Port 80

I’m on a posting streak today, and I just ran across another item deserving of mention here. The Command Post has linked to an interesting graph by the Dissident Frogman, comparing national sales of weapons to Iraq from 1972 to the present. Let’s just say that it makes it clear who has the real economic motivation in this war.

Update: The Command Post has clarified the dates on this graph: SIPRI, the group that published this data, only counted transactions until 1990, not until the present day. Thus, the true dates covered by the graph are 1972-1990.

Update on CSC and Student Walk-Outs

The director of the CSC has assured me that the mention of a student walk-out on the CSC’s online calendar was a mistake, and that the event has been removed from the CSC’s online calendar. Links made in my previous post on this subject will still point to the calendar, but the entry mentioned in that post has been removed. However, the “Week of Student Action Against the War” is still on. And it is still being funded with my tuition.

Despite my previous commentary about the Center for Social Concern at UD, I have to admit that things could be far worse. The current flap at Columbia University, when a teach-in there went sour. Let’s just say that it’s a bad sign when the sentence “Vietnam was a stunning defeat for U.S. imperialism; as such, it was also a victory for the cause of human self-determination,” is part of your defense. But then again, when the comment that prompted this defense was the same professor’s remark that he would like to see “a million Mogadishus”, defending the forceful takeover of an at least marginally democratic state by an authoritarian dictatorship as a “victory for the cause of human self-determination” seems fairly minor. The above link is worth reading, but is not recommended for those with heart difficulties or high blood pressure.

In public, we always pledge our allegiance to Saddam, but in our hearts we feel something else. - Iraqi citizen, speaking to Arab News

Condolezza Rice has a brief editorial in the Wall Street Journal today. The short version is that 50 nations have now joined the “Coalition of the Willing”. I think I’m going to stop reading (or at least believing) any news source that uses the word “unilateral” from this point forward.

However, there are some handy news sources out there for those looking for a different viewpoint. Consider The Agonist, The Command Post (motto: Making CNN Look Like a School Newspaper), and Instapundit, three of the best warblogs that I have run across to date. All are updated constantly, and offer as comprehensive a summary of the news as you will get from watching hours of standard media outlets - if not more so.

I would also recommend reading Where is Raed? and Lt. Smash, which offer distinctly more personal views of the war. The first is written by “Salam Pax”, an Iraqi citizen writing anonymously from somewhere in Baghdad. The second is also written anonymously, by a U.S. serviceman stationed somewhere in the Middle East. These are two of the most powerful pieces of writing I have seen.

Update: To view some of the message boxes in Lt. Smash’s blog, you will need to turn off JavaScript. Apparently, someone has discovered that embedding a script in their comments will make it run automatically and the close the comments window. The script pops up four alerts: “No War” (posted by “jhewgfjh”), “No WAR!” (posted by “peace and love”), “You are going to die!!” (posted by “Saddam Hussein”), and “STOP the WAR! Please!” (posted by “Alert”). Incidentally, “Saddam Hussein” also posts “Im Iraq!!!!!! F*** USA!!!!!!!!! Dead USA!!!!!!!!!” [sic]. What a wonderful message to leave on the weblog of a man who is quite literally risking his life to liberate the Iraq that “Saddam Hussein” claims to be. I will end this now before it becomes a rant, but there I will say that there are sections of the anti-war movement that not only have extremely bad taste, but border on being treasonous. “Winning hearts and minds” is a lost concept for some of these protesters.

An officer returned from recently liberated Iraqi territory. … The Iraqis had been in a strong defensive position, and seen his men coming. But they welcomed them as liberators. Liberators with food. - Lt. Smash

This just in from InstaPundit: A new summit of proponents of space travel has called for setting human settlement of space as the major goal of the United States’s space program. We’ve seen calls like this one before, but it is worth noting the sheer variety of groups involved in this particular declaration - from longtime space activists such as Jerry Pournelle (see previous entry on Fallen Angels for more) to CEOs of space corporations to the X-Prize foundation to punch-happy astronaut Buzz Aldrin. To quote from the proposal:

The human settlement of space is a noble cause that deserves the attention and support of people throughout the world for the following reasons:

• To enhance prosperity for all people and make use of the abundant resources of outer space;
• To fulfill the drive for discovery and exploration, which is an innate human quality at the core of progress and thriving civilizations;
• To ensure the survival of human civilization and the biosphere, and protect them from natural and man-made disasters.

Expanding boundaries to this new frontier is a pursuit of freedom, a fundamental element of progress essential to the fulfillment of human potential.

I’ll be quite frank and say that the space program is right up there with national defense as one of the issues that I think are absolutely vital. To those who would argue that we are wasting our money in space, I would suggest first considering the short term, direct results of the space program, such as GPS, global communications, and accurate weather prediction. How many lives have been saved because satellites let us track hurricanes days before they strike land?

