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Secretary of Homeland Security to be Tom Ridge commented on domestic spying:
I can’t really say I find this surprising. (Hi guys, did you get all that?) November 20th, 2002 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
 More stuff from my Brian’s EDUCATION Blog beat that deserves the Samizdata treatment. Daryl Cobranchi picks up on a “state repression of home-schoolers” story. Here are the first two paragraphs of it:
Dennison is, legally speaking, quite wrong, or so something called the Home School Legal Defense Association argues (see their Nov 13 2002 story). Sadly, these days, something can be wrong, legally speaking, but still be true, factually speaking. Nevertheless, for what it’s worth (and I hope it helps the home-schoolers of Illinois), Regional Superintendent of Schools Bruce Dennison, you are now also being denounced on the other side of the Atlantic. November 19th, 2002 | 18 comments - (Comments are closed)
Donald Rumsfeld listed Saddam’s available options in an interview with a reporter from El Mercurio, a Chilean newspaper:
Donald missed one, and it’s the one I’m starting to believe is the one which will actually happen. Let’s think in medieval terms. Why would a King or Warlord arrange for his family and favorite courtiers to be sent out the backdoor of the castle? Why would he pay large sums of money to another Kingdom to ensure their safety? Saddam knows he is going to lose. He is going to go down fighting. He will use everything he has. Saddam expects to die and will go down shooting. Whatever you may think of him, Saddam is no soft bureaucrat. He killed his first man when he was in his teens or early twenties. He knows how to handle military weapons. I suggest he is following a twofold strategy. First and foremost he is trying to buy time. He hopes he can pull off a fudge once again but doesn’t really believe it is going to work this time. He is using the time he buys to prepare for his final battle. If he has made the Roman-like decision “to die well”, he has a number of options open to him. He might try hitting US forces or local allies first. Suicidal? Yes, but he might think it his best chance for inflicting casualties on us. Even if the kill ratio is badly against him he could think it a good idea to grab the initiative. We know high casualties don’t bother him much: just look to the Iran-Iraq war for proof. There could be secret operations going on right now to deploy his nasties for the last “glorious” stand. He’ll take down half the population of Iraq if it will take more american soldiers with him. If he has bio and chem, they will be released not only in the desert. He will use them in urban battles, even in heavily populated areas. If he has nukes, he will have them pre-positioned with orders to set them off when defeat is imminent. His Fedaheen will certainly be prepared to die with and for him as they cannot expect to long survive his passing. I assume the US military has already worked through this scenario and has plans to minimize it. They most likely have contingency plans for quickly regaining initiative if Saddam strikes first. Make no mistake. We are dealing with someone fully capable of making a last glorious stand his statement for the history books. In his mind it’s the chance for the Persians to play the Spartans with him in the starring Leonidas role. This game has no rules… and no limits. November 19th, 2002 | 15 comments - (Comments are closed)
If you ever wondered who handles bomb disposals when the bombs contain the bad stuff you will find this transcript of a demonstration by the Army’s TEU of interest. November 19th, 2002 | Comments are closed
China is pushing Hong Kong to enact the anti-subversion legislation, under which people found guilty of acts of treason, sedition, secession from, or subversion against the mainland government could be imprisoned for life. To you and me, any criticism of China or its leaders can be punished by being locked up for life. More importantly, Hong Kong’s constitution guarantees a wide range of civil liberties not granted in mainland China and the greatest danger of any anti-subversion law is the possibility that it would open a channel for mainland China’s laws to be applied in Hong Kong. Britain has urged the government of Hong Kong to protect basic rights and freedoms as the former British colony prepares to pass the anti-subversion law based on the mainland’s broad notions of “national security” and “state secrets” demanded by the Chinese government. Apparently, China is concerned that Hong Kong could be used as a base from which to subvert the mainland. What a splendid idea! But what is it that I read?! Hong Kong is required to pass some form of anti-subversion law under its constitution, which was agreed between Britain and China before the territory reverted to Chinese rule. The Hong Kong Basic Law is the miniconstitution that took effect July 1, 1997. The Article 23 prohibits foreign political organizations from conducting political activities in Hong Kong and forbids political organizations in Hong Kong from establishing ties with foreign political organizations. For example, the proposed law could be taken to mean that as few as two Catholics who contact or sponsor a mainland Catholic community not recognized by the Chinese government could be charged with endangering national security. China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman insisted the legislation would bring Hong Kong into accordance with general international practice. Although to us at Samizdata.net it often appears that general international practice is being brought into accordance with Chinese practices. I have a better idea, why don’t they try a poster campaign instead?! November 19th, 2002 | Comments are closed
