The Canadian Ambassador to Iran is returning to Tehran.

Ambassador Philip MacKinnon was originally withdrawn two months ago to protest the refusal of the Iranian government to return Ms. Kazemi's body to Canada for burial by her son.

Mr. Graham said the senior envoy will go back to Tehran with a personal letter from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami demanding the return of the remains.

Kazemi died of head injuries after being arrested by Iranian security for taking pictures outside of a prison. The explanations of how she died and why she was quickly buried in Iran have been pathetic. Thugs backed by the Mullahs, probably "officials" brutally killed her, but they're hoping we all just forget about it. Here's a good backgrounder.

Meanwhile, William Sampson, a Canadian tortured in Saudi Arabia continues to suffer from the effects of the abuse. Considering how poorly Canadian diplomats accorded themselves in that affair (they refused to believe he was being tortured, because the Saudi's said "we don't torture, we're Muslim"), I'm not holding out much hope for justice in the Kazemi case.

Jim Kurkral's site seems to be down, so in housekeeping I'm removing from the Local Blogs section for now. I wish it would come back - the ones I link to are the ones read every day. When Blogrolling starts accepting new users I'd like to get a much expanded blogroll including those I can't get to daily. Heck whenever I want a link my linked pages to the right over there have far more than I could find - Reflections in d and Brewed Fresh Daily especially.

Of course we're all curious what Gollum thinks of the Plame affair, right? (Link via Hit and Run).

Philipp Harper reports on a US Department of Labor study saying that by 2015 over three million non-manufacturing jobs will have been moved to countries outside the US. The loss in payroll? Over $136 billion, compared with a $4 billion loss in 2000.

Word from my relatives in Truro, Nova Scotia says that Hurricane Juan caused a lot of problems. Trees came down in their backyard (and they're not even on the coast) and power was out from Sunday until today. Cable TV is still out, and debris is being cleared from town streets. Halifax is apparently a mess with downed trees, power lines, and intersection lights out.

Looks like the fallen trees are making a real mess, and interfering with power restoration.

The Justice Department is officially investigating the Plame Leak. No independent investigator though. Well, it is just a CIA operative's cover. It's not like someone was having sex in the Oval Office.

Lynn brings back some old reflections on tonality versus atonality. Writing about those who prefer atonality:

I cannot count myself among that number. Tonality simply feels more natural, but I am sometimes drawn to atonal music. It's intriguing, fascinating, even soothing - when I'm in the mood for it. It's difficult to explain the appeal. I'm tempted to say that it has a spiritual quality but I hate throwing around the word 'spiritual' since it has so many different meanings. My favorite atonal works feel calm and meditative.

I just don't get much emotion or impact from most atonal music. Like all musical forms, there is good and bad of course. I'm reminded of when a Math professor at my old University wrote some atonal music based on some mathematical thingy he was working on. Sounded good in theory. But in reality it was just incoherent. Maybe instead of speaking in terms of tonality and atonality we can think in terms of expected versus unexpected. I remember someone told me there is a way of balancing improvised music to be 50% expected and 50% unexpected. Too unexpected tries the patience, too expected rings of cliché.

Lynn says she can't unearth too many of these old posts to new life on her blog as it's rather labour intensive. I, for one, would volunteer. I find her writing mostly unexpected but tonal.

Josh Marshall blogs more and more on the Plame affair - where the White House blew the cover of a CIA operative likely to make political hay. But he points out an even worse angle (assuming you think the criminal act of blowing a CIA op's cover isn't so bad)

Let's say there's some operation Plame hasn't been involved with for a decade -- but it's still on-going. People will remember she used to be in on that operation and thus it's tagged as an Agency operation and it's useless. Everyone will know to steer clear.

My guess is the political types in the administration either A) didn't think this deeply about it B) think we can do everything with satellites so let's burn whatever human intelligence bridges that we can. Neither is a very appealing conclusion.

Andy Orams wonders if computers can help with the growing ranks of the unemployed. I'm not sure of the practicality of some of his ideas, but it's worth reading. More amusing are the comments below, some of which come from unreconstructed communists. They were apparently heartened by the many economic successes of Soviet Russia. To quote Austin Powers, "Yay capitalism!".

Some good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) photos from Hurricane Juan hitting Halifax, NS. Scroll down a tiny bit to the "Photo Gallery" link.

Update: 3:37 PM
My wife and I enjoyed sunshine every day during our visit to Nova Scotia in mid-September. Not only did we manage to time the trip to avoid one of the worst storms in decades in the form of Hurricane Juan, but I see here that Halifax and Truro are the second and fifth foggiest cities in all of Canada. Hopefully she keeps thinking my old home province is the sunshine province!

60 Minutes did a story on the Eminent Domain issue here in Lakewood, Ohio. The city wants to get rid of existing home and businesses and have a developer create a shopping center and some condos. A few of the locals are objecting to this quite strongly, saying the city is just trying to grab their very nice views of a nearby park. In order to use eminent domain in this manner the city had to use some dubious definitions for the neighbourhood in question.

But the condos can't go up unless the city can remove the Saleets and their neighbors through eminent domain. And to legally invoke eminent domain, the city had to certify that this scenic park area is, really, 'blighted.'

"We're not blighted. This is an area that we absolutely love. This is a close-knit, beautiful neighborhood. It's what America's all about," says Jim Saleet. "And, Mike, you don't know how humiliating this is to have people tell you, 'You live in a blighted area,' and how degrading this is."

'The term 'blighted' is a statutory word,' says Cain the mayor. "It is, it really doesn't have a lot to do with whether or not your home is painted ... Statutory term that is used to describe an area. The question is whether or not that area can be used for a higher and better use."

But what’s higher and better than a home? "The term 'blight' is used to describe whether or not the structures generally in an area meet today's standards," says Cain.

And it's the city that sets those standards, so Lakewood set a standard for blight that would include most of the homes in the neighborhood. A home could be considered blighted, says Jim Saleet, if it doesn't have the following: three bedrooms, two baths, an attached two-car garage and central air.

"This community's over 100 years old. Who has all those things? That's the criteria. And it's ridiculous," says Jim Saleet. "And, by the way, we got up at a meeting and told the mayor and all seven council members, their houses are blighted, according to this criteria."

