House of Thought

-Anyone who missed the Red Wings beat the Calgary Flames tonight missed an excellent game. I have to say, I was more than a little nervous the Wings wouldn't pull through after Calgary's 2 goals in 18 seconds. The Wings are up 2-0, I change the channel and click back, what the hell.... now it's 2-2. With the series tied at 2-2, this is becoming one of the best playoff series I have watched in a long time. Talk about a grung match, it looked more like a pick-up neighborhood game at times than an NHL playoff game. That cheap shot on CuJo (Curtis Joseph, Wings goalie) after the Wings scored on the empty net was a little unnecessary. Basically, Nieminen from the Flames skated straight up to CuJo and checked him into the net. Anyways, Wings won, the next game is in Detroit and should be a good one. You should watch it.

-So while training for the triathlon today I ended up biking 17 miles. At the end of it I tried to cut through to my apartment and climb up a steep hill over some wooden pallets, without getting off the bike. I'm a mountain biker, right??? So, I started off, my front tire got stuck in the pallet, and I couldn't unclip from my pedals and put my foot down. This is nothing new, I fall regularly in the trail from being unable to unclip, however experience has taught me to keep my hands on the handle bars and just absorb the fall with my thigh and shoulder, similar to the way Airborne soldiers absorb parachute falls. However, I didn't want the pallet to snap and stab me in the gut, so I put my hand out to break the fall. Let's just say the palm of my hand and my wrist are a little sore. I'm not worried though, should be fine within a few days, I hope. Note to self: no crazy stunts until this triathlon is done with.

-Found out I have been invited to join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest honor society in the country. It's pretty cool because only 1% of college seniors are invited. However, I am usually a little skeptical about these things because most of the time they just try to extort money from you for a stupid certificate. But, the $65 in dues and fees are covered by the college this year, so I might as well do it. I think I may just hold off on the $110 gold pin they are offering.

-I read an interesting article about a poll which showed Americans would prefer more money over more sex. I wonder what the Europeans would answer. Read it here.

It appears that the U.S. intelligence community is starting to look at blogs as sources of information. I have to say, it really isn't such a bad idea. There is some truly grade-A first hand info to be found on the blogosphere. However, one of the main problems with blogs and the information they provide is that there is little author accountability, which very often can and does lead to false information. If people can be making up stories at the NY Times and USA Today, who knows what's going on in blogs. Anyways, interesting article.

"Blog-Tracking May Gain Ground Among U.S. Intelligence Officials"

Hi all,
I haven't really been gone or busy the last week, just lazy. Read the lab report I linked below, absolutely hilarious. Anyone who has taken the time to participate in a scientific endeavor can appreciate the humor. This is in celebration of a Biochemistry lab I did this week that for some reason or another did not work. Experiments not working is not all that uncommon in a research laboratory. However, this was a class laboratory where the experiments have been repeated thousands of times without fail. Since everyone's experiments failed, my guess is that the reagents or gels were prepared wrong by the lab tech. Ohh well, it's always easier to write about what should have happened, than what did happen.

Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass

I received in my email yesterday this excellent speech by Zell Miller, a Democratic senator from Georgia. It is about the 9/11 commission and how it is successfully dividing both our government and country with few or no tangible results. Since I am skeptical of emails, I did some research and the speech is legit. Below is the text directly from Miller's website. I encourage you to read it, it's well worth it.

March 30, 2004 on the Senate Floor

'A House Divided Cannot Stand'

After watching the harsh acrimony generated by the September 11 Commission -which, let me say at the outset, is made up of good and able members - I've come to seriously question this panel's usefulness.

I believe it will ultimately play a role in doing great harm to this
country, for its unintended consequences, I fear, will be to energize our
enemies and demoralize our troops.

After being drowned in a tidal wave of all who didn't do enough before 9/11, I have come to believe that the Commission should issue a report that says: "No one did enough in the past. No one did near enough."

Then thank everyone for serving, send them home and let's get on with the
job of protecting this country in the future.

Tragically, these hearings have proved to be a very divisive diversion for
this country. Tragically, they have devoured valuable time, looking
backwards when we should be looking forward.

Can you imagine handling the attack on Pearl Harbor this way? Can you
imagine Congress, the media and the public standing for this kind of
political gamesmanship and finger pointing after that "day of infamy" in
1941?

