Sunday, May 27, 2007
The beautiful old instrument at right is a very fine example of a "sector rule". These sector rules were computational tools, the equivalent of a calculator in their time -- the 1700s and 1800s. This particular sector is made from ivory and brass by the English instrument makers Nairne and Blunt; it dates from about 1790.The Americans are prepared to use force in pursuit of what they regard as noble aims. It is yet another respect in which they are rather old-fashioned. They are patriots who venerate their nation and their flag.Read the whole thing.
The idea has somehow gained currency in Britain that America is an essentially peaceful nation. Quite how this notion took root, I do not know. Perhaps we were unduly impressed by the protesters against the Vietnam war.
It is an idea that cannot survive a visit to the National Museum of American History in Washington, where one is informed that the "price of freedom" is over and over again paid in blood.
The Americans' tactics in Iraq, and their sanction for Israel's tactics in Lebanon, have given rise to astonishment and anger in Europe. It may well be that those tactics are counter-productive, and that the Americans and Israelis need to take a different approach to these ventures if they are ever to have any hope of winning hearts and minds.
But when the Americans speak of freedom, we should not imagine, in our cynical and worldly-wise way, that they are merely using that word as a cloak for realpolitik. They are not above realpolitik, but they also mean what they say.
These formidable people think freedom is so valuable that it is worth dying for.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian (aka "Dr. Death") is about to be released from prison, after serving just over eight years of a 10-to-25 year sentence.
A reader asks "What's that funny-looking thing to the right of your blog's name?" The reader, by the way, is from Jamul himself.First let me say that Cal Johnson is not the person the prosecutors are trying to portray. I know this as I am his wife and the victim of this assault. My husband is the most loving, caring, giving person one could meet...that is until he became addicted to methamphetamines. My husband did not do these acts to me..the drugs did. I know some of you will say I am ignorant or just trying to protect the man I love and the father of my children. To a point you would be right, however I also know that he has to be held accountable for what has happened. He knows he has to be held accountable for this. The news did not report the facts as accurately as they should have. The actions of the reporters covering this case, particularly the reporter from channel 39 is deplorable. Seeing as this is being referred to as a sexual assault...what about my rights?!?! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the wife of "Cal Johnson, 47 of Jamul" is. Why can't a personal and private family tragedy be kept personal and private. Those in this community that wish to pass judgment on us, on him, go ahead. I will stand by my husband every step of the way just as I have for the past 23 years. He is not a danger to anyone but himself and I am saddened and perplexed how anyone could judge another person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Go ahead and scorn us and turn your heads and whisper when you see us about town, just remember...this could happen to anyone. I pray that no one would have to endure what we are at this point in our lives, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and we are definite fighters. I sincerely hope that our friends will still be our friends, but if not then you never really were.This is certainly a far different context than the one reported in the news. While it's easy to understand Jamie's desire for privacy, reality is that the moment Cal committed a crime (which she is not denying), his actions became a public matter -- something for all of us to be concerned about. Her assertion that Cal is not a danger to anyone but himself is belied by her own experience as his victim, which she confirms. I'm guessing that she means that he is no danger to others going forward, but that is a matter that it is definitely in the public interest to ascertain.
God bless,
Jamie Johnson
Saturday, May 26, 2007
It's a lovely, quiet evening in Jamul. This photo is from the near-realtime camera on Lyons Peak. This particular camera is pointed due north; if our home was visible, it would be just right of dead center in the photo. Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: Those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for our todays. But in a world saturated with selfhood, where every death is by definition a death in vain, the notion of sacrifice today provokes puzzlement more often than admiration. We support the troops, of course, but we also believe that war, being hell, can easily touch them with an evil no cause for engagement can wash away. And in any case we are more comfortable supporting them as victims than as warriors.And here's the end:
Former football star Pat Tillman and Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham were killed on the same day: April 22, 2004. But as details of his death fitfully emerged from Afghanistan, Tillman has become a metaphor for the current conflict -- a victim of fratricide, disillusionment, coverup and possibly conspiracy. By comparison, Dunham, who saved several of his comrades in Iraq by falling on an insurgent's grenade, is the unknown soldier. The New York Times, which featured Abu Ghraib on its front page for 32 consecutive days, put the story of Dunham's Medal of Honor on the third page of section B.
Leo Thorsness was also at the Hanoi Hilton. The Air Force pilot had taken on four MiGs trying to strafe his wingman who had parachuted out of his damaged aircraft; Mr. Thorsness destroyed two and drove off the other two. He was shot down himself soon after this engagement and found out by tap code that his name had been submitted for the Medal.If you get the chance, do read the whole piece...
One of Mr. Thorsness's most vivid memories from seven years of imprisonment involved a fellow prisoner named Mike Christian, who one day found a grimy piece of cloth, perhaps a former handkerchief, during a visit to the nasty concrete tank where the POWs were occasionally allowed a quick sponge bath. Christian picked up the scrap of fabric and hid it.
