White Phosphorus

Here is the current round up on the White Phosphorus "scandal".

Daily Ablution is questioning the seriousness of white phosphorus claims coming out of the British Media. He also gives a thorough rundown on the reports of civilian casualties.

Dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the [phosphorus] shells.

Several groups are claiming that intact clothing is a sign of white phosphorus. It isn't. WP burns everything and one of the major ways it causes problems is by lighting a person's clothes and equipment on fire. These poor people probably look the way they do because of their stage of decomposition, not anything having to do with WP.

Remember Jeff Englehart? I mentioned that he might not be the most reliable witness. Turns out that was a pretty good call. He's an antiwar activist and his testimony about WP injuries also conflicts with established facts.

Instapundit is also weighing in with a mammoth post collating commentary from all over. A reader reports that the military still uses WP for marking (similar to a smoke bomb) and illumination, but not as an incendiary.

And I'm Not Even English

English Genius You scored 92% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 86% Advanced, and 80% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 28% on Beginner You scored higher than 42% on Intermediate You scored higher than 16% on Advanced You scored higher than 52% on Expert

Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on Ok Cupid.

Leaders of the Christian Right

Short Attention Span has a scathing criticism of political leaders on the religious right. Are they being used or are they just stupid?

Via Reverend Ed's highlight reel.

Hoplophobia

Joe Cathey posted several Oleg Volk posters up on his blog last weekend. I've mentioned Oleg before. Here is one of the posters. Dr. Jim West reacted very strongly and frankly somewhat irrationally to all this.

The poor child is clearly traumatized knowing that there is a gun six inches from her head. Note how she subconsciously tilts her little head away from, and not towards the tool of death that won't protect her as much as it will endanger her.

Jim's reaction is a bit scary to me. I don't worry about the little girl. She is a model, she is probably acting, and she is in no danger. She is most likely tilting her head so Oleg can get a clearer shot of the gun and balance the image left to right. What Jim sees in that poster is not what is there, but what he is projecting upon it. These are his fears not the girls.

Guns are things. They are tools. They won't bite unless you do something wrong. Truth be told that little girl is in more danger from the swimming pool in her back yard and the cleaning products under the kitchen sink than the gun on her father's hip.

School Shootings

Helen Reynolds, Mrs. Instapundit, is commenting on a school shooting near her home in Knoxville. I find this comment at the end of her blog heartenin:

For those of you interested in the gun debate on this issue--it has been found that boys who own legal firearms show less delinquency even then those boys who do not own guns at all. It is the boys that own illegal guns who comitt more crimes--not surprising as they have shown themselves willing to break the law already.

She links to these study results to prove her point.

I've suspected this sort of thing for a while, legal gun owners in general have a very low crime rate. Concealed carry permit holders are far less likely to commit crimes than even police officers. But as a gun owner who aspires to eventually be a parent, I'm still glad that the general statistical trends hold for kids too. Not that statistical trends mean you can rest on your laurels.

WMDs! Bush Lied!

One of the things that annoys me about Iraq is that the press has been persistent in reporting that we have found no WMDs. It isn't true. We've even had an IED used on us made from a Sarin-laced artillery shell. But two weeks after we find something, the press goes right back to "2 years into Mr Bush's war and still no WMDs."

Well someone has written a book on all the WMDs found in Iraq. The numbers are quite impressive. Wizbang has more.

Whisper Down the Lane

I love this post over at Mainstream Baptist

BBC has reported that Italian State TV has broadcast a documentary that accuses the U.S. military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in Falluja.

Wow that is a lot of one guy telling the next guy about something else. Was a study hall involved? The response from the US military:

"Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Falluja, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters," the US statement said.

Or in other words, yes we did and there is nothing wrong with that.

Their eyewitness account leaves something to be desired though

Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja, tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over military radio - and saw the results.

Wow a US soldier. That means US Army. Too bad the storming of Fallujah was a Marine Corp operation. One way or another someone involved in this story didn't do their legwork.

"Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills indiscriminately...

This is exactly why it is used sparingly, because it will kill our guys just as indiscriminately.

When it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says.

