Musharraf: Nation Won't Permit Terror (washingtonpost.com)

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared Saturday that Pakistan will not be a base for terrorism and banned two extremist groups accused in an attack on India's parliament. Police raided religious schools and mosques and arrested more than 300 suspected militants.

God willing, this will be enough to stave off war. The Indians, at least at first, seem to not know what to make of it.

One interesting point is that Musharraf will "review the status of foreign teachers" in Pakistani religious schools. The Saudis have been providing the medium for terrorism with their export of Wahhabism; I expect this is what he's trying to prevent.

If this is enough to settle things with India, it might yet be a major problem. What if Musharraf gets blamed by his own people for selling out Kashmir? I think we're going to have to put a lot of effort into propping him up.

Rubin Asked Treasury About Aid to Enron (washingtonpost.com)

Both parties were in bed with Enron; the Republicans might have gone all the way but it's not like the Democrats didn't want to. I don't think there will be any major consequences out of this, but I don't like seeing a Democratic witch-hunt much more than I liked the Republican witch-hunts of the last decade. The Bush administration didn't prop up Enron, didn't do anything to help. I just don't see how they can be held to blame at all. Congress is a different story, but they get away with everything on Capitol Hill.

Egyptian Man Charged in N.Y. (washingtonpost.com)

He had an "aviation radio" in a hotel across from the WTC. You have to admit that looks suspicious, but there's no evidence that he had anything to do with 9-11. He's charged with making false statements, and my instinct tells me that's all he did.

Suspects in Singapore Are Linked to Al Qaeda and Plans for Anti-U.S. Attacks

You don't think of Singapore as a terrorist hiding ground. It's one of the most controlled states on Earth. And, of course, the terrorists in Singapore were captured.

Al-Qaeda appears to be very strong in Southeast Asia. But it's operating against the state, not allied with it like in Afghanistan. And the situation becomes more complex because of that. Some of the things we were successful doing in Afghanistan -- notably, bombing civilian targets -- would be more difficult in these countries where we would have the government as a ally.

Monty Python's New Life | csmonitor.com

I've been watching these DVDs a lot recently. My collection's not complete yet, but I have most of the TV series and the new edition of Holy Grail. And it's all still great.

Oh, and Terry Jones? The weakest performer of the bunch, but a damn fine director. Insane political views.

Firm's Saga Could Dog Bush in Election Year (washingtonpost.com)

Nah.

I consider this a scandal, and it could blossom into a major one. It's very hard to see, however, how any actual blame for the Enron collapse could attach to the Bush administration. After all, Enron's rise happened while President Clinton was still in office. Furthermore, I doubt anyone outside is likely to base their votes for Congress on a Texas political/economic scandal.

Matt Welch

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Yay!

Tim Blair

THE AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION is often accused of pandering to stupid left-wing urban intellectuals. To refute this stereotype, the ABC (completely taxpayer-funded, of course) recently gathered together a bunch of stupid left-wing urban intellectuals to discuss 2001, and their hopes for the future.

And so begins a comic masterpiece. I feel inferior.

Al Qaeda Feared To Be Lurking In Indonesia (washingtonpost.com)

"Feared" is an understatement. It's known for a fact that there are groups with al-Qaeda links in Indonesia. The questions are "How many members are there?" and "Can they operate outside Indonesia?"

Indonesia is a radically different situation than Afghanistan. It's a more-or-less friendly country and a democracy. The terrorists are not operating with government support. It's based on islands, many of which are small and only lightly controlled. And it's the fourth-largest nation on Earth, if I have my numbers right; only China, India, and the US have larger populations.

An operation in Indonesia would be rather different from that against the Taliban. Just hazarding a guess, but it would probably involve greater US ground forces, though where we could we'd use elements of the Indonesian army with US air and logistical support.

Indonesia is yet another country, like Afghanistan and Pakistan, and even Iraq, that doesn't make a lot of sense in its present configuration. In fact, it's worse, and East Timor is just the tip of the iceberg. This is a massively diverse area with dozens of different languages and most of the major faiths, all being ruled -- basically -- by a Javan elite. Like the others I mentioned, it's a colonial relic that became a state after the falls of the European empires, and which stayed together largely because the major powers decided it was in their interests to support stability.