The Mayor looked a bit like a pinned moth answering Mike's questions on the blighted issue. I don't think it should add up to a problem for her in the upcoming Mayoral election because the leading candidate against her voted for the same measure. that being said, no one can make a stupid idea sound intelligent, even without pit-bull Mile Wallace all over you. The city has to be able to develop land for the good of the city, but they seem to be executing this one as badly as possible.

More information on Patriot Act blues. While some claims of "Patriot Act" abuse are not well merited, or have nothing to do with the Patriot act, this one does. The FBI is looking in a hacker who broke into the New York Times. The more ominous part is this:

The government also officiously informed the reporters that this is an 'official criminal investigation' and asks that they not disclose the request to preserve documents, or the contents of the letter, to anyone -- presumably including their editors, directors, or lawyers -- under the implied threat of prosecution for obstruction of justice.

That's why you're reading about the letters for the first time here.

They do this despite the fact that, had they actually obtained and issued a subpoena for these documents, the federal criminal procedure rules would have prohibited the imposition of any obligation of secrecy unless the Justice Department obtained a 'gag' order on the press -- a rare event indeed.

What was that about it only being used for the purpose of fighting terrorism?

PD Columnist Sam Fulwwod may have, um, borrowed some ideas from a column by the Arkon Beacon Journal's Marty Ethridge. Scene's First Punch notes that "... professional ethics require reporters to A) wait at least three weeks so readers forget about the first story, and you can pawn yours off as original; and B) restrict your thieving to papers more than 50 miles away. ". Have I mentioned I hate living in a one-major-newspaper town?

Keep an eye on when leaves are changing here! They even track leaf drops.

Apparently the Economist is now deeming that Canada is cool. But they still have some bones to pick at:

Still, 'there are some big things that Canada continues to get wrong, and other big things that could go wrong without preventive action,' the Economist warns.
'In general, Canada still taxes too much, invests too little and enjoys a free ride in defence from the United States.'
The federal government has balanced its books largely by passing problems to the provinces, 'whose finances are poised to unravel,' it notes.

I'm not sure how Canada exactly gets a free ride on defense. Perhaps they'd like the whole country to set itself adrift in the ocean, losing it's undefended border? As for passing financial problems to the provinces, isn't that precisely what's happening right now in the US?

Aptly named link

A bunch of geniuses decide to go to Peggy's Cove, way out on the rocks, where people are washed to their death every year. They do it during the recent hurricane:
.

Photo by Gerald J. Blackmore

The link the Herald uses for this picture is called http://www.herald.ns.ca/cgi-bin/home/displaymain?2003/09/29+130.raw+1040+Obituaries. Obituaries? Did they put it there in case they washed away they could put in some action photos for the Obits?

The White House exposing CIA undercover operatives for political points? Say it ain't so, Josh.. I was a little worried when I first heard about this story. It isn't sounding any better.

Barbara Atkinson went from being a web writer to sweeping popcorn, and wondering about her kids future.The tax cuts aren't cutting it for her or her family.

NPR positives:
- No annoying ads where two people talk to each other with such insipid tones I am filled with a wish to perforate them with a Barrett .50 sniper rifle
- Longer, more informative news stories than the 30 second "news" coverage on the local AM news powerhouse
- Jazz interstitials!
- Click and Clack
- Fresh Air
- Michael Feldman
- touches of Canada in As it Happens
- Diane Rhiem
- Garrison
- April Baer

Negatives
- Ideastream (their local motto). This is a terrible metaphor. The ideas flow, get polluted, and go into the ocean?
- "Making Change - Reinventing our economy". These are short Weatherhead School of Management sponsored spots that seem like useless factoids left over that could be used to fill empty space in newspapers - but not that good.
- Michael Feldman
- when Bob Edwards has the sotto voce thing going on, you can only hear every 5th word, unless you crank the audio. Then when a normal person starts to speak, there go the eardrums
- Having an intro to a longer radio piece start with the sound of
waves crashing
people unwrapping plastic
eating
fish squirming (I swear I heard this)

Is this supposed to be a radio version of name that tune? Just tell us where you are! If I wanted to listen to Yemenis at the market munching on food, I'd go there.

Geek moment of the day - Dr. Who to return to the airwaves. For those of you who don't know, this was an extremely long running BBC sci-fi series about a time traveler. Luckily for casting directors, whenever an actor playing the Doctor left, they wrote it into the series as he continually gets reincarnated as a new (adult) person.

Lynn writes about Mozart and Beethoven with her usual insightful way. A sample:

Beethoven's tenderness, however, is usually found only in moments, single movements or brief passages of huge powerful works or occasionally in short pieces. Some years ago I heard a lovely little solo piano piece on the radio. Sadly, I can't remember now what it was but I was surprised that it was by Beethoven and commented, much to the annoyance of several Beethoven fans, that it was 'so beautiful it could have been composed by Mozart.'

Needless to say, her whole piece (linked above) is worth reading. I knew a clarinet player in high school who had me listening to the album - the very long album - from "Amadeus" hundreds of times in the space of a month or less. When you're 17 and a pretty clarinet player asks you to do something, you don't ask why! Still I didn't sour on Mozart - his music can't be soured, I suspect.

Daryl Cagle picks on commentator Tucker Carlson, who was defending the rights of telemarketers to call us all at home, regardless of what we want.

He declared that he doesn't mind getting phone calls, and to prove it, he gave out his own phone number on the air.
This intrigued me, so, like everyone who was watching at the time, I gave Tucker a call. That wasn't Tucker's phone number at all. It turns out that Tucker had given us the phone number for Fox News. The receptionist at Fox News seemed rather troubled that young Tucker had given out their number on the air, and was only too happy to give me Tucker's real home and office numbers. I called him again just now. I'm still on hold. I'd like to tell Tucker about this great new deal I have on time-share vacations, if he would only change his long distance carrier.

Heh.

Not good news - the president of Pakistan says bin Laden is alive. All we the public have to go on is scratchy tapes, but he says that:

Asked whether Mr. bin Laden is definitely alive, he replied: 'Yes, indeed. I am reasonably sure.'
The President, who has kept his role as army chief of staff since seizing power in a 1999 coup, cited his own military intelligence, saying 'technical means' have made him certain of Mr. bin Laden's presence in the region.
He said new intelligence support from the United States has led him to believe 'we were getting close, we knew he was in the mountains. Either across or on our side. But he was in the mountains.'

