Hey. Our troops over in the gulf need music. Click here to find out how to help.

"Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

What is it about that line? It sticks in your head, seemingly for life. It was first uttered in a 1948 movie, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and has been repeated countless times since then.

Indeed, a fella named Darryl has set up an entire web page devoted to the subject: Stinking Badges, which attempts to document every known reference to the line. It's shown up in a surprising number of places. Check it out. (Thanks again, Jerry.)

I added L.T. Smash to my blogroll the other day but forgot to mention it.

He's a soldier who's already over in the Persian Gulf region and intends to continue blogging throughout combat operations.

I suggest you go go read his entire blog. There's not a lot over there but it's inspiring.

Sometimes, people suck. The good news is, it looks like the charges will be boosted to felony status.

Although I'm also a bit annoyed that the reporters in the first story decided to quote PETA. It's the ASPCA that should be consulted on these things. PETA doesn't deserve the credit. Indeed, PETA has done profound harm to the cause of ending animal cruelty. I hate to see the press giving them so much attention.

(Link via Anna.)

I’m guilty as anyone of using the offhand phrase: “The only way I’d vote for him is if he was running against Hitler.”

According to the BBC, people living in the Indian state of Meghalaya have just that dilemma facing them.

Condi Rice is thinking about running for Governor of California.

Californians should be so lucky.

(Link via Athena.)

Hey, check out Shanti's new digs! She's got a new Movable Type-based system. I sure hope she doesn't lose that beautiful header from her old blog though.

By the way, while you're at it, you may want to check out this article on Iraqis who fear the U.S. will not free them from Saddam that Shanti dug up.

Gallup has an interesting poll out about general perceptions of the popular press. They give the media high marks in some areas. But beneath the headline, we also have another poll on media bias, one that looks just like every other scientific poll that's ever been done on media bias.

There are two theories that I can think of to explain this. 1) People aren't stupid, they see what they see and come to rational conclusions, or 2) conservatives have a Svengali-like ability to fool people.

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Georgia Senator Zell Miller has an interesting op-ed today about Hollywood plans for a "hillbilly" reality show. I'm of two minds on the matter. Well maybe more than two.

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So. He's made it explicit. Bush has made it clear that democracy is the goal in Iraq. It will take time, and the means we use to achieve that goal will be subjected to criticism. But any chosen path has its perils, and would have its critics.

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Ten years ago today, they made their first attempt to take the towers down. Six people died.

We must always remember this: their patience is as deep as their hatred, and their tentacles reach farther than you might think.

One of the more interesting characters to ever inhabit the Supreme Court was William O. Douglas. If, like me, you find the history of the Supreme Court interesting, you'll find this review of a recent biography of Douglas to be fascinating reading. I knew about this guy, and could never decide if he was a flake, a jerk, or a Don Quixote. I'm closer to deciding now, having read this. (Spotted on The Buck Stops Here.)

Hey kids! Guess what? Kesher Talk is hosting the latest Carnival of the Vanities this week! Traverse the blogosphere and see the best of the best from this week's vainest webloggers.

I'm not a big fan of Salon, but they do have a very thoughtful look at the influence of oil on the proposed war on Saddam's regime.

If you don't subscribe to Salon, Michael Totten summarizes it well: The oil companies want stability. It makes no difference to them who owns the oil wells. It could be Satan or Uncle Sam; their profits will not change. The one thing they don't want is upheaval and war.

This is absolutely correct, as far as the large multinational oil companies--Exxon, BP, Standard, and so on--are concerned. But he and countless others miss another crucial point, one I'm constantly surprised that few people seem to get.

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It's not often that I read an essay that changes how I view America.

Casey Tompkins recently sent me a Walter Russell Meade essay entitled The Jacksonian Tradition. It's probably the most impressive thing I've read in a year. Written during the Clinton administration around the time of the Kosovo campaign, it's got to be the most insightful look at the fundamental character of heartland America (especially during times of war) that I've ever come across. It is not in the least bit sentimental, it's just an incredible dissection of how the largest and most influential segment of the American public views the world.

