perfidy

There are many things that the Israelis are capable of. I don't think this is one of them. Whenever I read the Islamic media for any length of time, I become very, very depressed. This level of disconnect from reality, evidenced in a thousand Islamic media reports a week, is truly staggering. Link via Allah Pundit

Q and O has a good post on the good, bad and ugly ways you can fight the war on terror. (Which one is which, I leave as an exercise for the reader.)

Knowledge Problem examines why gas prices are so stinking high.

I'll rochambeau you for it!

Phil over at Catch Me If You Can has an informative look at the hell that is DC Metro Parking. Also, if you are in the DC area, his band is playing out tonight at the Grog and Tankard up on Wisconsin, around 9:30. (Sadly, I will be unable to attend.) Here's a sample of what his band does.

A Dutch politician is in line to become the EU's first "Mr. Terrorism." That's all to the good, and I'm glad the Euroweenies are at least pretending to take terrorism seriously.

Why do I say "Pretending?" Because, dude, "Mr. Terrorism" makes you sound like a pussy even before you get out the gate. Terror Czar at least brings up images of Ivan the terrible, pyramids of skulls, and the like. Before you remember that the man occupying that office is a pasty middle aged white guy in a suit.

But Mr. Terrorism... Hmmn, what does that bring to mind? A skinny guy in a cardigan asking the children if they want to go to the land of make believe. Which, come to think of it, is a reasonably accurate summation of the EU's policy on terrorism so far.

We need a Terror Motherfucker. Someone who will speak to the terrorists like Samuel L. Jackson in full on, scare the white folk mode. Someone who, by his very presence in the world will strike fear into the hearts of terrorists. Someone who is authorized to personally put a cap in the ass of any terrorist brought before his dread presence. Someone who is completely unpredictable and dangerously volatile. Someone who has all the powers of hell at his command, or at least the United States Marines. Someone to play bad cop to Bush's bad cop. Someone who will make the worst European nightmares of American "cowboys" seem like Mr. Rogers.

That's what we need.

Hey... shouldn't you be in church?

Pope John Paul (news - web sites) on Friday said Sunday should be a day for God, not for secular diversions like entertainment and sports.

"When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of 'weekend' dominated by such things as entertainment and sport, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens," the pontiff said in a speech to Australian bishops.

I know the Pope is obliged to say this kind of thing, it's his job and all, but does he really want all the Catholics of Parma, OH to make an all-or-nothing choice between church and the Cleveland Browns?

When's the last time you heard a fun hip-hop record? And I mean a fun serious hip-hop record, as opposed to a stupid-fun record such as the kind Will Smith pukes out every time he makes a new movie. I can hardly remember. I've bought a pretty good amount of hip-hop over the years, and apart from affable lunatics like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, or Ludacris, hip-hop is way too concerned with being all hawd n shit. Since I'm a white 29-year-old college administrator who enjoys science fiction and not getting shot, I can't really relate. Usually, it irritates me.

Well, a little while back I posted a late-night rave about Chicago wonderboy Kanye West, who has been all over the radio recently with several hits he has produced or performed. I bought his debut, "The College Dropout," and it's great. It might be the best hip-hop record I've bought in a decade, and it's definitely the most fun I've had since De La Soul put out "3 Feet High and Rising" fifteen years ago (fifteen years!).

West's stock in trade is to boost a sample from an old soul record-- the Jackson 5, Chacka Khan-- and layer it with live instruments, warm-sounding drums, and his own half-distracted verbal style. Not a great flow stylist, West's strength is in his witty rhymes. His lyrics are sharp, funny, and insightful, galaxies beyond the merely competent thuggin' peddled by the likes of 50 Cent. Best of all, although West is signed to Rock-a-fella, uber-hustler Jay-Z's company, there's barely a 'ho in sight, and not a single person gets shot.

It's a hallmark of how different West is from the mainstream of (male) hip-hop stars that his first single is about, not getting shot, but being in a car accident. He recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw wired shut, mumbling lyrics about liquid diets and seatbelts. It's a fantastic track, anchored by a chipmunk-speed sample of Chacka Khan's "Through The Fire," and features killer rhymes like, "I drink a Boost for breakfast, an Ensure for dessert/ Someone order pancakes I just sip the sizzurp." The only problem is that "Through The Wire," which is the star of the record and one of the best songs I've heard in years, is buried fifteen tracks deep on "The College Dropout."

