Gunner Palace

For a riveting and realistic view of the soldiers in Iraq visit Gunner Palace. I haven't seen reporting this compelling since reading Hired Guns last April. Gunner Palace is how a documentary is supposed to look.

Blog On

Last week I reflected about some of the roles of blogging and the irony that the reason most people get into blogging in the first place is probably one of the least effective ways it can be used. Due to the fact that the post jumped around a little and didn't have a very informative title, (like this one is?) I don't think too many people read it.

So here it is again. I believe the main roles for blogging are:

1. Motivating The Faithful - Yes, we are for the most part blogging to others who share the same opinions, but that doesn't mean it's a waste. Reading similar opinions can help us to be more bold in expressing our own in the "marketplace of ideas". Just knowing that you aren't alone can be a powerful motivator.
   
2. Educating Others - Blogging has been trumpeted as a way to usurp old media's stranglehold on the news and especially concerning how the news is spun. To a great extent, then, blogging serves to disseminate facts without forcing anyone to rely on a single outlet for their source of news. Additionally, presentation of the news is often slanted in very subtle ways and many benefit from those who are able to observe this and point it out to others.
   
3. Influencing Opinion - This is probably the least effective role of blogs, yet it's the one that people often cite as a motivator for getting into blogging in the first place. It's great when we can win someone over to our point of view, but that isn't going to happen very often. However, that doesn't mean it isn't worth a try. Presenting some actual facts along with an argument for a particular position can go a long way toward making it convincing.
   
4. Sharpening The Sword - Engaging in a certain amount of back and forth with others who may have different views, helps to develop arguments and logic in such a way that when things come up in real life, we're a little better suited to the task.

The beautiful summer weather here has me in a sort of blogging enuui. Therefore, it's helpful for me to look at just exactly why I enjoy this hobby.

Something I Forgot

A few weeks ago I saw something on the History Channel about D-Day. It told of a soldier whose job it was to photograph events on the beach that day. It's kind of amazing when you think about it. A soldier being sent into a combat zone for no other purpose than to take photographs. I guess that's how important it is to have a record, a sort of collective memory for events. This is important not just for historic moments, but for organizations of all types. Sadly, many fail to take the necessary steps to do such a thing.

If your organization, whether it's a school, a large corporation or even a small business forgets to leave some type of memory of events, you'll be left with a shallow pool of knowledge that can cause trouble later on. Without some way of having an institutional memory, the experience of your company is only as deep as those who currently are employed. In some cases, it's enough to prevent problems. But what happens when people start to retire, leave for other jobs, or worse yet, get hit by a bus on the way to work.

How many essential processes in your organization are not written down? What will you lose when those processes leave along with the memories of those who created them?

This topic is on my mind as I prepare to wind down a program for which I'm responsible in my job. I'm thinking about the previous five years of the program and all the valuable lessons that I want to capture on paper before moving on to something else. Like just about everyone, there are things you learn by having an experience that you can't learn any other way. Getting those things down on paper is essential, though it doesn't necessarily seem that way at the time.

There are a lot of things about the military that are pretty messed up. However, remembering lessons learned isn't one of them. Do a search on the phrase "lessons learned" in google. Most of the results are from military sites. The "lessons learned" papers are an important part of military culture and one from which other organizations could learn.

As far as my own situation, I'll try to write down the important lessons that someone, someday will want to remember. The only question left is, will anyone bother to read them?

A Cornucopia of Moore

Maybe you saw the quote on Drudge Report like I did. It was Michael Moore commenting on how his "documentary" is selling out in Red States. He commented on how it's even doing well in Fayetteville, NC, the home of Ft. Bragg.

Well, Matt Margolis has some interesting observations that make this claim seem a little fishy.

Then there's this account from Lew Rockwell about the movie in Appleton, WI and, finally, there's a decent explication of Moore and friends over at Front Page Mag called, Where Have All The Democrats Gone?.

And that's it. I'm tired of blogging about this guy and his movie. I haven't seen it and I'm not going to see it. The whole thing reminds me of the great publicity the anti-nuke movement used to get back in the Reagan era. Those people seemed pretty nutty to me, yet they seemed to get tons of press coverage. Ultimately, I'm not sure they accomplished much although they did get a lot of attention. Either way, I'm tired of Michael Moore and I'll leave the blogging about him to others.

Soldier Seeking Supplies

I received a curious comment to my post about Warlock Green. It's purportedly from a soldier in Iraq. (the ip# seems to verify this) The message is this,

I am a troop in Iraq and my unit broke the Ant. cable for the Warlock Green. I need the NSN for a S2 Antenna. So I can order one to replace the broken on and a list of NSN for the Warlock Green if I need to replace any other parts (i.e ant., cables or just need to know info) someone please respond.

It's signed, Spc. Sherman Bell. (sherman.bell [at] us.army.mil)
At this point maybe I should back up a little and explain...

Last January I posted about my concern that no one was working on a way to electronically defeat IED's. From the perspective of someone who isn't an electrical engineer it seemed like such a thing would be relatively easy, especially if you didn't have to worry so much about accidentally causing interference with other electronics in an area. The two posts on the subject were, Electronic Countermeasures and Jamming IED's.

I received some really good responses to these posts. In fact, one was so good that I posted it as part of an update, IED Update.

Finally, in April, I saw that the military had awarded a contract to EDO Corporation to build devices to jam IED's. These devices are called, Warlock Green

Warlock Green emits a radio frequency that jams communications signals that detonate roadside bombs, called improvised explosive devices. EDO also manufactures a less sophisticated jammer called Warlock Red, said a Dec. 29 company statement.

EDO will start delivering Warlock Green to U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq in June, according to an industry official familiar with the device's fielding. William Walkowiak, the company's investor relations director, and the Army declined comment.

This reminds me of something I heard about the invasion of Grenada. A unit was pinned down and couldn't get their radio to work. Instead, they found access to a telephone and called long distance to Fort Bragg, NC. It doesn't surprise me that a soldier is trolling the internet looking for parts to fix some necessary equipment.