It shows why the traditional "liberal/conservative" or "left/right" description of these attitudes is utterly, even laughably, wrong.

It is also a near-perfect description of the mindset of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. It explains why they drive their critics crazy. It explains why they find their critics alternately annoying or just plain baffling. It explains why Europeans tend to find Americans "childish" or "unsophisticated" in foreign policy matters, and why they are wrong to view us that way.

It's really most remarkable. I suspect that about half of you will find it a long and boring article. The other half of you will probably be as impressed with it as I am.

Wow.

Iran remains a nation in flux, constantly on the edge of great things happening. If you don't doubt it, dig this: the L.A. Times reports that most Iranians will be happy to see the U.S. topple Saddam Hussein. (It unfortunately requires registration, but it's worth it, the Times is a decent paper.) "The day Saddam Hussein is arrested, killed or exiled, Iranians will pass out sweets in the streets," one Iranian is quoted. The article goes on to explain how many young Iranians believe that a liberated Iraq will further increase pressure on their ruling Mullahs to liberalize things further in Iran.

I want to make something clear: I do not believe that taking out Saddam Hussein is going to be some miraculous pool shot that clears the table. The Middle East will still be a headache. But I see every reason to believe that eliminating Saddam will help make the world a better place, including that part of the world. There are no guarantees, but I honestly believe the odds favor action over continuing the status quo. (Link via Pejman.)

* Update * - While we're at it, you might as well check out this story about a man imprisoned by Saddam for selling film to an Iranian journalist. 14 years in Saddam's hellhole for that. "I am surprised to hear of all the anti-war demonstrations in the West," he said. "I wish that the demonstrators could spend just 24 hours in the place I have come from and see the reality of Iraq....Fourteen lost years of my life. Nothing but bread for food — darkness, filth, beatings, torture, killings, bitterness and humiliation. I wish they could experience it for just 24 hours." The Iranian journalist, by the way, was executed. (via Andrea Harris.)

Okay, so what's the dumber story here? This, or this?

I have my own opinions, but you tell me.

Apparently, a radio station in Seattle is soliciting funds to air commercials in support of removing Saddam. They've picked up over $100K in two days.

The Silent Majority strikes again. Only they're getting a little less silent all the time, aren't they? (Via Jim Miller.)

So, researchers have recently been looking at the phenomenon of music getting stuck in people's heads, which apparently has happened to 98 percent of the population at one time or another. I liked the term they introduced for it: they call it an "earworm."

What I found interesting about this is that I seem to have an extreme variation of this "problem," although it doesn't bother me much. There is just about always music playing in my head. I mean, quite seriously, just about every waking hour of every day. It feels weird when there's no music in my head. You can literally walk up to me almost any time and ask me what's playing in my head. As I'm typing this, it's In Memory of Elizabeth Reed by the Allman Brothers. Except it just switched over to the (second) theme song to Lost In Space by John Williams. For whatever reason, both are instrumentals, but musically, I've always been more interested in melody and beat than lyrics anyway.

Occasionally, if I'm concentrating very, very hard on something, the music stops. I rarely concentrate that hard--I have to be to the point where I've shut down the world around me and am completely focused on one thing. Which I've recently read is something men are more prone to do than women.

Anyway, sometimes I get a song stuck in my head that gets annoying. But I can make it go away by just concentrating on another song. Sometimes I have to try harder than others.

Does anyone else have this strange quirk of brain behavior? (Link via Rand Simberg).

What do you call a Frenchman advancing on Bagdad???

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Dude, there's like this...uh...survey...or um, like scientific study thing that says...oh well you read it for yourself.

Anyway, it turns out the government and the Jews are behind the whole pot thing BIG TIME!

Casey Tompkins recently sent me this interesting public Memo to Bin Laden by Muqtedar Khan, a muslim professor in Adrian, Michigan. As seems common for American muslims, Khan is obviously a Democrat and quite negative about the Bush administration. Nevertheless, he expresses a strong, Jacksonian support for America and a deep revulsion for the Islamo-fascism. His best line: Let me tell you that I would rather live in America under Ashcroft and Bush at their worst than in any “Islamic state” established by ignorant, intolerant and murderous punks like you and Mulla Omar at their best.

