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October 11, 2006
IE 7. . .
I usually wait a few months after a product is released before I install it on my main computers, but for some reason today I found myself sitting here bored while cleaning up a clone laptop I had and I got the wild hair to go ahead and install IE 7 (RC1).
The install went fine, and I back up and running in short order. So far, I have one reaction. GREAT! I'm not a huge fan-boi of microsoft but I really like this product so far. It incorporates alot of the features found in Opera and Firefox, and it presents a clean slick interface.
I really like the search box for Live.com (which is the search engine I switched to some time back. . . I still use Google from time to time, but Live is my homepage), and I love the subscription button that lights up when there is an RSS feed link present on the page. Of course that "feature" also means I'll be reading more blogs and I can't tell whether that is a good or bad thing yet. Of course "tabbed browsing" is the one of the best things since sliced bread and now that I'll have it in my primary browser, I'm happy as a clam.
I'm sure I'll find faults with it as time goes by, but the initial impression and my first couple of hours surfing with it have been more than I expected. All in all, I'm going to have to give it a thumbs up, and for now, I recommend that those so inclined, go ahead and make the switch.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 5:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 8, 2006
It's long since past the time. . .
That we should just start referring to this as
Look folks, it's time, we've got ideologies out there that are directly opposed to everything the sane people of the world have been working for since the end of the last worldwide conflict. Islamic Fasism and Personality Cult Communism are threats to FREEDOM, LIBERTY, and HUMANITY. It's time to stop pussyfooting around and just start calling this what it is.
Condi needs to get her butt over to China ASAP and get the Chinese to take the role of the Soviets in WW2 and lead on getting North Korea under control, the U.S. and it's allies need to get on the ball with Iran and end that threat sooner rather than later. If Chavez makes a stink, unleash Brazil on him and give them everything they need to finish him off too.
In the modern age, the world seems to have these conflicts every 50 years or so as a sort of re-alignment of mankinds direction forward. No rational person will advocate for Islamic Fascism to become a ruling power for the world, neither will a rational person advocate Personality Cult Communism as a positive way forward. It's time to recognize that certain ideologies are failed ideologies and remove them from the playing field.
I'm going to add to this the Democrats better get on board with being Americans and realize that we've got to end this petty BS and get busy with making the world safe for humankind.
Blockade NK immediately, slap the sanctions on Iran, and let's start getting rid of the nutcases. If the U.N. doesn't want to go the way of the League of Nations in short order, they'd better get on the ball too.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 10:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 5, 2006
Can someone explain this to me. . .
So Bill O'Reilley had this guy on his show named Tyson Vivyan, who claimed to be a former Congressional page who'd also had sexual advances made upon him by Congressman Foley.
Ms. Underestimated, has a link to the video, and lemme add that there are DEFINATELY more reasons to check out her site.
So I was curious about this Vivyan guy, and wanted to see if there were any articles out there with this guy's story.
I had meant to search Google news first, but by accident I just ran a straight Google search on him. Lo and behold. . .
Not a peep. Now that seems VERY VERY VERY strange to me. One would expect there to be at least SOME hits on someone who has done enough in their high school life to merit getting a slot as a page, and certainly SOME of that would be referenced somewhere on the web. Alas, no, it seems this Tyson fella just magically appeared all of the sudden.
Seriously, there should be at least SOMETHING out there with this guys name attached to it. Congressional pages usually have some meritorious service before they become a page, right? Debate Club, Athletics, School Paper, SOMETHING!
Now I'll admit that I also ran a Google News search for the kid, and there were a couple of references, but only to the O'Reilley spot. So what gives? Is this the first guy to be lucky enough to be the only American with absolutely NO REFERENCE to him throughout the world wide web.
Well, I guess there is at least ONE now.
--Jason
PS - Before some leftard or Kos Kids descend upon me and try to paint me as a Foley apologist, lemme just make this perfectly clear. I think Foley acted inappropriately for a Congressman, very inappropriately. I'm glad he did the correct thing and resign immediately when this story popped up. I also feel that if it can be determined that he did in fact break the law, then he should go to jail, preferably under the jail, and not pass go, not collect a Congressional Pension.