Now, it's a potential disaster. I don't think it will happen, but can you imagine a post-Cold War Yugoslavia of 220 million people, on 17,000 islands? That's the worst-case scenario, an Indonesian breakup that turns into that sort of nightmare. As it is, it's just a huge cauldron of ethnic strife, and these days that always seems to turn into terrorism.

Ear Acupuncture No Cure for Cocaine Addict

Wow. What a shock.

If getting needles stuck into you is a cure for addiction, how do you explain IV drug use?

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Asteroid impact centre site selected

No, this doesn't mean they know where the center of impact would be. This is a program to track Near-Earth Objects. I assume the British will keep track, and if something is in danger of impact hopefully they'll tell the US so we can maybe do something about it.

BBC News | HEALTH | Alternative therapies 'backed by ministers'

"So-called alternative therapies could become far more easily available on the NHS, says the government."

Hey, why should we Americans have all the fun? Now the Brits can have their own quacks, supported by their own government!

Local leaders happy with NASA chief's views

The space agency, O'Keefe said, needs to concentrate on what he dubbed its "core competencies," meaning science, research and technology that are geared for a purpose other than just visiting "someplace you've never been before."

Whenever I hear someone talking about "core competencies", I reach for my gun. Well, I don't actually have a gun, and I shouldn't quote Goebbels, but you get the idea.

Anyway, I always thought that one of NASA's core competencies was playing to the Star Trek crowd. We will not be ignored, Mr. O'Keefe!

He said some good things here about privatization. My personal belief is that the government's job is to do necessary things that can't be done, or can't be done adequately, by the private sector. If a private company can operate the space shuttle at a profit -- I don't know if it can, but it's worth a shot -- then go to it. Space travel needs to find a way to pay for itself.

Reports That Taliban Leaders Were Freed Shock, Alarm U.S. (washingtonpost.com)

This seems to be S.O.P. in Afghanistan; to be fair, it's been S.O.P. pretty much everywhere at one time or another. (But usually you'd expect some kind of ransom.) Short-term, it makes sense; people who know they'll be released are much more likely to surrender. Long-term, it makes any permanent solution more difficult, because combatants aren't removed from the process.

The released include the Taliban's defense and justice ministers, two guys we'd really like to get our hands on. I expect that the Afghan central government would too.

Iran Exerts Sway on Afghan Border, Worrying the U.S.

Now we're hearing whispers about Iran being a target. They've certainly been a haven for and supporter of terrorists, and therefore a logical target. However, Iran has been secularizing for years. There are basically two systems in Iran, the religious authorities (who control the army) and the civil (who control the pursestrings). If we can find a way to boost the President and Legislature without looking like we're supporting them, that would be great.

Iran has a lot of links with western Afghanistan. Pashto is an Iranian language (unrelated to the Turkic languages in the north, only distantly related to Urdu -- an Indic language -- spoken to the south) and there is, as the story mentions, a large minority of Shiite Muslims in the area. Iran was helpful in the war against the Sunni Taliban, but I'm sure they didn't think it would go so easily.

Ted Turner Opens New Restaurant-

"Bison is the featured menu item of Ted's Montana Grill, which will open next week in Columbus."

Ooookay...

That's Ohio, not Georgia, but he's planning to expand to Atlanta. I don't think bison would go over too well in the South. This is more squirrel country. I admit it's an acquired taste.

I enjoy Ted, but I recognize he's an acquired taste as well. I just wish he were in control of the Braves again.

Political Map of Libya, Egypt, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Somalia - Atlapedia Online

I've been thinking (don't say it) and I wonder if we're not choosing our next foes with an eye towards impressing the Saudis and Egyptians. You hear "Somalia" and you think "Africa", and that's where it is all right, but look how close it is to Saudi Arabia. Iraq, of course, shares a border with the Saudis, and Sudan -- a lesser possibility -- shares one with Egypt and is across the Red Sea from Arabia. We've put pressure on Yemen, another Saudi neighbor. Meanwhile, we seem to be more or less ignoring the Philippines and Indonesia, despite known al-Qaeda groups operating in those countries.

