King of Fools

Goodbye, Blogspot

2003-10-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

This is my last post on this blog...because I have decided to move to my own domain. Please click this link to go to king-of-fools.com. If you have a link to this blogspot blog, now would be a great time to change that.

Blogspot is not that bad of a service for the price. If I was paying for it, I would be dissatisfied, but for free it was a great starting point. My main reason for moving is to use Movable Type as well as eliminate downtime. If king-of-fools.com is not working for you yet, I apologize. The DNS update should be complete by Friday.

Again...Go here:

king-of-fools.com

The King

Free Reading Material

2003-10-08T13:03:00.000-05:00

Bored? Need something to help pass the time or battle insomnia? Try these:

The Carnival of the Vanities, where people submit their best posts.

The Bonfire of the Vanities, where they submit their worst.

Kindergarten, for Men

2003-10-08T09:15:00.000-05:00

Is this a passing oddity or an emerging trend? Only time will tell:

BERLIN (Reuters) - German women fed up with their partners' grumbling on weekend shopping trips can now dump them at a special kindergarten for men offering beer and entertainment.

"The women are issued a receipt for their partners when they hand them in and can pick them up again when they return it to us later," Alexander Stein, manager of the 'Nox Bar' in the northern city of Hamburg told Reuters on Tuesday.

The men are given a name badge on arrival and for 10 euros ($11.80) they get two beers, a hot meal, televised football and games.

Stein said the idea for the Saturday afternoon men's creche, or "Maennergarten," came from a female customer who thought it would be a good way of getting shot of her husband so she could shop in peace.

"She found it all too stressful and thought this might be the solution. Both were very happy with the way it turned out.

"Last week the men had a remote control car to play with. Next week there's going to be a mini racetrack," said Stein.

They are also offering a drilling workshop.

"It beats sitting around in shoe shops, that's for sure," one man told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

The funniest part of the whole thing is the name badge and the receipt which is required to collect your man. What would happen if some woman would (accidentally!!!) lose her receipt?

Acidic Commute

2003-10-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

Houston drivers are facing a difficult commute this morning:

About 4:30 Wednesday morning, the driver of an SUV lost control of his vehicle during a tire blow out and struck the 18-wheeler carrying Hydrochloric Acid.

The 18-wheeler rolled on its side, spilling the load of hazardous material on the northbound side of Interstate 45. The spill has closed the northbound side of I-45, the HOV lane, and the northbound feeder of I-45.

HCl is a pretty nasty substance. Hazmat teams are working on the problem, but how do they deal with this kind of problem? Do they actually remove the acid or just use a base to neutralize it? If they do neutralize it, what is the resulting product and how do they deal with that? The news will undoubtably inform the city when the clean-up is complete, but it is doubtful that they will explain what it takes to pull it off.

Dems Need to Forget the Recall

2003-10-08T08:36:00.000-05:00

Hugh Hewitt is spot on once again in this Weekly Standard article:

WITHIN MINUTES of the release of exit polls from California last night, Democrats had wheeled as one and began the hopeless attempt to spin the disastrous verdict. Senator Dianne Feinstein led the charge, but the refrain echoed throughout the party: This was a verdict on Davis's handling of the budget, a handling very similar to the fiscal mismanagement on the national level.

Howard Dean had the message on his website 18 minutes after the polls closed:

'Today's recall election in California was not about Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. This recall was about the frustration so many people are feeling about the way things are going. . . . Tonight the voters in California directed their frustration with the country's direction on their incumbent governor. Come next November, that anger might be directed at a different incumbent . . . in the White House.'

The comparison of Grey Davis to Bush is a very interesting tactic. The Democratic party defended Grey and all his policies to the end, but now that he has fallen, they have completely reversed themselves. Now they are proclaiming that Bush's policies are horribly flawed just like those of Davis and 2004 is not really a Presidential election but actually a recall election. I guess when life gives you lemons...try to put a sour face on your opponent too. What is interesting is the potential result from this strategy:

This delusional spin is great news for Republicans across the country. Gray Davis was booted from office because he imposed a massive tax hike on all California drivers while fecklessly allowing illegal aliens to get drivers' licenses. Davis was all Clinton-Carville when it came to the politics of personal destruction, and he didn't bother to disguise his total dependence on Sacramento's iron triangle of special interests: Indian gambling, trial lawyers, and public employee unions.

