What Islam is this?

This was supposed to be a restful day. The wife had gone off with my youngest for some event at Sunday school, my eldest was safely asleep for at least the next two hours, and I had just settled into my chair with a cup of java and made the mistake of firing up the Windows box as the radio began a couple of hours of Breakfast with the Beatles. As the greatest ouvre of British music ever created played in the background, my computer screen revealed the most significant event since 9/11/01.

The murderous, death-and-pussy-seeking bastards have attacked, successfully, their own. Not for the first time; not by any means. But this time, everyone has noticed. Every Muslim, at least. At midnight, at the feast of Ramadan, Arab families in Riyadh celebrating Mohammad's sanctity together were deliberately blasted to kingdom come by their "brothers." The timing was deliberately chosen so as to kill and maim the maximum number of women and children, who were all consummating the end of the fast together with their men-folk.

This time even Reuters gets it:

RIYADH (Reuters) - Shocked and angered at an apparent suicide bombing against Muslim families in the midst of the holy month of Ramadan, ordinary Saudis said the bombing on Sunday would destroy any lingering support for Muslim militants.

Bombarded by brutal television and newspaper images of carnage caused by a midnight explosion at the housing compound of Muhaya, on Riyadh's desert outskirts, many were united in condemning the second deadly attack in their capital in six months.

"What Islam is this? They are terrorists," said Hamdan Youssef, a 39-year-old businessman.

The attack came almost six months to the day after May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh -- which Saudis describe as their own September 11 -- killed 35 people, including nine Americans.
...
But Sunday's targets were overwhelmingly Arab and Muslim.

Just as on 9/11, in an instant, the world has changed. Muslims everywhere can no longer understand or support the death-craving lunatics, who have finally revealed their true agenda in terms that even a mutilated little girl could understand. No longer just bystanders. No longer any excuses. No person who has read and understood the Koran can accept these tactics: deliberately killing Muslim men women and children is NOT ALLOWED! This is not the work of believers in the teachings of Mohammad. This is the work of power mad fanatics who want something far more pedestrian that the reappearance of the Madhi. They simply want to replace the house of Saud and become the rulers of the oil kingdom. That's how al Jazeera sees it, and until this morning they were fans of bin Laden and his followers.

The deadly bomb attack on a housing complex in Riyadh represents the latest battle between the Saudi Arabian monarchy and its armed opponents in a war to eliminate the other.

So, my restful Sunday is shot. I will be reading, writing, and monitoring the situation for the next few hours, at least. I am interested to see how the Western media perceive this event. They have an almost unbroken string of misperception of events in the Arab world. Our intelligentsia and media seem to feel a commitment to avoid the truth about the war that we have been in for the last decade. But today is big. This is unavoidable. Al Qaida has revealed its new strategy. Since December of 2001, when bin Laden was killed (OK, maybe just horribly wounded, but I don't believe that he's alive) they have seemed to lack focus. But this latest attack is focused like a laser beam. It is temporal, secular power that its current leaders crave. This is great stuff. They want to kill their own. What a break for us. Even if they destroy the House of Saud, and take power in the desert kingdom, their credibility is shot among their own crowd. No Mahdi would violate the Koran in this way. This is not the beginning of a new Caliphate. This is a war for the oil wells and Mecca, between Arabs. I wish both sides the best of luck and good shooting in this next chapter of the war.

Let the Games Begin!

Time to Get Serious About War

The President made a magnificent speech yesterday at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy. It bears reading by all serious Americans. It was followed by an even more magnificent column by Victor Davis Hanson in today's National Review.

Times are critical now. We must either get serious about what we are doing or stop. Being in between doesn't do anyone any good. We are either in a war to save civilization, or we surrender until our enemy either fades away or convinces a bigger majority of us that they are serious. I don't believe that surrender is an option, but warfare is either waged or not; there is no middle ground.

Hanson:

We know precisely the crisis and we know the enemy. The mixture of autocracy, religious intolerance, and feelings of inferiority brought on by globalization has created a lethal brew in all the unfree parts of the Islamic Arab world. Again, our crisis is not really with the majority of Muslims who live under consensual or semi-democratic auspices — in Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, or India. Instead it is in the Middle East where a minority (encompassing millions) has turned to fundamentalism and hatred of a dominant West to account for the misery incurred by its own economic and political failures. And these belligerents will only quit when they believe it is in their own interest to do so.

Bush:

Some skeptics of democracy assert that the traditions of Islam are inhospitable to the representative government. This "cultural condescension," as Ronald Reagan termed it, has a long history. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, a so-called Japan expert asserted that democracy in that former empire would "never work." Another observer declared the prospects for democracy in post-Hitler Germany are, and I quote, "most uncertain at best" -- he made that claim in 1957. Seventy-four years ago, The Sunday London Times declared nine-tenths of the population of India to be "illiterates not caring a fig for politics." Yet when Indian democracy was imperiled in the 1970s, the Indian people showed their commitment to liberty in a national referendum that saved their form of government.

Time after time, observers have questioned whether this country, or that people, or this group, are "ready" for democracy -- as if freedom were a prize you win for meeting our own Western standards of progress. In fact, the daily work of democracy itself is the path of progress. It teaches cooperation, the free exchange of ideas, and the peaceful resolution of differences. As men and women are showing, from Bangladesh to Botswana, to Mongolia, it is the practice of democracy that makes a nation ready for democracy, and every nation can start on this path.

It should be clear to all that Islam -- the faith of one-fifth of humanity -- is consistent with democratic rule. Democratic progress is found in many predominantly Muslim countries -- in Turkey and Indonesia, and Senegal and Albania, Niger and Sierra Leone. Muslim men and women are good citizens of India and South Africa, of the nations of Western Europe, and of the United States of America.

