Nardo vs. The Yellow Mousey

The mousey never had a chance.

So, Meryl, where’s Tig and Gracie?

It’s my day for it.

I found an option that I had previously overlooked. I am embarrassed to say that until yesterday, I did not know there was a “display by name” option in the blogroll. Now it is in alphabetical order. I hang my head in shame.

On another note, I found the php needed to make my category list on the right sidebar display alphabetically, and that tiny step forward in php will actually encourage me to play around a bit more.

I have also made the post author’s name bold, but it’s still not so easy to pick out from the header/post. I’ll work on making it bigger, I think.

Not used to the new dashboard yet, either.

Every so often, I read a story that gives me pause. While I have no doubt that Iran is planning to counterattack if the U.S. or Israel goes after its nukes, and while I think that it intends to use Hezbullah, PIJ, Hamas, and every other terrorist organization that it has fed money to these past two decades, there comes a point where I just have to say, “Y’know, this doesn’t sound quite right to me.”

The plan includes three steps, which Asharq al Awsat has examined in earlier reports. The source gave more details about how the plan will be implemented. He said, “Most of Iran’s visitors in the last four months, including the leaders of revolutionary groups in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the heads of Hezbollah cells in the Persian Gulf and Europe and North America were asked, when they met with the Iranian intelligence minister Gholamhossein Mohseni Ezhei and his aides: are you ready to defend the Islamic revolution and vilayat e faqih? If you agree to take part in the great jihad, what would you need to be ready for the great fight?

Okay, that part sounds about right. Can’t argue with that. But wait: “Open the gates of Hell” watch! (Palestinian terrorists are very fond of saying that Israel has “opened the gates of hell” after the IDF takes out palestinian terrorists. It is apparently a big expression in the Arab/Muslim world.)

Amongst the leaders who visited were the head of one of the Iraqi armed group who was very clear and honest. He said his men would transform Iraq into a hell for the Americans if Iran were attacked.

But here’s where my bullshit detector broke from the stress:

An estimated 80 members underwent private training last year on how to carry out suicide operations from the air (through the use of kite planes) and undersea operations using submarines.

That would explain those strange videos of the guys in wetsuits during the big Iranian demonstration last month.

While I do not doubt that Iran is going to counterattack, and while I do not doubt that they will launch attacks on Israel immediately, I’m thinking that their reach is not nearly as long as they claim it is. And if Iran were to launch terror attacks worldwide, how long before the world would declare war right back on Iran? These are acts of war being described, on nations that have not attacked Iran.

What about the last stage in the plan?

Here, the Iranian source hesitated before saying with worry; this stage might represent the beginning of a world war, given that extremists will seek to maximize civilian casualties by exploding germ and chemical bombs as well as dirty nuclear bombs across western and Arab cities.

So chalk this article up to propaganda with kernels of truth in it. And file it under “biting off more than you can chew.”

I cannot believe the Mullahs are that stupid. This has to be propaganda.

VERY long post warning.

More and more of the people that Walt and Mearsheimer quoted in their travesty of a thesis are condemning that thesis, and accusing W-M of misusing their work.

Like Benny Morris, on whom they relied heavily:

Like many pro-Arab propagandists at work today, Mearsheimer and Walt often cite my own books, sometimes quoting directly from them, in apparent corroboration of their arguments. Yet their work is a travesty of the history that I have studied and written for the past two decades. Their work is riddled with shoddiness and defiled by mendacity. Were “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” an actual person, I would have to say that he did not have a single honest bone in his body.

(more…)

Hosting Matters had a major DOS attack centered from Saudi Arabia.

The jihadis that don’t like Aaron’s Rantblog took their hissy fit out on HM.

But I am now back.

You know what really sucks? That instead of being mad at the scumbags who think that not liking someone’s words and pictures gives them license to take down an entire hosting network, I was getting mad at Aaron for pissing off the jihadis.

Thankfully, I have come to my senses.

By the way, all this info is gleaned from between the lines. HM never identified Aaron’s blog.

Okay, so I’m reading this article on “peak oil,” (a good read, by the way) and it’s full of numbers, including trillions and hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. And I recall reading that oil came from dinosaurs, so I quickly go to Wikipedia, which says that no, it’s mostly plant matter. But I’m thinking: Who the heck do they think they’re kidding? How freaking much plant matter would have to have been pushed down through the layers of the earth to become petroleum? I mean, let’s not forget the solid-to-liquid ratio, which would mean that for every barrel of oil, you’d have to have a whole lot more plant matter to create that liquid barrel.

I want a new theory, please, because I’m not buying this one.

Wait a minute! I’ve found one!

The hypothesis of abiogenic petroleum origin holds that petroleum is formed by non-biological processes deep in the earth’s crust and mantle.

