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General Specifics
I don't have anything new and earth-shattering to write about today - no
great and profound insights to share. Well, I pretty much never do anyway, so it
isn't like this is a big change. If you want deep thinking, go read
Steven Den Beste,
Bill Whittle or
Eugene Volokh. I use basically all of my
available brain bandwidth designing stuff at work, so this blog gets what little
is left over once I get home, while I sit at the computer and ignore my family.
My brain bandwidth is pretty limited, anyway, and well, you get what you pay
for. Ha!
Blogging Iran
I got this email message from the supporters of Iranian freedom at
ActivistChat.com:
--Plan for the peaceful removal of the Islamic Regime:
--This Sunday, January 18, 2004
http://activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=992
A Plan for the peaceful removal of the Islamic Regime of Iran will be
announced during a live program broadcast on many Iranian satellite TV
and Radio stations. The program starts at 10 AM PST from NITV studios in
Los Angeles and will last for 6 hours, including a fundraising segment
to support the plan. Other media who have confirmed the live broadcast
of this program include Pars TV, Radio Sedaye Iran, Radio Yaran, Radio
Sedaye Emrooz, Rangarang TV, Apadana TV, and Lahzeh TV.
This program can also be seen live via the Internet at
www.IranRadioTV.com who will provide a FREE link on that day.
http://bestofiran.com/frontend/index.asp
This sounds interesting. A plan for the peaceful removal of the mullahs? It
would be wonderful if it happened, especially if a new government in Iran was
committed to democracy, individual rights and rule by law. I can't see that the
mullahs would willingly give up power. Peaceful resistance, along the lines of
the successful resistance against the British in India, doesn't seem to me that
it would be effective against the brutal theocracy in Iran. Gandhi's non-violent
resistance in India was effective in large part because the British could not
conscience aggressive retaliation against passive resistance. In my view, the
ayatollahs would not have such restraint. In Iran, I fear non-violent resistance
would be met by brutal retaliation, arrests and torture.
I look forward to hearing this plan for peaceful removal of the Islamic
Regime. If it is realistic, can be carried out, and is followed by a democratic,
secular government that respects the rule of law and individual rights, it would
be a fantastic and wonderful victory, indeed. The people of Iran, and the whole
world, would be much better for it.
V.P. Cheney in Seattle
You may have heard that Vice President Cheney was in Seattle today for
fund-raising. While he was here, he diid an interview with Dave Ross of KIRO
radio. I heard a replay of the interview on the long drive home from work this
evening, while I sat in the (in) famous Seattle traffic. You can hear it
here from the
KIRO radio web site by clicking on the
Show Highlights link - but for some unknown reason, the link isn't working for
me right now, so it might be broken.
An aside: It often takes me 90 minutes or more to drive the 35 miles from
my house to my office. Fun? No - but I do get daily practice at the
fruit of the Spirit. You know: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. See Galatians
5:22, 23.
Unfortunately, despite the daily practice, I often find myself losing out
to impatience and frustration. Thankfully, the drive home tonight wasn't as
bad as usual. But, enough about that - back to the topic at hand...
Dave Ross is an excellent talk show host, but tends to be rather left-leaning
(not surprising in Seattle, although other hosts on KIRO are more right-wing).
He started the interview asking about the Paul O'Neill book and allegations that
the Bush administration planned to remove Saddam Hussein even before the tragedy
of 9/11/2001. Ross then asked where the weapons of mass destruction in Iran are,
and hammered on that for a while. He closed the interview by asking the V.P.
what his relationship with Haliburton is today, and whether or not he has any
financial interest in Haliburton. As you might suspect, the questions Ross asked
the VP were pointed, even a bit aggressive (but respectful - Ross is a pro), but
Cheney was unruffled and was very prepared for the questions. In fact, when Ross
hammered on the fact that weapons of mass destruction in Iraq haven't been
found, and asked if the American people had been misled, Cheney answered that
President Bush had relied on the National Intelligence Estimate provided to him
by the intelligence agencies, and Cheney had a copy of the declassified
portion right in front of him and read directly from it! Of course, the NIE
clearly supported the administration's position regarding the likelihood of Iraq
having weapons of mass destruction. That won't stop the leftists from claiming
that Bush Lied™, but more reasonable people
will realize that the administration has been truthful all along. Removing
Saddam Hussein was necessary. He had WMD's in the past, probably
had them up until the war, and never gave up his plans to acquire more as
soon as he could - including nuclear weapons. The National Intelligence Estimate
says this plainly. President Bush did not lie!
