Boo hoo, Palestinian children inspect car destroyed in retaliation for massive Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.  Oh, a few Hamas ...   more »

This is the scene after an Hamas truck carrying long range rockets intended for use against Israel exploded during a rally in Gaza.  The explosion killed at least 19 people, including high ranking Hamas commanders and children who routinely congregate at these idiotic celebrations.  Of course, Hamas "blamed Israel" for the explosion.  What the Israelis should do, but won't, is drop a few cluster bombs on one of these rallies.  That would not only be a legitimate attack under the laws of war, but might give the Palestinians cause to rethink the whole rally idea.  That might give Palestinian youngsters something more productive to do.

I haven’t been writing on this blog much, due to a number of factors, such a the site simply being ...   more »

Here’s a question—how many people will die or suffer injury as a result of panicked evacuations due to the hype surrounding Hurricane Rita.   Two dozen elderly patients were essentially blown up in their evacuation bus when a fire aboard caused their oxygen tanks to detonate.  Many other people, according to various new reports either fell ill or perhaps also died, as a result of being caught in massive traffic jams around Houston and Galveston in 100 degree heat.  I’m not making light of being caught in a hurricane (a century ago Galveston suffered thousands of casualties in a massive storm), but the panicked hype that now routinely seems to accompany these storms, which are inevitable in the fall, is getting out of hand.  With the exaggerated coverage and political blowback from Katrina, government officials, rather than exuding calm, have joined the mob, ordering evacuations, deploying thousands of troops, declaring emergencies before emergencies exist.  Here’s another prediction—Hurricane Rita will blow over with little more damage than local coastal flooding and power outages.  The only significant fatalities will come from people killed in evacuations. 

Reuters A

A U.S. soldier guards the scene of a suicide bombing in Baghdad.

This caption appeared in the above Reuters photo.  What’s wrong with the picture?  Well the American soldier isn’t American at all.  He’s an Iraqi.  Not a terrible mistake by Reuters (the new agency which won’t call a terrorist a terrorist) but still a bit careless.  How do I know this guy is an Iraqi.  Well for one thing he’s carrying an AK-47.  Secondly, his camouflage uniform doesn’t look quite right—either not exactly the US pattern, or maybe it’s just too damn new looking.  Also his helmet lack a camo covering which is pretty standard. 

What is interesting though, is just how hard it is to tell this guy apart from US troops.  And this is not the only instance.  The US provides so much military aid around the world that there are many places where it might be difficult to distinguish American troops from the locals.  Eventually, this might cause confusion, if we ever end up fighting some of these guys.  But for now, it’s just a matter of  confusing reporters.

Debka.com reports that Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon placed the dovish Shimon Peres in charge of security for the evacuated ...   more »

Mmmm, Naomi     Poor Samara              Dead Guy

The Ring II is a pale imitation of the original, as I ...   more »

That would be the headline in a British newspaper if these riots had taken place in Israel—accept that they ...   more »

The Washington Post has an interesting article today on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, noting his “superstar” lawyer background, but also remarking on the fact that he “never filed a lawsuit, addressed a jury, cross-examined a witness, took a deposition, or negotiated a deal.  He never advised a client on a tax return, a plea bargain, a restraining order, a will or a divorce.  If he ever got into a confrontation with opposing counsel, no one seems to remember it.”  This is remarkable, and unfortunately somewhat predictable.  Also predictable is that somehow Roberts, despite not actually practicing law the way a million other lawyers do, got the reputation as “a lawyer’s lawyer.”

This is a phenomenon I think I discussed before on this blog relating to Vincent Bugliosi’s book “Outrage” about the O.J. Simpson trial, where Bugliosi points out that many of the so called “superstar” lawyers on the case were actually rather mediocre, but got there “reputations” simply on the say-so of attorney cronies. 

Unfortunately, actually practicing law, doing all the tasks listed above, all of which, for example, I have done, but Roberts has not, has got diddly to do with being a Supreme Court judge.  Nor does it have anything to do with being a law professor, government lawyer (in many cases) or (in many cases) even a big firm corporate lawyer.  Yet these are the folks (for the most part) pulling down huge salaries, with lifetime tenure, TV talking heads, and supposed “stars” of the profession. 

This is a facet of the profession’s ingrained elitism, which begins in law school, and basically channels careers from there.  That law school is, as far as giving you a real feel for practicing law, largely a joke, doesn’t much matter.  The other odd thing about law school is that many of the seemingly dullest students, end up at the top of the class.  These are the folks who then go on to numbingly make, interpret and influence the law from universities, judicial benches and corporate offices.  Their utter mediocrity is evident in the poorly reasoned decisions that emanate from courts around the country, crappy corporate governance,  and Alzheimer inducing law classes.

Roberts does apparently have a notable talent, and that is arguing appellate cases.  That is no small thing, it’s a specialized skill and that is prized in law schools (where it is the basis of moot courts).  Obviously, it gets you in front of judges on a regular basis, and is regarded by the law school excelling “elite” of the profession as the exemplar of talent.  It is not, and has little or no application to the day-to-day work of a lawyer, or the life of the judicial system or clients.  But it’s good enough to make you Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

My September 5 post on Hurricane Katrina casualties (just below) correctly predicted that estimates of up to 10,000 deaths were wildly exaggerated.  Today, in an above-the-fold headline “Death Toll of 10,000 Now Called Unlikely” the Washington Post reports that claims of thousands of dead hidden within houses or under water in New Orleans are simply false. 

“Some of the catastrophic deaths some people have predicted may have not occurred” according to a quote in the paper from Col. Terry Ebbert, the city’s director of homeland security.  The use of the word “may” here is still a sick joke.  The catastrophic deaths did not occur.  A few hundred people probably perished, which is tragic, but not the many thousands so many officials irresponsibly predicted.  The predictions were then bandied about with an almost equal lack of circumspection by new outlets across the country.  Indeed, the wild estimates of killed and missing will no doubt become the “accepted truth” even though it is totally false.

You read it here first.  

How many more victims like this one?

I’m going to take a guess on the fatalities in the New Orleans...   more »

“White Noise” is a decent horror/ghost story flick, in which Michael Keaton, a handsome and improbably successful architect is haunted ...   more »

For those that missed this, which is probably almost everyone in the world, below is my letter to the editor regarding Egypt from the Washington Post’s August 25, 2005 edition.  I wrote it in response to an article on the Gaza withdrawal that suggested Egypt would have a strong interest in restricting weapons smuggling into the area.

Egypt's Ulterior Motive

Thursday, August 25, 2005; Page A18

Mohammed al-Dura, the Palestinian-Arab boy supposedly killed by Israeli fire in the first days of the so-called second intifada immediately ...   more »