Monday, September 18, 2006

Marketers Think and God Laughs

Drudge links this article about companies "implicated" in providing E. Coli contaminated bagged spinach. He doesn't mention the delightful name of the first company involved, "Natural Selection Foods". Awkward.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Ghost Dancers for jihad

via Instapundit

"...To read some blogs today, you'd think that this was the 9th century, with camel-riding Jihadis ready to descend on helpless American towns, swinging unstoppable scimitars. It's not that way; it's more like the Ghost Dance or similar movements borne of frustration at losing, movements that do their damage all right, but that are doomed to fail. I don't mean to understate the threat, which is real enough. But it's not on the order of the Cold War, you know, and we won that one."

Ghost Dance?? I don't even think Sioux Falls was threatened by Ghost Dancers. I seem to remember Sitting Bull his-own-self observing about white Europeans "There is no end to them", meaning he and the Ghost Dancers were severely outnumbered. I think we can observe that there is no end to the Islamists right now and for the next several generations. And what's more, the Ghost Dancers already knew they had lost. I don't think the Islamic movement has been informed of that yet, and they have no particular reason to believe it.

"Fundamentalist" Islam is ascendant politically and populationally in Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan (which has nukes and a greater population than Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan combined), other Trashcanistans, and parts of Africa. Even if Iran undergoes a Pistachio Revolution (it won't and if it does it will be a bloody mess), Pakistan is just a well-placed car-bomb or two from its own Islamist government.

To much of the third world Islam is the great equalizer in the undeclared war with Western dominance. As they have in the past, parts of Central and South America will tacitly side with our enemy. China will assist Islamist countries in order to keep us too busy to respond to their Taiwan grab, (2009).

Scimitars? Putting aside nukes, across the entire third world there are young men who can do things with batteries, cell phones, diesel fuel, ammonium nitrate, etc, of which the post-gearhead western culture is almost completely ignorant.

Of course we’re not helpless but we will lose mightily until we decide to win.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

"The Path to 9/11" - Engineers for jihad

I thought the "docudrama" did an excellent job of showing the sincerity and skill set of your average jihadist. They all seemed to be competent in existing in the western culture, they all seemed skilled at rapidly putting together things that go "bang" and they all seemed to enjoy their work. I think this is probably pretty accurate and pretty scary.

Everyone knew the guy in college who liked to experiment with guns, gelatin, firecrackers and lighter fluid. Typically they were 1)engineering majors 2)smart 3)otherwise pretty normal (unlike Atta, most of them wouldn't mind having their genitals washed, especially by a female).

Now, take characteristic 3), deny it access to normal female relationships and a good job, indoctrinate it non-stop with Jew-hatred, America-hatred, jealousy, and a sense of purpose. Train it in all the creative ways to wire up explosives, conceal them, transport them, etc, and then reward each improvement with praise and emotional re-enforcement. Repeat at least 100,000 times (more if you throw in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, etc) and you've got quite an army to work with, and not a uniform among them.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Late getting home from work - can't live blog

Damn, too late to live blog the whole thing, maybe I'll do the President's speech instead.

7:32 - Doesn't make a big deal of the "contested election", classy
7:33 - I thought O'Neill left his briefcase at a party, not at a seminar - More legacy rescue
7:34 - Nice to see the lady from "24" and Gary Schandling as C. Rice - I don't doubt that Clarke was ignored. New brooms can't help but sweep clean at that level
7:37 - O'Neill tells Clarke that PC rules the day
7:38 - Atta looking for loan for crop dusters

7:42 - Mideast suspects have been applying for flight school. Didn't some of these get their papers illegally
7:46 - Khatami refused entry by INS?
7:48 - KSM meets Atta, suggests Moussaui, Atta seems wrapped tight, got the eyes right
7:50 - Moussaui grounded in OK flight school, paid cash for next flight school, visited by INS, famous laptop bagged as evidence
7:53 - O'Neill interested in laptop. Really? FISA request by Colleen Rawley? - No guess not
7:56 - Moussaud taling about Taliban and UBL in Europe? Mossaud's character has all the earmarks of conflation, even if he really exists.
7:58 - Moussaud warns "Kirk", sounds mighty speculative

