Californian Sojourn

Climate Change/Global Warming - The Reality

I absolutely could not pass this up.  Here is Professor Bob Carter explaining hard data in regards to Climate Change including it's actual causes and effects.  What follows is four videos, via YouTube embedded, of his lecture:

Part One:

Part Two:

Part three:

Part Four:

I would say that is pretty damning, wouldn't you agree?

Pallywood Productions At Their Finest

I always get a kick out of these things but it's sick and deceitful and we seemingly fall for it all the time.  Here we have the story of Muhamed al Durah and the falsehoods that create the jihad we face today.

Hat tip and whole story here.

Something I Missed During My Blogging Layoff

    The above image comes courtesy of an older post at Samizdata, your source for some insanity from the UK, and I must tell you that is one scary image.  To think that something like this capable of provoking imagery ripped from any literature that deals with future fascist societies is openly used as a government ad program to stop bullying is  just mind boggling.  Especially for little ole me here in the US.  Here I bristle at any new "Red Light" cameras that go up at nearby intersections and the British people have to deal with this.  Nothing ever happens suddenly I've noticed in life.  9/11 didn't occur suddenly as there were warning signs all the way back to Beirut and before.  And so I can only say this appears to me to serve as a warning sign for the people of the UK and elsewhere of what happens when the government begins to see itself as the only way to improve society.

    Now my question is this, will it jump the Pond?  Or has it already?  And if it does, what would the reaction here be?

    Update:  This is the original thread that brought me to the above picture.  As you can see, things haven't let up since April when the original post generated.

Everything Old, Is New Again

Been away a LONG time.  No explanation to give so I'm just going to jump right into things.  VDH, Victor Davis hanson, a man who's ideas and work influence many things on this site hits yet another one out of the park.  And I wish he were wrong.

We live in trying times and it's only a matter of time before we see a repeat of history we try so forcefully, and because of it that wrongly, to avoid.

One Night In Bangkok

Things about the sex trade in Thailand you may have not known or been aware of...

An interesting article though I don't quite agree with the tone of acceptance of prostitution itself that, in my opinion, is present in the article.  Either way though it's a topic that remains present but seldom seriously spoken of (though plenty of jokes are bandied about).  Take a read and let me know what you think...since you can speak about something other than my absence now.  ;)

The French Have No Right To Speak...

And French TV tells you why.

Needless to say, the "tantrums" of the French government regarding anything of US involvement in the world can easily explained right now, it's because they can't do a damn things themselves.  "Rented" helicopters during the Afghanistan conflict?  A single latrine set up when Americans had provided countless aid already?  This is the example the world would like us more to be?  Please.  Simply said, if this is the case, the world has got a really skewed view of things and not an example we should follow to say the least.    I'm sorry but the more I pay attention to how the rest of the world takes to affairs, the more I become un-apologetic for the actions of our great country.  We're certainly not perfect, but we're far from the Three Stooges routine the rest of the world seems to engage in at times.  This doesn't mean all countries of course, but the more outspoken I believe, the less likely to trust.

And Japan Has Another Couple Earthquakes...

See, the island of Japan is calling to me already. It's like home!

*Not to make light of the situation of course...

It Is Refreshing.....

To find individuals who realize that war is not a last option but indeed, at times, a first option and are willing to express it. Such talk terrifies Americans today, but I can't allow myself to deny the lessons of history as so many have when it is obvious life as we know it balances on a thread. The world is indeed in need of a shakeup, one that probably will not leave a single soul unaffected or unsure of what will come. But in an age like this where conflict continues again and again in small amounts (but with far greater death toll curiously) the match needs to be lit.

Yea it sounds bloodthirsty and horrible, but unfortunately in this flawed world sometimes it is need for an ever greater peace. Do I get excited for war? Of course not. Do I desire it? Again no, but we cannot deny it exists and the possiblity of its righteousness.

*Excuse the poor grammar...

Also, sometimes I just got to wonder how some posts make me come across. I swear people, I really am a nice guy despite what you might possibly think. *grin*

WWPD: What Would Patton Do?

It is an interesting question, what the brash and often at odds with his superiors Patton would do with today's situation in Iraq. His name was often invoked during the large-scale military operation that drove towards Iraq at the beginning of operations in Iraq and rightly so. Unfortunately, his name was never invoked afterwards, after the tanks had stopped and the "occupation" of Iraq began, when his influence might be having a greater impact for the better on the situation in Iraq more than anything else presently being put into action might. Long have I thought that our actions in Iraq, as much as they have angered the world, have not been strong enough, especially with an enemy that will use any slight sign of weakness as proof that we are indeed everything they believe us to be, soft and fat, unwilling to fight when it gets tough for longer than a few days.

