Don't Give Them What They Want

The obligatory link: Please Bomb Me!

Victor Davis Hanson has interesting takes on a pretty regular basis, but this one struck me. Basically, he puts forth the idea that Iran is trying to get itself bombed in order to raise morale and its standing in the middle east. In addition, he's got a bit of the history of that country's doings. Definitely worth a read.

Thankfully, Someone Gets It

The obligatory link: Czech leader Klaus fights global warming 'religion'

It's always interesting when you have to go half a world away to see people talking sense. Case in point, Vaclav Klaus, Czech president. Here we have a man in a position of actual power, rather than in a position of influence such as, say, talk radio, who gets it, and who isn't afraid to speak out on the matter.

From the article: "This ideology preaches earth and nature and under the slogans of their protection – similarly to the old Marxists – wants to replace the free and spontaneous evolution of mankind by a sort of central, now global, planning of the whole world."

And also: "No government action can stop the world and nature from changing. Therefore, I disagree with plans such as the Kyoto Protocol or similar initiatives, which set arbitrary targets requiring enormous costs without realistic prospects for the success of these measures."

Unfortunately, the alarmists have such a head of steam already that it's going to take plenty of common-sense, level-headed talk like this, probably over the course of years, before we can consign the idea of global warming as man-made to the dustbin of history.

Masked Man For Governor

The obligatory link: Wrestler enters political ring

Sure, it's not unheard of for people on the spectacle side of things get into politics. We have a couple of good examples right here at home, between Ventura and Schwarzenegger. Still, I guess the added amusement value of this one is the fact that... well, he's not just a wrestler, he's a masked wrestler. (Yes, the link does have a picture of Murakawa in his mask.)

Interestingly, this isn't the man's first foray into politics, according to the article - he's been involved in local politics since 2003. Now, he apparently intends to run for governor of Iwate prefecture.

For those extreme political junkies out there, while I haven't been able to find any policy statements from Murakawa himself, here's what I have been able to find: Murakawa was a member of the Liberal Party of Japan, which merged with the Democratic Party of Japan in 2003. The party platform can be viewed in English in PDF form here. Really, though, that's reading far too much into a story about a man who wears a vinyl wrestling mask while conducting politics.

The Car Guy In Me Cries

The obligatory link: EU suggests speed limit for German autobahns

Quite possibly the best-known stretch of road in the world, and the weenies want to restrict it. No, not because of noise, or because of accidents... or even potential accidents. Sadly, the autobahn may be the next victim of the European Union's war against global warming.

Thankfully, as the article points out, the current minister of transport in Germany is standing up against the idea. We'll see how long that lasts, though.

Another Encroachment Against Freedom

The obligatory link: France Bans Laypeople from Reporting Violence

Ouch. So, if you're not a journalist, you face jail time if you happen to catch real violence on film? Besides being ridiculous, it's a dangerous precedent to set.

"The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday."

Now, if you have a dark sense of humor, you may find the next bit here amusing. What date did the French Constitutional Council choose to unveil this law? None other than the 16th anniversary of the Rodney King beating (captured, of course, on film by an amateur with a video camera).

What are they actually trying to target with this law, though?

During parliamentary debate of the law, government representatives said the offense of filming or distributing films of acts of violence targets the practice of "happy slapping," in which a violent attack is filmed by an accomplice, typically with a camera phone, for the amusement of the attacker's friends.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call swatting a fly with a nuclear warhead.

Yesteryear's Sci-Fi Is... (#3)

The obligatory link: Israel unveils portable hunter-killer robot

For your peace of mind, just assume I offered up a Terminator reference here, and that it was either exceptionally funny or not depending on your preferences. Now that that's out of the way, let's see what nifty stuff the article says this little machine can do:

• It can move "undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels"
• It can act "as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment"
• And, it can "carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade"

Someone Get Roswell On The Line

The obligatory link: UFO science key to halting climate change: former Canadian defense minister

The title really does say it all here. A former government official who is calling on the governments of the world to take the covers off all that alien technology they've been holding back from the UFO crashes... to help stop global warming.

No, it's not scientific. The only value is that it's worth a laugh. At least he's got his science fiction down, to an extent:

"Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels"

Bring In The Stunt Double!

The obligatory link: Stand-in mistress sought to take wife's abuse

This is definitely one of those stories that sounds too odd to be true. Then again, I'm still sitting on another one about what is essentially rent-a-wife, so maybe this does fit right in. Essentially, a guy wants to hire a lady to take the fall as his mistress so that his wife won't find out about his real mistress. Not quite enough to set one's head to spinning, but it's certainly getting there.