It contradicts the more widely-held view that petroleum is a fossil fuel produced from the remains of ancient living organisms.

This hypothesis dates to the 19th century, when the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot and the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev proposed it, and was revived in the 1950s.

The modern scientific consensus on abiogenic petroleum is that there is evidence for it being possible to produce petrochemicals according to the mechanisms proposed in the hypothesis. Some direct evidence from certain locations can only be explained as abiogenic production of petroleum compounds. However, most modern geologists do not support the hypothesis that abiogenic sources of oil can account for the vast majority of petroleum deposits within the Earth.

A variation of the abiogenic theory includes alteration by microbes similar to those which form the basis of the ecology around deep hydrothermal vents. The deep biogenic petroleum theory proposes, mostly after the work of Thomas Gold, that the ‘’deep hot biosphere’’ may be the source of some petroleum products and biomarkers.

One prediction of most abiogenic theories is that other planets of the solar system or their moons have large petroleum oceans, either from hydrocarbons present at the formation of the solar system, or from subsequent chemical reactions.

Now that makes a heck of a lot more sense. I’m just not seein’ the dinosaur thing.

The palestinians are feeling the money crunch.

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Buying on credit. Selling gold dowries. Giving up tobacco and other small pleasures.

With their salaries weeks overdue and savings depleted, Palestinian families are finding creative ways to survive the Hamas-led government’s deepening financial crisis. Even banks and utilities are helping out by allowing customers to overdraw accounts or pay bills late.

Experts warn that a dire economic crisis is looming.

“This month, no one paid me,” said Kifayeh al-Ashkar, 40, who cleans houses for government workers in Nablus. “The government can’t pay the salaries of its workers, and the workers can’t pay me.”

She said she now feeds her four children plain rice, and has been forced to beg for handouts of milk.

So, you think they’re gonna cut down on rockets?

The financial crunch follows the January legislative election victory of Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction. After the new government was sworn in last month, the Palestinian economy, already battered by five years of fighting with Israel, took a turn for the worse.

Western donors who accuse Hamas of supporting terrorism cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, and Israel suspended monthly payments of tax money it collects for the Palestinians.

Without these funds the government is broke and unable to pay its 165,000 salaried workers. No one got paid April 1, and the next pay day is less than a week away.

Two things. 1: “accused” of terrorism? Hamas effing brags about their terrorist attacks. 2: Where’d those extra 5,000 jobs come from? Two days ago, the number was 160,000. Who changed it? When? Why?

“Life has changed drastically. I don’t know how to manage,” said Elham Yassin, 48, a teacher in Asira, a village near Nablus.

Yassin, a mother of seven, earns $500 a month, while her husband, also a teacher, makes about $550. She said the family got a loan from her sister and is subsisting on bread, hummus, yogurt and other inexpensive staples.

“I don’t know where things are going. We don’t have any savings. I’m afraid for the future of my family,” she said.

The Palestinian Authority is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the loss of these salaries has rippled throughout society.

In other words, the pals are pretty used to sucking at the government teat, and now they’re going to have to learn to fend for themselves. Except that Israel doesn’t want them, because they blow up Israelis standing in line at a falafel stand. And Egypt doesn’t want them, because their Arab brethren loathe the palestinians almost as much as they loathe the Jews. So, once again: Think they’re going to cut back on the bombs and bullets during this financial crisis?

Hamas officials say the Palestinians would rather face starvation than give up their principles. “All of the Palestinians are standing together,” said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad. “The government has repeatedly affirmed that we are not going to compromise.”

But the people are growing weary.

Sami Abu Atta, 33, a driver for the Public Works Ministry in Gaza, said he has quit his pack-a-day smoking habit to save money. He also has put off clothing purchases for his five children, and has to turn down their requests for candy.

“I don’t know what to do. Even if I want to start working as a thief, there is no one to rob,” he said.

Please. Yasser Arafat robbed you blind for years; the least you can do is rob the PA to repay the favor. So. Think the money crunch is going to stop them from trying to murder Israelis?

One Palestinian was killed and several others were hurt, including one who sustained critical wounds, after the Air Force fired missiles at two vehicles carrying Islamic Jihad members in the Gaza Strip Thursday morning.

Several hours after the strike it turned out that the IDF was able to hit a vehicle modified by the Palestinians in order to be used
as a mobile Qassam rocket launcher. A military source told Ynet the Palestinians used the vehicle to fire rockets from the northern Gaza Strip to Israel before making their quick getaway.

The vehicle allowed the Palestinians to fire rockets while in the car. Terrorists would arrive at an open area, fire the rocket, and escape back into area villages. Thursday’s strike marks the first time the army was able to hit such mobile launcher.

Guess not.