It is also necessary to consider the long term impacts of the space program - specifically as relating to the third point in the list above. The solar system has a large but finite lifespan. Sooner or later, the Sun will begin to cool and die. Furthermore, if current predictions of stellar evolution are correct, it will expand as it cools - an event that will probably boil away the oceans of Earth and render the surface of the planet sterile. (Yes, the sun will cool - but it will be cool for a star.) In the shorter term, there is always the chance of an asteroid strike or mass calamity. Every major geological age has ended with a mass extinction - some wiping out up to 90 percent of species on earth. We are high up enough on the food chain that there is a fair chance that such a major calamity will exterminate the human race on Earth.

The qualifier about “on Earth” is added deliberately. Obviously, catastrophes within our ecosystem will not affect other ecosystems - other ecosystems which can only be created or populated through human settlement in space. The key to settling these other ecosystems is starting now. Expanding towards space will be a technological and societal struggle possibly greater and more difficult than anything we have attempted before, and will require both resolve and foresight. Furthermore, we will need to start early, and work persistently at the problem for years, if not decades, if not centuries. Hollywood aside, major space flight initiatives do not get built in a day. Technology is cumulative - fifty years ago, the laptop I am typing this entry on would have not only been ridiculously expensive but technologically impossible. Now, a private citizen can easily carry more computing power than was possessed by the Manhattan project. Likewise, interstellar travel cannot start from scratch, but must build upon interplanetary travel, which must build upon lunar travel, which in turn must build upon cheap orbital launch systems, which must in turn build upon something like the level of technology we currently have.

Although the task will be long and difficult, we can accomplish the goal of interstellar travel and human space settlements given time. It will simply require foresight and resolve. The very same foresight and resolve that has led us to our current bold strategy to deal with the finite nature of oil reserves. Yes, in the face of the certain eventual failure of every oil reserve discovered or undiscovered, we gritted our teeth, made the hard choice, and built SUVs.

It’s a good thing that Buzz Aldrin chaired this summit. He’s got experience beating sensibility into the ignorant.

My wings are made of tungsten, my flesh of glass and steel,
I am the joy of Terra for the power that I wield.
Once upon a lifetime I died a pioneer,
Now I sing within a spaceship’s heart,
Does anybody hear?
-Julia Ecklar, Phoenix

After a nice, relaxing, weekend, I came back to the dorm this evening to find a small slip of paper that had pushed under my door. One quick read later, and my nice relaxing weekend was right out the window. You see, this particular slip of paper was from the UD Center for Social Concern, advertising their latest event: the “Week of Student Action Against the War”. I’ll take a minute to reprint the contents of this pamphlet.

• FAST FOR PEACE: Monday: Sun-up to sun-down fast, with group dinner to follow.
• PRAY FOR PEACE: Tuesday: 24-hour vigil starting at 4:30 p.m. on Humanities Plaza.
• EDUCATE FOR PEACE: Wednesday: PAPA teach-in 11-2 in Torch Lounge by UD profs
• PLAY FOR PEACE: Thursday: Bands “The Melting Room” and “Breakaway” play in the KU Pub 8-12:30; donations to Voices in the Wilderness, to bring aid to Iraqis effected [sic] by sanctions
• RALLY FOR PEACE: Friday: Rally and discussion on Founders Field 2-4 p.m.; Small group discussions open to students of all political opinions to talk about current issues.

Questions? Center for Social Concern x9-2524

Do you notice anything about all of the above events? It seems to me that there is one common connection - with the exception of the “Prayer for Peace” and the “Rally for Peace”, none of them have anything to do with actuall y ending the war. This is my largest problem with the CSC - their activities tend to include a lot more “social concern” than they do “social action.” Consider the Week In Solidarity with the Homeless, which included a whole lot of sympathy with the homeless and no action to solve the problem. That’s right, none. No soup kitchen visits, no donation drives, no work at Habitat for Humanity, nothing. I am certain that the homeless are deeply touched that a bunch of college students have taken time out of their lives to do nothing for them.

Aside from containing little action, there is another problem with the Week of Student “Action” Against The War. Namely, this week assumes that all students on campus are against the war. This appears to be something of a pattern for anti-war protesters at the UD, despite anecdotal
and statistical evidence that this is most likely not the case. Allow me to be perfectly clear about one thing: The Center for Social Concern is not a private organization on this campus. The Center fo r Social Concern is a subsidiary of UD Campus Ministry, which is a full-fledged part of the the UD administration. My tuition is helping to pay for this week of protest.

