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Sunday, July 30, 2006The World Map of HappinessFinally completed moving most of my earthly belongings into a two very large storage containers in Fluvanna County today. So how to celebrate this milestone? By seeing how happy my fellow Earthlings are... and they are happier in Denmark. Neat interactive map. Take a look! Friday, July 28, 2006NLS: ALLEN BY 16This has gotta hurt. Allen by 16 puts him in great shape, and once again we are led back to the idea that Miller - a candidate with the $$$ to run a challenger campaign - would have been a better choice than Webb. Webb "Born Republican" clearly isn't getting the job done in Virginia, in a climate where Republicans are universally at a disadvantage. Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for HezbollahAnyone surprised? Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.There is nothing for the Arab world to be proud of. The Lebanese are being held hostage by a terror group bent on the destruction of Israel -- and they don't care what the collateral damage is, be they Jews, other Muslims, or Lebanese and Palestinian Christians caught in the crossfire. A Modest Proposal: Let there be a multinational force along the Israeli-Lebanese border, and let it consist of nations from the Arab League. If they are unwilling to keep the peace, then why should Israel tolerate Hezbollah missile strikes that kill indiscriminately? Is that preferable than missile strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorists? Thursday, July 27, 2006Why Israel hit a UN postDuh. My question is why the Hezbollah flag is flying from the UN facility in the first place... though I doubt there is a good reason. New UV gun takes aim at meth usersNow this is beyond cool. Police are being armed with UV guns that use spectroscopy to detect trace amounts of methamphetamine and other illicit drugs: CDEX recently filed a patent application to prepare the device for use in the "Homeland Security market," according to Wade Poteet, a principal scientist working in CDEX's Tucson-based research lab.K-9s are by far the superior weapon in fighting illegal drugs, but cool UV guns that law enforcement can take into the field is interesting. For those unfamiliar with the idea, UV light is something emitted by just about everything and to different degrees. So naturally, what one might see in the normal color spectrum isn't what one would see in the infrared (think like in Predator). In the ultraviolet light, you get to see all sorts of stuff that normally the naked eye would miss. If you're a strung out drug addict, these UV guns are hope on a string... 'cause the sooner you get folks aware of the problem, the sooner they can get help and the sooner we can get those who peddle death off the streets. Ain't science cool? Wednesday, July 26, 2006Fight Bureaucracy With BureaucracyCATO Institute has this interestng article advocating for an Office of Taxpayer Advocacy. I have my thoughts (as the title suggests). "We'll keep fighting until you agree we've defeated Hezbollah"Jon Henke at QandO with an excellent response to proportionality and Israel's efforts to destroy Hezbollah. Public Service Announcement: Fun With MSRARight around mid-June, I got this bump on my knee. No big deal, probably just a bug-bite... The next day it got worse. Infected, I thought. So I got some hydrogen peroxide, cleaned the wound, and let it be. Two days later, my knee had swollen to the size of a grapefruit and was acting as if I had brushed up against some poison oak. Home treatments did little to stop much of anything, and to make matters worse it hurt like hell. So what did I have? Something this fella had... A curious aspect of Whitney Lester's affliction was its innocent beginning.What is it? Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a staph infection that is quite literally under your skin. Here's the neat part -- I'm in Colorado, and the bacteria on our skin back home in Virginia is a bit tougher than the stuff out here. So when I went to the doctor to have my leg checked out, I got the wrong antibiotics. So things got worse. By the time I hopped off the plane at National Airport to visit family, the swelling had gone to my ankle, and yours truly went to spend 4th of July weekend at Mary Washington Hospital. Lester went to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital's emergency room June 19. By then, he was feverish, and the redness from the bump - somewhere between golf ball- and baseball-size now - had spread up to his ribs and halfway down his thigh.Now thankfully I haven't had to have any surgery on my leg. It got worse, it got better, the swelling went down. But there's still this annoying little bump on my knee as a result, and like many instances of this my leg still itches (more from dead skin and the dry weather in Colorado than anything else). Still, six weeks after the infection my leg is still discolored and I still feel a good bit of weakness in the joint. Doctor's orders were to take it easy for about two months (so four weeks to go). I will tell you this much -- it is painful, but not in a "give me morphine" kind of pain. Everything you touch, hurts in a rugburn kind of hurt. At one point, I could not bend my knee, which ultimately sent me to an emergency center in Greeley, Colorado. The doctor who took a look at me pretty much circled around my knee with his arms folded, took another look, wheeled around and looked