The Razor "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate"

Summer 2003

Plurality should not be posited without necessity. In other words, don't make things needlessly complicated. This principle gives precedence to simplicity: of two competing theories the simplest one is most likely correct.

This is an online source devoted to the search for Truth through the expression of logic and reason. Here we posit that civilization is preferred over the lack thereof, that universals exist which are independent of bias and opinion, and that Absolute Truth can be found. Finally, this source puts forth that it is the duty of every civilized man and woman to defend Truth against attack and to disseminate it whenever and wherever possible.

Since October 2001.

"Extraordinary claims demand an extraordinary level of proof."

William of Ockham
1288-1348

For reference and further analysis please visit these "new media" outlets:

Remember 9-11 - Why we are here.

Day By Day - Humor for the 21st Century

Scrappleface - see above

Instapundit

Andrew Sullivan

FrontPageMag.com

USS Clueless

Voice of the Commonwealth

Useful Idiots

Coldfury

Right Thinking

Silfay Hraka

Ann Coulter

Pirate-King

Pejmanesque

Causes Worth Supporting

ITPAA - Supporting American IT professionals

Facts About Israel - Think you know them? Bet you don't.

MEMRI

NoIndoctrination.org - Fight for free speech on campus

Sar-El - Volunteer in Israel and make a difference

TroopAid

Deeper Thoughts....

October 1, 2003

We're baaack. And you thought we had given up the ghost, didn't you? Well, we've renewed the domain name. And we'll be moving to an active domain. PHPNuke is on the horizon, mwuhahahaha...

Meanwhile, something to consider:

RE: The Palestinians: Ariel Sharon should draw a map of the future Palestine that includes all the territory he can feasibly give away. Feasibly in his case means not having his government overthrown or him being shot.

Next, he should announce the size of that land in square kilometers. Then he should add that for each Israeli casualty, he will subtract one square kilometer from that total. Wound an Israeli? Palestine=X-1. Machine gun a 7 month old baby? X-2. And so on.

See you soon. - Nic

Sept 11, 2003

So much has changed in 2 years, but so much is still the same. As the better parts of humanity strives for greatness, others remain mired in the past. Yet the days pass nevertheless and I pass with them, floating along, swimming along when I can marveling at it all.

But I cannot forget. I will not forget. And God may forgive them but I never will because more than anything I am an American.

I AM AN AMERICAN

Aug 26, 2003

Headline: Hamas vows revenge for attack.
What's the worst Hamas can do? Blow up another bus filled with women and children?

Aug 11, 2003

A friend of mine and his buddies went to the Springsteen show last night. During a lull in the concert, he and his friends got to discussing Judaism - not unusual since they are all Jewish. A fellow concert - goer sitting in front of them, drunk, stoned and obviously stupid, turned around and said "Jews? Hitler should have burned them all!"

My friend and his friends were so surprised by the obvious stupidity of the speaker, as well as his comment, that they didn't react. The speaker himself quickly realized that he said something really stupid, smiled sheepishly, and turned around.

To all of you who thought it was behind us - it's not.

Speaking of anti-semitic asses, the French are raked over the coals by Steven Den Beste. While you are there, also check out his view of the US as Gulliver. Den Beste is having a good week so drop on by the USS Clueless.

Aug 10, 2003

Just got back from a trip to DC and neighboring Alexandria Virginia. Our first stop was to the Pentagon. We took the Metro to the station, exited, and then walked around the building. The day was grey, overcast and quite humid but no one seemed to mind. Eventually our walk took us to an area where the windows of the building looked new. Beyond that side, there was a lot of construction in the parking lot, and the entire area was walled off and guarded with a very polite guard carrying a very rude-looking large caliber automatic. "You've probably been asked this a million times," the Wife said, "But is that where the plane hit?" The guard nodded and smiled. "Yes, ma'am." The trepid adventurer that she is then asked, "Can we go over there?" The guard, still smiling said, "No, ma'am."

The facade was new but the workmen did an excellent job of blending the stone in to conceal the damage. But the scar remains. Eventually the stone will weather and perhaps even match the other four sides of the building. But no amount of weathering will ever mask the terror of September 11.

I looked around the horizon, viewing the same buildings that the passengers on that doomed plane saw out there windows in their last moments. I hoped that they didn't know when the end came. I have seen the footage taken by a security camera at a nearby parking lot of the plane slamming into the building. It appeared to me to vaporize on impact.

I thought about the way everything changed on that day, the way that my country awakened to its enemy. It was a good start to a very enlightening day.

Next stop, the Lincoln Monument. To me Lincoln and his memorial exemplify everything that is good about America. Lincoln recognized the peril that confronted our nation "A nation divided against itself cannot stand." He recognized the humanity of the Southerners and viewed them as "our brothers". But he then acted to preserve the unity of the United States and to end the abomination of slavery. To do so cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of American men.

On the steps of his monument, African-Americans have called for freedom; Jews have called for the creation of a state of Israel; women and gays have called for equality and Martin Luther King called for unity.

Nearby lays the Vietnam War Memorial. There are actually two of these; the wall along with three larger than life statues, one carrying an M-16 rifle. Both are noteworthy, but the Wall is something else.

In 1985 a replica of the wall toured the USA. I remember seeing it in Chicago and seeing large bear-like men weeping like girls. It scared me at the time but brought home the point that this monument was something special.

The beauty is in the details. A toy car with a boys name wrapped in plastic. I zippo from Cu-chi. A Distinguished Service Award. Large men - grey now - still teary-eyed after all these years. I'll be honest, I wept too.

I came away with the feeling that every president, no matter his or her political or ideological orientation, should visit the wall before giving the order for deploying the troops. The Wall should be the acid test. The President must judge if the objective is worth a wall full of names. She or he must then honestly do everything in his/her power to keep the list of names as short as possible.