Maybe he's saying this as a way to garner continued US interest (and financial support), but if he is not, it points to an area where we need to put more resources. If we really want him dead or alive, that is, and it wasn't just a speech bullet point to make political hay

One hazard I managed to avoid during my recent trip to Nova Scotia was a frog attack:
I saw this thing trundling around town while I was enjoying seafood at McKelvie's in Halifax - close call I suppose. Picture via Stephen J.

Kaus looks at the California recall debate and notes that Arnold did not fail. He mentions about media coverage though:

Alternative Universe Award to: CNN's Tucker Carlson: He says he's ashamed to be from the state that produced this amateurish circus. Hello? Which debate did he watch? And what dignified, subtly nuanced show does Carlson host? Oh, yeah ... Crossfire.

Ouch.

A ridiculous patent case against Microsoft has the likes of Sun sympathizing with Bill Gate's giant company. So far the case is not going well for Microsoft.

Filed in 1999, the Eolas case drew international attention last month, when a U.S. District Court ruled that Microsoft's IE browser violated Eolas' Patent No. 5,838,906. The patent, filed on Oct. 17, 1994, and granted Nov. 17, 1998, covers a system that launches an application within a Web page.

These endless, vague patents are going to do nothing to help competition, and instead reflect a shakedown for license money by people who never developed, nor intended to develop, any software at all.

Hamas says it won't accept a truce with Israel while it's being "attacked", as per this story.. Let's not forget these jokers felt that it was still a truce when they were launching suicide attacks the last time, because those attacks were for "revenge". If that's what they think a truce is, I think we would be better off without it. The new Palestinian puppet, er, Prime Minister, doesn't seem like he will be stopping Hamas anytime soon:

Mr. Qureia has not said what steps, if any, he would take to get illegal weapons off the street, as required by the U.S.-backed peace plan, the so-called road map that envisions a Palestinian state by 2005. He and other officials have said they will not use force against the extremists.
Sheik Yassin said Wednesday that Hamas would not disarm voluntarily.

I assume the new PM will issue really, really, strongly worded denunciations of the next Hamas attack. That's sure to stop them. I think mayors of our cities need to disband police and begin denouncing crime - it's clearly the wave of the future.

Check out the latest Carnival of the Vanities hosted at Pathetic Earthlings.

Interesting article on the root causes of suicide bombers. No, the root causes don't include "American arrogance" or McNuggets. It's propaganda (link via Volokh Conspiracy). I'd like to see more coverage of Middle East based propaganda and the long terms problems it's likely to cause. The guy studying the causes states what should have been obvious all along about how to stop suicide bombers:

So what's your strategy for combating suicide terrorism?
A: I think it has to be a multilayered strategy. You've got to be able to--and this I'm all for--go after the guys who operate the cells. Take them out. Get rid of them. Jail them or kill them, because they are not willing to compromise. What do you do with somebody who says, 'All Americans and Jews have got to die'? The point of talking to such people has passed. Whatever the grievances were that caused such people to have such ideas, if they show that they're willing to implement them, then you've just got to make a decision whether you want to see this guy survive or you and your people survive.

Josh Marshall writes that the Bush administration is stuck in stages of grief over failures in it's Iraq policies. Maybe they think if the press just stuck to reporting good news, the bad news would vanish?

Barbara Payne notes a study on the possible toxicity of breast milk in the US, skeptically. But considering the topic, this is my favourite quote: "I've been dying to get this off my chest for a couple of weeks and this seems like a perfect time."

There's a new wasteland of TV this season. I'm still waiting to see if HBO's new series "Carnivale" is going to be interesting, or such a slow burn that you'd be better off watching a tire fire. They were beginning to make me lose faith when they threw up crap like "Mind of the Married Man" (Mike Binder, can you think of a new idea for a show? I've seen this one in every bad movie you've ever written), and "The Wire" (after three shows, there was no wire yet, and no character I cared about - cut me lose). Lynn has been watching some TV and finds she likes Whoopi Goldberg's new show, but not "Happy Family" - Read about it here.

Congressman Jim Marshall is implying that the media is somehow responsible for US troops getting killed in Iraq. No you didn't misread that. The pen is mightier than the sword I suppose. Do you think the scum attacking our troops are getting their inspiration reading our magazines and watching US news on TV? I just had to say it out loud show how idiotic it actually is. I guess the media should ignore attacks and that will make them disappear. Maybe they can hold their hands over their ears and say "NYAH NYAH NYAH" too. Josh has it covered.

Like a zombie, the idea of getting Cleveland area taxpayers to foot the bill for a convention center will not die. "Business leaders, miffed when talk of a new center collapsed, have hatched another plan to drum up hundreds of millions of dollars: raise Cuyahoga County's tax on hotel stays and ask voters to pass a new tax on restaurant meals. They hope to place the issue on the ballot as early as March 2004". Well I guess I'm glad the business leaders cannot actually decide how to tax us without any say from us. I think the benefits of the center are overrated, and if there is a risk to be taken, why not let private enterprise take it? They won't? Hmm, I wonder why?

With Gund, Jacobs Field, Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...just how many special projects does Cleveland need? I think the problem is that for the most part they are not economic engines unto themselves. Some agree. Taxes for a new convention center would be one more vanity project wasting our tax dollars - until they come up with the next quick solution to our economic woes. They probably think by mouthing catch phrases like "quiet crisis" the people will again fork over assets for this current enterprise. The local media love the catch phrase. We'll see if the people will allow themselves to be fooled again. I think a better phrase would be "we must fill the black holes in this city with cash before it's too late", but it may be too sci-fi-y.

Update: 11:49 AM
I see that Chas at Sardonic Views is equally horrified at this "we-thought-it-was-dead" comeback. NOTE 12:P57 PM the permalink seems to not be working, you can see his entry for Tuesday, Sep 23 at his blog though...

Amy Sullivan keeps her eye on more faith based plans of the Bush Administration. I'd like someone to let me know when my tax dollars end up in the hands of Pat Robertson's organizations...

Just got back from a week in Nova Scotia, and found they've added a Walmart to my old home town. Some locals I spoke to agreed this would continue to empty buildings and stymie locally owned business in the already struggling downtown. More frightening are the chainsaw carved trees (made from Dutch Elm doomed trees around town) that now adorn many streets.

Though it may look like a reject from a Tim Burton movie set, they plan to leave these things in place. Never before have I so wanted access to flaming arrows...

