Moving Violations

Moving Violations:

You will notice that I rarely post about 'outrages of the day,' although such things make up a lot of the traffic that drives both the Left and Right blogospheres. Still, my attitude about them has always been similar to that of a Zen practitioner to the chime of a bell: I stop for a moment, take notice of it, and then pass on.

The bell rings, and fades at once. The chime is gone forever, drifting away on the waves of time. Once you are past the moment in which it happened, it is of no matter. It is gone. You and it have moved apart. There are new things to notice, and there are ongoing threads that deserve your continued attention. For the Zen practitioner, the main thread is breath: in, out. There are others for me: war, virtue, mercy, a child, a wife, a friend. There is so little time to spend on these 'scandals' that arise, and perish. I have so little energy for them, with these other things to see and think about.

That said, I have to take a moment to notice this story, courtesy of Cassandra, BlackFive, Mudville and others. I quote from Cassandra's version

The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war.

The Lieutenant Governor found the celebration of Holy Eucharist a good time to hand out her business card and score political points on the Bush administration. Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich was in no position to rebut any of her talking points, being unfortunately incapable of dialogue at the time.

Having noticed it, I find I cannot think of a single thing to say. Honestly, words fail me.

The Single Book

Cave Ab Homine Unius Libri

And here is mine. Not the Bible nor the Havamal, nor the Koran nor the Lord of the Rings. If you asked me for one book that told you everything you needed to know about life, I'd pick that one -- The Ballad of the White Horse.

Opposed

Count Me Opposed:

...to anything that the D.C. government is in favor of, but especially this business of putting cameras everywhere.

The government should not be spying on our every move. It especially should not be doing so when these cameras have a nearly zero-percent chance of actually stopping crime -- terrorism or otherwise. Catching the criminals after the fact? Maybe. Fat lot of good that will do with suicide bombers.

Let's spend our resources a little more wisely. You want surveillence in the neighborhoods? Tell the people what to look for, and listen when one of us calls for help on 911. If we feel strongly enough about it to make a citizen's arrest, back us up instead of viewing us as the enemy. We're everywhere already, and we work for free.

We neither need nor want Big Brother to watch us, in order to keep us safe. It would help a lot, though, if the government remembered that we the People are the source of its legitimacy, and its principle ally. If it wants our support, it needs only ask. These attempts to control and monitor us are not welcome, and they are not necessary.

Henry

A New Rifle:

As some of you (well, probably only the hardcore gunfighters) will know, Smith & Wesson this year announced an end to the production run of the Model 19 (blue) / 66 (stainless) "Combat Magnums." This is one of the more famous handguns in American history, a six-shooting .357 Magnum revolver based on Smith & Wesson's lightweight "K" frame. The standard frames run up to N, which is their heavy frame for the .44 Remington Magnums and such. Their new showpiece, the 500, is on what they call an "X Frame."

The 19/66 was designed in cooperation with a Border Patrol officer named Bill Jordan, who was also a renowed gunfighter. He wanted a K-frame .357 Magnum because it would be light to carry, and have the stopping power of a magnum round. And so for fifty years the Combat Magnum type revolvers have been a staple of law enforcement and field carry.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the light frame isn't really up to the pressures of the .357 Magnum. Oddly, this was only discovered recently -- almost everyone who bought one was using .38 Special ammunition, which produces much lower pressures, for their target shooting. It's only when the .357 Mag is run through it constantly that it will stress and break the receiver.

Well, to make a long story short, S&W discontinued the model as of this production year, and I decided to get rid of mine. I took it down to a local place today and traded it in, along with my shoulder rig, speedloaders, etc. All together, it was enough of a trade that I could get something nice.

I already have a perfectly good "replacement" for the 66, which I have actually owned longer and like better anyway -- the 629-4, a .44 on the N-frame. So, I didn't need another double-action revolver.

Instead, I decided to do something I've been needing to do for a long time. I got a .22 rifle.

The .22 rifle is a wonderful thing because it enables you to shoot a lot, really improving your skills. My riflemanship has tarnished badly over the years -- I hadn't fired a rifle at all for almost a decade, I have to admit, having hunted with shotguns and carried handguns for defensive purposes. But there are real advantages to being a rifleman, and so about a year ago I picked up a Winchester 94 in .30-30 and began to practice with it. In the last year, I've probably fired two hundred rounds out of it.

With a .22 rifle, though, you could fire five thousand rounds for the same investment. That means a lot more practice, a lot more fun afternoons at the range, and a lot better riflemanship. So, since I had the chance to get something good, I got myself a good .22 rifle.