More than half of all the Muslims in the world live in freedom under democratically constituted governments. They succeed in democratic societies, not in spite of their faith, but because of it. A religion that demands individual moral accountability, and encourages the encounter of the individual with God, is fully compatible with the rights and responsibilities of self-government.

Yet there's a great challenge today in the Middle East. In the words of a recent report by Arab scholars, the global wave of democracy has -- and I quote -- "barely reached the Arab states." They continue: "This freedom deficit undermines human development and is one of the most painful manifestations of lagging political development." The freedom deficit they describe has terrible consequences, of the people of the Middle East and for the world. In many Middle Eastern countries, poverty is deep and it is spreading, women lack rights and are denied schooling. Whole societies remain stagnant while the world moves ahead. These are not the failures of a culture or a religion. These are the failures of political and economic doctrines.

As the colonial era passed away, the Middle East saw the establishment of many military dictatorships. Some rulers adopted the dogmas of socialism, seized total control of political parties and the media and universities. They allied themselves with the Soviet bloc and with international terrorism. Dictators in Iraq and Syria promised the restoration of national honor, a return to ancient glories. They've left instead a legacy of torture, oppression, misery, and ruin.

Other men, and groups of men, have gained influence in the Middle East and beyond through an ideology of theocratic terror. Behind their language of religion is the ambition for absolute political power. Ruling cabals like the Taliban show their version of religious piety in public whippings of women, ruthless suppression of any difference or dissent, and support for terrorists who arm and train to murder the innocent. The Taliban promised religious purity and national pride. Instead, by systematically destroying a proud and working society, they left behind suffering and starvation.

Just a taste, kiddies. Your assignment for today: read them both. Today

Today's Funny (or not)

I got this in my email from a vet I know. While it's funny, it is sadly all too true as well. See if you can figure out where he served in Nam.

The Differential Theory of US Armed Forces (Snake Model)

Upon encountering a snake in the Area of Operations (AO)...

1. Infantry: Snake smells them, leaves area.

2. Airborne: Lands on and kills the snake.

3. Armor: Drives over snake, laughs, and looks for more snakes.

4. Aviation: Has 12-digit grid coordinates of snake from GPS. FAC gives steer to target. Can't find snake. Returns to base for refuel, crew rest and manicure.

5. Ranger: Plays with snake, then eats it.

6. Field Artillery: Kills snake with massive Time On Target barrage with three Forward Artillery Brigades in support. Kills several hundred civilians as unavoidable collateral damage. Mission is considered a success and all participants (inc. cooks, mechanics and clerks) are awarded Silver Stars.

7. Special Forces: Makes contact with snake, ignores all State Department directives and Theater Commander Rules of Engagement by building rapport with snake and winning its heart and mind. Trains it to kill other snakes. Files enormous claim for travel pay settlement upon return.

8. Combat Engineer: Studies snake. Prepares in-depth doctrinal thesis in obscure 5 series Field Manual about how to defeat snake using countermobility assets. Complains that maneuver forces don't understand how to properly conduct doctrinal counter-snake ops.

9. Navy SEAL: Expends all ammunition and calls for naval gunfire support in failed attempt to kill snake. Snake bites SEAL and retreats to safety. Hollywood makes fantasy film in which SEALS kill myriad extremist snakes.

10. Navy: Fires off 50 cruise missiles from various types of ships, kills snake and makes presentation to Senate Appropriations Committee on how Naval forces are the most cost-effective means of anti-snake force projection.

11. Marine: Kills snake by accident while looking for souvenirs. Local civilians demand removal of all US forces from Area of Operations.

12. Marine Recon: Follows snake, gets lost.

13. Combat Controllers: Guides snake elsewhere.

14. Para-Rescue Jumper: Wounds snake in initial encounter, then works feverishly to save snake's life.

15. Supply: (NOTICE Your anti-snake equipment is backordered.)

16. Transport pilot: Air-drops expired snakebite kits two grid squares away on roof of children's hospital.

17. F-15 pilot: Misidentifies snake as enemy Mi-24 Hind helicopter and engages with missiles. Crew chief paints snake kill on aircraft fuselage.

18. F-16 pilot: Finds snake, drops two CBU-87 cluster bombs, misses snake target, demolishes embassy 4 km east of snake due to weather. Cites inclement weather (Too Hot, Too Cold, Clear but overcast, Too dry with Rain, Unlimited ceiling with low cloud cover etc.) Suggests procurement of million-dollar, air-to-ground anti-snake bomb.

19. AH-64 Apache pilot: Unable to locate snake, cold-blooded snakes don't show well on infrared. Infrared only operable in desert AOs without power lines or SAMs.

20. UH-60 Blackhawk pilot: Finds snake on fourth pass after snake builds bonfire, pops smoke, lays out VS-17 to mark Landing Zone. Rotor wash blows snake into fire.

21. B-52 pilot: Pulls ARCLIGHT mission on snake, kills snake and every other living thing within two miles of target.

22. Missile crew: Lays in target coordinates to snake in 20 seconds, but can't receive authorization from National Command Authority to use weapons.

23. Intelligence officer: Snake? What snake? Only four of 35 indicators of snake activity are currently active. We assess the potential for snake activity as LOW.

24. Judge Advocate General (JAG): Snake declines to bite, citing grounds of professional courtesy.

The Next Phase of the War

Dr George Friedman of Strategic Forcasting Inc. has written a brilliant essay that puts the situation in Iraq in perspective and, I believe, gets it exactly right. I read it about three weeks ago but, what with reality and other silly things, never posted it. But now, with the passage of almost a month since he wrote it, it is even more true and on the mark. Unfortunately, Stratfor's free website doesn't have it anymore. But, thanks to my brilliant research techniques (Google, of course) I found it in Italy, in English, here.