If this comment is legitimate, apparently, someone needs a new antenna cable for their Warlock Green device. Can anyone help him?

I don't know exactly what he's talking about but if you do and know where he can find this particular antenna cable, I'm sure he would appreciate hearing from you. Spc. Sherman Bell (sherman.bell [at] us.army.mil)

Legend in His Own Mind

Top Gun is a great movie, but if I really had to spend any time with the characters portrayed I'd think they were a bunch of egotistic jerks. I've been thinking lately about how certain occupations seem to attract people who are arrogant and self-centered. Think about it. How many humble brain surgeons have you ever met?

I guess if you're flying a jet fighter at Mach I you don't really have a lot of time for second guessing yourself. Being pretty self-confident might just help you to make the correct decision. Politicians also seem to be a group with quite a bit of hubris. Not every politician, though, just the very successful ones. My congressman, Don Manzullo, is a good guy but I doubt anyone would describe him as someone known for his humility.

Bill Clinton said recently that he had his "inappropriate relationship" with Monica Lewinsky "because I could". George W. Bush, although he seems to be of a higher moral caliber, doesn't come across as Mr. Humble either.

In order to be a leader you must have a sense that your vision is better than anyone else's. Without that sense you might as well let someone else lead. It's true that good leaders are often people who can bring about consensus among disparate ideas, but that's a skill too. The ability to build bridges, to bring opponents together, or to forge strategic alliances are all skills that require quite a bit of self-confidence. In order to be a leader you need to feel that you have something to offer that no one else has, but does that mean you need to be cocky? From looking at the successful leaders I've known, it seems to be the case.

I get the idea from history that Abraham Lincoln was a self-effacing person, not someone prone to thinking too highly of himself. I wonder though, is that picture accurate? Certainly among modern leaders there's no shortage of huge egos. Douglas MacArthur, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, and that's just a few political leaders. There are many examples from the corporate world too.

Is there a model of successful leadership that incorporates the Christian ideal of humility?

As a Christian, I get the idea that someone who's haughty is not wise, yet in the real world it seems that great leaders are larger than life characters. Maybe it's more a matter of balance. Perhaps the way to be a great leader is to balance the belief in one's vision with a sense of humility. A tall order and, it seems, one that very few can accomplish.

Digital Brownshirts

A Proud Member of Digital Brownshirts

Al Gore accused the GOP of employing "digital brownshirts: "The administration works closely with a network of rapid responders, a group of brown shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors and publishers and advertisers, and are quick to accuse them of undermining support for our troops."See here for more information

Yet Another F911 Post

Just about every right thinking blog on the planet has some words of wisdom about Michael Moore. So why should I be any different? I despise the guy so much that I'm willing to blog on something that everyone else is blogging about just to point out what a big fat liar he really is. As my evidence, I point out to you an excellent article in Slate. (I suppose now someone is going to accuse them of being a member of the VRWC.) The article is called, Unfairenheit 9/11: The Lies of Michael Moore. It's a must-read.

Also, be sure to check out this nifty poster shedding a little more light on Moore's "documentary".

Thanks to Right Voices, Spartacus and Right-Thinking for some great F911 information.

On a totally unrelated subject, I stumbled on a blog called, This Blog is Full of Crap. I guess that's one way to lower expectations.

Good Men Doing Nothing

Liberal bias in the media is an article of faith among conservatives and for good reason. Of course, if you don't believe there is liberal bias you could always visit here, here or even here. (If you don't find anything convincing, then go away. There's nothing for you here.)

It seems a day doesn't pass without reading about yet another example of the left trying to impose it's views on unsuspecting Americans. Whether it's in the form of a documentary, the results of a skewed poll, rumor mongering in order to sell books, or in the way certain news stories are presented to the public, there's always something or someone trying to push their views upon us. (Don't even get me started on the concerted effort to get us to accept Homosexuality as normal.)

Of course, none of this happens without a willing accomplice...

Conservatives who don't alter their consumer habits as a result of their political beliefs are that willing accomplice. We bleat loudly about liberal bias, then go see movies with stars like Sean Penn, Tim Robbins or Susan Sarandon. We'll tune in to episodes of The West Wing that demonize conservative values and present those who fight against them as somehow heroic. We'll continue to tune in to watch the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and may even watch the flagship of liberal television propaganda, 60 Minutes.

The fact is, those who consider themselves conservative make up a sizable block of the US population. If we stopped buying the books that flog our point of view, stop patronizing the products of those who sponsor television shows with blatantly liberal bias, and otherwise live our lives true to our professed beliefs, most of this so-called liberal bias would quickly vanish.

Some might say, "Isn't this censorship?". (If you're asking that question, then you probably didn't stop reading at the end of the first paragraph like I asked.) Of course it isn't censorship since that only occurs when someone is told they can't broadcast or publish something. We're all free to enjoy our constitutional rights to express our opinions. However, just because someone has a right to publish or air opinions that attack mine, doesn't mean that I have to watch them. Consumers are free to choose whom they wish to give their business.

If a company that is selling soap, for instance, holds your values in such contempt that they'll sponsor a show promoting values diametrically opposed to yours, why would you want to reward that company with your business? As I said, there are a lot of screams of outrage about liberal bias, but if half of those screaming would allow their actions to reflect their opinions, liberal bias in the press would be greatly reduced, or even eliminated.

Personally, there are many movies that I won't see because of the celebrities who star in them and the values those movies promote. Although the special effects in The Day After Tomorrow looked kind of interesting, I won't go to see the movie for the very same reason. As far as I'm concerned, anything that Al Gore endorses is something that I want to avoid.

Many consumers, both conservative and liberal, don't seem to realize that we're locked in a culture war. Whoever wins that war will decide how the next generation is raised and the type of society we'll become. There's a lot at stake. It's about time we realized it.

Go ahead. Continue to blame Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, CNN, Barbara Streisand, and the New York Times if you want, but if you patronize those who sponsor them and continue to consume what they have to offer, then you've become an accomplice to the disintegration of values that you say you hold dear.

Rick Warren Monster Truck Rally!!!