Wow good imagery Jeff. You should be a writer. But do you actually know this? Have you ever treated Willie Pete burns? Are you a doctor? No I didn't think so. WP is not harmless and will put a hurting on somebody, but so will high explosives and sharp metal fragments.

I can't wait until Italian TV starts eating up my documentary. I'll be exposing the fact that the US military is actually shooting people in Iraq. It's Europe so the thought of people actually shooting guns should be pretty mindblowing. I can just imagine the shock from the left now when they realize that fighting a war involves actually killing people.

UPDATE: Wizbang also has two posts on White Phospherous: When the Defendant is the US, the Guilty Bar is Lowered to the Floor and Killing Me Softly. His reasoning is similar to mine. Some commenters are also noting that we did not sign any of the conventions regulating its use.

Remember all the complaints about Depleted Uranium a few years ago? This is the same thing with a different part of the periodic table.

Movie Reviews: Jarhead, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Kingdom of Heaven

Joe Carter has a review of Jarhead over at Evangelical Outpost.

Francois Truffaut once claimed that there could be no such thing as an antiwar-movie since even a gruesome war movie makes war look energetic and exciting. If the French director had lived long enough to see Sam Mendes’ latest film he might have changed his opinion. Jarhead is so lifeless and dull that it could qualify to be the first true antiwar movie.

Now I really don't want to see the movie.

I rented Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Kingdom of Heaven this weekend. Long story short, they were both ok. Not spectacular but ok.

HHGttG surprised me. Originally, it was a Radio series on the BBC, which I have copies of on MP3. Then it went through incarnations as a TV series and several books, although possibly not in that order. What surprised me was that they changed a good bit of it for the movie. I understand much of this was Douglas Adams's idea, but that isn't a good excuse because many of the changes don't work.

The comedic timing of the film is just off until you get Ford and Arthur onto the Heart of Gold. You rush through the destruction of Earth so quickly you can't really take it in. This pacing means you also don't have any time to laugh at the early jokes.

Some of the changes do work for me. In the books and radio series, Arthur Dent is a pitiful earth monkey who has a profound effect on the universe because he's the only survivor of Earth's destruction. In the movie he's far less pitiful and loserly. They accomplish this transformation mostly by making Trillian his love interest. To make up for turning Arthur interesting, they turn Zaphod into a worthless twit and add a whole bunch of stuff to the middle of the movie that doesn't belong there. Ah well, at least it was just a rental.

Kingdom of Heaven is to medieval history what Gladiator is to Roman history. Both are Ridley Scott films. Both tell the story he wants to tell with little regard for actual history. There are good fight and battle scenes, none of which have any particular historical accuracy at all. The swordplay is wrong. The battle tactics are wrong. There is a lot that is wrong. But it looks good. So if you want a movie that has a lot wrong with it, but looks good, then this is a good choice. It made me want to take my sword off the wall and give some milk jugs what for.

Kingdom of Heaven got a lot of bad press when it initially came out. Some reviewers thought the movie showed a very one sided portrayal of Christians and Muslims. This is mostly true. There are token Christians who are "enlightened" and tolerant and token Muslims who aren't. Generally devout Christians are portrayed badly while devout Muslims aren't generally portrayed at all. The overall theme of the movie is that Muslims, Christians, and Jews really aren't any different and we should just live in peace and toleration. The problem is that the movie comes to no conclusions about how to accomplish this when individuals on all sides want the conflict to occur and will actively engineer it.

Today in Technology

A couple articles from Gizmag caught my eye today.

The first is that Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto will be the next civilian on the International Space Station. Dice-K, as he is referred to, is a technology company exec and investment advisor. The good news is that Dice-K shouldn't have any trouble adjusting to the cramped quarters on the ISS which is still larger than a typical Tokyo apartment.

The second is that someone has shoehorned a 1000cc 180 horsepower sportbike engine into the Smart. This has turned the minute motorcar into a tiny terror that does the quartermile in the 12s. This is really scary. Not because you have a little car that goes very fast. That is kinda cool. No, the problem is that the Smart has been declared the worst cornering car ever by Top Gear. It is tall, skinny, and short. The worse of all possible worlds in terms of cornering. This wasn't a problem when it was also slow, but putting a fast engine in one is creating a widow maker.