There's nothing wrong with this. War isn't fought for its own sake, but for political means. The whole point of this exercise, lest we forget, is to wipe out terrorism, especially terrorism against us. All the evidence suggests -- despite the public spin of the Administration -- that the biggest source of terrorism in the world right now is Saudi Arabia. Osama, of course, is a Saudi, al-Qaeda is largely funded by him and other Saudis. His primary associates seem to be mostly Saudis or Egyptians. The WTC attackers were mostly Saudis. While the Saudi government itself isn't sponsoring terror directly, they aren't doing anything about it. So we put on a show.

Television can enhance children's intellectual development, study finds

"This research was supported by the Children's Television Workshop, using funds awarded by the John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation."

Uh-huh...

Hey, TV is great. No argument here. But scientists working for Sesame Street to say that "TV is good for the kiddies" are only slightly more credible than Tobacco Institute scientists. The phrase "can" in the title is worrisome. There are lots of things that are helpful in small doses that are serious problems in bulk. What's the right TV dosage?

There's a very prominent strain in American culture, of course, that thinks that anything entertaining is bad for you, and especially anything entertaining and new. It was movies, then recorded music, then comic books, then rock & roll, then video games, now the Internet. But for a long time it's been TV. So many people, from so many different angles, condemn TV that any thinking person has to come to a judgment that it must be great.

NBC special to reunite Bill Cosby and the Huxtable clan
Werner said he was talking with the entire Cosby cast, including Phylicia Rashad, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Lisa Bonet and Tempestt Bledsoe, about joining the April shoot in New York.

"What? No, I'm not busy! When do you need me? Can you pay me in cash?"

Televised trials: Terror compounds debate | csmonitor.com

"Opponents of the Court TV petition worry that a televised trial would give Moussaoui a high-profile soapbox to promote an anti-American world view."

Sounds like the Guardian. Come on; there's no shortage of places to promote that.

Justice argues that "cameras may scare away witnesses and intimidate jurors afraid of terrorist reprisals," but that can be addressed. Their real fear is the OJ scenario, but it won't happen OJ was found innocent because he (a) was famous, (b) the jury distrusted the LAPD, and (c) the prosecutors were incompetent. Showing the trial had little to do with it. Their real fear isn't that Moussaoui will be found innocent -- he won't -- but that they (the prosecutors) will look bad on TV.

Milosevic Begins Final Pre-Trial Hague Hearing (washingtonpost.com)

Slobby is refusing to recognize the court's authority and is going without defense counsel. I expect even the Euros can convict a man under those circumstances. The only disappointing thing is that Milosevic is being tried in Europe, meaning there's no chance of him hanging from a lamppost. Well, you can't have everything.

The Low Countries : arts and society in Flanders and the Netherlands

We get this thing every year. Every year, I catalog it, but I have no idea why, or who sends it to us, or who in West-Central Alabama could possibly be interested in it. But it probably has something to do with the Belgian/Dutch plan for world domination.

Euro coins All coins in Luxembourg will bear the profile of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke Henri. They will bear the year of issue and the word "Luxembourg" written in Luxembourgish ("Letzebuerg").

Luxembourgish?

I looked over all the coins, and the low countries -- as part of their plan for global domination, no doubt -- all have portraits of their current monarchs on the verso of all coins. None of the other nations do, except Spain has theirs on the big coins. Austria has Mozart, Italy has Dante and Marcus Aurelius, Pinky and the Brain have some inbred royals.

Taliban Emptied Country's Banks (washingtonpost.com)

But Mullah Omar and the Taliban were honest and saintly, and it's only the United States and its allies that are corrupt! I know this because Robert Fisk told me so!

One thing totalitarian rulers of whatever stripe always have in common -- they always have some money stashed away so that when they're deposed they can live on the French Riviera. Their underlings have gone down sometimes, but if rebels don't kill them the archfiends always seem to get away. Or had, until Milosevic, and now we're demanding Omar's head. I don't know what the long-term effect will be but I prefer a world where tyrants don't always know they can retire in comfort if everything goes wrong.