Perhaps it's because a large percentage of those who read this blog are from the "Religious Right", but on the two occasions I've written about Rick Warren (Rick Warren: A False Prophet? and A Stumbling Block) I've gotten quite a response. So you can imagine my glee upon finding yet more to write about Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life.

Challies.com, We Put The Fun in Fundamentalism, posts about Rick Warren's endless shilling on pastors.com, "He seems to resource them by strongarming them into purchasing endless amounts of his sermons, his books and so on".

The post goes on to describe an email pitch from Mr. Warren...

The article Warren wrote to describe this program is really quite funny. It reminds me of some of the spam that infiltrates my mailbox every day. He continually alternates between standard text and bold. When he's really excited he does bold italics.

It reminds me of a monster truck rally. "God is sending revivial, revival, revival! Join my conference call or you'll miss, miss, miss out, out, out!"

The post over at Challies.com is really funny. Maybe Rick Warren won't think it's that funny but I do. Go read it, Are...You...Ready, Ready, READY?!?

Rhymes with Ham

The amount of spam I receive is incredible. I'm not sure how I ended up under this deluge but I've been investigating some ways to battle it. Lately, I've been trying a service called 0Spam. It will scan your email accounts and cleanse them of spam remotely. You can specify certain whitelists or blacklists and best of all, it's free. Supposedly it will even do Yahoo mailboxes although I had some trouble setting that up.

If you use Outlook Express you can also try Spam Pal. Spam Pal has helped me to reduce the amount of spam I have to wade through at work. It allows you to check your email against a list of known spammers and also scans through the contents of the email looking for certain telltale signs of spamness.

One sure way to reduce the amount of spam is not to give out your email address at all. Mailinator comes in handy when someone asks for an email address and you have to give it at least once. Just make up an address @mailinator.com and you're all set. You don't have to even sign up beforehand. Just make up a unique address and you can go to Mailinator to check it.

Finally, I was over at Watcher of Weasels and noticed there were links that look like they're intended to kill or otherwise curtail said spambots. I guess the idea is to put those links on your blog and when they follow them - POW! Right in the Kisser. (Or something like that.) So, you miserable little spambots don't forget to go here, here, here or even here.

The BOG Interview Scandal

People have been sending emails, cards, letters, and even telegrams inquiring about what happened to The Blogdom of God Interviews. Actually, no one has asked about them but on the off chance that someone does, I wanted to address the issue.

It seems the staff here at AOO have been a little lazy. With the nicer weather and longer daylight, they've been out running around the neighborhood instead of locked in their offices working.

Okay, I have to admit it. There are no staff here at AOO. (It wouldn't exactly be an Army of One then would it?)

The reality is that I haven't spent as much time blogging due to the fact that I actually have a life. (some of the time) Also, I just haven't seen any Blogdom of God blogs that really trip my trigger. I'm sure they're out there though and one of these days I'll have to do another interview. In the meantime, I guess you'll have to muddle through with the support of your friends and family.

Or...Go read some of the previous interviews here and volunteer to be interviewed!

Wictory Wednesday

Each week, Blogs for Bush are supposed to post about "Wictory Wednesday" wherein we encourage others to donate to the Bush-Cheney campaign. Well, I haven't actually done that these past few weeks so I thought I would today for a change.

If I'm remembering correctly, you won't be able to donate to the Bush campaign after the party convention at the end of the summer. Therefore, it's that much more important to do it before then. Go ahead, everybody's doing it! Donate here.

For a list of the other Blogs for Bush, read the extended entry.

George Bush and Laurie Dhue

For supporters of GWB, there's some positive news. Election Projection reports that the Presidential race is deadlocked. Florida and Ohio have slid into the Bush column this week with only Nevada moving toward John Kerry. It's still extremely close but at least there's hope.

John Podhoretz in his column, Election 04: Prez on The Rise, cites the Harris Poll as showing the President with a 10 point lead. He also reveals some interesting information from the Greenberg Poll,

More important than these raw numbers are some answers on specific issues. In the Greenberg poll, Bush has pulled even with Kerry when it comes to who would best handle the economy. Democrats had a 20-point margin on the economy only a few months ago — and the president's numbers can only get better with time, as the depth and breadth of the economic recovery becomes more and more evident.

It's still way too close for my comfort. I won't breath a sigh of relief until I see the news reports the day after the election, but for now things seem to be showing some improvement. In the meantime, consider donating to the Bush campaign.

On the subject of polls, Antioch Road reports on a poll purported to reveal the political preferences of cable news viewers. Rasmussen Reports found that the majority of FOX News viewers are Republicans and the majority of CNN viewers are Democrats. It turns out that most Fox News viewers plan on voting for George W. Bush. I suspect it's a result of Laurie Dhue's insightful analysis of the news. ;)

The Beginning of The End

In Missionary Position I commented on how the Saudis never seem to make any serious efforts toward combating terrorism. I also voiced my frustration that our government doesn't seem to realize the Saudis are not our friends. Today, though, I saw a post over at OHC that
addresses this very issue,

U.S. officials said despite its assurances, the Saudi government has not carried out a comprehensive upgrade in efforts to protect U.S. nationals in the kingdom. They said many Saudi-owned companies have failed to take significant steps to protect their facilities and Americans from Al Qaida attacks.

It's about time that someone came to this realization.

Read the rest over at OHC

Missionary Position

As America prepared to go to war against Iraq there were quite a few voices claiming this was just another "crusade". They claimed the real intent of the invasion was to "prosyletize" Iraqis into becoming Christians. The criticized crusade hasn't happened. If there are Christian missionaries in Iraq, they do not have any connection with the US Government and are risking their own lives to be there. However, in light of these criticisms, it's interesting to note how a specific group is attempting to win converts.

One of the functions of the Islamic Affairs Division of the Saudi embassy is to evangelize for the Islamic faith. As Steven Stalinsky (an unfortunate last name) reports in a recent issue of the Weekly Standard,

For the past 20 years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a sustained push "to spread Islam to every corner of the earth," in the words of the Saudi royal family's website (www.ain-al-yaqeen.com). This missionary enterprise is known as dawa. To aid dawa in the United States, the Islamic Affairs Department of the embassy undertakes activities that range from sending Americans copies of the Koran to importing Saudi clerics to conduct seminars or serve in mosques in North America.

