You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2010.
I really enjoy what the RSA does. Taking good ideas and making them better with illustrations and cognitive maps.
Speaking of how not to win a war, this in from Afghanistan.
“Hundreds of villagers have blocked a highway in eastern Afghanistan to protest a night raid by Nato and Afghan soldiers that left two people dead. A statement from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said two “Taliban insurgents” were killed in the raid in a district near Jalalabad. But villagers said the men were civilians; their protest temporarily closed the highway connecting Jalalabad to Pakistan on Wednesday.”
Two possible insurgents dead, an entire village up in arms protesting to the murder, according to them, of two innocent people. If this is what the people of Afghanistan associate with the US/NATO effort there, then indeed this war, just like Iraq, is lost.
“The protest mirrored a similar demonstration last week, when Nato and Afghan forces raided a house in Wardak province. Neighbours claimed the night raid killed three civilians, and hundreds of them took to the streets to protest the following afternoon.
Afghans have staged a number of similar protests in recent months: Villagers near Jalalabad burned tyres in May after a night raid killed at least nine people, and hundreds protested after Nato troops opened fire on a bus in Kandahar in April.”
The legacy being written, as with every other occupation of Afghanistan, is in the blood of innocents. They will rise once again and push out the occupying armies from their land.
“A United Nations report released last week found that raids by Nato troops killed 41 civilians in the first half of 2010.
Night raids have been a particular point of friction between Nato and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. Karzai demanded an end to all night raids in February.”
The puppet Karzai can demand all he wants. His protests fall on mostly deaf ears, after all it is only his country and people that are being destroyed.
I am going to use the discussion points found on RichardDawkins.net as the basis of this feature.
Calilasseia is the author of the post and deserves many rich accolades for assembling so much useful information in one spot. This constitutes an open thread of sorts, please leave your opinions and observations in the comment section.
Enjoy!
[12] The Pasteur canard.
We have had several people erecting this canard here, and it usually takes the form of the erection of the statement “life does not come from non-life”, usually with a badly cited reference to the work of Louis Pasteur. This particular piece of duplicitous apologetics, apart from being duplicitous, is also fatuous. The reason being that Louis Pasteur erected his “Law of Biogenesis” specifically for the purpose of refuting the mediaeval notion of spontaneous generation, a ridiculous notion which claimed that fully formed multicellular eukaryote organisms arose directly from dust or some similar inanimate medium. First, the modern theory of abiogenesis did not exist when Pasteur erected this law; second, the modern theory of abiogenesis does not postulate the sort of nonsense that abounded in mediaeval times (and which, incidentally, was accepted by supernaturalists in that era); and third, as a methodologically rigorous empiricist, Pasteur would wholeheartedly accept the large quantity of evidence provided by modern abiogenesis researchers if he were still alive.
[13] The asinine preoccupation with “monkeys”.
This is a particularly tiresome creationist fetish, and again, merely points to the scientific ignorance of those who erect it. I point everyone to [4] above, and in this particular instance, remind those wishing to post here hat what science actually postulates with respect to human ancestry is that we share a common ancestor with other great apes. Indeed, Linnaeus decided that we were sufficiently closely related to chimpanzees, on the basis of comparative anatomy alone, to warrant placing humans and chimpanzees in the same taxonomic Genus, and he decided this back in 1747, no less than SIXTY TWO YEARS before Darwin was born. You can read the original letter Linnaeus wrote to fellow taxonomist Johann Georg Gmelin, dated 27th February 1747, lamenting the fact that he was being forced to alter his science to fit religious presuppositions by bishops, here in the original Latin. So if you wish to indulge your monkey fetish, go to the zoo and do it there, and allow us the light relief of hearing about your coming to the attention of law enforcement when you do.
Oh, and for further Creationist folly, please watch the mystical video by Potholer54debunks – The Rapid Fossilization of Hats
Fox News is not a reputable news organization. They are partisan dispensers of mendacity that work to weaken the fabric of American Democracy. Watch as they spin a story up from nothing.
Where has thoughtful debate gone? Where is the constructive analysis of issues that will expand the Public’s knowledge of policy and government. The problem starts with a basic fact of argumentation, if one of your premises is false your conclusion can never be sound.
No accountability, No Problem!
Iraq is a free for all. Although a glimpse of accountability has been reported.
“The private security contractor previously known as Blackwater, has agreed to pay $42m in fines for hundreds of violations of US export rules, according to the New York Times.”
Not particularly surprising given the ethical free fall that has characterized the mercenary forces hired by the US government in Iraq.
“The violations included illegal weapons exports to Afghanistan, making unauthorized proposals to train troops in southern Sudan, and providing sniper training for police in Taiwan, the newspaper said on Friday”
Whoops! But is anyone going to jail for this? Or course not. The status quo will be maintained after a fine is payed.
“The New York Times reported that by reaching the agreement with the US state department to pay the fines, the company avoids criminal charges over the violations of US export control regulations.”
Export control violations. I suppose this is a limping stride toward justice.
‘Paying the fines will allow Xe to continue to compete for government contracts, the New York Times said. US export rules mandate government approval for the export of certain types of US military technology or knowledge. But Xe “began to seek training contracts from foreign governments and other foreign organisations without adhering closely to American regulations”, the newspaper reported.
War is a profitable business.
It “also shipped automatic weapons and other military equipment for use by its personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan in violation of export controls, and in some cases sought to hide its actions”, the New York Times said.
Again, rather unsurprising given the lack of oversight and murky chain of command that mercenaries follow. I mean, they are not bound by military regulations or even the Geneva Conventions. They are there to ‘get’er done’. And usually by any means necessary.
Wrist thoroughly slapped, Blackwater Ex, can continue on its merry way, making the world safe for democracy and freedom.
Update: I’m not sure about RT, but they do get more voices on the air that represent dissident opinion. Their piece on the US ‘Withdrawal” in Iraq.
It is hazy and smoky outside and I feel a bit under the weather, so I post another Chomsky interview, this time on from Russian Television topics include the Afghanistan War, Obama and the American Economy.
I like it when people on TV are right. :) I’ve already talked about Germ Theory Denial in a previous post, more of the here, but P&T do a great job on destructing and deconstructing the foolishness that people engage in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aky-sRri-NQ
Orac has a few qualms, but agrees mostly with what P&T have to say.
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