All of which is obvious. But when Democrats reflexively reject even the obvious conclusions, they demonstrate a capacity for political suicide reminiscent of Britain's Labour party in the late '70s and early '80s. The refusal of Dean and other senior Democrats to understand Tuesday's vote is an almost certain indication of electoral disaster ahead.

So far, everything out of the Presidential challengers has been the anti-Bush platform. "If he is for it, we are against it." It will be interesting to see if this changes at some point - possibly once someone wraps up the nomination.

UPDATE: Weintraub makes a similar observation:

Several of the Democrats I spoke to were in strong denial about the message sent by the voters, the message being that they, and Davis, have been poor stewards of state government. They see this is an isolated event, a venting, that will quickly pass while they fight to maintain everything they have done the past five years. My gut tells me they are wrong, that there is something deeper here, a desire for fundamental change in the way the state does business and in the way politics works, or doesn’t work, in California.

(Hat-tip to Instapundit)

Hard Disk 'Airbag'

2003-10-07T09:04:00.000-05:00

Here is a fascinating new development from IBM engineers:

The world's first laptops incorporating automatic protection against the damage caused by a drop have been launched by US computer maker IBM.

The new ThinkPad systems use an onboard accelerometer to detect a sudden fall. If an impact seems imminent, then within a tenth of a second the computer's hard drive stops writing data and the read/write head is retracted to a safe position.

This is a pretty amazing idea. Anything to prevent the dreaded "low altitude read" which is so hard on the disk surface, not to mention the read/write head. Sometimes it feels like very large companies such as IBM have lost the ability to innovate. This is a good sign that the corporate culture is not stifling creativity.

Current Project

2003-10-06T10:05:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately. There is a good reason for that. I am currently working on a hosting solution which will allow me to move off of BlogSpot and onto my own domain. I am also working on a site redesign and have developed some extremely cool Movable Type templates.

My new URL will be king-of-fools.com but please don't go there yet...

French Missiles

2003-10-04T16:29:00.000-05:00

Does this news really surprise anyone?

FRENCH-made anti-aircraft missiles built earlier this year have been found in Iraq.

Government officials in Paris were last night struggling to explain how, despite a UN arms embargo being in place for more than 20 years, hi-tech French weaponry made its way to Baghdad.

The sale of French missiles to Iraq at a time when Saddam Hussein was trying to bolster his defences against the looming US invasion threatens to derail efforts to repair the diplomatic damage suffered as a result of Paris's refusal to support military action.

France opposed U.N. involvement in Iraq and President ChIRAQ stands in opposition to the new resolution to rebuild the country. With this new find, it is as clear as ever who France is allies with.

UPDATE: It appears that the Poles were mistaken. It also appears that there is some bad blood developing between France and Poland.

The Council has Spoken

2003-10-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

The Watcher's Council has met and has voted on the posts of the week:

Winning Council Entry:
Money is NOT the Answer! by Alpha Patriot

Winning Non-Council Entry:
Michael Moore's Call to Arms by Brain Terminal

The Indecisive Executive

2003-10-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

Something is happening with the Bob Graham campaign, but no one knows exactly what:

Initially, the Graham campaign announced a news conference for 2 p.m. Friday, suggesting he would quit the race

Ok. Bob Graham is quitting the Presidential race.

But late Thursday, the campaign and the Florida Democratic Party said there would be no news conference.

"Senator Graham has decided to soldier on," said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox.

Maybe not. In the spirit of Strong Mad, he is going to "keep it going".

At least one staffer left amid the speculation about Graham's future.

"This was just the right time for me to move on," said Jamal Simmons, who served as spokesman for the campaign.

Hmmm. His campaign spokesman has quit - maybe he really is leaving the race!

Graham, leaving one of several staff meetings, said, "We'll make a decision shortly."

I understand now. He just hasn't decided yet.

Graham called off a fund-raiser Thursday night in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Spokesman Paul Anderson said Graham canceled the event in hopes of making a Senate vote.

Canceled fundraiser? He is definitely quitting.

A Friday evening fund-raiser in West Palm Beach will still go on, Anderson said.

What? Why continue to raise funds if you are quitting the race?