Also in the category of fear, this song may be the most frightening thing I've ever seen or heard. (link via Jim Kukral).

...but before I head to Annapolis Royal, one of the oldest European settlements in North America, please note the swatting that Jim Henley gives to those with a flypaper theory on Iraq (that being there attracts terrorists and Islamofacists like flies, and, um, that's good). Link via Crooked Timber.

Vacationing in Nova Scotia all this week, visiting those whom K calls the crazy Canucks and watching sunsets by the sea:

Postings will be sparse this week - check out some of the local blogs and other blogs on the right side of the page!

Got to Nova Scotia. M was not pleased with the way baggage transfer is handled at the Toronto Pearson airport. It seems to be set up for the convenience of the workers, not the passengers. Quite a bit seems to have changed back home, such as Walmart finally has made it's way here. Not sure what effect that will have on an already struggling downtown.

Some have asked why I moved from Nova Scotia to Cleveland. Actually they emphasize the word Cleveland, as if to say, "why is the name of all that is holy" would I move to THAT city. This is mostly Cleveland natives, mind you. K, who moved here from Alabama, never phrased it this way. First of all it's not nearly such a bad place as portrayed on television and film. It's a great place to live, for myself at least.

Flashback to 1998. Bill Clinton is president, and Afghanistan is known primarily for oppressing women, and the setting of such wondrous films as Rambo III and Spies Like Us. I'm living in a small town, forever nameless here, in Nova Scotia. I was transferred there by my company when they previous sysadmin fled. There, I ignored this which should have been the first warning. I asked a local when I first moved there if it was true to town had only 300 people. He said "maybe if you count graveyards and dogs”. There were two things you could do in that town, aside from drinking, and those things were bowling and hunting.

I took to the internet for conversation, as the nearest city was over two hours away on a tree lined highway. My slow-to-boil plan was to work there, somewhat miserable, for a few years then eventually find something in a place I liked. A friend from San Francisco, Mary (aka Serpntine), had the common sense to give me a virtual kick to the head and tell me I should immediately leave a place where I was unhappy. I moved to Cleveland, which didn't seem too far from Canada. I met my wife here, as well as other great friends I've found. I miss the old homestead, hence my upcoming return visit. Some of my favourite (spelled the right way) things about Cleveland are:

• World class museums and artists of all kinds.


• Nice Jazz scene


• Excellent restaurants


• Big lake


• A giant rubber stamp

After I moved here I still thought I might move back to Canada eventually. Then came September 11th. I think I'll stay here, to show support for the individuality, liberty, and freedom that many Americans don't even realize that their nation embodies for many of us.

Jim Henley thinks bin Laden may be ailing and picking someone to replace him. Personally I think the other person is on the tapes mentioning Iraq because he was alive after Iraq was invaded, and bin Laden, not so much. I'm betting we won't see a critical eye on the tape from Al Jazeera, but they're obviously at best a propaganda mill, and at worst, helping terrorists directly. I think a critical eye to propaganda in the Middle East is a long neglected area of our own media.

ABC news smuggled some depleted Uranium through a US port, proving security there is not what it should be. the government, demonstrating clear thinking and a concern for our safety, is considering arresting people at ABC. Not, say, taking action to be sure that uranium is not so easily smuggled into the country. It's good to know that security, not PR, is the government's main concern. Link via Tapped.

A picture, thousand words etc.

Well I needed something to cheer me up today. Someone made a 200 dollar bill with George W. Bush. The even put signs on a white house lawn on the back with signs like "We like broccoli". Link via Hit and Run.

Go read Voices, a project that remembers September 11th, 2001, by Michele at a small victory.
On another note, with the new Bin Laden video not showing him talking about anything recent, and the increasingly dubious stories about him being surrounded by rings of villagers, I'm just about certain he's toast.

On September 13th I'm taking my wife to see Nova Scotia. I haven't been there since 1999, so I miss it - I'm reminded of this song:

Farewell Nova Scotia
The sea-bound coast
Let your mountains dark and dreary be
For when I am far away
On your briny ocean tossed
Will you ever heave a sigh
Or a wish for me

Amy Sullivan is back from Ireland. Don't mention her driving, though.

Bucks for trucks, shucks for cities

Bad news in Cleveland as a budget shortfall means layoffs for city workers are likely.:

Council President Frank Jackson agreed that the city has no choice but to cut services and lay off some of its 9,400 workers.
'The reality is reality,' he said. 'It leaves the city with only one way to balance the budget, and that is cost reduction.'

Among the reasons are lower tax revenues, likely due to the sputtering economy, and four million less from the state than expected. Many cities are feeling the same kind of pains.

However the trucking industry had some good news:

The upgrade comes on the heels of a recent report from the American Trucking Association showing that freight tonnage rose 2 percent in July compared with last year. It was the second consecutive monthly tonnage increase on a year-over-year basis.

"There's a very clear correlation between manufacturing [data] and tonnage," ATA economist Diego Saltes said.

A key index of manufacturing activity in August rose to its highest level since last December. The Institute for Supply Management report also said that while demand for manufactured goods was up in August, inventories were down - a trend that could also bode well for truckers.

It's that darn old capitalism that has the best chance for pulling us out of this mess, if the government can stop giving breaks to it's buddies long enough...

Here's the story of how William Sampson was tortured, repeatedly, by the Saudis - but the Canadian Government wouldn't believe him. Basically the Saudis were trying to pin terror attacks on him to take the light off the problem in their own backyard, and pretend it's all a problem with foreigners. Meanwhile the Canadian government claims it did what it could:

The government said it did all it could without provoking the Saudis to carry out threats to behead Mr. Sampson.

Officials have noted that Canadian-Saudi relations were poisoned when former foreign-affairs minister John Manley gave credence to torture claims by Mr. Sampson's family. A high-level trade mission to Ottawa was cancelled and ceremonies to open a new Saudi embassy on prime real estate on Sussex Drive have not occurred.

Heavens to Betsy, no ceremony for their embassy? I'd hate to think some government bigwigs missed out on cream cheese sandwiches just because the Saudis tortured a Canadian citizen, and someone noticed. Word is they Saudis may suspend an ice sculpture contest this winter in Ottawa to protest that.

Kevin at Wizbang hosts Bonfire of the Vanities - Week 10. What is this? It's where a great assortment of bloggers post links to essays or posts that for good, or ill, they want the whole world to share. Links galore!