I won't go on or quote extensively from it, because you must read it for yourself, but I can't resist just one tidbit:

We need to recall the two strategic reasons the United States had for invading Iraq -- as opposed to the public justifications:

1. Seizing the most strategic country in the region as a base of operations from which to mount follow-on operations against countries that collaborate or permit collaboration with al Qaeda.

2. Transforming the psychological perception of the United States in the Islamic world from a hated and impotent power to a hated but feared power.

The most significant impact the guerrilla war has had on the United States concerns the second goal. The perception (as opposed to the reality) of the war is that the conventional forces of the occupying power were helpless in the face of the guerrillas. There was certainly truth to that, but only in this sense. The guerrilla movement has remained well below critical mass -- it in no way threatens either the occupation or the operational capabilities of the United States. Total casualties relative to the force are insignificant from a military point of view.

He goes on to identify our real goals and problems and, not surprisingly, doesn't seem to agree one bit with the nine dwarves. RTWT

Alaska vs. Wolves

Alaska game officials on Tuesday approved the state's first program in more than 15 years to shoot wolves from aircraft. In perusing the coverage (thank you Google News) from the various outlets, a funny thing happens. The Alaska news outlets report a very different story than that portrayed by the establishment media outlets. Let's take a look.

In the Anchorage Daily News the story is reported as non-controversial, while the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is positively enthusiastic, with both papers pointing out that the local residents need at least 150 Moose to survive, while the burgeoning Wolf populations have made Moose and Caribou populations decline to the point where no more than 90 animals can be harvested any more. At the same time, the stories carried by Newsday and CNN are full of angst about the poor wolves, and the unnecessary meanness of the process of hunting Wolves from the air. They give short or no shrift to the fact that families are going hungry and that the people and government of Alaska find this to be a fair balancing of the equities in this situation.

In Alaska, the debate is over whether private or state employed hunters will cull the Wolves. In fact, if Governor Murkowski would allow state game control officials to do the shooting he would not have needed this (unanimous) ruling by the Alaska Board of Game. But Priscilla Feral, president of the Connecticut-based advocacy group Friends of Animals, has threatened a national boycott of Alaska tourism if this policy is implemented. I am sure that Priscilla has never dined on Moose or Caribou. I am also sure that the death of a Wolf is more important to her than the hunger of an Alaskan family. I'd bet that the only feral beast she's ever consumed is her husband (sorry, couldn't help mysef from using that pun, but she surely has an appropriate name for someone with her job description).

What is it about liberal do-gooders that they feel that they have the right to interfere in other people's business? And how much of it comes from their feeling that they have the power to interfere in the first place? These are the same people who go off to Africa on eco-tours to see the animals. They are not about to boycott Kenya over its bush meat economy. I have never heard them making a fuss over Central and South American's fondness for Monkey and Guinea Pig meat. In Alaska, where Wolves are not endangered and therefore are hunted and trapped for their pelts all the time, the death of 200 more is not very controversial. What is far more important is families that need to find Moose to survive. I have eaten Moose and Caribou and can assure those who haven't that Beef, Sheep, and Pork are far better tasting. No one is shooting these animals for fun. The cost of a tenderfoot hunt in Alaska combined with the latest prices for taxidermy make pleasure hunting for Alaska Moose pretty rare, and not much done in this particular area of the state anyway. We are talking about food for people who have no other choice. So why is Ms. Feral and her buddies so up in arms?

Because they think that they have an issue. Something that they can use to get the great unwashed (that's us) interested in the poor little Wolf cubs that will lose their mothers to the cruel, cruel airplane men. They have already lost the fight over the trappers, so they are going after the pilots who are being empowered to shoot a maximum of 200 Wolves in a very small area of a very big state.

"The Wild" is a very misleading term, since people live almost everywhere. Many of the residents of Alaska are refugees from Connecticut and other "civilized" places. That's part of the problem, of course, since the indigenous population is a protected victim class so beloved of the multi-culti liberals. But Viet Nam veterans who moved to Alaska to live free away from the America that spat on them after they returned from serving their country get no such regard, and they make up a substantial part of the population of this part of Alaska. The coming days will show whether this story has legs. But, with Newsday and CNN pumping the story already, it doesn't look good.

Boom Times Coming

While the democrats and your local paper and broadcast network news shows will not admit it, the economy is heating up. I don't know about you, but my industry, Television, is already in a boom, and many of my neighbors are telling of better margins, and the anticipation of a big Christmas season coming up. All of this is obvious to anyone who looks at the signs. No, the real story is the lack of coverage of the improving economy. As John Berlau reports in the latest Insight article,

Brian Wesbury, chief economist of Griffin, Kubik, Stephens and Thompson, a brokerage firm in Chicago's Sears Tower, says that in the year before Bush took office there were a great many signs the boom had ended, all ignored by the mass media. Now, he says, these same media are ignoring what he calls the new Bush boom. "In 2000, the stock market was down, housing was slowing, manufacturing was slowing, we had declining industrial production, job growth was slowing and you could clearly tell that we were going into a slower-growth period. And yet the media missed it," says Wesbury, who was chief economist for the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of Congress in the mid-1990s. "What has happened in this past year is that the economy has been accelerating sharply, and yet story after story after story has been about how somehow there is something wrong with the economy, when in fact it's firing on all cylinders and accelerating sharply. ... What we're seeing here is an incredible turnaround."

It seems that no matter what the democrats do, the economy will be undeniably in full boom by the next election. And, judging by the roster of democrat candidates available, they will not be able to put a serious candidate up.

If you saw any of the democrat debates (the latest one was last night) you know what I mean. With these clowns vying for a place to contend against G.W.Bush, It is hard to see what will happen next November. The democrats will pick a clown to run against a fool. It would be funny if it were not tragic. but one thing seems certain: absent an unforseeable tragedy, Bush will have an economic boom as a running mate next year.