There are objectives worth such a sacrifice, and those men did not die in vain. There will no doubt be more names and more walls, but we must hold our leaders to the standard that the Wall presents us.

Aug 1, 2003

I support gay marriage. I do not think that it weakens the institution. The people propping up the Pope have come out against it - which is just as well since it does contradict Church teachings. But like Andrew Sullivan, I find it a bit hard for Rome to speak out on the issue while the Papacy is tainted in scandal. I would prefer that the Church simply ignore this issue - just as they ignored such other issues like child-rape by priests and the Holocaust. But hey, I'm not Catholic - anymore and for reasons such as this.

As for the political aspect of it, it just doesn't move me in the same way that taking out Saddam does. And the idiots who are calling for a Constitutional Amendment "to protect marriage" would do better to spend their energy on keeping mens flies zipped up since adultery is a greater threat to marriage than gays. After all, lesbians are much more monogamous than straight people.

Also, a quick plug for Steven Den Beste who has an accurate assessment on evolution - a concept near and dear to an ex-chimp chaser like me. He touches all the right bases, and for anyone who wants an explanation of evolution that is accurate yet easy to read, this is it.. He even gets the nature=Darwinian and culture=Lamarkian that so many screw up. Good stuff.

July 24, 2003

"One can disagree without being disagreeable." - Gerald Ford.

When I argue, I argue. Part Jew + part Irish = 100% fire in the belly, go for the throat, opinionated... asshole. How easy it is for me to forget Ford's statement, piss people off, then regret it afterwards. I got into it today with a moral relativist - ex- military of Jewish decent - who equated the axing of Saddam & his sons with that of Bush. I'll admit, I had a bad day and was looking to blow off steam... In the end I was kicking myself for not using better arguments when I should have NOT BEEN ARGUING AT ALL.

One thing that I occasionally forget: my opponents are are not idiots undeserving of compassion. They are not demons or evil. While I thought I was not getting personal, I did rip into her arguments with undeserved veracity. She thought that I was attacking her, took it personally and even when I apologized it was clear to all that it was too late. I had crossed the line, and will be ignored - written off as a Right Wing lunatic.

One can disagree without being disagreeable. Sometimes I need to step back and remind myself that I am not Ann Coulter, or Bill O'Reilly defending the world from Evil. Truth be told, there's usually a strong chance that I am wrong. At the very least I need to follow Ford's dictum to keep the level of dialog going. Monologs are incredibly boring, and the only way to expect people to listen is to listen to them.

I screwed up today, and I am truly sorry. I could offer a thousand excuses, but really there is no reason for uncivility in today's society. Democrat or Republican; Straight or Gay; Brown or Pink; There are few truly evil men in this world, and I need to remember that the people that I meet are most likely on the same side as I am when it comes to respecting life and wanting a better world for my children.

But I have no problem with the killings of Uday and Qusay... ;)

July 22, 2003

Bye-Bye Uday and Qusay.

Excellent job boys and girls of the US intelligence community and armed forces.

July 21, 2003

So Idi Amin is on his deathbed and will soon meet the two hundred thousand he sent to the hereafter in the 1970s. As the joke goes, "It must have been someone he ate." To think that this psychopath was allowed to live out his days in Saudi Arabia and was never tried by ANY international tribunal for his atrocities makes it all the easier to ignore such things. However, it does still say a lot about Saudi Arabia. Oh, and the majority of people he killed? Black Muslims. Let's see who shows up at his funeral (my money is on Jimmy Carter).

On the highway to Hell...

Then there's this on the BBC complicity in the death of David Kelly. So does the BBC stand for Bloody Broadcasting Company? You decide.

July 18, 2003

I think Andrew Sullivan is right. We are all bloody lucky to have Tony Blair as Prime Minister. For those of you who are like me and wondered what it would have been like to live at the same time as Winston Churchill, to be lucky enough to share the same planet at the same moment in history as someone of such stature, then look no further than Prime Minister Tony Blair. The man gets it. He understand us at a time when most people don't. He understand this moment in history and how important it is to the future of our world. He is a true visionary - but yet gifted with the ability to convey what he sees clearly to the rest of us too stuck in the past to understand.

Tony Blair isn't just the U.K.'s Prime Minister - he is the leader of all of us who refuse to bow down before our enemies in the hope that they will leave us alone. He is the leader of our civilization as it struggles with an enemy that seeks its destruction for the glory of a debased vision of God. While George Bush was molded into a leader by history, Blair has molded history through his eloquent and elegant leadership.

All British citizens, all people who value freedom should be proud of this man's contribution to our future.

A link to his 07/17/2003 address to a joint session of Congress can be found here.

July 17, 2003

Well, I'm back after starting a new job. By the look of things no one missed me, but that's okay. If masturbation is now healthy for men, who knows what they will find with blogs that no one but the writer reads. Maybe they will help cure brain cancer by getting all the crappy thoughts out of one's head - like a priest being sued for the comments he made at a funeral.

While I don't subscribe to the Catholic religion (or any religion for that matter being just a shade away from atheism just enough to be considered a Buddhist), one shouldn't whine and especially run to the courts over a matter of faith. The priest stated that the deceased was "living in sin" and "lukewarm in his faith". Catholicism is a hierarchical faith unlike the Quakers where everyone - pastor and congregation - are equals. Under Catholicism the priest outranks the layman, and if you don't like it, well you can either find another priest or stop calling yourself a Catholic. Either way, running to the Courts isn't the answer. Note to everyone: THE GOVERNMENT ISN'T YOUR MOMMY. STOP TREATING IT LIKE IT IS!

Thanks Pirate-King for the head's up. AAARGGH!

July 7, 2003

Thank you for your patience. It appears that the Summer news lull may be coming to an end. With President Bush's "Bring 'em on" comment last Wednesday and the "Flypaper" scenario gaining credance, we may finally have an alternative to the "quagmire" analogy that better fits the facts. Add to this the likelihood that we may sending troops into Liberia, terrorist attacks in Iraq, Pakistan and Russia BUT NOT THE USA and there is again much to write about.