Late in 2003, several officials from the IAD of the Saudi embassy were asked to leave the country as a result of their promotion of radical (wahhabi) Islam. At that time a spokesman from the Saudi embassy insisted that the IAD would be closed down throughout the United States. According to the Weekly Standard article cited above, this same spokesperson later denied that the IAD would be closed down. However, this denial was issued in Arabic in an interview with a Saudi newspaper. Reportedly, the IAD has remained open and continues to promote Wahabbism.

In case you aren't up on the beliefs of the Wahabbism Sect of Islam,

They believe that all objects of worship other than Allah are false, and anyone who worships in this way deserves to be put to death. To introduce the name of a prophet, saint or angel into a prayer, or to seek intercession from anyone but Allah constitutes a form of polytheism. Attendance at public prayer is compulsory, and the shaving of the beard and smoking are forbidden. Mosques should be architecturally simple, not luxurious or ornate. Prohibited are the celebration of the Prophet's birthday, making offerings at the tomb of saints, and playing music. The injunctions of the Qur'an are to be taken literally. [Source]

Additional information may also be found here.

Evangelism is not an accepted purpose for a diplomat of any faith. Yet the Saudis continue their efforts, not just through the IAD but also through other groups in the US which they finance.

One of the most successful places for da’wa is in the prison system. It is estimated that more than 300,000 prisoners are currently converts to Islam and about 30,000 may be converting each year, according to scholar Jane I. Smith. Since the prison systems include a higher percentage of people of color, many of those converting are African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.

The National Islamic Prison Foundation claims to convert an average of 135,000 prisoners a year and federal prison statistics estimate that 10 to 20 percent of prisoners in America are Muslims. Sulayman Nyang, a professor of African Studies at Howard University, estimated that one of 10 African-American Muslims today came to the faith through a prison conversion. [Source]

These converts are being told that jihad or holy war against infidels (unbelievers) is part of their duty. Jose Padilla, accused of plotting to plant a "dirty bomb" in the US was converted to Islam while in prison. Chuck Colson describes more fully attempts to convert prisoners to radical Islam.

By contrast, the Saudis will allow no Christian churches inside their country and, of course, no Christian missionaries.

Whenever an act of violence occurs in Saudi Arabia it seems that we hear the same things. Saudi Arabia is going to crack down on these people and this time they really mean it. It seems that we then hear of a few terrorists being arrested or killed in a shootout with police and then we hear no more until the next act of violence. After this latest attack against the American, Paul Johnson, the Saudis even went so far as to hold a press conference to highlight all they are doing against these terrorists.

At the very least, Saudi Arabia should not be permitted to use it's diplomatic missions to convert people to Islam. They ought to be purged from any funding or involvement with similar missions to convert those in US prisons.

Both Democrats and Republicans have long chosen to believe that the Saudis are our friends. Yet, the evidence continues to accumulate that this is not the case. Of course, we are heavily dependent on Saudi oil for our economic well-being. However, we need to find alternate sources for this oil (such as Libya and ANWR) and stop enriching the wahabbists who are enemies of democracy and the United States. As George W. Bush said, "You are either with us or against us," in the fight against terrorism. The Saudis are certainly not with us and it remains to be seen what our current President and Congress, or the one that follows will do to stop them. We've seen enough token efforts by the Saudis to appease American opinion.

Preaching to The Converted

In a recent post, Preaching to The Choir, I wondered if there was any point in trying to convince others of our ideas through blogging. I mentioned PJ O'Rourke's article in the Atlantic Monthly. O'Rourke hates listening to guys like Rush Limbaugh because he essentially agrees with them. I've had the same experience.

I received Sean Hannity's, Let Freedom Ring, as part of a magazine subscription. I started reading it, but soon became disinterested. I don't think I even finished it and it's not because it was a bad book, but because I agreed with everything in it. Heck, I could've written the book myself.

Now, The Belmont Club in a post titled, You Talkin' To Me posts about the same type of thing.

Irving Kristol is cited as listing some rules for polemicists. You can go to Belmont Club to read the rules in depth, but basically what is being said is that you should forget about trying to convert someone who takes an adversarial view of your opinions. Kristol goes on to say that we should really be "preaching to the converted".

Belmont Club ties this concept to some recent observations about Al-Qaeda,

Al Qaeda appears to have taken his advice or at least independently come the same conclusion. STRATFOR's Geopolitical diary for June 21, 2004 argues that the recent beheading of American Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia and a similar threat against a Korean kidnapped in Iraq is pitched to the Middle Eastern audience. This supports observations that Al Qaeda has given up on directly confronting the United States in favor of a new strategy of trying to gain influence and power in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

He concludes with this,

The Al Qaeda may now understand that it cannot topple America -- let us not say the West -- by a coup de main. It has now settled into a war of civilizations. It is consolidating its own forces in a final bid to impose Islam on humanity. And by it's actions it is forcing populations long asleep to reinvent themselves.

The observations about Al-Qaeda are interesting, but I'm not sure if we've answered the question about how blogging can influence people. After considering this question I've come up with three roles that I believe blogging plays in the development of ideas:

1. Motivating The Faithful - Yes, we are for the most part blogging to others who share the same opinions, but that doesn't mean it's a waste. Reading similar opinions can help us to be more bold in expressing our own in the "marketplace of ideas". Just knowing that you aren't alone can be a powerful motivator.
   
2. Educating Others - Blogging has been trumpeted as a way to usurp old media's stranglehold on the news and especially concerning how the news is spun. To a great extent, then, blogging serves to disseminate facts without forcing anyone to rely on a single outlet for their source of news. Additionally, presentation of the news is often slanted in very subtle ways and many benefit from those who are able to observe this and point it out to others.
   