again. "My, that's impressive," is what he kept repeating. To be honest, it was pretty darned impressive for such a short time of injury. The article says that MSRA-type injuries are becoming much more common. Like myself, most folks have no idea how they were injured or where they received their "bite" or scrape, but in a matter of days the infection spreads -- and can become fatal if untreated. Most MSRA infections do not involve a hospital stay (unless you are hardheaded like myself) and most can be treated with a series of powerful antibiotics. Children are more vulnerable than adults, yet the good news is that most cases can be handled by the body itself. When in doubt though, go to the hospital and get it checked out. The More You Know... Tuesday, July 25, 2006Button MakerIn my benevolence, I give you yet another gift: a Button Maker!!! ... you know, like the buttons you see on the side that have valid RSS feeds and such? Crossing the Meditation DivideThis is an excellent article regarding meditation, or more accurately when prayer and meditation doesn't seem to work: That so many who are experienced in prayer go through this difficulty with meditation is a sign of the truth of John’s teaching. The great doctor of the Church gives three signs by which we may discern whether it is time to leave meditation aside in favor of this more direct practicing of the presence of God. And, as we might now suspect, the first sign is “the realization that one cannot make discursive meditation or receive satisfaction from it as before. Dryness is now the outcome of fixing the senses on subjects that formerly provided satisfaction.” Note, however, that John cautions us against getting ahead of ourselves. We are not to give up meditation unless and until this dryness occurs.Meditation used to be all the rage during the late 1990's, when Bhuddism then Catholicism became the new "in" thing to be. Of course, since it was all for style and not for substance most people neglected the sublime undertones of what makes both faiths so beautiful. Meditation is a lost art in the hustle and bustle of today, and often is confused as prayer. Prayer is something much more active, a conversation between yourself and God. Meditation is much more subtle, enjoying the mere presence of God. As of yet, the message of St. John of the Cross is helpful, but I haven't quite mastered the art -- or more accurately, my own will has refused for one reason or another to allow God to operate in my life. If it were easy, it wouldn't be worthwhile. FaceliftBlogNetNews - Virginia is getting a facelift of sorts. The one thing you have to give this project credit for is that it's not just an aggregator. It really is an excellent gauge of who is being read and who is not. Now if only I could fix my comments section to list on there... Saudi Sabre-Rattling?So it seems... "If the peace option fails because of Israeli arrogance, there will be no other option but war," Saudi state television quoted the king as saying in an official statement.The Arab world's answer to Iranian influence peddling with Syria. I'm somewhat stunned by the lack of response from Egypt. Egyptian leadership in dismantling Hezbollah would be the perfect counterbalance to Iranian interference in Arab-Israeli affairs... Benedict XVI and FreedomFrom the Acton Institute: Classical liberal and "moderate" intellectuals were concerned that after the forceful defense of objective truth in Veritatis Splendor, the Church would to revert to imposing this truth by promoting coercive legislation. Yet this wasn’t the case. At the time of the encyclical, the Pope visited Sudan, a largely Muslim country, and argued forcefully that majorities do not have the right to impose their religious and moral views on minorities. The Wanderer, one of the most conservative Catholic newspapers, editorialized in favor of the "libertarian" slant of the Vatican Sudan statements.I've been giving a lot of thought to places like Lebanon and Israel where you have several different ethnicities and religions co-existing, but barely. America is one of the few nations where ethnicities and religions co-exist, but as government has grown we've noticed a trend that has increased groupthink to some degree. People identify themselves in tribes, not as Americans, and that is precisely what is causing so much violence in so many parts of the world. Can anyone suggest an ethical system of government that has succeeded in bringing people together as the free market has done? Monday, July 24, 2006The Last SamuraiI finally watched this movie the other day. Tom Cruise was adequate, but Ken Watanabe was excellent. Ken Watanabe recently played Raz Al Ghul (or rather, the double of the real Raz Al Ghul) in Batman Begins. The IMDB has listed a few movies where he will be starring, and it all looks pretty good. I'm trying to recall which actor Watanabe reminds me of... it's not Yul Brenner, but close. Sunday, July 23, 2006Did Shaun Bail on the Weekend w/o Echoes?Nah, just been working on two things consecutively and didn't want to disappoint. A post. Later this evening (which will be early morning). Friday, July 21, 2006Weekend Without EchoesI'll begin with a surprise for my friend Vivian Paige: I finished reading Conservatives Without a Conscience and have a forthcoming review... Castro Lives!Ah well... guess we'll still have to wait for the liberation of Cuba. Thursday, July 20, 2006UnforgettableCourtesy of Matt Lewis: The conscience of the Conservative is pricked by anyone who would debase the dignity of the individual human being. Today, therefore, he is at odds with dictators who rule by terror, and equally with those gentler collectivists who ask our premission to play God with the human race.Who said this? Barry Goldwater, in Conscience of a Conservative. Now in this entire discussion on embryonic stem cell research, what is lost here is the following: This is not a discussion on whether it should be conducted (odious as it is). What is being discussed, debated, and vetoed is the public funding for such research. In that light, Republicans are entirely on the right side of this issue regardless of one's beliefs on embryos as human beings. The Democrats are just playing the same old spiel of imposing big government on America. 