Incidentally, this protest is not just about peaceful rallies. A brief glance at the CSC calendar reveals something not mentioned by the slip pushed under my door. Prior to the “Rally for Peac e” on Friday, the CSC has a student walk-out scheduled at 12:15 - right in the middle of normal 12:00 classes. Think this over for a second. The CSC - a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Dayton - is encouraging students to walk out of classes at the University of Dayton. My tuition dollars are being used to attack the process of education that my tuition dollars are paying for.

I am going to make a proposal to all interested students on campus. I am not going to take the extreme approach to these protests, because while I do not agree with the CSC’s views, I am not about to spit on them. However, I think it is high time that those of on campus who disagree with the CSC held our own week: A Week of Student Support for the War in Iraq. Those of us supporting the war do not like violence, but we like the war more than the alternative, which is an Iraqi regime led by Saddam Hussein and armed with WMDs. Here’s a rough and tentative schedule:

• WRITE FOR WAR: Monday: Write letters to the UD administration and the CSC asking an explanation for why student tuition is being used to encourage a student walk-out.
• PRAY FOR WAR: Tuesday: Pray for the safety of our troops, for Iraqi civilians, and for Iraqi conscripts. Actually, this will be going on all week.
• EDUCATE FOR WAR: Wednesday: Examine the causes of the war in Iraq, such as Saddam’s unspeakably brutal treatment of his own people and his blatant disregard for UN resolutions. Visit Ready.gov and prepare for the possibility of terrorist attacks. Review your first aid skills.
• BOYCOTT FOR WAR: Thursday: Resolve never to buy anything from “The Melting Room” or “Breakaway”. In fact, eat anywhere beside the KU dining hall that evening. Let’s make sure that KU is deserted when the “Play for Peace” bands take the state.
• STAY FOR WAR: Friday: Avoid the student rally. Encourage other students to stay in class at 12:15, in recognition of the value of our education. If all else fails, suggest that faculty schedule quizzes at 12:20.

For those of you who are wondering about my earlier criticism of CSC for not taking action in their “Week of Action”, bear something in mind as you read this list. I am not claiming that this week will be about taking action for the war in Iraq - I am intending to support the war in Iraq by saying, “Yes, this war is in my name.” I have no problem with those who oppose the war. I have a problem with those who oppose the war, use their unique position within the administration to elevate their views, make it appear as though the entire campus opposes the war, and do all of the above with my tuition. I will not stand idly by while the CSC does all of the above.

This always applies, but since I have probably just stepped into a large minefield, I should repeat it: The opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. In no way are these opinions the official stance of the University of Dayton - they simply provide hosting to all students here. If you have an issue with any of the above, don’t contact the webmaster. E-mail me instead. I welcome comments from any viewpoint, but those with particularly atrocious spelling or ad-hominem attacks will be summarily deleted. Just as it is my website, it is my e-mail account.

I’m not going to attempt to say anything more about the justness of the imminent war in Iraq here. Glenn Reynolds over at InstaPundit has found an Iraqi expatriate who has spoken on the subject far more effectively than I can hope to do. He links to an MP3 of this man calling in to a radio talk show where a peace activist is the day’s guest. Listen to what he has to say - it’s well worth considering.

In all fairness, I should note that there has been uncertainty about this man’s identity. However, the questions he raises about the upcoming invasion and the inability of the peace activist to answer them are just as valid if he is an Iraqi or not.

As I write this, there are 32 hours left on Bush’s deadline. Let’s hope Saddam has the good sense to blink.

How exactly would leaving Saddam Hussein in power promote peace and justice in Iraq? - Iraqi-American caller to a KVI radio program

I recently got the chance to read through Fallen Angels (Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Michael Flynn), which is available for download from the Baen Free Library. The story revolves around the actions of a group of science-fiction fans in a near-future world that is fiercely hostile to science and technology. The result is somewhere between Rocket Boys and Escape from LA. Our protagonists alternately dodge the law, contend with an ice age, are captured by a cheese cartel in the Midwest, encounter museum curators who have been forced through reeducation camps , and try to launch makeshift manned rockets into orbit.

Despite the satirical surrealism of this novel’s environment, the characters of the story are carefully crafted to be authentic. What emerges is an odd sort of science fiction novel, which explores the actions of science fiction fans in an environment antithetical to everything that they hold dear: exploration, rational inquiry, and enthusiasm for the future. As a result, our protagonists are forced to fight for these ideals against their environment. The authors do not merely describe this struggle, b ut positively exult and glorify it. The protagonists fight the good fight against impossible odds for truth, justice, manned space flight, science education, speculative fiction, and the American way. The end result is that Fallen Angels isn’t just another science-fiction novel.

It’s a science-fiction manifesto.

And when the stars are conquered, it’ll be by wanted fans! - Fallen Angels