News Brief, This Is An Alarm Call Edition
Joshua Foust on Apr 20 2007 at 9:50 pm | Filed under: Economics, Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Religion and theology, social science
Cross-posted at The Conjecturer.
The Pentagon
- One of the funnier stories out of the initial invasion of Iraq was the use of dolphins to clear mines from Um-Qasr harbor. It was a miserable failure. Still, the desire to use so-called “Animal Intelligence†remains of huge interest at the Pentagon. Which was why I was tickled pink to find this briefing of the new Directed Energy Sea Mammal. It is a satire, of course, of the superfluous Powerpoint Rangers that clog the military bureaucracy with needless fluff. But the “stakeholder response†at the end is priceless.
- We do like lasers, though. They’re just not very good at what they’re supposed to do.
- Inside the Pentagon reports concerns by the Army’s CIO that the military doesn’t really “get†technology. Its senior leadership did not grow up around the ‘tubes, and they’ve had a hard time integrating that into their intelligence and strategic planning.
- It probably says something when the GAO, SEC, and Justice Department are among the best federal agencies to work, while the Department of Homeland Security is second only to the Small Business Administration for being the worst. I just don’t know what that is.
Around the World
- Self promotion! Over at The Registan, I question the reports of Georgia’s recent reform efforts, and whether early stories of its success are accurate. I also posted a report sent to me of yet another talk on Afghanistan, this time a general summary of the security facing the country and the allied forces there.
- Free speech, online protests, and propaganda—all in a day’s work for bloggers in Kazakhstan.
- Passport jumps in on the raging debate surrounding Kirkuk. Maybe they can also figure out a way to end the partition in Baghdad (not for any real reason, I’m just pointing out how silly phrases over walls are).
- Bush continues to send mixed signals on nuclear proliferation by endorsing and supporting India’s illicit nuclearization. Because it’s just fine when our friends violate the NPT, but not when our non-friends do it. Then again, this administration is probably owed gratitude for demonstrating what a shallow pretense any international treaty is: Namely, that they’re only as good as a country’s willingness to self-enforce.
- Well, which is it? Has Russia become the New Soviet, or is it all just a vast anti-Putin conspiracy? Umm, it’s the former.
- Remember that massacre just outside Jalalabad last month? Does it bear a disturbing resemblance to Haditha? More broadly, is the standard set by Haditha—in which a unit is set upon by insurgents then overreacts, killing many innocents—simply unrealistic in a war zone? Here’s a silver lining, however: the military still does investigate the actions of its soldiers, and when crimes are committed, such as shooting unarmed civilians, those who did it still get punished, sometimes quite severely.
- I watched Irshad Manji’s documentary last night on PBS, and found it quite good. The Prospect has more.
Back at Home
- Fruity girl drinks are good for you? Does the twist I add to my (potato, always potato) vodka on the rocks count?
- Of course calls for new forms of gun control were premature on Monday—the blood hadn’t even dried in Blacksburg. But now it seems my beleaguered Virginia can’t be bothered to enforce its own minimal and sensible gun laws. That doesn’t mean Seung-Hui wouldn’t have found another way of killing people (including the black market). It just means it wouldn’t have been so damned easy.
- I’m also glad the DC is closer to voting rights. Constitution be damned, it was stupid of the Founding Fathers not to grant the District a vote, especially when they had just fought a war over taxation without representation (the rather clever slogan on DC license plates). However, I would have also been fine with exempting District residents from federal taxes and the selective service instead. There should be reciprocity in the relationship between government and citizen: I give the government the right to tax me so long as I have the right to vote them out of office. For two centuries, people living in the DC have not had that basic relationship, and they have had their money taken by a government that denied them a say in its affairs. It’s high time the relationship equalized.
- As an avid fan of This American Life, I was deeply amused by this. Like most things on The Onion, I don’t think it’s much of a joke. And that makes it even funnier. Every single paragraph is gold.
- See also this controversy over Panda abortions.
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