Maria over at Crooked Timber is having some visa headaches.

Fark.com is showing people photoshopping Ann Coulter holding a gun. Heh. My favourite is the one where she is changed into a little green plastic army gal. For those of you who don't know, Fark runs real photos and invites everyone to alter them.

A Law and Order colouring book. "Looks like someone tried to take away his crayons". (Link via GeekPress).

A boxer in Nova Scotia says he got stopped 28 times in three months due to driving while black.

Don Rumsfeld feels that we shouldn't be so critical of the Administrations efforts in Iraq, lest we help the enemy. Wasn't it John Ashcroft who said "People need to watch what they say..." ( a quote not appearing in the official transcript). Christopher wonders if Don isn't being a bit of a crazed tinkerbell.

Update: 7:44 PM
Timothy Slate over at Chatterbox thinks the neocons are trying to cover, but not all that well:

...Max Boot, recently returned from Iraq, who assures us in the Sept. 7 Los Angeles Times that "U.S. troops in Iraq are slowly winning the war on the ground, even as they're losing the public relations battle back home." At one point, Boot reports, "[a] corporal asked me to cover [a handcuffed Iraqi suspected of bombing a Marine transport] with a 9-millimeter pistol. I was happy to comply." No offense to Boot, but if a Marine corporal needs to recruit a neocon scribbler to be prison guard, that suggests to Chatterbox that U.S. troops in Iraq are in need of reinforcements.

We should be sending troops there. The sooner we have more strength there, the faster we can help quell the attacks. Waiting until something worse occurs, or waiting for UN troops, would be waiting too long. They need to swallow their egos and admit to themselves at least that more troops are needed.

Dahlia Lithwick and Julia Turner have part one of a look a the Patriot Act, and whether we should be afraid. They do recommend you read the 300 page document, though, which you can see here. Though I won't be able to vote until 2006 (or later) this is something to follow closely...

First Energy screwing customers because F. E. wouldn't come out to fix something in the first place? Not too surprising. Eric recounts a catch-22 he runs into...

Have a story to tell about September 11th, 2001? Check out Voices, Michele's project of remembrance.

Worrying news that the invasion into Iraq may have helped al Qaida with a cause to encourage followers and a new place to launch terror attacks. Don Rumsfeld's response to Iraqis and others concerned about the attacks seems a bit absurd:

"A platoon out of any one of my battalions could defeat the threat, readily. I don't need any more forces," he said when asked about daily attacks on U.S. troops. "We need the Iraqi people to help us and give us the intelligence we need."

So the answer to terror attacks is....spin. Hmmm.

Just got back from seeing American Splendor, the movie based on the comics of Cleveland native Harvey Pekar. I was only somewhat familiar with his comics, but this movie certainly makes them come alive. It's oddly done with comic book frame squares, and appearances by the real life people beside the actors portraying them. Cleveland comes across like a sunless, burnt out, garbge strewn wasteland to a certain extent. It's not that bad in reality, but like M_ said "it's not exactly Hawaii here". There some information on his appearances on Letterman including the one where he lashed out at GE, the owner of NBC. I think this movie does dig into who Harvey is, and gives insight into what drives his artistic ambitions. It's funny but not comedy....

Update: 8:40 PM
George at BFD takes city officials to task for whining that Cleveland doesn't look that great in the film. As M said, folks, this is not Hawaii. What did they think, Harvey would be shown hanging out at the baseball stadium, drinking $2.50 sodas, saying "what a great way to spend taxpayer money and create so many jobs that we're dizzy for new workers"? Also, note much of the movie is set in the seventies and early eighties. If Cleveland is a comeback city, it had to come back from something folks. Probably Harvey would become cheery if the taxpayers were buying a new convention center...

Credulity abounds in Peebles, Ohio. Way down in the southern parts of Ohio, giving credence to the idea of a separate state for NE Ohio, they're concerned about crop circles. To wit: "An independent crop-circle investigator visited the site and said the radiation levels and electrical and magnetic fields were higher inside than the land outside the design.". Hmm, hate those non-independent crop circle investigators. Hasn't been documented enough already that these are caused by pranksters with boards and rope? The simplest explanation, for the cerebrally challenged reporters and "investigators" is apparently that it's all a "mystery", though with half hearted implications that it was aliens. Back in the old days they would have had another idea:

Had crop circles existed in the thirteenth century, they would have been attributed to Satan, who was said to have been responsible for many weird happenings as well as for many unweird things, such as the construction of Stonehenge and Hadrian's wall between England and Scotland. It was believed by many that the ancients could not possibly have accomplished such feats on their own. Today, Satan's power as an explanation for weird or wondrous things has been usurped by aliens.

So who's behind the crop circles? Satan? Aliens? Ralph J?

Redsugar muse ponders which incarnation of Doctor Who she might be...and so should we all!

The US is now asking the UN for assistance in Iraq. I think it will be needed in order to help stabilize the situation, and now the administration apparently does as well. But Josh Marshall points out that it has been made much more difficult:

Stiffing the UN and threatening retaliation against key Security Council members may have been impolitic and ill-judged. But stiffing and threatening when you were going to have to come back to them six months later with hat in hand asking to get bailed out is just stupid.

Needless to say, Josh's column is worth reading in full...

Charles notes the FBI is on the lookout for some suspicious potential hijackers. Click the link above and keep a watchful eye, in the mindset that we are not a herd but a pack. Given the recent arrests in Toronto of some suspected terrorists, it's worth keeping a very watchful eye indeed.

Once again, Michele at a small victory has the goods on Indymedia. They are struggling to dishonor the memory of those murdered on September 11th, 2001, while Michele not only honors them, but keeps dragging the loonies out into the light.

How it infuriates a bigot, when he is forced to drag out his dark convictions!
- Logan Pearsall Smith

It's disturbing to view these kinds of things, but it's better to be aware of them and counter them than to ignore them and let them fester.

The US Department of Energy will give fewer polygraphs due to concerns over how well they work. If they don't work, why use any? And what's the basis in science for using them at all? To quote Robert T. Carroll:

Is there any evidence that the polygraph is really able to detect lies? The machine measures changes in blood pressure, breath rate, and respiration rate. When a person lies it is assumed that these physiological changes occur in such a way that a trained expert can detect whether the person is lying. Is there a scientific formula or law which establishes a regular correlation between such physiological changes and lying? No. Is there any scientific evidence that polygraph experts can detect lies using their machine at a significantly better rate than non-experts using other methods? No. There are no machines and no experts that can detect with a high degree of accuracy when people, selected randomly, are lying and when they are telling the truth.

