In yesterday's post I excoriated the Palestinians for their self-destructive actions in their relationship with Israel. Lest I be accused of being one-sided in this sad mess, let's take a look at Israel. It's clear to anyone with open eyes and half a brain that the US is rock-solidly on the side of Israel, no matter what happens. This makes it impossible for us to be an honest broker in attempting to mediate between Israel and it's neighbors. Let's face it: we have no credibility with the Arabs as an even-handed mediator. How did we come to this point?
The other day, I recommended you read a book called The Management of Savagery by Abu Bakr Naji to get an idea of how our deadly enemies view us. Today, I recommend you read a study published in March of this year by John Mearshimer (Department of Political Science, University of Chicago) and Stephen Walt (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University) titled The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. You can easily find and download this study on the Internet, and it's well worth your time in reading.
The basic position of the authors is that the foreign policy of the United States as it regards Middle Eastern affairs has been shaped by a very aggressive, very well-organized lobby dedicated to advancing the economic, political, and security interests of Israel. The authors point out that this effort is in no way different from the activities and aims of any other lobby; what sets it apart is the way in which it actually shapes US foreign policy in ways that are frequently contrary to our national interests. Whether you agree or not - and I do - you will find this to be a very detailed, well-documented, and devastating critique of how our fundamental national interests in the Middle East have been hijacked in the interests of Israel.
Now don't think that this means I'm a supporter of or an apologist for the Arabs. In most ways they are their own worst enemy, consistently working against their own best interests and blaming everyone but themselves for their own stupidity. But as I have always maintained, there is no one in the whole mess whose hands are clean. The Middle East is cursed with a poisonous combination of religious bigotry, political obtuseness, racism, and greed on all sides. The problem is that we cannot do anything to help resolve these issues because we have lost our status as a credible and even-handed negotiating partner by backing Israel unquestioningly at every turn. Any criticism of Israel issued by our government is simply empty words, unaccompanied by action. It's no wonder that the Arabs don't take us seriously.
Am I advocating that we throw Israel overboard? Of course not. But what I am suggesting is that we reassess what our fundamental interests are in the Middle East, and then act in our own interests and not in those of Israel or the Arab states, except as they mirror our own. The Muslim world would probably dislike us on religious grounds alone, whether we supported Israel or not. But we turn that dislike into hatred personified by the like of Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, and Ayman al Zawahiri when we subordinate our own fundamental interests to Israel.
It's time to reclaim our foreign policy.
Have a good day and a good weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Friday, July 14, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
As I've often observed, the one thing you can always count on in the miserable snakepit of the Middle East is that the Palestinians, given a choice of courses of action, will consistently take the one that is in their worst interest.
We've seen this exemplified again and again over the past year: the Israelis withdrew from Gaza and, instead of seizing the opportunity to clean up the area, build new housing for the population, and create a functioning "statelet," the Palestinians immediately began fighting among themselves and using northern Gaza as a launching point for mortars and missiles targeting Israel. The Isreaelis reacted as you might expect. And then, when you thought it couldn't get much worse, Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier and held him for ransom. The result: Israel has reoccupied much of Gaza, cracking down hard on the Palestinians and causing more damage to an already-ruined economy and physical infrastructure.
Not to be outdone, Hezbollah militants operating from southern Lebanon attacked an Israeli patrol, killing several soldiers and kidnapping two. The result: Isreal has moved into southern Lebanon and is pounding the area with artillery and air strikes...and CNN is reporting, as I write this, they have also bombed the Beirut airport and put it out of operation.
Maybe it's just me and my simple-minded approach to things, but this is complete lunacy. The Palestinians knew perfectly well how the Israelis would react to their actions, but went ahead anyhow, knowing that more innocent civilians would be killed, more property destroyed, and what's left of their economy ruined. But in their bizarrely-twisted mindset, it's more important to attack Israel than it is to get their own house in order and build a better future for their children.
Those who know me well know that I am not an apologist for Israel, although I do understand and appreciate the Israeli desire for security. And while I sympathize with the aspirations of the Palestinians for their own viable, functioning state, I am constantly amazed by their stubborn refusal to take the measures that are most likely to help them attain that goal. I often think that the best way to resolve the intractable problems of the Middle East would be to dispose of all our excess nuclear weapons there and let everyone start over.
Today, I've beaten up on the Palestinians; tomorrow, we'll discuss the Israelis. More thoughts then.
