Michael Yon introduces us to some new Americans

Congratulations to NASA and the brave astronauts of Discovery!

Jane Fonda Plans Anti-War Bus Tour

What can I say. Hanoi Jane strikes again.

Apparently she is going to tour in a bus fueled by "vegetable oil", which implies that her theme for the tour will be "no blood for oil" or some other asinine crap.

A refresher for those unaware of reality:

Total U.S. Oil Imports in 2004 (in thousands of barrels per day(kbpd)): 10,088
Total U.S. Oil Imports in 2004 from Iraq (in kbpd): 655
Percentage: 6.5%
Total U.S. Oil Imports in 2004 from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela: 4411
Percentage: 43.72%

So, why haven't we invaded Canada, Mexico and Venezuela if it truely was a "war for oil?"


Source: EIA Top Suppliers of U.S. Crude Oil Imports, 2004

Big Pharaoh, Karim, and Sandmonkey et al held an anti-terrorism protest in Cairo today.

Even though they were told to leave by the police (very politely by some obviously compassionate police) they still got their message out.

The protest may have been small but the point and signifigance are huge. With small steps does a person make a long march.


Bravo!

Big Pharaoh's coverage
Karim's coverage
Sandmonkey's coverage

Update A thought: Perhaps with more time and organization a larger protest could be developed?

Brian over at The Bay Area Is Talking (dot com) [Ed: Hey Brian, the "(dot com)" thing is weird.] reports on a new less lethal crowd control device called "Sherrif" that the United States military is developing and how "scientists" at New Scientist are "concerned" about the "damage" the system could inflict.

Well I have a few problems with the "scientists" quoted and their concerns.

The "scientist" quoted in New Scientist is one Mr. Neil Davison, from Bradford University in the United Kingdom. More specifically Mr. Neil Davison is the "project co-ordinator" for the "Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project " (BNLWRP) . The BNLWRP is under the "Department of Peace Studies", which was initially started by the "Society of Friends" (which I assume to mean the Quakers). The BNLWRP lists that one of its research objectives is to "Highlight the ethical questions that surround the research, development, deployment and use of such weapons. " Furthermore, the biographical information for Dr. Nick Lewer, head of the BNLWRP states that the grant under which the BNLWRP operates allows for research on the "concerns" that NLW systems present "...particularly within the context of the dangerous implications for the suppression of civil dissent and civil liberty. " The grant is from the "Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust", and who is the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust? Essentially they are a large Quaker group in England. There policies include "control or elimination of specific forms of warfare and the arms trade" and "pacifism and conscientious objection to military service ". That's a lot of Quaker influence.

Now, I have absolutely no problem with peace or peacemaking (unless of course it is from the "Liberaliti" brand of "peacemaking" which as I have described before is really just a cover for communism/anarchism and the abolishment of the United States). However I do have a problem with groups influencing the development and research of systems designed to protect the lives of U.S. military forces or law enforcement, who are at their very nature opposed to the concept of a military at all and those influences being presented as "science".


That said, let's take a little look at the "Active Denial System" and the possible "damage" that it can cause.

"...Neil Davison, co-ordinator of the non-lethal weapons research project at the University of Bradford in the UK, says controlling the amount of radiation received may not be that simple."

First off, it's not a "radiation" weapon in the common vernacular use of the word "radiation", it is a microwave weapon. While technically this is a form of radiation, it is not ionizing radation, which is the main type of radiation that is the big bad boogieman in our society. Secondly, "controlling" the exposure to the beam is relatively simple. The beam heats the top 1/64th of an inch of the skin, creating a burning sensation akin to "...touching a hot frying pan or the intense radiant heat from a fire". A human beings natural reaction to such stimuli is to jerk away from it (that crazy momma nature, giving an instinct towards self-preservation!).

"What happens if someone in a crowd is unable for whatever reason to move away from the beam?"