Let's start with Liberia. In my humble opinion, one of the greatest failures of the international community and the United States government in particular was to stop the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. At the time, there was plenty of excuses not to intervene - no American/international interests involved, "those people have to work it out themselves"-type excuses, the humanitarian F-UP in Somalia the previous Autumn - good solid, realistic reasons not to intervene. Too bad they were all wrong.

Rwanda wasn't Vietnam. Hell, Rwanda wasn't even Saigon or even Da Nang. Rwanda could have been saved by a small force of well armed American marines who would simply point their M-16s at people and tell them to "put the god-damned kitchenware down and go home". Doing this could have saved 800,000 lives. The international community, especially the United Nations, France and yes, the United States all screwed up.

Whenever you hear Clinton get all "holier-than-Bush". Whenever you hear "St. Jimmy" Carter talk about how the Republicans and President Bush in particular are screwing up the world, remember Rwanda. History will remember Clinton for three things: Impeachment, failure to take al-Qaeda seriously, and Rwanda.

President Bush sees the future in Liberia, and so he's acting. The longer I look at the President, the more I like him. It is clear that he is a man of conviction, and sees the potential for a major catastrophe in Liberia. It's not that hard, just look at the nearby nation of Sierra Leone - another failure of the Clinton Administration and France's ami the United Nations.

Bush realizes the danger in Liberia, so he's sending in the troops. Liberian President Charles Taylor has already stepped down. Rest assured that the first Marine to arrive in FreeTown will have his hands on Taylor's belt, hustling him onto a chopper bound for Lagos.

It will be interesting to see how the anti-American Left spins this one.

Speaking of anti-American, it appears that the BBC is in deep trouble. Their charter is up for renewal in 2006, and the British are sharpening their knives. As a devout listener of the World Service, the opening "This... is London," used to send shivers down my spine. Now it stirs me in the same was as does Deutschland uber alles. The Beeb has lost it completely. For proof of their bias, check out BBCWatch. For convenience I have cut a PDF file of the main indictment which can be downloaded here.

July 2, 2003

Things are progressing on the job search front, so I haven't forgotten about this place. No comments yet on the redesign so I'll just assume that all is well.

One of the biggest concerns I have in Iraq is the "Cry Wolf" effect. Given the intelligence failure to find WMD, on top of previous failures in Afghanistan and worst of all, 9-11, it's hard for even a hardcore Machiavellian realist like me to buy anything that our intelligence comes up with regarding Iran and North Korea. This is a major problem, given that our intelligence in NK may be much better (it's easier to bribe someone who's starving to death) and the consequences much worse. Seoul is 26 miles away from the DMZ. All of Japan is within NK missile range, and Taiwan, Alaska and the West Coast are within range of their latest ones. As a Californian myself, I am not to keen about the latter prospects, although a limited detonation above the UC-Berkeley campus this Fall wouldn't be all that bad.

June 28, 2003

The Pirate-King suggested a redesign of the site - which had remained the same for roughly 2 years - that's 20 internet years to you and me. It gives it a much more "bloggy" appearance, but hey, that's what it is. Since the host server doesn't support anything useful like PHP or CGI scripts, I can't use any of the other blog software out there, so I'll have to do it all myself. No worries though. I will have a permalink feature shortly.

Thanks again to Mother-In-Law (May Her Name Be Praised).

Let me know what you think of the redesign. Contact Machiavelli at TheRazor.org.

June 22, 2003

The Weekly World Headline says it all:

Saddam & Osama in love! Revealed: Their shocking secret life

The only thing that shocks me about this photo is that I always considered Saddam was the Butch one and Osama the Femme.

June 18, 2003

This kind of thing always freaks me out:

The woman set herself on fire to protest the round-up of Iranian Left-wing intellectuals in France opposed to the current Iranian regime. What bothers me most about this picture is the fact that the USA supported the round up.

Excuse me?

It turns out that the People's Mujahadeen aren't the nicest of groups, but still, as a political realist "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" still rings true. I mean, if the woman was a Hamas supporter she could have strapped on a bomb-belt and taken some Parisians with her. Instead she decided to immolate herself - killing no one else.

One thing that the Palestinians have never realized is the power of non-violence. They could have gotten their state a decade ago if they had directed their energies towards non-violent protest instead of shooting 7 year old Israeli girls to death. If Hamas suicide bombers immolated themselves instead of Jerusalem buses, they would garner much more sympathy. But they aren't interested in sympathy or protest; they want to destroy Israel and set-up an Islamic caliphate in it's place.

Which leads me back to France.

France has refused to join the rest of the civilized world in freezing out Hamas from negotiations on Arab-Israeli settlement issues. The French, having refined their negotiating skills with the Germans standing at the edge of Paris in 1940, now wish to apply said technique to the Gordian Knot of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hamas has one mission: to destroy Israel and set-up an Islamic caliphate in it's place. As I have stated previously, one can negotiate with a mugger but not a murderer. Hamas doesn't want peace. It is not interested in just the West Bank and Gaza. It wants (say it with me): to destroy Israel and set-up an Islamic caliphate in it's place. Hamas needs to be destroyed, its members either killed or deprogrammed. France - yet again through its stubborness and stupidity - stands in the way of completely annihilating this group of psychotic thugs.

France is again playing its dangerous game with dangerous people. In this case the victims will most likely be the Palestinians and Israelis who are desperate for peace. However one doesn't have to be a believer in Karma to recognize the "blow-back" France will experience in the future by treating the world's psychopaths with gentle hands.

It takes a big man to cry. It takes a bigger man to call that man a liberal wuss.

June 5, 2003

Fox News just reported that New York Times executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd have resigned. Looks like the reverberations from the desposing of Saddam are still being felt. Andrew Sullivan must be doing a little victory dance - as should anyone who values the objective search for the Truth in the media.