Marriage and Arguments

Behold: the Graph. Empirical proof that men cannot win arguments post-marriage. You are immersed.

UPDATE: Amybear has informed me that I will be allowed to win some arguments once we are married. Specifically, I will be allowed to win the ones we have over things she doesn't actually care about. Nice to know that I may decide whether Miller Lite "tastes great" or is "less filling" for my entire household.

General's Test

King Edward I You scored 72 Wisdom, 69 Tactics, 56 Guts, and 65 Ruthlessness!

Or rather, King Edward the Longshanks if you've seen Braveheart. You, like Edward, are incredibly smart and shrewd, but you win at any costs.... William Wallace died at his hands after a fierce Scottish rebellion against his reign. Despite his reputation though, Longshanks had the best interests of his people at heart. But God help you if you got on his bad side.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 81% on Unorthodox You scored higher than 44% on Tactics You scored higher than 56% on Guts You scored higher than 92% on Ruthlessness

Link: The Which Historic General Are You Test written by dasnyds on OkCupid

Election Anniversary

The president was elected a year ago yesterday. I've been hard on him lately. Just like La Shawn Barber, I'd like to reiterate how glad I am that he won instead of Lurch.

Summer Solstice

I don't live in a convertable climate, but I have to admit that the new Pontaic Solstice is looking good. I won't buy one anytime soon, but if they're still making it when my mid life crisis hits I definitely start shopping the used market. Others seem to be having a similar reaction because the assembly plant in Wilmington is up to three shifts now.

Edmund's has picked it as the most significant new car. Maybe. The technology going into it for it's price is pretty amazing. Plus it's an American made roadster, previously you had to look to Mazda or Honda or BMW for one. Neither of those worked for me. The S2000 has no torque, the BMW too expensive, and the Miata is just too small. Seriously, have you ever seen a Miata driver who was over five foot eight? If you meet one, ask how much they had to modify the seats so they could fit. Seriously, ask them and they will tell you.

Plus it looks incredible. The new Miata looks like a jelly bean. The Solstice has curves. It is sexy and extravagant, an impression hammered home by the complete lack of trunk space. At 3000 lbs. I'd like to see a little more power. Not this much, but a turbocharged inline-four or even V6 would be great. Plans for a turbo four are out there.

Rule of Law

One of the things I really don't understand about liberals is that they make a huge deal about concepts like Rule of Law and Precedent. Then they throw all that out whenever they want. This seems to be pissing Dale Franks off too. Here is a good taste:

This is a microcosm of whole problem with the way the Left views the Courts. They view the Courts as another governing branch, which makes interest in "proper results" and "looking like America" and "making history" important to them. But the Judiciary is not a governing branch. At best, it's a referee for the real governing branches, the executive and the legislative.

SBC Denies People Water

A lot of people out there may have heard the story: Southern Baptists denied hurricaine survivors water because it came from Anheuser-Busch. Oh, that beer water would taint their very souls! Better for them to die than allow them to drink it!

Turns out it's a damn lie. The Baptists didn't distribute Busch's water, but that's because they didn't need to. They had more than enough water to go around, so they held the Anheuser water in reserve. Had they needed it, they would have used it.

Quiz Time

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

How Machiavellian Are You?

Via Hube.

Graphics

My title graphics don't seem to be loading. I'll have to see about hosting them on a different site. I'm currently using Roadfly and they seem to be reworking what services are allowed for free.

UPDATE: Thanks to Izzy who suggested Photobucket. I've switched the graphics over and we shall soon see if they work. Yup they do.

As an aside, I can tell my blog has really grown just from the amount of time it takes to republish the whole thing.

Faith and Reason

Joan has written a good paper on the Senses vs. Reason philosophical debate. She posted a copy on her latest blog entry.

I don't necessarily agree with these sorts of debates. Senses vs. Reason seems to be a false dichotomy. Your senses can be lead astray as it is not possible to perceive everything. Anyone who has examined witness testimony will realize that people's senses are very unreliable. Your reason can also be lead astray. Most of Aristotle's scientific work is crap for this reason. In ancient Greece, the great philosophers did not dirty their hands with experimentation. That would be turning great thinking into the work of mere tradesmen.