Seeing as how "...a 2-second burst from the system can heat the skin to a temperature of 130° F" and it is apparently designed to sweep across a crowd, the odds are that the crowd won't be around for very long. Also "Someone would have to stay in the beam for 250 seconds before it burnt the skin". For the mathematically challenged, that's over four minutes. If there is a crowd or individual, that can stand their ground against a burning sensation akin to touching a hot frying pan for over four minutes, then I would be more concerned about the soldiers using the ADS system and their security.

My final arguement in favor of non-lethal weapons systems is very easy: A burn on the skin is a lot better than dying from lead-poisoning from taking a couple of rounds from a rifle or pistol. To argue against non-lethal (or "less-lethal") weapons systems is asinine.

Unfortunately we live in a world where people want to kill us. Be that for ideological, religious, political or other reasons, they want to kill us. Not give us temporary burning sensations on the skin, not make our ears ring for a little while, not cause us to feel temporarily nauseous. They want to kill us. We are one of the few countries in the world that would even think about creating non / less lethal weapons to use in a war zone. But there are groups and people out there who don't believe in the concept of war or defense, or at least not for the west. Those who think that any response to violence is bad. To them I say this: go to Osama bin Laden al-Qaida et al and start preaching that to them. The West is already getting soft about our responses to terrorism and violence, we are getting so bad that non / less lethal weapons are areas of "concern" to us. Preach non-violence to the actual violent groups, not to those that are defending themselves.

Michael Yon reports from Mosul on a gigantic weapons cache find in Mosul that the Deuce-Four was involved in finding, confiscating and destroying.

The haul in "The Devils Foyer":

"26 shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles, 28 complete mortar firing systems and nearly 1,500 'mortar bombs.' ...26 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and several hundred rounds. Sixteen anti-tank mines modified with anti-personnel shrapnel were hidden in couches. Each of those mines could destroy a humvee. The soldiers call these modified mines "Birthday Cakes." There were dozens of assault weapons and machine guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, night vision gear, one bayonet, chemical masks, and more."

Way to go Deuce-Four and Michael, keep up the good work.

While you're there, don't forget to tip him.

"And 'lo, the Department of Motor Vehicles shall become efficient."

So, I went online and re-registered my car.

It took two minutes.

I really don't know what to do now.

In most countries, the title of this post would be of little interest to people. However, these twenty-three girls have graduated after eleven years of waiting.

Afghan Warrior, a blogger from Afghanistan, passes on the news that after eleven years, the first class of female students has graduated high-school in Kandahar Province.

Congratulations to them and to Afghanistan.

So comments are MIA.

Oh well. Hardly anyone ever commented anyway...

Update: Haloscan is back. Not that anybody cares

I really like this guy :)

So, the media is now reporting that Karl Rove allegedly testified to the Grand Jury that Novak told him about Valerie Plame before he spoke to Matt Cooper.

Now then, this means that, if true, Karl Rove did not leak Valerie Plame's name to the press.

I demand Joe Wilson, Barbara Boxer, John Kerry et al, that you immediately fire the media.

Much Ado About Nothing?

I wonder too if this quote isn't telling:

Wilson later told CNN that his wife was no longer in an undercover job at the time Novak’s column first identified her. “My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity,” he said.Federal law prohibits government officials from divulging the identity of an undercover intelligence officer. But in order to bring charges, prosecutors must prove the official knew the officer was covert and nonetheless outed his or her identity.

So if his wife wasn't undercover at the time then isn't this whole thing a moot point? I understand that if someone divulged her name on a Friday and then she came in from the cold on Saturday that the divulger is still in trouble but one has to wonder at the signifigance of this one woman who apparently got her husband (an obvious critic of the President) permission / assistance in going to Niger. Maybe they (the Wilsons) should be investigated for nepotism.

It's stories like this that really get my blood boiling. According to a Reuters report from Baghdad today, a suicide car bomber attacked U.S. forces in Baghdad today.

What were the "evil Crusader" "occupation" troops doing? According to some reports they were handing out candy to children.