And while I'm here... I forgot to note that yesterday was the 14th anniversary of TiananMen. I didn't forget it - having helped out some Chinese pro-democracy students suddenly stuck in the USA back then. One reason I still dislike Bush the Elder is for his gentle handling of the Chinese regime after this event. The Chinese people deserve to be free, and any freedom loving person should never forgot those who died that day fighting for the values we take for granted today.

June 4, 2003

Should I be like the rest of the blogosphere and apologize for not having any ideas to write about? As Den Beste noted recently, it's a slow news cycle. I concur. Bear with me and look at some of the early stuff I wrote. Here are a couple of favorites:

Your conscience is their cover.

Why suicide bombing fails as a strategy for statehood.

Medicin sans brains

Evolution vs Intelligent Design

Meanwhile, rest assured that the minute something comes up that doesn't involve Scott Peterson or Martha Stewart, I'll write about it.

May 26, 2003 Memorial Day

The man in the lower left hand corner is my father. Legend has it that he got drunk one night in a tavern, and afraid to face my mother the next day, he enlisted. For two years he fought the Japanese in the Philippines and lived to tell me the tales that form the foundation of my childhood. He died just when I was 11 - when a boy needs the company of his father for the challenges that lay ahead. But he was there for me nevertheless - and still is.

To all the veterans - all of America's citizen soldiers... Thank you.

For creating a land where I don't have to fear punishment for what I write. Thank you.

For building a society where my children can achieve their dreams. Thank you.

For protecting our great country from those who would do us ill. Thank you.

For laying down your lives so that we might live ours in peace and prosperity. Thank you.

For giving up your dreams so that we can live ours. Thank you.

For becoming our heroes - the men and women who embody the ideals we all hold dear. Thank you.

Thank you every one of you.

May 23, 2003

While we at The Razor don't buy into that sensitive male crap, we do like those who challenge themselves and people's expectations. That said we support Annika Sorenstam's attempt at making the cut at the PGA.

Go Annika Go!

And don't think we support Title IX because we don't.

That said...I've been busy. Before I forget...

"Gimme big sloppy Shiite kisses!!!"

Cultural differences my ass. That's just icky...

May 12, 2003

Take a look at this picture (courtesy of Frontpage Magazine)

FrontpageMag is ripping the bejesus out of the morons holding it up - but as an ex-teacher, writer and copyeditor I thought that I'd clean up the grammar and spelling a little bit before making any attempt to understand the message.

What is it with extremists and bad English? I recall seeing Klansmen holding signs saying "Nigers go home" at a rally in Greensboro - and there weren't any citizens from that west African nation around. Recently much has been made in the press about the poor writing skills of young Americans. This is yet another example of the problem.

The purpose of this "sign" is to make an impression in order to convey a message. One way to do this would be to cover your naked skin with writing (see a discussion on naked protests here). Another way is to take a symbol and deface it in some way. The Cornell lads evidently chose this route - perhaps because their bodies aren't as attractive as the Dixie Chicks - or because it was chilly that day. Because the flag has white in it, and because white displays black ink better, they can then combine the desecration of a symbol with the message.

However in this case, the first criteria seems to have been to fill up all the white stripes in the flag with "the Message"? Why?

Perhaps they are Visual Arts majors who couldn't figure out how to balance the short message of say "America=Evil!" or "America sucks and so do we!" Or maybe they believed like children that more of a good thing is always better, so they decided to continue adding grievances without regard to the overall content of the sign. This of course is a blatant disregard for the writing dictum that one should never use three words when two will do.

That said, let's take a look at the messages:

According to author Stephen Jay Gould, the worst historical sin one makes is to judge our forebears by contemporary standards. Setting aside the fact that the vast majority of historians continue to recognize the positive contributions made by the Founding Fathers of the United States, the logic of the protesters is wrong. Good can come out of Evil acts - and does so all the time. The modern day integration of Europe, for example, is a direct consequence of Hitler's conquest of Europe. The opposite is also true: good can beget evil - hence the old saw "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" (and one which the current administration is no doubt concerned about in Iraq).

Secondly, the connection between the USA and the Catholic Church has got to be a filler. Even those who rode the short-bus to school yet still made it into Cornell through the "Affirmative Action for Absolute Morons" program must recognize that the US government has no control whatsoever over the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is an international entity that frequently conflicts with the agenda of the American government. The US is no more responsible for pedophile priests than the Pope is the 2002 Farm Bill passed by Congress.

Finally, the students fail to recognize that we are, according to William James, imperfect beings living in an imperfect world - and the same can be said of the institutions these beings create. As such every modern nation state has a few genocides and atrocities in the closet. However that in no way justifies ignoring the atrocities of today - as these students seem to be arguing rather pathetically.

Germans have every right to speak out against inhumanity - even though Germans committed some of the most egregious acts of inhumanity ever seen on the planet. The Japanese are some of the most outspoken pacifists of today, yet were some of the most militaristic of nationalities just 58 years ago. History does not bind us by passing on the sins of the fathers to the sons. Thank god for that. I'm sure there's a whole heap of sins buried in the past along with the moldering bones of my alcoholic Irish ancestors. I simply don't want to know what those bog-dwelling bastards did to survive - but I'm sure it wasn't all pleasant, legal, and proud. Still, in fairness to them and their memories, I'm here and managed to breed....

True patriotism comes from pride in national accomplishments and shame in national mistakes. I can still wave the flag proudly while knowing about America's 19th century genocide against native Americans. Did the US shaft native Americans? You bet. Did America rebuild Europe and Japan after World War 2 without turning them into colonies? Uh-huh.

Instead of a clear message of dissent we get "We're a bunch of university morons who should spend less time writing on flags in dorm rooms and more time reading and writing on paper in classrooms." Do yourselves a favor and take remedial writing classes you freaking assholes...

...