100 years ago, would these same Democrats have been in favor of phrenology clinics? Eugenics clinics? Fact of the matter is not only have stem cells still not been practically used, there is little evidence that one must use embryos as a source while other options remain (fat cells for instance). Before stepping in and mandating the short-track, isn't it better to allow the scientific community to decide for itself the best, most scientific, and most ethical options before throwing the imprimatur of big government behind it? It's amazing what people will do in the name of scientific progress, isn't it? Lebanese Army may join forces with HizbullahThis from the Jerusalem Post. Kinda blows the entire "poor Lebanon" argument out of the water, eh? What am I worrying about? Maronite Christians caught in the crossfire. Ever since the SLA disbanded, they are almost entirely dependent on the IDF for protection during wartime. People often attack Christianity for being theocratic, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Lebanon is a classic example. While Maronite Christians ruled in Lebanon, you had a multi-ethnic, multi-party, and multi-religious society. Post-1975 Lebanon has struggled to revive that experience, but as Hezbollah has demonstrated to the world, Muslim terrorist organizations only have an interest in gaining a toehold and twisting democracy until they achieve theocracy. Is it any small wonder why the United States refused to recognize HAMAS as a partner for peace in the Holy Land? Was Hezbollah a partner for peace in Lebanon? Tuesday, July 18, 2006I'm a Dad (again)!!!Missy gave me the good news yesterday. Sonogram will be next Wednesday, so we'll get to see how things are with the little one. Jonathan, Matthew, and Caroline are all estatic. But then again, they always are. :) Hezbollah fires rocket-a-minute at IsraelThis is the same Hezbollah that is a part of the current Lebanese government: Shelling of Israel by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon reached a peak of one missile a minute for an hour Tuesday as Israel's air force stepped up bombing runs.Terrorists have no place in a democracy. Monday, July 17, 2006An Interview with Velvet ElvisAKA the one and only Jim Riley from Virginia Virtucon, who has decided to tell-all about Too Conservative's Vince Harris and his blowing the whistle on a blog gone bad. KENNEY: So were you the source of the file with the IP addresses from Too Conservative posted on Velvet Elvis? RILEY: Yes. I created this file while I was a contributor on Too Conservative earlier this year and had administrative privileges. No one hacked into the site to gain this information and I have not logged into that site since those privileges were revoked. KENNEY: Why did you generate the file? RILEY: When I was an administrator on Too Conservative, I kept my eyes open for any obscene or inappropriate posts as any moderator does. I saw two posts that fell into this category by virtue of the commenters' names: "SteveChapmanWantsParrishDead" (Del. Harry Parrish) and "SteveChapmanWantsDavisDead" (U.S. Rep. Tom Davis). (Mind you, this precedes any of the Steve Chapman vs. Black Velvet Bruce Lee legal dealings.) Anyway, as any responsible moderator would do, I looked into removing such posts and banning the offending IP address from the blog. KENNEY: So what happened next? RILEY: I clicked on the IP address and it generated a list of all the posts made by the person using that address. That is largely the list that is on Velvet Elvis. That is when I discovered that Vincent had made those posts along with the others. KENNEY: What did you do about that? RILEY: I immediately e-mailed Vincent, see text below: Monday, March 20, 2006 5:38 PMLike many others, I can clearly see his gift, but in this case, it was also very clear to me that he needed some advice and guidance and that is the spirit in which this was offered. KENNEY: And how did he take it? RILEY: Obviously, he completely disregarded it. See below: Monday, March 20, 2006 11:27 PMHe made the comments in question on March 18, which was a Saturday. I typically don't even log onto computers during the weekend, so I did not even see this until Monday, March 20, which is the last date for which his posts appear in this file and corresponds to the date and time of the e-mail I sent copied above. About 48 hours later, the great blog purge happened. KENNEY: You're essentially saying that you were "fired" for being a whistleblower? RILEY: You could put it that way. He got caught red-handed, panicked and tried to dispose of the evidence by getting rid of all his contributors. Fortunately, I had already saved the IP