetz over whether commercials and programs that depict men as fools and/or weaklings (relative to women) are a good or bad thing. While I agree with Glenn’s point, I wonder how much of this is a backlash from previous days when the reverse was true. I’m going to be heretical here and say that I never “loved Lucy.” I never found it all that funny, but moreover, if I were a woman I would be appalled at the image that she represented–she was a perpetual adolescent, with no common sense, and values so shallow that they’d be swamped by a dry lake. I don’t watch the show, but on those occasions that I have, I was embarrassed for her.

On the other hand, this is anecdotal, because I can’t think of any other show, off the top of my head, in which women were depicted as such self-centered idiots as that one. I wonder if anyone has ever done any research on the relative depictions of men versus women on television and radio over the decades, to see if there has been any overall change. Could be a good topic for a sociology thesis.

War Commentary

Street Theatre

David Warren has a depressing column on Fallujah, and how our own media undermines our efforts.

…we come to the next stage of an unpleasant proposition. In its selective use of explosive imagery, the media have a power equivalent to that which the terrorists have in the selective use of explosive devices. There is an overlapping agenda, too: for the great majority of both terrorists and journalists consider the Bush administration to be their principal adversary. (On the other hand, they differ on the need for the imposition of Sharia law.)

But the bottom line remains:

In its recent experience in Iraq and elsewhere, the U.S. is finding what the Israelis have long since not wanted to know. Michael Oren is an Israeli veteran, and the brilliant author of the definitive history of the Six Day War. When I had coffee with him, recently, he said: “If you strike back, you will encourage terrorism. And if you don’t strike back, you will encourage terrorism.”

You let them walk over you, or you fight. It’s true that fighting makes them even angrier, but it helps to wipe them out.

In the face of such graphic images, it’s easy to forget that much of Iraq is now at peace, with prospects for future prosperity and freedom increasing daily.

Fallujah is the last stand of the Ba’athist regime, with a significant population of those who benefited from it at the expense of most, and who remain unwilling to yield their power. It is, in fact, a microcosm of what all of Iraq was a year ago, before the liberation. It is a gang of brutal thugs, holding hostage a majority of the populace within it, living in an unreality like Saddam’s–the notion that bluster, brutality, deceit and murder will somehow fend off the Americans. As they will find out shortly, it is they, not we, who are fighting the last war, having learned too well the false lesson of Mogadishu.

We are paying the price now for not conquering it when we went in last March.

As many (including me, and more eloquently, David Warren) pointed out at the time, last year’s military activities were less a war than the ending and resolution of a massive hostage situation, the removal of a gang of criminals that had gained sway over the territory of Iraq, maintaining their power by terrorizing its inhabitants.

Their territory, the so-called Sunni Triangle, has now been reduced to a very small portion of that original area, and what we did to the tyranny of Iraq at large then we must do to the thankfully much smaller one in Fallujah now. Like then, it will have to be done as precisely as possible, with as little damage to innocents and infrastructure as possible, but it must be done, and I think it will.

[Update]

They think they’ve identified at least some of the perps. And note this:

…they included former members of Iraq’s paramilitary forces and “non-Iraqi Arabs.”

Flypaper’s still working. More that we can kill there instead of having to defend against them here.