A joke - given to me by <thunderclap of Doom>The Mother-in-law </thunderclap of Doom>

5 Surgeons

Five surgeons are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on. The first surgeon says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered." The second responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside them is color-coded." The third surgeon says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order."

The fourth surgeon chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers. They always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end and when the job takes longer than you said it would."

But the fifth surgeon, Dr. Morris Fishbein, shuts them all up when he observes: "The French are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls and no spine. Plus the head and ass are interchangeable."

Note: I've done a quick search of the net and found that the joke dates back to at least 1999, and has been directed at lawyers, politicians and engineers. Personally I think it works best with the French; I also like the nice touch of a Jew handing over the punch line.

May 8, 2003

Sitting outside contemplating the garden, as the scent of the lilac nearby fills the air. It's humid, and some butt-kicking storms are heading our way. The roses are lush and not yet victimized by aphids, black-spot and Japanese beetles (the Japanese call them "American Beetles" by the way). The color of the new leaves varies from plant to plant, from pale yellow to crimson. May is the month for roses. The foliage is almost as pretty as the first blooms, when the garden turns into a daytime fireworks show making its upkeep worthwhile the remaining 11 months of the year.

While puttering around I found a bag of Spider flower seeds dated "Summer '01". Spider flowers (Cleome) are like the Americans of the garden. They sprout up in places where they aren't always wanted and often threaten to take over. They are showy, borderline gaudy with their fat balls of blooms. They also smell rather pungent. But when everything else is wilting under the summer sun, they keep blooming and don't stop until the plants are buried under the snow. I've always liked them and was happy to find the bag at this particular time when the garden is still being planted.

The seeds had been collected in the days after Sept 11, 2001 when the sky above our house was empty of anything - clouds and oddest of all, airliners. Honestly, I don't remember much about the days immediately after September 11. The pall over the New York Skyline. Sounds of F-16s patrolling overhead in the morning. A sky so blue that it almost hurts to remember it.

Americans in the garden...

When everything falls apart, when illusions that you've held for years crumble, when things you've taken for granted suddenly are gone, one is left with the Zen command to "chop wood, carry water". For me that meant tending the Spider plants - pulling their long seed pods which split between my fingers and released their tiny brown seeds. Chop wood carry water. I placed the seeds into a baggie, labeled them, and then stowed them away.

Last year the Spider flowers appeared in my garden as they usually did, but were shredded by beetle. For the first year in many, none made it to the point where they went to seed - and so my garden this year is missing the carpet of green, club-shaped petals as the Spider flowers race with each other to the sky.

So I cleared part of the garden known as the "hospital" - a section reserved for ailing plants - and took fistfuls of the seeds and scattered them. A world without Americans would be a dull world, and my garden is a much sadder place without the Spider flowers competing with the fragile English roses and Japanese maples for attention. Spider flowers are tough - last year notwithstanding. They are often hated by formal gardeners for their uncontrolled appearance and pungent odor. But honestly, I hate formal gardens and look askance at people who don't.

I raked in the seeds and then watered the garden, priming the earth for the rain.

May 6, 2003

Appy-polly-logies for light posting while life is consumed with trying to leave the ranks of the unemployed. However this Media Echo must be commented upon. Read it before continuing...

All done? Good. If this is true, then it could be a hit below the waterline for US-France relations. This journal is devoted to Absolute Truth - and currently there has been no corroboration from other sources of this article. The unfortunate thing is that it fits a pattern of behavior that has been established by the French over the Iraq Issue. As such it is difficult to not believe it.

If true, why? What has the USA done to elicit such behavior? Are the French people and government "different" then the rest of us? Do they not respect our shared culture, values and history? France was with the USA at the time that it was forged. France protected the USA when it was still in its infancy and could easily have been recaptured by the British. It guided American relations with Europe during the 19th Century. While much has been said about how much France owes the USA for "saving" it in the 20th century, very little has been mentioned about how France was there for the USA like a big brother during the 18th and 19th centuries. Without French assistance during the first hundred years of the Republic, America would not have survived.

Neo-cons need to be reminded of this before they bitch-slap the French.

So why? Why have the French betrayed America? On Sept. 11, only one French national died but three months later Richard Reid attempted to blow up American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami. Had he been successful 197 passengers and crew would have died, and the number of dead French would have been much higher.

Why can't the French understand that they are viewed as infidels in the eyes of Muslim extremists just as Americans are, and that these forces cannot be pacified? America attacks its enemies and becomes safer for it. France collaborates with its enemies and increases the likelihood of attack against it.

France's betrayal of America will not result in Americans planting car bombs in Paris or slamming airliners into Parisian skyscrapers. The French really have nothing to fear from America beyond the loss of our friendship and respect. But the French have lost something more important than that: they have lost their dignity.

April 30, 2003

Okay I'm going to do something I swore I wouldn't do: admit in this journal that I recently became unemployed. Yes, my faith in the free market is being tested as my job was sent to India by a multinational bank whose CEO made $13 million while the stock took a 65% hit. So far I have applied to no less than 85 positions in my area and gotten a handful of nibbles but no bites. 12 years ago I swore that I would never get into IT because it would one day have too many people chasing too few jobs. Six years later I went against my oath and threw myself into the IT field. I was able to whether two years of the downturn, but alas, eventually fell victim to it.

I'm admitting this here because it helps explain the light posting. It's hard to think about anything when one is stuck at home, sending out resumes listening to commercials for refinancing on Fox News. But I'm not going to whine.

Just one question: Has anyone ever been hired by submitting a resume to one of the resume databanks used by large corporations? if you know.