Some partisans tried that ploy, but they were soon quieted by the patriots
who understood how important it was to get on with the war and take the
battle to America's enemies, and not dwell on what FDR knew when.

You see, back then the highest priority was to win a war, not win an
election. That's what made them "The Greatest Generation."

I realize that many well-meaning Americans see the hearings as "democracy in action." Years ago, when I was teaching political science, I probably would have had my class watching it live on television and using that very phrase with them.

There are also the not-so-well-meaning political operatives who see these
hearings as an opportunity to "score cheap points."

Then, there are the Media Meddlers who see this as "great theater" that can
be played out on the evening news and on endless talk shows for a week or
more.

Congressional hearings have long been one of Washington's most entertaining pastimes. Joe McCarthy. Watergate. Iran Contra. They all kept us glued to the TV, and made for conversation around the water coolers and arguments over a beer at the corner pub.

A Congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. is the ultimate aphrodisiac for
political groupies and partisan punks.

But, it's not the groupies, punks and television-sotted American public that
I'm worried about. This latter crowd can get excited and divided over just
about anything. Whether it's some off-key wanna-be dreaming of being the
American Idol, or what brainless bimbo The Bachelor or Average Joe will
choose or who will Donald Trump fire next week.

No, it is the real enemies of America that I'm concerned about.

These evil killers who right now, right now are gleefully watching the
shrill partisan finger pointing of these hearings and grinning like a mule
eating briars.

They see this as a major split within the Great Satan America. They see
anger, they see division, instability, bickering, peevishness and
dissension.

They see the President of the United States hammered unmercifully.

They see all this and they are greatly, greatly encouraged.

We should not be doing anything to encourage our enemies in this battle
between good and evil. Yet, these hearings, in my opinion, are doing just
that.

We are playing with fire. We're playing directly into the hands of our enemy
by allowing these hearings to become the great divider they have become.

Dick Clarke's book and its release coinciding with these hearings have done
this country a tremendous disservice, and someday we will reap its
whirlwind.

Long ago, Sir Walter Scott observed that revenge is "the sweetest morsel
that ever was cooked in hell."

The vindictive Clarke has now had his revenge, but what kind of hell has he,
his CBS publisher and his axe-to-grind advocates unleashed?

These hearings, coming on the heels of the election the terrorists
influenced in Spain, bolster and energize our evil enemies as they have not
been energized since 9/11.

Chances are very good that these evil enemies of America will attempt to
influence our 2004 election in a similar dramatic way as they did Spain's.
And to think that could never be in this country is to stick your head in
the sand.

That is why the sooner we stop this endless bickering over the past and join
together to prepare for the future, the better off this country will be.
There are some things - whether this city believes it or not - that are just
more important than political campaigns.

The recent past is so ripe for political second-guessing "gotcha" and Monday morning quarter-backing And it is so tempting in an election year. We should not allow ourselves to indulge that temptation. We should put our country first.

Every administration from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush bears some of the blame. Dick Clarke bears a big heap of it because it was he who was in the catbird's seat to do something about it for more than a decade. Tragically, it was the decade in which we did the least.

We did nothing after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 1993,
killing six and injuring more than 1,000 Americans.

We did nothing in 1996 when sixteen U.S. servicemen were killed in the
bombing of the Khobar Towers.

When our embassies were attacked in 1998, killing 263 people, our only
response was to fire a few missiles on an empty tent.

Is it any wonder? Is it any wonder that after that decade of weak-willed
responses to that murderous terror, our enemies thought we would never fight back?

In the 1990's is when Dick Clarke should have resigned. In the 1990's is
when he should have apologized. That is when he should have written his
book. That is, if he really had America's best interest at heart.

Some will say, "We owe it to the families" to get more information about
what happened in the past and I can understand that. But no amount of
finger-pointing will bring our victims back.

So, now we owe it to future families and all of America now in jeopardy not
to encourage more terrorists, resulting in even more grieving families,
perhaps many more over the ones of 9/11.

It's obvious to me that this country is rapidly dividing itself into two
camps: the wimps and the warriors.

The ones who want to argue and assess and appease, and the ones who want to carry this fight to our enemies and kill them before they kill us. And, in case you haven't figured it out, I proudly belong to the latter.