I take exception to a lot of what he says. In the case of death and destruction, I would argue with him most strongly: when America goes to war, fewer civilians usually die as a result of our interventions than if we did not intervene. That's almost certainly going to be true in Iraq, as it was in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, and most other American wars of the last century.

The only thing that bothers me: why are American Muslims like Khan so invisible?

So. It looks like hemlines are going up. Which is supposedly good news for the economy. What I can't figure out is if I'm happy to see it, given the kind of stuff that hides under a lot of skirts these days. (Thanks to Paul Fallon for the link.)

Those of you outraged over the Patriot Act II will probably want to read about this latest outrage uncovered by Stuart Buck. I'm infuriated at the administration's pathetic lack of concern for our privacy rights. Several others have linked this, too many to count, but I don't think it can be publicized enough.

Winds of Change has a good article by Trent Telenko that you might want to read: Anti-Semitism Has Returned: What To Do About It. His most interesting observation? The term "neo-conservative" seems increasingly to be a code word for "jew."

Read the comments, too, there's some interesting discussion there, along with some shameless self-promotion by yours truly on the same subject.

I took a hilarious quiz:

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The Washington Post has more details on plans for post-liberation Iraq. Big surprise: it's all perfectly sensible and well thought out. It won't make certain Iraqi dissidents, who were probably expecting to seize the reins of power, very happy at first. But it shows a good deal of foresight and careful consideration. It also addresses many concerns that critics have expressed.

Excuse me, I need to crow.

(Dean does cabbage patch dance a few times.)

What am I talking about?

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I recently read this Joanne Jacobs article on the issue of homework and high achievement. I feel completely torn by it, because half of me thinks it's right on to get kids to work harder on homework--and half of me thinks it's utter baloney. And I can't think of how to reconcile my completely schizoid views.

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There is a move afoot among many bloggers to try to hijack an upcoming "virtual march for peace." This is a bad idea, for a few reasons. One is that automated FAXes are easily misinterpreted or manipulated by the group that sends them on your behalf. Another is that trying to swamp Washington phone lines is juvenile in the first place, and unnecessarily destructive. Third, because it's just not fair play. The inimitable Diana E. Moon has a better idea.

If you haven't seen the trailer for the newly re-scored and re-mastered version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, it's still worth the download time.

I mentioned this a couple of months ago, and I mention it again because I see that the movie is still being shown, and an updated schedule is now available. Looks like it'll be in East Lansing here in Michigan in April, and I hope to make a special trip with a friend or two. Anyone else interested in going?

Wow. It's cool as hell. I have no idea what it is, but man is it cool! (Requires broadband, don't even bother if you're on dialup.)

Thanks, Jerry.

Remember that "Peace In Our Time" banner I linked about on Sunday? Some suggested it was a joke. It wasn't a fake, and it wasn't a joke. I never really did think it was. The phrase still crops up now and then from people who believe peace is always better than war, no matter what the circumstance or price.

The fact that I found this:

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Well, they do.

I've been trying to avoid spreading this link, but it's too powerful to be stopped! Stopping such a powerful link has been too much! It is so powerful that it even challenges me! Even with my great power, its power is simply too much! So I have spread the link, and perhaps by using the link, the Japanese Lesbian Monkeys will help me in my bid to take over the world! For they are very powerful, and the link they have is powerful, and now, I have linked them! BWEH-HEHEHEHEHEH!!!!!!

One of the true "root causes" of terrorism is the Saudi government. The Saudi royal family came to power by exploiting a radical, violent fringe element within Islam called Wahhabism. They have kept power largely by performing a decades-long balancing act, between friendly relations with the West and friendly relations with hatemongers who teach that Israel and America are the cause of the Islamic world's woes. This balancing act has exacted a price, however: the Saud family lives in constant fear both of angering the West and of angering the extremist element within their nation. Since their only real interest is staying in power, they constantly play both sides against each other.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had a very interesting interview on NPR yesterday, in which the following exchange occurred:

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One of the things most press accounts failed to mention about last week's protests is how very organized they were--and who did the organizing. As the Jerusalem Post story below shows, these protests are organized by people who also went out of their way to crush voices who opposed Saddam and his butchery.