I think the entire Bob Graham campaign only leaves one possible conclusion: This man (running for president or not) does not have the decision making capability required of any executive position. Running or not, he is already out of the race. What is not known is if it will take him as long to decide to quit as it took him to decide to run?

Flying Dinars

2003-10-03T07:52:00.000-05:00

New Iraqi Dinars are being flown into the country and guarded by troops from Fiji:

CARGO flights are ferrying Iraq's new currency into this northern airbase daily in preparation for its launch later this month, a senior US military officer said today.

He said the new dinar banknotes were being guarded by a contingent of Fijians in a remote corner of Camp Qayyarah, 350 kilometres north of Baghdad, which was once used by ousted president Saddam Hussein's airforce.

"That's affirmative, the currency is being delivered here and looked after by the Fijians but it's a separate operation and has nothing to do with us," the officer, from the 101st Airborne Division, told AFP.

The old dinar, with Saddam's smiling face etched upon it, is destined for the dustbins of history within the next two weeks.

Additional information on how the dinars will be phased in is here:

On 15 October, new Iraqi dinar banknotes will be available. They will replace the existing Iraqi “print” dinars at parity. After 15 October there will be three months to swap the existing notes for new ones.

Of course, if a person was interested in a "Saddam dinar", the are still available...at least on Ebay.

The Disenfranchisement of the U.N.

2003-10-02T15:40:00.000-05:00

It appears that the sovereignty of the U.N. has been snubbed, and the Secretary General is not taking it sitting down:

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday a new U.S. draft resolution on Iraq does not follow his recommendation for a quick transfer of power to an interim Iraqi government.

A quick transfer would facilitate the United Nations' work in Iraq and make it easier for other countries to contribute troops and money without having to go through the U.S.-British occupation authorities.

The revised resolution endorses a step-by-step transfer of authority to an Iraqi interim administration but sets no timetable for the handover of sovereignty and leaves the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in overall c control until elections are held at some future unspecified date.

So Mr. Annan is complaining because his own suggestions for Iraq are not being followed. If his recommendations were followed back in early 2003, the regime of Saddam Hussein would still be in power and would still be doing this. It is not entirely clear why he thinks his ideas would carry weight with the United States and Great Britain, since they violated the U.N. Charter when they liberated the people of Iraq.

It sounds like the Secretary General is just trying to find a way to legitimize himself. After all, his primary claim to fame are the diplomatic relations he had with Saddam Hussein in 1990, again in 1998 and finally (and most unsuccessfully) in 2003. The U.N. does need to find a new cash cow to replace the Conflict of Interest (also known as the Oil-for-Food program) program which is going away in November.

Or perhaps the U.N.'s demand to control all humanitarian aid in Iraq is to protect themselves. They may want to just roll the existing Oil-for-Food program into a new Iraq Humanitarian program. This would be much superior to actually closing the books on the largest of all U.N. programs because the books are starting to look a little Enronesque:

With less than two months until the UN is due to hand over control of Iraq's multi-billion dollar oil-for-food programme to the US-led coalition in Baghdad, US officials say they have yet to ascertain exactly where all the money is.

Any readers interested in the differences between the two draft resolutions can find details here.

UPDATE: Not wanting to miss the whine festival, the French have gotten into the act as well:

France has criticised the United States' latest draft resolution on the future of Iraq, saying it does not deal with its concerns.

"The revised text does not address our wishes," France UN ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said after the Security Council met to discuss the document.

Remember the French? They are the folks who voted against any type of action against Saddam Hussein, and most likely engaged in illegal trade with a sanctioned Iraq. They profited greatly from the oil-for-food program and balked about lifting those same sanctions once Saddam was deposed (although they did grudgingly agree in the end).

The Iraqi people have been rejoicing for 8 months that the actions of the Coalition did not address the wishes of the French.

War on Terror

2003-10-01T05:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a round-up of recent global news regarding terrorism:

Israel: Israeli commandos arrest a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad (hiding under a car) as well as 14 other wanted Palestinians
Belgium: Belgium convicts a former professional soccer player who joined the al Qaeda terrorist network for plotting to bomb a NATO base
Philippines: Philippines appoints anti-terrorism ambassador
Bali: Bali Bomber Begs President for Lighter Sentence
Britain: Britain arrests 11 North African men on suspicion of terrorism
Australia Australia and Japan build counter-terrorism ties
Kenya: Nairobi Police Interrogate Two Terror Suspects
Spain: Interpol Plans Anti-Terrorism Database

Terrorism is obviously a global problem, not just a U.S. or Israeli one.