But there's much more to the record than one single. Every song pops with ideas and talent, and-- a rare thing for a rap album-- the skits don't suck. Standout tracks include "We Don't Dare," with its kid's chorus of "Drug dealing just to get high/ stack your money til it gets sky high/ We never supposed to make it past 25/ Joke's on you we still alive/ We don't care what people say," the acoustic-guitar driven "All Falls Down," and "Get Em High," featuring Talib Kweli and Common. And when's the last time you heard a gospel version of "I'll Fly Away," or for that matter "Pomp and Circumstance," on a rap record? Musically and lyrically, nearly every track is a jaw-dropping tour de force.

However, all isn't perfect. West has traded the stock gunz and ho's imagery of hip-hop for a more nuanced and human view of the world, rapping about working shit jobs and cheating on his taxes. But for all the humor and insight, West has traded the hermetic world of gangbanging for one in which every road is a dead end and the ultimate reward for working is a tiny paycheck, a mountain of debt, and a boatload of envy and bitterness. From the title "The College Dropout" to the song "Space Ship," that compares "this grave shift" to a "slave ship," to the mock-yearbook liner notes which place West on the basketball team ("never played"), the debate team ("never won"), and dubs him "least likely to succeed," Kanye West attempts to examine the culture of failure that so many people (black, white, whatever) deal with every day. Great idea, sure, and one that's more constructive than the ten thousandth song about Courvoisier, but too often West ends up in a big pity-party.

Nowhere is this more apparent on the "School Spirit" skits, when West's character angrily defends getting his "Bachelors, then my Masters, then my Masters' Masters, then my doctoral.. Yeah i'm 52, so what, hate all you want, but I'm smart, I'm so smart, and I'm in school,and these guys are out here making money all these ways, and I'm spending mine to be smart. You know why? Because when I die, buddy, you know what's going to keep me warm? That right, those degrees."

Jeez. Sure, I felt that way back in grad school when I'd self-medicated myself a bit too much to keep from thinking about the pointlessness getting a terminal Masters in a field where a Ph.D. and a dollar will barely buy you a cup of coffee, but damn, dude, lighten the fuck up already. Social pathologies and shit. Cornel West. Henry Louis Gates.

I shouldn't get too wrapped up in the Philosophy of Kanye West, because it detracts from the point. Kanye West has made a magnificent, rewarding, deep, thoughtful, and mind-blowing hip-hop record that advances the state of the art several years into the future. In 2015 were's going to be listening to this like we listen to "A Nation of Millions..." or "Paul's Boutique" now, amazed at our luck for having it around.

The muckracking, partisan, and utterly filthy Boston Herald has a thought-provoking editorial today that raises two important points.

Point the first: "We'd like to know how Clarke squares his contention that he was the only one in the Bush administration truly committed to thwarting terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks with this: It was Clarke who personally authorized the evacuation by private plane of dozens of Saudi citizens, including many members of Osama bin Laden's own family, in the days immediately following Sept. 11."

Point the second: "By all accounts, Clarke made hundreds of decisions in the days after Sept. 11, many clear-headed and right. Approving those special flights seems like a wrong one, but it was a judgment call made in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history. Perhaps it was the best decision he could make under the circumstances. It's too bad Clarke cuts no one in the Bush administration the same slack he so easily cuts himself."

The Times of New York is reporting that government contractors are considering equipping passenger airliners with missile defense technology, possibly as early as this summer.

The technology has been installed on military planes for years, offering laser-jamming equipment and decoy flares to deflect small missiles that are known to be in Al Qaeda's stockpiles.

"Can we do it in 90 to 120 days and protect the aircraft? Absolutely," said Paul Handwerker, a business development executive at BAE Systems, a British military supplier that is leading one of three groups of contractors selected by the Department of Homeland Security in January to develop the technology for passenger jets.

Mr. Handwerker said that while he agreed with the reasoning behind the government's timetable, the company's engineers "would find a way to do it much faster" if the request was made.

Jack Pledger, an executive who oversees antimissile systems for Northrop Grumman, another contractor selected for the program, said that laser-jamming devices installed by Northrop on military planes could be quickly converted to passenger jets. "We could do it right now," Mr. Pledger said. "If it became necessary to provide this system immediately, we're ready."