Why Bush Must Go

I have been getting a lot of friction from my friends lately, about my abandonment of George W. Bush. "What's so bad about George?" "Doesn't he have a grand vision that you agree with?" "Isn't he the best friend Israel has had in the White House to date?" "Isn't his foreign policy stance a breath of fresh air from the appeasers who preceded him the last dozen years?"

I can't say that I disagree with any of that; it's all true. And then comes the kicker: "If we dump him, who will take his place?" That's the trump card, isn't it? He is certainly light years better than Dean, Clark, Lieberman, or the Clinton crew. But is that enough? Isn't that blackmail? Because, whatever else the man might be, the fact remains: George W. Bush is incompetent. Great vision is nothing if a man can't realize it. Great policy ideas mean nothing if a man can't stand up to his subordinates. Each cabinet secretary seems to have his own kingdom, accountable to no one. Israel is no better off today than she was under Carter or Clinton or any of the others who would just as soon have had the Jewish State disappear. Colin Powell has more to say about that than his boss does, even though Bush waxes eloquent about the need to protect the Jewish homeland, and her right to defend herself against terrorists like Arafat. Yet Powell defends Arafat. John Ashcroft has less respect for the constitution than Bush has in his little finger. Yet no man in Washington has better job security, or less oversight, than John Ashcroft.

G.W.Bush's Justice Department is pursuing a major initiative to imprison Physicians who prescribe large doses of narcotic pain killers. Ashcroft and his DEA decide how large is too large, the AMA and other physician groups be damned. Is this compassionate conservatism? Bush's EPA is committed to reductions in CO2 emissions, irrespective of the boss's expressed wishes and a 95 to 0 vote of the Senate that the science of climate change in inconclusive. Bush's State Department is so deep into Saudi Arabia's pocket that I half expect Colin Powell to start wearing a djellabba and turban. Bush's Homeland Security Department is about to imprison a college kid who was just trying to point out some of the weaknesses in our defenses, and it has done everything in its power to make it impossible for a pilot to carry a gun regardless of the expressed desire of Bush or the vast majority of the American people to arm our pilots. In the armed forces, Muslim Chaplains were found participating in treasonous activity, so every Presbyterian and Jewish chaplain is about to undergo a fresh security check. Worst of all, we may be about to lose the peace in Iraq. All of these things can be remedied by the stroke of Bush's pen. But he does not have whatever it takes to rein in his subordinates. There is no better example of incompetence in an executive than out-of-control subordinates.

George W. Bush must go. No democrat could be worse. At least a democrat would have the nation's best political thinkers and pundits in opposition, as well as a hostile Congress. Bush must go.

UPDATE

- I have retracted this post and have posted, an eloquent, if I may say so myself, and heartfelt endorsement of Bush. Changing my mind is one of the things that is so great about Zero Base Thinking. Today's opinion is not swayed by a need to stay the course, when the course is wrong.

Jews Rule The World?

Yesterday, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad claimed just that, saying "Jews rule the world by proxy" and exhorted the world's 1.3 million Muslims to unite for a "final victory." This is not the first time that the outspoken Prime Minister of the world's largest Muslim nation has said such a thing, but this time he said it in front of the year's largest and most prestigious assemblage of Islamic political leaders, plus Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo attended as special observers because of their large Muslim minorities.

And these words were well received! No less a light than the Foreign Minister of Egypt, one of our putative allies in the Arab world said " "I think it was a shrewd and very deep assessment of the situation. I think he elaborated a program of action that is wide and very important. I hope the Islamic countries will be able to follow this very important road map." Shrewd and very deep to blame all of their problems on the Jews. This echo of Hitler has not yey attracted the attention of the western media, for some reason that is clear only to them. As far as I am concerned, this should be the leading headline in America's papers today. We must know our enemy. Hiding from the truth will not make it go away. Allowing such a blood libel to resonate can do no good for anyone in Christendom.

So what happened yesterday? Palestinian terrorists attacked and killed American diplomatic personnel, and the leader of the world's largest Islamic democracy blamed all of their problems on the Jews, and America's leaders and major media outlets keep quiet about it. This bodes ill for our continuing war against those who would bury us. While President Bush released a statement on the bombing, major networks and Papers either buried the story of skipped carrying it altogether, and Mahathir's statement was hardly carried at all.

Even Mohammad Karzai, who knows that he needs America desperately, issued kind words in response to Mahathir's speech. He must think that he is on firm ground; after all, who gives a shit about the Jews? We shall see, but it is clear that Kobe Bryant is more important than the impending murder of another six million. I am reminded of the joke about the two Jews in Israel, where one asks the other why he reads the Arab newspaper. He replies that the Israeli press makes everything look bad, while in the Arab press he can read about how "the Jews rule the world, and are in control of everything, the media, the government, the banks; everything.

I wish!

We Are Not In Kansas Anymore

At 0930 on 1 Oct 2003, the Honorable John McCain of Arizona opened a committee hearing of the U.S. Senate on The Case for Climate Change Action. He began by stating "there is broad scientific consensus that global warming is occurring, that human activity is causing it [via greenhouse gas emissions], and that its consequences are extremely serious." Declaring that "no excuse for inaction on this issue is acceptable," he went on to say that he and Senator Joseph Lieberman "believe that a market-based approach, combined with mandatory caps and federal oversight, offers the best way for the nation to respond to a growing global environmental threat." Hence, he reported they were calling for "a mandatory carbon dioxide reduction program."

It would really be funny if it were not tragic. Just as the scientific community is coming around to the conclusion that action by humans is NOT indicated at this time, the political clowns decide that therefore their hearings must exclude anyone who is skeptical of their political plans. So they invite religious leaders to tell them what Jesus would do. McCain and Lieberman, two failed candidates for the highest office in the land, standing behind the curtain, pulling the levers, trying to scare everyone. What a sad tableau to behold. Thankfully this sideshow got next to no press. Read the rest if you have the strength.