Bilbo
We've seen this exemplified again and again over the past year: the Israelis withdrew from Gaza and, instead of seizing the opportunity to clean up the area, build new housing for the population, and create a functioning "statelet," the Palestinians immediately began fighting among themselves and using northern Gaza as a launching point for mortars and missiles targeting Israel. The Isreaelis reacted as you might expect. And then, when you thought it couldn't get much worse, Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier and held him for ransom. The result: Israel has reoccupied much of Gaza, cracking down hard on the Palestinians and causing more damage to an already-ruined economy and physical infrastructure.
Not to be outdone, Hezbollah militants operating from southern Lebanon attacked an Israeli patrol, killing several soldiers and kidnapping two. The result: Isreal has moved into southern Lebanon and is pounding the area with artillery and air strikes...and CNN is reporting, as I write this, they have also bombed the Beirut airport and put it out of operation.
Maybe it's just me and my simple-minded approach to things, but this is complete lunacy. The Palestinians knew perfectly well how the Israelis would react to their actions, but went ahead anyhow, knowing that more innocent civilians would be killed, more property destroyed, and what's left of their economy ruined. But in their bizarrely-twisted mindset, it's more important to attack Israel than it is to get their own house in order and build a better future for their children.
Those who know me well know that I am not an apologist for Israel, although I do understand and appreciate the Israeli desire for security. And while I sympathize with the aspirations of the Palestinians for their own viable, functioning state, I am constantly amazed by their stubborn refusal to take the measures that are most likely to help them attain that goal. I often think that the best way to resolve the intractable problems of the Middle East would be to dispose of all our excess nuclear weapons there and let everyone start over.
Today, I've beaten up on the Palestinians; tomorrow, we'll discuss the Israelis. More thoughts then.
Bilbo
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
At this time of year many newspapers and magazines run articles recommending books for your summer reading. A book that probably doesn't show up on any of those lists is one that's worth your time in reading: The Management of Savagery, by Abu Bakr Naji. It can be downloaded as a .pdf file from the Counterterrorism Center at West Point; the URL is http://www.ctc.usma.edu/Management_of_Savagery.pdf.
This isn't easy reading, and being a translation from the Arabic is written in a flowery and somewhat stilted prose much different from what English speakers are used to; nevertheless, it's an important and very frightening look at what some very serious and very dedicated people have in mind for you and I. Naji presents a reasoned and dispassionate analysis of the history of the Middle East and of the reasons for the Russian failure in Afghanistan in the 80's, and then draws lessons from all of this which he applies to a plan to bring down America and bring on a worldwide Islamic caliphate. He espouses three goals (which you can find in their entirety on pages 24 and 25 of the text):
"A - The first goal: Destroy a large part of the respect for America and spread confidence in the souls of Muslims...
"B - The second goal: Replace the human casualties sustained by the renewal movement during the last thirty years by means of the human aid that will probably come for two reasons: (1) Being dazzled by the operations which will be undertaken in opposition to America; (2) Anger over the obvious, direct American interference in the Islamic world, such that the anger compounds the previous anger against America's support for the Zionist entity...
"C - The third goal: Work to expose the weakness of America's centralized power by pushing it to abandon the media psychological war and the war by proxy until it fights directly...As a result...even Americans themselves will see that the remoteness of the primary center from the peripheries is a major factor contributing to the possible outbreak of chaos and savagery."
These are not the wild ramblings of a loopy jihadi, but the coldly calculated thoughts of a very intelligent and very dangerous philosopher of religious bigotry and violence. Unlike many radical Islamic fundamentalists, Naji doesn't reject everything Western; despite his contempt for us, he encourages his readers to study and learn from modern Western management techniques as a way of better fighting us on many levels.
This is tough reading, but it's important. Leon Trotsky once said, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." We could paraphrase him now: "You may not be interested in radical Islam, but radical Islam is interested in you." Now is the time to study your enemy...because he is surely studying you, and his intentions are not benevolent.
Abu Bakr Naji and his kind don't want the kind of world I want my grandchildren to grow up in. The sooner we take them seriously, the better we will be able to counter their intent to employ the management of savagery.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
This isn't easy reading, and being a translation from the Arabic is written in a flowery and somewhat stilted prose much different from what English speakers are used to; nevertheless, it's an important and very frightening look at what some very serious and very dedicated people have in mind for you and I. Naji presents a reasoned and dispassionate analysis of the history of the Middle East and of the reasons for the Russian failure in Afghanistan in the 80's, and then draws lessons from all of this which he applies to a plan to bring down America and bring on a worldwide Islamic caliphate. He espouses three goals (which you can find in their entirety on pages 24 and 25 of the text):
"A - The first goal: Destroy a large part of the respect for America and spread confidence in the souls of Muslims...
