There is a new book out that I am thinking of reading. "Ghost Plane - The True Story of the CIA Torture Program" by Stephen Grey. One quote from the review I read about it really is funny when you think about it.

I spoke with Grey this weekend. He revealed that the CIA’s ability to covertly transport terrorists – a process known as rendition – has been hobbled by boneheaded legal restrictions and laughably poor spycraft. These legal restrictions were imposed during the Clinton era but never lifted by President Bush.

“One CIA pilot told me that in the mid 1990s, when Clinton was president, that the lawyers began to take over. Previously, they used to take CIA planes into hangars all the time, re-spray them, and come out with a different tail number. That way none of the tracing of CIA planes I’ve been doing since 9/11 would have been possible. The idea of flying around with one tail number for three years would have been thought completely nuts,” Grey told me. “But [Clinton-era] lawyers said they needed to stay legal. They even insisted that, to comply with FAA regulations, they needed stewardesses.”

Yes, stewardesses on CIA planes.

With these Clintonian legal rules, it was easy for amateur “plane spotters” around the globe to track the movements of the so-called secret CIA planes. Those plane spotters later pooled their information with Grey, who broke the news in a series of headlines damaging to Bush.

With the North Korean Nuke crisis burning up the headlines, I decided to do a bit of reading on the North's current state. I cam accross a travel log site that is quite interesting.

http://1stopkorea.com/index.htm?nk-trip3.htm~mainframe

If you are interested in what it is really like in the North, this is a great reference from a group of Americans that traveled there sometime between '99 and'02.

More to follow once I get completely done reading it.

Update -

My favorite antecdote from this travel log:

The next room contained more gifts from the South, including a Hyundai Grandeur donated by the former chairman of Hyundai (whose family is originally from the North). Mr. Huk asked me if I had ever seen one of these cars during my time in the South. When I said, "sure, my neighbor has one just like it," he gave me another one of his 'you have to be lying' looks. How could such a great gift, a gift implying so much respect, belong to some normal person like my neighbor? This was obviously a car reserved for the elite, capitalist oppressors, not some common car for the masses. When I told him I wished the chairman had given away a lot more so there'd be less traffic in the South he got fed up with my obvious lies, gave me a disgusted look and moved on to talk to someone else.

LOL, that is priceless...North Korea sounds like a nation of home schooled kids.

Monday Night Lights

Its late on a Monday night, and I am on call. Since I am on call, I have trouble sleeping. Not insomnia, just a bit of forboding that I am going to get a call about a massive outage or something. Ahh...the life of a Network Engineer. Never boring, unless you find IP networks boring, that is...

I recieved another (loooonnnnnggg :-) comment from Successrealm tonight. Lots of things to consider, and not enough space in all of the Republic of Casiotone to go through them all here. One of the first things I looked into though was this:

They lied to you about the Jessica Lynch "rescue", the Pat Tillman death, the....

So, being the openminded person I am, I fired up Google, and among the hits was this rather fair assessment of the incidents in question.

http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20030528.html
(just posting the summary of the work, not the whole thing, to keep things short)

Though far more responsible than Scheer or McKinney, critics of the BBC report from the right have used Kampfner's miscues to try to dismiss or play down the entirety of the Lynch story, though the main contentions of the original revisionist reporting on Lynch have stood up to scrutiny thus far. Blogger Glenn Reynolds, for example, wrote that "there's no story, really -- just a claim that things weren't as dangerous as they might have been, and that the Pentagon got as much PR out of the event as it could, neither of which strikes me as earthshaking." Andrew Sullivan simply dismissed the BBC report as a "smear." But these commentators have not directed the same outrage the BBC has faced at the press outlets that credulously repeated the original, mistaken reports about Lynch's capture and rescue. Certainly, it's news that several key aspects of what was arguably the most famous single incident of the war were apparently misleading and/or false.

