Kaus and Sullivan Sparing Over Iraq
AS responds to Kaus (Thursday January 27, 2005 10:14 P.M. post) criticisms.
AS offers these numbers to guage "success" in the Iraq elections.
AS offers these numbers to guage "success" in the Iraq elections.
Here are my criteria: over 50 percent turnout among the Shia and Kurds, and over 30 percent turnout for the Sunnis. No massive disruption of voting places; no theft of ballots. Fewer than 500 murdered.We shall see. Wonder what the Bushies have in their internal memos? I suppose something like that might not get put on paper?
Voting in Iraq
We take voting quite for granted here in the USA. Over there, they face death threats to vote.
Here is an item from AP at Yahoo! News. Excerpt:
Here is an item from AP at Yahoo! News. Excerpt:
YOUSSIFIYAH, Iraq - Just ahead of the first free balloting in Iraq (news - web sites) in half a century, the nation battened down for the vote, imposing a 7 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew on Friday and closing Baghdad International Airport. Five U.S. soldiers were killed in the capitalIraqis living in the US are voting in various locales in the USA as told in this news item. Excerpt:
The curfew will remain in effect through Monday and the nation's borders will be sealed for the election period. Medical teams are on alert and nationwide restrictions on traffic will be imposed from Saturday to Monday to try and deter car bombs.
SOUTHGATE, Mich. - Hundreds of Iraqis streamed into polling places in five U.S. cities Friday, the first day they could vote in their homeland's election. Nearly 26,000 people have registered to vote in five U.S. metropolitan areas with heavy Iraqi populations: Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., Los Angeles and Washington.Southern California's El Toro Marine Air Base is hosting voting as reported here. Excerpt:
Tens of thousands more are expected to vote in 13 other countries during balloting that runs through Sunday.
Thousands of Iraqi exiles begin voting today in out-of-country elections at special polling places at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Orange County, across the nation and around the world, juggling a mix of jubilation, fear and resentment.The Afghans were able to pull off the voting without too much trouble. Here's one blogger raising a toast to the Iraqis for their courage to try to build a future!
While some local Iraqi expatriates revel in the chance to vote in their homeland's first election in decades, others fear their vote could cause retribution against family members back home. And some are angry at election officials who they say failed to reach out to the expat community.
"I am happy we are voting and it is a historical day," said Hatif Navi, 46, of Calabasas. "But people are still reluctant. They are afraid of threats in general whether directly or through their family," said Nvai, who is president of a local Iraqi social club.
The election takes place in Iraq on Sunday, but election officials have organized three days of voting, ending Sunday, for Iraqi exiles in 14 countries. The voting process has already started in Australia.
Navi and other San Fernando Valley area Iraqis will vote at El Toro, one of five U.S. polling places and the only one west of the Mississippi River.
To cast a ballot, voters had to register at the El Toro site during a nine-day period that ended Tuesday. About 4,000 Iraqi exiles and their children -- some of whom are eligible to vote even though they were not born in Iraq -- have registered. Many drove more than 24 hours from as far away as Seattle to register and they will make a return trip this weekend to vote.
Despite officials extending registration days and hours, only six percent of the 70,000 estimated eligible Iraqi exiles in and around California registered.
LA Dining: Kiku Sushi
In my continuing exploration of Larchmont Village, I went the other day to Kiku Sushi.
It is a cute little Japaneses place with bar seating, a small number of tables and outside seating options.
Food:
Food was quite good. Freshness of food is really important at a Japanese restaurant and this place passed that test easily. The cooked black cod was delicious. We also had the usual mix of rolls and sushi.
Service:
Eager service from the staff with the sing-song-sound of Japanese and English with a Japanese accent floated throughout the restaurant. The chefs behind the bar notice and greet incoming customers with a hello and a friendly wave.
Atmosphere:
Nice brightly lit place. One of the walls has polaroids of past customers. A tad short on space between tables so probably not the best for conversation type dates but ideal for foodie couples.
Price:
Dinner for three with tax and tip came out to around $60.
Location:
Kiku Sushi
246 N Larchmont Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone: (323) 464-1200
It is a cute little Japaneses place with bar seating, a small number of tables and outside seating options.
Food:
Food was quite good. Freshness of food is really important at a Japanese restaurant and this place passed that test easily. The cooked black cod was delicious. We also had the usual mix of rolls and sushi.
Service:
Eager service from the staff with the sing-song-sound of Japanese and English with a Japanese accent floated throughout the restaurant. The chefs behind the bar notice and greet incoming customers with a hello and a friendly wave.
Atmosphere:
Nice brightly lit place. One of the walls has polaroids of past customers. A tad short on space between tables so probably not the best for conversation type dates but ideal for foodie couples.
Price:
Dinner for three with tax and tip came out to around $60.
Location:
Kiku Sushi
246 N Larchmont Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone: (323) 464-1200
Photos from Africa
Isn't the internet amazing?
Below are some photos I received in the email from a friend who is traveling in Africa. In the old days, friends back home would have to wait for the traveling friend to come back to the US, develop the photos and then find a time to meet to look at photos. Now, a string of ones and zeros through cyberspace zip from one computer to another and we can all see them at more or less the same time while the traveler is still over there!
Her first stop was Egypt.
Her next stop was Zambia where she is teaching at Northrise University.
Here are the happy students.
Aren't the women's dresses so colorful?
To read more about what is going on in Zambia, click here.
In 2003, I had the chance to visit a country just south of Zambia called Botswana. To see photos and travelogue from that trip, see here.
Below are some photos I received in the email from a friend who is traveling in Africa. In the old days, friends back home would have to wait for the traveling friend to come back to the US, develop the photos and then find a time to meet to look at photos. Now, a string of ones and zeros through cyberspace zip from one computer to another and we can all see them at more or less the same time while the traveler is still over there!
