“Don’t blame you for Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” by Masagata, Dear Americans, http://dearamericans.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/03/02/don_t_blame_you_for_hiroshima_and_nagasaki.html, 2 March 2005.

“War is a tragedy,” by Dan, Dear Americans, http://dearamericans.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/03/02/don_t_blame_you_for_hiroshima_and_nagasaki.html, 2 March 2005.

Out of the blue I came across this post

I am Japanese and identify myself as patriot and pacifist.

In my country, there is an enormous criticism for that US dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, I do not agree with those who criticise your country for that matter.

The following is the reasons for that,

1) Japan was the first one who started the war. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor first. Once the war is started, the rules are maximum damage on the enemy’s side, the minimum damage on your side. The nation knew it when it started the war and the rules would continue until it wins or surrenders.

2) Japan did brutal masscre of civilians like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During 1930′s and US-Japan war time, Japanese army occupied China and masscred enoumous number of civilians. One of the examples is Rape of Naking in 1937. Not revewing such facts, we shouldn’t blame others’ brutality. In fact, we haven’t reviewed the past brutality enough like Germans did.

However, I do not support US’s dropping atomic bombs because civilian casualties should not happen and it started the age of nuclear war.

What do you think about my opinion?

Wow. You’re not reminded of nuclear war before you go to bed every night, and certainly not so politely.

I thought for a while, and came up with this comment

War is a tragedy. I wish no one had to die in wars. Many bad things happened in the Pacific War. One friend of my grandfather died in Bataan, and another probably would have been killed in Operation Olympic. But bad things happened to Japanese people too. Many, many, many Japanese people died and disappeared in China and Russia even after the war ended.

I am glad Japan and America are friends now. I hope one day all nations will be friends, and there will be no more wars.

I want a future where cities do not get blowed up. I want a future without death marches, without hundreds of thousands of disappeared, and without war. If we need a star chamber to name the wicked, a leviathon to enforce the star chamber’s will, and a reformed system administrator to rebuild those states, fine.

The democratizations and freedoms of globalization are man’s greatest hope of avoiding war. Let’s hope it is enough.

“Guerrillas Kill 6 Iraqi Soldiers, Wound 25,” by Juan Cole, Informed Consent, http://www.juancole.com/2005/03/guerrillas-kill-6-iraqi-soldiers-wound.html, 2 March 2005.

US mainstream media appears to have behind the scenes instructions not to mention unions if at all possible (older television actors remember this instruction being explicit back in the 1960s with regard to dramas.)

Remember: when there’s a simple explanation (MSM don’t care, MSM isn’t aware of unions as a force, MSM is too busy snubbing world leaders to spare time for Dr. Cole’s pet causes, etc) and a quasi-Marxist conspiracy theory, go with the Marxism.

“Two thoughts from Amsterdam: On legalising prostitution and drugs,” The Acorn, http://opinion.paifamily.com/index.php?p=1278, 2 March 2005.

Acorn combines India, Europe, personal liberty, technocratic governance, and federalism in the best post, ever

While social acceptance of prostitution may not be the government’s business, the government does have an interest in tackling the social problems the ensue from prostitution. Countries like the Netherlands have legalised prostitution; both to avoid the social costs of an industry driven underground, and also to achieve the economic benefits of a formal, organised industry. Can this happen in India?

Not if the central government in New Delhi is expected to make a moral, economic, political and social decision that really is a matter for individual communities to make and live with. Prostitution is really a local business. A brothel in a small, closely knit village of 20 families is quite a different matter from a brothel in a city of 10 million people. For that reason, the decision to legalise or not must be left to the lowest level of government. In India’s context, this means that it may be a matter for the panchayati raj system. States already have the ability to impose prohibition, that another impractical measure. Empowering communities to make their own decisions on matters affecting them most may be a good way to go.

Drugs are quite another story. Amsterdam’s coffeeshops sell soft-drugs to anyone who is above the legal age. Hard drugs remain illegal. The need to make this distinction shows that the question of legalising drugs is tricky. While it can be argued that while consenting adults engage in prostitution on their own free will, this becomes harder to justify in the case of drugs. While prostitution is local, the drug industry is not. China, for example, is only too aware of how opium played a major role in undermining its society and weakening its power. This genie is best kept in the bottle for now.

“Roh pissed at North Korea,” Oranckay, http://oranckay.net/blog/?theDate=200503012, 1 March 2005 (from The Marmot’s Hole).

“(LEAD) N. Korea Will Be Granted Direct Talks with U.S.: FM,” Yonhap News, http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20050302/300200000020050302142842E8.html, 2 March 2005.

“If we send mixed signals, if you send mexed missag… mixed messages…“

Who’s the Nigga?, as sung by George W. Bush
by RX, thepartyparty

News from South Korea, a/k/a the democratic half of a “temporarily” bifurcated state that couldn’t shoot straight:

South Korea may be angered and betrayed…

“President Roh seems very angry at North Korea,” writes the Chosun Ilbo in a story that cries out to be on the Chosun English site but is not.