search results. KENNEY: Wow. So why didn't you release this information right away? RILEY: I was still hoping that I could counsel Vincent on this behind the scenes and get him to straighten up about this. You don't need to be a rocket scientist nor have access to IP addresses to realize that didn't happen. My only regret is that I didn't take my own advice with regard to Vincent that I gave him with regard to Gerry Connelly. KENNEY: How's that? RILEY: Well, I thought that we had buried the hatchet, but back in May, I was looking to put together something among a number of conservative Virginia blogs with regard to the June 6 Democrat primary called the D4D Project. I had included Vincent among that group. Next thing I know, there is a post up on Not Larry Sabato intended as a pre-emptive strike against it. I have it on excellent authority from someone who spoke directly with Ben Tribbett that Vincent is the one who gave him all that information. KENNEY: I know what most folks know I believe about anonymous/pseudonymous blogging (I don't approve of it in the vast majority of cases). Given the fact that it now appears as if Vince Harris used anonymous comments and pseudonyms to "up" his blog, what motivated you to blow the whistle on Too Conservative? RILEY: As I admitted in my e-mail to Vincent, from time to time I may post anonymously if for some reason I cannot post under my own name (such as something related to my duties as HOA president or my job). My main problem is when he misrepresents himself in those posts, such as claiming to be a constituent in a particular House district in which he does not actually live. I also have a problem with him posting as elected officials such as Bill Bolling and Marty Nohe. The Bolling post was obviously not him, but the Nohe post even fooled me and I've been friends with Marty for a long time. Someone who doesn't know Marty might not take it in the humorous way it comes across to the people who do know him. And if Marty decides to run for PWC Chairman, some op-researcher might dig that post up and use it out of context. I don't want that to happen. I also have a problem with the level of vitriol he uses in these posts. It is just uncalled for in polite, political discourse. Especially coming from someone who is always saying how we have to build the party, be more inclusive, etc. Had Vincent not purged us, Hughes, Hirons and I were getting ready to bolt anyway. KENNEY: You've held on to this for awhile Jim. Why did you release the information now? RILEY: People have the right to know, especially the readers and commenters of TC, that someone was and is trying to manipulate them and shape their opinions. People have the right to know that Vincent was trying to set himself up as both the prosecutor (commentator) and the jury foreman (public opinion) in a sort of Alice in Wonderland court. Too Conservative under Vincent is a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is very unfortunate, because I find his new set of contributors to be very thoughtful, level-headed people with much to offer and I have great respect for them. The difference in tone and style between their posts and Vincent's is becoming starker each day. KENNEY: Fair enough. So here's the big question: are you Velvet Elvis? RILEY: Yes. No sense in denying it. KENNEY: Why didn't you post all of this on Virginia Virtucon? RILEY: Because Virtucon has a different focus. It is not a blog that "watches the watchers." It is like comparing the Heritage Foundation mission with that of Accuracy in Media. I didn't do it as myself since I thought that the focus should be on the content of these posts by Vincent, not on who revealed it. KENNEY: Why Elvis??? RILEY: Why not Elvis? He's a fun, cultural icon who lives on today with conspiracy theories abound about him. Heck, check out the movie Bubba Ho-Tep and you'll see what I mean. That's everything folks. Lots to talk about, so go ahead and let the comments begin... Sunday, July 16, 2006Hey Vivian Paige, Guess What I Bought (and some thoughts)!Yes, I bought that silly book "Conservatives Without Conscience" after a good and lengthy blog conversation about the book, liberals and conservatives, and progressives and neo-conservatives. I have a longer post in response to Vivian's question, but classical liberalism (my pet political philosophy to date) isn't an old idea; in fact it's the one political philosophy that used to be the uniquely American one before modern American liberalism and American conservativism swallowed it up during the 1950's and 1960's: Classical liberalism is a political philosophy that supports individual rights as pre-existing the state, a government that exists to protect those moral rights, ensured by a constitution that protects individual autonomy from other individuals and governmental power, private property, and a laissez-faire economic policy. Many elements of this ideology developed in the 17th and 18th centuries. As such, it is often seen as being the natural ideology of the industrial revolution and its subsequent capitalist system. The early liberal figures that libertarians now describe as their fellow "classical liberals" rejected many foundational assumptions which dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion, and focuses on individual freedom, reason, justice and tolerance. Such thinkers and their ideas helped to inspire the American Revolution and French Revolution.One group of thinkers that are not listed