"B - The second goal: Replace the human casualties sustained by the renewal movement during the last thirty years by means of the human aid that will probably come for two reasons: (1) Being dazzled by the operations which will be undertaken in opposition to America; (2) Anger over the obvious, direct American interference in the Islamic world, such that the anger compounds the previous anger against America's support for the Zionist entity...
"C - The third goal: Work to expose the weakness of America's centralized power by pushing it to abandon the media psychological war and the war by proxy until it fights directly...As a result...even Americans themselves will see that the remoteness of the primary center from the peripheries is a major factor contributing to the possible outbreak of chaos and savagery."
These are not the wild ramblings of a loopy jihadi, but the coldly calculated thoughts of a very intelligent and very dangerous philosopher of religious bigotry and violence. Unlike many radical Islamic fundamentalists, Naji doesn't reject everything Western; despite his contempt for us, he encourages his readers to study and learn from modern Western management techniques as a way of better fighting us on many levels.
This is tough reading, but it's important. Leon Trotsky once said, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." We could paraphrase him now: "You may not be interested in radical Islam, but radical Islam is interested in you." Now is the time to study your enemy...because he is surely studying you, and his intentions are not benevolent.
Abu Bakr Naji and his kind don't want the kind of world I want my grandchildren to grow up in. The sooner we take them seriously, the better we will be able to counter their intent to employ the management of savagery.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The other evening I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show on our local NPR radio station. She was discussing with a panel of newspaper and media experts the recent exposures of US intelligence programs targeting terrorist and extremist groups and, as you might expect, the members of the panel strongly defended their actions as protecting you and I against the excesses of a government that will trample our rights at any opportunity. One member of the panel, the managing editor of the New York Times, commented at one point that his reporters had uncovered "many, many" secrets that they hadn't written about because, in their opinion, they were "legitimate" and didn't reflect any threat to our civil liberties.
Now, maybe it's just me, but I think something is very wrong here. I happen to think that I am in much more danger from politico-religious fanatics than I am from my own government. I also think that the next time lives are lost in a terror attack, the same newspapers that stand on their right to expose intelligence operations will be loudly trumpeting the failures of our intelligence services to predict and disrupt that attack.
You can't have it both ways. I can imagine that it's extraordinarily difficult to find ways to monitor the activities of secretive and deadly groups like Al Qaeda, and that it's very easy for them to change their activities and processes when they learn that we are able to take advantage of them. I will grant that the current administration tends to overreach itself and bend the laws in favor of the President's agenda; however, I also know that the intelligence community in this country spends a great deal of time ensuring that its operations are consistent with US law. I seriously doubt that the Osama bin Ladens and Ayman al Zawahiris and Abu Musab al Zarqawis of the world spend much time wringing their hands with their legal advisors before they murder people like you and I.
Yes, we have a free press that serves a key role as a watchdog over government excess. But I also think that our press sometimes needs to remind itself who our deadlier enemy is: our government, or those who would kill us at any opportunity.
I think I know where the real threat lies.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Now, maybe it's just me, but I think something is very wrong here. I happen to think that I am in much more danger from politico-religious fanatics than I am from my own government. I also think that the next time lives are lost in a terror attack, the same newspapers that stand on their right to expose intelligence operations will be loudly trumpeting the failures of our intelligence services to predict and disrupt that attack.
You can't have it both ways. I can imagine that it's extraordinarily difficult to find ways to monitor the activities of secretive and deadly groups like Al Qaeda, and that it's very easy for them to change their activities and processes when they learn that we are able to take advantage of them. I will grant that the current administration tends to overreach itself and bend the laws in favor of the President's agenda; however, I also know that the intelligence community in this country spends a great deal of time ensuring that its operations are consistent with US law. I seriously doubt that the Osama bin Ladens and Ayman al Zawahiris and Abu Musab al Zarqawis of the world spend much time wringing their hands with their legal advisors before they murder people like you and I.
Yes, we have a free press that serves a key role as a watchdog over government excess. But I also think that our press sometimes needs to remind itself who our deadlier enemy is: our government, or those who would kill us at any opportunity.