This is a time like no other in the history of this country, and this
country is being crippled with petty partisan politics of the worst possible
kind. In time of war, it is not just unpatriotic; it is stupid, and it is
criminal.

So, I pray that all this time, all this energy, all this talk and all this
attention could be focused on the future instead of the past.

I pray we would stop pointing fingers, assigning blame and wringing our
hands about what happened on that day David McCullogh has called "the worst day in our history" more than two years ago and instead, pour all of our energy into how we can kill these terrorists before they kill us - again.

For make no mistake about it. They watch these hearings. They are scheming and smiling about the distraction and the divisiveness they see in America. And while they may not know who said it years ago in America, they know instinctively that a house divided cannot stand.

There is one other group that we should remember is listening to all of this
- our troops. I was in Iraq in January and one day when I was meeting with
the 1st Armored Division, a unit with a proud history known as Old
Ironsides, we were discussing troop morale, and the Commanding General said it was top notch.

And I turned to the Division's Sergeant Major, the top enlisted man in the
division, a big, burly, 6-foot-3, 240 pound African American and I said,
"That's good, but how do you sustain that kind of morale?"

Without hesitation he narrowed his eyes, and he looked at me and said "The
morale will stay high just as long as these troops know the people back home support us."

Just as long as the people back home support us. What kind of message are
these hearings and the outrageously political speeches on the floor of the
Senate yesterday sending to those marvelous young Americans in the uniform of our country?

I say Unite America! Before it is too late! Put aside these petty partisan
differences when it comes to the protection of our people.

Argue and argue and argue and debate and debate and debate over all the
other things - jobs and education and the deficit and the environment - but
please, please do not use the lives of Americans and the security of this
country as a cheap-shot political talking point.

-Zell Miller, D-Ga

Speech on Miller's Website

My investments professor, who is probably the only conservative professor I have had at this LIBERAL arts school, had some interesting accusations to make against Kerry. I haven't tried to prove their validity, but they definitely seem reasonable. Take them for what they are, but I find them interesting and deceitful.

John Kerry currently owns at least 4 million shares of Heinz stock, since is wife is Teresa Heinz Kerry. Without taking into account the value of the stock itself (4 million x $36.99 = $147,960,000) he receives at least $4 million a year just in dividends. Now, this is a rich man, someone who's wealth makes Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld look like poverty. However, Kerry hides his wealth by filing an individual tax return where the only income he reports is his senate salary, some trust money, and some royalties from his books. All of which come out to a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. Meanwhile, all the big money is filed under his wife's name. Why do this? The only true explanation is to hide his wealth from the voters in order to portray himself as one of their own, a "common man" who can appeal to the poor.

Now, me personally, I think this is disgusting if true. It represents one of the major bones I have to pick with many Washington Democrats. They play it like they are the ones looking out for the poor, and the Republicans are the greedy rich bastards. Meanwhile, they are raking it in. How many poor urban voters do you think would vote for Kerry if they knew he had $150 million in the bank? Probably not many. Kerry ought to just be proud of his wealth and honest about it. Maybe he should show the voters who he really is, rather than manipulating his image for a few votes (Botox anyone...).

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, Bush and Cheney both filed their taxes as married couples.

I read an excellent article in this week's Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria about how we should go about salvaging the situation in Iraq. I agree with the majority of what he says, I encourage you to read it here.

Well, I wrote about my run-in with spyware earlier this week on my new computer. Let's just say the saga continued. For the next couple of days weird things were still going down when I would attempt to open webpages. My Norton programs kept displaying a warning saying that their validity could not be verified, so there may be malicious activity on my computer. That and the fact PestPatrol was finding about 10 cookies per minute on my computer, I knew something was still up to no good on my harddrive. I eventually got so pissed I had had enough. At 1 am I decided to format the harddrive on my brand new computer, a bit crazy huh? I figured, what the hell, if it gets messed up, I'll just bring it back.

So, I formatted the harddrive (which is harder on XP than previous versions of Windows), now it was 2 am. Then I installed Windows and all the necessary drivers on my recovery discs, 3 am. Finally, I added all the applications that came on the computer, and while it was still off the internet, Norton Internet Security. Once that was on, I did a pre-virus scan, just to make sure there was nothing on there. Then I connected to the internet, updated Norton, and put on some other important software like Office and Wsftp. I figured I would put AOL instant messenger off for the next morning, seeing has how I had to get up in 2.5 hours for biochemistry lab. Ohh, I also made a restore point in case something happened a second time.