To be specific, I got this one, the Henry Golden Boy in .22 Long Rifle. This was Guns & Ammo's "Rifle of the Year" in 2001, and I now know why. What a beautiful piece, with an action as smooth as silk.

I fired fifty rounds today -- compared to two hundred all year with the .30-30 -- and bought several hundred more. I figure I'll carry them in my truck, and just stop by the range whenever I go out that way. With any luck, and a few months' dedicated practice, I won't have to be ashamed to post pictures of my rifle targets anymore. :)

Comments

Comments on Today's News:

On the British Police shooting dead a suspected bomber -- Good job, too. One can get pretty much the same amount of instant, functional intel from an autopsy and a raid on a dead bomber's home as from a living, but deeply uncooperative suspect who won't give you his name or anything else.

You can get a lot more of use out of that autopsy and raid than you can from a bomber who escaped into the crowd, or who blew the crowd apart. Plus, he doesn't blow the crowd apart; and he doesn't escape to do more mayhem; and you don't have to worry about him being set free by some politician attempting to bargain with the terrorists, as all those IRA bombers were by that same British government.

Of course, if he was innocent, you killed an innocent man. This is a great moral risk, but be honest with yourself: would you rather live with the pain of having shot dead an innocent man, or the pain of having not shot dead a man who proceeded to blast apart a busload of school children? Giving that you're gambling on the two options, your choice is surely clear.

On Bob Byrd -- The Honorable Byrd has a way with words, doesn't he? "One's life is probably in no greater danger in the jungles of deepest Africa than in the jungles of America's large cities... In my judgment, much of the problem has been brought about by the mollycoddling of criminals by some of the liberal judges who have been placed on the nation's courts in recent years."

Well, OK. But the question ought not to be, 'is one's life in greater danger in an American city or an African jungle?' It ought to be, 'is one's life in greater danger in an American city or an African city?' Africa's most orderly cities compare unfavorably even to America's least orderly ones -- those few remaining outposts, like the District of Columbia, which deny the right to keep and bear arms.

And if you want to compare African jungles to the American wilderness, well, let's not even bother. Africa remains both the original human homeland, and the most perilous place on earth. This explains a lot about humans.

On New York City's bag-searches -- Terrorism is very destructive to liberty. But it doesn't have to be. I remain convinced that, before this is over, the war is going to lead to the end of the American city -- not through the detonation of WMD, but through making the places even more totally unlivable.

The economic justification for the city fades every year with the increase in telecommunications and other infrastructure. Combine that with 'just in time' transit systems, and there's no reason to have a city except for deep-water ports. Even these will mainly be necessary as distribution points for the broader society, and collection points for what remains of our manufacture-for-export industry. The manufacturer itself can easily erect a very small "company town" in one of the emptier parts of the country, using an airport or interstate to send its goods where they need to be sent. As is already the case in Savannah, there is no reason for the port city to be occupied with any major industry except the port itself. Thus, even in this case you can have a small city in terms of population performing what remains of the urban economic function.

The need to distribute goods somewhat more widely will result in a heavier use of oil prodcuts; but the increase in telecommuting will vastly decrease our current levels of consumption. My sense is that something like most of our gasoline goes into private cars driving you from home to your place of business. When a sizable part of the culture just stays home to work, that's a lot of gasoline that doesn't get used.

Why, then, should we put up with these violations of the Fourth Amendment, such as we see in NYC today? One can argue that they're necessary on mass transit systems; so why have that many people in one place? The effect of this distribution of the population is the defense of the individual and family from both terrorist and major-power (say, Chinese) threats, and not coincidentally the defense of our economic power base. Thus, it makes sense from both a personal and societal standpoint.

Move to the country. Telecommute. You'll be glad you did, and so will Uncle Sam.

Beer

Beer:

I learned reading The Independent today that Corona has failed in its attempt to do something really dumb:

Eurocermex, European distributors of the market-leading Mexican Corona, has lost in its bid to trademark a physical object: a clear bottle containing yellow liquid (no sniggering please) with a wedge of lime in the bottleneck. This has long been the cool way of serving Corona, possibly because the lime gives flavour to what would otherwise lack it almost entirely, and...

Apparently, they applied to the EU to make it a legal violation to serve another beer in this fashion. Exactly why it would should be illegal for a bar to serve a beer to a customer in the fashion the customer ordered was not clear enough even for the EU, which surely must be the easiest of all audiences for this sort of claim.