Let me also say that this is looking like another RatherGate more and more. However that does NOT excuse Foley's abuse of his position with regard to Congressional pages. If he broke the law, throw the book at him, PERIOD. If he is vindicated of any legal wrongdoing, I still say it's good that he resigned, his actions were not befitting a Congressman.
-JC
UPDATE: From ZERO presence on the net via google to 42,000 plus and growing two days later. Nice PR campaign you created for yourself Tyson. Something tells me we'll be seeing more of Tyson in the future as he parlays this.
Posted by JasonColeman at 2:49 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 4, 2006
Tequila Mockingbird. . .
My goodness, some people are simply complete idiots.
Let's take this woman, Dahlia Lithwick, who has completely taken partisanship over the bend and political correctness with her.
Lithwick writes in this Slate article, referencing a remark by Antonin Scalia:
"a remark that would have flattened us had a Souter spoken it is just a solid day at the office for Scalia"
she adds:
"The more interesting question is about Scalia's deliberate carelessness with language, his sense that he is somehow above the sorts of linguistic delicacy the rest of us expect in our dealings with others. Indeed, he seems to think it's his obligation to be ever more reckless with his words, perhaps because he's about the only guy left who faces no consequences for his rhetorical body-slams."
She's up in arms about the remark, crying racism and insensitivity and more; she's completely bent out of shape.
So what is the remark that has her so aflutter? The remark came from Scalia in reference to an individual who was to have supervised release. When the topic shifts to the individual going to Mexico, Scalia takes notice that that this individual is to refrain from the consumption of alcohol. Scalia, and anyone with common sense realizes that supervision will be impossible outside of the country. So, without further ado, here is Scalia's "offensive" comment:
"Nobody thinks your client is really, you know, abstaining from tequila down in Mexico because he is on supervised release in the United States."
Yep, that's the comment this Lithwick nitwit is up in arms about, in her world, associating Tequila with Mexico is racist and insensitive. Someone had better tell the Mexicans about this, because as far as Mexicans are concerned, Tequila is one of their national treasures. The Mexican government lists Tequila as one of it's major exports. Tequila IS Mexican, well at least real Tequila is. The agave flavored beverages made in the States and even South Africa, IS NOT TEQUILA. For Tequila to actually be Tequila, it has to come from Mexico, to carry Tequilas highest ratings, it must be made with agave grown in Mexico. In fact, to be considered true Mexican Tequila, the liquor should be made specifically in Jalisco, Mexico, preferably near a town called. . . wait for it. . . Tequila!!!!
This woman Lithwick is so very eager to find fault with Scalia that she has to create false outrage about the association between Tequila and Mexico. Well guess what Lithwick the nitwit, Mexico WANTS Tequila to be associated with Mexico, they've spend MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO ASSOCIATE TEQUILA AND MEXICO. They've made laws akin to the German Purity Laws for beer to associate Tequila and Mexico.
NO ONE WANTS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH TEQUILA MORE THAN MEXICO!!!! Got that Lithwick, if Scalia would have said, that the felon would be drinking Rum in Mexico, THAT would be cause to get uppity, but by Scalia associating exactly what the Mexicans want Tequila associated with, Mexico, he wasn't being racist or insensitive; he was actually recognizing the great lengths the Mexican government and culture has gone to to connect Tequila and Mexico.
If I had a Moron of the Week award like Samantha Burns does, I'd make Lithwick the nominee this week. She's definately a moron, and far too eager to hoist the flag of political correctness to the point where she's gone full circle and actually now, SHE has become the insensitive one for failing to recognize as the rest of us have, through the urging of the Mexicans themselves, that TEQUILA IS MEXICO and MEXICO IS TEQUILA.
Everything else is just an agave flavored adult beverage, true Tequila comes from Mexico, nitwit, er. . .I mean Lithwick.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 4:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
VDH. . .(a cup o' coffee post)
If you don't read Victor Davis Hanson, you should.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 3, 2006
So lemme get this straight. . .
So now, we evil Amerikkkans are torturing Guantanamo inmates by. . . . (wait for it)
by. . . . .
by . . . . .
For cryin' out loud, how ridiculous can you get!!!!!!!!!!!!
Note that this isn't "force feeding" or "feeding against their will", this just giving them a meal that they choose to eat!!!!!
So now can we assume that by feeding prisoners better than our own troops that we are somehow violating their "terrorist rights"????