I think I know where the real threat lies.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Monday, July 10, 2006
Back on June 22nd, I posted on the subject of the crisis in medical care in this country, listing a few of the many issues that bear on the problem of inadequate and unaffordable medical care and suggesting that I had some ideas for reforming the system. Here they are:
* First - and probably most difficult - remember that death is part of life. In a society that values the enjoyment of life and worships the technology that enables us to extend it, we view death as something to be feared, avoided, and postponed as long as possible...often at the cost of a life sustained only at great expense in a shell kept alive by drugs and machines and the heroic efforts of armies of doctors. We need to learn what our ancestors knew - life ends, and we need to re-learn when to let it go.
* Second - and equally difficult, but for different reasons - put a lid on enormous jury awards in malpractice cases. While some may be justified in the very rare case of true professional malfeasance, these are very few, and the end result cascades throughout the health care system as huge malpractice insurance costs for doctors and hospitals, which end up being passed on to patients as higher fees, higher insurance premiums, and skyrocketing costs for expensive tests and scans necessary only to protect the doctor and the hospital from lawsuits. Oh, yes - and it's the lawyers who see most of those jury awards, anyhow.
* Third - make the cost of medical care (including medical insurance premiums) 100% deductible on federal and state income taxes, rather than the current practice of deducting only that portion which exceeds a certain percentage of income. A healthy taxpayer is a productive taxpayer - why not let the tax system recognize and reward the government's interest in keeping taxpayers healthy?
* Finally (for now) - take the decisions on medical treatment away from insurance companies and put them back in the hands of the doctors. When courses of treatment are dictated more by what the insurance will pay than by what the patient needs, it's the patient who suffers the consequences.
These are just four ideas, each of which has merit and each of which is certain to offend and upset some part of the reading audience; nevertheless, each of them will undoubtedly help to bring some much-needed repair to a health-care system that has much to offer and which is, at the bottom, the best in the world. We need to work together to save it.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
* First - and probably most difficult - remember that death is part of life. In a society that values the enjoyment of life and worships the technology that enables us to extend it, we view death as something to be feared, avoided, and postponed as long as possible...often at the cost of a life sustained only at great expense in a shell kept alive by drugs and machines and the heroic efforts of armies of doctors. We need to learn what our ancestors knew - life ends, and we need to re-learn when to let it go.
* Second - and equally difficult, but for different reasons - put a lid on enormous jury awards in malpractice cases. While some may be justified in the very rare case of true professional malfeasance, these are very few, and the end result cascades throughout the health care system as huge malpractice insurance costs for doctors and hospitals, which end up being passed on to patients as higher fees, higher insurance premiums, and skyrocketing costs for expensive tests and scans necessary only to protect the doctor and the hospital from lawsuits. Oh, yes - and it's the lawyers who see most of those jury awards, anyhow.
* Third - make the cost of medical care (including medical insurance premiums) 100% deductible on federal and state income taxes, rather than the current practice of deducting only that portion which exceeds a certain percentage of income. A healthy taxpayer is a productive taxpayer - why not let the tax system recognize and reward the government's interest in keeping taxpayers healthy?
* Finally (for now) - take the decisions on medical treatment away from insurance companies and put them back in the hands of the doctors. When courses of treatment are dictated more by what the insurance will pay than by what the patient needs, it's the patient who suffers the consequences.
These are just four ideas, each of which has merit and each of which is certain to offend and upset some part of the reading audience; nevertheless, each of them will undoubtedly help to bring some much-needed repair to a health-care system that has much to offer and which is, at the bottom, the best in the world. We need to work together to save it.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
Friday, July 07, 2006
It's been a depressingly long time since I've posted to my blog, but I do have some excuses, chief among them being the wonderful vacation Agnes and I just enjoyed (more about which in a future posting).
In my last post, I said that I'd be offering my thoughts on medical care reform in the next post...but I've changed my mind. You'll have to wait for those thoughts another post or two. I found something worth immediate comment.
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite commentators, and his website (www.victorhansen.com) is an oasis of sanity and sage commentary in the vast wasteland of the internet. His recent article, "Socrates on Illegal Immigration," beautifully summarized my concerns and position on this issue. Since his concerns mirror my own, and his prose is so much better than mine, I thought I'd share it with you - here is the link:
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson061906.html
Please read this important article and note his bottom line: "...once we as a nation choose to ignore our keystone laws of sovereignty and citizenship, the entire edifice of a once unimpeachable legal system will collapse. Ironically, we would then become no different from those nations whose citizens are now fleeing to our own shores to escape the wages of lawlessness."