Rush and Drugs -- the Conservative Dilemma

Guest Post by Steve Dasbach

Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh has confirmed the rumors - he's addicted to prescription pain medication. It's obvious that he has roken our nation's drug laws. Which poses an interesting dilemma for his fellow conservatives.

According to Rush and other conservative drug warriors, "drug users ought to be convicted and sent up" as Rush himself put it. Sent up, as in sent to prison.

So here's the conservative dilemma. Should Rush, a self-admitted "drug user" be "convicted and sent up?"

If they say yes, they're advocating silencing the most powerful and influential conservative voice in America -- imprisoning a man they admire and respect. If they say no, they're contradicting everything they've claimed for years about the need to fight the War on Drugs with stiff criminal penalties, including jail time, for drug users.

Do conservatives think that society will be better off if their friend and idol Rush serves a long stretch behind bars as "punishment" for his drug use? Or that a long prison term will somehow "rehabilitate" him? If not, then why would they advocate such treatment for the sons and daughters and friends of ordinary Americans?

Conservatives argue that stiff criminal penalties, including jail time, are necessary to deter drug use. But such penalties failed to deter Rush, a strong willed individual who preaches self-reliance, responsibility, and the importance of the rule of law for three hours every day. If draconian drug laws and mandatory minimum sentences didn't deter him, how likely are they to deter lesser mortals?

One presumes that conservatives embrace the ideals expressed in the Pledge of Allegiance, including "justice for all". That means the same laws are supposed to apply to everyone, whether it's a wealthy celebrity like Rush or a faceless inner-city man mired in poverty. In fact, Rush himself has advocated jail time for athletes and Hollywood celebrities who use drugs.

So if conservatives still believe that drug users should be sent to prison, doesn't that mean that Rush should be imprisoned too?

Some conservatives seem to be having problems coming to grips with this dilemma. When the bombastic Ann Coulter was repeatedly asked if she thought Rush should be sent to prison, the best she could come up with a lame comment that if her mother committed murder, she wouldn't want her sent to prison. Sorry, but that really isn't an answer.

Another prominent conservative focused on the fact that Rush got hooked on legal drugs, conveniently ignoring the fact that he bought them illegally, and that the drug laws conservatives support make no such distinctions. As far as the law is concerned, Rush is no different than the person who buys marijuana, cocaine, or heroin.

So how will conservatives resolve this dilemma? Some will probably decide to sacrifice Rush on the altar of principle. Others will demonstrate by their actions that they are simply hypocrites. They'll support Rush in his time of need while continuing to advocate prison for other drug users.

But perhaps, just perhaps, Rush's addiction will be the catalyst that prompts fair-minded conservatives to reevaluate their unquestioning support for the War on Drugs. Perhaps they'll decide that if it makes sense to let Rush decide for himself how to deal with his drug problem, perhaps it makes sense to let other drug users make their own decisions as well.

This isn't an abstract issue for me. As the father of four nearly grown children, I've had to face the challenges posed by tobacco, alcohol, and drug availability that all parents must confront. Of all the fears associated with confronting these issues, my greatest fear has always been the one Rush's friends are confronting now - the possibility that someone I care for will make a bad choice and have their lives destroyed by the criminal justice system that is supposed to protect us.

Nothing will be gained by sending Rush to prison. Nothing is gained by imprisoning other less-famous drug users either. If Rush's fellow conservatives resolve their dilemma with compassion, perhaps we can all agree to stop treating drug use as a crime and stop wasting lives. And we can continue to enjoy "Excellence in Broadcasting" for many years to come.

--------

Steve Dasbach was National Chairman of the Libertarian party, 1993-1998 and National Director of the Libertarian Party, 2000-2002.

Democrat Conundrum

Peter Beinart of The New Republic has skewered the democrat conundrum: how can the democrat party aspire to the White House without convincing the American electorate that they are serious about, and have a plan for, international geopolitics in the world of American military dominance. As he puts it in hisTNR column on the subject:

Yet, now, with the Bush administration finally recognizing that defeating terrorism requires making sure Iraqis have electricity and clean water, the Democratic presidential candidates are looking for any excuse to avoid saying yes. Pandering to public isolationism may make short-term political sense, but, in the long-term, it will simply confirm what many Americans already believe: that you can dress up the Democratic Party in whatever uniform you want, it still doesn't have a strategy for the defining challenge of our time.

He shows the vacuousness of the positions of the democrat candidates for the White House, whether Kerry, Clark, or Dean, and points out the obvious contradictions between what they are saying and what a leader of this nation will have to do. Kudos to Peter for pointing out the obvious.

We seem to be seeing a raft of democrats who are willing to concede some obvious truths lately. Can these few comments coalesce into a plan that will unseat Bush and Co? We shall see, as the campaign unfolds in the next 13 months.

How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back

At least some elements of the Black community are beginning to come out of the closet about the effect of rap music on the behavior of it's youth, or at least some elements therein, as this piece by John H. McWhorter in the City Journal shows so elegantly. This is not written by one of the right-leaning voices from that community, nor from a right-leaning publication. It therefore bears more than a cursory look. Far be it for me to dissect the work; as a conservative libertarian Jew, I have no standing. But as McWhorter says:

Sadly, some black leaders just don’t seem to care what lesson rap conveys. Consider Savannah’s black high schools, which hosted the local rapper Camoflauge as a guest speaker several times before his murder earlier this year. Here’s a representative lyric:

Gimme tha keys to tha car, I’m ready for war.
When we ride on these niggas smoke that ass like a ’gar.
Hit your block with a Glock, clear the set with a Tech . . . .
You think I’m jokin, see if you laughing when tha pistol be smokin—
Leave you head split wide open
And you bones get broken. . . .