Why does this all arise? Well Victor Davis Hanson (again a mind that I highly admire and his knowledge of history is almost like a crystal ball for today's times) has posted an adapted transcript from a speech he previously made that explores exactly what would Patton think about today's situation in Iraq and it resonates with my own thoughts on the situation in Iraq.

This passage I find highly relevant:

Patton had two phrases that he used almost ad nauseam. The first, from Danton, was: “Audacity, always audacity, still more audacity.” The second was “the unforgiving minute,” a line from Kipling, which referred to certain times in war when the collective will of a people or an army can without warning collapse—at least for critical moments that must be capitalized on. Unlike Eisenhower and Bradley, who thought the August collapse of the German army was likely and thus the war would now end before Christmas, Patton knew that if the Panzers were saved from near death, they could be ready to kill again and under far more favorite circumstances. That is exactly what happened at the Falaise Gap. Later at the Seine River, near the Siegfried Line, and when attacking the Bulge, Patton saw that a sweeping hook, rather than a head-on assault might bring on a total collapse, but only if risks were taken and old plans ignored in light of new realities. Again, the conservative, doctrinaire approach of cautious attack proved the far more costly tactic.

These lessons too apply in recent times. In the first Gulf War, Saddam put almost 250,000 Iraqi troops in bunkers in the sand, and even after weeks of U.S. bombing they were still operational. In response, General Schwarzkopf marched hundreds of miles around the flank, leaving many of the entrenched Iraqi positions behind and headed toward Basra, his long flanks covered by air support. But although we copied Patton’s tactics, we forgot their purpose—stopping at the so-called Highway of Death because of the television images of “thousands” of enemy dead. Pentagon staffers worried at the time that 20,000 enemy soldiers had been killed, thus causing a global uproar. We know now the real number was in the hundreds—and that when we stopped before Basra, fleeing Iraqis did not and so killed thousands of mostly defenseless Shiites and Kurds over the next few weeks. And over the next twelve years, Anglo-American pilots flew thousands of missions in the Iraq no-fly zones, all as a precursor to the recent war. In short, we forgot Patton’s most important lesson: the purpose of outflanking the enemy is to demoralize and annihilate the enemy, thus removing the reasons to go to war in the first place.

I have always found it amazing how much history is essentially a crystal ball. There is a passage in Proverbs that says "there is nothing new under the sun" and though that isn't exactly true, in the course of human events it certainly applies far more often than not as it does in Iraq today. Knowing history is, in a way, knowing the future because no matter how far we come with technology and innovation, human nature remains much the same and thus the actions and reactions of nations and civilizations are much the same as they have been in the past. Unfortunately today we fail to learn history's impact, fail to find its usefulness in today's times when it is quite obvious that it definitely has one. As they say, those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them. I believe both sides, Left and Right, have failed to acknowledge those lessons in regards to the war on terror in today's world. To me, the Left is caught up far too much in the here and now and only mention the past when it suits their needs (for example a Vietnam "quagmire," we created Saddam Hussein and such) and the Right, while recognizing history (invoking Patton), have failed to learn all it's lessons and have stood with one foot in the door and one foot out the door which might be far more dangerous in the long run for our nation. If we must move militarily, we must move with overwhelming strength and confounding speed. To rest is to allow our enemies to breathe, to stir their nearly unlimited (in terms of young minds) base, and make this fight last longer than it ever should. Men like Patton, even with his numerous faults, understood this and thus there is no shame to contemplate what men as he would have done no matter the era they resided. This is the lesson of history for us now, but not nearly enough are asking the question, let alone seeking the answer that would bring this knowledge and wisdom to us.

American Expats To Vote In Record Numbers

So says Time Asia. It will be interesting to see how this affects the election this time around. Though I make no bones about being more attentive to expat blogs that fall politically on my side I must admit that I cannot get a proper grasp on what side will receive the most votes from expats. I believe that the inclusion of military votes will heavily increase Republican turnout but I have come across quite a few expat blogs (curiously many of them from Japan) that certainly are no fans of the current administration so I'll be watching these results with some interest. Any expat bloggers (or expats in general) have any idea which way the votes will fall (I notice Time Asia is quick to "clarify" the traditional Republican 3-to-1 advantage cited)?