3. Influencing Opinion - This is probably the least effective role of blogs, yet it's the one that people often cite as a motivator for getting into blogging in the first place. It's great when we can win someone over to our point of view, but that isn't going to happen very often. Howerver, that doesn't mean that it isn't worth a try. Presenting some actual facts along with an argument for a particular position can go a long way toward making it convincing.

Red Dawn Revised

I live in a bucolic little town. People still wave to each other as they pass on the street. It's difficult to go through town without seeing someone you know. Unlike a lot of small towns, it isn't in the middle of nowhere. Still, I'm not expecting to see Russian paratroopers dropping into town as in the 80's movie, Red Dawn. There aren't going to be any local resistance movements either. Anyway, "Cardinals!" doesn't sound nearly as tough as "Wolverines!" (The name of the resistance fighters from the movie.)

The fact is, the wars we all imagined would be fought are now a thing of the past...

They're relics of the cold war. Back when the US Hockey team won the Olympic Gold Medal over the Russians, we never would've believed that less than a decade later, the country itself would cease to exist. Neither could we have imagined the threat that would arise in it's place.

After 9/11 and the rise of radical Islam, we now face an enemy that is at the same time elusive and media savvy. Not only that, but we are a country divided by politics and ill-equipped to meet an asymmetric threat from an enemy that knows how to test our will.

Many deny that we are even engaged in a Global War on Terrorism. They are still mired in a past world of static armies concerned about capturing territory and establishing governments. Whether we are willing to admit it, our enemies proclaim that they are in a war with us.

They've made this a war and they've made it global. From Africa to Indonesia, the Phillipines, Chechnya, and of course the Middle East. Besides 9/11, they've tried to bring this war to our own country. So far, they've been foiled, but it's only a matter of time before something happens down the street, across the state or on the coast. When they do strike again on our own soil, that will be the last we'll hear of Abu Ghraib or The Geneva Convention. Not that we should permit atrocities, even against an enemy as vicious as this one, but at least we'll have unity of resolve.

At that time, many of those who now deny the clear and present danger will come to realize that we are engaged in a struggle pitting Western civilization against a civilization springing from the dark ages. Their ideals are primitive but their tactics are 21st century. They know how to use the internet to their advantage to terrorize others. They observe and adapt their tactics with a speed and flexibility that is admirable.

I seem to remember in the 80's when some libyan terrorists came to this country to commit some act of terror. They ended up getting lost on the freeway system and were driving the wrong direction. They were picked up quickly. We should be so lucky to have that type of enemy today. Perhaps, we'll never suffer from another attack on our own shores. We can only hope and pray that it is so. Unfortunately, that's difficult to imagine.

9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq are only the opening act of this struggle. Let's hope that by the time our children become adults, they'll look back on this time as we look back on the Red Menace.

German Forgetfulness

The History Channel has been running the excellent Band of Brothers series. It's sponsored by Jeep. You know Jeep, owned by Daimler Chrysler. It seems a little ironic to me that I can watch a series featuring our forces killing Germans, and vice versa, that is actually sponsored by a German company.

Apparently, both the Germans and the French have short memories.

Lightning Strike

It seems like only yesterday, but in fact it was 10 days ago that AOO merited a mention over at Mark Steyn's Mailbox. This morning I took a quick look at the hits to this site -- Holy Cow! 90+ hits before 9 am -- what's up?

The patron saint of conservative bloggers, Hugh Hewitt, mentioned this humble weblog! Woohoo! It was in reference to his article over at the Weekly Standard called, Black Blog Ops. My article, conveniently named, Black Blog Ops, mentioned that Hugh might attempt to destabilize France. (I'd also like to mention Joe Carter's post on the same article with a much more imaginative name, Choir Preachers, Shepherds, Thinkers, and Dirty Tricks: Black Ops in the Blogoshere.)

Now, if I could only get Hugh to make room for a link to this blog, that would be perfect. (I'm begging here Mr. Hewitt and if you could see me, it would not be pretty.)

I Know Nothink

Hey, this Goldberg guy is pretty good. Think he'll last?

Black Blog Ops

Hugh Hewitt writes about "Black Blog Ops" in this week's Weekly Standard Online. He theorizes that someone will engage in skullduggery by using blogs,

True enough. Like a reverse Atlantis, a new archipelago of opinion and news providers has risen up from nowhere to drive stories and news cycles. So we should be asking about the potential for deception in the format. The web is widely used and relied upon. It would not be hard for intelligence services from around the world to build blogs with an intent to deceive or manipulate, putting out solid content to gain an initial audience before using it to disseminate disinformation intentionally.

Hugh conjures up characters from *John LeCarre' novels to dramatize the potential for foreign governments, hostile movements and just plain nefarious individuals. I suppose he could be right. The Drudge Report didn't get to be huge by re-circulating someone else's stale news. Similarly, big-time bloggers like Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds (those guys don't need any more links) have managed to get on top of the wave and ride it to fame by simply pointing out hot links to blogs and fresh tidbits of news.

Hewitt raises some interesting questions but I'm not going to start building a bomb shelter in the backyard just yet. What he doesn't factor into the equation is the "signal to noise ratio". There are just so many crappy blogs out there that the effectiveness of 99.9% of them for doing the kinds of things he's worried about is nil. In fact, that's the great thing about blogs.

The People's Republic of China could start some blog with plenty of misinformation but just as easily you could get 10 other blogs from Taiwan spewing out the opposite misinformation. There's some potential for the huge blogs to engage in mischief, but for the rest of us, well, we should be so lucky. Unless Hugh decides to use his blog Hughhewitt.com in an attempt to destabilize France, I think we can sleep soundly.

*I've read a few John LeCarre' novels and I've decided he's the liberal's Tom Clancy. His characters do too much hand-wringing for my taste and in his later novels LeCarre's pacifist views seem to get more prominent. If you want to read a real cold war spy thriller get one of Len Deighton's books.

**I think half the reason why I wanted to blog on this topic is the title of Hewitt's article. "Black Blog Ops" sounds pretty cool for some reason.

