The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

It's Wednesday, so it's time for something light.

Meet Molly, our family's faithful companion, or benevolent dictator (depending on your point of view). We adopted her from the Humane Society 9 years ago because they said she had "great personality." We named her Molly Brown because at that time we were somewhat enamored of the movie Titanic. The name certainly fits.

While she's not too mean to sink (as the real Molly Brown's husband said about her when he learned that she had survived the sinking), she is unlike any cat I've ever known. She chatters at birds, begs at the table like a dog (she even chases her tail), and hates other cats. She is wonderfully patient with the kids, and has survived three grasping toddlers with unusual grace. I am not her favorite person (she's actually Alicia's cat), but she does occasionally acknowledge my existence by demanding to be fed.

Oh, and don't let the modest act fool you; she's anything but.

FOP Endorses Republican Candidate.

An illustration of how bad things have gotten here in Indianapolis appears in this morning's Indianapolis Star.

"The union's Monday night vote to support Ballard in the November election
was unanimous."

Bart Peterson, mayor of Indianapolis, ran for office a few years ago pledging to hire 200 more officers to reduce crime. Since then, the administration has refused to maintain those levels of police manpower, and crime has risen dramatically in the past year.

In addition, Peterson pushed through his proposal to save money by consolidating the city and county police departments. This came after a more than year long contract dispute with the FOP about IPD's contract, in which our brave officers had to work without a contract.

I don't blame the FOP for turning against Peterson. I hope Ballard listens, and gives our officers the respect they deserve.

Iraq: The Patraeus and Crocker Report.

General David Patraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have presented their reports on the status of military and diplomatic progress in Iraq. Both have presented clear, sober, and realistic accounts of the current situation and the progress that is being made. The text of both reports and Gen. Patraeus' charts can be found in the thread here. If you missed the presentation of these reports and the subsequent grilling of these fine men by our elected officials, then I encourage you to read both reports and study the charts.

Gen. Patraeus' report indicates that the troop surge has been a success. He describes al-Qaeda Iraq as being "off-balance," and that we have gained momentum. He also reports on the dramatic turn-around in Anbar province, where locals have turned against al-Qaeda and have been supporting the American and Iraqi forces. He highlights the severity of the interference by Iran:

"It is increasingly apparent to both Coalition and Iraqi leaders that
Iran...seeks to turn the Iraqi Special Groups into a Hezbollah-like force to
serve its interests and fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition
forces in Iraq."

His recommendations are that we can begin drawing down troops to pre-surge levels, as the security situation allows, and that withdrawing too rapidly would cause great harm to our efforts.

Ambassador Crocker's testimony was equally interesting. He did well to present the current situation in the context of what Iraq was like under Saddam. He highlights the degree to which Saddam's regime had de-constructed Iraqi society - meaning that once he was removed, the Iraqis had no structures in place to immediately begin the process of rebuilding their government. In effect, they had to learn how to govern themselves all over again. This is an important point that I think most Americans, and certainly most of Congress, forget.

Historically, Arabs were used to self government at the tribal level. Before the rise of Islam, power resided with local tribal leaders, and people accepted that and were loyal to the tribe. Even during the early days of the caliphate, tribal leaders and generals of the Arab armies had to be given some latitude to accommodate their independent streak. Saddam's totalitarian regime destroyed this tradition, and it is only now resurfacing.

I think Americans did not have a clear idea of Iraqi identity until now. I think the Iraqis themselves are just beginning to figure it out. Crocker stated that they are having meaningful discussions, across ethnic and sectarian divides, about what kind of government they are going to have, and how power will be divided between the central and provincial governments - in other words, federalism. I told my father-in-law during a conversation we had back in 2004 that we should be encouraging federalism in Iraq. It is heartening to see the Iraqi people examining that route now, because true democratic self-government begins at the local level; whether or not they adopt a federalist principle, at least they are exploring the idea. In a way, that is reminiscent of our own discussions in the early days of the Union about the rights of States and the power of the central government.

Crocker also had much to say regarding benchmarks, which members of Congress have been hanging onto as a means of attacking the Iraqi government, and making a case for withdrawal. The ambassador reports that benchmarks are being met in fact, if not by definition (i.e. the result is being achieved even though the legislation required to meet the benchmark has not yet been passed). Regarding distribution of oil revenues among the provinces, it is being done by the central government, and in a fair manner, despite the lack of formal legislation. The same is true regarding the de-baathification efforts.

There is much more in the reports, and I repeat, they are worth your time to read. The editors at NRO have a similar take; it is worth reading all that they have to say about it as well. In addition, it is certain that Tocqueville's conviction that democratic societies by nature do not encourage the best and the brightest to run for public office. This is made clear by the farcical hearings held by our elected representatives in Congress the past two days. The best and the brightest are the two men facing the inquisition, not the men asking the questions.

As a final note, I'll leave you with some thoughts of an Iraqi about the recent attacks by our Congress on the Maliki government.

Update: Chuck Norris has more that we can learn from history to help us with the current struggle: the Barbary Pirates conflict.

Never Forget.