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 6:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Dow. . .
In the words of Mel Gibson (no, I'm not going to say "sugar-tits"). . .
Hold. . . HOOOLD . . . . HOOOOOLLLLLLDDDD!
Come on baby, you can do it!!!!
11,741 and change at 2 PM Eastern, not long to go and then. . . champagne!!!
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at 12:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Greek plane hijacked. . .
Place your bets, place your bets!
Could this plane be heading toward the Vatican?
Or is this an "old school" hijacking with demands placed and hostages held?
I'm voting on the missile scenario at the moment.
More to come as it gets reported. Updates will be added to this post.
--Jason
UPDATE 1: 107 passengers. Plane has been diverted to Italian airfield. Apparently it's a "protest" of the Pope's upcoming visit to Turkey. Drudge reports the plane has landed at Brindisi, Italy.
COMMENT: Isn't that just par for the course. The Mohammedans are upset about the Pope quoting someone who said they were violent, and they challenge the quote by hijacking a plane. Beautiful Irony still abounds.
UPDATE 2: Apparently the hijacking was "foiled" in fligh, and the passengers are now safe. XXX SCRATCH THAT -- FALSE REPORT XXX
UPDATE 3: 2 hijackers still on board. Plane is on the groud. The "because of the Pope" theory is still holding.
-JC
Posted by JasonColeman at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 2, 2006
Some people wont agree with me. . .
Some people won't agree with me, but I'm pretty sure that I'm right on this one. One day, most probably in my lifetime, there will be a terrorist attack involving a nuclear device, or a rogue state will use a nuclear device as a first strike weapon hoping to bring about a one hit coup de grace.
Some people will completely deny this as an impossibility, they will state that groups capable of producing a nuclear device will understand it's implications and only use such a device as a "deterrent". Others will claim that I am being alarmist and armageddonist, and totally dimiss this idea on that basis alone; without addressing the probability of such an attack, they merely will stick their heads in the sand. Still others will claim that such an event will only occur by the hands of the evil Zionists or equally evil Americans, which is simply ridiculous because neither nation needs a nuke to lay waste to their enemies, both groups can defeat almost any comer with conventional means quite easily from a military standpoint.
There is a sect within Islam that sees the use of a nuclear device as a means to bring about the reappearance of the 12th Imam, who will organize the world along Islamic lines and bring about the Koran's version of Biblical Revelations. There are groups, lets call them Islamists for simplicity, but recognize that they are known also as Islamic Fascists, Islamofascists, or elements of Radical Islam, and some of these groups have openly stated their desire to acquire a nuclear device, or a hybridized device (dirty bomb) for the intent of using it upon the United States, Israel or the nations of Western Europe with the stated purpose of destroying these institutions and jumpstarting the Second Caliphate. Other entities may "pop a nuke" as a last gasp of power concentrated in a select group of insane rulers (North Korea). Then there is the unknown, the threat of tomorrow, the threat we don't see at the moment, but nevertheless grows in dark corners of the world, biding it's time, waiting for the geopolictical climate to be right.
If you sit back and think about it, it's basically inevitable that sometime in the future these weapons will be used. The effect will be great and depending on the target, the results will range from destruction and horror quickly passing and settling into rage and revenge, at the other end of the scale, nations could fall within hours or simply cease to effectively exist (Israel could be an example, so could Great Britain or any other country with a small geographic footprint).
The device will most likely be small, in the kiloton range, not a city killer megaton nuke, but a man-portable "tactical" weapon used deep within a society to produce a profound strategic effect. There may be just one, which will be bad enough to deal with, but there most likely will be more than one, near simultaneously, or in a quick succession of a few days.
Some people will have already stopped reading because they can't handle thinking about such a possibility. I suggest that these people are more likely than not, the same people who would suggest that WE need to change in order to stop THEM from attacking us. That WE cannot fight THEM, because WE cannot change THEM, so WE must change and be kindler, gentler, and more accomodating to those who would wish US dead. To me, this seems like total insanity run amuck. It just doesn't make sense. If WE change, THEY will be emboldened. If WE change, THEY win, and their victory does not ensure our safety, in fact it only assures that another group will arise with another agenda to demand that WE change for THEM.
