Category: Blogging

September 11th Firefighter’s Memorial Unveiled

SF Chronical writes on the firefighter’s memorial

SF Chronical writes on the firefighter’s memorial:

There is that instant of horror to be relived, forever frozen in bronze. There are scenes of valor and camaraderie to be celebrated. There are names to be touched and traced: the Fire Department’s 343 dead.

But the most poignant messages of the first large-scale Sept. 11 monument at ground zero — a bold, literal and almost neo-Classical 56-foot-long bronze relief — will never be visible. Those are the private thoughts written by firefighters on the back of the south panel, just before the monument was installed last month on the side of “10 House,” the engine and ladder company across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center.

 

Here is the broadband link to the NYT interactive guide. (don’t click the link if you aren’t DSL or better…)

Here also is a link to an online tribute.

Nuclear Storage needed now

In a balanced article at the SF Chronicle they detail most of the issues surrounding fuel storage, and the reasons why we need to get the Yucca Mountain Storage facility in place.

In a balanced article at the SF Chronicle they detail most of the issues surrounding fuel storage, and the reasons why we need to get the Yucca Mountain Storage facility in place. Either that or the lawyers need to get out of the Goshutes way.

Troop levels – just right

More troops in theater are not needed to destroy any assault the insurgents can mount, their sole purpose if they were sent would be to patrol, support, and suppress. That would create inescapable dependencies from the Iraqi army, and make the standing up of those units take much longer.

At some time in the future we will be at peace, and sometime later in the future we will be at war again. Wars will come and wars will go as evil rises and falls again — in all of history there have been few years without war or conflict of some level in some part of the world. 

Against this backdrop we still inexorably progress, and life gets better on average for most peoples of the earth. Wars dim and fade, and as we progress the conflicts become more violent at their fronts, but overall war itself becomes less consuming and fewer people die.

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Zarqawi Lunacy erupts

It’s only been two days and the loons are already cranking out the reality bending agitprop…. Zarqawi couldn’t have been a fundamentalist terrorist because he was with a woman in skimpy clothing…. Zarqawi in the pictures was an actor, it was time to end the US terrorism propaganda….. Zarqawi was invited into Iraq by the US……

It’s only been two days and the loons are already cranking out the reality bending agitprop…. Zarqawi couldn’t have been a fundamentalist terrorist because he was with a woman in skimpy clothing….  Zarqawi in the pictures was an actor, it was time to end the US terrorism propaganda….. Zarqawi was invited into Iraq by the US……

You get the idea… their tin-foil hats must be wearing out, and no I’m not giving them the hits by posting links, you can find them yourselves at technorati if you are desperate to enter the homes where the stench of madness rises up the flue.

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Saturday Hodgepodge

Here’s another reason for the demonstrations against the current government of Iran in Azerbaijan — the rantings of Ahmadinejad against Israel might interupt a major source of revenue for the region. Israel buys 40,000 barrels of oil a day from the Azerbaijan region.

Oil for Israel and Europe from Azerbaijan

Here’s another reason for the demonstrations against the current government of Iran in Azerbaijan — the rantings of Ahmadinejad against Israel might interupt a major source of revenue for the region. Israel buys 40,000 barrels of oil a day from the Azerbaijan region.

Upsurge of Attacks by Taliban in Afghanistan leads to Taliban deaths

While the MSM will paint these attacks as losses for the US and the Afgan government of Karzai, they are largely victories. Masses of taliban fighters are being called back by Mullah Omar and others, and they are dieing in masses. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing.

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Nepal Update, Maoists throwing up roadblocks

The US has recognized and encouraged the new democratic government of Nepal, but the Maoists are unhappy with the process, and are throwing up roadblocks. The Government of Nepal has issued formal protest regarding Maoists demanding changes to the peace process. Here’s an article on the government statement from eKantipur:

CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal Saturday blamed the Maoists of trying to disrupt the peace process. “The Maoists have started putting forward new demands in order to deter the peace process,” Nepal said at a programme in the capital today. Nepal’s remarks come after the Maoists repeatedly called for dissolution of the House of Representatives

The US has endorsed the new government since the May 18th act stripped the Monarch of power as below from Wikipedia:

The May 18th act 

The most dramatic move of the post Loktantra Andolan government came on 18 May when the Parliament unanimously voted to strip the King of many of his powers. The bill included:

  • Putting 90,000 troops in the hands of the parliament
  • Placing a tax on the royal family and its assets
  • Ending the Raj Parishad, a royal advisory council
  • Eliminating royal references from army and government titles
  • Declaring Nepal a secular country, not a Hindu Kingdom

The act overrides the 1990 Constitution, written up following the 1990 People’s Movement (Jana Andolan) yet has been described as a Nepalese Magna Carta. According to Prime Minister Koirala, “This proclamation represents the feelings of all the people.”

However, although they will immediately come into force, the plans are seen as provisional until a new constitution can be drawn up.

There are two things that make the communists still a threat: they hold sway over 70 percent of the country, and there is still a lot of class strife in Nepal. (Nepal is 80% Hindu, and Hindu religion creates a classed society) This is the standard formula for dangerous ideologies, they require large populations of uneducated or poorly educated people to obtain power, along with distinct underclasses.

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Eagle Kraft for the KOS Kids

I just wanted to take a moment and help our friends at KOS out a bit with this. Here’s the picture, the seal of the KOS convention, the seal of Sauron, or a twisted projection of the Great Seal of the United States put up so they too can appear patriotic? You decide.

sauron.jpgHere’s a photo from the KOS convention, I just wanted to take a moment and help our friends at KOS out a bit with this. Is it the seal of the KOS convention, the seal of Sauron, or a twisted projection of the Great Seal of the United States put up so they too can appear patriotic? You decide.

Please note that the head is malformed compared to the eagle below, notice also the artistic Freudian slip: the left wing is stunted, weak and malformed. Also note the wing on the right is full and strong, and offers plenty in the form of a sheaf of grain. The left leg is entirely missing, along with the symbol of US might, the traditional sheaf of arrows.

Â

 So, to help the KOS kids out, here’s the KOS Koloring Kontest, along with a picture of how eagles really look:

eagle.jpg

For the rest of you, here is the seal depicted as it’s supposed to be, and what the seal is all about:

presidential seal.gif

 

Cut and run crowd out in force with Zarqawi’s death

Nancy and the democrats still want to cut and run tomorrow, however the job is not done.

Nancy Pelosi Then:

Back in December of 2002, as independent strategic analysts were arguing that the evidence strongly suggested that Iraq had rid itself of its chemical and biological weapons some years earlier, Pelosi categorically declared on NBC’s Meet the Press that “Saddam Hussein certainly has chemical and biological weapons. There’s no question about that.”

Nancy Pelosi Now

“The death of al Zarqawi and the naming of the Iraqi Defense and Interior Minister should bring us closer to that goal, and hasten the day when American troops can come home.”

Nancy and the democrats who helped get us there still want to cut and run tomorrow, however the job is not done. There are still many terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan drawn by the al qaeda magnet and the US troops. It’s too early to end it yet, there’s more work to be done. Our troops aren’t giving up, don’t let Nancy give up for them.

Wind Schism

Anthonares delves into the schisms appearing in the green camp over wind power in this article. It’s well written, and details some of the philosophies underneath the agendas, as I’ve pointed out here in some past posts. (right sidebar, Energy pages I, II, III.)

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