in the Wikipedia article -- and should be -- are the Scholastics, notably Aquinas, John of Salisbury (who first ventured into the idea of natural law), Scotus, and the Spanish Jesuit scholastic thinkers of the 16th century of which Suarez is the most read. Classical liberalism's last foray into the public square as a movement was Barry Goldwater's GOP nomination in 1964. Since then, conservatives took on the role of leadership (see Russell Kirk's essays on conservativism for more information) and by 1976 were the pre-eminent political philosophy of the Republican Party. Likewise on the left, classical liberalism was the genesis of modern American liberalism, the last of whom could arguably be noted as President Jack Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. With the dual assassinations of both men in 1963 and 1968 respectively, liberalism turned into more than an argument for fairness, it turned into an argument for equality (John Rawls would be what I have in mind), a distinction that introduced social rather than individual action as the prime mover. Here is an excellent treatise on classical liberalism to print out and read: Prior to the 20th century, classical liberalism was the dominant political philosophy in the United States. It was the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson and the signers of the Declaration of Independence and it permeates the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and many other documents produced by the people who created the American system of government. Many of the emancipationists who opposed slavery were essentially classical liberals, as were the suffragettes, who fought for equal rights for women.The article goes on to describe where rights come from (rights are inherent, not granted by governments or men), where rights are transgressed, the difference between what are rights and needs, and different arrangements where rights can be derived (contract, utility, natural law, etc). From liberalism and conservativism, you get an evolution of thought that ultimately projects itself as policy. To date, that policy has been measured. But the radical fringes are starting to overwhelm the half-measures of "fixing" classical liberalism in this country to be something more than it was intended to be. Vivian specifically asked me why progressives were hurting the Democratic Party (and extrapolating from that, why neo-conservatives were hurting the Republican Party). Frankly, IMO other than differing issues, there's not much separating progressives and neo-conservatives at all. So here are my thoughts on both: Neo-conservatives project the power of the state internationally, while progressives project the power of the state internally. Both are violent, crude, intolerant of opposition, destructive to their own ends, near-sighted in their consequences, and ultimately seek to divide the body politic between us and them. Liberals and conservatives always seemed in my mind to be two different ways of applying the same political philosophy, hence the complaint from libertarians and socialists that the major parties really don't offer a choice. As a result, we get spiked versions of each. More coarse, more direct, and far more emotive thanks to what's at stake -- the vast power and resources of a bloated American government. One is reminded of Weimar Germany in the respect of violent fringe parties struggling for power while pushing out the mainstream. Violent political parties mowing down common sense and civil discourse, until either the Nazis or Communists were "right". Ultimately the Nazi's won in Germany, and the Social Democrats, the Catholic Centre Party, even the Nationalists who forged Germany under Bismarck eventually gave in. Communism, crushed in Germany along with everyone else labeled "other," won elsewhere and performed similar atrocities against humanity in places like Soviet Russia and China. Catholics, Jews, Orthodox, virtually anyone who preached the virtues of a free society were crushed under one boot or another, either bearing a swastika or a hammer-and-sickle. The Nazi/Communist death struggle is an interesting take on the matter. I recently watched Enemy at the Gates again, a story of Soviet sniper Vassili Zaitsev's duel with Nazi sniper Major Koenig. In the beginning of the movie, there is a scene where the Red Army drives raw conscripts toward the Nazi lines to be mowed down, each one carrying either a rifle or five bullets. When the conscripts run back to their lines after being massacred by the Wehrmacht, their own Soviet officers turn and mow down the conscripts. So the movie begins. There is no rooting for one side or the other. One roots for Zaitsev ultimately, in a struggle to survive as an individual. Enemy at the Gates ultimately is a story of individualism over state control, no matter which side (left or right) commands -- not because it is anarchaic or an argument for license over liberty, but because individualism is something built within the soul. Enemy at the Gates is an argument for the power of the individual to triumph despite the worst of state control; it is an exposition for classical liberalism if one could ever be made. I wonder if we lose the individual at times, in all the CNN and FOX News, the blogs and the newspapers in an effort to create movements and sway minds. Perspective is a horrible thing, but most folks are too self-absorbed trying to be right all the time to pay much attention