Sounds to me like the normal SNAFU's of 1>combat and 2> government P.R. Yes, Jessica Lynch was captured. Yes, she MIGHT have been driven back toward the American lines in an ambulance, only to be turned away by gunfire (I would probably end up shooting at an ambulance speeding at me in the middle of the Iraqi desert as well, it could just as easily have been a suicide bomber in a stolen ambulance.) The whole Nation was worried about Jessica Lynch. She made us question our national stance on women in combat. The thought of her in the hands of Saddam's men was sickening to us. Of course, the millitary could have used the situation to gain a P.R. win. You know what? I am fine with that.

The death of Pat Tillman. This is one of the worst tragedies to strike the modern Army of the United States of America. Friendly fire killed Pat Tillman. That is a horror that is almost too terrible to contemplate. Yeah, it was shrouded in confusion and the truth didnt come out until some pressure was applied. The Army made a poor choice in trying to keep this aspect quiet from the American public. I plan to do a bit more digging, to see if there are any conspiracy theories other than what we already know. I confess that I dont know enough about it right now to converse deeply about the incident.

To Successrealm, I would love to get an email address to continue this discussion off-blog, just leave it in a comment, and we can do so. Talk to you soon.

I normally dont post comments recieved here on my blog, simply because this blog is more of a personal journal than a group discussion. But today I recieved this comment and I think that it deserves a response (unlike most of them I get :-)

I just bounced here from Digg, and read about your son. I'm very sorry about your loss, and I wish you the best.

I agree with you that some on Digg can be quite mean, and it's a shame they had to do that. However.....looking on your blog here, I see you have much deeper issues than the loss of your son, or the misguided words you received on Digg.

I'm a Vet, that served this nation's "interests" for many years, and I've got some terrible news for you...
You are being duped by this "administration" (and many others).
I am a TRUE conservative (are there any left?) that fully understands what is happening here in America. I see the links to Rush, Hannity, and Fox of yours, and it sickens me to see you think these men/"organizations" are working for YOUR best interest, and America's.

I hope you understand that what I said above is not coming across as mean, or derogatory, but in the realm of trying to show you that perhaps your energy at "blaming the libs" for so much has blinded you and is perhaps taking you down the wrong path, for America. I'm not asking you to vote "dem", I'm simply asking you to take a breath, a step back perhaps, and realize where we stand right now. Look at America. Look at her....This isn't the "librul's" fault.

It's time we stepped up not as a "party", but as AMERICANS.
We are losing America.









A Veteran, an AMERICAN, and someone who cares about the loss of your son.

successrealm

First off, Thank You for two things. I sincerely appreciate your kind words regarding my loss and secondly for your service to this nation.

I have to take exception to what you see as "deeper issues". I listen to Fox News, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, etc because they make sense to me.

Bill O'Reilly, for example, has recently put out a new book dealing with the culture war going on in America today, and describes the VERY things I see on Digg. (Before I go too far into this, let me also state for the record I am a Christian. Maybe not the most devote, but I try.) Bill describes the Secular Progressive movement in such a way he may be a Digger himself. Its uncanny if he is not. He sees the massive push in the country to not only have the agreed upon separation of church and state, which was originally intended as "There shall be no State sponsored Religion", but to take the concept of God in general out of every single aspect of this nation. I support his view in this. This is a very real movement that is trying to shape this whole country as a religion-free zone. And I cannot support that.