Suicide bombings against innocent children. Yeah, "brave mujahadeen" indeed. I have a question for the people in the Bay Area that go around claiming to support the Iraq "insurgency": Is this what you support? You support the slaughter of children? If you do, you'd better stay out of my way.

United States of America, Australia, and Japan

Update: Hmmm. Kellid stated in the comments section that there might be something disrespectful about the direction in which the flags are blowing. To be honest, I hadn't given thought to the angle of the display, keeping more so in mind the height of the flags to each other and keeping the U.S. flag in front and center. However, upon review of the U.S. flag code, technically it is more proper to display the Union to the flags right (viewers left) so I have changed it. Since I changed it for the United States, I changed it for Japan and Australia as well, assuming that it would be more courteous. Thanks Kellid for the heads up.

So remember the "Anarchist" riot on Friday? The D.A. is now offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) who attacked the officer.

Good on them. You can't let people get away with attacking the police.

Interbank Rates 1/1/2005

Euro to U.S. Dollar: $1.35690

Interbank Rates 7/9/2005

Euro to U.S. Dollar: $1.19620

Difference in seven months -$0.1607

So, when will The City learn that you CAN NOT LET PEOPLE RUN WILD even if they are from your side of the political divide?

Police Officer sustains head injury during anti-capitalism "protest"

Specifically note the use of barricades, laying a trap for police and then swarming the officers as they got out of their car.

Eventually someone is going to get really injured or killed by these idiot children who claim to be "anti-capitalists".

UPDATE: Over at Indybay.org (or anti-capital central as I like to think of them) they have photos and video of the rioting. The only reason I point this out is that they are such freaking hypocrites. Look at the photos and video of the riots. Notice anything? They are *ALL* holding or using major corporate items. What? You thought those video cameras, camera phones, PDA's, etc. were made by artisan craftsmen in guilds? Get a clue.

Might I recommend Anonymizer.com for safely viewing their site. Paranoia? Perhaps, but I *am* Secret Agent X-9 after all

In Solidarity

"Today we may say aloud before an awe-struck world: "We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls."
Winston Churchill

What with "anarchists" and "anti-capital" groups (amongst others) calling for people to burn the U.S. flag today, I figure that turnabout is fair play. I give to you:

Secret Agent X-9's "Turnabout is fairplay" kit

1) Take a picture or symbol of the "left". Personally I am going to use Che Guevara. Nothing screams "I'm an idiot tool of the left" than a picture of a murdering "revolutionary." You could also use that stupid red "A" with a circle around that "anarchists" use to represent their disatisfaction with the organized rule of law! But goodness help you if you mess with that organized and agonized over symbol of their "independence!"

Here's one of Che to get you started:



2) Destroy it, preferrably in front of a member of the left. If you can't find someone to cheese off, then destroy it privately and take a photo. Take a photo even if you do it in front of a leftist. Try to get their reaction in the photo.

3) Post photo (or send it to me) on the Internet.




Ya know, a funny thing I noticed when writing this. There are a lot of copyrights on images of Che Guevara. Strange no? Luckily this is a "fair use" type of use so I think the government of Cuba is pretty much screwed if they could or would make an issue of it ;) Oh and I say "government of Cuba" because since Alberto Korda died in 2001, to the best of my knowledge the Cuban government owns his works. If I am wrong or if the copyright holder objects to my linking to an image hosted on a Cuban website that has Ernesto's image on it let me know and I will take down the link. This I believe would qualify as "innocent infringement"

UPDATE:
I've changed the image because I didn't like linking to a Cuban website. That and I think that a picture of Asthmatic Che smoking a cigar is somehow ridiculous especially since it appears on an NIH website showing pictures of people with Asthma and giving little bios about their lives. Ernesto's little bio points out that he had an asthma attack which led to his capture and eventual execution by the Bolivian government. Guess ya shouldn'ta been smoking those stogies with Fidel eh?
Check it out: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/breath/Faces_asthma/facespast.html