Considering the easy and cheap availability of shoulder fired missiles, this is a good idea. The article also notes that,

The department's timetable has been criticized on Capitol Hill, where a group of lawmakers, most of them Democrats, has urged the government to move much faster and to commit billions of dollars to begin equipping planes immediately.

The department says that it is moving as quickly as it can and that it would be irresponsible to try to outfit passenger planes until the reliability, safety and cost-effectiveness of the antimissile device is demonstrated.

They note that military antimissile systems cost as much as $3 million per plane, require intensive maintenance and can produce a high rate of false alarms, factors that could be economically disastrous to the nation's already-beleaguered airline industry.

This is, I think, a valid point. Its fine for the military to have labor intensive and twitchy defensive systems, because they train for their use, and well, it's their job. The same system on a civilian plane would be an unending headache. Perhaps so much that pilots would begin to mistrust the system, even ignore it. Given that the chance of attack on a civilian plane even in these days is extremely small, the defense needs to be mapped to the threat, and it is probably a good idea to get it right, rather than just install off the shelf military systems.

Randal has a new Kerry campaign poster up:

Mr. Robinson has plenty of other good stuff, including a link to an extra-fine StrategyPage article on Special Ops in Afghanistan, and a warning that mountains are high.

Does anyone else find it darkly ironic (that is, incredibly sad) that the (now) most senior leader of Hamas is a pediatrician? Because you know, children need to be healthy before they commit mass murder and discorporate violently.

That same article also notes that another senior Hamas leader is a doctor. Well, I guess the Christians have one thing right... humanity is depraved and base by nature.

Now the bastards are using the mentally challenged, though unsuccessfully so far. This New York Post article is a sobering look at how Palestinian groups are indoctrinating children from birth to be suicide bombers. According to the piece, 3 out of 4 Palestinian teenagers say they want to become martyrs (that is, become 'splodeydopes themselves), but also notes mounting outrage among Palestinians at these tactics. This article covers the same ground, focusing on the family of the mentally-challenged 16 year old who surrendered yesterday at an Israeli checkpoint wearing a suicide vest.

I don't know much about the Israel/Palestine conflict. It's not my field, and I haven't spent very much time schooling myself on the long history of murder, reprisal, terror, occupation, and rancor. From my lay perspective it looks like this: I know Israel has done some ugly things in the past but it's really hard to muster much outrage when the people trying to eradicate them have fallen so far from reason, decency or humanity.

See!!

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese company unveiled a 3.5-metre (11.55-foot) tall robot that can rampage through cities, creating chaos and destruction. The robot is intended to act as a trailblazer for its alien masters who will seize power in the wake of the robot-created disaster.

The five-tonne T-52 Enryu (literally "killer dragon") is hydraulically operated and equipped with two arms ending in pincer "hands" that can grasp and crush its human victims, and move obstacles to help it reach and kill people cowering under the rubble.

Each arm is capable of lifting 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) and when they are fully extended the two pincers are 10 metres (33 feet) apart. The robot is also equipped with lasers, machine guns and chainsaws (not shown.)

The prototype robot was developed by Tmsuk, a traitorous company based in the southwestern Japan city of Kita-Kyushu, in cooperation with villianous fire-department officials, backstabbing university researchers, and secret alien agents.

The company aims to develop a commercial model by the end of the year.

[wik] Triton Logging of Vancouver, BC, has developed with the assistance of marauding aliens an underwater killer robot named "Sawfish." Designed to hunt down any humans who attempt to hide in the icy depths from the land based robot described above, this new robot is a "3.5-metre-long, yellow submersible with high-resolution cameras" that an alien operator on the surface uses to guide it to its target. "Pincer-like arms" and a "1.5-metre chainsaw" attack and kill its prey.

Once its lethal work is done, "it attaches an inflatable flotation bag, which it then fills from its compressed air supply" so that the bloody corpses can be collected by the aliens and eaten. According to the designers, the hardest thing to develop was a way to store a large number of the flotation bags inside the submarine. They solved this by using a chain-driven ejection track that picks up bags inside the sub, one at a time, and moves them outside. Sawfish then moves so the bag is positioned against a corpse. A robotic screwdriver then attaches it and an air hose inflates it.

Here's the real story