I don't have any answers, I don't have any program to make this all go away. I can only observe that it will happen, someday. Someone WILL use a nuclear device on a unsuspecting population sometime in the relatively near future. The only suggestion I have is for people to realize that there is a war on, it's a World War, and it's not the Global War on Terror I'm referring to, the GWOT is part of it, but it's more a battle or a theatre than it is the whole war. The war I'm referring to has not yet been named, it's not even realized by most that it's taking place, but it is taking place and it's important that people begin to recognize it.
We are at a unique place in the history of mankind. No longer are we disjointed and separate groups of people separated by trade routes and occasional contact. The entire world has become a community against it's own will. Disparate groups with different worldviews have been thrust together via the Information Age and the bridges between nations and people have been physcally bridged by the culmination of the Industrial Age providing mobility and travel options never before seen in human history.
Some call this a culture war, others call it a clash of civilizations, others call it all manner of things. I prefer to use the term, The Long War, because I don't see any resolution to this war coming any time soon, and by my reckoning, this war has been going on since the late 1940's. That means we're already 60 years in and the war isn't even recognized, to expect that The Long War could last for another 100 years is not unrealistic.
So what is this war all about? In short, this war is about the future of the human race, ALL of the human race. That word ALL is very important, it should be thought about at least a little. ALL of the human race. We are at a convergence of human society where every human on the planet, if he or she so chooses, can interact with almost every other human on the planet through travel and electronic communication. A global consciousness is emerging. Humanity as a whole has entered a NEW infancy, this new infant is taking it's first tenative steps and only beginning to explore it's world, and realize it's potential.
While this war rages on, it will take various forms. Just as World War 2 had smaller, seemingly separate "theatres", this war has component parts that can't properly be called theatres, so lets just call them for the purposes of this discussion "a battle" as opposed to "the war". I recognize that I'm using battle incorrectly, but we just don't have the terminology to describe what is happening yet, we are living it right now, and defining it as we go, which makes the realization of what is happening all the more difficult.
The battle that is the GWOT is a battle of religion, religious wars are common throughout history, and this is another in a long line of religious wars. I believe that this will be the last. Islam is the last "unreformed" universalizing religion. It's highly unlikely that another true religion will arise. Cults will rise and become somewhat legitimate, like those cultist who worship "the envrironment", but these are minor players and not capable or desirous of global war like the Catholics did once and the Islamists do now. This religious war, the GWOT, is one we can fight, and we can win, the endpoint will be the reform of Islam and the rise of Islamic moderates to the positions of power within Islam. Once the moderates gain control of their religion, it's unlikely that it will retain it's extremist appeal for very long, the radicals will be marginalized, and eventually they will fade away. While this might seem a condemnation of the GWOT in favor of an internal Islamic solution, it isn't; the GWOT is a necessary battle, because Islam cannot reform without pressure from the outside, just as the Catholic Church would have never reformed were it not for the Princes of Europe demanding and fighting for it in the Wars of the Reformation.
So we will go forward with the GWOT, we must. I say we in a much larger sense than it is now. The WE in the equasion will grow as more people begin to realize what is at stake and what the other side, the Islamists, are aiming for. The second Caliphate will not rise and any attempt to create it, no matter how severe the attack or action, will be resisted, and as the attacks from THEM increase, the WE component will grow. Eventually the WE's will conquer the THEM's and Islam will reform, it won't end the problem of Islamists, but the threat will be effectively mitigated, and when it gains strength, it will be slapped down hard again, just as Nazism is slapped down when it makes it's periodic resurgences. There is no real threat of a Fourth Reich or a disciple of Hitler arising to take over the world, such a threat would immediately be pounced upon and destroyed if it began to seek conquest of others. Such will be the case when Islamism arises again the future after this battle is won.
Yet The Long War won't be over when Islamism is defeated. Other ideologies will arise or existing ones will decide that the time to strike is at hand. It must be remembered, that it is STILL the goal of Communist China to control the world and bring all of humanity under the banner of Communism. That battle lies ahead. It may be another violent clash, with guns and bombs and death, or it may be a relatively peacefull battle fought in boardrooms and with policy speeches and the will of the masses determining the victor. This battle is coming, we just don't know what shape it will take and whether it will be a HOT part of The Long War, or a COLD part.