Still, all things considered, as long as the guy can keep knives and heavy weaponry out of it, the equivalent of $2,400/hour isn't exactly a bad take...

Not As Bizarre As The Headline, But Quite Dangerous

The obligatory link: Anti-Jewish cartoon angers L.A. Koreans

I know, I know... It's not exactly the kind of headline you expect when anti-Semitism comes up in the media.

Reality is much simpler, thankfully, in this case. Apparently there's a publisher in South Korea that publishes the cartoon in question. While I can't say that I ever thought of the far East as being a hotbed of anti-Semitism, I have to say it's a good idea to catch it and stomp on it firmly now. Doubly so since, as is mentioned rather late in the article, the cartoon in question is part of a book aimed at "teaching children about other countries". Kind of makes one wonder what's written in the other books in that series...

Let's Go Fly A Kite

The obligatory link: Pakistan: 11 dead, 100 injured in kite flying festival

Okay, I expected the deaths from stray bullets. What I didn't expect where the sharpened kite strings. ... ... ... Yes, you heard me right. I said, "Sharpened kite strings."

And yes, the article is going to tell you how such a thing happens. Instead of thread, or maybe fishing line, the use of wires or glass coatings is involved. What possible reason could there be to turn kite flying into combat, though? I don't get it.

Global Warming? Please, Think Of The Children

The obligatory link: Global warming worries keep children awake at night

Let it never be said that I haven't advocated something for the good of the children. Here's what I'm advocating: Stop teaching about global warming as a man-made effect that's killing the planet. Give the kids back their childhood while the scientists of the world spend the next twenty-plus years hashing this out. Then, if they've actually managed to prove such a thing conclusively, you can start poisoning the imaginations of the next generation. Until then, hasn't science proved that children need quite a bit of sleep? Won't you think of the children, and not spread unfounded stories designed to give them nightmares, thus disrupting their fragile sleeping patterns? Please, think of the children.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I think I may need surgery to get my tongue dislodged from my cheek.

Taken For Granted: Freedom Of Speech

The obligatory link: Egypt blogger jailed for insulting Islam

Living in the free world, it's so easy to forget that things like this can and do happen. Think about it. I'm fully capable of holding forth on just about any topic in this space, short of such things as calling for physical violence against people (and beyond that, anything I may not be able to conscience personally). But at the same time, half a world away, a man is being jailed for doing essentially what I do here... weighing in with my own opinion on topics of interest.

In addition to any kind of an outcry we can raise on the issue of Egypt's appalling behavior, I'd ask that we, both bloggers and readers, keep this in mind: We have this freedom, and others like it, because those who came before us fought and died for it, and because many now still do. Being able to say what you think may be one of the most undervalued freedoms we have going, but consider for just a minute what it would be like to lose it. After that, ask yourself the following question:

If an Islamic country is willing to jail one of its own citizens for speaking his mind, what do you think will happen if we fall under the rule of their laws here in the west?

What we stand to lose is dearer to us than we realize, and the possibility that we will lose it grows every time we turn our backs.

Wrap Your Mind Around This

The obligatory link: 9/11 attacks 'an incident'

So, yeah, there's a politician in France who's spouting off about how the deaths on 9/11 are equal in number to the number of deaths in Iraq per month. What's sad is that he got off on a decent footing: "...in an interview published on Wednesday with the Catholic newspaper La Croix during which he praised Islamic leaders for condemning the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon." But no, he had to get his digs and attempted belittlement in. Any surprise, really, from someone who "was convicted of Holocaust denial after he declared in 1987 that the gas chambers used by Nazi Germany to exterminate Jews were a "detail in the history of World War II"."?

Frankly, I feel bad even giving additional forum to something like this, but it's worth knowing about.

Beer In Japan Is Worth Federal Action Here?

The obligatory link: Feds Continue To Assert World Jurisdiction

This is the kind of story that I would've normally missed. Small mercies, going in to work late due to the snow, I suppose. Anyway, the upshot of it is that the Japanese pitcher the Red Sox signed shot a TV commercial in Japan wherein he actually drank a beer. Now, supposedly that's against the rules on this side of the Pacific (for whatever reason...), but, as you can see in the commercial if you follow the link above and let it load up, it's obviously a Japanese-market CM. The post that got Mr. Balko at reason going, over at tothepeople.com, says it best: "If some little-known, nannying arm of the U.S. Treasury Department has any claim to jurisdiction over Japanese advertising that airs only in Japan, that's probably news to the Japanese."

Taking it further, from the Boston Herald article, "Asahi’s beer is No. 1 in overall sales in Japan and the ad campaign, which also features the Yankees’ Hideki Matsui, is nothing unusual for Japan, where athletes are often used in beer endorsements and can be seen drinking on camera. But in the United States, beer cannot be consumed in TV ads and Major League Baseball does not allow its players to endorse alcohol domestically. Those rules do not apply to international markets, however." Seems pretty straightforward to me. Clear, as it were.

