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Wednesday, February 26, 2003
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Amy Fisher to Keep Kids Safe from Guns. Amy Fisher, the pistol-packin' Long Islander who set off a frenzy of tabloid headlines a decade ago when she shot her lover's wife, celebrated the end of her parole on Wednesday by announcing her intention to work for causes aimed at keeping handguns away from minors. [FirearmNews.com]
A convicted murderer advocating victim disarmament? Imagine that. It's a little surprising that she's being so blatant about it, though.
9:23:26 PM 
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Bush sets out Iraq vision. Iraq without Saddam Hussein would be a "dramatic and inspiring example" to the region, according to US President George W Bush. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]
I wonder if it will be as "dramatic and inspiring" as the example set by Iran after the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq?
5:43:02 PM
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More Bones of Contention. A fresh twist in the saga of Kennewick Man, the apparently caucasoid 9,000 year old skeleton who modern Indian tribes... [Hit & Run]
The Indian tribes don't want scientists to investigate the bones, which they claim belong to their ancestor (an obviously absurd claim). What the two articles linked to don't address is the question which should be the only relevant one: who owns the land where the skeleton was found?
3:41:31 PM
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Grounding Model Rockets. The invaluable Space.com reports on the threat to model rocketry contained in the Homeland Security Act: An excerpt: "A provision... [Hit & Run]
It turns out that, in addition to creating the American KGB, it also includes a roundabout ban on model rocket motors.
3:07:05 PM
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Kottke: "When companies get big, do they just naturally turn into bullies or is it a conscious decision?" [Scripting News]
I think it's a result of getting big enough to have a legal department.
10:11:48 AM
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Charlie Reese -
The Facts About Rebellion - Mr. Reese has no bones to pick with
Honest Abe, but he uses this example to make a point that every
country's leaders will crush an internal rebellion. Saddam has lots of
company on that score. [lew]
Which political leader made war on his own people, killing 262,000 of
them, burning their cities, destroying their food supply and placing
the survivors under military occupation?
If your answer is Saddam Hussein, you're wrong. The answer is Abraham
Lincoln.
Accepting the Northern but incorrect view of the War Between the
States, Lincoln did exactly the same thing Saddam Hussein did. When
"his own people" rose up in armed rebellion, he crushed the rebellion,
brutally and decisively.
...
It's quite true that, like any other dictator, Saddam treats his
political opponents harshly, but it's also true that if you stay out
of politics, you could live as freely in Baghdad as you can in New
York City. Unlike a communist-style dictator, Saddam doesn't give a
damn what Iraqis think or do unless it involves a threat to his hold
on power. There are two categories of dictators: totalitarians who
want to control every aspect of a person's life, and gangsters who
just want to stay in power. Saddam is in the gangster category. Iraqi
women, for example, are entitled to free education, just the same as
men, and are free to choose any vocation they wish. Prior to the Gulf
War, Iraq had one of the largest middle classes in the Middle East,
one of the best education systems and one of the best health care
systems. We, not Saddam, have destroyed all three with the war and
economic sanctions.
[End the War on Freedom]
9:48:33 AM
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Friends and Enemies. The Washington Post provides a window on how war fever has changed the views of once pro-American Arabs. In Cairo,... [Hit & Run]
"I feel we have been deceived about the nature and character of the United States of America," he said.
Remarkably, these are the words of a friend. Naggar is a World Bank veteran who quotes the Declaration of Independence and whose son is a U.S. citizen. His library is stocked with works of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and "all the great founders." He lived for 17 years in Washington, where he says he never felt like a foreigner, and still longs for the city's intellectual and artistic life and his favorite Asian restaurants.
In 1991, he founded a group called the New Civic Forum "to promote the ideas and ideals of the United States of America." Today, the very thought gives rise to a long, boisterous laugh.
"I still believe in these values," he said, wiping his eyes, "but I don't call them American ideals anymore."
Those certainly are still American ideals. The problem is that the US government has been betraying our ideals for many, many years. Sadly, I can't see any way to explain it to people elsewhere in the world. The US government today has nothing to do with what the government is supposed to be, and the US media is actively hostile to American ideals.