Most Playable

There are some albums (cd's) that you find yourself returning to play time after time. I call these my "Most Playable" cd's. They're listed below:

Harvest Moon by Neil Young

Songs by Rich Mullins
This one is essentially a greatest hits album. Rich has been gone for quite a few years now, but the appeal of this cd remains.

There's more...

Achtung Baby! by U2
Passion, betrayal, heartbreak you name it. Hey Baby!

Infidels by Bob Dylan
Most Dylan fans don't place this on their list of favorites because it doesn't sound like typical Bob Dylan. Mark Knoppfler produced it and the rich texture of the music is unlike Dylan's other work. If you listened to the lyrics you'd think it was recently written.

If I Left The Zoo by Jars of Clay
The opening dirge reflects the sense of fatalism many felt heading into Y2K.

Jars of Clay Self-Titled
The gregorian chant on the first track still sends shivers up my spine.

Paradise Theater by Styx
Probably the last good album by Styx. At the time, it was hailed as a totally different style for them. Great tracks include Lonely People, Too Much Time on My Hands and Snowblind.

The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot
A relatively unknown group. There isn't a bad song on the cd.

Jesus Freak by DC Talk
It broke a lot of new ground when it came out and it's still enjoyable. Don't miss the track with an audio sample of Billy Graham.

Mud on The Tires by Brad Paisley
This guy knows how to play the guitar. The last couple songs on the cd are a little tiresome but the rest are great.

What's on your most playable list?

Case Closed

From time to time I still hear people moaning about whether we should have gone to war with Iraq. Daniel at The Fourth Rail posts the most detailed defense of the invasion that I've ever seen. Read the article called, The Iraq Fitnah.

If you still aren't convinced then you never will be convinced.

Thanks to Election Projection for pointing out this article.

Preaching to The Choir

PJ O'Rourke wrote an article for the July 2004 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, called "I Agree with Me". In it, he recounts his feelings about listening to conservative talk radio,

Anyway, I couldn't get NPR on the car radio, so I was listening to Rush Limbaugh shout about Wesley Clark, who had just entered the Democratic presidential-primary race. Was Clark a stalking horse for Hillary Clinton?! Was Clark a DNC-sponsored Howard Dean spoiler?! "He's somebody's sock puppet!" Limbaugh bellowed. I agreed; but a thought began to form. Limbaugh wasn't shouting at Clark, who I doubt tunes in to AM talk radio the way I tune in to NPR. And "Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop!" was not a call calculated to lure Democratic voters to the Bush camp. Rush Limbaugh was shouting at me.

Lately I've been wondering about the impact of blogs on their readers and it occured to me that a lot of what goes on is simply reaffirming currently held opinions. It seems we all want to win converts to our own particular views, but mostly what we end up doing is just "preaching to the choir".

Let's take a look at a few examples.
A Collection of Thoughts is a weblog that I visit daily. Take a look at today's post, Recon Robb's Iraq Newsletter. It gives a great description of the kind of combat the soldiers were facing over there last April. Of course, I find it to be fascinating reading because I like to hear about our guys cleaning things up over there. However, if I were someone against the war in the first place, I can't imagine wanting to read the post. Certainly, it isn't going to convince anyone about the merits of the war one way or the other.
LaShawn Barber's Corner is another regular visit for me. LaShawn's post on Afrocentrism practically had me shouting in agreement at the computer monitor. But it isn't going to convince someone if they're already teaching their children that Jesus was a black man.
Matt Margolis' post on the 9/11 Commission, They Collaborated... exposes more of the silliness that we've come to expect from a bunch of grandstanding politicians. But if you buy into the stuff Richard Clarke was trying to peddle in his book you're probably not going to want to see the 9/11 commission being run down.

I agree with the blogs I read regularly and as much as I try to broaden my horizons, it's just too much aggravation to visit the leftward blogs. It just isn't worth it to me to listen to, "George Bush is evil...America is imperialist...blah blah blah". I can hear that from a multitude of places already. Besides, I get aggravated with that kind of thing and yet I would like to be in a position to positively influence opinion.

I'm not sure of the answer. It's human nature to gravitate toward others who hold like views. I've made a somewhat unsuccessful attempt at being balanced, but it's awfully difficult when it seems like so much is riding on the decisions we make as a country and who we decide to elect. The $64,000 question then is this, How can blogs best influence and even change the minds of others?

If you have an answer, I'd like to hear it.

The H is O

I don't understand it, but I find it strangely compelling. A little bit like a traffic accident. Go see for yourself, The H is O

Jolly Rancher

The other day I saw this ad on television. It said I would love raising Alpacas. My first reaction was, "What the heck is an Alpaca?" Then, of course I saw all the pictures of children leading Alpacas around and various people hugging their Alpacas.

Just think, I could be an Alpaca rancher...

In case you don't know, an Alpaca is in the same family as Camels. I've heard Camels are pretty nasty, but according to this commerical I saw on television and several websites, I'll just love them. Llamas are also part of the same family as Alpacas. (The Camelids.)

This is Lorenzo Lamas. He's not a camelid. (There's only one "L" in lamas.)

Apparently, raising Alpacas is a lifestyle. I don't know exactly what that's supposed to mean, but many of the Alpaca websites make that statement. Does it mean you'll be too poor to do anything else? Or it could be that you'll just love Alpacas so much that you don't want to do anything else. Neither one of those choices sounds very good to me.

Let's say you decide to dive right in to the Alpaca business. What exactly do you do with them? Well, an Alpaca website says,

Alpaca prices have been stable for many years, so the key to profitability currently is in breeding animals and in selling or rebreeding the offspring (rather than simply reselling the original animal). Rebreeding any offspring further compounds your original investment. As the table on the right shows, starting with just 3 bred females could result in a herd size of 20 alpacas in 5 years, assuming half of the offspring are female and half are male. At an average value of, for example, $5,000 for males and $15,000 for females, your original investment of $45,000 would be worth $180,000 in 5 years. [Source]

So, unless I'm mistaken, the way to make big bucks off these guys is by selling them to someone else so they can have this Alpaca lifestyle. Doesn't sound like a very good business model to me. In fact, it's starting to sound suspiciously like selling Amway, only the Alpacas make a lot more of a mess.