Her first stop was Egypt.
Her next stop was Zambia where she is teaching at Northrise University.
Here are the happy students.
Aren't the women's dresses so colorful?
To read more about what is going on in Zambia, click here.
In 2003, I had the chance to visit a country just south of Zambia called Botswana. To see photos and travelogue from that trip, see here.
Why are there no atheistic critics of evolution?
The controversy over evolution has been in the news with the dust up in the small town of Dover, Pennsylvania regarding additional resources for biology class that describe intelligent design (ID). This disagreement over whether ID should be mentioned rages also in Ohio and in Georgia the controversy is over putting labels on biology books saying evolution isn't the only explanation.
One of the "higher beings" of the blogosphere has cited comments from Kevin Drum who opposes ID on establishment clause and definition of science grounds, gotten email from Michael Barone who is agnostic and intrigued by ID and quoted John Derbyshire who is against ID over at conservative NRO.
One item that has come up is that criticism of evolution is religiously motivated; thus, the ideal critic of evolution would be an atheist. Instapundit wonders aloud, I suppose there are atheistic Intelligent Design fans out there somewhere, but I don't think I've met one.
I asked a philosophy professor friend of mine if she knew any atheist critics of evolution and if there weren't any why was that the case?
She mentioned that there are some agnostic critics like Michael Denton author of "Evolution: a theory in crisis."
She explained further that those who don't believe in god invariably support evolution (many authors of pro-evolution books state in the preface their atheist views) because if they don't believe in god AND don't believe in evolution they have no starting point for the origin of life discussion.
Diagrammatically:
Obviously, those who believe in god fall into two camps: those who also believe in evolution (Kenneth Miller, author of "Finding Darwin's God" for instance) and those who doubt evolution (those in the ID movement, like Michael Behe, author of "Darwin's Black Box").
For those who are atheist, support of evolution is necessary and Richard Dawkins' comment, "Evolution allows atheists to be intellectually fulfilled," makes sense.
Indeed, Anthony Flew, a life-long atheist, recently began to doubt evolution and soon found himself as a deist. Without evolution to account for the origin of life, he was intellectually given this choice: I don't know what is the origin of life OR maybe some god was involved.
Thus, all four positions in the logic matrix are possible but in practice only three have intellectual coherence.
One of the "higher beings" of the blogosphere has cited comments from Kevin Drum who opposes ID on establishment clause and definition of science grounds, gotten email from Michael Barone who is agnostic and intrigued by ID and quoted John Derbyshire who is against ID over at conservative NRO.
One item that has come up is that criticism of evolution is religiously motivated; thus, the ideal critic of evolution would be an atheist. Instapundit wonders aloud, I suppose there are atheistic Intelligent Design fans out there somewhere, but I don't think I've met one.
I asked a philosophy professor friend of mine if she knew any atheist critics of evolution and if there weren't any why was that the case?
She mentioned that there are some agnostic critics like Michael Denton author of "Evolution: a theory in crisis."
She explained further that those who don't believe in god invariably support evolution (many authors of pro-evolution books state in the preface their atheist views) because if they don't believe in god AND don't believe in evolution they have no starting point for the origin of life discussion.
Diagrammatically:
| Believe in god | Don't believe in god | |
| Believe in evolution of life | theistic evolution | many pro-evolution writers |
| Don't believe in evolution of life | intelligent design critics | unstable position |
Obviously, those who believe in god fall into two camps: those who also believe in evolution (Kenneth Miller, author of "Finding Darwin's God" for instance) and those who doubt evolution (those in the ID movement, like Michael Behe, author of "Darwin's Black Box").
For those who are atheist, support of evolution is necessary and Richard Dawkins' comment, "Evolution allows atheists to be intellectually fulfilled," makes sense.
Indeed, Anthony Flew, a life-long atheist, recently began to doubt evolution and soon found himself as a deist. Without evolution to account for the origin of life, he was intellectually given this choice: I don't know what is the origin of life OR maybe some god was involved.
Thus, all four positions in the logic matrix are possible but in practice only three have intellectual coherence.
Donate blood if you can
Tried to give blood today at my workplace. It was pretty busy with lots of donors on the couches.
They stuck the needle in my right arm. But no blood! They moved the needle around to see if it was in the right spot. Still nothing. Another one of the staff took a look... she thought it looked good... the needle was in the vein. But no blood! Ack... I have no blood! 8-)
She pulled out the needle and then flicked it a bit and voila... a skin clot! She said it happens once in a while that a bit of skin gets into the needle and plugs it up.
She said, you want to try the other arm? She didn't push and quickly said. well, maybe another time, eh?
I have pretty low tolerance for needles so I opted out.
Maybe, I'll blog about my next attempt. What do you think gentle readers: blood blogging! Eww, sounds like a horror movie!
To read more about donating blood check these pages over at the Red Cross.
If you meet the criteria, please do as your donation could help save a life.
They stuck the needle in my right arm. But no blood! They moved the needle around to see if it was in the right spot. Still nothing. Another one of the staff took a look... she thought it looked good... the needle was in the vein. But no blood! Ack... I have no blood! 8-)
She pulled out the needle and then flicked it a bit and voila... a skin clot! She said it happens once in a while that a bit of skin gets into the needle and plugs it up.
She said, you want to try the other arm? She didn't push and quickly said. well, maybe another time, eh?
I have pretty low tolerance for needles so I opted out.
Maybe, I'll blog about my next attempt. What do you think gentle readers: blood blogging! Eww, sounds like a horror movie!
To read more about donating blood check these pages over at the Red Cross.
If you meet the criteria, please do as your donation could help save a life.
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