Beer, like wives and sunshine, is one of the great parts of life, something we appreciate and yet don't think about that much. (Also like wives and sunshine, beer is a wonderful thing of which one can nevertheless have too much; though indeed, to round out the similie, in spite of that one will always eventually be wanting more of them again.)

In this very early Grim's Hall post, I quoted a well-remembered passage from an old Robin Hood story, in which the famous outlaws have a picnic involving bread and cheese and a skin of good March beer. That seems like a good way to spend a summer day, and as the weekend is upon us, I will recommend it to you. You probably can't get a good October or March beer at this time of year, but there are several that will do. I find that Red Stripe goes well with the heat, being a little sweeter than usual (Jamaica's other famous beer, Dragon Stout, is likewise far sweeter than stouts normally).

The times grow darker, we see in the news. Well, they were dark in Robin Hood's day as well. Like Robin Hood take your blade and whatever you prefer instead of a longbow, but have your picnic all the same. Down with Prince John, and al Qaeda, and all the rest of the lot of tyrants.

UPDATE: On rereading this note, which I dashed off quickly and without much consideration, I see that I wrote "Beer, like wives and sunshine, is one of the great parts of life, something we appreciate and yet don't think about that much." On reflection, I recognize that this may seem like a shocking or callous statement to some of my younger readers. I should like to say something in that regard.

Young love is a different thing than love when it matures. When you first fall in love, and especially when it is true love, your beloved occupies all of your thoughts.

Once you have been together for a while, however, the challenges of surviving in a hard world will eventually pull your focus away from one another. The challenges and difficulties of life can be demanding -- and none more so than childrearing, which can occupy every last moment that used to be "free."

In that place, the things you value most are the things you don't have to think about. The things you can rely upon, and to which you know you can trust your weight, are the things that count most of all. There is nothing to love better than the thing you can trust, and trust so much that you never have to think about the question.

So it is that the best of good wives may find herself in this category. A bad wife never will -- a man has to worry about one such as that all the time. Those of you who are young women aspiring to a successful marriage might give a thought to becoming that kind of wife.

It may not seem like much, compared to the castles in the air that arise in some of the love songs. It may seem, at first glance, to fade by comparison to the passions and furies of young love. Still, when people are making a life for each other -- and trying to build a life for their children -- there is a lot to be said for it. If you have to think about each other all the time, you will run right up on the rocks. If you need not spend your focus on that, however, you can not only take time to steer -- you can do so knowing that the rest of the ship is being kept in order by a faithful companion and partner.

"Beer and sunshine" isn't bad company to be in, when the play of childhood is behind you, and the labors of the world are your daily bread. In truth, there's little better company to be had in this mortal world.

Scotty

Scotty:

I haven't seen an episode of Star Trek in many years, but it used to run as late-night TV back when I was young enough to still watch late-night TV (i.e., before I had a job and a child, leaving me in the same camp as The Geek when it comes to "lost sleep"). So, after the umpteenth blog pointed to the obit for James Doohan, I finally gave in and went to take a look.

Did you?

At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. The chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

Rest in peace. Sir.

fnames

Foreign Names:

An aside inspired by "the Sheik Marine's" comments below. It happens that I also have a foreign name: a Chinese name, in fact. It was bestowed upon me by a farmer near Hangzhou from whom I often bought vegetables. Native speakers of Chinese have a lot of trouble with my English name, which contains a consonant formation (Br-) that is not found in Chinese. So, for ease of use, I adopted it and used it on all my documents in China.

The name was 大 鬍 鬚, which is written in pinyin Da Huxu and pronounced "DAH Hoo-shoo."

It translates into English as "Big Beard," which was quite right: at the time, distrusting (for very good reason) the quality of the local water, I drank only beer and disavowed shaving. As a consequence, I ended up with a fine forked beard that would have been the pride of a Viking warrior.

The name is interesting in two ways. The first is that, in Chinese, the family name is written first. Thus, on all my official Chinese documents, I'm identified as "Mr. Big."

The other thing that is interesting is that "HuXu" means "beard" only by historic accident. It began as the name of a tribe of barbarians in Western China, who wore beards. Most Han Chinese men -- "Han" being an ethnic grouping that includes better than ninety percent of China's subjects -- can't grow beards until they get quite old. As a result, the beard itself became identified with these wild barbarian tribes of the west.

As a consequence, the real translation of my Chinese name is, "Big Western Barbarian." I couldn't have made a better or more honest choice.

Sheikh Marine

The Sheik Marine:

Captain Leggett of Southern Appeal has posted some photographs of himself, attired in a tribal headdress that was given to him by grateful Iraqis at a wedding he attended. He says:

I should note that as soon as My Iraqi hosts saw me in the headdress they immediately began calling me "Sheik Marine," a title I was greeted with by almost every member of the tribe every time I was in the area. Unfortunately, the Marine Corps has not yet seen fit to recognize the authority of my tribal title.

