No real blogging today. I just joined the Justice League and moved out of my apartment. I’m rooming with Aquaman while we redecorate my loft at League headquarters. Gotta go, Aquaman promised to teach me how to communicate with marine animals.
Saturday 14 January, 2006
Busy Day
Friday 13 January, 2006
Bias or Bad Research?
I read an interesting blurb from The Washington Times just now. It’s not only inaccurate, it’s very misleading and will no doubt fuel the perception that the US is staging for an attack against Iran. If the government of Iran believes this story, they will no doubt increase the alertness of their forces and bring us closer to conflict.
Here’s the inaccurate and misleading portions.
“U.S. Air Force has dispatched additional warplanes to the region in a not-so-subtle sign, military sources say.”
“An entire wing of F-16s, the Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing based in Fort Wayne, Ind., left for a base in southwest Asia on Tuesday. A wing is usually about 72 aircraft and several hundred support personnel.”
“F-16s and support personnel from the 4th Fighter Squadron of the 388th Fighter Wing based at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, also deployed recently to Iraq. The squadron has 12 F-16s.”
The deployment of those aircraft is not related to Iran and readers would get the impression that we’ve increased the number of fighter aircraft in the region. The Air Force has a very simple deployment rotation. At the various bases there are active duty or Air National Guard fighter units. At set intervals, a wing will deploy from their home station to relieve the unit currently deployed. Once the relieving unit is in position, the other unit will return to their home station. The number of aircraft is not increased, they simply swap.
It’s also important to note that an Air National Guard wing does not have 72 aircraft. They have far fewer. I won’t give specific numbers, but nearly all ANG fighter wings consist of a single squadron of fighters and I know for a fact that the Fort Wayne unit has a single fighter squadron, the 163rd. That information is not only readily available on the internet or through official channels, Fort Wayne was also discussed during the 2005 BRAC Recommendations.
So where does this estimation that 80 aircraft are being deployed come from? It’s not clearly explained. The article says 12 F-16’s from Hill AFB and the Fort Wayne ANG wing will be deployed. Two fighter squadrons are not enough to say 80 aircraft are deploying, especially when it’s stated that one squadron is bringing 12 aircraft. It was only at the end of the short article that they include a statement from CENTAF that the deployment is not related to Iran.
“A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command Air Forces, which runs air operations in the region, said the F-16 deployment of about 80 jets is part of a rotation and is not related to Iran’s uranium reprocessing.”
What the reporter should have mentioned is that this deployment is part of a standard rotation that was planned over a year ago. We don’t need bad reporting escalating an already tense situation.
What's in a search string?
Search engines amaze me sometimes. The other day Letters in Bottles questioned an unusual search string that kept appearing in the log statistics. Today while looking through my server statistics I found an extremely bizarre search string, which Yahoo thinks applies to my website.
I’m glad it wasn’t Google that made that match. Nearly all the search engine referrals to my website come from Google. If Google had made that match, I would have to seriously figure out how to distance myself from ever making that match ever again.
Sadly, this post will add weight to my website appearing on a search engine for variations of that search string. However, I do get the consolation prize of calling those that get referred to my website for that search weirdos.
Weirdos.
Arrogant or Ignorant?
A fellow Madison blogger, whose name I believe is Aaron due to a myspace link, has been linking to my blog with the ominous warning that I link to Michelle Malkin. Aaron has just now apparently figured out that there are other blogs in the Madison area. He even acts surprised that there are conservative bloggers. I don’t know what to make of that. Has he constructed a mental perception that Madison is a land of uniform political thinking, or does he believe that Madison conservatives would not blog?
There are a lot of Madison blogs, from all political beliefs. Not to mention the personal pages of area residents that promote their beliefs, such as The Purple Penguin. And over the past year many have been doing an excellent job promoting the collective voice of Madison bloggers, such as Dane101. Also The Isthmus website has been linking to Madison blogs. Even the folks at Capital Newspapers have attempted to catch onto the blogging medium by hosting blogs at their website.
As for the Michelle Malkin link. The root of his dislike towards Malkin is apparently her stance on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I never read that book, as I’m sure he hasn’t. But I’m willing to bet that Malkin explains her opinion clearly. It is after all her right to have an opinion and to express it. There also has to be a case in favor of interning the Japanese. It happened, so there must have been reasons to do so. Back when the decision was made, there is no doubt that there was a debate in the decision making process. It’s also a common mistake to judge actions of the past in today’s context. The world was different back then. The culture of Japan was different then. The fanatical devotion to the Emperor by the Japanese people was feared and with reason. The Japanese people would sacrifice their lives for the will of the Emperor. It’s also important to note that Malkin is of Filipino decent. If your relatives were raped, tortured and murdered by the Japanese, you would have strong feelings against Imperial Japan and its people, and be sympathetic to efforts to against it.
But to many an opinion on one issue means they will consider anything you say suspect. Malkin covers a lot of issues. Her blog and columns add diversity to public discourse. What you won’t find is her calling people whore and slut, which is often how she is referred to by predominate bloggers on the left. You may disagree with her opinion, as I do sometimes, but she at least knows how to express herself without resorting to immature name calling.
So Aaron, are you arrogant or ignorant? Did you believe you were the only Madison blogger and explain your misunderstanding with conservative Madison bloggers?
Dennis York in the Capital Times
Lee Sensenbrenner has his article about Dennis York in today’s Capital Times. Lee thinks he knows who York is, but didn’t reveal it in his article. His article ends up being more about his search, than the actual identity of York.
I wonder what the people that were chastising Lee would say now? Lee is a reporter. His job is to dig up stories. Dennis York is definitely the greatest mystery in the Wisconsin blogosphere and the general public was starting to show more interest in this anonymous political satirist. I think Lee found a way to not only write a good story, but to also not damage the real life identity of Dennis York.