9:36:16 AM
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Thai drug war toll nears 1,000. Thailand's interior ministry says the death toll from a crackdown on drugs has reached 993 in 24 days. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who will have served half of his mandate on Thursday, again dismissed the allegations of a shoot-to-kill policy.
"They did not die because government officers killed them, they killed each other," he told reporters.
Nice try at evasion, but even if the dead people did kill each other in gang warfare, it's still the government that made drugs illegal and leaves people in the drug industry no choice but to use violence to resolve disputes.
9:21:31 AM
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For now, the flag and the blog are my weapons.
For days I have been pondering on how to answer Ken Hagler on the comment he made on his site on my story [base "]Woke up in a dictatorship today[per thou]. Ken[base ']s comment was direct and simple, and coincides with my gut feeling when I see what is happening around me:
[base "]I think at some point, perhaps now, the people of Venezuela should stop relying entirely on protests and exercise their right to "vote 'no' with the weapon of their choice."
You see, I have always seen myself as a pacifist. Never shot a gun. Never considered reacting or acting violently in my life. During the last year, I have gone to marches, demonstrations, and protests believing that the sheer numbers of people involved would convince the Government that the only way out of our crisis was some form of an electoral solution. It is in the Constitution, which Chavez himself created. That is what Constitutions are for, they are there, you have to respect them, and you look for the protections that it provides for you, even if you don[base ']t like the Constitution. But it has not worked. The control that Hugo Chavez has on what are supposed to be the independent powers: the electoral commission, the Supreme Court and the National Assembly are such that we are further away from any election at this point when we were on Nov. 4th., when we submitted the petition to have the consultative referendum.
I also believed that the OAS mediated negotiating table, while useless in the end, would keep Chavez in check. It would stop him from going beyond what civilized rules call for. At that time it appeared as if Chavez and his Government were at least afraid of international opinion, which they had masterfully managed to their advantage. But Chavez is simply a user. Whether it is [base "]the people[per thou], his collaborators, international opinion or even his wife, Chavez uses people, gets the most out of them to his advantage and then disposes them at will. And he moves on.
And I marched, I blogged, I e-mailed, I chanted, I screamed and I did all of the things that I thought would inevitably force Chavez to come to terms with the fact that his mandate has been cancelled. He is no longer popular. His supporters are a minority across all social strata. The revolution is dead, it was simply not viable under his primitive and incompetent leadership.
But what has not been viable was my belief in decency, fairness and rationality. That is not how Hugo Chavez[base '] minds works. So, instead of the rosy electoral solution we have slipped further and further into this violent dictatorship. And if last week it was the shock to see the deaths of dissident military officers, followed by the order to capture the two most important opposition leaders, this week it is the shock of huge C4 bombs exploding at diplomatic missions four blocks from my home.
And thus we come to Ken[base ']s suggestion to stop the protest and start relying on our weapon of choice. And I do want to march to the presidential palace. And I hate it everytime our marches are cancelled or stopped because Chavez[base '] violent supporters are there waiting for us. And I think it is time to prove to the country and the world that there is no space that can be banned to us. But at the same time, I believe that the only reason we are right, the only reason we are truly superior, the only reason why we are the honorable and decent opposition to an outlaw Government, is simply that we refuse to go and fight under their own terms. I prefer to blog tonight and then go to tomorrow[base ']s march with my flag and whistle and get shot at by Chavez[base '] supporters, than to go armed and shoot somebody. Maybe that is why we are losing, if indeed we are. But I still feel we will win in the end, because we are indeed morally right, we are morally better. We have proven it!
Will this change if we start getting shot at daily? I don[base ']t know, and I hope I never find out...... [Miguel Octavio: Venezuela]
I hope his approach works--it would be better all around if it did. I'm afraid that refusing to fight back actually is fighting under the government's terms. Still, Chavez's latest actions are so blatant that even the pro-Communist news media can't really pretend he's a great guy any more--maybe that will help.
8:59:14 AM
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© Copyright
2005
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
3/9/2005; 2:48:27 PM.
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