Our tradition of personal accountability and respect for the law's equal treatment of all is the hallmark of our nation - it's what sets us apart from the lawless squalor that people stream to America to escape. Let's not ignore it out of a misplaced sense of social justice.
Have a good weekend. More thoughts later.
Bilbo
In my last post, I said that I'd be offering my thoughts on medical care reform in the next post...but I've changed my mind. You'll have to wait for those thoughts another post or two. I found something worth immediate comment.
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite commentators, and his website (www.victorhansen.com) is an oasis of sanity and sage commentary in the vast wasteland of the internet. His recent article, "Socrates on Illegal Immigration," beautifully summarized my concerns and position on this issue. Since his concerns mirror my own, and his prose is so much better than mine, I thought I'd share it with you - here is the link:
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson061906.html
Please read this important article and note his bottom line: "...once we as a nation choose to ignore our keystone laws of sovereignty and citizenship, the entire edifice of a once unimpeachable legal system will collapse. Ironically, we would then become no different from those nations whose citizens are now fleeing to our own shores to escape the wages of lawlessness."
Our tradition of personal accountability and respect for the law's equal treatment of all is the hallmark of our nation - it's what sets us apart from the lawless squalor that people stream to America to escape. Let's not ignore it out of a misplaced sense of social justice.
Have a good weekend. More thoughts later.
Bilbo
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Last weekend we had a nice visit from my brother Paul and his wife Brenda. Paul is a paramedic with many years of experience and Brenda is an experienced Physician's Assistant, so naturally, one evening our discussions turned to the medical system in the United States. Hearing things from the professional medical side has convinced me that our system is more screwed up than even I ever believed.
Everyone knows that there are major problems with medicine in this country: many low-income people can't afford even basic medical care, much less treatment for major illnesses. Doctors and dentists don't always get fully reimbursed for their expenses, yet health care insurance is expensive and getting worse. I'll write more about this in a future blog entry, but here are some of the key points I see in the health care debate:
* Doctors undergo very long and very expensive training before they can practice, and they must continue to update their training each year, generally at their own expense.
* Malpractice insurance premiums are huge and, to me, represent a significant reason that medical care is as expensive as it is.
* Jury awards in malpractice suits are enormous. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see a direct link between these awards and the skyrocketing cost of malpractice insurance.
* In order to avoid costly malpractice suits, doctors tend to be extremely conservative in courses of treatment, prescribing tests and examinations that may not be necessary for the sole purpose of being able to prove that they have done everything that can be done.
* The process of developing, testing, and approving new medicines is very long and very expensive; as a result, drugs tend to be extremely expensive (and the issue of huge jury awards in malpractice suits related to drugs applies, too).
* The ability of drug companies to advertise their new medicines leads patients to expect and demand prescriptions of new drugs from their doctors, whether or not these are the right treatment. The same applies to very expensive new diagnostic machines and treatments.
* The cost of medical care appears to be influenced greatly by the various lobbies that have a voice in the treatment we receive: the AMA (for the personal, professional, and financial interests of medical professionals); the legal profession (whose members have a vested financial interest in securing huge jury awards; and the drug industry (which spends huge amounts of money on developing new drugs and wishes to recoup its costs and make a profit). The expectations of patients can also be considered as a lobby of sorts as well.
* Courses of treatment for many illnesses, and even for routine care, appear to be based as much (or more) on what the insurance company will pay for as on what the patient needs.
* And there are many ethical issues as well. These include: decisions on how long to sustain life when the patient suffers from critical injury or terminal illness; whether a doctor has an obilgation to treat patients who cannot pay for the treatment (doctors have bills to pay and a living to earn, too); what is a reasonable level of profit for a medical professional or a drug company; and whether it is better to promote routine health maintenance care than to wait until a problem arises and grows expensive, and then treat it.
So...given all of the above (and this is only a very short list of the issues that bear on the problem), what do we do to help resolve this absolutely critical issue? As you might suspect, I have some ideas. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for my next post to hear about them. In the meantime, read widely and think critically about the problem so that you can ask the right questions and make the right decisions...and so you can decide whether my coming suggestions are right.
This is - truly - a life or death issue.
Have a good day. We'll continue this discussion in my next post.