April 24, 2003

I had to change the bumpersticker on the car yesterday. "Free Iraq" seemed so dated now, and besides could be misinterpreted as a call for the end of the so-called American "occupation" of Iraq (as if what the country needed was more non-occupation like Mogadishu...) And since people in my part of the country haven't removed their "War is not the answer" and "No to war" stickers, I decided that I needed to counter their yuppie naiveté with some of my own yuppie neo-radicalism. So should you be driving around the streets of Portland and see a green Toyota Landcruiser with tinted windows and a sticker that says "Torture? Genocide? War IS the Answer sometimes..." be sure to honk. Don't do anything else unless your windows are bullet resistant ;)

In three weeks America and its allies drained a nasty boil on the butt of civilization. In three weeks the rape rooms were permanently closed, Uday's chipper shredders silenced forever, and the children freed from the "children's prison". Kuwait doesn't have to worry about becoming the 19th province of Iraq again, and Israel doesn't have to worry about chemical-tipped scud missiles landing on their soil. Families of homicide-bombers will no longer be paid with money that would be better spent feeding Iraqis; Iraqi exiles will no longer have to look over their shoulders. The marshes of southern Iraq will no longer be drained and most likely will be restored. Where there was fear for the present there is now hope for the future.

All this has been accomplished with no thanks to any of the following:

Susan-Tim-Sarandon-Robbins acting unit

College-dropout Michael Moore

The Dixie Chicks

Martin "Lookat Me! I'm Jesus!" Sheen

Pope "I'm not dead" John Paul II

Madonna

France

Belgium

Germany

Russia

Canada

Mexico

Syria

"The (mythical) Arab Street"

Al-jazeera

International ANSWER ("I'll take 'Bored & Stupid Rich Kids for $100, Alex")

BBC (Pravda on the Thames)

CNN

Take a look at those names and don't forget them. I sure won't - and neither will 23,000,000 Iraqis.

Before Newt Gingrich took a shot at Colin Powell at the American Enterprise Institute last week, he stated that he believed one problem with Americans is that we think of ourselves as "happy hamsters" when the rest of the world thinks of us as a large elephant in the living room whose every movement threatens to break the family heirlooms.

I thought that was a pretty astute observation, especially since it gives me the opportunity to put a picture of Hamtaro on this site.

Having spent the better part of my adulthood abroad, I have to agree. When an American travels, s/he suddenly becomes a representative of everything from the LA Race Riots to Slavery to Baseball. Americans tend to think that everyone in the world knows that we're just a big nation full of "happy hamsters" - but the world recognizes that "happy hamsters" don't take out a Middle Eastern country in 3 weeks of fighting. Hamsters don't have the Marine Corps nor Special Ops units.

The world is starting to fear us - and that is a good thing. One of the reasons we endured the nightmare of September 11, 2001 is that our enemies didn't fear us anymore. Osama Bin Laden and his supporters believed that we were hamsters, that we had grown soft, fat and furry. Since Bin Laden and his ilk live in the 12th Century, they failed to recognize the lesson the Japanese learned 60 years ago. They too had believed that Americans were hamsters incapable of defending themselves. As a result of that error we erased Japan and rebuilt it into the peaceful place that it is today. Bin Laden and his followers met the same fate as the Japanese military junta that engineered the attack on America.

What our supposed "allies" must understand is that while we may not be the hamsters that we think we are, being hamsters in a world of terror and failed Arab Culture isn't feasible. While Hamtaro may not have to worry about becoming a cat-treat, he would if he turned up in my household.

It is in the world's best interest that we continue to see ourselves in the USA as hamsters, but it isn't in our own interest - nor the world's. One fifth of the world's population lives in a culture that cannot modernize, and so thrashes about looking for scapegoats and conspiracies. The only solution is for the USA to erase this culture and allow a new Arab culture to arise - one that is independent from the USA yet able to show Arabs that they can succeed without looking back or blowing up Americans and Jews.

April 19, 2003

Okay, we'll admit it: we miss "Baghdad Bob" AKA Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, (former) Iraqi Minister of Information. Yes we know that he worked for a bloodthirsty boss, and narc'ed on his brother-in-law, but you got a like a guy who is able to say the following with heart:

"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."

So thanks to Mrs. Machiavelli's insomnia, we found this website and recommend it to all who miss Baghdad Bob: WeLovetheIraqiInformationMinister.com.

So "Let the American infidels bask in their illusion" and check out the site for your Baghdad Bob fix today.

April 17, 2003

Read this now. It is proof that there remain French people who espouse such human rights as liberty and freedom. Yes, after the tears shed over Saddam and the desecration of the cemetery reported below I had thought that all decent French people were dead. Unfortunately there may not be enough of them to save France, but at least it will not be a complete rout.

April 15, 2003

Mrs. Machiavelli noted this morning the inverse relationship between patriotism and privilege in popular culture. For example, the mother of rescued POW Shoshana Johnson appeared in an interview today wearing a sweater bearing the American flag. Nearly every scene of rescued POW Jessica Lynch's family home shows the American flag fluttering on the flag pole above the black POW/MIA banner. Other families of soldiers fighting overseas regularly appear wearing red, white and blue or sporting flags of various sizes.

Then there were the anti-war celelbrities such as Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen. Sheen makes as much in one episode of the West Wing ($300,000) as Jessica Lynch's father makes in 10 years of driving a truck. If Karl Marx crawled out of his grave (and did not have his head shot off by my zombie hunting son), he'd be hard pressed to explain why the elder Lynch was more nationalistic and anti-communist than Martin Sheen even though Sheen is a member of the bourgeoisie and should defend the Capitalist system at all costs. Mrs. M finished up by saying that while she appreciates free speech and all, she wishes that people like Sheen who really didn't like the USA would just vote with their feet and leave - making room for those who do want to come here.

This is the rough equivalent of The Grateful Dead telling their fans to get a haircut and a job...

* * * *

I'm glad to see that NPR (Neverfails to Piss me off Radio) still maintains its bias against anything that smacks of American success in the war in Iraq. After all, nothing gets the blood flowing better in the morning than some poorly constructed journalism. This morning's Cumadin-moment occurred after a story about how US soldiers were greeted politely in Tikrit - but not with the bouquets of wildflowers that some had received in Baghdad (I doubt that the US Marines were crushed by this "flower-free" greeting in Saddam's hometown).

