A man in the arena

CNN Headline:

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs

Actual Quote from the Secretary of the Air Force:

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

The key word is “test.” Exactly where did he say that he would experiment on US citizens? Using non-lethal weapons on US citizens is commonplace so that story would be boring. Add a headline implying that U.S. citizens are guinea pigs and then you got something. You have the outstanding U.S. media proving their value again.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 10:40 PM 2 comments

“If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons. We are in a war that will set the course for this new century — and determine the destiny of millions across the world.”

I don’t know what to write. I hope the threat is a bluff that works and the Iranians back down. This is a war we should not want.

The Iranians will develop nuclear weapons unless otherwise stopped. Multiple leaders of the Iranian government have claimed that the Israelis should be wiped out. No my dear liberal friend not occupied like the West Bank, annihilated. They also want us destroyed and proclaim that often. Iran also has a large and well trained Army, a rugged terrain more akin to Afghanistan then the flat desert of Iraq. And a world wide terrorist organization, Hezbollah, that we know has infiltrated the U.S.

The U.S. does not have the will to fight the long and bloody war that will involve destroying the Iranian military machine. And I do not know what we should do.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 10:06 PM 1 comments

If I was on the jury I would let this guy off.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 4:48 PM 2 comments

I am not sure what this says about me. Here are the top 25 songs that I listen to on iTunes.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 5:05 PM 0 comments

The penultimate sign of pop cultural ignorance is when you watch a Weird Al polka but don’t know half the songs because they are too new.

The ultimate sign is that he wrote the parody in the 1990s and you still don’t get it.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 10:15 AM 0 comments

A man who spends his life antagonizing crocodiles is killed by a stingray.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 10:44 PM 0 comments

The caveat is that these beliefs are based on probabilities and potentialities. If the probable effect of global warming is less then expected, or man’s impact on the atmosphere is less then believed, then the syllogism’s conclusion will change.

According to The Australian, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is drastically changing its estimates on these issues. Not so much as to change the conclusion, but maybe enough to cause concern regarding their methodology.

The claims of scientific consensus regarding global warming are patently false. There are respected tenured professors not beholden to oil interests who doubt the existence of anthropomorphic climate change.

The argument over global warming must involve science and debate, instead of innuendo and insult if it is to have any impact at all. The IPCC’s shift is all the more dubious because of the dubiousness of their political allies.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 10:32 PM 0 comments

Your humble author lives in a good neighborhood that borders on a place less respectable. The wave of gentrification came here only a few years ago and two blocks away the tide may be turning back.

We live in an age of plenty. The 2000 recession reached lows that were the bare minimum to raise concern. We forget that markets change, booms bust, and a growing city can contract. In 1987 the Real Estate markets collapsed. History will, at some point, repeat itself.

When the markets collapse life can still be tolerable. Crime will rise, however that can be combated. In the District crime is already rising. A market collapse could make the idea of a tolerable city a daydream. The District can fight this crime now or the city itself can collapse again.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 10:01 PM 0 comments

Malcolm Gladwell has a short piece on the culture of zero tolerance in education. The author uses excellent examples. However his reach for significance reaches for a bridge to far with a military example. Overzealous enforcement of the rules is not a nation wide problem.

The implication that society has a zero tolerance problem can be refuted by a simple walk through the District of Columbia. Whatever can explain the social degradation of 2006, it is not a problem of zero tolerance.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 9:54 PM 0 comments

When “I Am Charlotte Simmons” was printed the book was promptly attacked from many fronts. It was salacious, exaggerated, and narrow. The book was loosely based on Duke University and emphasized the amoral hook-up culture of modern University life.

Now The New Yorker has an excellent article by Peter J. Boyle about the culture of Duke University that restates Mr. Wolfe’s thesis in more somber tones. Regardless of the innocence of the Duke Lacrosse team, the culture of the hook-up is real.

Resolved: to ignore Mr. Wolfe is to ignore truth.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 9:45 PM 0 comments