KPMG makes hysterical, self-serving wardriving report. The clueless boys at KPMG UK have decided to drum up a little security-hysteria consultancy biz by doing a "study" on open WiFi.   via [Boing Boing Blog]

I know most everyone in tech is hurting from the industry downturn...but seriously, can't the smart folks at KPMG (all 2 of you) find something better to do with their time?  I mean between this report and recording their corporate anthems you almost get the impression that this company is run by Rain Man.  At least Arthur Andersen had the decency to make themselves a little money off of their stupidity.

I don't think Dave really understands the fact that if we don't win the war in Iraq, we will be picked off by suicide bombers in the U.S.  I hate to break it to everyone out there, but I have been abroad, in several different countries, and we are enemy number one on many people's hate lists.  And despite everything they say, it has nothing to do with our political tactics, our arrogance, or anything else other than our success level.  People hate us for our microwaves, our Tivos and our reality TV shows.  They hate us because we work more hours and we are more money-hungry than any other country in the world.  They hate the fact that at the end of the day, they go home and we're still working, and they hate it when the paychecks come in and we go out shopping and we have more stuff than they do.

They (and I'm really talking about Europe and South America for the most part) will go on and on about how they have a more balanced outlook on life, they have better healthcare, they have more fun...but at the end of the day it pisses them off when your fat Aunt Gertrude visits their country, drops $10,000 in a week there, and then bitches cuz they don't have ranch dressing in their restaurants, or says something like, "isn't it cute the way the poor kids dance for you if you give them $0.25? Henry go put your arm around the dirty peasant so I can get a picture for the kids."

They hate the fact that she does it.  But they really hate the fact that they need her to do it to survive.

And they hate the fact that when we come in, we make their countries richer, but we make our country even richer than that.  You want to know what one of the most popular restaurants in Managua, Nicaragua is?  T.G.I. Fridays.

You want to know what one of the most popular restaurants in La Paz, Bolivia was last time I was there?  McDonald's.  I'm talking about 2 hour waits on a Tuesday night for a McFlurry.

They hate the fact that when American tourists go abroad they often times eat at a Hard Rock Cafe or a Bennigan's in the foreign country.  And they hate the fact that their own people do too.

And those are the successful countries.  When you've got cases like Somalia or Iraq where an oppressive regime is telling the people that there is no food because the Americans took it all, or there is no money because the Americans don't pay full price for their oil, certain people watching their kids die of starvation are going to quite naturally be pissed off about it.  They might even be tempted to laden themselves full of explosives and run into a platoon full of U.S. troops, or drive a plane into the World Trade Center.

So here comes the real question;  how do you get money to the people of countries whose regimes don't want them to have money?   How do you feed people dying of hunger whose leaders don't want them to be fed?

In the same way that Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat for all of Germany's problems after World War I, many countries' leaders are blaming their ills on the U.S.  It's easy, it's fun, and it's reelectable...or at the very least it quells rebellions.  We have become the modern day whipping boy, because we are at the top of the pile.  The fact is this war has been brewing for decades now, and nothing we have done has made this problem go away, not Carter, not Reagan, not Bush Sr., not Clinton, not Bush Jr.  Democrats and Republicans alike have failed on diplomacy and these are people who have dedicated the majority of their life to the task.

The only way we are going to end this "war" is to bring these people a level of success economically that allows them to compete in our world.  And the only way to do that is to convince the people who have a vested interest in the current status quo in those countries to step down from power or at the very least convince them to relax some of their power.  Diplomacy and negotiation should be used first, but I think in the case of Iraq, diplomacy has failed.  And this is not a failure on the part of the diplomats, but rather a failure of that particular tool of persuasion.

And you thought Saddam was bad.  Check out how his son runs the Olympic Games program in Iraq.

This is honestly information that I wasn't aware of.  I knew Uday was a nutcase and fond of torture, but I had no idea what he really did with his spare time.  Anyone want to explain to me again how you can still be against the replacement of Iraq's current regime?

Iraqi guard moves to save Saddam's regime.

Military experts are unanimous that the Republican Guard forces are no match for U.S. troops in firepower, technology or training.

''Even if the Guard fights as hard as it did during the Gulf War, it simply lacks the numbers, the equipment or the skills to actually defeat a U.S. invasion,'' says Amatzia Baram, an analyst with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Saddam's plan, Baram says, is to order his most loyal units ''to withdraw into the city and fight while hiding behind the civilian population.''

So I wonder who will get blamed for the civilian casualties that occur at the siege stage of the war?  Is it the American troops who are advancing on Baghdad or the Elite Republican Guard who will use them as shields unwillingly.   I think it telling that Iraq's strategy is to use its own citizens as cannon fodder.  I have a hard time picturing our troops doing that were an invasion of the U.S. to occur.

In one notable battle called 73 Easting, nine Abrams tanks from the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment destroyed more than 30 Iraqi armored vehicles -- including numerous tanks -- in 23 minutes. ''It was more like a one-sided clay pigeon shoot than an armored battle,'' wrote Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor in their book about the conflict.

I hope that once the battles commence in the coming days that the Republican Guard realize how hopelessly outmatched they are and surrender quickly.  It would just make things that much easier.