Seeing as how AIM was the only program I had downloaded before experiencing problems during the previous fiasco, I decided to do some research on the newest version of the program I had downloaded. Well, it seems that I am not the only one who has had such problems. Cnet was loaded with complaints about AIM coming with a program called WildTangent that completely messed people's computers up and started a chain reaction of spyware. Read some of the complaints here.

Here is one that describes what happened to me almost exactly:

"What in Gods name have I done?"
Well, there I was. Getting ready to do a little Internet surfing, IM a few friends, pretty much see what was going on. Log on, and... wait! What's this? AIM has an upgrade? Cool. I say to myself, "Self, don't forget to create a restore point." Why bother? It's AIM. You can trust AIM. Oh brother, lemme tell ya, people said I was paranoid for creating restore points before downloading stuff. This time, I NEEDED that restore point. All of a sudden, I'm seeing WildTangent being loaded, and the warning bells went off!!! "Oh my giddy aunt! It's loading spyware! WTF?!?" You bet your life, kids. WildTangent IS spyware, and remember the warnings of a virus going around thru AIM? How do you think it gets into your AIM? That's right. Thru spyware. I'm not saying AOL INTENTIONALLY meant for AIM users to get viruses, but it DID happen around the same time. Well, I deleted the new messenger as soon as I could, rebooted, and used that restore point created only minutes before. After a successful restore, ran Spybot, Ad-aware, AVG and RegSeeker to get all the little bits, removed the junk, and decided to stick to AIM 5.2. I am telling everyone I know to do the same. If you MUST have this version of AIM, be ready for a lot of trouble with system slowdown, spam, and pop-ups. And for those who say that WildTangent is not spyware, then what is it? It is programmed to display ads tailored to your surfing habits. Guess what? THAT'S SPYWARE!!!

So, what I did was go to Oldversion.com and download a previous version (5.2). This had one program bundled with it, but it wasn't very malicious and was easily deleted. So, my advice, whatever you do, DO NOT upgrade or download the newest version of AIM (5.5), it is nothing but trouble. Go to oldversion and get a previous one.

Ohh and everthing has been smooth sailing for me since the reformat.

I did the political compass today, my exact values were 2.88,0.92 which is slightly conservative and authoritarian. I am not quite sure how well of a representation this is of my beliefs since the questions seemed so far to the left and right that I tended to lean left on many of them because the conservative side was borderline absurd. According to the website, I am close to Tony Blair, a man I respect, but not someone who I would consider myself to be on the same political wavelength with. You try it, and let me know how it goes.

Political Compass

Thanks for the link Eric.

Seeing as how this is my last quarter, at least of an undergraduate degree, and the fact that Med. School is in my near future, I decided I want to take classes that were both interesting and beneficial outside of academia. The sad fact is that I will probably never use 95% of the material I learned for my chemistry degree, but I guess that is to be expected. This combined with the fact that thus far my liberal arts degree has only really been a pain in my ass, forcing me to take stupid classes in subjects that are neither interesting or important to me, led me to take Principals of Investments. It's the 4th class I have taken in the Economics department, and I have to say that they are much more useful than what I am used to.

So far the class is going pretty well. Although I had a basic understanding of securities and markets beforehand, I am really learning how the financial markets of the world function. It is truly amazing how money controls the world, and how investors fuel just about everything. What I found surprising was how many things can be traded, invested in, or owned.

One of the best things about the class is the motivation it gives me. Instead of getting bored with the book and setting it down, I remind myself that this book is teaching me how to make money, which provides much needed incentive. One of our projects has been to take $100,000 in imaginary money and invest it in ten different stocks or mutual funds. It will be interesting to see how well I do after 2 months, so far I am down $200, which really isn't that bad considering the general market trends. From what I have read, the market decline is being fueled by speculation that interest rates will increase, which definitely put a stall on my plans to invest in real estate funds. One interesting note is that this speculation has even trickled down to the market for mortgages, where my mother who is a residential appraiser has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of people looking to refinance or buy. I think the fear is unfounded considering the impossibility of having an economy on an upswing and interest rates at a near record low. Cheap money is not always good, but don't tell home buyers that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out in the near future.