A few days ago I wrote about my anger at Arabic translators being kicked out of the military. It seems I am not alone in my condemnation. November 19th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Michael Blowhard has been making movie lists again, this one being of New York movies that portray the “arts scene” there. Here’s one that a lot of Samizdata readers will know all about:
I always felt that Cooper was miscast in this. Cooper’s “manliness” seems to me to have been of the unnatural, aspirational kind. Fighting the good fight, facing down the bad guys, is not something that the Cooper character ever did because he enjoyed it, or because it came naturally to him. It’s the lips, I think. So female and “sensitive”. On the contrary, Cooper embodies heroism precisely because he is actually something of a girlie boy, who’d rather be indoors. It’s not that he lacks the physique to do the manly stuff, nor is he stupid. The problem is that his mind is not the heroic sort of mind. He’s not naturally quick and decisive. His natural metier would be something like academia, where he would have time merely to think about things, without scary deadlines. He wouldn’t win any Nobel Prizes, but he’d make a comfortably, unstressed living. But High Noon, or whatever, looms, and he must deal with it. And he doesn’t funk it, no matter how much he is tempted to. The Cooper character typically says little because he hasn’t yet worked out what on earth to say. Other more obviously manly stars – I’m thinking of someone like Clark Gable – say little because, although they could say a lot and occasionally do under pressure, what’s the point? Talk is cheap. Action is what counts, and Mr Real Man has already decided what he’ll do. Cooper spends The Fountainhead communicating to me not intellectual certainty, but bewilderment and confusion that any man could possible be this confident about anything. He says all the Howard Roark words and goes through all the Howard Roark motions not because he believes in it, but because he can’t think of anything else to say or do. That can’t be right. But then again, maybe it is. Maybe Howard Roark can’t think of anything else to say or do either. If so, that can’t be right either, but that’s a different argument. November 19th, 2002 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
SCENE: A secret chamber underneath Whitehall. ‘Q’ is busy directing a gaggle of technicians when the sliding doors swish open. In steps OO7. Q: Ah, Bond BOND: Good morning, Q Q: Off on another mission I hear BOND: Yes. Her Majesty’s Government has gotten wind of a conspiracy by an International Hate Speech Syndicate. Seems they’re plotting to flood the civilised world with language that might be perceived as offensive. Q: The Fiends! BOND: Precisely. They must be stopped. Q: You’ll need the proper equipment, Bond BOND: Have you got my standard issue Walther PPK? Q: Good grief, Bond! Are you mad? We can’t have people running around with guns. You might hurt someone. No, we’re going to issue you with these. [Hands over a pair of brand, new trainers] BOND: That looks like a pair of running shoes, Q Q: Very observant, Bond. BOND: Are they rocket-powered? Q: No, but they are air-cushioned. If some snarling, evil henchman comes at you, you just slip them on and run like the blazes. BOND: Hmm. I see. What about my Aston Martin? Q: Sorry, Bond, but we’ve had to scrap that. BOND: WHAT??!! Q: It’s all part of our commitment to meet the targets for environmental protection agreed at the Johannesburg conference. You’re going to be issued with this bicycle. [Wheels up bicycle] BOND: Does it have any special features? Q: It certainly does; it comes with a safety helmet and a set of knee-pads. Now do pay attention, Bond; you must never attempt to ride this bicycle without the proper safety equipment. BOND: What about that silver gadget on the handle? Q: Ah yes. Now if you press this little silver button here…. BOND: It fires a heat-seaking missile? Q: No it’s a little bell that goes tring, tring, tring. Let’s everyone know you’re coming. Effective up to 5 metres. BOND: I feel safer already Q: Now remember, Bond, this is all the property of HM government and it has to be returned in one piece. BOND: I’ll do my best, Q [BOND turns to go] Q: Oh and Bond…… BOND: Yes, Q? Q: Do try to avoid seducing any beautiful, exotic women on your travels. BOND: Is that because it may compromise the mission, Q? Q: No, it’s because you may well end up in prison, Bond. Dismissed. November 19th, 2002 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
That’s approximately what I can see from here. T’is a normal Irish night, so I’d also need slow wipers for my eyeballs. I would just about see the glow from a dinosaur killer asteroid,.. if it passed directly overhead. November 19th, 2002 | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)
I ran across some interesting remarks by Donald Rumseld about the bureaucratic explosion in Washington of the last twenty to thirty years:
November 19th, 2002 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
The National Ammo Day BUYcott is today, November 19th. Remember all those people in other nations who have been disarmed by their governments when you stock up on a few boxes of your favorite 9mm and 308 Win.  No retreat. No surrender. November 19th, 2002 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
This is very cool. Here is a tube map (underground metro) that allows you to locate nearly 250 bloggers in London.  November 19th, 2002 | Comments are closed
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