9-11-2001

Archaeology in the Holy Land.

I've been sitting on a couple of these stories for a while, but with the addition of the most recent, I decided to combine them into one post.

Though I studied Classical Archaeology (Greek and Roman), I never got too interested in archaeology at the fringes of the Roman Empire. My interests lay mainly with the Etruscans and early Rome. Archaeology is archaeology however, and I learned early on that a general knowledge was essential before one could pursue one's chosen specialty, so I've always kept an eye on areas that I didn't particularly study, such as the Middle East and Egypt.

Since I became a Christian, however, I've naturally become more interested in the archaeology of the Holy Land, both Old and New Testament periods. In addition to contributing to our understanding of the Bible, recent stories can also illustrate some problems faced by archaeologists and history lovers in Israel.

The first two stories follow the former point of contributing to our understanding of the Bible and biblical times. Beehives have been found which indicate a lively honey producing operation, more than just 'artificial' honey made from figs. The hives were found in a room which could have accommodated 100 of them. The land of milk and honey indeed.

From a later period, archaeologists have discovered an underground tunnel used by the Jews fleeing from the Roman sacking of the Temple. The tunnel was built as a drainage channel for the temple complex, and ran under the main road into the city; it is also mentioned by Flavius Josephus in his work, War of the Jews, regarding the rebellion of 66-70AD. The bonus for the archaeologists is that by discovering the tunnel, they also know where to look for the road as well (which was their original intent - goes to show that Beloq was right in Raiders of the Lost Ark that 'archaeology is not an exact science').

The third article follows the latter point I made about problems faced by archaeologists, particularly because of local political or religious considerations. A construction project by the Waqf, the Muslim custodial group of the Temple mount, has uncovered what is believed to be part of the actual Temple, mentioned in the previous paragraph, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. This is the first physical evidence of the temple since its destruction, and since it is in the area of Muslim control, antiquities unearthed in the project are being destroyed. This is not surprising, since the Muslims contend there was never a Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Naturally they will not be keen to preserve any evidence to the contrary. Israel's Temple Institute has issued an open letter asking Christians and Christian leaders to put pressure on the Israeli government to allow archaeologists to go in and examine the finds. The article has all the ins and outs, and it is worth reading the whole thing.

But while the archaeologists wait for permission (which is not likely to come - any attempt by the Israelis to halt the project will bring a terrific howl from the Muslims), precious antiquities which could give us so much information are being wantonly destroyed. Sometimes I wonder if the old days of the 'treasure seekers' were better days.

Link to image source.

The Legend Lives on.

A new shipwreck has been found in Lake Superior. My wife and I read this story with interest, especially since we vacationed in Sault St. Marie, MI a couple years ago.

We enjoyed the beauty of the Upper Peninsula and we enjoyed watching the big ore freighters passing through the Soo Locks on the St. Mary's River. We drove over to Munising and took a glass bottom boat tour of shipwrecks from the 18-19th century. Of course we also visited the Whitefish Point light station and the Great Lakes' Shipwreck Museum, which features the most famous wreck of the Great Lakes.

The ship mentioned in the story above, the Cyprus, was a 420 foot boat, large for the turn of the century, but less than half the size of the 1000 foot monsters you can see on the horizon if you visit the Lake Superior shore today. There is a similar vessel, the Valley Camp, in Sault St. Marie which has been converted to a museum of Great Lakes' shipping. If you ever visit the U.P. (and you should), visit the museum and see the locks. It won't be long before you're humming Gordon Lightfoot.

Back in the Saddle.

One of my favorite hobbies a few years ago was playing racing sims. My first experience at any type of online gaming was racing online in the game Grand Prix Legends.

Grand Prix Legends (GPL) is a simulation racing game that was released in 1998 by Sierra. It never was successful in terms of sales, in part because of its ultra-realistic driving physics and steep learning curve. It caught on in the sim racing community however, and is still being modded and played today. What made GPL unique was that it simulated Formula One racing of 1967, when the cars were little more than rolling gas tanks, and drivers such as Jim Clark, Graham Hill, and Jackie Stewart were household names even in the US.

In the last few years, a dedicated team of modders have expanded on GPL, introducing revised, more accurate physics models, and car sets to depict the cars from 1965 and the first winged cars of 1969. More mods are in the works, including one which represents Formula One of 1937, the heyday of Mercedes and Auto Union.

I recently decided to get back into sim racing and joined in an online race this morning. I must say I didn't realize how much I'd missed it. The guys I raced with back in the day are still going strong, and eagerly welcomed me back. My skills haven't deteriorated as much as I feared, and I placed a respectable third out of eight drivers, even though I did not have a good setup for my car. I even had a couple of "Oh Wow!" moments which brought back memories of some of my more exciting races. One was an awesome power slide around the first corner (pictured at the top of this post), and the other was when I threaded the needle between two spinning cars (below).

If you like driving or racing games, GPL can still be found online for next to nothing. It's a classic of the genre, and like all classics, it is timeless. There is a vigorous community of guys ready and willing to help out and welcome newcomers. Grab a copy, get a wheel and pedals, and give it a spin! See you on track.