Back in his cell he convinced prisoners to give him precious crumbs of soap so he could clean the cloth. He stole a small piece of roof tile which he laboriously ground into a powder, mixed with a bit of water and used to make horizontal stripes. He used one of the blue pills of unknown provenance the prisoners were given for all ailments to color a square in the upper left of the cloth. With a needle made from bamboo wood and thread unraveled from the cell's one blanket, Christian stitched little stars on the blue field.
"It took Mike a couple weeks to finish, working at night under his mosquito net so the guards couldn't see him," Mr. Thorsness told me. "Early one morning, he got up before the guards were active and held up the little flag, waving it as if in a breeze. We turned to him and saw it coming to attention and automatically saluted, some of us with tears running down our cheeks. Of course, the Vietnamese found it during a strip search, took Mike to the torture cell and beat him unmercifully. Sometime after midnight they pushed him into our cell, so bad off that even his voice was gone. But when he recovered in a couple weeks he immediately started looking for another piece of cloth."
We impoverish ourselves by shunting these heroes and their experiences to the back pages of our national consciousness. Their stories are not just boys' adventure tales writ large. They are a kind of moral instruction. They remind of something we've heard many times before but is worth repeating on a wartime Memorial Day when we're uncertain about what we celebrate. We're the land of the free for one reason only: We're also the home of the brave.
It's an annual Memorial Day weekend tradition:Every Memorial Day weekend on Sunday, Rolling Thunder, an organization of mostly Viet Nam veterans, comes to DC for their motorcycle ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Memorial. It’s an hours-long parade of thousands of participants from across the country to insure that America doesn’t forget the men and women who died for this country in that unpopular war.There are lots more photos at the link. I particularly enjoyed a sign (obviously directed at the liberals supporting
This year it’s a little different - today they partnered with the newly-formed Gathering of Eagles, which has it’s roots in the internet. When Vietnam veterans felt that the Wall was threatened by anti-protesters back in March of this year, they hastily assembled an internet gathering point and made plans to protect that monument from being defaced. On March 17th, they gathered around the three Vietnam memorials and the Korean War Memorial and lined the protest to the Pentagon. Crowd estimates were about 20,000 pro-troops participants to about 4,000 anti-war protesters.
The question of whether people are the cause of global warming, or part of the cause, is somewhat irrelevant. It doesn’t really matter if the problem is caused by cars or farting cows or rotting leaves. If the warming is going to threaten life as we know it, the only important questions are these:Me, too -- though I'll add that experience would indicate that any cries of "The sky is falling!" are best met with intense skepticism, and shouldn't be believed without very credible evidence (as opposed to, say, someone's over-simple and fudge-factored computer model). Remember "nuclear winter"? That was just thirty years ago, and some of the same climatologists where are now warning us about global warming were then warning us about global cooling...
1. Are we sure global warming will cause more bad than good?
2. Realistically, can we do anything to stop it?
3. Would the costs of stopping it be more or less than the benefits?
I’m fairly certain the answer to all three questions is “Beats the shit out of me.”
A dog named "Hero", who used to live in Iraq, now has a new home in New Hampshire with the parents of one of our fallen heroes. In Iraq, Spc. Justin Rollins was amongst the soldiers who discovered Hero in a litter of newborn puppies. The very next day (two months ago), Justin was killed by a roadside bomb near Baghdad. Skip and Rhonda Rollins, knowing that Hero was one of the last things to bring joy to their son, were eager to adopt him. His fiancee, Brittany Murray, felt the same way. So the three of them are going to jointly take care of Hero:He was one of the soldiers of Charlie Company who discovered the mixed-breed dog, among a litter of newborn puppies, outside an Iraqi police station on the streets of Samarra in March.
Pictures were taken of the soldiers and the puppies, and Justin told Murray when they talked that night "I have some great pictures, you're going to flip out when you see them." But he never told her what they were, she said.
When Justin's mother saw the pictures, she said "The first thing I said when I saw the pictures is 'I want that puppy.' I named him Hero because Justin is a hero," Rhonda said yesterday with her voice cracking as she stood with her husband and Murray in Hodes' office before the dog arrived.
The three intend to share the puppy. "I wanted Brittney to have something positive for her. Justin loved her and was going to propose to her when he got home ... Justin was a great kid. He loved what he was doing," Rhonda said.
Word came earlier this month that U.S. Central Command had authorized the transfer. One of Rollins' best friends in the unit, Sgt. Jason Wheeler, had been taking care of Hero in Iraq.What a nice story for a memorial day weekend!
Yesterday, representatives of DHL, the company that flew Hero from Iraq to New York and then to Manchester, drove the dog from Manchester to Concord and watched as the dog got to know its new owners.
Petting the puppy, Skip Rollins thanked every one who helped to bring the dog to the United States. "Our family can never thank you enough for what you've done for us," he said.
The gifts kept on coming as Sandy's Pet Food Center in Concord donated a year's supply of dog food as well as a basket of doggie gifts.
