Our Imperialist Plans Aren't Going Too Well

The U.S. has not only transferred soverngeity to the Iraqi interim government, but also given custody of Saddam Hussein to them, as well. Somebody needs to tell George Bush this isn't the way to go about monopolizing oil reserves. For all of you imperialists out there, a vote for Kerry might be better. After all, he seems to support the French way of doing things...

*UPDATE*
Some more interesting facts about the French. Compare them to the other countries.

Is This Real?

I have a hard time believing that Rev. Moon exists, has said stuff like this, and owns a major newspaper.

Here's the more complete story. I am incredibly skeptical that senators are attending the meetings of a crazy cult leader. If it's true, we have reached a new low in politics.

Currently Obsessed with...

This game.

I've been stuck on level 10 for over a day now.

Kerry foiled by GOP Senators

John Kerry attempted to stop by and vote on a particular bill in the Senate, one over veteran's benefits. However, the Republicans in the Senate delayed the vote. Kerry apparently will not vote on the bill now. The part of the article that caught my attention was a quote from Kerry:

"It's politics at its silliest," he told CNN. "It speaks for itself."

Brwee... Brwee... Brwee... Hypocrisy alert sounding! Who's playing politics? Maybe Kerry should be in the Senate more than 20% of the time. After all, the voters in Massachusetts didn't elect him to campaign. I think that it was bad form for Frist to get the vote delayed, but completely justified by Kerry's lack of commitment to getting his job done.

Suicide Bombers are Unpreventable

Rakiir at Teleologic Blog explains why you cannot prevent suicide bombers. To defeat the jihadists, we must be proactive:

"...No defense and no preventive measures can succeed against a determined suicide murderer. This has not yet penetrated the thinking of the Western World. The U.S. and Europe are constantly improving their defense against the last murder, not the next one. We may arrange for the best airport security in the world. But if you want to murder by suicide, you do not have to board a plane in order to explode yourself and kill many people. Who could stop a suicide murder in the midst of the crowded line waiting to be checked by the airport metal detector?..."

This seems to be undeniable. There is no concievable way to make society safe from suicide bombers. The only strategy that has any hope of working is to destroy the infrastructer [sic] which supports such killers and attack the ideology which supports them.

He's right on target. We are in a total war; this should be obvious to every American after the execution of Paul Johnson. Every American is a target, and the war won't win until we give up or kill every competent terrorist.

Shootout with Saudi Police Kills Executer of U.S. Civilian

Paul Johnson, Jr., a civilan who built Apaches with Lockheed-Martin in Saudi Arabia, was kidnapped and executed by al-Queda operatives on Friday. Now, the Saudi security forces got in a shootout with them, killing four. The dead include the most wanted man in Saudi Arabia, Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin. This won't end the attacks, but at least it will make the terrorists pause before they attempt more atrocities.

Space Probe at Saturn

The space probe Cassini has finally reached Saturn, its main destination. Cassini will start orbiting on June 30th. I remember, years ago, when it was launched, I wrote a horrible skit about aliens on Saturn being disrupted by Cassini. I forget the plot (if there even was one), but it's good to see the space probe finally get there.

Time for a rant.

One of the exceptions to my rule of limited government funding is space exploration. The initial amount of capital needed is huge to undertake a trip to the moon. It's just not going to happen without the government. However, NASA currently needs a huge overhaul. Lacking a clear purpose while retaining the incredible funding appropriated since the space race, NASA has become another bloated government agency. Either we need to have a complete overhaul of the agency, or we need a new one altogether. Both options are rather impractical, unfortunately.

George W. Bush Is Not a Fiscal Conservative

It's been pretty obvious to anybody who watches politics, but Andrew Sullivan lays it out clearly and quantitatively (via an AEI study). More liberal on spending than Bill Clinton? Wow.

Unfortunately, there is no one to take his place. Kerry is a principle-less jerk and the Libertarian candidate should be placed in a mental institution.

Fascinatingly, Badnarik has softened his image, post-nomination, and eliminated many hilarious articles on his website. There was an interview in which he stated that he would attempt to prosecute IRS officials for taxing people. It's a shame the transcript has disappeared from the site.

Pistons Win!

The Pistons have won the national title! They beat the Lakers 100-87 last night. I'm glad; although I respect Shaq and Kobe and The Glove and The Mailman, they haven't played as a team. The game the Lakers play is analogous to street ball: they all play for themselves. Who can get the most points? most rebounds? The Pistons play totally different. Without a true star, they have to cohere as a unit to win. That's what they did. Congratulations!