Arianna Leaves in a Huff

2003-10-01T04:37:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else find this amusing?

Facing single-digit poll support, commentator-turned politician Arianna Huffington pulled out of the race to replace Gov. Gray Davis -- and then abruptly vowed to fight to keep him in office.

Arianna's political run has been full of entertaining ironies. She has railed against the 'evil' gas-guzzling SUV. She drives a Toyota Prius, but her last vehicle was a Lincoln Navigator. She has proclaimed that she wanted to "look at the way that our taxes don't fall equally on the privileged elite". Good for her, except then the facts about her own tax situation emerged: she paid no state income tax and $771 in federal taxes over the last two years. Now, after campaigning to recall Grey Davis and replace him with herself, she bows out of the race and proclaims that he is the best choice after all!

Huffington, who was one of Davis's harshest critics on the campaign trail, on Tuesday urged her supporters to vote against the effort to remove the Democratic governor as 'the only way now to defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger.'

There may have been a reason for her continuous single digit polling: the credibility factor.

Call Me...Call Me...You Can Call Me Anytime At All...Call Me!

2003-09-30T10:19:00.000-05:00

If you are following the Federal Registry formerly known as "Do-Not-Call", here is an update:

The legal wrangling over the national do-not-call list intensified yesterday even as telemarketers said they would stop calling those Americans who put their numbers on the list.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer yesterday declined the telemarketing industry's request to stop the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing the rule that would impose fines on marketers who call any of the more than 50 million telephone numbers now on the list.

Yet hours later, a federal judge in Denver issued an order saying the FCC was not to use the list. The decision, from the same judge who ruled the do-not-call list unconstitutional last week, is just one more legal twist in the increasingly bitter fight over the government's anti-telemarketing rules.

The more information that comes out, the more it seems this decision is less about free speech and more about Edward W. Nottingham:

After U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham banned the FTC last week from enforcing the list, the FCC said it would take control of the registry. But last night Nottingham issued a new order saying the FCC should do no such thing. In his order, he said the FTC should stop 'trying to skirt' his earlier decision. 'A person enjoined cannot do indirectly through another what it is prohibited from doing directly,' he wrote.

It is apparent that free speech violation is not at stake here. Every business in the United States is free to talk about their products. They are even free to give their sales pitch into the telephone for as many hours as they choose. They just can't dial my number before doing it (but I'm sure the dial tone is more than happy to listen!)

I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

2003-09-30T07:56:00.000-05:00

Each week Truth Laid Bear has a New Weblog Showcase. I submitted an article last week and the results are in:

King of Fools: Caucasian Club ( 44 links)
Tom's Nap Room: I hate cruelty to animals ( 21 links)
Simon world: Big Bad Bill ( 9 links)
citizen lehew: Who Ate My Democracy? ( 8 links)
Patriot Paradox: The Death of Holly Patterson: RU-486 Claims Another Victim ( 4 links)
Random Fate: Good advice ( 3 links)
The Populist: Reaganomics at War ( 2 links)
Freedom In Iran: Freedom In Iran ( 2 links)
Economists for Dean: Welcome to Economists for Dean! ( 1 links)

This more than makes up for the Watcher's Council last week, where I submitted the same article and received nary a vote. Thanks to those who did link to me and also for all the extra traffic you have brought me over the last few days! I realize that most of it won't stick, but I'm still appreciative.

U.S. Credibility

2003-09-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

This article presents a novel attitude towards the Iraq war, at least for a major media organization:

When a beloved cleric was murdered at a holy shrine in the Iraqi town of Najaf and suspects got caught boasting about it at an Internet cafe, the outraged townspeople didn't lynch them - instead, they got marched off to the police. It's a small but telling hint that despite decades of Saddam Hussein's brutality, the Iraqi people have the potential be a bulwark of Mideast democracy - and also a clue to the logic behind President Bush's policy.

The cover of this week's Time magazine blares: 'Mission Not Accomplished' - as if the Iraq war has suddenly morphed into a total failure. But is that true?

The mission was to get rid of Saddam. He's gone from power. It's an ongoing frustration that he hasn't been caught, but his removal has already brought a major shift in the Middle East, the center of terrorist threats.