More than a few of the Concerned Black People inviting this “artist” to speak to the impressionable youth of Savannah would presumably be the first to cry out about “how whites portray blacks in the media.”

But McWhorter does not blame the whites. He's speaking within his own community.

WaPo Stumbles Upon the Truth

In these days when our political discourse has become so coarse, and the truth is so hard to find, it is a pleasure when we can see anything that suggests a trend in the opposite direction. Friday we noted that Alan Colmes, a professional liberal. supported the truth about Rush Limbaugh in the McNabb Afair. And now we find the Washington Post telling the truth about the report from David Kay:

Mr. Kay's report contains powerful evidence that significant illegal weapons programs were not discovered by U.N. inspectors and that Saddam Hussein was aggressively violating U.N. Resolution 1441, which offered him "a final opportunity" to voluntarily disarm. The report says the team "discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002." These include "a clandestine network of laboratories" suitable for producing biological weapons; a prison laboratory that may have been used to test biological agents on humans; and strains of biological organisms concealed in a scientist's home. Most remarkable are multiple and extensive Iraqi programs for producing banned long-range ballistic missiles, one of which continued even while the inspectors were in Iraq.

The unclassified piece of Mr. Kay's report supports his conclusion that Saddam Hussein never abandoned his intention to produce biological, chemical and nuclear weapons and would have manufactured such weapons as soon as inspectors departed -- or, in the case of some weapons, even while they were in Iraq. It is also possible that some stocks of chemical weapons remain: In an interview on PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Mr. Kay said that "general officers" of the Republican Guard told his group that "their units were readied" to use chemicals against U.S. troops during the war, though the munitions have not been found.

For opponents of the war, Mr. Kay's report ought to raise the question of how the illegal and dangerous activity he has uncovered would have been stopped without military intervention, given Iraq's success in concealing it from inspectors.

Albeit this is from an editorial, and many news items from the WaPo persist in spreading leftie propaganda, but we feel that zero base thinkers must recognize even baby steps toward truth telling in the mainstream media. The onslaught of lies that began even before the Kay report was released, claiming that Kay had found nothing, has been overwhelming. Indeed, most people that I have discussed this with to date have the impression that nothing is all that Kay has actually found. The editorial board here at Zero Base Thinking applaud these efforts that some elements of the left are making toward reclaiming their place as honest arbiters of the truth.

Colmes Gets Something Right

Alan Colmes, of Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes Show, makes his living holding up the left end of this tabloid television news commentary/debate show, and usually can be relied upon to represent the views of the left wing of the Democrat party. Tonight he deviated from the leftie script, by defending something that Rush Limbaugh said.

Rush has come under withering leftie fire for what should be an uncontroversial statement. He had accused the mainstream media of exaggerating the prowess of an NFL quaterback due to his status as an African/American. Lets review exactly what Rush said:

"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well," Hush said during ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" show in reference to Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. "There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

Limbaugh, as an expert spectator of Football and the NFL, thought that most football fans would agree with him. He has said as much. He claims to have thought long and hard before he made these remarks, but the politically correct left has granted him absolutely no license, and have gone after him hammer and tongs. As a result he resigned his position with ESPN's Countdown show.

Leslie Marshall was the guest on the Hannity and Colmes Show designated to go after Rush on this issue, and a more empty-headed leftie they could not have found. After repeating the drivel that should be expected of anyone of her ilk, Alan Colmes came to Rush's rescue! We can credit Sean Hannity's absence for some of Colmes's boldness, but Alan must get some credit for stating the obvious, especially since it goes against his leftie roots. He said that what Rush said was not racist, but merely accused the media of a sort of "reverse" racism. In the face of such obvious truth, Ms. Marshall stuck to her guns, and accused Rush of a towering insesnitivity, and claimed the "if even ONE PERSON was offended, then Rush should have been fired." This statement ignores the fact that Rush resigned, but she should be forgiven since, as a leftist, resignation is something that one should never do, merely to stem the embarrassment of one's employers.

But Alan Colmes acted like a mensch tonight. He said the necessary things, even though his constituency is taking this incident as nothing morenor less than an excuse to rail against Rush Limbaugh, a figure that they would like to bring low, however they can. It is possible that that is exactly why ESPN hired him in the first place, much like MSNBC hired and fired Michael Savage (but I have no inside information that this is what happened here, like the inside dope I had on MSNBC). Yet, what else did ESPN think was going to happen? They are the ones who hired Rush Limbaugh in the first place. He is a controversial figure, who makes his living saying controversial things. They got exactly what everyone should have expected, and kudos to Alan Colmes for calling it as he saw it.

Kyoto Dead, Chirac Throws Fit

This past week at the World Climate Change Conference in Moscow, Russia's leaders have cast doubt on the chances that Russia will ever ratify the Kyoto Agreement. The response from France has been typically French: Chirac is stamping his feet, threatening Russia...

French President Jacques Chirac on Monday joined calls for Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, saying future relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation depended on it.

Chirac made the plea in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who backed away on Monday from an earlier pledge to swiftly ratify the U.N. pact on global warming, a step necessary to bring the agreement into force worldwide. Ratifying the pact "would underline Russia's determination to accept all the responsibilities of a large modern country towards future generations," Chirac said...

"I therefore see in it an essential element to the constitution of the common economic area we decided to create in St Petersburg," Chirac said, referring to plans for a common European economic space.

France and Germany like the Kyoto protocols because they are the two industrialized countries that would have the easiest time complying with them. But with nations that account for over two thirds of global greenhouse gas enissions not affected by the pact, Russia's stance is the only sensible position for them to take. Now almost three quarters of the world's emission emitters are out of the pact. How amusing that it may be for the wrong reasons, but at least the world has made the right decision.

Much Ado About Nothing

It's truly amazing how much attention has been lavished on the controversy over the outing of the CIA operative, Valerie Plame. If ever a story needed some Zero Base Thinking, it is this one. There is so much noise here, and almost no substance at all.