Bilbo
Everyone knows that there are major problems with medicine in this country: many low-income people can't afford even basic medical care, much less treatment for major illnesses. Doctors and dentists don't always get fully reimbursed for their expenses, yet health care insurance is expensive and getting worse. I'll write more about this in a future blog entry, but here are some of the key points I see in the health care debate:
* Doctors undergo very long and very expensive training before they can practice, and they must continue to update their training each year, generally at their own expense.
* Malpractice insurance premiums are huge and, to me, represent a significant reason that medical care is as expensive as it is.
* Jury awards in malpractice suits are enormous. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see a direct link between these awards and the skyrocketing cost of malpractice insurance.
* In order to avoid costly malpractice suits, doctors tend to be extremely conservative in courses of treatment, prescribing tests and examinations that may not be necessary for the sole purpose of being able to prove that they have done everything that can be done.
* The process of developing, testing, and approving new medicines is very long and very expensive; as a result, drugs tend to be extremely expensive (and the issue of huge jury awards in malpractice suits related to drugs applies, too).
* The ability of drug companies to advertise their new medicines leads patients to expect and demand prescriptions of new drugs from their doctors, whether or not these are the right treatment. The same applies to very expensive new diagnostic machines and treatments.
* The cost of medical care appears to be influenced greatly by the various lobbies that have a voice in the treatment we receive: the AMA (for the personal, professional, and financial interests of medical professionals); the legal profession (whose members have a vested financial interest in securing huge jury awards; and the drug industry (which spends huge amounts of money on developing new drugs and wishes to recoup its costs and make a profit). The expectations of patients can also be considered as a lobby of sorts as well.
* Courses of treatment for many illnesses, and even for routine care, appear to be based as much (or more) on what the insurance company will pay for as on what the patient needs.
* And there are many ethical issues as well. These include: decisions on how long to sustain life when the patient suffers from critical injury or terminal illness; whether a doctor has an obilgation to treat patients who cannot pay for the treatment (doctors have bills to pay and a living to earn, too); what is a reasonable level of profit for a medical professional or a drug company; and whether it is better to promote routine health maintenance care than to wait until a problem arises and grows expensive, and then treat it.
So...given all of the above (and this is only a very short list of the issues that bear on the problem), what do we do to help resolve this absolutely critical issue? As you might suspect, I have some ideas. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for my next post to hear about them. In the meantime, read widely and think critically about the problem so that you can ask the right questions and make the right decisions...and so you can decide whether my coming suggestions are right.
This is - truly - a life or death issue.
Have a good day. We'll continue this discussion in my next post.
Bilbo
Friday, June 16, 2006
If you aren't a lawyer, chances are that you don't spend much time reading court opinions. However, it's a good idea to do so from time to time, if only to understand what's going on with your rights and your responsibilities as a citizen.
There have been a number of recent decisions at the local and national level that are worthy of your reading. First is, obviously, yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in Hudson v. Michgan (#04-1360, June 15, 2006), which allows the police to enter your home without knocking or announcing themselves, as long as they have a search warrant. To me, this is a somewhat disturbing ruling, because it violates our rights of privacy and freedom from unreasonable search as defined in the Constitution, not to mention many years of previous legal reasoning. You can read the ruling, and the vigorous dissent written by Justice Breyer, here: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=04-1360.
Another ruling worth the reading is that of Judge John Jones in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (Case # 04cv2688), which decisively shot down the mandatory teaching of, or reference to, "Intelligent Design" as an alternative to the theory of evolution. Judge Jones' eloquent, thoroughly-reasoned, and heavily footnoted decision clearly revealed Intelligent Design for what it is: a thinly-veiled effort to push a religious agenda in public schools in violation of the Constitution. As the judge makes clear, there are those who hold deeply held religious beliefs concerning Intelligent Design, and they are free to share those beliefs with themselves and others; nevertheless, as it is clearly an opinion rooted in religion, not science, it must therefore not be taught in public schools as if it were a tested and accepted scientific theory. No matter which side of the argument you come down on, this is an important ruling and very much worth your time in reading.
I'll have more to say on other recent court decisions in later posts. In the meantime, gird your mental loins, wade through the legalese, and read key court decisions, which are easy to find on the Internet. They establish the law under which you live.
Have a great weekend. More thoughts later.