The Associated Grocers of New England arrived with a side of beef that Hero liked the smell of.
Before Hero arrived, Hodes told the media "Today is a very moving day in more ways than one. This has been a long Odyssey for a little puppy and a family that has had a tremendous loss."
Imagine me with nukes, I doThe photo is the album cover. Do go read the whole thing...
I think about it day and night, it’s only right
To dream about the means you need, kafir to smite
The weapon I’d treasure
I called up AQ Khan, but at the time
The guy was under house arrest, it crossed my mind
To send the boys to rescue him, it would be fine
To take such a measure
Just think of the interesting things I could do
With such a bomb
Who needs to shape charges when you can kablooey
New York, with megatons?
Me and nukes, and nukes and me
You know the I would roll the dice, if it could be
To hit them from this cave I’m in, indignity
Would turn into pleasure
NASA has a wonderful collection of photos and graphics from the various robotic spacecraft orbiting Mars, or exploring its surface. The photo at right was taken by the Opportunity Rover, two years ago. The collection has multiple pages, so don't forget to flip through them all!
The problem with the word "torture" is that it has been so artfully corrupted by some commentators that we now find ourselves at a loss to describe the kinds of activities that the al-Qaeda interrogation manual graphically recommends. Now that the term "torture" has been put in one-to-one correspondence with such admittedly unpleasant activities as punching, sleep deprivation, a handkerchief pulled over one's face and loaded with water, searches by women upon sensitive Islamic men or the disrespectful handling of Korans -- what on earth do we call gouging people's eyes out?
Answer: we call it nothing. My fearless prediction is that not a single human rights organization will seriously take the matter up. There will be no demonstrations against these barbaric practices, often inflicted upon Muslims by other Muslims, in any of the capitals of the world. Not a single committee in the United Nations will be convened nor will any functionary in the European Union lose so much as a night's sleep over it. The word for these activities -- whatever we choose to call it -- will not be spoken.
Read the rest of his post, too. Michell Malkin noticed Wretchard's comments as well, and she also has a great roundup.
Meanwhile, in our upside-down world, Americans will continue to be condemned and even sent to prison for "torture" such as exposing Muslim prisoners to Playboy centerfolds, and Al Qaeda is not condemned for gouging out eyeballs, drilling holes in hands, amputating fingers and genitals, endless beatings, and beheadings.
Makes you want to run right out and vote for a liberal Democrat, doesn't it?
Senator Obama says: " It is time to end this war so that we can redeploy our forces to focus on the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and all those who plan to do us harm."Senator Obama, are you proposing that we move U.S. troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, where you guys keep saying the "real" War on Terror is? There is also a very good chance that bin Laden and some al Qaeda hierarchy are in Pakistan. When you say "redeploy," are you suggesting that we invade Pakistan?Ms. Althouse says:
Folks, let's not let these guys get away with this. By "redeploy," they don't really mean move the troops to where they say al Qaeda is. They don't want to fight al Qaeda. If they wanted to fight al Qaeda, al Qaeda is in Iraq — that is indisputable. Bin Laden has said repeatedly that Iraq is the central battle. You can argue about whether al Qaeda has been in Iraq all along or whether they are there only because we've drawn them there. Reasonable minds differ on that. But however they got there, they're there.
If you really want to fight al Qaeda, you stay in Iraq.
There should be a term for this. Maybe there is, but since I don't know what it is, I'm going to call it a screwphemism. This is a euphemism gone bad. Not only do we see through it and know that you're saying the thing you were hoping to downplay, but we know you were trying to manipulate and deceive. So we know what you're really saying, and we mistrust you for not saying it straight.Oh, she's got that exactly right. What a lovely word she's invented!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Cal Johnson, 47, appeared shaken as the prosecutor went through the graphic details of the alleged assault. The 14 charges against him range from rape to assault with a deadly weapon to false imprisonment of his wife. Johnson entered his not-guilty plea through his attorney via a closed circuit television feed in the courtroom.Another news report had more details:
Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso said the chain of events that led to the arrest began a week ago."Throughout the weekend, the defendant was insistent she was having an affair with a family friend," the prosecutor told the judge.At one point, Johnson held the woman's head under water running from a bathtub faucet and threatened her, Grasso said.Later, the defendant confronted his perceived romantic rival, punched him and threatened him, the prosecutor said.Monday, Johnson allegedly threw a computer keyboard and mouse at his wife, and late that night, woke her up and told her they were going to meet the alleged "other man" at a church, Grasso said.Instead, Johnson and his wife ended up in a secluded area and he threatened to kill her, the prosecutor said."The defendant proceeded to stun her over 100 times, called her a bitch and said she was about to die," the prosecutor told the judge.Johnson then sexually assaulted his wife, but she was able to run off and hide until morning, Grasso said.The victim suffered bruises and lacerations all over her body, according to the prosecutor.It's frightening to think that people capable of such behavior (assuming all the charges are true) walk around amongst the rest of us, and we can't tell. They need to have a big neon sign on their forehead!