The law, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, was enacted in 1982 and was designed to protect the identities of covert U.S. agents. It was a response to an organized campaign led by former CIA agent Philip Agee to identify CIA and other U.S. covert agents around the world. The law calls for a finding that the CIA employee not only be a "covert operative" but also to have been operating out of the country within the last five years. According to Robert Novak, the columnist who started this mess: "Valerie Plame was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of undercover operatives." So far as I can glean from public sources, Ms. Plame has not been out of the country for the last six years.

Those enemies of the Bush administration who are trying to use this brouhaha to cast aspersions are ignoring these facts. Rather than investigating the truth of her status as a covert operative, they are concentrating on the "leak." It is a sad state of affairs that this nation is in, that the news media are pushing this anti-Bush propaganda as if it was a serious story. It is not. Just as with their behavior in covering the global warming phenomenon, the media can't report the truth and still pursue their agenda. So they report on the Emperor's new clothes, while those with the eyes to see realize that the clothes are not new, there are not any clothes at all.

War On Pain Patients

We can discuss the reasons for it, but the fact is uncontroversial: the U.S. government has declared war against pain patients, and the doctors who treat them. Whether it is medical marijuana or OxyContin, the government has decided that it must exert its power over its citizens who fail to obey its arbitrary rules.

Over the last few years medical science has rediscovered the fact that intractable pain can almost always be effectively treated by opioid pain killers, if the dosage is titrated (adjusted) to the level that works in each individual patient. In some patients, that dosage is very much higher than a single, minimum dosage pill. That brings medical science into conflict with that holy of holies, the war on drugs. A patient on high doses of potent painkillers might discover that, thanks to the war on drugs, the government has created a scarcity that has the effect of creating a market for these painkillers that is willing to pay an incredibly high price for these medications. Perhaps understandably, some of these patients give in to the temptation to divert some of their medication to the black market. These few patients give the government all the evidence thay need to imprison the doctors who wrote the prescriptions in the first place. It may be unfair, it may be immoral, it may be wrong, but that's exactly what's going on in prosecutions like that against Dr. William Hurwitz.

Dr. William E. Hurwitz, 57, was named in a 49-count indictment handed up in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He was accused of conspiracy to traffic in controlled substances, drug trafficking resulting in death and serious bodily injury, drug trafficking, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and health care fraud.

If you read the rest of the article you will find that Dr. Hurwitz is a dangerous criminal who should be put behind bars for life. But if you read what some of his peers, the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, say about this case:

The Administration delivered on its threat to treat doctors "like the Taliban" last Thursday when federal prosecutors indicted and imprisoned William Hurwitz, M.D. of McLean, VA., for prescribing legal pain relief supervised and approved by the Virginia Board of Medicine.

Trial attorneys think doctors should pay dearly for abuse of medication by patients after they leave the doctors' offices. But why is Bush Administration government jailing doctors for the misdeeds of their patients?

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi declared to a reporter that "our office will try our best to root out (certain doctors) like the Taliban. Stay tuned." And earlier this month, the President pointed to physician prosecutions as the example of how he wants to pursue terrorists.

They are not going to be satisfied with just a few doctors, either. In a more thoughtful news piece in a local paper, another local doctor reveals that he is in denial about his own impending fate:

[Dr.] Statkus said: "They are busy prosecuting physicians and not individual drug addicts. I don't know where their focus is, but it needs to [be] redirected."

[Dr.] Statkus doesn't believe he is next on the hit list. "I was once told by a DEA agent they were going to get the top five prescribers of each area," Statkus said. "But my lawyers have told me they are backing off of us. They are going to be pretty busy with Billy (Hurwitz), I imagine, for a while."

But the feds have time. After they are through with "Billy," they will be coming after the next doctor on their list. I can only hope and pray that they don't come after mine.

Another Doctor In Jail

Pain specialist Dr. William Hurwitz was arrested Wednesday morning and sits in jail pending a Monday bail hearing. He was arrested after being indicted on federal charges related to his prescribing of opioid pain relievers in the course of his medical practice. Dr Hurwitz, a Jew, was presumably arrested on this particular Wednesday in order to keep him in jail over the Rosh Hashana holiday. Prosecutor Paul J. McNulty may have a different reason for choosing this particular day to arrest Dr. Hurwitz after an investigation covering several years but, if so, he isn't saying. The investigation of Dr. Hurwitz was begun prior to October of 1996, when the zealous prosecutors first showed their hand. The good doctor shut his office for the last time last year.

This is just the latest move in a campaign by the U.S. government against doctors who prescribe large doses of opiate pain relievers to patients in intractable pain. While the doses prescribed are in most cases well within the standards of medical practice, prosecutors use drug war rhetoric and horror stories to sway juries. This is enough to garner a fair few guilty pleas, as some doctors choose retirement rather than subjecting themselves to the possible jeopardy of stiff prison terms, but the prosecutions' success rate at trial is dismally low. Yet, the prosecutions go on.

As the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons press release has it:

As promised, the Bush Administration seized Dr. Hurwitz's assets under drug forfeiture laws, reserved for kingpins such as the Columbia cartel -- all without any finding of guilt. Then, in front of his two young children, about twenty armed agents seized the good doctor himself and imprisoned him without bail on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

This is a national disgrace -- doctors throughout the country are being targeted by egregious law enforcement for helping patients manage crippling pain with controlled, legal drugs.

"Physicians are being threatened, impoverished, delicensed, and imprisoned for prescribing in good faith with the intention of relieving pain," says Kathryn Serkes of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), explaining why AAPS has decided to support Dr. Hurwitz, as well as other doctors such as Cecil Knox, currently on trial in Roanoke, VA.