Oddly enough, Saddam's exit has been most quickly accepted in the Arab world. The famous 'Arab street' didn't erupt. Al-Jazeera TV lost some credibility. And post-Saddam Iraqi leaders were welcomed into OPEC and the Arab League.

It hasn't led to instant Arab-Israeli peace, but it has enormously reduced the potential support for Mideast terror. Saddam is no longer there to bribe the families of homicide bombers. No one but terrorists regrets his fall.

And others, notably Russian President Vladimir Putin this weekend, have joined Bush in warning the other two nations with Iraq in his 'Axis of Evil' - North Korea and Iran - against any nuclear-weapons ambitions.

All of which suggests that Bush's action against Iraq strengthened America's credibility around the world, rather than weakening it as critics claim.

After Bush spoke to the United Nations last week, the loudest foes of the Iraq war - France and Germany - rushed to snuggle up to the president and say they'd like a role in postwar Iraq.

There is no action that the United States can take which will quell the hatred of her enemies. Despite billions of dollars of foreign aid and assistance, a large portion of the world still considers the U.S. as infidel and there is nothing that can change that. If one cannot gain the love of your enemies, the next best thing is their respect. That is why the credibility which has been gained through U.S. action in Afghanistan and Iraq will work toward achieving peace in the future. Mr. Teddy Roosevelt's big stick is only of value when the other party understands it is more than just a prop.

Phone Wars

2003-09-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

At the end of the latest Howard Kurtz column, this little gem resides:

CNN's Tucker Carlson thought he was having a bit of fun when, during a 'Crossfire' segment in which he defended telemarketers, he was asked for his home number but recited the number of the Fox News Washington bureau instead. Fox retaliated by posting Carlson's unlisted Virginia number on its Web site.

After his wife was deluged with obscene calls, Carlson says, he went to Fox's Capitol Hill bureau Friday to complain, and was told his number would be taken down if he apologized on the air. Fox spokeswoman Irena Briganti says Carlson was 'completely irresponsible' and that the bureau was 'inundated' with 'vicious phone calls. . . . CNN threw the first punch here. Correcting his mistake was good journalism.'

Carlson, who apologized on 'Crossfire' but also criticized Fox's form of retaliation, now says: 'They're a mean, sick group of people. Don't harass my wife and kids. Even the Mafia doesn't do that.'

Demanding a correction was a pretty smooth move for Fox. It is amusing that Fox got visious phone calls but even more amusing that they were intended for Tucker Carlson. It seems only fair that these callers should be able to air their complaint to their intended target. Also, why does Carlson knows the Fox News number by heart?

Nigerians for Arianna

2003-09-28T07:24:00.000-05:00

If I had been drinking something when I read Hugh Hewitt this morning, I would be needing a new keyboard:

Finally today, Arianna went to Fresno to declare, according to the Fresno Bee, that 'she has received several thousand e-mails from women saying they felt empowered after watching her in Wednesday night's debate.' Arianna went on to say that she was suprised by the size of the viewing audience in Nigeria, and that she expected to be able to fully fund her campaign for the final ten days based on offers of support she had received in these e-mails.

Checking History

2003-09-28T07:16:00.000-05:00

In 1948, the American people didn't decide that Germany was a quagmire and feel the need to 'Bring 'em home!" This nifty comparison of Post-Saddam Iraq to post-WW2 Germany is illuminating both in the rate of progress and the backbone of the American people today vs then:

We have made solid progress: Within two months, all major Iraqi cities and most towns had municipal councils -- something that took eight months in postwar Germany. Within four months the Iraqi Governing Council had appointed a cabinet -- something that took 14 months in Germany. An independent Iraqi Central Bank was established and a new currency announced in just two months -- accomplishments that took three years in postwar Germany. Within two months a new Iraqi police force was conducting joint patrols with coalition forces. Within three months, we had begun training a new Iraqi army -- and today some 56,000 are participating in the defense of their country. By contrast, it took 14 months to establish a police force in Germany and 10 years to begin training a new German army.