People who have met with Roh lately come away saying he’s extremely angry at the North for dropping the bomb about The Bomb. One Cheong Wa Dae official is quoted as saying the North’s announcement “makes you wonder if Chairman Kim Jong Il is actually getting reports from the NK officials with which there have been the behind-the-scenes discussions.” (Really? What discussions?)

A foreign ministry official said it’s “something like a feeling of betrayal” because Roh’s government had spent every effort to keep the Bush Administration from angering Pyongyang. “It’s no coincidence that mention of North Korea disappeared from Bush’s inauguration speech and State of the Union Address,” says the official. Now that the North has done what it has, “it’s like we’ve been hit upside the back of the head,” Korean idiom for “feeling used,” “betrayed,” or “taken for a ride.”

but that won’t stop them from subverting the Pacific NATO System

North Korea will be granted one-on-one negotiations with the United States if it returns to the six-party talks on its nuclear program, South Korea’s foreign minister said Wednesday.

“In light of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s remarks that he expects direct talks with the U.S. within the six-party framework, I think such concerns and demands by the North will well be accepted,” Ban Ki-moon said during his weekly press briefing.

“Janklow on Daschle,” by Chad M. Schuldt, Clean Cut Kid, http://www.cleancutkid.com/2005/03/03/janklow-on-daschle/, 3 March 2005.

I’ve blogged on the symbosis of Republican ex-Rep/Gov/AG Bill Janklow and Democrat ex-Senator Tom Daschle.

Well, Bill purchased a two page peon to Tom in the Sioux Falls Shopping News, a paper hand-delivered to about every house in the Sioux Empire. The first paragraph implicitly compares Bill to Mark Anthony and Tom to Julius Caesar.

Until Janklow’s felon-status lapses in a few years he’s out of local politics, and Tom’s probably out for good.

But they keep haunting me!

“US opposes Oklahoma headscarf ban,” BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3585377.stm, 31 March 2004.

“Muslim girl wins dress appeal,” This is London, http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/16979456?source=PA, 2 March 2005.

Anglo-Saxon Freedom, French Bigotry

A Muslim girl today won her battle to wear traditional “head-to-toe” dress in the classroom after the Court of Appeal ruled her school had acted unlawfully in barring her.

Shabina Begum, 15, accused the head teachers and governors of Denbigh High School, Luton, Beds, of denying her the “right to education and to manifest her religious beliefs”.

Lord Justice Brooke, vice president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal, called on the Department of Education to give schools more guidance on how to comply with their obligations under the Human Rights Act.
He ruled that that her school had:

# Unlawfully excluded her

# Unlawfully denied her the right to manifest her religion

# Unlawfully denied her access to suitable and appropriate education.

The US justice department has filed a complaint on behalf of a Muslim girl who was twice sent home from school for wearing a headscarf.

The education authorities said the hijab breached the dress code of the school in Oklahoma.

But the justice department says it amounts to religious discrimination.

America has a long history of giving refuge to immigrants who “dress funny”

Unlike some places, like No Human Rights for Muslims in France

Update: Big Pharoah is less-than-pleased.

Update 2: Some kook with an obscure blog is a fan.

Update 3: When “liberal” “progress” is more important than liberty, freedom, or tradition. Why I am not a leftist.

“Groceries and Election Results…,” by river, Baghdad Burning, http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#110872871401791299, 18 February 2005.

The possibly-defunct Riverbend is skeptical of the Iranian leanings of the Iraq’s popular new government

“And is Iran so bad?” He finally asked. Well no, Abu Ammar, I wanted to answer, it’s not bad for *you* – you’re a man… if anything your right to several temporary marriages, a few permanent ones and the right to subdue females will increase. Why should it be so bad? Instead I was silent. It’s not a good thing to criticize Iran these days. I numbly reached for the bags he handed me, trying to rise out of that sinking feeling that overwhelmed me when the results were first made public.

…

Is anyone surprised that the same people who came along with the Americans – the same puppets who all had a go at the presidency last year – are the ones who came out on top in the elections? Jaffari, Talbani, Barazani, Hakim, Allawi, Chalabi… exiles, convicted criminals and war lords. Welcome to the new Iraq.

Ibraheim Al-Jaffari, the head of the pro-Iran Da’awa party gave an interview the other day. He tried very hard to pretend he was open-minded and that he wasn’t going to turn the once-secular Iraq into a fundamentalist Shia state but the fact of the matter remains that he is the head of the Da’awa party. The same party that was responsible for some of the most infamous explosions and assassinations in Iraq during the last few decades. This is the same party that calls for an Islamic Republic modeled like Iran. Most of its members have spent a substantial amount of time in Iran.

Jaffari cannot separate himself from the ideology of his party.

Then there’s Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He got to be puppet president for the month of December and what was the first thing he did? He decided overburdened, indebted Iraq owed Iran 100 billion dollars. What was the second thing he did? He tried to have the “personal status” laws that protect individuals (and especially women) eradicated.