So the truth is that you need both. Sense and Reason inform each other. Together they bring you closer to the Truth than either can separately. Sense informs Reason and grounds it. Reason allows multiple senses (and individuals) to be combined into a more accurate whole. Which one of the two is more reliable depends on the specifics of each case.

Now I'm a Christian. I would hope my regular readers would have figured this out by now. Another false dichotomy we Christians encounter a lot is Faith vs. Reason. The truth is that both are necessary.

Reason is a great tool. God gave it to us after all. The problem with the Faith or Reason debate is getting the "Reason" side started. You need first principles to reason from. While those can be achieved by starting from conclusions that have already been reached previously, this is really just moving the starting point. Those conclusions had to come from somewhere, etc., etc. At some point you come down to foundational assumptions. These could be empirically derived or just "reasonable" basics. The point is that these things cannot be proven, they just have to be assumed or postulated without proof.

So what is Faith? The writer of Hebrews says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Faith is the proof for the unprovable assumptions. It is the starting point.

This doesn't have to be religious faith either. This is any faith. Faith that the scientific methodology was valid that you used to generate your foundational empirical assumption. Faith that that this result is has wide enough applicability to be useful. It all comes down to faith one way or another.

Which is why the Reason not Faith argument does work. Faith is not the antithesis of Reason, at least it doesn't have to be. Faith is not where Reason stops. Faith is where Reason starts. It is faith in both your first principles and in the reasoning process itself that allows Reason to operate in the first place. It is the foundation of Reason. Reason is built on a bedrock of Faith.

Now Faith can be misled just as your senses can be misled. People have faith in very silly things. Faith alone is pretty weak proof of anything and Reason can greatly reduce the burden of Faith necessary for belief. Ideally the conclusions reached by Reason should inform Faith, just as the assumptions made by Faith are the feedstock of Reason. Really, neither can exist alone for long.

The right answer is Faith and Reason not Faith or Reason.

Christian Healthcare

Joe Carter is discussing taking "social justice" issues back for the Church starting with Healthcare:

These "church plans," as they are known in the insurance industry, attempt to fulfill the Biblical admonition to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) by bringing Christians together to share the cost of their medical bills.

Although the plans differ in details, their basic premise is similar to health insurance programs. Members send a monthly check -- a "share" rather than a “premium”-- ranging from $100 to $400, either to the plan or directly to those the plan designates with "needs." The members also agree to send cards and letters or to pray for those members who are sick or injured.

This seems like an bad idea to me. If run properly this sort of plan will work like health insurer (give or take). "Shares" might be higher or lower than normal insurance and coverage would vary as well. If run improperly, this could defraud the plan members and be a poor witness for the Church at the same time. Since there is no regulation of these things, it's a coin toss which plan will do which. If you're lucky you will roughly break even. If you are unlucky you lose out. There is no win here. Which means on average you still wind up behind. From a purely financial perspective, it is a bad idea. This is medical coverage in the same way that the lottery is an investment plan.

But more importantly, should the Church even be doing this? No, this is just taking the Church where it really doesn't belong. In the end this is just a business, albeit a non-profit one. Does the Church need to be involved? No. Is this the image of the way christians are supposed to help one another? Not really. This isn't charity or communal sharing. This is a purely contractual business relationship. It does not meet the definition of true Christian sharing found in Acts.

Is health insurance inherently unchristian? No. So why are we inventing an inferior wheel? I'll have to go with the wisdom of the Apostles on this one, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables." When you look at the churches who have been heavily influenced by concerns of "social justice" it has taken over their church to the detriment of ministering the Word. It is just arrogant to think that we wouldn't follow the same path.

This isn't even touching on the fact that "social justice" is not social but political. It generally isn't just either.

Disappointment in Alito

From Instapundit:

On the other hand, there's this smoking gun: "As for Judge Alito's trumpet skills, the former band leader said, 'he certainly was no virtuoso.'"

As a former trumpet player, I don't think I can stand behind a judge with shoddy horn technique. Being a crappy musician might have been good enough for Presidents like Bill Clinton or Attorney Generals like John "the Singing Senator" Ashcroft, but Supreme Court Justices are life appointments and must be held to a higher standard. My disappointment with the president grows along with my sarcasm.