They really ought to recognize it. Lawrence of Arabia proved what could be accomplished by working with the tribal structure, and showing respect for and a willingness to participate in their native conceptions of honor. Well done, Joel. Well done.

UPDATE: In the comments, Joel reveals two more important details:

Y’all might find this humorous. Not only was I made a member of their tribe (Al Ghezzi) I was also given an Arabic name, Kazem Al Ghezzi.

Humorous, no. Impressive, yes.

On another piece of his attire:

My father gave that knife to me when I was enlisted. It is a Randall model 14, in my humble opinion the finest fighting knife made.

You are not alone in your opinion -- many knife enthusiasts love the Randall made knives. My own favorite is the Model 12 "Bear Bowie" design. Yet, as we were discussing on another occasion, the best knife for one fighter is not the best knife for another -- there is a lot of variation that comes from arm length, grip strength, height, and the like. The Model 14 is a very respectable choice.

Excalibur

"The War of Spells"

My favorite article so far to arise from the disruptions in the Philippines is this one. It describes the events in terms of "a dagger in the heart," magic, a divided Church, the "war of spells" that shattered King Arthur's realm, and finishes with an allusion to the sword Excalibur.

It seems almost improper to mention that the 'Sword in the Stone' and Excalibur were two different swords. Nevertheless, they were: the first sword was a gift of God, as the legend has it, to name the rightful king; Excalibur was kept by the Lady of the Lake. Both types of swords have precedents and resonances in other legends -- for the Sword in the Stone, see for example the Sword of the Volsungs (which resonates also, and intentionally, with Aragorn's sword Anduril, or Narsil); for Excalibur, any number of legends about fairy blades kept by water spirits. This last is a perfectly reasonable legend, for many Celtic and Germanic cultures cast swords and other treasures into sacred lakes and rivers as sacrifices. The water maids who keep such sacred blades are a natural point of origin for our Lady who dwelt by, or in, or under, 'the Lake.'

All that said, it is a hopeful sign for the Philippines that they have these legends to draw upon, still so close to mind as to leap into a simple piece of political analysis. A commonly understood legend, underlying your view of the world and present in all or most minds, has been the foundation of many a society in hard times. In politics, if most of you can imagine the problem alike, you can probably imagine a solution. Not so in physics; but this is a political problem.

Dining

Fine Dining:

Via Arts & Letters Daily, I see that the UK Guardian has put together a list of the world's fifty best restaurants. Improbably, to say the least that might be said, fourteen of them are in England, including the world's best: The Fat Duck.

The list has earned some unreasonably bitter commentary from our German friends:

So again: Congratulations to our English friends! What they were unable to achieve in soccer, they've made up for in the kitchen. And this counterbalances the bankruptcy of their last automobile company. And the state of the London underground.

You can read the list for yourself. I'm dismayed to say that, not only have I never eaten in a single one of these restaurants, I've never lived close to a single one of these cities. In point of fact, I've only even visited one of them -- New York -- and have no plans to plan never to return. Since I didn't eat at any of these places on that occasion, I shall probably miss them entirely. Were I to die tomorrow, I should have missed out on the world's best food -- or rather, its best restaurant food, since both my grandfather's bacon and my grandmother's biscuits were not for sale.

Still, I do like good food, and so I would like to solicit from you, dear reader, two lists of your own. The first list is the finest restaurants you've patronized, and where they can be found -- as well as a bit about them, if you like. The second is your favorites, which needn't be "fine" cuisine at all. For myself, I've dined in a few fine establishments, but my very favorite place to eat is a hole in the wall Mexican joint in Chamblee, Georgia (which town is called by the locals "Chambodia" in honor of the many Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants displaced by a certain regional conflict of the 1950s-70s).

In any event, here are my two lists. Unlike the Guardian, these are not in order of excellence, just "as they come to me."

Fine dining:

1) The Abbey, Atlanta, Georgia -- it self-consciously describes itself as "French Continental," but what I had were the lamb chops, which you could have gotten in one of those fine English restaurants (I imagine). It is notable for being located in an old church of magnificient decor, which is every bit as enjoyable as the food. And the food was very good indeed. I took my wife there once on our anniversary, and if any of you have the notion, it's worth a trip.