Bilbo
There have been a number of recent decisions at the local and national level that are worthy of your reading. First is, obviously, yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in Hudson v. Michgan (#04-1360, June 15, 2006), which allows the police to enter your home without knocking or announcing themselves, as long as they have a search warrant. To me, this is a somewhat disturbing ruling, because it violates our rights of privacy and freedom from unreasonable search as defined in the Constitution, not to mention many years of previous legal reasoning. You can read the ruling, and the vigorous dissent written by Justice Breyer, here: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=04-1360.
Another ruling worth the reading is that of Judge John Jones in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (Case # 04cv2688), which decisively shot down the mandatory teaching of, or reference to, "Intelligent Design" as an alternative to the theory of evolution. Judge Jones' eloquent, thoroughly-reasoned, and heavily footnoted decision clearly revealed Intelligent Design for what it is: a thinly-veiled effort to push a religious agenda in public schools in violation of the Constitution. As the judge makes clear, there are those who hold deeply held religious beliefs concerning Intelligent Design, and they are free to share those beliefs with themselves and others; nevertheless, as it is clearly an opinion rooted in religion, not science, it must therefore not be taught in public schools as if it were a tested and accepted scientific theory. No matter which side of the argument you come down on, this is an important ruling and very much worth your time in reading.
I'll have more to say on other recent court decisions in later posts. In the meantime, gird your mental loins, wade through the legalese, and read key court decisions, which are easy to find on the Internet. They establish the law under which you live.
Have a great weekend. More thoughts later.
Bilbo
Monday, June 12, 2006
It's been more than a week since I last posted, and quite a bit has happened in my life and in the world. Let's talk about the world.
Two big things have happened recently - that worthless, murdering snake Abu Musab al Zarqawi is running around hell looking for the virgins he thinks are waiting for him; and some 17 men in Canada have been arrested and charged with planning major terrorist attacks in that country. Let's look at these events in a little more detail.
The death of Zarqawi won't end the insurgency in Iraq and won't convince die-hard Islamic fanatics that they are on a dead-end road. If anything, it may make things worse in the short run by bringing more of the lunatics who believe in his twisted philosophy of out of the woodwork. But it does send a useful message to those people: that it may take a while, but we will eventually track you down and let you learn first-hand that there are no virgins waiting to serve you in hell. I think it says a lot about the nature of this war that so much effort was expended on our part to kill Zarkawi without killing innocent people around him. I don't think this was ever something he worried about when planning his outrages.
As for the people arrested in Canada, you could have easily predicted the response: rather than condemning the evident existence of a deadly terror plot cooked up by twisted religious fanatics, the Canadian Islamic community has pulled together to trot out the same old stuff about Islam being a religion of peace, Muslims are being picked on, blah, blah, blah. This is the true message of this event: that Muslims are living in a state of denial, unwilling to admit that the world has left their religion in the dust of the seventh-century Arabian desert, and equally unwilling to admit the fact that - while they loudly curse at the Western "crusaders," the last crusade took place centuries ago...and it's Islam that believes to this day in spreading its message of "peace and understanding" through murder and intimidation.
There are a few books you should read to understand the bizarre mindset of the fevered Islamic mind: The End of Faith, by Sam Harris; Why People Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer; and When Religion Becomes Evil, by Charles Kimball. You will probably not agree with everything these authors write (and I wouldn't trust you if you did), but they do provide some very interesting insights and points of departure for thinking about blind adherence to illogical and violent belief systems.
I'd rather write about grandchildren, herbs, good books, music, and the joy of dancing with beautiful ladies in beautiful clothes. Unfortunately, there are those who believe it is their mission in life to remove all these sources of joy and force me to live in the same joyless world they do...or kill me if I fail to see the correctness of their beliefs. They're out there, and we'd better deal with them soon. They aren't waiting for us to wring our hands and worry about legal and moral niceties.
Have a good week. More thoughts are coming...hopefully, more regularly.
Bilbo
Two big things have happened recently - that worthless, murdering snake Abu Musab al Zarqawi is running around hell looking for the virgins he thinks are waiting for him; and some 17 men in Canada have been arrested and charged with planning major terrorist attacks in that country. Let's look at these events in a little more detail.
The death of Zarqawi won't end the insurgency in Iraq and won't convince die-hard Islamic fanatics that they are on a dead-end road. If anything, it may make things worse in the short run by bringing more of the lunatics who believe in his twisted philosophy of out of the woodwork. But it does send a useful message to those people: that it may take a while, but we will eventually track you down and let you learn first-hand that there are no virgins waiting to serve you in hell. I think it says a lot about the nature of this war that so much effort was expended on our part to kill Zarkawi without killing innocent people around him. I don't think this was ever something he worried about when planning his outrages.