So I got a new laptop this weekend. I was a little sad to see my old one go, it had served me well and I never had any problems with it. The only negative was that it sounded like a jet engine, which was extremely annoying while trying to read or study. However, the sound came from the hard drive, and built up over time. It was over 3 years old, so was definitely ready to head to the pastures. Also, I had filled the hard drive and was running out of storage by the day. Since the thought of deleting anything was borderline painful, I decided to just start looking at a replacement early. If not now, then I would have gotten a new one by summer at the latest. Also, some really cool games have come out that there is no way I could try with my old set-up.

I decided to go with a Compaq R3000 series with a 2.8 Ghz P4, 512 Mbs of Ram, 60 Gb hard drive, DVD/CDR, 15.4" screen, internal 802.11g wireless card, and some other goodies. At $1300 it was everything I was looking for, and much cheaper than similar configurations with other companies. Dell was ridiculously priced, which is crap considering they portray themselves as a low-cost alternative. My last computer was a Compaq, which was good, and now Compaqs are nothing more than HP's with a different label, and all the HP's I've had have been decent.



Sidenote: I am new to Windows XP, and must say that so far I love it. Peripherals are so easy to add, especially compared to what I was used to. I figured it would take me hours to get the wireless card and software to connect to my router. To my surprise I was done in about 5 minutes. I turned the card on, saw there were three wireless networks in my area (maybe I should cancel my cable bill and just steal it from my neighbors who must also have wireless routers... no, that wouldn't be right). Since my router requires 128bit encryption, these people who don't encrypt wireless must be nuts, I entered in the key and was good to go.

So, the first night I had it, I downloaded the latest version of Aol Instant Messenger, since this is a must for any student, errr. The next morning when I turned on my computer, this screen popped up with four babies standing naked and showing their butts and it said "happy keester" above them. Meanwhile, this psychotic childish laughter kept blaring out of the speakers. When I went to open my internet browser, it directed me to some weird site. My worst nightmare had occurred, Spyware found its way on my computer. I was pissed to say the least. I recently spent hours trying to get adware and spyware off my mom's computer. People always complain about email spam, well spam is nothing compared to spyware. These damn programs not only hijack your computer, but they continually download 10 new ones for every 1 you get rid of. Not to mention you can't just uninstall them, you have to actually edit your registry. I think congress needs to do something about these companies, it should definitely be illegal for them to maliciously harm your computer like their programs do. I would probably beat the hell out of one of those programmers if I ever met one. After unsuccessfully attempting to clear it all up on my own and with the help of some free programs, I eventually buckled and paid for a program called PestPatrol. So far I am definitely pleased with it. It got rid of the "pests" and I have not had any problems since. Also, it monitors keyloggers (programs that steal your passwords and sensitive info sending it to hackers or thieves) and automatically destroys cookies I don't want. I also installed Norton Internet Security, which I had foolishly put off initially, so, I am keeping my fingers crossed that viruses and spyware remain at bay in the near future. We'll see.

Article on Spyware
PestPatrol review on cnet

Wow, it looks like I have hit my first real landmark in terms of hits. Although some people get thousands of hits a day, I am proud that so many people have decided my page is worth reading. I would like to thank everyone who takes part in both reading and commenting on the House, and please let me know if you have any suggestions. I hope to continue to provide enjoyable, interesting, and sometimes inflammatory posts.
-Drew

I found this site that lists "The Men Commandments," some of them are hilarious in their truthfulness.

Some of my favorites are 9,10,20,24,27,32, and 36.

The Men Commandments

I was planning to write about the recent plastic surgery craze going on in this country, and my opinion on it, but Eric left a provocative comment in response to my last post. So, I guess plastic surgery can hold off, and I'll respond to his comments here.