Rush Limbaugh, one of the most polarizing figures in American media today. I have listened to Rush since High School. I would ask you, successrealm, have you listened much at all? I see, with my own eyes, not Rush's, the danger we are in as a nation dealing with Radical Islam. I have personal friends who are Islamic. (I know to say so is cliche, but its true) I have absolute disdain for segments of ANY religion that preaches hate, intolerance, and death. The very same view I have of radial Islamic fundamentalism is one I would share of the Catholic church during the Inquisition, and this is coming from someone who was born Catholic. I don't believe for a second we are in anything less than the kind of fight we had with Nazism. They would wantonly kill you, me, my daughter, your mother...anyone who they view as an infidel. And as a soldier you should recognize this, as Rush does. And yes, before you say it, Rush puts a large portion of the blame for the current situation on Clinton's shoulders. Even were I not a listener of Mr. Limbaughs, I would know by observation that Clinton did more in his 8 years to screw up this country than any other President to date. President Bush is not perfect. I disagree with our handling of the War on Terror in that I think we have had a virtual leash on since the start. Why, you ask? Because there is a deep feeling in this country that if we actually prosecute this war in the manner by wich we COULD (by tacticts like we used in WWII), we would be seen as conquerors and murderers and racists, and we are scared shitless of it. But there is NO lasting peace without a victory first. There will be NO lasting peace in the mideast until two things happen. 1, we tear down every regime that espouses hate - be it towards Israel, or us, or both. And 2, we lean on the populace to the point of not enabling them to kill each other - Marshal Law. Kill a fellow countryman in a sectarian act of violence, you get locked in a hole or are executed yourself. These people have a GUT LEVEL hatred of one another that needs to be extinguished. But it CAN be extinguished. Look at Japan's conduct during WWII, or Germany's. Why is it not there anymore? Because we stamped it out with a large American combat boot.

I am starting to go long here, so I want to wrap this up. Again, I sencerely appreciate your words and concern, but I don't see myself as having "deeper issues". I see myself as standing for what I belive in, in the manner that is open to me, the Internet.

You are right on one thing: We ARE losing this country, but not because of people like George W. Bush. We are losing it because too many in this great nation are willing to close their eyes to the threat that culminated on September the 11th, 2001. I see my countrymen willing to side with people in our institutions and government who would willingly sell out this nations security for nothing more than a few more votes on election day, or espouse that 9/11 was a plan by the US Government to enable President Bush to stay in power, or to hide some sort of financial scandal, or God knows what else. 3,000 Americans died that day and I, and others like me are NOT willing to sit idlely by and let it happen again.

Tim

The funny, yet sad truth about North Korea joining the Nuclear Club. Its marked as "inappropriate" by the Liberal majority who troll YouTube, but bear that no mind. There is nothing filthy or offensive (unless you are a Clintonista).

Disgrace - The Failure of the U.N. in Darfur.

I have been seeing commercials on television regarding the crisis in Darfur. In it they claim that the U.N. needs to do more, and to do that President Bush needs to take the lead. (I am paraphrasing a bit here, but this is the message they are presenting)

How about the great and noble U.N. taking the lead? Why is this a President Bush issue? If the U.N. were doing its job, there wouldnt be genocide in Darfur. When will the U.N. start doing its job and stop TOTALLY relying on the United States to enact its "policies". I say the United Nations needs to start taking responsibility to its members or close up shop.

Check out this link to see U.N. resolution 1556, "enacted" in 2004, two years ago. And this link will show you another resolution, 1593, passed in 2005, passing the issue to the international court.

The situation is dire in Darfur. Its a disgrace, its disgusting, and I believe that eventually we will have to destroy yet another radical, terrorist supporting, Islamic dictatorship because it threatens the Unites States or our interests. But make no mistake, this is not the fault of the United States. Sure, we could invade Sudan, but at the cost of weakening our prosecution of the War on Terror in other parts of the world that are more of a threat (ie, Iran, and potentially North Korea).

The United Nations has become a joke. Its become the old crazy man on the street corner, yelling at passersby one minute, asking for a handout the next. If I were President, you can believe the U.N. would be thrown out on its collective ass.

- Update - This link hosted by the United Nations itself shows a timeline going all the way back to 2003. So let me say to you, Mr. Anon, "When are you guys going to get off your ass and do something about it? You have had 3 full years of resolutions and briefings and reports. 3 years. We disarmed the Taliban AND took down Sadam Hussein in less time. Start using your budget (part of which comes from my tax dollars, mind you) and start taking some action, or get the hell out."