Anyone remember the "Barney Miller" episode where Deitrich convinces the polygraph operator he's from Mars?

Down in Kentucky, the police are hiring paranormal investigators to look into things like " A city worker who was in the building late one night felt something grab her leg. "I would be so pleased that my tax dollars were being spent on this, were I to live there. I'm be positively ecstatic if I knew I had to rely on these guys to solve serious crimes. It's needless to say what I think of ghosts.

George at Brewed Fresh Daily likes the idea of Northeast Ohio dropping off the tree like a buckeye and becoming it's own state. It's certainly a tempting thought as you witness what not only appears to be other states, but whole other planets as you drive south on 77 or 71. Besides driving south invites tomato attacks, and the inevitable gunplay that results. I think it's unwise to wish for Quebec here on the shores of Lake Erie - the economic toll of threatened separation in Quebec being one warning. Of course they wanted to be a separate country....though with the same currency...and passports....and it's suspected some of it was just a ruse to get more federal bucks and projects. Hmmm. Vive le Neohio!

Frank J. has some thoughts on cleaning your guns and the risks involved therein:

The problem with disassembling a gun is that, if someone is lurking in the shadows waiting to attack you, when your gun is apart is the perfect time for him to strike. In my favorite movie, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Clint Eastwood is cleaning is gun when he realizes enemies are approaching, so he has to quickly assemble and load it before they attack. You're not the man with no name, so you don't want to be in that situation. Instead, when cleaning one gun, keep another gun loaded and in ready access. When done cleaning the first gun, put it back together, load it, and then clean the second. It's just common sense.

The obvious thought that goes with this is that when showering, you need to place a plastic baggie around your wrist to hold your gun in a waterproof environment.

Rachel Lucas has a rant about the show "House Hunters" on HGTV - one of M's favourite shows... Rachel decries its lack of net-awareness:

Oh, and the biggest problem with the show, the thing that stupefies me more than anything else, is the fact that the homebuyers they feature are apparently completely unaware of the Internet. I don't know anyone who's bought a house in the last five years who didn't use the Internet to do so. Extensively. But watching "House Hunters," you'd think it was taped in the everlovin' 1970s, when you had to tell your realtor what you wanted and then wait for them to show it to you. Ridiculous!

Quite true, in fact in the many houses we recentely hunted I don't think there was one that wasn't a lead from the web, albeit some were found on the web by our realtor.

Here's a way I could visit Toronto without bothering with airports, or driving down I-90 to Buffalo: an amphibious car. Unlike others I've seen, this one can actually get good speed in the water and doesn't look like a cross between a tank and a Dalek. Aside from the staggering price tag of 150,000 pounds, the only thing holding me back from buying it is Mickey Kaus's continued silence on the topic.

Lakewood - a need for micromanagement?

Lakewood, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) has a charter proposal that will force a referendum for decisions by the city involving eminent domain and other items. There's been a big controversy - well big here in Lakewood anyway - on the proposed use of eminent domain. The City wants to use it to take some land on which there are currently houses and business to build condos and commercial development. Lakewood has many houses, but not much commercial development, and the mayor is concerned about a need to increase the tax base. Some of the home and business owners have opposed the move with a lawsuit, and an ultimately successful effort to have it put up to referendum. They've also got help from the Institute for justice, which argues the use of eminent domain is not warranted. I personally don't think the city helped itself with it's ridiculous attempt to classify the area as "blighted".

The homes do not have major structural deficiencies, so the study had to use something else to find "blight. The study’s "blighting factors:" include:

· lack of a two-car attached garage,

· less than two full bathrooms,

· less than three bedrooms,

· too-small homes (less than 1,400 square feet) and

· too-small yards (less than 5,000 square feet of lot size).

The study counted weeds and sidewalk cracks as site condition deficiencies. And it found homes "economically obsolete" if they were valued at less than $75 per square foot.

Of course, such "blighting factors" do not distinguish the West End from any other part of Lakewood. Almost no home in Lakewood has a two-car attached garage. A large majority have less than two full bathrooms. More than half are valued at less than $75 per square foot.

If the city had simply said they need to recycle land for higher density, higher priced homes and business it would have been more honest. I'm not sure if the political price of that kind of honest would have been more than the Mayor could handle with an upcoming election. There is a strong argument that the city must have the ability to recycle land:

"Cities only have so many options," said Bruce Katz, director of the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institution. "Eminent domain is a critical tool for cities that are depopulated. It is a way for them to protect the interests of all the citizens in a community by ensuring that the future tax base is secure."

Katz and other experts say that Lakewood is a national example of how to manage an older, inner-ring suburb. The schools and library are highly rated, services are considered good and housing values have been rising steadily.

If you've ever played SimCity you perhaps now appreciate the absolute power of rezoning, construction, or as in this case, deconstruction. Citizens do indeed have a right to make decisions in vital matters of city planning, but I don't think taking it down to a level of detail like the charter proposal is wise. as in all representatives democracies, we must allow elected leaders to make decisions, and if we don't like them, toss em out. The problem with deciding everything by referendum is a lack of participation. Unlike the Greeks, we don't mark people who fail to adequately participate in democracy with red paint.

Matt Welch has a great essay on the state of "alternative" journalism. He talks about the current problems; "All the newspapers looked the same — same format, same fonts, same columns complaining about the local daily, same sex advice, same five-thousand-word hole for the cover story." Though I like both our alternative weeklies here in greater Cleveland, it's a sadly apt description of the feuding Scene and Free Times. He outlines the blogging big bang, and notes how bloggers can be a huge group of fact checkers and a kind of press peer review.

This is a whole new level of stupid. A thief stole a GPS tracking device, and was promptly tracked. ( Link via Geek Press).

Lynn notes an idea to have the city build a stadium in downtown Tulsa, OK. It seems like an ill advised idea to her...reminds me of the fever to get a new convention center here in Cleveland. She mentions it has been on the ballot before and rejected, and I suspect we'll see the Convention Center pop up again.