COOL they're breaking for Bush
8:20 - "Kirk" tells Tenet that they're planning something big. Tenet "threat information is off the charts". Clumsy writing here.
8:22 - Rice doesn't come off bad so far
8:24 - O'Neill announces new position at WTC "new sheriff in town?" I wonder
8:25 - Derivative of "Spanish Caravan" playing in background in Madrid. What? No drums?
8:28 - AQ heading for the mountains, cool music for once, Moussaud looks worried
8:30 - America must prepare, tell them "Kirk", "Patricia" shows up again to sound worried, Aviation, hijackers
8:31 - Bush believes AQ is a real threat and wants to try Predator, Hellfire missile is not ready, legality in question? Tenet comes off terribly, Clarke looks like a genius of course
8:33 - Moussaud will be dead soon, I'm betting, cameraman looks scary - yep
8:38 - I wonder if Rick Rescorla met O'Neill in his first two weeks on the job
8:40 - back to "Patricia" and "Kirk" "as true an ally as we ever had" re Moussaud, think Hitchens thought highly of him
8:42 - Atta's got daddy issues, gee really?
8:43 - do we get to see them go to the strip clubs? damn! What about Atta's desire to not have anyone wash his genitals?
8:45 - baggage check shows "Warning", etc
8:46 - back to the sticker from last night
Maybe not up for this last part.
8:53 - Who said Building two was secure? I've always wondered. Was O'Neill there? I guess so. It's unfortunate he only had two weeks to prepare - I know he died there
9:05 - too much camera shake
9:06 - Clarke is the Decider!!

Solid ending - Good Enough

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Live-Blogging "The Path to 9/11" Sunday Night, Central Time

I'll be forgoing the Simpsons premier tonight to do something I haven't tried before - live-blogging.

Now, live-blogging a docudrama is probably dumb, but good practice for more important stuff and who knows maybe I'll contribute something useful, or learn how to type really fast. Obviously, I haven't seen the show yet. I'm not hoping for much even though I have enjoyed watching Clinton, Berger, et al, squirm.

6:58 - America's Funniest Video, nice segue

7:00 - I'm going to need commercial breaks
Long disclaimer - okay
Black and white opening, sad piano music - now I know how to feel.
Co-executive producer Thomas Kean. I think he'll have plausible deniability.
7:05 - more disclaimer, odd how it tries to get gravitas from the commission's own admission of it's limitations
7:07 - Shakey-cam!!!
7:08 - Legacy rescue for John O'Neill, "no one gets in the building without a sticker". Was he really at work at 7:15 am? I think I read he was out til 2:00 am the night before.