Ignoring the fact that SCIRI wants an Iranian-style Guardian Council while Dawa is quietest, these American-Iraqi-Iranian common interests are great news.

I’ve mentioned the Iraq War’s objective of forcing common interests with Iran. Iran is a cynical and realistic power, and Bush is wisely building a natural alliance with the future democratic government.

Around the dial

• Pakistan is a failing nuclear state whose core competency is causing trouble. From potentially ending Indian demand for Middle East oil (by provoking a nuclear war) to incitement of anti-Shia violence, Islamabad is trouble. It is trouble for both Tehran and Washington.

• Afghanistan is a weak state and should be kept that way. “Strong” Afghan states tend to be run by Pashtuns who join their Paki brothers in killing foreigners (Russians, Shia, and Americans being favorite targets).
• Turkmenistan is a crazy Stalinist dictatorship. Iran has a history with Stanlists regimes — it fought an eight year war with Ba’athi Iraq.
• Russia and the Caucuses answer the age old question: “What happens when violent, fanatical extremists encounter a violent, decaying empire?” Salafists and the Russian Army have joined together in destroying Chechnya and retarding peace efforts in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Iran fought a war against Taliban Afghanistan in the 1990s – it does not need a string of failed states to its northwest in the 2000s.
• Iran’s enlightened ethnic policies have kept its Kurds relatively happy, and led to natural ties with Kurds across the Turkish and Iraqi frontiers. Kurds are also military allies of the United States and Britain since the 199s0.
• Likewise, Shia Iraq is an ally of both America and Iran. The American dream of democracy and the Iranian dream of Shia rule combine in Iraq as nowhere else (except Iran itself). If either party gets bored of the relationship, the Salafists-Ba’athists will make sure they remember.
• Across the Shia Gulf, the occupied nation of Eastern Arabia suffers under the Wahabi yoke. The Saudis’ “hanging around guys” cause trouble for us, too.

The Bush Administration’s successful dance with Iran has been incredible. Keep up the great work!

Earlier today, this error

Text:

ERREUR
L’URL demandée n’a pu être chargée

En essayant de charger l’URL : http://www.tdaxp.com/

L’erreur suivante a été rencontrée :

* Accès interdit.

La configuration du contrôle d’accès interdit à votre requête d’être acceptée à cette heure-ci. Veuillez contacter votre prestataire de service si vous pensez que ceci n’a pas lieu d’être.

Generated Wed, 02 Mar 2005 19:59:03 GMT by www.blogspirit.com (squid/2.5.STABLE7)

Two things stand out. One is the triumph of the English language. While the error itself is in indecipherable froglandish, the last tine “Generated Wed…” is cleraly English. We rock!

Second, blogspirit uses the Squid Web Proxy Cache . Squid version 2.5 is…

1. a full-featured Web proxy cache
   
2. designed to run on Unix systems
   
3. free, open-source software
   
4. the result of many contributions by unpaid (and paid) volunteers

From the FAQ

Squid is a high-performance proxy caching server for web clients, supporting FTP, gopher, and HTTP data objects. Unlike traditional caching software, Squid handles all requests in a single, non-blocking, I/O-driven process.

Squid keeps meta data and especially hot objects cached in RAM, caches DNS lookups, supports non-blocking DNS lookups, and implements negative caching of failed requests.

Squid supports SSL, extensive access controls, and full request logging. By using the lightweight Internet Cache Protocol, Squid caches can be arranged in a hierarchy or mesh for additional bandwidth savings.

Squid consists of a main server program squid, a Domain Name System lookup program dnsserver, some optional programs for rewriting requests and performing authentication, and some management and client tools. When squid starts up, it spawns a configurable number of dnsserver processes, each of which can perform a single, blocking Domain Name System (DNS) lookup. This reduces the amount of time the cache waits for DNS lookups.

Squid is derived from the ARPA-funded Harvest project.

Further…

Internet object caching is a way to store requested Internet objects (i.e., data available via the HTTP, FTP, and gopher protocols) on a system closer to the requesting site than to the source. Web browsers can then use the local Squid cache as a proxy HTTP server, reducing access time as well as bandwidth consumption

… and …

Harvest-NG is a set of tools for building a standards-compliant web crawler. It is implemented in Perl, taking advantage of many of the existing perl tools, and can provide a complete harvesting solution for a web site. The development of Harvest-NG was started as an attempt to preserve the strong features of the Harvest architecture, but to allow more rapid developing and prototyping from a cleaner, better structured codebase.

The current release of Harvest-NG has come a long way towards achieving these goals, and provides a strong foundation upon which to build internet resource discovery systems. These are the two roles of the project, to build both a fast, resilient, and efficient indexing system, and through this, to produce a highly extensible toolkit for building other systems to achieve different tasks.

This reminds me of my old grandad’s wisdom. Just before the hung him, he turned to me and said “make sure you have a standards-compliant web crawler and internet object cache system in place.” True dat.