John Leo

John Leo is an excellent syndicated columnist and contributing editor at U.S. News and World Report. I recommend his columns highly; whether he falls on the left or right of an issue, he is logical, clear, and witty. In fact, I just finished reading one of his older collections of columns that I found unpacking. It was excellent, and occasionally eerie in its near-perfect predictions.

Supreme Court rules on Pledge case

The Supreme Court ruled today on the case Elk Grove Unified School District V. Newdow. Michael Newdow, an atheist, had argued that the phrase "under God" should be eliminated from the Pledge of Allegiance, citing the First Admendment. Although reciting the Pledge is optional, Mr. Newdow argued that to abstain would put undue pressure on his 3rd-grade daughter.

The Supreme Court ruled 8-0 to dismiss the case because Mr. Newdow does not have custody of his daughter. Mr. Newdow never married the mother of his child, and is in another court battle currently, attempting to hash out custody and visitation rights. It's a logical decision, but one without backbone. The Supreme Court needs to rule, for once and for all, on the separation of Church and State.

I think that we will need to do some serious distortion of the Constitution to rule that the government cannot put "under God" in the Pledge, or have other non-denominational, non-religious references to God (e.g. "In God We Trust"). Just look at the Declaration of Independence. The justification for the American Revolution is grounded in the existence of a God, and a moral God, at that. Nothing more is noted; indeed, this God can be Allah, Jesus, YHWH, the God of the Unitarians or Deists, or even the inner light of the Quakers (although that one might be a stretch).

Morality and laws both start to become arbitrary and groundless without something above humanity. It is necessary that we follow in the tradition of our Founders and continue to affirm the existence of God. Thomas More wrote in Utopia that atheists could not hold office in his imaginary world of Utopia. They were allowed to be citizens and live in peace, but were not considered to have enough discernment to be an official. Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the Founders would not have necessarily been opposed to a similar law.

As Soon As You Get to Do Something Fun In School...

...they fire the teacher that let you do it.

Thanks to Dave Barry for the link.

Moving!

I'm moving across the state tomorrow. Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting recently, but it's been crazy trying to get everything ready for the movers to come. You don't realize just how much stuff you have until you move. Wish me luck; it's going to be crazy. I just hope everything (and -body) gets there in one piece.

(and a *sniff* goes out to my central PA contingent. I'll always be with you in spirit, if not in body.)

A Short Guide to World Religions..

Is being written over at Teleologic Blog. It seems to be pretty accurate and insightful so far. Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Judaism have been covered. Check it out!

Iron Blog Battle Update

The debate over torture is done at the Iron Blog. Robin Pratt, the Iron Blogger Green won 242-229. I thought that the Challenger (Chris from NH) should have won, as did two of the judges, but that may have been in part because of my bias towards his more philosophical argument. He did an incredible job, especially since was forced to argue for against his beliefs for the debate. If you have the time, read the whole debate. When I printed it out at 9-point font, it was about 25 pages long, so it's not something you can read really quickly. It is worth it, however.

If you are interesting in moving beyond the rhetoric of American politics and getting into the issues, this is the blog for you. I just hope that it keeps on going.

*UPDATE* Apparently, the link to the debate verdict didn't work. I guess you'll just ahve to scroll down a bit to find it. Hey, at least it'll burn another calorie or two.

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Overturned

The ban on partial-birth abortions (technically called "dilation and extraction," the most descriptive and accurate term is probably "killing the baby during delivery") was overturned by surprise, surprise, a court in San Francisco.

The judge's main objections were that the act restricted the mother's right to choose.

This is crazy. She is right; it does restrict the mother's actions. However, all the laws in America restrict our choices. If the mother's rights truly are paramount, then we should legalize infanticide. After all, maybe something comes up in the mother's career and the baby becomes inconvenient; or perhaps the mother loses her job and cannot afford to feed the baby.

The fact remains that the fetus/baby is in the middle of being born, can feel pain, and is viable. Whatever you wish to call it, the f/b is alive. To kill it is a travesty. While I believe that there's always a better option, if you are going to have an abortion, you should do it early in the pregnancy. Partial-birth abortion is unnecessary, brutal, and indicative of a society in which something has gone horribly wrong. This ban is one thing that President Bush has done right. Let's just hope that Judge Hamilton doesn't get her way.