As for the people arrested in Canada, you could have easily predicted the response: rather than condemning the evident existence of a deadly terror plot cooked up by twisted religious fanatics, the Canadian Islamic community has pulled together to trot out the same old stuff about Islam being a religion of peace, Muslims are being picked on, blah, blah, blah. This is the true message of this event: that Muslims are living in a state of denial, unwilling to admit that the world has left their religion in the dust of the seventh-century Arabian desert, and equally unwilling to admit the fact that - while they loudly curse at the Western "crusaders," the last crusade took place centuries ago...and it's Islam that believes to this day in spreading its message of "peace and understanding" through murder and intimidation.
There are a few books you should read to understand the bizarre mindset of the fevered Islamic mind: The End of Faith, by Sam Harris; Why People Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer; and When Religion Becomes Evil, by Charles Kimball. You will probably not agree with everything these authors write (and I wouldn't trust you if you did), but they do provide some very interesting insights and points of departure for thinking about blind adherence to illogical and violent belief systems.
I'd rather write about grandchildren, herbs, good books, music, and the joy of dancing with beautiful ladies in beautiful clothes. Unfortunately, there are those who believe it is their mission in life to remove all these sources of joy and force me to live in the same joyless world they do...or kill me if I fail to see the correctness of their beliefs. They're out there, and we'd better deal with them soon. They aren't waiting for us to wring our hands and worry about legal and moral niceties.
Have a good week. More thoughts are coming...hopefully, more regularly.
Bilbo
Friday, June 02, 2006
Ah, it's Friday again, and I've been thinking since last night about what to write in today's post. There are, after all, so many things that need critical commentary that it's hard to choose and equally hard to keep my thoughts down to a length people will actually take the time to read and ponder.
So...
Today, we won't deal in heavy topics. Today, we'll talk about my modest little herb garden.
In three large pots in front of the house, I'm growing rosemary, thyme, chives, tarragon, and basil...lots and lots of basil. There's nothing quite like fresh herbs for good cooking, but if you buy those herbs in little plastic packages at the grocery, they'll cost you an arm and a leg, so it's much better to grow them yourself. Our basil is shooting up and bushing out nicely, and I can't walk past the pots without rubbing the leaves to enjoy the wonderful smell. Soon, we'll have enough basil for good tomato-mozzarella-basil salads. The thyme is growing well, too - and it will soon find its way into soups and rice pilafs. The rosemary, which is a perennial, is marvelously fragrant and growing like mad; the tarragon is also growing very well, but for some reason doesn't seem to smell at all...I guess we'll have to harvest some and try it out to see if the plants are okay. That leaves the chives, which are growing and spreading well...no flowers yet, but they aren't far off.
There's something deeply satisfying about growing our own herbs. If nothing else, it's a good feeling to just be able to step outside, pick the fragrant leaves you grew yourself, and toss them right into your recipe...without having to wrestle open a plastic box.
Have a good weekend. More thoughts are coming.
Bilbo
So...
Today, we won't deal in heavy topics. Today, we'll talk about my modest little herb garden.
In three large pots in front of the house, I'm growing rosemary, thyme, chives, tarragon, and basil...lots and lots of basil. There's nothing quite like fresh herbs for good cooking, but if you buy those herbs in little plastic packages at the grocery, they'll cost you an arm and a leg, so it's much better to grow them yourself. Our basil is shooting up and bushing out nicely, and I can't walk past the pots without rubbing the leaves to enjoy the wonderful smell. Soon, we'll have enough basil for good tomato-mozzarella-basil salads. The thyme is growing well, too - and it will soon find its way into soups and rice pilafs. The rosemary, which is a perennial, is marvelously fragrant and growing like mad; the tarragon is also growing very well, but for some reason doesn't seem to smell at all...I guess we'll have to harvest some and try it out to see if the plants are okay. That leaves the chives, which are growing and spreading well...no flowers yet, but they aren't far off.
There's something deeply satisfying about growing our own herbs. If nothing else, it's a good feeling to just be able to step outside, pick the fragrant leaves you grew yourself, and toss them right into your recipe...without having to wrestle open a plastic box.
Have a good weekend. More thoughts are coming.
Bilbo
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