The "war on drugs" has turned into a war on doctors -- and lawful drugs and the patients who take them. Prosecutors make careers out of high-publicity cases involving the hot "drug du jour" such as OxyContin. But this war is causing enormous collateral damage and deaths from "friendly fire." Physicians have been drummed out of practice, sent to jail, and even been driven to suicide in the face of these 21st century witch hunts.

The public wants prosecution of terrorists, not doctors who relieve pain. Instead, the Department of Justice is using its inflated powers to encroach on state jurisdiction and terrorize unarmed, honest professionals. If this continues, not one doctor will be willing to prescribe the drugs that patients so desperately need.

I wonder, just who is the constituency for these prosecutions? Do the Bushes and the Clintons of the world really believe that this type of activity will garner them additional votes at election time? That is one question that will not receive much media coverage when G.W.Bush fails to achieve re-election. But mine is one vote that Mr. Bush lost last Wednesday. I don't care who takes his place, I just can't vote for a man who allows his subordinates to arrest a heroic man like Dr. Hurwitz, who continued to practice in the face of an impending prosecution. He finally retired when he did in order to allow his remaining patients to find alternative practitioners who would give them what they needed. It is a chilling fact that some of these pain patients, when they find themselves unable to secure sufficient pain medication, choose suicide rather than endure the pain that they are in. Yet the prosecutions go on.

Another One Gone

Another fine writer has fled the scene. Toren Smith has ended blogging at The Safety Valve. As he puts it:

Frankly, I'm tired of getting all bent out of shape about the stupidities of the world, which seem to be getting worse and worse as time goes by. The last few months it seems every day brings worse news about the corruption of science, the destruction of society by PC-think, the complete and utter end of rational political discourse, and the hydra-like expansion of government powers. International politics has gone insane. California is heading into the socialist shit pit, and most of the US seems poised to follow sooner or later.

I can really relate to his sentiment. My own posting has become pretty sparse lately, as the society sinks further and further into a very coarse dialog, and it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to shout against the wind anymore. Just tonight a very good friend of mine called, and unloaded a pile of his New York liberal venom on me. This is an intelligent fellow, yet the poison he believes boggles the mind at times. What is the point of telling the truth if the lowest common denominator of demagogic drivel carries the day? Our politics has gone straight to hell. And our jurisprudence? Also tonight, on Cops, a sheriffs department sting arrested 15 black men on the charge of "attempted possesion" of nickel bags of ersatz marijuana. It is not just that all of the "perps" were black and almost all of the cops were white, it was the futility of using the time and talents of a dozen police officers in the pursuit of what is arguably the most trivial "crime" ever conceived by the twisted mind of mankind. Then John Ashcroft and Bill O'Reilly will take to the airwaves and deny that this type of police action exists at all, that the "War on (some) Drugs" is involved solely in the pursuit of drug "kingpins" and, here's the latest, drug dealers must be stopped because the drug trade supports terrorism.

Bah Humbug! I understand why Toren has not the stomach anymore to shout against the wind. I wish that I could summon the balls to quit myself. Until I do, I will soldier on, pointing out the ridiculous aspects of our public reality and discourse.

Intellectual Property

Today's debate over file sharing over the internet, p2p (peer to peer), and the "Napster" phenomenon has evoked much strident debate. Law professors can be found claiming that song recordings have the same value as Disneyland, so the owner has the same right to demand admission payment whether his attraction is an edifice that requires maintenance, employees, and the payment of property taxes or is a recording that may have been the result of ten minutes of labor two hundred years ago. Law Professors. Musicians have sued their fans. The recording industry trade association has actually sued almost a thousand college students who have shared their property over the internet.

This debate has gone way too far. Congress, always ready to support the buttered side of their bread, has extended the time limits on copyright many times, such that works that the Disney Corporation took for free from the public domain before I was born are now protected until well after I will have died. And, since Disney and the recording industry have much more money to spend (and clout) than we consumers do, this bowlderization of the constitutional provisions relating to copyright can be expected to continue. And continue it has. Today, a 12 year old girl settled with the RIAA for $1,200.00 for the "crime" of trading songs online. College students have settled for between 12,000.00 and $17,500.00. Their "crime"? making songs that they legally own available to others, who make songs that they own available to them.

Now, we can't kill everyone who wants to continue a comfortable sinecure. But we can question whether they have the right to such continuance. I can certainly lend, or even rent or sell, any CD that I own. But somehow, if I transmit this music over the internet, rather than sneakernet, I become a criminal. This may be the best example or the poisonous effect of money in politics. Ane, surprise surprise, no proposal of "campaign finance reform" even begins to address the effect of lobbyist cash on the promulgation of legislation. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act is an anticonstitutional travesty, and it is the basis of all this trouble I point out here.

What would be wrong if the system was changed to a form that agrees with our constitution, which demands that copyrights have a reasonable temporal limit? Who says that artists have the right to profit from their work, and then their children have the same right, and their grandchildren retain the same right to profit into the next century? Why, the U.S. Congress, that's who! And the president signed this bill, making it law, and the Supreme Court has confirmed is as well.

Nobody says that an artist has no right to profit from his work. What I and others propose is that more reasonable limits be placed upon this, and our (consumers) right to fair use of recordings we have bought be expanded just a little bit from what they have been whittled down to. Record companies have built up a stranglehold on an enormous profit center, but it is the essence of capitalism and entreneurship that capital will flow in different ways as society progresses, and no sinecure is forever. The record companies are terrified that new technologies will make their profit center less profitable. Rather than using technology to succeed, they will use the Congress and the courts to extend their success, as long as they can. Meanwhile, many artists are using technology that the record companies have used to maintain their stranglehold over the emergence of new acts to promote themselves, with some small success. I for one will do what I can to encourage them in this endeavor. I personally believe that anyone who buys the art of an artist who has sued it's fans (think Metallica) is a fool.