It's actually not entirely goofy, for a TV spot out of Japan, I suppose. If you don't know what I mean, try this one on for size... it may well be the most amusing commercial I've ever seen outside of "herding cats".

More Progress For Iraq?

The obligatory link: Iraq says to close borders with Syria, Iran

Well, it's about time. They've known this long where so many of the supplies and personnel for the attacks have been coming from, and now they're actually planning to do something about it. Lump this in with the surge, and we ought to be seeing some very solid progress in the very near future.

Short Shots

The Hotline, a blog affiliated with the National Journal, says that "freshmen" is out and "new" is in for referring to the freshman class of electees. I've seen some pretty meaningless semantics in my time, but this one has to rank up there.

In checking around on how people found me, I noticed that one person had gone so far as to translate my page into Japanese via Google for their reading pleasure. Problem was, any time that I'd used any Japanese, it came out wholly garbled as incomprehensible gibberish. On the plus side, however, I took a look at the blog roll, and noticed that Google's translation had completely kanjified the link to the Radio Patriots, as follows: 無線の愛国者 (Musen no Aikokusha, musen being the word for wireless or radio, and aikokusha being patriots, or those who love their country).

In continuation of the above, something interesting happened on the way to translating the title tag. Hakkiri Shinasai remained unchanged, but the Please Make It Clear portion was actually translated as "Sore wo meikaku ni sasenasai".

Every time I see a story about how Americans are spending more time on the computer than they are with their family (such as this one from the Denver Post), I get the feeling that I'm skewing the curve for you all.

Just when you think you've seen everything, you find out that police in Tijuana are having their firearms confiscated and replaced with slingshots. Granted, the issue at hand is serious enough for Tijuana, but on the face of it, there's something amusing about the mental image.

Having been a sometimes writer as a hobby, I have to hand it to this guy, who managed to convince a publishing house to turn out copy of a novel done entirely as text messages, including crappy spelling and grammar. It should probably go without saying that I have no desire to read such a thing, however... (but I said it anyway, in the interest of completeness.)

For those who like shooters for the PC, I'd highly suggest this site. Demos of various games, and freebie full versions where applicable. If I might make a couple of suggestions, Perfect Cherry Blossom is, in my estimation, the best of the Touhou top-shooters. There is a fan translation patch that works on the demo here. Other worthy contenders for playtime are (though certainly not limited to these alone) Tyrian 2000, Warning Forever, and any of the other Touhou top-shooters that happen to be laying about there.

Swastika Hijacking?

The obligatory link: Hindus opposing EU swastika ban

A friend of mine linked me to this last night, and I couldn't help but be interested. I mean, it's not every day that you hear about people standing up in defense of something so closely associated in the minds of people with the Nazis, even if the people in question were using it long beforehand.

On closer reading, particularly from the Wikipedia entry on the subject, it appears that the ban of the image in Germany does not include religious usages. The question then becomes, is that same exception carved out in the ban being put forth to the EU, as the only wording I've found on it is rather vague.

One For The Good News Files

The obligatory link: Afghan civilians stop terror attack at U.S. base

Honestly, I was rather surprised to happen across this while perusing news sources this morning. Pleasantly surprised, of course. After all, hardly a day goes by that there isn't a headline from some news agency of a suicide bombing killing or injuring people somewhere... So nice to see one averted, and in a spectacular manner at that.

A Cold Knight In London

I'm sorry, I know that was bad. Here's the obligatory link: U.K., Russia clash in a different kind of cold war

Following the link, there's a video of the game, including the very cool-looking (should be, they're ice, after all...) chess pieces. Unfortunately, you'll be treated to a thirty-second commercial first... Not much to be done about it.

On Iraq, Generally

The obligatory link #1: US raid on Iranian office "unacceptable": Russia

First off, what's Russia got to do with it, really? It certainly wasn't their office, anyway. Instead, it's just another chance for them to be chummy with Iran. Not that anyone should be surprised at this point about any country taking whatever side is opposite the U.S. in a dispute, but still...

The obligatory link #2: "US reinforcements will go home in coffins": Sadr aide

Sheikh Abdel Razzaq al-Nadawi, the new Baghdad Bob? "The American people have to prevent their sons from coming to Iraq or they may return in coffins." "This is not the first plan announced by Bush. All plans have failed and this plan will not be any better..."

Seriously, there are no American tanks in Baghdad, what? The infidel soldiers are committing suicide at the city limits, really? Some people just don't learn, do they...