Down the road we'll have battles we cannot conceive of now, against enemies we do not know, cannot see and do not suspect malice from, but THEY will challenge the WE and the battle will be fought.
Will The Long War ever end. Yes, it will, but the nature of what the world will be like at the end cannot be forseen, it's simply too far off and to many variables are in the way. What we do know is that it will end one day, and there will be a victor. This planet is simply too small for multiple ideologies and worldviews to exist indefinately. Multi-cuturalism will not be the future of the planet, a single global culture will eventually emerge as transportation and information transfer improves.
We are still in a phase of our development where different groups of people are given different sets of information to base their opinions and actions upon. One day this will not be the place. We are only a few short years away from information access being a uniform global process. Just as fiber replaced copper, WiFi will eventually be replaced by SatFi and any human with a simple device will have access to the same information as every other human with a simple, portable and self-contained device, accessing a global network that cannot be interfered with by local or national governments. If you want to look at the US internetsat, you will be able to, if you want to look at the China internetsat, you will be able to, access points in orbit are coming, and keeping a population in the dark will become impossible. When this occurs, it will be the strength of the ideas and goals of groups that will make them powerful and not merely their access to weapons and their local power over a population.
As transportation evolves, it too will give greater access and greater range to the individual. Highways will be replaced by skyways, and mankind's mobility will both act as a dampening effect and inflamatory effect on the violence and scope of The Long War. Combatants will have greater and greater access to their targets, but those targets will be contaminated more and more by unwanted bystanders. How this will play out cannot be forseen, but transportation will both increase the violence of The Long War and decrease it over time as populations continue to merge and high value single targets become more scarce.
The Long War will determine the future of mankind. Will we take to the the stars seeking out new homes, new science and a greater understanding of the universe? Will we stay earthbound, working like ants to serve the desires of a select few in a Communist utopia? Or will we see a new "religion" preventing us from developing our technology in some warped sense of respect for the planet where we see mass starvations and depopulations before a complete technological collapse that sets us back hundreds or thousands of years because we must not damage our environment for the sake of improving the lives of humans?
The Long War will have an end. There will be an eventual one world culture, there will be one world language, it's inevitable. There will be one world system of government, that too is inevitable. There will be a common set of information and it will be universally accessible, that too is inevitable.
That language does not have to be English, I'd sure like it to be, because I feel that it's got the greatest headstart and would be the most efficient direction to take and retain the most knowledge along the way. That system of government does not have to be Democracy, I'd sure like it to be, because Democracy empowers the individual, and does not reduce man to slave. That set of information does not have to be science and truth, it could be a political information set a la Orwell's 1984, or a religous set that teaches only one fantasy worldview, I'd sure like it to be the science and truth set, and I think the reasons are obvious.
So what is the whole point of this. The point is to realize that things are going to get worse before they get better when it comes to the GWOT, the point is to realize that the GWOT is just a battle, or a theatre, in the larger war for humanity, The Long War, which will determine where we, as a species (think about that: WE, as a SPECIES) decide to go with our opposable thumbs and big brains. The point is for people to realize that we are in a War that we have not yet named, a war that we do not yet see it's full scope, a war that will make past wars seem unimportant and a war that will change the very nature and scope of what is considered humanity.
The point is to hopefully spark other discussions about the future, and how it will be shape by the new interconnected small world we now live in as opposed to the old disconnected large world we inhabited just a few short decades ago. Where once we could have oceans and deserts as barriers, we now have everyone thrown together in one big bowl, and we must hash out our differences and come to a realization of what humanity is and what our purpose will be. Are we to be ants? Are we to be worshippers? Are we to be individuals? What will it mean to be human at the end of The Long War? What will we have to endure to get to that end?
This is survival of the fittest, who will it be? Athens or Sparta? (See the PS below for an explanation of that.)
Comments are welcome and will be responded to.
--Jason
PS, This screed, rant, commentary, post, whatever you want to call it, was sparked by a reading of this fictional piece by Dan Simmons. If anything in this post sparked interest, and even if it did not, I highly suggest you take the time to read the April 2006 Message from Dan. It's interesting, it's thought provoking, it's scary, and it's enlightening, take the time to read it, make the time to read it.
Posted by JasonColeman at 9:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
