Month: August 2005

How radical Islamists see the world

The Christian Science Monitor[*1] :

They want a society that applies the Koran literally and adheres to the social practices that prevailed at the time of the prophet Muhammad. It would not be democratic in any modern sense, though there are provisions for shura, or consultation – generally interpreted to mean the leader should take advice from trusted community members. In their interpretation of Islam, women and men have defined roles, and women generally have fewer rights.

Can someone explain to me the opposition of the Western liberal left to resisting Islamofascism?

How radical animal rights and environmentalists see the world

Aaron Mannes on TechCentralStation[*1] observes the increasingly violent rhetoric (and actions) of the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front:

The ALF and ELF worldview is also expanding. Their rhetoric (which can be read on a number of websites including www.animalliberationfront.com[*2] ) has become infused with Marxist and anarchist ideology, criticizing the familiar litany of globalization, American imperialism and capitalism. In March 2003, just before the Iraq war, ELF ideologue Craig Rosebraugh called for, “strategies and tactics which severely disrupt the war machine, the U.S. economy, and the overall functioning of U.S. society.” In his book, The Logic of Political Violence, Rosebraugh wrote: “[R]evolution in the United States … cannot be successful without the implementation of violence.” Transferring ALF’s and ELF’s enemies from particular industries and companies to society as a whole could inspire larger scale terrorist attacks.

The era we’re living in today reminds me a bit of the era of anarchist bombings and assassinations around the turn of the 20th century. One difference is that explosives are much, much more powerful today (not even considering the nuclear threat). I don’t like where we’re going.

Search engines give increasingly different results

From Searchenginewatch.com[*1] :

Searchers relying on a single search engine are missing a vast swath of web content that they could easily find simply by trying their qSearch engines give increasingly different resultsueries on other engines. And marketers targeting a single search engine in their optimization efforts are effectively abandoning a potentially huge amount of traffic from other sources.

This supports using search engine aggregators like Dogpile[*2] rather than concentrating on one engine, even if it’s Google[*3] .

Warnings for Celebrex

From Australia’s ABC News[*1] :

Pfizer says the label of its Celebrex arthritis drug has been changed to add a prominent warning of possible cardiovascular risks, such as an increased chance of heart attacks, in line with new warnings on other arthritis and pain drugs.

I’m sitting here wondering about why prescription drugs need warning labels? I mean, aren’t they available by prescription only because they’re in some way more dangerous than non-prescription drugs?

How to be a conscientious objector

The Kansas City Star[*1] helpfully offers nearly a full page of advice.

Worries about a potential draft grow, advocates say, even as the Bush administration and the Selective Service work hard to dispel the idea that mandatory military service is in the works. Log on to the Selective Service Web site, ,a href=”http://www.sss.gov>www.sss.gov, and the first screen that pops up carries a notice that the House of Representatives voted 402-2 last October to defeat a bill to make military service mandatory.

Note to KC Star: there’s no draft. Now, I also think that the required registration of males only with Selective Service is wrong and should be abandoned. I have a big problem with forced labor in any form. However, disingenuously claiming to be morally against violence when you’re just scared isn’t very noble either.

Also, I seem to have missed the balancing article of similar length in The Star about those whose conscience leads them to volunteer for duty in the Armed Forces. I’m sure it’s forthcoming. If not, one might almost think that the newspaper has an anti-war agenda to its news reporting.

Bolton is in

WSJ’s OpinionJournal[*1] ponders why it took so long:

The post had been vacant for six months. Senate Democrats, under the “leadership” of Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, have prolonged and thwarted every attempt to hold a vote on Mr. Bolton, who of course would have been confirmed had his name reached the Senate floor. No wild accusation was ever proved, other than that he sought the removal of two intelligence analysts for incompetence and insubordination. Notably, both the 9/11 Commission and Robb-Silberman Commission said policy makers have a responsibility to question and challenge intelligence analysts.

Does anyone really doubt that the UN needs some serious tough love right now?