Posted 10:54 PM by Floyd

You'll have to excuse me if I don't get extraordinarily upset over some of the stuff going on in Iraq that makes people upset. Some people went nuts when they heard about how the Iraqi museums were looted, but my eyes are dry. Representatives of the International Red Cross and Amnesty International have been scolding the US for not maintaining order in Baghdad. And now we hear that people are being arrested for scavenging souvenirs:

Several members of the media and a U.S. serviceman have been caught attempting to ship Iraqi paintings, weapons and other war souvenirs to America, U.S. authorities said Wednesday.

At least 15 paintings, gold-plated firearms, ornamental knives, bonds and other items have been seized at airports in Atlanta, Boston, London and Washington in the last week, according to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

"These seizures should serve as a warning to anyone who would take advantage of the transition currently under way in the newly liberated Iraq," Commissioner Robert Bonner said.

This story comes from the excellent Junkyard Blog. Brian Preston comments:

Unfortunately, there's more. "Read the whole thing," the blogger said in disgust.

I am not insensitive, but let's maintain some perspective. For instance, I'm being disingenuous when I say that the people caught by customs were "scavenging souvenirs"; proper terminology would be "looting". But there's looting in the 21st century -- picking up stuff you found lying around in some dictator's Dr. Evil Shag-a-bunker -- and looting in, say, classical times, when a victorious soldier would pick up some guy's women and children and sell them into slavery.

As for the U.S. not getting power restored in Baghdad quickly, I was in China last November and when I got back I found that there had been a storm and PG&E took three days to get power back on. And I don't think there had been a war in the San Francisco Bay Area. I would have read about it or something.

A museum got looted? That's sad, but then wars cause disruption. Here's a different, and more typical, example of disorder caused by a war: In 1922 Greece attacked Turkey. The Greeks made some headway but were stopped before they could get to Ankara, and soon the defeat turned into a rout. The Turks kicked the Greeks off Anatolia at Smyrna. Smyrna was a town of 90,000, which was demolished in the battle; anyone who didn't evacuate was slaughtered.

I imagine Smyrna had some museums, but you don't hear much about their loss.

Posted 10:27 PM by Floyd

And speaking of funny people, check out Kevin Parrott's blog. His post on "Pickle-O's" made me laugh so hard I cried.

Posted 10:20 PM by Floyd

Son of a Treacher Man

First I found out that Treacher and some other bird pranked the Peace Poster contest. Now it's been revealed that Puce, everyone's favorite hysterical illiterate anti-American, is also a creation of Treacher's fervent imagination. All I can say is that this must be a desperate effort to be listed in my blogroll. I hear and obey.

Posted 1:02 PM by Floyd

Drivel from yesterday's San Jose Mercury News:

AMERICANS against the war can finally say, ``We told you so.'' It is obvious that Iraqis will never support a democracy in their country. What they yearn for is a country based on the laws of Islam, which was suppressed under Saddam's regime for decades, and suppressed by the British for decades before that.

In liberating Iraq, President Bush has changed it from being the most secular nation in the region to a country of people crying out for the United States to get out and let them govern themselves. They deserve this, and Bush deserves this slap by Iraqis for not thinking before he acted.

Michael Nesbit
Gilroy

Finally! It's not like it's been just a month since the war began. It's been five whole weeks.

Posted 6:17 PM by Floyd

Several bloggers have linked to the Earth Day Footprint Quiz, an eco-hysterical site that tried to make me feel guilty for having a house and eating meat "frequently" (i.e., as often as every other day). Here is the result of combining my personal info with their ecological illiteracy: A total footprint" of 33 acres. The quiz tells me that " WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON." I wonder which of those biologically productive acres grew the metal to construct my car.

Footprint Quiz conclusion:
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 7.5 PLANETS.

My conclusion:
IF EVERYONE KNEW AS LITTLE ABOUT ECONOMICS AS YOU, I WOULD NEED 1.0 GRAVES TO HOLD MY STARVING, FREEZING CARCASS.