Today's Wall Street Journal has a pretty good profile of who the organizers were, and examines why most press accounts don't seem to include much of this information.

The New Republic has an excellent piece by pro-choicer Jeffrey Rosen on Roe v. Wade. His views mirror things I've said many times. Although his analysis of what an overturn of Roe v. Wade would do to Republicans is somewhat superficial, most of his arguments are right on the money. That decision created the most hated group in America--the so-called "Religious Right"--and caused irreparable harm to the body politic. It created an unnecessarily hateful debate, made paranoia and religious bigotry acceptable in political discourse, and perversely polarized the political parties even as the vast majority of American women and men have remained steadily and firmly in between the extremes.

It's good to see The New Republic dealing in such an honest and straightforward manner with an issue like this. (Now if only they'd get rid of vicious jerks like Jonathan Chait...)

The following, written by Amir Taheri, appeared in today's Jerusalem Post:

The Iraqis had come with placards reading "Freedom for Iraq" and "American rule, a hundred thousand times better than Takriti tyranny!"

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Kevin over at the Primary Main Objective, a reservist, has been converted to active duty, and will be shipping out soon. Please go send him your blessings.

If you've ever wondered why we continue to insist that the Saudi royal family is our "friend," you might want to read this Boston Globe article on how the Saudi and other Middle Eastern governments are aiding the United States.

We know a lot of these regimes are sitting on the fence, financing hateful propaganda and giving terrorist groups a wink and a nod, while giving us covert assistance at the exact same time. They're always looking out for #1, and still aren't sure which side will win in the long run.

Our most important move in the War on Terror is to show them, in no uncertain terms, that the West is serious, and not to be trifled with, and the horse to bet on in the long run. This is the #1 reason to go to Iraq, even though no one in the government can say it out loud.

The repercussions of not going to Iraq won't just be tragic for the Iraqi people. They'll virtually guarantee that Islamo-fascist terrorism will be a permanent part of life.

Retiring Microsoft program manager David Stutz has an interesting essay on development directions at Microsoft that's worth a read.

Personally, I think Microsoft's domination of the world for the next decade is virtually assured no matter what happens. Their ongoing strategy has worked very well for them: when someone innovates, buy it or duplicate it. They've got enough money and clout to keep doing things that way for the foreseeable future.

Two recent articles show the tensions that are developing in northern Iraq among the Kurds: both the New York Times and The Independent report.

I sort of expected this. The Kurds have been enjoying what amounts to an unrecognized independent nation under the northern No Fly Zone. Overthrowing Saddam may cause compromises they don't like, and I never expected making them happy to be our top priority. I'm not sure what the best resolution here is. I suspect the Kurds will be in a much better position if the Turks wind up not supporting our efforts in the war--which several sources, including the London Times, report may very well be about to happen.

Oddly enough, I find myself half-hoping that the Turks do walk away. Yes, it will force us to base our attacks elsewhere, and I hate to think of anything that makes things harder for our troops. But I feel strongly for the Kurds, and I'd like to see them in the best position possible in a post-war Iraq.

(Thanks to Doug Barrett for the Independent article.Apparently, Jacob Levy has the same thoughts I do on the matter.

So. The Germans have convicted Mounir El Motassadeq of 3,066 counts of accessory to murder for his part in 9/11. He got the maximum sentence under German law: 15 years.

He's 28. He'll be 43 when he gets out. Assuming no time off for good behavior or parole.

Thanks again, Germany.

The 22nd Carnival of the Vanities is playing over at the People's Republic of Seabrook. Have fun, kids.

Today's OpinionJournal has a very interesting letter from Ahmad Chalabi, one of the more influential leaders of the Iraqi resistance. He raises issues that are worth thinking about.