Here are his words in their entirety:

"Oh God, I'm so sick of this "The response should not be to back away from the task, but to redouble our efforts" mentality. I realize that he's saying exactly what you want to hear, but I have to remind you that the books Mark Bowden has written do not make him an expert on the situation in Fallujah. Bowden exhibits the same archaic sense of honor that our president does (". . .its insult, warning, and challenge has been broadcast around the world. It must be answered.") I would just like both Bush and Bowden to keep the following things in mind: 1) Yesterday American attack helicopters shot missiles at civilian homes in six different cities killing woman and children (who are the 'terrorists' now?). 2) The sudden increase in attacks on soldiers corresponds exactly with the arrival of the Marines in Fallujah. Do you think that this is a coincidence? Or could it be that the Marines are somehow operating in a different manner that is making them unpopular (I hope you will recall here some of Lex’s posts on the aggressive tactics for which the Marines are known)?"
-Eric

First, I never said Mark Bowden was an expert on Falluja. Rather, he is a person who has an interesting viewpoint on the issue, one I thought I would pass along. I found his comparison of the actions in Falluja to lynchings performed by whites against minorities during the civil rights movement in their attempt to shock and draw support, unique. I don't care if he is an expert on Falluja, who is? You certainly aren't, but I posted your opinion above. This is not a forum of expertise, because we all know my words are usually not based on such, rather it is a place to post things I decide should be passed on for others to read.

Also, I wouldn't classify Bowden or Bush's stances on the issue to be based on an "archaic sense of honor," but on clearly defined principals of what is morally right or wrong. You may not think that being attacked while attempting to improve people's lifestyles by bringing freedom and other basic rights to them is morally wrong, but I do. And I don't want to even get into the issue of desecrating bodies. War is one thing, mutilation and humiliation is another. Rather then allow these old-regime Sunni terrorists maintain their hatred of America, and continue to attack us in hopes that we will withdraw, and allow them to attack the Shiites in an attempt to regain the power they had under Saddam, we have chosen to show them we will not tolerate such actions. The only purpose of such behavior being to deprive other's of their rights and freedoms.

As for your statement about Americans being terrorists because we bombed civilian houses, it is myopic and ridiculous. The core of the issue is intent. Do you think we intended to kill civilians? I hope not. Because, everyday we put our Marines and soldiers lives at stake because we bend over backwards to bring order to Iraq without harming citizens. I assure you, order could be had very quickly if we resorted to the actions of our enemies to obtain our goals. If anyone is to blame for our attacking civilians, it is the insurgents that use them as shields. Today there was a lot of news about us bombing a mosque in Falluja. However, the insurgents were using our civility against us and using the walls surrounding the mosque as cover and a place to shoot at and kill Marines. The result was that the wall was bombed, inflicting no damage on the mosque itself, in order for the Marines to enter the grounds and bring the fight back to the pot-shots. The last place we want to fight is on the grounds of a mosque. If the Marines have to fight at all, they would certainly prefer to do so outside of the domain of civilians, yet they do not have the choice of where the enemy will engage. I blame not the U.S. for the sad deaths of Iraqi civilians, but those who use them to their tactical advantage.

As for #2, yes and no. Yes, I believe the attacks around Falluja have increased because the Marines are in town. When the Army controlled the area, the did not venture in the town, pretty much allowing the insurgents to do whatever the hell they wanted and continue to think the U.S. forces were afraid of them. The Marines however realized they could not allow the situation to continue, both before and after the SUV burning incident. They know the only way to eventually stop the violence in the long run, is to go in and root out those causing civil unrest in the town.

I have an analogy. There is a huge bee's nest hanging on your front porch. You have two real options, you can leave the bee's nest alone, because if you try to get rid of it, you are certain you will get stung. However, this means you have to walk all the way around your house everyday to get in and out, and can't enjoy the porch for who knows how long, for fear of the bee's nest. Your other option is to go out and knock the damn thing down. Sure there will be hell for awhile as the bee's swarm and attack, you will probably get stung. Yet, you have destroyed the nest, and you and the people that live in the house no longer need to worry about being stung in the future. Well, the Marines just walked up to the hive with a baseball bat, and swung at the damn thing like it was a pinata.

As for the, no, response in regards to your statement that the increased violence is the fault of the Marines' aggressive stance, I point out that much of the recent violence has occurred in regions where the Army and other nations' forces still maintain authority. Much of this is because the Shiite followers of a hugely anti-American, power hungry cleric named al-Sadr have responded to his recent calls to attack Americans. Partly because we stand in the way of his rule over Iraq, partly because we just shut down his bullshit newspaper that was nothing more than propaganda with unsubstantiated claims against the Coalition, which created hate. We didn't even shut it down for good, but just during a probationary period. I can't say that this is the right course of action, but I can say that much of the violence is completely unrelated to the Marines.