2) The Southern Inn Restaurant, Lexington, Virginia -- Lexington is called "the shrine of the South," being home to Stonewall Jackson's house and the tomb of Robert E. Lee and his faithful horse Traveller. It's home to the Virginia Military Institute, which with the Citadel in Charleston carries on the tradition of Southern military life. The Southern Inn is a fine place to eat downtown, with twists of mint soaking in the ready pitchers of icewater to refresh the throat. I suggest it heartily if you're ever in the area, which you may be -- there's a major interstate that runs right through Lexington.

3) Pizza Hut, Shanghai, China -- No, I'm not kidding. Pizza Hut is a luxury restaurant in China. The Shanghai location (there may be more than one) serves a clam chowder pie, as well as special salads, in addition to pepperoni pizza. Reservations are a wise idea, as they are a very popular restaurant with the upper class.

4) Sunday Restaurant, Hangzhou, China -- We ate there the day we bought the train tickets out of Hangzhou, en route to the airport at PuDong to carry us back to the good old United States. That was about six months after we'd arrived, most of it over a winter in which we were provided with no heat sources. We were in a celebratory mood on the occasion, and so went with a couple of Australians to eat everything we could find. It was a mighty feast, and one I remember kindly.

5) Asia Nora's, Washington, D.C. -- Not only good food, but fine Scotch, if you're so inclined. I don't actually like Asian food that much, to be honest (you might have guessed from my listing "Pizza Hut" as the finest restaurant in China) but I can't doubt the quality of what's on offer here. (An aside -- at a cafeteria once in China I was dining with one of my colleagues, a nice lady who was a Chinese national. She asked me what I thought of the food. "It's offal," I replied, having just identified the meat as stomach. "Awful!" she cried. "I thought it was good!")

6) Biddy Mulligan's, Washington, D.C. -- Too expensive to be considered a "favorite," but the food is of a high enough quality that I go there on occasion. The Irish mixed grill is the best thing on the board. I had it on my last birthday, courtesy of Sovay.

UPDATE: 7) Bilbo Baggins', Alexandria, Virginia. -- I had forgotten about it, but it's a very nice place down on the waterfront. The food is good, and the beer list is astonishing. Everyone's favorite hobbit would have approved.

Favorites:

1) El Taco Veloz, Chamblee, GA. -- Not much to be said about this place except that non-Spanish speakers would be advised to remember that "lengua" means "tongue." Don't miss the salsa verde or the chiles rellenos. Oddly enough, this restaurant is part of a chain, but all the others have a different name: Taco Prisa, which also means "Speedy Taco."

2) Kevin Barry's Irish Pub, Savannah, Georgia -- The best Irish Pub I've ever attended, and I attended it often in my Savannah days. MilBloggers will want to visit the Hall of Heroes (and cigar bar) on the second floor, which honors the US military; Irish sympathizers will want to visit Liberty Hall, which honors especially Kevin Barry but also all IRA veterans. This is not a pose; the owner is quite serious about it, and is a collector of historic weapons associated with Irish republicanism, including antique pikes from the 1798 rising. Yes, yes, I know, but check the calendar on their website, and go on a night that Harry is playing. You'll understand.

3) The Mellow Mushroom, throughout Georgia and points north (but not far enough north). -- The best pizza in Georgia, although a close second is Vinnie Van Go-Go's in Savannah. The Mushroom is better, though.

4) The Reggae Cafe (also, The Reggae Bar and The Reggae Pub), Hangzhou, China -- expensive enough to be "fine dining" by Chinese standards, but cheap enough for a Westerner to eat there often. The Szechuan pizza is great, and the reggae burger -- which is actually a sausage patty, served with a fried egg over hard on something resembling a bun -- is surprisingly good. For a year after I came back from China, I put a fried egg on my hamburgers. (I see from this list that it still exists, and not only that, but there is now an Irish pub in Hangzhou with Guinness on tap. If that had been there when I was there, I might have stayed another year or two, if we could have gotten the wife over that double pneumonia).

5) The Griffin Tavern, Flint Hill, Virginia. The pizza is the best pizza I've had since I left Georgia, no question. They have things as cheap as burgers, or as expensive and fancy as you like. It's the only restaurant around, so if you're off in this section of the woods, the Griffin is all there is -- but you couldn't do better in a major city, I'll take an oath on it. This is my favorite restaurant in Virginia, but it's a long trek from anywhere you're likely to be. Still...

6) Molly's Irish Pub, Warrenton, Virginia -- Hm, it may be that I'm detecting a theme in my recommendations. Have the Shepherd's Pie. Beowulf likes the ice cream.