For those who could relate better to a more recent conflict, there is this:

Or take Kosovo. A driver shuttling international workers around the capital earns 10 times the salary of a university professor, and the U.N. administration pays its local staff between four and 10 times the salary of doctors and nurses. Four years after the war, the United Nations still runs Kosovo by executive fiat, issuing postage stamps, passports and driver's licenses. Decisions made by the local elected parliament are invalid without the signature of the U.N. administrator. And still, to this day, Kosovar ministers have U.N. overseers with the power to approve or disapprove their decisions.

Our objective is not to create dependency but to encourage Iraqi independence, by giving Iraqis increasing responsibility, over time, for the security and governance of their country. Because long-term stability comes not from the presence of foreign forces but from the development of functioning local institutions. The sooner Iraqis can take responsibility for their own affairs the sooner U.S. forces can come home.

Read the entire article, even if you don't care for the author. It seems that men of war, such as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, also possess an understanding of peace.

(Hat-tip to On the Third Hand)

Hello?...First Amendment?

2003-09-27T13:27:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, the United States House of Representatives and Senate responsed in a most amazing manner to the ruling of an Oklahoma Judge's ruling the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry. Perhaps they were a little too early:

Minutes after both houses of Congress concluded a remarkable scramble Thursday to make a popular "do not call" registry pass muster with a federal judge, a second jurist ruled the program has deeper problems: It violates telemarketers' First Amendment rights.

The surprise ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham in Denver handed the telemarketing industry its second legal victory this week and put in doubt the future of the Federal Trade Commission's national registry.

Although Nottingham's ruling is certain to be appealed, legal experts said that at the very least it will delay implementation of the program, which was scheduled to start Wednesday.

The first amendment defines Freedom of Speech in this country. Does that mean that a salesperson has the right to burst through my front door at dinner time and tell me about a vacation package I have won or perhaps a new credit card they have pre-approved just for me? If that happened, and I called the Police, would the response would be "I'm sorry sir, but we cannot remove them from your premises because it might violate their first amendment rights"? I was channel surfing the other night and flipped right past the Home Shopping Network...did I violate their first amendment rights also? If an infomercial airs, and no one watches, are rights being violated? In the future, will telephone or even television ownership going to be required to help protect these rights? Will it be illegal to wear earplugs in the future because of the potential of suppressing free speech?

A little research yielded the following explanation for this judicial ruling:

For the Federal Trade Commission, Judge Edward W. Nottingham's ruling invalidating the nationwide do-not-call registry illustrates the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.

Nottingham voided the FTC registry because it offered consumers the option of banning unwanted calls from for-profit businesses but not calls from charitable organizations, which, the judge reasoned, are just as intrusive. This 'content-based' discrimination between two otherwise indistinguishable forms of speech, Nottingham ruled, violated the First Amendment.

Is that the only problem? That can be resolved without even thinking. Simply extend the ban of unwanted calls to all organizations. Nearly one half of all residential phone numbers have signed up for the Do-Not-Call Registry. It is extremely apparent that most Americans do not want their telephone to be a sales tool used against them. I pay for my telephone services and I have every right to limit its use to the purposes I desire.

Telemarketing is dead. They need a new business model (or maybe just a legitimate line of business). One suggestion: if you insist on using the telephone as a marketing tool, then set up a service where you pay for a portion of a household's telephone service in exchange for occasional sales calls. I honestly do not know anyone who would go for such an arrangment, but I'm sure some people would.

As long as you didn't call them during dinner to discuss it.

Terrorists...In Iraq?

2003-09-27T12:50:00.000-05:00

This article is an interesting breakdown of some of the foreign resistance fighters captured in Iraq:

Foreign fighters captured in Iraq include 19 suspected al-Qaida members, and 123 of 248 non-Iraqis being held are Syrians, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer disclosed Friday.

Iranians and Yemenis account for the next largest number of foreigners being held by U.S. forces, Bremer told reporters at the Pentagon. He was unable to provide precise numbers.

Foreign Islamic terrorists and "mercenaries" who have infiltrated into Iraq from Syria and Iran constitute a large part of the threat to U.S. troops, along with backers of former dictator Saddam Hussein's regime, Bremer said.

The suspected al-Qaida members were identified in interrogations and by examining confiscated documents, he explained, adding that some of those who have entered Iraq from Syria "may also be al-Qaida."

"Several hundred" members of a terrorist group called Ansar al-Islam, which U.S. officials say is allied with al-Qaida, also have re-infiltrated Iraq and pose a major threat, Bremer said.