I would like to thank Eric for his comments, I always appreciate them regardless of whether I agree or not. Especially because they provide other viewpoints to this website. I encourage others to leave comments that aim to create a discussion on a topic I have posted here. (Encouraging comments are appreciated as well :) )

Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down," had some interesting things to say about the recent events in Falluja. He compared the incident to both the lynching of blacks, and the soldiers in Mogadishu, which he eventually wrote a book about. Here is a sample of it below, if you would like to read the entire thing, it was in today's Wall Street Journal, and probably some other newspapers.

"It is a mistake to conclude that those committing such acts represent a majority of the community. Just the opposite is true. Lynching is most often an effort to frighten and sway a more sensible, decent mainstream. In Marion it was the Ku Klux Klan, in Mogadishu it was Aidid loyalists, in Fallujah it is either diehard Saddamites or Islamo-fascists.

The worst answer the U.S. can make to such a message -- which is precisely what we did in Mogadishu -- is back down. By most indications, Aidid's supporters were decimated and demoralized the day after the Battle of Mogadishu. Some, appalled by the indecency of their countrymen, were certain the U.S. would violently respond to such an insult and challenge. They contacted U.N. authorities offering to negotiate, or simply packed their things and fled. These are the ones who miscalculated. Instead the U.S. did nothing, effectively abandoning the field to Aidid and his henchmen. Somalia today remains a nation struggling in anarchy, and the America-haters around the world learned what they thought was a essential truth about the United States: Kill a few Americans and the most powerful nation on Earth will run away. This, in a nutshell, is the strategy of Osama bin Laden.

Many Americans despise the effort under way in Iraq. They opposed overthrowing Saddam Hussein by force, and disbelieved the rationale offered by President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. There may well be a heavy political price to pay for the mistakes and exaggerations; President Bush faces a referendum in just seven months. But however that election turns out, and however imperfectly we have arrived at this point, the facts on the ground in Iraq remain. Saddam is gone and Iraq, thanks to U.S. intervention, is struggling toward a new kind of future. Its successful transformation into a peaceful, democratic state is in everyone's interest except Saddam's extended family and the Islamo-fascists. It's time for opponents of the war to get real. Pictures like those we saw from Fallujah last week should horrify us, but they should also anger us and strengthen our resolve. The response should not be to back away from the task, but to redouble our efforts.

Which means recognizing that the gory carnival on the streets of Fallujah is not evidence of the mission's futility, nor is it something to chalk up to foreign barbarity. It was deliberate and it must be answered deliberately. The lynching of African-Americans would have ended decades earlier if authorities had rounded up and punished those participating in crimes like the one in Marion. Somalia would be a vastly different place today if the U.S. and U.N. had not backed away in horror from the shocking display in Mogadishu.

The rebels in Iraq who ambushed those American security workers in Fallujah ought to be hunted down and brought to justice, but they are not the only ones responsible. The public celebration that followed was licensed and encouraged by whatever leadership exists in Fallujah. Whether religious or secular, its insult, warning, and challenge has been broadcast around the world. It must be answered. The photographic evidence should be used to help round up those who committed these atrocities, and those who tacitly or overtly encouraged it. A suitable punishment might be some weeks of unearthing the victims of Saddam Hussein's mass graves."

-Mark Bowden

In Newsweek last week they had the above leaflet on one of their pages. This sparked my curiosity, so I looked up some of the other leaflets the U.S. has dropped on Afghanistan and Iraq for PsyOps. Some of them are almost humorous, like the one above. I had to laugh at the guy's expression. But, at the same time, they can be pretty freaky. Notice the skull shadow on the rocks that cover the entrance to the cave. Or some of the Iraqi ones show cartoons of soldiers getting blown up, and telling them to walk away from their weapons. I suppose if these leaflets convince even a couple of soldiers not to fight, then they are worth it. It saves not only their own lives, when we bomb their positions, but also the lives of our soldiers.