7) The Childe Harold Pub, Washington, D.C. -- The Childe Harold restaurant is a fine dining place, to be avoided if you'll have my recommendation. The Childe Harold Pub is in the basement, and is an entirely different sort of place. Grab a table in the back of the Pub and have a Guard's Burger, or belly up to the bar at happy hour. If you like pasta, they have a kind of chicken pasta that Sovay always orders. It's very good, I can attest, having eaten more of the stuff than she has herself -- she eats like a bird, the girl. The Childe Harold takes its name from a poem by Lord Byron about a knight on pilgrimage.

Well, there you go. What have you got?

UPDATE: A couple more favorites from Atlanta, which I remembered later:

8) Savage Pizza, Atlanta, Georgia. -- A comic-book themed restaurant, but what great pizza.

9) La Fonda Latina, Atlanta, GA. -- The quesadillas are excellent, as is the fresh salsa. They make good sangria, too, as I recall.

Pape

4th Rail Post:

I have a post up at the Fourth Rail on Dr. Pape's work.

OPSEC

OPSEC

Secrecy News has a link to another recently available government document, which comes from the Interagency OPSEC support staff. The Federation of American Scientists, which underwrites SN, has published a copy of it on their website.

The piece is the Intelligence Threat Handbook.

The notion is to provide a basic awareness of intelligence techniques used against America by major powers, especially Russia and China. The piece intends to help government agencies recognize and avoid what may be intelligence gathering missions by foreign powers.

I pass the link on to you because some of you work in sensitive areas (not only in the government!) and will benefit, and others of you will just be interested in this insight into Chinese intelligence. Have a look.

Infowar

Information Warfare:

The most interesting thing about this roundup post is the comments section. I don't say that to minimize the quality of the post, which draws attention to the political debacle in the Philippines. Nevertheless, the comments are fascinating:

1. Anonymous said...
Just FYI, the so-called John Marzan you link to is a vehement pro-Estrada/Marcos loyalist who trolls various Filipino message boards with rabid anti-Arroyo propaganda. His weblog entries are, of course, always slanted towards the far-extreme anti-Arroyo side, even if it means linking to a newspaper owned by Estrada/Marcos loyalists (the Tribune) and defending the corruption and violence of previous administrations. Not the kind of person I'd trust my links to.

There are a few other local Filipino weblogs with a more balanced viewpoint of what's going on here: columnist Manuel Quezon III and The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Oh, and I work just a couple of blocks from there. It's an impressive rally, but there have been a couple of street fights outside my building. Not the best elements of society; I'm seeing banners carried by "Akbayan," a socialist group not unlike International ANSWER.

...

3. Anonymous said...
gateway, be careful of bloggers putting in comments. there is a propaganda campaign even in blogs being mounted by the palace to counter anti-arroyo blogs. so do not trust this comment.

Of course we have all seen this coming. Political groups are aware of blogs, and so they have begun to assemble talking points for bloggers just as they do for letters-to-the-editor.

This is something to watch for in all future contests of this sort, but there is one aspect to attend to:

1) Each side of the argument has as its main interest that the debate should be framed in its terms...

2) ...but both sides of any argument have as a common interest that the debate should be framed as an argument between them.

This is not, as wilder-eyed libertarians sometimes argue about the two-party system, a conspiracy between two similar parties to obscure their similarity in order to offer the illusion of a choice. It applies even in cases where the difference is real, and deep.

The reason is this: We must be told what to think, lest we decide for ourselves. That, at least, must be avoided at all costs. A political group knows what its opposition's arguments are, and how to counter them. But the mutations that may arise in free space are unpredictable. As 'knowing your enemy' is one of the classic rules of warfighting, it is a matter of pure practicality to make certain that everyone who cannot be won to your side is, at least, thinking the way your known enemy thinks.

For that cause, expect to see these sorts of comments spreading through the blogosphere. It profits them to carry on the fight at length in every place, even if they know they have lost the audience in that place, even if they know they have won it. The fight serves its own purpose: it focuses all thought into the known patterns.

We must be cautious to prevent our halls to become battlegrounds for information warfighting of this type. This sort of agenda-advancing is viral: it not only tends to overwhelm comments sections to prevent new ideas from forming, but it tends to infect many thinkers who lean to one side or the other. They, wishing to seem well informed and also to express an acceptable opinion, need but learn one of the two standing arguments and assert it at all points.

The only way to prevent ourselves from becoming tools of suppressing debate is to recognize these information warfare techniques, and stop them. This can chiefly be done by ignoring their protagonists, but may also require erasing comments in extreme cases. It is why Grim's Hall does not permit "fly-by" comments, anonymous or otherwise: this is a place for fighters, and fighters of the mind must be thinkers rather than mimics.