"They're a very dangerous terrorist group, and that's a lot of terrorists," he said.

Iraq has nothing to do with terror? The former regieme sponsored Palestinian suicide bombers. Training camps for terror organizations have been found in Iraq. The only resistance U.S. Troops are facing in Iraq is coming from both home-grown and foreign terrorists. It is certain that the Islamic world expected a Mogadishu response to terrorism in Iraq, just as they expected the same type of weak response to 9/11. It is fortunate for the people of Iraq that the assumption of a weak U.S. resolve, shaped by Beirut and Somalia, was not correct.

And how successful have these terror attacks been?

Bremer said terrorist acts and attacks on U.S. troops, however, have failed to obstruct reconstruction efforts in Iraq. More than 8,000 projects, from repaving roads to repairing water and electric systems, have been completed by the Coalition Provisional Authority and allied troops, he said.

Starting on 9/11/2001, the United States and her close allies have taken a new approach to dealing with terrorism. As a result, it has lost its ability to achieve results. It used to be the tool of choice for those movements never able to attain their goals by conventional means. Now it is simply desperate action, death throes, of organizations fading into obscurity.

NL Central

2003-09-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

And then there were three.

Houston and Chicago are all tied up in the National League Central with three games remaining. The pennant race has been fun, especially in Pejman's comments every time the Cubs lose, which has not been often enough for my tastes. So to satisfy my curiousity, and possibly irritate Mr. Yousefzadeh, here is a detailed analysis of the remaining games for the two division leaders:

Houston vs. Milwaukee
Team	Avg	Slg	OBP	OPS	Runs	ERA	Runs	Wins	Vs.
Houston	.262	.429	.336	.766	790	3.82	655	86	8
Milwaukee	.256	.418	.329	.747	692	5.02	858	66	6
Difference	.010	.011	.007	.019	98	1.20	203	20	2

Chicago vs. Pittsburgh
Team	Avg	Slg	OBP	OPS	Runs	ERA	Runs	Wins	Vs.
Chicago	.259	.416	.323	.739	711	3.86	676	86	8
Pittsburgh	.268	.422	.338	.760	746	4.64	788	74	7
Difference	.009	.006	.015	.021	35	0.78	112	12	1

Statistically, Houson is a slightly stronger team than Chicago, and their opponent (Milwaukee) is significantly weaker than Chicago's (Pittsburgh). Unfortunately, statistics do not win ball games. My gut feeling on this is both leaders will go 2-1 in their final series and finish the season tied. This will require a one game playoff which will be held in Chicago (unfortunately). If it does come to that, then look here on Monday morning for a head-to-head statistical analysis of Houston vs. Chicago.

The Council Has Spoken

2003-09-26T08:26:00.000-05:00

The Watcher's Council has met and has voted on the posts of the week:

Winning Council Entry:
Approaching Iran by Spiced Sass

Winning Non-Council Entry:
The New Uncle Wiggle Wings by Dean's World

There was another tie this week, in the Council category. (I didn't receive a single vote with what I thought was a pretty good article. I'm gonna attribute it to the fact that BlogSpot pulled down the archives and permalinks for a few days.)

Judicial Restraint

2003-09-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that the FTC commission that created the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry overstepped its bounds. Today Congress is taking action to ensure that the judiciary knows that such authority has been granted to the FTC by the Congress:

Lawmakers are moving swiftly to defend the popular national do-not-call list from a court ruling that may jeopardize the promise of peace and quiet for people fed up with telemarketers.

The Senate and House were expected to consider legislation Thursday that would ensure the free government service goes into effect as scheduled next week, deflecting unwanted sales pitches to more than 50 million registered phone numbers.

A flood of congressional proposals defending the list came only hours after an announcement Wednesday that a federal judge in Oklahoma City had ruled the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority by creating the registry. Telemarketers who sued to block the list stopped short of declaring victory because there was uncertainty about how the ruling would affect the FTC's plans.

Consumers may continue signing up for the list despite the ruling, FTC spokeswoman Cathy MacFarlane said.

If you are not already signed up, do it before October 1st. The telemarketers are only required to check the list every three months, so missing the deadline could be costly as far as time goes. The phone here received roughly 5 telemarketing calls per day. Assuming one minute of lost time per phone call over a period of three months comes out to 7.5 hours of wasted time.