Posted 9:50 PM by Floyd

Last weekend I bought a laptop and after much pain and travail set up a wireless network where my desktop performs connection sharing for the laptop. (Special shout out to Declarer friends Jon and Beth Leonard for setting me straight with some of the networking options. After that we played Bohnanza and Outpost and they beat me like a rented mule.)

Now that we have two computers, Sherry wanted to play on Yahoo's free bridge game. I had played there for a little while around 1999. So we entered our Yahoo ids and proceeded to the bridge game.

What a nightmare! I had forgotten all the unpleasant aspects of bridge Yahoo style. First of all, it's hard to enter a game, especially when trying to play as a pair. The game is divided into various lounges. Each lounge can hold up to 180 people, and access to them is blocked when they are full. So Sherry joined a lounge that had 175, but when I got the bridge page it was full and I could not get in. Then when we got to a lounge I tried to find a table that needed a pair. The list of tables is rearranged continuously, so it's hard to focus on one and you might misclick.

Our troubles had only begun when we finally got to a table. Sherry was stuck and had to get up from her seat; immediately someone took her place. On OkBridge people are good about asking if they can sit, but not so here. The player would not get up when I asked! So we left and I started my own table.

At this point our opponents were the problem. Apparently Yahoo bridge is played lightning fast, and the players get results that reflect the amount of thought they put into the game. On the first hand Sherry and I bid up to 5D in a competitive auction. I had a problem on my last bid, and as I was thinking my RHO complained that we were too slow. He hit 5D, and made a terrible switch to ensure that we would make it. Then he and his partner left!

It was like that for the next hour -- terrible players who got up and left whenever they didn't like their hands or their results; people who whined about slow play then wouldn't accept claims. Maybe it's time to buy a second household membership to OkBridge.

Posted 3:18 PM by Floyd

Eugene Volokh blogged that Scientific American didn't like Bjorn Lomborg's point-by-point response to their criticism of his work. They are claiming that he violated their copyright, and are threatening to sue.

SA's slam on Lomborg was incredibly scummy, an example of science in the service of politics. So their attempt to shut Lomborg up doesn't surprise me. Maybe they can get a good lawyer or two from the Scientologists.

Posted 9:42 PM by Floyd

Aaron Haspel sent me a link to his takedown of the Arcata City Council, who passed a resolution making voluntary compliance with the Patriot Act illegal. In his email he said "Aren't puffed-up municipalities right in your wheelhouse?"

I am nothing if not goadable, and grist for my mill appeared today in the San Jose Mercury News. Recently the city council of Palo Alto banned derogatory gestures at council meetings. All gestures, including frowning and eye-rolling.

The Merc scored some cheap points by making fun of the city council members. One of them responded by writing a letter, and it shows you how puffed up these people are with their sense of self-importance.

THANK you for your editorial ``Go ahead and frown, just be respectful'' (Opinion, April 16).

In Palo Alto, we sometimes take ourselves too seriously. Limiting facial expressions in a Code of Conduct would inhibit healthy disagreement. ``Manners'' that censor minority opinion and critical evaluation are undemocratic. Focusing on minor and petty things delays our progress.

Although we'd like to politely sweep it under the rug, we experienced serious ethics breeches in the past two years. Unfounded personal charges on the character and motives of our elected officials were made. These charges reflected as poorly on the elected and appointed officials doing the accusing as they did on the accused and on those who stood by silently. Unethical conduct undermines public respect for the institutions we honor.

This year, that ``storm'' has dissipated and the council has acknowledged we have substantive political differences underlying the surface tensions. We've begun to face our policy debates squarely and respectfully. Our state and local fiscal crisis, growth management and traffic problems are making headlines. This is a refreshing shift.

Despite the jests and jabs we're hearing, I applaud our mayor and those colleagues who drafted protocols. This community conversation is most important. We are setting a higher standard for our community and becoming an increasingly effective government.