anymore. Maybe classical liberalism is an ideology for a slower time, when people could afford to think for themselves and conduct their affairs without resorting to license to meet the next craze, the next bit of self-indulgence, or the next opportunity to climb on another's back to get a promotion? I'd like to think not, but I'm disappointed daily. Still, given the fact that classical liberals believe as Jefferson did in the inherent will of individuals to be free, the battle for common sense hasn't died out yet. Ideas govern the world, and ever since the French Revolution we've been keen to try out Utopia wherever we can. It always fails, we ask why, modify the argument and reapply it elsewhere. Have we succeeded? Only in America have we come close, and that was the achievement of a free market, a free people, and a free society. It hasn't been perfect, but name one other society that is more free, more prosperous, or more enterprising? Classical liberalism built that society, and if we're not careful to preserve it we will lose it entirely. Saturday, July 15, 2006The Elvis Themes are Thick...Vince Harris over at Too Conservative has just been BVBL'd (beev-eld for pronounciation), and it also seems hacked. Opinions aside, it seems as if there is a concerted effort regarding the tabloid blogs to (a) expose them and (b) weave the Elvis theme into it in response to the Black Velvet Bruce Lee meme of hacking away anonymously or pseudonymously at personalities. Now it's pretty well known that hits don't tally into visitors, which has been a common complaint regarding some blogs self-promoting themselves into stardom. All this having been said, there is an interesting perspective here regarding that phenomenon of bloggers regulating bloggers. I'm not going to start speculating as to whether or not TC deserved it, nor am I going to smack around Velvet Elvis for being a pseudonym. But I'm starting to wonder whether or not we're experiencing the front end of a concept where some bloggers are finding their niche watchdogging the blogs. No thoughts so far, other than it's a development Virginia blogs should keep an eye on. Israel gives Syria ultimatumAccording to London-based newspaper al-Hayat: The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that "Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah's activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences."Hold on tight folks, this one is going to get ugly quick. The IDF wants a decisive end to Hezbollah and HAMAS's ability to operate, and rightly so. Both are terror organizations that should be wiped off the face of the earth for what they have done to the Israelis as well as the Palestinians. Curiously, Fatah and the PA have been very silent. Wonder why that is... Friday, July 14, 2006Who Says Catholics Don't Know their Bible?The St. Francis Xavier Bible Game for those who want to test their Bible trivia. Wednesday, July 12, 2006Hamas Leader (Mostly) DeadHere in microcosm is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict summed up in an instant: Israel's air force targeted the two-story house of Nabil Abu Salmiyeh, a Hamas activist and university lecturer, after getting intelligence information that the leaders of Hamas' military wing, responsible for the abduction of the soldier, were meeting there. Palestinian security officials said seven or eight top Hamas officials were present.Innocent victims or human shields? You make the call. When I was in Israel in 1999, Hezbollah was targeting Israeli towns along the northern border with Lebanon with Kaytusha rockets. In 2000 when I returned a year later, there was a palpable tension in the air. The reason? Ehud Barak had withdrawn from the southern Lebanese security zone by March 2000, leaving the 4,000-man Southern Lebanese Army (Maronite Christian run, but consisting of both Shi'ite Muslims and Christians opposed to Hezbollah) to themselves and granting what Hezbollah turned into a victory. SLA members fled to Israel, where the government offered work permits and even citizenship to the SLA refugees. The lesson the Palestinians learned? Resistance produces results. Why bother with peace? 2006 is fallout from 1999. Hamas and Hezbollah, much like al-Qaeda, cannot be negotiated with because there is nothing to negotiate about. The destruction of Israel is their only objective. In the face of such committment, the deaths of small children are difficult to understand. Yes it is tragic, but they were sacrificed by their own parents for a cause they most likely barely understood. When Hamas or Hezbollah or any organization chooses violence, innocents will die. Is that the fault of the IDF? Clearly not. War is terrible, but has the peace of Israel restrained been any less terrifying? If there was ever a justification for action, the Israelis certainly have every pretext for self-defense. I am still eternally hopeful peace will come to the Holy Land. Palestinian Christians caught between a rock and a hard place still need the attention of the world, and deservedly so. Yet understand this: it is not the Israelis who are convinced the Palestinians should be wiped off the face of the earth. Such rhetoric is only heard in places like Damascus, Teheran, and unfortunately in Lebanon where Hezbollah forms part of the government. For those who believe in the objective of death, there can be no peace. Soldiers of the Israeli Defence Forces deserve our support. Zidane Headbutt GameYes my friends, you too