Check some of them our for yourself below:

Iraq Leaflets from Centcom

Afghanistan Leaflets

Well it looks like the election of socialists and the promise of troop removal from Iraq didn't thwart al-Qaeda's hate of Spain. Recently a bomb was found under the tracks of the high-speed AVE train line from Madrid to Seville. Also, four letter bombs have recently been discovered.

It just goes to show that the issue is not really about whether Spain has troops in Iraq, but the fact that they are a Western power accessible to terrorist organizations. Until Zapatero realizes this, and gives up this stance of appeasement and is willing to crack down on such behavior, these attacks and attempts will only continue, as I suggested after 3/11.

Kudos to everyone in Spain that was vigilant enough to stop these attacks before they occurred.

News Story

I am sure many of you saw or read about the recent events in Falluja. If not, 4 U.S. contractors and 5 Marines were killed yesterday in the city in separate incidents. Masked men shot-up the SUV the contractors were traveling in. Eventually the car caught fire and Iraqi mobs surrounded the car and started mutilating the charred bodies. Some beat the bodies with metal poles, some tied body parts to bricks and threw them over telephone wires, the bodies were then dragged behind cars over a mile and hung from a bridge in town.

Reading this story just makes me sick. The killing of the Americans is one thing, in their warped minds there is justification for that, but to mutilate the bodies is on the level of animals. From what I have read, this is one the cardinal sins of Islam. Many of the clerics and elders in town expressed shame over the mutilation and supposedly will issue a fatwa regarding it at Friday prayer. I doubt it will have an effect, this will probably occur after they rile up the crowd into a frenzy of anti-American rage.

Anyways, no U.S. forces have entered the town in response to the situation, which I believe is the right action. Why enter an ambush on the terrorists terms. I am sure the insurgents expected a response and had already prepared to deal with it, which probably included shooting from crowds, in order to maximize civilian casualties. That is what just blows me away, that these cheering mobs shouting, "Falluja is the graveyard of Americans," actually think these terrorists are operating in their best interest. These insurgents don't give a damn about the mobs, as far as they are concerned, the U.S. killing them all would be the best outcome. They seek power, and attempt to obtain it by playing a dangerous game of intentionally instigating the killing of civilians by U.S. forces. My only hope is that the masses in the Sunni Triangle will realize how they are being betrayed by their own countrymen and not tolerate it. We are in Iraq right now trying to do everything possible to improve their standard of living at the quickest rate. Yet, these attacks will not only slow that down, but probably lead to Marines kicking down their doors in the middle of the night, killing their brothers, fathers, and sons, who by all means deserve some punishment for committing such attacks. The most important thing is that we do not respond as Spain did, and succumb to the terrorism and withdraw our troops, deeming their actions successful. Rather, what I am sure will happen is that the Marines will wait until the perfect time, like 3 a.m., to surround the city, and go door to door showing American resolve. Will this piss off the residents, yes. Do we have much to loose in terms of public opinion in Falluja, no. As Neptunus Lex mentioned, the Marines are going to treat the situation differently from the Army who acted with more of a passive stance focused on containment. The Marines, the ultimate large-scale fighting force in the world, certainly won't be dovish and lax on the perpetrators of such acts. It's time the Fullujans learn this. It's time they learn that people who chant about their city being an American graveyard and mutilating bodies will not be able to do so anonymously, and they will be held accountable for such acts. If nothing more, I would like to think this would make the mob mentality, which seems so pervasive, less appealing to cowards who use it as a safety veil for shameful and barbaric behavior.


Watch the video of the mutilation here.

MSNBC story. Watch the interactive feature about half way down the page to the right that tells the story of 4 injured soldiers from Iraq. Heartbreaking. However, all of them are proud of what they were doing, very different than Vietnam.

Hi everyone,
I regret that my posts this quarter are probably going to be limited compared to what they have been in the past. I am taking Biochem., which seems like it is going to take up a lot of my time with tedious work for both lecture and lab. Also, my investments class appears like it will have a substantial amount of work. However, I'll try and at least post little blurbs or links that I find interesting.

Below is a link for this game called Crimson Room. You are essentially locked in a room and have to figure out how to escape. It is pretty challenging and took me about 45 min to escape. It is definitely annoying while you are playing it, but cool when you succeed. Check it out. See if you can escape.


Crimson Room