Last week, in the Observer, he was quoted as saying some very inflammatory things about America's post-war plans. They didn't make him look very good, since those post-war plans had been shared with many other leaders of the Iraqi resistance, none of whom voiced objections quite so harshly. Today, Chalabi makes it clear that the great bulk of Iraqis will welcome America's intervention, and expresses his concerns in a more reasonable manner.

He argues, not unreasonably, that there should be no Baathists at any level of power after the invasion, and that he doesn't like the administration's current plans for a post-war transition government. I frankly have no strong opinions on the matter--although I do consider it a given that, among the many leaders of the Iraqi democracy movement, some will be unhappy no matter what post-war government plans we have.

I suspect that Chalabi will make a lot more headway with this kind of argument than he did by ranting about "quislings" and "betrayal" last week. He is not the only resistance leader in Iraq, and although he is an important man he shouldn't alienate his people's best hope. I suspect that someone must have pointed that out to him.

I wish him luck.

By the way, after reading his letter, you might also read this message from Northern Iraq. Moving stuff.

There's a whole side of the fallout from the Vietnam war that is very rarely talked about. Sgt. Mom has a moving story about it that you should read.

"A New Zealand man ended up in court after he was seen speeding semi-naked down a road on a motorised barstool with his backside on fire."

Ozzies got nothing on Kiwis in the crazy department.

(Stolen from Anna.)

The Independent today has one of those reports that makes you go "hmmm." Apparently, there are three gigantic cargo ships steaming around the Indian Ocean, running in circles and maintaining radio silence, in clear violation of Maritime law. British and U.S. intelligence services say they're afraid to board the ships.

Weird. (Via WebKafe.)

Oh. Oh. Oh dear God in Heaven.

Western civilization is doomed.

(Via Last Page.)

The New York Times has published the following amazing article:

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I'm listening this afternoon to Layla & Other Assorted Love Song. You've heard the title track, although as is so often the case, it isn't the best part of the album. Although I couldn't possibly say which is the best part.

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Will the hate-filled defenders of fascism, who believe that Amerikkka will create a military dictatorship in Iraq and will intentionally bomb civilians while doing so, bother to read this piece by Johann Hari on the Iraqi street, or this interview with Vaclev Havel? Will they take seriously anything in them?

I doubt it very much. They're too choked with hatred for Bush. Or for America itself.

(Links courtesy Richard Bennett.)

In re-reading this piece in the Observer about U.S. plans to remove our military presence from Germany, I was amused. It's obvious that the writer thinks our planned action is dastardly. But then, the writer probably suffers from the same syndrome that Germany itself does.

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I'm having fits of adolescent giggling. You'll just have to humor me. Check out GiveBoobs.com. She's got barely a thousand bucks to go.

God Bless America. :-) (Link via Laurence Simon.)

Okay, this is very "inside baseball." A lot of people won't get it. That's what makes it such a gem.

Peace In Our Time is a new weblog that had me irritated at first. But within 30 seconds or so I started giggling. Then I was laughing out loud. This person seems to have fooled the Instapundit, but maybe Glenn's just showing that dry sense of humor of his again.

Whoever this is is a very naughty person. Just my kinda troll--one who's clever enough that he's actually entertaining. Lazlo Toth lives!

It grows steadily more apparent, on an almost daily basis, that the vast majority of people who oppose going to war with Saddam Hussein are either shallow and uninformed, or are deeply hateful by nature. There are a few exceptions here and there, but by and large they are haters, who fall into a few simple categories:

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What's also been obvious (to those of us who don't have a "Bush is always wrong about everything, even when he does something I agree with" reflex) is that the French and the German nations are, by and large, ruled by bullying children. These people have actually run political campaigns against America, and then expected Americans to, like we usually do, take it with good grace--even though we're in the middle of a war.

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This was a comment that was left in Campaign for Democracy and Human Rights in Iraq. I am addressing this here because we aren't allowing debate to take place in that thread. That thread is taking only comments that say yes I'm posting the button on my site. All other comments will be killed or moved to a more appropriate place.

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