Here’s a video of the recent PBS “debate” between the “Loose Change” wackos, and the Popular Mechanics editors on the 9/11 conspiracy theories. Do these people really think that reasonable people are going to be convinced by continual accusations that their debating opponents are “liars”? This seems to be a much more prevalent tactic of the left. More projection, I guess.
Criminal Negligence
A long interview with a contractor in Iraq on the misreporting and malreporting of that country:
For all the complexities and risks associated with our work, (I carried two calculators, satellite and computer equipment, and a ridiculously heavy AKSU-74 submachine gun around with me most of the time) it was impossible for us to miss seeing what coalition and Iraqi forces were dealing with. Let me please emphasize that. If we simply woke up in the morning, walked outside and did our jobs, it was completely impossible to miss the profound efforts and accomplishments of coalition and Iraqi forces in securing and rebuilding the national infrastructure.
But it wasn’t impossible for the western press to miss. In fact, as I think about it, it’s quite possible they’ve actually missed the whole war. Unless reporting can be described as burying oneself in a few relatively safe places with others of one’s own kind, they have missed far more than they have covered. It is difficult for myself and many others to have respect for western journalists in Iraq because they so very rarely committed themselves to actually going out and covering what was going on.
A Talk With Anousheh
Alan Boyle has done what I couldn’t–scored an interview with her. Of course, that’s why he’s a pro.
And, of course, I might have had a better chance if my URL said “MSNBC” instead of “Transterrestrial.” But he done good nonetheless.
She does seem to be in this for the long haul, as I’d hoped.
Not So Close
This is interesting. Many human social rules carry over into cyberspace.
Taking Back Manhood
“Grim” says that we need to go back to wearing arms.
Stability
The conservative case for life extension.
A New Space Blog
The X-Prize blog, from Peter Diamandis and Anousheh Ansari. Go wish her a happy birthday in quarantine.
The Long War
[Note: This post will remain at the top all day, so if you’re on a return trip, you might want to scroll down to see if there’s any new stuff below.]
Michael Ledeen is still angry. I never was. But then, I didn’t lose anyone I personally knew.
It’s always chancy to try to recollect emotions from an event five years on, but thinking back to that day in San Juan, watching the first tower burning, I don’t recall anger. When I saw the second plane strike the second tower, the only feeling that I had, I think, was resignation, along with the instant knowledge that we were now at war, in a way that we had never been in my lifetime. This, I thought, was what it was like for my grandparents (whose age I was closest to when the event occurred for them) when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. I remember a sense of foreboding, and wondering what the future held. On a more practical and personal note, I remember wondering when and how I would get back to California, since all flights in the US would surely be grounded soon, including the one that I was about to depart to the airport to catch.
That earlier war, at least for my parents and grandparents, lasted less than four years (though for Asia and Europe it was much longer). Last year I wrote an essay on the fourth anniversary comparing the two wars. I still think it holds up well (or at least as well as it did the last time). Here’s a replay:
The Luxury Of Nonresponsibility
Instapunk has some useful thoughts on the deranged Bush haters.
Only one of the 300 million people who live in America wake up every day to a briefing from the nation’s intelligence agencies about what threats might become reality today. That’s a fact. The man’s name is George W. Bush.
I’m NOT saying this makes him immune from criticism. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Forget all the invective about his cowardice or shirking of military duty when he was a twenty-something. Five years of such briefings would be enough to give most of us Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s probably the case that the President of the United States has been damaged by what he’s been through. It’s the most obvious explanation conceivable for why the White House seems so slow to respond to the daily firestorms the mass media engender. My guess is, not too many of us would want to be living inside George W. Bush’s head right now. It’s too much. For anyone. He needs advice and constructive criticism and thoughtful opposition. But who — and I’m including all of you in this — is served by characterizing the advice, criticism, and opposition as the obvious response to a criminal idiot?
Though I myself am slow to anger, and relatively unemotional, I’m glad that I didn’t have to make the decisions for the past five years.
Science Wars
I just got review copies of Chris Mooney’s book, The Republican War On Science, and James Lovelock’s most recent work, The Revenge Of Gaia. Both titles seem a little overwraught to me, and I’ve already expressed skepticism on Chris Mooney’s thesis. But I’ll report anon, after reading them.