Crossbows

Turning America Back Into A Nation Of...

Whose idea was it to allow these military style weapons to be used in hunting? American unilateralism knows no bounds, it appears. Don't people know that these are internationally banned weapons?

In 1097, Pope Urban II outlawed the use of the crossbow. Four decades later, Pope Innocent II convened a Lateran Council with nearly 1,000 prelates. They forbade "under penalty of anathema" not just the use of crossbows, "the dastard's weapon," but the entire "deadly and God-detested art of slingers and archers." You could get a waiver if you were on a crusade, but that's a different conversation.

Of course, it wasn't just the Catholic Church. Conrad III, the Holy Roman Emperor... banned the use of the crossbow in his army and his realm.

Not only that, they have also been banned by some of our more forward looking states, such as Maine. Oddly, though, their reasons seem to be anti-noble, rather than anti-peasant:

The taboo carried over into modern times. In American Colonial days into the 19th century, crossbows were associated with European nobility and spurned, said Ottie Snyder, a cofounder of the American Crossbow Federation.

In Maine, crossbows were banned for hunting in 1856, but have remained legal to own.

Well, no matter. Maine just passed a law letting people use them again. And so did New Hampshire. And Pennsylvania, last year. Vermont (of course) already permitted them. Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island in New England have provisions allowing for their use, but only by citizens who are not capable of using traditional bows.

Given the sudden, practical attempt to enforce the long-theoretical "states-rights" interpretation of the Second Amendment among another of the solid Blue states, it will be interesting to see where this goes. Might we soon have Blue State militias, armed primarily with crossbows? There is something to be said for the concept, surely.

Hat tip NRA-ILA.

Matt Furey

Matt Furey in Hospital:

You all probably have seen Matt Furey's ads. He sells a product called "Combat Conditioning," along with another product called "Combat Abs," and several similar things. He advertises on a number of blogs -- I know I've seen his ads on BlackFive, for example.

I have a message today that says he's in a Chinese hospital -- which is a better option on average than an African hospital, but not by much. I wouldn't check myself into one unless I was sure I was going to die otherwise, and had nothing to lose, but here we are:

Although I'm known throughout the world for being strong, right now I feelincredibly weak. The strongest body can be brought down quickly with a morsel of bad food. Right now I'm in the hospital in Xiang getting an I.V. and hope to regain my strength and health very soon.

Regardless of your religious or spiritual beliefs if you can take a moment tooffer a prayer on my behalf I would be most thankful. I sure need it right now.

Hope to back with you very soon.

I'm on the fellow's list because I own several of his products. The Matt Furey program for getting fit and maintaining strength is the best one I've ever encountered. It compares very favorably to the USMC "Daily 16", for example. Many of the insights are the same, but the Furey program incorporates the yoga exercises taught to traditional Indian wrestlers (although, so far, I've never seen the word "yoga" anywhere in any of Matt's stuff -- I'm sure he'd prefer not to have it associated with his products because of its granola connotations). Some of these (particularly the back or "wrestler's" bridge, the gymnastic bridge, and the handstands) are tremendously powerful ways to improve your strength -- and they nicely complement the calesthenics of his program by providing isometric exercise as well. Programs like the Daily 16, which also focus on calesthenics but lack the yoga, don't work as well in my experience.

I mention all this because his advertising gives the calculated impression that he's an arrogant jerk. It's a marketing device to get attention for his product, but I suspect it will cause a number of people to sneer or laugh when they hear of his misfortune. That is not proper -- he really is teaching the truth, and I have myself recommended the program to several people, especially military men who need to develop functional muscle but can't afford the bulk associated with freeweight training due to the military's (and particularly the Marines') absurd height/weight calculations. These are always based on the BMI ("Body Mass Index"), which is intended for small to medium framed people who aren't especially athletic. Big, strong men who work out will always be right at the top of the weight, if they can make weight at all. The Furey program, because it produces functional but not bulky muscle, can be a partial fix for Marines and soldiers trying to work around that.

Anyway, here's to Matt. I hope he gets well soon, the poor SOB. Bad Chinese food, and even the best Chinese hospital, isn't a fate I'd wish on anyone.

Grim's Hall

A Little Mountain Feud:

It seems I may owe something by way of apology to those city neighbors I mentioned in a recent post. I take it back: from now on, I only want bears for neighbors at all. No people, city or country, thanks aye.