What you lookin' at?

But wait! There's more!

Alpacas have a gentle beauty and mystique that's hard to deny. Domesticated for over 6000 years, they're the oldest domesticated livestock. Producers of the fiber of the gods, sole property of the Incan rulers, they were nearly driven to extinction by the Spanish conquistadors. Until 1993, they were classified as a national treasure in Peru and export of live alpacas was illegal.

Now in North American, alpacas continue to transfix us. Long elegant necks, large eyes, gentle humming, rich colors, bright whites, gorgeous fiber, and playful antics all make them irresistable to those of us who catch the "alpaca bug." In addition, their ease of maintenance and low impact on the environment makes it possible to raise them on small acreage with little previous livestock experience and restores the hope for many of a viable family farm.

The potential markets for an animal with the characteristics of the alpaca are vast. Alpacas are loved by their owners and respected by those who process or wear products made from their fleece.

So now the "national treasure in Peru" is available for families to raise on their own ranches. Don't forget. You'll also love and respect these fine creatures. What I suspect they don't say in all this is that Alpacas are dumber than dirt and virtually do nothing but eat and visit the Llama restroom.

I'm having second thoughts about becoming an Alpaca Rancher. For one thing, what do you do if you can't sell them? I'm a horrible salesperson and If I can't sell them I'd hate to have to take them out back and dispatch them to "Llama Heaven".

This one looks like Rush Limbaugh

Besides, I don't think the neighbors would appreciate it and I doubt you can raise many Alpacas on a third of an acre. I bet Alpacas smell too. No, I guess I won't be starting my Alpaca ranch anytime soon. But if you're interested you can read this article, City folks raise huggable alpacas for fun and profit. Just don't blame me when you can't sell the darn things and all they'll do is hang around your house and eat your hay.

It's Not Easy to Be an Army of One

Army of One is enjoying a brief hiatus today and tomorrow. Having only one person in your army means that one guy has to do EVERYTHING. Therefore, he gets tired real quick and needs to take long naps. In fact, I think he might be taking a nap now....check back again when he wakes up.

Al Gorem

I love the cartoon here.
And that's all I have to say about that.

IED Update

I've written in the past about Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) and technology available to detect and defuse them. (here, here, and here) Now ACOT points out that the Israeli's have figured out how to detect and neutralize IED's from the air. See the story here.

This really makes me wonder just exactly what the USA is doing to research innovative uses of technology to respond to threats. (See post here)

Proud Sponsor?

The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) co-sponsored the March for Women's Lives in Washington DC on April 25th. The march was intended to draw attention to reproductive rights. In other words, it was a march to support and promote abortion. (See Why We March)

The PCUSA wasn't the only "proud" sponsor. There were many others...

Some of the co-sponsors of the march:
The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL)
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America
The National Organization for Women
The Communist Party USA
Bitch Magazine
The American Civil Liberties Union
...and many more, including several mainline churches. More about the churches involved here.

A full list of all the co-sponsors may be found on the March for Women website here.

However, don't go to the PCUSA website expecting to find any reference to their sponsorship of this march. That information seems to be missing.

If you are a member of a PCUSA church and you consider yourself pro-life, you might want to share your feelings about this with your elders and pastor. In fact, if you are a member and give money to a PCUSA church, maybe you even helped sponsor this event!

Evil Conservatives

There's something delightfully subversive about Evil Conservatives.

Maybe it's the ad for the "I Heart Haliburton" t-shirts. Or it could be the essay titled, "A Day in The Life of An Evil Conservative",

I then went for the unnecessary drive in my Cadillac SUV dragging behind me a trailer with a huge boat, which I did not need, but it looked impressive. I drove for about 200 miles in the second gear, just wasting gas. When I pulled up to the gas station, I spilled at least a pint of gas on the ground. They say it buggers up the ozone layer. I like that! You didn’t pay for it, so don’t tell me what to do with it! To cause further damage to the atmosphere, I had a lunch of beans.

You'll have to decide for yourself.

Bush and Reagan

They have managed [George W. Bush] the same way they managed
Ronald Reagan. They send him out to the press for one event a day.
They put him in a brown jacket and jeans and get him to move some
hay or drive a truck, and all of a sudden, he's the Marlboro
Man.
--John Kerry's 2003 interview in Vogue, criticizing Bush by comparing him to Reagan

Going After Evil

Plenty of songs have been written about 9/11. One of my favorite and one that sums up my feelings about fighting the GWOT was written by Neil Young. It's a little surprising because Neil isn't exactly a member of the VRWC.

It's off the cd, Are You Passionate and it's called, "Let's Roll"...

Let's Roll

I know I said I love you
I know you know it's true
I've got to put the phone down
And do what we gotta do
One's standing in the aisleway
Two more at the door
We've got to get inside there
Before they kill some more

Time is running out
Let's roll
Time is running out
Let's roll

No time for indecision
We've got to make a move
I hope that we're forgiven
For what we gotta do
How this all got started
I will never understand
I hope someone can fly this thing
And get us back to land

Time is running out...

No one has the answer
But one thing is true
You've gotta turn on evil
When it's coming after you
You gotta face it down
And when it tries to hide
You gotta go in after it
And never be denied

Time is running out...

Let's roll for freedom
Let's roll for love
Goin' after Satan
On the wings of a dove
Let's roll for justice
Let's roll for truth
Let's not let our children grow up
Fearful in their youth

By Neil Young from Let's Roll

Memories

A dog recently beat out human competitors on a German TV show by remembering the name of more than 200 objects. The dog is named Rico and he's a Border Collie. The dog, seen here, spent a lot of time learning how to identify all these objects when he was laid up after a shoulder surgery.

Of course, I'm not surprised. The dog shown here and here is capable of understanding quite a bit, although she often acts like she can't.

Read the whole story about Rico here.

The Right to Bear Arms

I'm going to have to place you under arrest. The electronic log on your gun shows that it was being fired yesterday around 3 pm. The GPS coordinates place you in a cornfield about 2 mi west of here. You have the right to remain silent...