7:12 - Okay, down to business, 1993
Ramzi Yousef looks like Jim Caviezel - no I take that back.
7:15 - nice special effects on fuse lighting
7:18 - most movies do a poor job of showing the shock wave (and flesh displacement) of explosions, this one not too bad.
7:20 - good job showing inside of firefighter's mask
7:25 - CSI moment with the bomb squad, rapid VIN ID. Needless "tension", move on.
7:27 - Brief review of Kahane shooting, cool.
7:31 - A police procedural - with music!!, dull
7:33 - FBI guy beefing to John Miller, reporter, dull
7:36 - Muslim informant with a concience, looking for more money, saying I told you so
7:37 - Okay, we've established that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was a party boy
7:38 - so far the bad guys are for more interesting, a reaction that makes me check my reason for watching
7:40 - somebody tipped off the press - really??
7:44 - waayy too many close-ups. Come back Sergio Leone, all is forgiven
Not sure blogspot can handle all this posting
7:46 -"See if Janet Reno has any balls" - Waco reference - nice
7:47 - Ramzi Youself aka "Horseface", calls to mind the movie "Rockers" featuring a drummer named "Horsemouth"
7:49 - didn't know he tried to bomb Bhutto - hid out in the Phillipines? Wonder if he ever met McVeigh and Nichols?
7:56 - If I'm Beavis and Butthead I say "Ramzi Yousef is Cool!!"
7:58 - Phillipine police worry about warrants before opening laptops??
7:59 - good to see Donnie Wahlberg as "Kirk". He was great in Band of Brothers
8:00 - Stephen Root ("Dodgeball", Bill on King of the Hill) as Richard Clarke
8:02 - O'Neill, Hands on the neck "We don't lose this guy" - oy vey
8:09 - O'Neill in a restaurant, is this where the love interest comes in?
8:10 - Pakistan has flies, okay, I knew that, head covering for hottie
8:13 - This Yousef guy is really interesting. Sort of a Muslim Scarface
8:16 - Good tension right here. You sort of care about the informant Ishtiak
8:22 - Freeh wants Bill Gavin to arrest Yousef. This is the first indication of the Sec of State holding up the process of arresting someone important. Fictional?
8:23 - Freeh gives the go-ahead
8:25 - hate to admit it, but I'm completely involved at this point. Wonder if Ishtiak survives?
8:29 - I hope Ishtiak is a real character. His dialogue about innocents seems contrived.
8:32 - here comes the scene where Yousef reveals his lack of money for taking down the towers
OOOH disclaimer time, need a brownie and bathroom break
8:36 - jump to 98, UBL Fatwa
8:37 - Richard Clarke looks like Kenneth McMillan, the crazy guy from Twin Peaks. "Kirk" wonders why John Miller can find UBL but we can't
8:42 - Okay, Massoud of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan appears, meets "Kirk" "Mark" and "Alex" CIA
8:44 - Mary Jo White shows up. O'Neill actually did hang out at Elaines, as I remember it.
8:47 - good scene with CIA in Afghanistan, jump to Tenet, Amy Madigan as "Patricia", Cool
8:50 - "War is about killing the enemy and destroying their property" "How do you win a long and orderly war"

8:51 - "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"
8:53 - Can't kill UBL on purpose, "Lets go"

8:54 - Sandy Berger doesn't have authority
8:55 - Money shot showing Bergers sweating the UBL grab. Does seem forced and fake.
8:56 - John Miller, journalist, comes off smarter than anyone else, of course
Did the State Department really ignore warnings about increasing security in Nairobi?
8:58 - Dude, "Kirk" is everywhere, here comes Nairobi bombing, cheesy explosion
9:01 - Big fictional scene with "Patricia". Like Madigan but she's got the worst lines.
9:04 - What's with the damn drums while they're arresting the guy in Nairobi?
9:06 - precursory chemicals? Isn't that precursor? Could be wrong
9:08 - al shifa aspirin plant missiling, John Miller in Khartoum at same time? Really? Wow.
9:09 - I guess I didn't need this show to remind me that Clinton was a fuck up
9:10 - Zawaharie says the "war has begun". I bet he would be pissed.
9:12 - Washington warned Pakistan that they were preparing to missile UBL, Northern Alliance in trouble, Taliban executing survivors. Seems believable
9:17 - Al Qaeda training camp, KSM proposes plan "the Planes Operation" catchy.
9:19 - Clinton is Satan, heh
9:20 - imagined conversations between KSM and Zwaharie - no one's bitching about that.
9:22 - Everyone gripes about Halliburton making money off the Iraq war but no one complains about all those Toyota trucks the Taliban use ; )
9:23 - Ressam at Canadian border, millenium plot, sharp-eyed US Customs agent, missed her name, should know it. Ammonium nitrate is not urea, dialog doesn't match bag label, weird scene.
9:30 - Arrests prior to New Years, As South Park says "we need a montage!!"
9:33 - Giuliani won't cancel Times Square celebrations, false tension here. Why does John O'Neill sound like Robert DeNiro? Way too much arty-farty camera work here. Give it a rest Oliver!
9:37 - John Miller "we dodged a bullet" gosh he's smart!
9:38 - now back to 9/11, in case you forgot, good close though, another disclaimer,
wait for it, wait for it...

Overall, B+.
Good action in foreign locales. Actor who plays Yousef should get a Grammy. Keitel not convincing.

I'm ashamed to admit I found the terrorist far more convincing than those trying to catch them, except "Kirk". CIA operatives on the ground come off very brave and competent. I don't doubt for a moment that they were and are. Thanks guys.

ABC is covering itself with a special Nightline until 10:00pm. Clarke gets more camera time. Yay.