Cubs, Cards...Cubs, Cards...Living in central Illinois it was always one or the other. My hometown is right on the dividing line between what seems to be two warring factions. No mans land. A modern day trench warfare fought on the baseball diamond. The Cubs had always been my team of choice, but since moving closer to Saint Louis, and working in the West County area, I have been exposed to the Cardinals much more. My favorite radio station here is the Cardinals home station. The exposure is having its effect.

The Cards are in the NLCS Championship again this year, after a very strange year. Towards the end of the season they were something like 8 games ahead, then had a losing streak that almost ended their chances. But they squeaked in, and are playing some decent baseball in the post-season.

The Cubbies...well...very disapointing season. Dusty Baker, the head coach, is gone. Half the roster I didnt even recognise this season.

I wish the Cubs well, and will root for them when able, but the Cardinals have expanded their appeal to me. Hopefully they can go all the way!

Balance. Such a simple concept, and yet when it happens it can set your world right. Balance is a beautiful concept. The equal matching of light and shadow, of hot and cold, of light and sound.

Sometimes when you have had a bad day, or you just have a bad hour, it can make the rest of the time spent feel out of wack. And then, sometimes when you find yourself down a bit, something that you wish for, some event can change your whole outlook. If you read the previous post in the blog, you know I had a dfficult night last night. But tonight I feel much better. And it had nothing to do with last nights events.

Tonight I finally got to meet in person my favorite author of all time, Mr. George RR Martin. George is probably the single best write I have ever read, and one that deserves a place among the greats such as Tolkien, Heinlein, Dick, and others. George has written a number of books, but the ones that have taken me captive are the Song of Ice and Fire series.

If you have never read them, but have the time and patience, they are masterful reading. Its a fantasy setting, not unlike Tolkiens books. It contains many of the standard fantasy fare - Dragons, knights, kings and queens. But there are a few things that really set this series apart from the norm.

One is that its of epic scale. Now, Tokien's War of the Ring, originally concieved as a sequal to the short story of The Hobbit, grew to what was called "epic" size. Mr Martin's books are much bigger, and just as detailed. Tokien gave you the names and backstory of just about every character in the history of Middle Earth. Martin does almost as much but fleshes out the characters of the present of the book to the degree that you feel like you know them. I mean really know them.

Two is that he is absolutely UNAFRAID of killing off a maint character. And this is not simply because he has so many. At the Q&A session this evening Mr Martin spoke at length of this. To paraphrase his words, he basically said that in the setting of a feudal system torn by war, it is dishonest to portray death as anything but common. The hero if surrounded by hundred of enemies will not likely survive. He spoke of a real medieval knight he has studied (I forget his name) who was noted as the single greatest warrior of his time. This knight was the protector of the children of the King and Queen, and when a coup took place, he was jailed. After a bit, he was tried on some very loose charges, and was convicted. He was then marched to the headsman and beheaded. This was a knight who won tournament after tournament, in both jousting and sword, and yet he was powerless in such a situation. Martin's belief is that its dishonest to ones fans to try to convince them that it could end any different.

Believe me when I say, when these characters meet their fate, you actually care. It affected me to the point of a bit of depression, but that is a sign that a book really has you hooked. This book is violent, but it could be told no other way and be true to itself. Its a very addictive read.

Another thing that makes this series such a treasure is that when you read the story, its told from many points of view, or POVs. Now, this doesnt do a retelling of the same scene from two different POVs, but it does provide such insight into a character that you start to see the characters in different ways. A character that would first be considered evil, starts to seem justified in his actions. A character that first stands out as good, well...you get the idea.

His books are so good, because they have - balance. Good and Evil, light and dark, etc. Pick them up sometime, you will be glad you did.

