new meme:

If you oppose the Bush regime or the War on Terror, post this to your journal or blog.

"Liberals don't let liberal friends sleep with conservatives. If they must be so very dense, let them settle for their own hands, closeted gays, and what passes for sexuality among conservative women."

the Bush power grab

I've put together a list of sources and links for the power grab perpetuated by the Executive Branch in the last twenty years or so. While the junior and elder Bush did a lot of this, some was done under Clinton as well.

Remember that one boils a frog by cooking it slowly.

I've also learned -- the hard way -- my lesson about discussions with conservatives. When I put in the time and energy to provide citations, they are dismissed out of hand. When I don't, I am accused of making up facts.

It's far easier to simply not argue with them at all. I choose to invest my energy where it is most productive. Conservatives have convincingly persuaded me that talking to them is like wrestling with pigs -- one only gets dirty, and the pig enjoys it.

So from now on, I simply treat conservatives as dangerously deluded at best and actively psychotic and opposed to my existence at worst. No point to talking politics with them.

( a pile of citations )

ignoring our way to victory (II)

When challenged to identify an alternative to the War On Terror, I quickly surfed back through my recent posts and found this gem, "Ignoring Our Way To Victory."

It occurs to me that I should probably go into detail.

What is a terrorist organization? A group of like-minded fanatical people who have decided that killing innocent people covertly aids their political, religious or ideological objective.

So how do we stop terrorists? One approach suggests that we find some of these fanatical people and kill them first. This approach, popularized by fiction such as "24" and the justifications for the invasion of Iraq, is commonly called the "War On Terror."

Out in the real world, however, terrorism is at its core a sociological phenomena. And I at one time, am ashamed to admit that I was a sociologist. So I should be able to give a detailed prescription for eliminating terror.

A terrorist organization consists of a collision of people, money and an ideology, typically built on a foundation of hate. This immediately opens three prongs of attack:

People, Money and Ideology

Each of these can be separated using criminological theory into three time axes: prevention, deterrence, and incapacitation.

This gives nine (9) strategies for our non-war on terror.

Non-War Strategies

[ ]	People	Money	Ideology
Prevention	Cultural Exchange	Charitable Alternatives	Public Relations
Deterrence	Criminalization	Asset Forfeiture	Effective Assertion
Incapacitation	Target Cells	Cash Rewards	Target Leadership

I can flesh out each of these at greater length, but I have to go now. Real life intrudes.