The next reporter then spoke about how Germany and France were concerned about being "locked-out" of the rebuilding of Iraq. One French business leader complained that France had been actively involved in the first Gulf War yet had not benefited from any of the contracts to rebuild Kuwait. The reporter then spoke about how Alcatel - the French telecoms firm - had rebuilt the Iraqi phone system after that war and was interested in rebuilding it again.

So where is the bias? First off, no effort was made by the reporter to provide an alternate viewpoint - for example, that France and Germany did not bury dead soldiers, actively sought to derail American efforts to contain the regime which in the end increased the likelihood of war and encouraged Iraqis to put up a fight that in turn lead to increased casualties on both sides. Secondly, the reporter failed to recognize and explore the connection between French/German insistance that the United Nations should rebuild Iraq and these contracts - even as the French spokesmen tap-danced around this issue. Finally, the reporter merely stated that France/Germany were "cool" to the idea of debt forgiveness for Iraq.

NPR is great for one reason though: no one listens to it. So if you feel like me and once supported your local public radio station, the next time they call to beg money tell them that you can't because of their support of NPR. Demand that they let the power of the marketplace into one of the last remaining vestiges of Communism in the USA.

April 8, 2003

Hey Not In Our Name! Cheryl Crow! Susan Sarandon! Michael Moore! Dixie Chicks! Martin Sheen!

What do you say to this?

Jailed Iraqi children run free as marines roll into Baghdad suburbs

Unfortunately this may be missed by those non-embedded journalists whose ears are still ringing after the tank shell hit the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. Not that Saddam's forces would have been using them as human shields or anything. They wouldn't stoop that low would they?

Five years in prison... Somebody needs to slap some sense into the above named "entertainers" and remind the journalists that the bar is temporarily closed at the Palestine..

April 7, 2003

Well we may or may not have found the "smoking gun": barrels of chemicals which may or may not be WMD. Some reports have them to be pesticide. Maybe I'm stupid (Mrs. Machiavelli says so), but has anyone read the complete label? Here's a translation of one of the labels a friend of mine, an "embed" with the 101st, passed along to me:

"RAID Republican Guard - New Extra Strength!

An outdoor product for use in backyards, patios, picnic areas and Kurdish villages. Sprays out far beyond ordinary infidel sprays -- actually kills Kurds up to 20 meters away. Kills and repels scorpions, special ops forces, mosquitoes, gnats, Kurds, Shi'a, Iranians and ants."

Ewww!

But seriously, as the Pentagon says, it is going to take serious time to find these things. We're going to have to test EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE. I doubt if Saddam labled and stored the things properly.

April 4, 2003

I discovered today that my site is representative of the neo-con movement at an anti-war site in Europe. In other words, they don't like it much - but they sure do hit it often enough. Yes The Razor is not anti-American - which makes it suspect in their view. It isn't even anti-European necessarily. What The Razor is anti-idiotarian.

The Razor is anti stupidity; that's the very essence of Occam's Razor. Cut through the crap and find the Truth. We will not stomach idiots - whether on the Left or even on the Right. Yes we have slammed Jimmy Carter (idiotarian extraordinaire). We have slammed the French for being idiots in too. But we also have slammed Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. I'm sure we have slammed Pat Buchanan somewhere too. Idiocy has no political affiliation - though the vast majority of idiotic statements has been coming from the Left recently. Hence this journals tirades against them. Rest assured that when a Right Winger says something idiotic, we'll be there to call 'em on the carpet and swat their snouts with a rolled up newspaper...

But enough about idiots. Let's talk about heroes...

There's an Iraqi who is welcome to bring his family to the Machiavelli household for Korean barbecue any time. His name is "Mohammed" and his story can be found here. This guy risked his life to save an American all because he couldn't stand seeing a girl hit: "I saw them hit the female soldier, and my heart stopped." He risked his life walking a total of 18 miles through "Ambush Alley" to help get PFC Jessica Lynch out of the hands of the Fedayeen Saddam.

Imagine the courage this man had, the conviction - all because he couldn't stand a woman being slapped around. This guy stands for everything America is about: standing up for one's convictions, risking one's life to right an injustice, becoming involved when others prefer to look away.

Mohammed is a true hero and the kind of man we need more of in the world. He proves that even after 30 years, Saddam was unable to extinguish all vestiges of humanity and goodness from the land.

April 3, 2003

Colin Powell stated in Brussels that international organizations had a role in the rebuilding in Iraq - but when asked by a reporter to clarify that role Secretary Powell noted that the "Coalition of the Willing" "took a big hit - politically as well as in terms of treasure and lives lost".

As Den Beste notes here, the French don't have a word for chutzpah "because fish have no word for water." The very idea that the USA, Britain, Australia and the other nations who have risked increased terror attacks, economic embargo, political unrest - as well as lives of their servicemembers - would now hand over Iraq like a present to nations such as Belgium, Germany, France, China, Syria and Russia is simply one of the best political jokes I've heard since Al Sharpton announced his run for the presidency. Can we ever trust these nations in Iraq - or anywhere else - ever again? Is it possible that they will continue to work to undermine the liberation of Iraq in order to make the Coalition of the Willing look bad?

There should be a role for the UN to play: an empty symbolic role. That will allow the French to pretend that they still matter whereas they don't. It will also keep the UN too busy to focus their energy on undermining the rebuilding of Iraq. However any decision that matters must be made by those who risked everything in order to free the Iraqi people.

On another issue of note: A Shiite cleric issued a fatwa for Muslims to help the Coalition forces. A fatwa to help the infidel?

Oh, and for the liberals asking where were the Iraqis waving at our forces and welcoming us? Turn on Fox News...

One more thing about the French...