Paul Muller at Heretical Ideas is weary of blogs that post short little praises or diatribes against whatever they love or oppose. He thinks that blogs should be "the antithesis of the media machine; they should delve deeply into the issues that the media may present but fail to cover in a suitable fashion.". Although I think some posts are short out of neccesity, time being short for many, it's nice to have some posts covering something in depth...although just because an argument is short has no real bearing on it's validity. I didn't take Latin in school (I took long-forgotten-but-good-for-getting-a-federal-job-in-Canada French), but is there an opposite to ad naseum?

Planning for my vacation to Nova Scotia in little more than a week. M has never been. Hopefully she will enjoy her first look at my old stomping grounds - Ted did! Myself, I haven't actually seen it since 1999, so I'm wondering what's changed. Maybe they have so many Tim Horton's now that people will come on horseback for donuts.

Got a spark that asked "If you could arrange a concert with any three musicians or groups to play on the same bill, who would you invite? What songs would they play?" I'd have to say for myself, it would be Charles Parker ( the man practically invented modern Jazz improvisation), Charles Mingus, and Mozart. I'd let them figure out what to play on their own, but I'm sure they could take some tunes from Mozart, have Mingus twist them up, and have Charlie set them on fire. I have no doubt Mozart would adapt quickly to the improvisational emphasis.

North Korea wants a nuclear deterrent force. Leave it to this gang to let you know that Saddam was not the craziest nut in the jar. Kim has a new....mandate...after being reappointed by the parliament:

The North's newly elected parliament, which convened Wednesday, supported the government's decision.

Meanwhile, cars mounted with loudspeakers went around North Korea announcing that the parliament re-elected leader Kim Jong Il as chairman of the National Defence Commission, which oversees the country's 1.1 million armed forces — the world's fifth largest military.

By constitution, Mr. Kim's post is the highest in government hierarchy

Right, it's the constitution that gives him his power. I've got to wonder about the writer of this story, who doesn't give much cotext to lines like this. They are laugh out loud absurd, but one must at least acknowledge the farcical nature of these kinds of attempts to put hair gel on a dictatorship to make it look better.

On a lighter note, is Camile Saint-Saens musical empty calories? Lynn at Reflections in D thinks he may not be great, but may be underestimated as a musical source of refreshment. I know it's fun to play his music...

Geoffrey Wheatcroft has some choice words for the literary intellegentsia. After September 11, 2001 they put a period at the end of their relevance. Here's an excerpt from his essay:

in the case of 11th September, the usual prattle about the root causes of terror was not just morally repellent, it was quite simply wrong. It was particularly wrong when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was repetitiously invoked. If the Palestinian people have a just cause, it is far more likely to be harmed than helped by barbarous murder in New York. Anyway, Bin Laden couldn’t care less about the Palestinians, although he does authentically hate "the Jews." He listed Palestine among his grievances, but these also included the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia, which is what mattered most to him, and "Al-Andalus." Is the medieval reconquist of Spain a root cause of violence? If so, and if the loss of the Iberian peninsula by the House of Islam more than 500 years ago is a legitimate grievance, it will be a tricky wrong to right.

Needless to say, it's well worth reading the whole thing.
On a related note, Michele at a small victory captures for posterity some of the reactions at Indymedia. Worth remembering what they first said, nauseating though it may be...

Over the weekend we went to see "28 Days Later", a new, very well photographed horror movie that gives new life to the zombie genre. I liked it, but M - not so much. If you are thinking of zombies (and who doesn't if you work in an office) and were thinking, "gee, if only there were a zombie simulator out there" - here it is. (Link via Memepool).

Iraw Flatow on NPR's Talk of the Nation's Science Friday had a great show last week on science and pseudoscience. The always informative skeptic Michael Shermer is a guest. You'll need sound to hear it as transcripts are not free, alas

As usual there's nutritious food for thought at Reason.com, Cathy Young dissects the Chief Justice Roy Moore and his "rock":

Almost as bewildering is the argument that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of American law. In fact, only three of the commandments prohibit actual criminal behavior (murder, theft, and bearing false witness); four if you include adultery, which is still technically a criminal offense in some states. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is a fine principle, but is not written into law; nor do we throw people in jail for making graven images or for taking the Lord's name in vain, though who knows what would happen if Moore had his way. If we really want to honor a historical document from which our laws are to some extent derived, try the Magna Carta.

How this guy ever got elected in the first place is a testament to either the mediocre media or an education system where critical thinking is not a consideration.

Back on June 9th, Jonah Goldberg predicted that "Hillary's book
will be dropping on the best-seller list within 2 weeks and be off entirely in less than a month, if not sooner." As of this writing, it's listing number six, and has been on the list for eleven weeks. I have a suggestion.

More developments, of a sort, in the murder of Zahra Kazemi. She was a Canadian photojournalist arrested, killed, and quickly buried in Iran.

Kazemi died July 10 from a severe blow to the head while in Iranian custody. She had been arrested in late June while taking pictures outside a Tehran prison where students were protesting.

The death has created a diplomatic row between Iran and Canada. Ottawa wants her body returned, and has demanded a full and open investigation into her death.

Getting to the truth of what happened, and finding out who is responsible has been complicated by the internal power struggles between reform-minded Iranian politicians and the conservative clergy.

I think we need to shine a spotlight on little horrorshows like this, so the mullahs do not grow complacent that their thuggery is going to be forgotten. I'm glad for columns like this, when in the past even the Canadian government turns a blind eye, it does make the blood boil.

From Don Iannone's blog, some notes on the rising unemployment, worth reading. A quote:

"Ideas," not physical goods, "are becoming increasingly the predominant means by which we create wealth," Mr. Greenspan said. "I think that's good, not bad, for the economy as a whole. But if you're a maker of stuff, it isn't."
...
National Association of Manufacturers President Jerry Jasinowski dismisses what he calls "the silly notion that we can all be shopkeepers."

Of course Napoleon called England "a nation of shopkeepers" rather derisively, and we all know how that turned out for him. Still one can't help but feel Mr. Greenspan's take is a little off. Don has some additional thoughts on Cleveland becoming an idea center. As long as we don't use the ideastream moniker from WCPN, it's one of the few things that annoy me on that station...

Mark Steyn has a few words on the downtrodden masses, written whilst on a beach of course. Curses! He notes those who are a bit worried about the way things are going:

Thus, Simon Fairlie, in his new pamphlet The Prospect Of Cornucopia, ponders the consequence of a 3% "sustainable" growth rate and immediately spots the catch: by the year 2100 we'll be 18 times wealthier than we are today.