Juanita Jordan Files for Divorce From Wizards Star (washingtonpost.com)

Citing "Irreconcilable Differences". Like "You want to live in Washington?" You have to think there's something wrong with a relationship when Jordan retires twice and is back in the game two years later both times. This is a guy who the first time he retired "to spend more time with his family" was so desperate to get away he played minor league baseball in Birmingham.

Media Continues to be Extremely Liberal -

MSNBC has signed Alan Keyes to host his own show. Alan Keyes! He'll get an hour of prime time TV (9 PM CT) a night starting Jan. 21.

``It was not our goal to necessarily go out and find a commentator who was conservative,'' said MSNBC president and general manager Erik Sorenson. ``We were looking to find somebody who would appeal to smart, young viewers.''

And as we all know, nothing appeals to smart, young viewers like a man who based his entire presidential campaign around opposition to abortion.

Keyes can be wildly entertaining, of course, and the man can talk. This has a chance to be fun in the way Pat Buchanan was fun on CNN and with the McLaughlin Group in the eighties (especially when paired with Michael Kinsley). But there's no way that this has anything to do with anything but combatting Fox on the right.

The Seattle Times: Pair plan to live outside Cinerama until Star Wars movie is released in May

"Both men are single." Well, duh.

I have my fannish obsessions (Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, Star Trek) but these Star Wars guys creep me out. Giving nerds a bad name...

A Balancing Act in Senate Races (washingtonpost.com)

I think we (meaning the Democrats) can hold it. But it's going to be tight. If Tom Daschle wants to keep his office, he needs to get busy in his own state.

Pentagon Seeking a Large Increase in Its Next Budget

This should be interesting. Not that the Pentagon won't get more money -- I'm sure that they will -- but I doubt they're going to get to spend it the way they want. Rumsfeld came in on a plan to remake the military; that's gone by the wayside for obvious reasons, but he won't just roll over for the brass. Do we need more Stealth Bombers -- which we can't even use in a conventional campaign -- or the Osprey -- which doesn't work? And Congress, of course, will want its pork. Personally, I think paying enlisted men a living wage would be a good start.

It's dangerous to read too much into the Afghan campaign, but one thing was absolutely clear: it was the established weapons systems that did the most damage. The bombing campaign was mostly run with B-52s. Conventional, aging aircraft carriers, helicopters, dumb bombs (used with up-to-date targeting systems), and people on the ground. That's what did damage. I won't go as far as some and say we should only concentrate on proven technology. The end result of that is Poland in World War II, confident that it can defend against Germany because Polish cavalry is the best in Europe. But we have gotten a little gizmo-oriented for our own good.

Insanity of do-it-yourself censorship / Three companies in Utah create technology to manipulate DVDs

There must be something wrong with me, because I don't see what's so wrong about this. These companies aren't censoring everyone's movies; they're just providing a service to some consumers. It's not anything different from what broadcast and basic-cable networks do when they show movies, except that with this you have the option. With the networks, you get the bowdlerized version whether you like it or not.

Of course, the Law of Unintended Consequences will come into play here. If this technology becomes widespread, TV will become even more violent and profane. Not that I'm against violence or profanity. But that's what happens every time a ratings system is instituted or an existing system is made more stringent. But if you can censor out foul language, nudity, or violence with the touch of a button, you can't very convincingly argue against foul language, nudity, or violence. That won't stop people from trying, but it hurts their position.

Salon.com Books | Muzzling Moore: When Michael Moore's publisher insisted he rewrite his new book to be less critical of President Bush, it took an outraged librarian to get it back in the stores.

How did I wind up in a profession that winds up on the same side as Michael Moore?

Knowing Moore's work, there probably were some cuts that needed to be made. Actually, they probably needed to be made before September 11. While I don't approve of simply surpressing anyone who questions the outcome of the election (I question the outcome of the election), and asking for a royalty deduction was unfair, you don't attack the President personally during wartime. His policies, sure. But not him as a human being. And this being Moore, I'm sure he did exactly that. I liked "Roger & Me", but it was hardly a fair movie.

Update: I'm not sure how clear I was. I'm not advocating censorship by any means. But Moore should have pulled back the book on his own inititiative. And if Harper didn't want to publish his book, that's their right. I'm sure someone would pick it up, if Rupert hasn't bought all the other publishers yet.