Nancy Lytle
Member, Palo Alto City Council

I'm sorry Nancy, but having someone disagree with you or question your motives or even mock and insult you is not an "ethics problem." It is the normal give and take of a free society.

Fun fact about Arcata: "VodkaPundit" Stephen Green worked there as a DJ for four years.

Posted 1:53 PM by Floyd

Neurotic drivel from the San Jose Mercury News letters page:

I was in tears hearing about the looting of the Archaeological Museum in Baghdad.

I objected to my tax dollars being spent on bombing the ``cradle of western civilization'' but I certainly would have approved of my tax dollars being spent on guarding the museum.

I fear that the history books will one day look back upon the United States empire as one devoid of any profound cultural achievements, not unlike the 100-year Yuan Dynasty in China when the Mongols took over and the only art work produced was of horses -- rather like photos of the Humvees or tanks of their day.

Brian Appleton
San Jose

But Brian, we do too have culture. Check out the peace posters!

Posted 1:55 PM by Floyd

Some late entries in the Peace Poster Contest -- late as in I didn't want to slog through all 190 posters before getting back to my Advanced Civilization game:

Peace is Not Won with a Knife: No shit Sherlock; it's won by precision bombing.

Say no to Piracy. As an Advanced Civ player, there's nothing I hate worse than spending 18 tokens and getting not Gold or Ivory but Piracy.

A Canadian struggles to be mean: A photo of George Bush and above it the word "Divider". The artist notes: "Not exactly peaceful, but it's how I feel about it." Obscene bastard!

Ashcroft's America 666. Six! Six Six! The Number of the Beast! Hell! And Fire! Were Sworn to be Released! Doo do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do doo do ... Oh. Sorry about that.

Special for Juan Gato: Think of the Children. Like the ones in prison?

Use Google before you open your mouth, fuckhead department: A picture of Donald Rumsfeld, titled Don't trust anyone over 80. Rumsfeld was born in 1932.

Update: The previous two entries were a prank pulled off by Brian Perry. Jim Treacher has the dope.

Saddam is gone, but there are still plenty of murderers for the left to idolize: This entry approvingly quotes a headline: GO TO HELL, MUGABE TELLS BUSH.

Posted 1:02 PM by Floyd

Jim Treacher linked to brushstroke.tv's Peace Poster Contest, and snarked: "Dammit! Well, maybe next war." I went on over to the site to check out the entries.

I had originally planned to post a few of the best graphics and mock them, but decided not to as I might be violating copyright. Anyway, it's nothing you haven't seen a million times before. The predominant themes were:

• Irrational hatred of Bush. For instance, "Reecie" screamed: "Let's fucking liberate them some more! Whaddaya say, mister president?" I guess in Reecie's circles any cathartic venting at a Republican is justified, but to me this seems like making prank phone calls to the guy to donated you a kidney.
  
  
• General neurotic crap. Jose Acquino's offering shows a grinning idiot woman in the middle of a rainbow, with apparently feces and blood oozing from the envelope that she is standing in. I had to use the word "ironic" but it applies here; people who fly rainbow flags for other reasons aren't treated well by the kind of regimes that America is smashing.
  
  
• Agitprop for the National Educational Association.
  One poster asserted that "for every bomb we drop, we could build a school." In America there are already a lot of government-constructed schools, and they don't work very well. In Iraq the Baath party put ammunition in every school. But no matter, it's an article of faith amongst our betters that peace and happiness increases linearly with the number of schools established. I wonder if they feel the same way about Baathist ammo dumps.
  
  
• Hippy-dippy feelgood crap with doves and hearts and happy dancing children. People have been making fun of this drek for over thirty years, but today's flower children soldier on. Hell, people made fun of Pat Boone for a long time too. What did the guy do? He dressed up in leather and recorded a heavy metal album! If there's hope for Pat there's hope for hippies too.