The other night I was laying in bed, when off to the southwest I heard the report of a pistol. It sounded like a mid-range caliber, something in the weight of a 9mm or .40 Short & Weak. After a few seconds, there was a second shot, and then a third following two seconds after the second. Then, there were three shots in rapid succession; a pause, and then seven shots more, also rapid-fire.

There was quiet for a bit, and then two more shots.

"Fifteen," I murmured to my wife before rolling over and going back to sleep. "Try to remember, in case anyone asks."

Well, I didn't think too much about it, because as a kid I often heard guys out target-shooting, even at night, down in the Georgia woods. If you work all day, when else are you going to go shoot? And if it's on your property, and you take the right kind of safety precautions, it's legal and fine.

Things are a little different in Virginia. My wife was off visiting the neighbors today -- a chili dog luncheon, some of the local mothers got up for the kids who live around here. She came back with quite a few good stories to tell.

JHD will appreciate this.

Apparently it all started a few weeks ago when one of the boys up the valley started letting his pitbull out to wander. The thing was not all that nice, and it set after the neighbors' cats. Now, most of the houses around here are not within sight of each other, but these two happen to be. So they're "close" neighbors.

Well, the dog ate the cat, and the man was absolutely outraged to find his feline half-devoured the next day. So he told his neighbor that he'd best get that dog tied up, or else. Needless to say, the neighbor did no such thing.

So, the guy shot the dog. It had eaten his cat, after all, and his neighbor refused to restrain it. If it was dangerous to more than just cats, that was probably justified -- although it wouldn't have been a bad idea to call animal control instead. That was in the afternoon.

The story gets a little fuzzy on the details at this point, but by midnight or so, the two neighbors were both, independently, roaring drunk. The fellow with the cat was drunk on liquor, but the fellow with the dog was drunk on real old fashioned moonshine. Turns out there's supposed to be a still around here somewhere.

I gather but am not certain that Captain Moonshine is the one who decided to take a shot at his neighbor. They had been yelling at each other -- the poor wife of the cat-lover reports that her husband was "frothing at the mouth, he was so drunk" -- and then there was the first shot. Our cat lover went for his gun, which he had close to hand as he'd been expecting his neighbor to take exception on behalf of his dog, and shot back. There was one more careful shot, and then they opened up. The poor wife, trying to restrain her husband, was now squashed between the door and the wall as the brutal but cat-loving man attempted to keep her out of his way, while still returning the fire.

They shot until they ran flat out of ammo, and the only casualty was the fish tank in one of the houses -- both of them were so drunk that they couldn't hit each other, or anything near to each other. When they ran out of bullets the real fight began: they cast down their guns and went at it hand to hand, beating each other until the deputies arrived.

It would have been a kindness, all things considered, if they'd just started with that and saved gunfighting for serious-minded folks. These things are not toys. No word yet on whether the arrested are named "Hatfield" or "McCoy."

I'll be interested to see how the county handles the case. My hope, of course, is that these irresponsible idiots get the book thrown at them. I hate to see a free man sent to jail, like I hate to see a healthy man become weak and sick; but I'm willing to make an exception in this case. I'll keep you posted.

MSN Money - Associated Press Business News: Asian Travel Offers British Support

Vacation in London:

That is the advice of the head of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, Peter de Jong. His statement on topic shows that nobility of spirit can be found in travel agents as well as anywhere else:

After the tsunami, PATA urged tourists to visit tsunami-affected areas as part of the recovery process. Today we ask tourists who intended to visit the U.K. to continue with their visit. The resolve and unity of civilized people will prevail.

Well said.

The Fourth Rail

Was the IRA Involved?

It's a natural question, given that the IRA has more experience than anyone in carrying out terror attacks in London. There is no evidence to suggest that they were involved in the execution of the attack -- but there is some reason to think they might have provided intelligence and planning information, as I note today over at the Fourth Rail.

'Reason to think they might have,' I wish to make clear, is a long way from 'proof that they did.' But it is a question that our intelligence services ought to be asking -- and one we ought to be asking, too.

Publius Pundit - Blogging the democratic revolution

God Save the Queen:

I also remember what Pejman remembers about the Coldstream Guards, but also one thing more: that, at the memorial service held at St. Paul's Cathedral, Queen Elizabeth had them play The Star Spangled Banner as a hymn, and sang the words from memory.

English Queens do not sing national anthems, not as a rule. And this was one written about a war in which her own country was 'the other side.' No matter.

My compliments, for what they are worth, to the British for their upstanding behavior in the face of yesterday's attacks. We will know more such days in the future, and would do well to learn how to meet them. The lady who served tea, like the Queen, is a model for us all.