My assessment is that the VP handled the interview very well. He had
straightforward, common sense, and direct answers to all of the left-wing
canards that Dave Ross posed to him. I never got the sense that he was
evading any question. I haven't heard Cheney speak often, so I wasn't sure how
he would present himself. After the interview, I was impressed. He struck me
as someone very intelligent, straightforward and honest. The IndyMedia types
won't change their minds, of course - but then again, you have to have a mind to
be able to change it, right? In my view, our country is much better off with
someone of Dick Cheney's intellect and experience as vice president.
A New Blog To Visit
Another blogger I respect (no link, by that blogger's request) has pointed out a new blog that I would like to
support. It is called "Free Persia," and
it is being written by an Iranian blogger. The blog is in both Persian and
English, and the grammar is a little rough here and there, but that is really
completely unimportant. What is important is that here is another Iranian that
longs for freedom in his country, and we who are free need to give our support.
I have added this new blog to my BlogRoll. Visit the site and give this new
blogger some encouragement, won't you?
Driving Me Batty
I mentioned it up above, but I thought I'd re-iterate here: my drive to and
from work lately is the Commute From Hell. I've started work on a new project
(and will be working for a new company soon), which requires that I drive about
35 miles to work in the morning, and then another 35 miles home in the evening.
If I lived in a normal city, like say Los Angeles, rather than in the
Seattle area, it probably wouldn't be that bad. But no. You see, Seattle's
traffic has been systematically destroyed by a vast right-wing conspiracy to
punish the city for its liberal politics. What's my evidence, you ask? Well, I
have three overwhelming exhibits that prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that
this conspiracy exists:
- My 35 mile drive, which is essentially all on state or interstate
highways, where the speed limit is 60 miles per hour, usually takes around 90
minutes! Do the math. I average less than 25 miles per hour on 60
mile-per-hour freeways, and that's not even during rush hours.
- To alleviate the problem, the leadership of the city of Seattle has
decided to extend the famous Seattle
monorail. You know, the one that was built as part of the 1962 World's
Fair! Hahahaha! Yeah, a 40-year-old system will solve the problem, and it
will only cost 1.75 billion dollars. Why don't we just build a new
restaurant on the Space Needle, too? Oh, wait. They did that already.
- Last but not least, the centerpiece of the new transportation system in
the Seattle region includes a rail system that doesn't go where people work,
few new lanes on the most heavily traveled freeways, little to no alleviation
of the already horrendous traffic jams, and
billions of
dollars in new taxes. And, it's already
way over budget!
If that doesn't constitute proof, I don't know what does. Since Seattle-area
politics is dominated by liberals, the only possible explanation is that the
Seattle traffic is being manipulated by a right-wing conspiracy. What's that,
you say? Maybe the liberal Seattle-area politicians have screwed up the
transportation planning by
pandering to special
interests? No! They wouldn't do that, would they?
Of course not.
P.S. A lot of this last bit was tongue-in-cheek. I don't have much in the way
of proof that liberals or conservatives are responsible for the transportation
woes plaguing the Seattle area. But it is a fact that traffic is horrendous,
among the worst in the U.S.; the Sound Transit planning and projects are years
behind schedule and way over budget; it takes an inordinate amount of time for
all of the interested parties to agree on direction to solve the problems; and
special interests have impacted the process, to the detriment of those of us
that just want to get to work and back in a reasonable amount of time. Frankly,
it doesn't look to be getting much better, either. I just hope I can arrange to
work from home as much as possible.
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