can use pre-emptive violence to get your point across. Just keep clicking... meanwhile, Jason has appreciation for Zidane's technique. Rocky Balboa is back!Rocky VI, for your viewing pleasure. (tip o' the hat to Save the GOP) Tuesday, July 11, 2006Bada-dum-dum-dumCastro bites the dust? Bush at 43%Yes, I can hear the snickering of the Democrats right now: Shaun Kenney is celebrating over a 43% approval rating... Well, yes I am. And for good reason too: For the fourth straight day, 43% of Americans Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove, including 39% who Strongly Disapprove.Now there's what's interesting -- 75% of all Republicans support the President. This goes back to the immigration/Harriet Miers argument, that the reason why Bush's numbers are so low is that conservatives aren't happy with the President. Good news? Well maybe, maybe not. But what it does show is that Americans aren't flocking to the Democrats, who's civil war (and it can hardly be described as anything less) between progressives and liberals is high drama at best. The only thing that unites them seems to be a common hatred for President Bush. So if 39% of Americans don't like Bush, and 43% do like Bush, then where is the meat of that 20% hiding? My hypothesis? On the right wing of the GOP... Interesting times. Monday, July 10, 2006SIMILE | TimelineNow this is cool. Don't know what I'd use it for, but it's still pretty cool... Fr. Buckner on New AdventFor those who will undoubtedly recall, Fr. Buckner was the former pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church in Fredericksburg. In a discussion on the veracity of Marian apparitions (primarily in Medjugorije), Father offers thoughts for visiting the best Holy Sites of 'em all: May I step aside from the general discussion here to offer a third suggestion. This does not affect the veracity of these apparitions, devotions, pilgrimages etc. Rather it does deal with the frequently mentioned item of "private revelations".Father Buckner: priest, father, professor, confessor, and now blogger. Go to the Holy Land if you ever have the chance. Father took me along three times and my faith has been all the more because of it. UCV: Ollie 1Jim Webb ain't no Cinderella Man, though he certainly was Born Fighting. Webb, it seems, lost the 1968 Brigade Boxing Championship. To Ollie North. What's more interesting is Ollie's story in all of this: Actually, it is a fascinating story, although I can understand why Jim Webb isn't penning the screenplay for this one. The underdog, Ollie North, who sustained back and knee fractures his plebe year in a car accident, through sheer determination and grit fought his way back to health, out of leg braces and faced classmate Jim Webb for the coveted title of Brigade Boxing Champion. Webb had been boxing since his early teens, was dubbed the better boxer of the two and was expected to win. He didn't.Sounds like the script to a movie, though I'm sure Webb and North probably get a kick out of the event today. Still, given the 1994 North bid for the same Senate seat Allen managed to take from Robb in 2000, it's a neat story nonetheless. No bearing on politics, of course. But still a great story. Vivian J. Paige: The Pulpit SpeaksWhy do I like Vivian Paige? Because she posts stuff like this! Sunday, July 09, 20061 (5) Italy France 1 (3)What a great match! I had the opportunity to watch the match at Leo's Place, which is a small restaurant in Johnstown, Colorado with Spanish announcers -- which was fine because the language was soccer after all. Italy played the better game, which frankly shocked me because France looked very impressive against Portugal. But the Italian football players might as well use their feet as their hands. Very agressive to the ball, while the French were very territorial, elbowing and punching at times through the Italian players. Zidane is a great football player on the ground. One-on-one, he cannot be stopped, and it looked as if France just might pull the game off in the latter parts of the match. Until... Zidane headbutted an Italian player in the chest in the fifth minute or so of second overtime, which earned him a red card and deprived France of their best shooter going into the shootout. What a shame -- and it goes to show why cool reason trumps emotion every time. It was a silly thing to do, and it certainly made him and his national team look very poor. Still, the Italians came out on top. Everyone to a man was rooting for the Italians here, and considering the Americans managed only to tie the Italians, I'd say that makes Team USA not so bad after all. USA came out of a tough bracket with the Czech Republic (thanks Jon), a surprisng Ghana team, and World Cup Champions Italy. Good series, though I doubt it will do anything for US soccer in the short term. Still, as more of the 18-30 demographic starts coming of age, I'm sure we'll keep rooting for the game we played as kids. Saturday, July 08, 2006CoulrophobiaJoe Budinzski on clowns. Real clowns, not the sort you see in Richmond... Bacon's Rebellion: Another Blow to Free MarketsWineries in Virginia, an amazing credit to the free market and to the Virginia economy in the Piedmont, can no longer sell directly to wine shops, restaurants, and grocers thanks to a state ABC board decision. Who wins? Jim speculates, but it's pretty clear who loses. Wineries and small family-owned business take a direct shot, especially those getting started in the business. Such a