As a student of English and American history, one cannot help but have little respect for France and find them about as annoying as Cheryl Crowe. However, this crosses the line:

The story is here (from the BBC)

Here's how the French feel about the US, British, Canadian and Australian soldiers who snatched away their country from the Germans and handed it back to them - after paying the ultimate price...

"Dig up your garbage, it is fouling our soil." That's the translation for the shite on the left.

Jacque Chirac and de Villipin should personally apologize to the people of the UK and the USA for this sacriledge. Imagine the outcry here if some American youths spraypainted "French go home" on monuments in a French cemetery here. Oh, I forgot; there aren't any such cemeteries here...

April 2, 2003

Marines rock. What more can I say? Dad was in the Army, Wife is ex-Navy - as is Father-In-Law - but even they say that if you're in a "debate", there's nothing like a few Marines backing up your side of the argument. Marines have always been the 100% shit-kickers in the armed forces. If you need something done - against all odds and without excuses - you call in the Marines. That's why they were sent in to landlocked Afghanistan last year, and why they are driving up the Euphrates to clean out Baghdad now.

Mind you, I have the deepest respect for all the armed services and wouldn't discourage my kids from joining any one of them... But Oliver North is right: Marines simply are the best...

I'm still pissed at journalists as a whole. Of course I just finished Ann Coulter's book "Slander" which just might have something to do with it. I'll admit that I bought in to alot of the stuff she rails against, such as the Liberal's use of the term "Religious Right" as a straw man. If you haven't picked up this book, do so now. It's an easy read - well footnoted too just like Chomsky so you can impress your liberal friends.

Today was a good day. Our forces have pushed to the outskirts of Baghdad, three POWs were rescued, and two Iraqi divisions were smashed (note to future dictators: never EVER name military units after ancient Generals which you have zip in common with. Hammurabi was ahead of his time, but it says volumes when your code of justice is more brutal than his).

Of course Fox News is reporting that a Blackhawk has just gone down in Southern Iraq - killing 7. We must mourn their deaths properly, but not until the job is done.

Let's get 'em...

April 1, 2003

Deep Thoughts had gotten a bit too long and too dated, so we now introduce "Deeper Thoughts". To use a phrase from a dead language Bon Apetit...

So the allies have gotten "bogged down", and "resistance has proven stronger than expected". The Media is starting to dust-off the "Q" word to describe the war - against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. Yes, we are hearing today the same tired echoes of the media from that last war.

As if anyone recalls, the Northern Alliance and allied forces swept towards Kabul, then apparently meeting that "unexpected resistance", "became bogged down" - apparently "ill-equipped to take the capital". So our troops waited around, caught up on their emails, showered, etc while air power ground the Taliban front-lines into dust. After the "lull" our forces were in Kabul before the ink was dry on several articles written by professional journalists describing the "Vietnamization" (ugly, ugly word) of the war against the Taliban. Too bad they were completely wrong.

So why do journalists persists in offering their opinions? Why can't they report an event without adding their analysis?

First, they are elitist and believe that their audience is unable to understand the news on their own. Journalists believe that they are part of the Fourth Estate - protectors of the public - yet by doing so they lose touch with the public which they claim to protect. Secondly, they believe that they know more about the event than others do and that it is their duty to impart this knowledge on their audience. If this includes their opinion, then so be it. Finally, it makes them part of the story. Instead of being mere voyeurs to an event, they become active participants. This is shown by Peter Arnett's taking credit for the anti-war movement in the USA. He no longer is a watcher - he is a player.

Professional journalists understand war about as well as Catholic priests (the ones NOT chasing after the altar boys) understand sex. They know how its done, and they see people do it - yet they really don't understand it. One is hard pressed to name a single professional journalist under the age of forty who served in the military. The vast majority of journalists have degrees in journalism, in contrast to the majority of Americans who don't have any type of college degree and if they do it isn't in journalism. Journalists are not required to study history the way that military officers are. Ask any military officer why the Battle of Cannae is important and you'll get a long-winded treatise. Ask a journalist and you'll get a blank stare.

Journalists are not military experts. They don't understand the history of warfare, its elementary tactics, or the possible outcomes as well as even teen-aged war-gamers do. Witnessing an event does not make one an expert in the same way that seeing black Americans doesn't make me an expert on African-American culture.

What America needs is a revamping of the way journalists are created. Reporters should go back to their role of reporting events, not participating in them. America also needs more amateur journalists or reporters with broader experience. That's where the internet comes in.

Steven Den Beste is not a professional journalist or pundit, but his essays are better researched and presented than anything currently in print. Glenn Reynolds' role of de facto "editor in chief" for blogdom, exposing writers from all corners of the web to the public, democratizes the media far better than the New York Times' hiring of a real conservative writer. Salam Pax has a sobering effect on both hawks and doves - more so than anything that appears in Time or Newsweek.

Blogs and online journals such as this one were born in the aftermath of September 11. That event energized people from all walks of life to take up the pen (or keyboard) and become journalists. Writer Harlan Ellison once wrote a short story called "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". For thousands of us, blogs and online journals are our mouths, and the blogosphere rings with the echoes of our screams.

Fuck you, Peter Arnett.

Deep Thoughts - What won't be happening over the next few hours

Deepest Cuts - The Best of The Razor

Rohrschach Test for the Left - Our first post. Written when Ground Zero was still a funeral pyre and the rest of America was speechless

Why Suicide Bombing Fails As A Strategy for Statehood - It appears that the Palestinians are finally learning this

Creators and Destroyers - A tribute to Daniel Pearl

When Saints Stumble- an open, so far unanswered, letter to Nelson Mandela

Your Conscience is Their Cover - Why Total War is the path to Peace

Bring it on al-Qaeda - America: Opening a giant-sized can of whoop-ass near you!

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For reference and further analysis please visit these "old media" outlets:

The Economist

Ha'aretz Daily

Jane's Information Service

Skeptical Inquirer

The Cato Institute

The National Review