Last week, Douglas over at BSU brought up the possibility of a weapon having an embedded system that would record when it was fired and where. Douglas posed some interesting questions,

If you are a firearm owner, would you have a problem with there being a public record of when and where the firearm was used? Would you consider this a violation of the Second Amendment?

Well, I would have a problem with such a thing and let me explain why...

I think the whole idea behind the right to bear arms is that the possession of a firearm serves as some type of deterrent to centralized control of society. (the chaos in Iraq seems to prove how hard it is to centrally control people who possess massive amounts of their own weapons.)
Therefore, having an embedded gun-log would be anathema to most, including me.

Douglas replied to my objections,

Are you concerned that the information in a gun-log would be used as a justification to take away someone's gun? What would a law-abiding citizen have to fear? [Source]

Douglas (like me) has enjoyed the benefits of liberty his entire live so it's understandable that he would assume a just government that doesn't oppress it's citizens. Of course, in such a case, the law abiding citizen would have nothing to fear.

I believe the second ammendment was written for two reasons. An armed citizenry (militia) would serve to prevent tyranny and also would be able to oppose tyranny. To quote the Declaration of Independence,

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Without the right to bear arms, the ability of the people to practice their duty to throw off such a government is severely limited.

No government is perfect and none will remain forever just. Human nature tells us that eventually all governments will revert to tyranny and injustice. As a result, we must make sure that every law must balance the potential of abuse of power against the need for public safety and security.

We've seen government become ever more involved in our lives. Fortunately, Americans still have the freedom to do foolish things. Still, the nanny-state continues to extend it's reach. At a certain point, it's possible that even the most benign activities could become illegal for reasons that, at this point in time, are impossible to predict. A law forbidding irresponsible use of a firearm is certainly good for society, but the ability of the government to so precisely monitor firearm use causes the balance to shift in a direction which I believe would not be healthy for citizens of a democracy. Just because we have the technology to do something, doesn't mean we should do it.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but there's a dark side to it. Governments now have at their disposable ever more powerful ways of watching every move of law-abiding citizens. It's important that there be safeguards to the use of such power. Fortunately, there's plenty of room at this point in time to legally implement safeguards. There may come a time, though, when it isn't possible. It is then that we'll wonder what happened to the freedoms given away in exchange for safety and security.

America is a great country and I hope that we'll never see a government that oppresses it's citizens. I hope the same for my children and their children and so on. One of the best ways to ensure freedom is to make sure that the power of the government is limited. Government has new opportunities to encroach on our liberty through the use of technology. The challenge is to prevent that from happening while maintaining a just and civil society.

Military Technology

A few days ago I wrote a post about military technology and gave it the misleading name, Vorsprung durch Technik which means "Progress Through Technology". I received some good comments but I didn't get any from Military Bloggers who might actually be in a position to know something.

I was hoping a little better title would attract some Milblogs and perhaps some comment more informed than my amateur analysis.

Please go read it, Vorsprung durch Technik

Blogging to Stand Still

A lot of bloggers I know are fans of the music group U2. You might have all of U2's cd's and maybe you've even read a U2 biography like, U2: At The End of the World. (I highly recommend it.) But do you know, for example, the answer to the following:
Why does Bono sing 'Early morning, April Four' in "Pride", when MLK was shot in the early evening?
Or do you know the answer to this?
What's the "Alphaville" mentioned in "New York"?

Well, I didn't know any of the answers to those questions until I visited U2 FAQ's.

Those Bothersome Evangelicals

Ecumenical Insanity presents some information about a recent gathering of the National Council of Churches. I think it helps to explain why liberal theology is correlated to decreasing church attendance. I don't suppose it's very Christian, but I have to admit that I have a special loathing for the NCC and it's followers. Go read the article here.

Vorsprung durch Technik

If you've ever been to Washington, DC you might be surprised, as I was, to see how closely aircraft fly to the White House and other national monuments on approach to Reagan National Airport. As a tourist prior to 9/11, I always assumed there was some system in place to protect the White House from an attack in this way. I figured there would be some type of system in place on the roof to shoot down airplanes that posed a threat. I was wrong.

Prior to 9/11 there was no such security system in place. This makes me wonder. If the government can't even figure out the necessity of a no-brainer like that, then I wonder what else they aren't doing to address various problem situations. I specifically wonder how technology is being applied to handle the problems in Iraq, if at all.

I make no claims here to having any special knowledge of satellites or surveillance technology, but I wonder if any of these things are actively being applied to problems. In other words, is there anyone thinking outside of the proverbial box?

For example, I wonder if it would be possible to have a satellite or a weather balloon mounted camera over a vast urban area that would be able to detect heat signatures given off by people inside of structures. If so, then maybe it would be possible for a computer to chart the positions of each heat signature and flag the ones who move only a short distance in a given period of time, like a hostage being kept bound in a room. It's true that there would be millions of these heat signatures, but it seems that a powerful computer would be able to analyze and track them over a period of days or weeks. Of course there would be plenty of leads that wouldn't pan out but it would be a start. Remember also that in Iraq, the temperature drops quite a bit at night so a person's heat signature might be particularly visible.

As another example, I recall in various accounts about insurgent attacks on convoys that Iraqi traffic was stopped and became strangely absent just before the attacks started. I wonder why there isn't some type of traffic monitoring system on all of the main routes that would send out an alert if the traffic frequency dropped below a certain threshhold for that time of day. The advanced warning could trigger a quick reaction force in advance of an attack.

Supposedly, companies like the RAND Corporation, which literally stands for R and D, and organizations like DARPA, should be coming up with these types of applications. I realize that efforts of this sort wouldn't be public knowledge, but from the news it doesn't appear that anyone is trying these types of things. At the least, a situation like the one that exists in Iraq, would be a good testing ground for all sorts of theories and technologies. At best, lives could be saved. Perhaps none of the ideas I've given are even feasible. Imagine, though, how many other potential ideas exist for someone who is knowledgeable about such things.