Generation B-H (Bush Haters)


Tonight and for the last several days, I have paid very close attention to a number of website/blogs/etc that deal with politics in general. The recent scandal of Rep Foley, combined with the ongoing War on Terror has them positively humming with activity. And much of it is very disturbing to me.

Why, do you ask? I am disturbed because of the level of absolute gut-level hatred that the supposedly smartest people in the world have. Who am I referring to? As Bill O'Reilly describes them, the Secular Progressives. Or, more to the point, the students of the SP's, the young, Internet savvy of the US. I have been for a long time a fan of the website Digg.com, but I may have to rethink my patronage of it.

For those who don't know, Digg started out as a user driven technology news website. The latest stories found on the 'Net are submitted to the site, where users 'digg' them, or vote for them, and the ones that get the most diggs get promoted to the homepage and are thus seen more by the casual browser of the site. A while back, I believe to increase their already huge following, they added other categories to Digg. Among the new topics, we now have Political News and Political Opinion.

The common Digg user seems to be young (<40) and technically savvy. No suprise there for a Web2.0 site, on the cutting edge of Internet media. As I mentioned before they are very Secular Progressive. The average Digg user believes wholly in the church of science, the theory of evolution, etc. Which is fine. As a christian, and as a conservative, I disagree with this secular philosophy. But, I have never been insulting toward someone who believed as they do. I dont consider myself an evangelist. I believe in God, that Jesus was his son and that he was sent to us to deliver us from sin. I will never insult someone for not having a belief in God. (I also wont cut their head off, but thats another blog post for another day.)

But, as God as my witness, these people make me want to act in a very un-christian way. These people, when faced (not confronted mind you) with someone who has a conservative viewpoint, get downright nasty. They get insulting, rude, and absolutely cruel.

I was involved in a discussion tonight, on Digg, about an link posted to a website that claims that the US Government made up Al Quaeda, faked the Osama Bin Laden recordings, and blew up the towers to hide some sort of embezelment of tax dollars. Now, fine, it gets submitted and you put your two cents worth in by submitting what I consider to be a false, and frankly ridiculous theory. In the ensuing shout-typing match, someone takes a jab at the President for the accident that happened in Japan during his first year, when he started choking on a pretzel. To the Liberal, SP this is a sign of his utter incompetence.

Now, for those that dont know, my son died at 16 months by choking, on of all things, a pretzel. I have encountered this critisizm of President Bush only twice in my life, once at my job, where a person has a sign on her cubicle wall poking fun of this incident, and here on Digg.

I wrote a comment about the jab, basically saying that people should take more care in what they think is a humorous, clever jab at President Bush. I wasn't seething, angry, or even snide about it, I just said basically what had happened to my boy, and to think before throwing insults like this around.

I recieved a couple of responses. None of them were kind. Not that I was looking for simpathy. I was thinking that I would get a "hey, you are right, lets get back to disucssing the issue" type of response. Not so. One person even suggested that I was making it up. Another said, yes your son was incompetent and so were you for not teaching him to chew.

What kind of people are these? Does the average Digg user have this level of hatred in his heart, to the point of being willing to virtually spit on a persons feelings becuase he had the audacity to point out that such a thing should not be used against the President? Sadly, yes, I think that is who the majority of the Digg community is now.

It is getting to the point now where a site like Digg, that to my knowledge was never conceived as a Liberal SP haven, but as a place for the free exchange of ideas and debate, is not a welcome place for someone who doesnt toe the hate line.

This is such a personal letdown for me, as I have been a fan of Digg since its start. I am a fan of the founder of Digg, Kevin Rose, since his days on TechTV, and I even have a sort of 2 degrees of separation" from Jay Adelson, who is the CEO of Digg. (My company's new CEO worked with Jay at Equinix.)

I have thought hard about canceling my Digg.com account, and putting it behind me, and its the best thing to do. I know it wont make a bit of difference to the majority of the Digg community, but maybe I will be more comfortable somewhere else. If anything it will be as hard as canceling my WoW account, maybe more so.