That's the problem? Of course! These days, for your serious media pessimist, the good news is the bad news. As Fairlie frets, "Will each home have 10 rooms and a swimming pool and, if so, where are we going to build them?"

Labrador. Next question.

Since the Inuit just got a big chunk of Labrador, perhaps they will build us a casino there. Everybody wins!

I'm no big fan of kitty blogs, but leave the statues alone. This is a supporter of Judge (mullah?) Moore's ten commandments stone, trying to find more moral equivalence. As long as his supporters are truly this dumb, I'm worrying less and less about Moore.

If you haven't seen Michele's new look for a small victory, please drop by - also check out her 9/11 memory project Voices. It can be painful, but it must not be forgotten.

What is the Geek Hierarchy? I'm glad you asked. Perhaps some on the list should stop and consider very little fan fiction, save things like "Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are Dead" is worth killing a tree.

Feel like taking the horse out for some donuts? Back in my old stomping ground of Nova Scotia, a fellow has been trying to take his horse through Tim Hortons (a donut chain). OK, but he shouldn't have parked the horse in a handicapped spot...the handicappers need him to be in a race to give him odds. (Link via the Campblog).

M. Simon has an interesting essay on property versus poverty over at Winds of Change. A sampling:

To settle land disputes without violence, you need surveying. Once you have surveying, parcels of land can be traded. Once you can trade property, you are no longer bound by your tribe. You are, however, bound to those who guarantee your property: the nation. So with tradable property, loyalties can expand. Of course in exchange for property guarantees and the tradability of property, you get taxes to fund the government that is providing protection. You get to pay for civil servants who record and enforce property boundaries, and the army that keeps out marauding invaders. Very expensive. But cheaper than property fights and marauding invaders. Everyone profits.

A nice take on property rights, sure to be disputed by all the remaining (and some newly mined) Marxists out there. Oh yeah, communism. Good luck with that, let me know how it turns out, I'm real curious...

A few short items...
Could Cleveland benefit from an arts incubator? Some thoughts worth reading over at Brewed Fresh Daily. With layoffs at the local art museum, I don't think non-profs are going to be boosting the local arts scene - and I think it's important.
Every wonder why you get goosebumps? Turns out it's the same reason my cat gets puffy when he scares himself.
Here's a great article on China by Gary Schmitt that sums up with the warning that China is not a normal state. Pretense that it is may be dangerous.

Maureen Dowd kindly wonders if Karl Rove is nervous? I don't necessarily agree with personalizing every disagreement, but this made me pause:

Another Bush-Cheney energy crony is Anthony Alexander of Ohio's FirstEnergy Corporation, which helped trigger the blackout after failing to upgrade its transmission system properly since deregulation. He was a Bush Pioneer, having raised at least $100,000 for the campaign.

Also, one would hope that the administration is going to be flexible and make some changes in how it's handling Iraq, rather than simply offering spin.

The Taliban (remember them?) are active in Afghanistan again. But now they are trying more PR.

Taliban gunmen are also showing a new, uncharacteristic diplomacy, according to reports received by aid groups. On rural roads, gunmen give men who shave their beards or listen to music a brief sermon and send them on their way. In the past, such offenders landed in jail.

The gunmen are "smiling and friendly," said Nick Downie, a security coordinator with the Afghanistan NGO Security Office, a nonprofit group.

But Afghans who cooperate with the government or the United States are being killed. Two police chiefs, two pro-government imams, and more than 30 policemen were killed in the south and east in July and August, Afghan officials said.

But as long as they smile, that's ok? The only reason they are showing any restraint is they remember how fast they got their heads handed to them when they were removed from power. Obviously we need to stop these jokers in their tracks. How about at the border with Pakistan, where their new recruits are coming from? Pakistan is our ally in all this, right?

Update 2:09 PM
Saw an interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN with these quotes on the situation in Afghanistan:

O'BRIEN: Christiane, there's some new reports out about Osama bin Laden. What information are you getting about Mullah Omar and also Osama bin Laden, officially?

AMANPOUR: Well, we asked, as I say, a number of officials both on the U.S. side and the Afghan side, and they are absolutely convinced, in the absence of any other evidence, that both are alive and both continue to encourage their supporters. We get varying answers depending on who and when as to where they may be.

Most are saying that probably Osama bin Laden could be in the Pakistani mountains on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Others say that Mullah Omar may be with him. But whatever is happening, what they're doing is encouraging their people to take these now sort of opportunistic attacks against the U.S. and, indeed, Afghan government forces inside Afghanistan.

Monday morning....Labor Day. My co-workers and I are at the mostly empty office today are enjoying listening to the rain.
Josh caught John Kerry on the news this morning, and had some thoughts worth reading on so-called waffling. Driving in I also heard Cokie Roberts talk about how Kerry, who had expected to be in the lead at this point, is now trailing Howard Dean in many polls. She opined that the Washington establishment is quite surprised by Dean's rise. She was on Morning Edition, though sadly you'll have to pay to read transcripts, though you can listen to the story when it's archived.

Over in California, Stefan has a few unkind words about the democratic leader in the recall race, Cruz Bustamante. Mr. Bustamante has some ties to an organization with some racist views, and perhaps he needs to sever these ties. (link via InstaPundit).
UPDATE: Tuesday 9/2/2003 1:23 PM
Ted Barlow begs to differ with the take on the Bustamante story - he lays out in detail that this may be hype., although Juan Non Volokh disagrees with Barlow.


More on that story of 19 arrested in a Toronto area suspected threat to national security. They have released two of the men, but the rest are still in custody. They are continuing to mention that they suspect the arrestees of gather information on explosives and the exact dimensions of buildings in Canada. There's also been another arrest:

The RCMP said the probe, named Project Thread, resulted in another arrest, but no details were released. "I can confirm that, yes, there has been a 20th arrest," Sergeant Paul Marsh said.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada also confirmed the arrest but declined to elaborate. "That's all I can confirm right now," said Giovanna Gatti, a department spokeswoman.

I'm wondering if the courts are the best places to be trying these guys, if they are guilty of what is alleged. Perhaps the attendant publicity would make the public more vigilant...but I'm worried about enemies that don't make dumb mistakes and get themselves caught. Moreover, how about stopping the source of the funds that keep terrorists afloat?