decision crushes entrepreneurship, and should be reconsidered by the ABC board before General Assembly does the thinking for them. Friday, July 07, 2006Micro Persuasion: 25 Things I Learned on Google TrendsNow this is pretty darned cool, most notably for the one graphic comparing how blogs have all but caught up to newspapers. So I thought to myself -- what else could we compare? Pepsi vs. Coke? Done. Jim Webb vs. George Allen? Allen wins, but Webb trending upwards... Cowboys vs. Redskins? *ahem* er.... ah... Maybe it's not such a good indicator after all... Your Marriage is Outdated and BigotedSo sayeth Howard Dean: Speaking officially for the Democratic Party, Howard Dean issued a paid press release immediately after the Appeals Court’s decision came through. “As Democrats,” said the release, “we believe that every American has a right to equal protection under the law and to live in dignity. And we must respect the right of every family to live in dignity with equal rights, responsibilities, and protections under the law.”It's funny, because anti-marriage proponents have always asked which marriages we were trying to save. The outdated and bigoted ones, I guess... Make Mine Virginia Moonshine!Virginia's only legal private distillery is open for business! I can't wait for George Washington's recipe to come to maturation. Virginia whiskey is a tradtion forgotten. Glad to see it spring back to life so close to home! Thursday, July 06, 2006SLANTblog: Weekend Without EchoesThis looks to be an interesting experiment; perhaps a call to arms? Here's the idea: Post nothing but original content. No links, no media, no namecalling. Just good, thoughtful, insightful blogging from July 21st to July 23rd. Separating the true bloggers from the empty shells, so to speak. I can't wait to see what this turns into. What an excellent idea (if only it could go nationwide)! Tuesday, July 04, 2006Interesting Fact About North KoreaMost Americans, when it comes to setting off ordinance, were more successful than our friends in Communist North Korea today. How many North Korea jokes did we hear whenever a firecracker was a dud? The PRNK's launching of six missiles poses interesting questions of it's own when it comes to China. Caught between their Communist cousins in the PRNK and their monolithic hatred of the Japanese, how will they react? U.N. Security Council meets tomorrow at 10am -- at the request of Japan. Thank You Mr. Jefferson!Few people have taken the time to read the Declaration of Independence, and fewer still appreciate the document as the foundation of American understandings of law. It is, in my opinion, a legal document far more binding than the Constitution: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.Revolutionary hardly describes the content. No longer the right of kings, law is establshed by nature. No longer might making right, law is commonly established by social contract. No longer immutable and ironclad, laws are compacts enacted by consenting parties. No longer is law the tyrrany which keeps men enslaved, law becomes the compact by which men are made free. The Declaration of Independence is a triumph of liberty over license, of liberty over tyrrany. Jefferson rightly considered it his boldest achievement, next to his Statute of Religious Freedom and the founding of the University of Virginia. In that spirit, I dredged up an old post of mine on Jefferson' opinions on common law, natural law, and Christianity entitled Sing Tantarara, rogues all, rogues all!. Jefferson's thoughts and works should be given special thought on our Independence Day, and we should all consider what makes the American experiment so unique amongst other "revolutionaries" around the world. Happy Independence Day! Monday, July 03, 2006Power Line: They already knew the colonists were fed up
Cracking the Great Firewall of ChinaA tutorial. ImNotEmeril: Wide Awakes Radio Is ComingNow this looks like an enterprising project: Wide Awakes Radio every Sunday afternoon at 4:30pm! Chad asks whether anyone actually wants to hear us bloggers talk, but I'm certain we will love to hear ourselves talk... Sunday, July 02, 2006Don't Believe the HypeMIT professor Richard Lindzen on Al Gore, global warming, and climatology: Bill Clinton has become the latest evangelist for Mr. Gore's gospel, proclaiming that current weather events show that he and Mr. Gore were right about global warming, and we are all suffering the consequences of President Bush's obtuseness on the matter. And why not? Mr. Gore assures us that "the debate in the scientific community is over."The entire global warming fad seems to be something like a pair of bellbottoms -- someone tells me they're in style, but I just don't get the fashion. What's worse about this is the continuing mantra from people who want to believe this stuff. And what are the solutions? More government, more controls, the separation of human beings from nature (i.e. sealing off National Parks to let them grow "wild"), and the type of dreamworld that makes the watermelon comparison of environmentalists -- green on the outside, red in the middle -- a reality Dr. Lindzen's conclusions? So what, then, is one to make of this alleged debate? I would suggest at least three points.There you have it. The Big Lie as a political tool for change, no matter whether the facts (or the public) tell otherwise.
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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