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Archive for September, 2010
A reasonable response to Islam – based on a computer game?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 2/Sep/2010 23:50
Anyone who dares to criticize Islam immediately gets branded a “xenophobe” or “racist”. They are characterized as paranoid, narrow-minded bigots.
Well, consider this proposal, based not on mutual respect – because there is no guarantee both sides will truly respect the other – but on actual cooperation and a track record of actions taken.
If you act in a cooperative manner, you get tolerance. If you bully people, you lose the right to have that tolerance extended to you. Tit for Tat.
TIT FOR TAT
by Citizen Warrior
In the 1970’s the political scientist Robert Axelrod created a computer “world” using the famous Prisoner’s Dilemma as a game computer programs could play against each other. He wanted to find out which computer program would succeed the best.
The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a hypothetical situation used to test whether someone will cooperate or compete, and how well the strategies work in the long run.
The game is played by two people. If one cooperates and the other competes, the one who cooperated will lose and the competitive one (the selfish one) will win. If they both compete, they both lose, but not as badly.
If they both cooperate, they both win. That’s how the game is set up.
If you were one of the prisoners, what would you do? That’s the dilemma. How much can you count on the cooperative nature of the other person?
The game is often played repeatedly with the same two people, each of them choosing to cooperate or take advantage of the other through successive rounds of the game.
The Prisoner’s Dilemma game is designed to parallel real life. If two people in real life cooperate with each other, it very often works to their mutual advantage. But if one person cooperates and the other takes advantage, it often works out very well for the selfish one and very poorly for the cooperative one.
On the other hand, if you go around preempting people — trying to take advantage of them before they take advantage of you — you will miss out on the advantages of cooperation, people will resent you, and you might get people working against you.
What is the best long-term strategy? This is the dilemma we are faced with every day, personally as well as culturally.
Robert Axelrod, the man who created the computer world, invited computer programmers to create a program to play the Prisoner’s Dilemma with other programs. The question is, which program would succeed the best?
In a game that resembles the real dilemma we all face, what strategy is the most effective?
The program that proved the best was named TIT FOR TAT. It was designed by Anatol Rapoport and it was one of the simplest programs submitted. For the first interaction, it would cooperate. After that, it would repay in kind whatever the other did. That was the whole strategy.
If the other cooperated, TIT FOR TAT benefited. So did the other. If the other took advantage, TIT FOR TAT cut its losses immediately.
As the game went on, TIT FOR TAT gained more (and lost less) than any other program. In The Moral Animal, Robert Wright wrote, “More than the steadily mean, more than the steadily nice, and more than various ‘clever’ programs whose elaborate rules made them hard for other programs to read, the straightforwardly conditional TIT FOR TAT was, in the long run, self-serving.”
And it’s the most fair to everyone involved.
I suggest we in the West use the same program when dealing with other countries and other cultures. We should begin with tolerance and cooperation, and then be as tolerant and cooperative as the other is from that point on.”
http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2007/10/how-tolerant-country-can-avoid-being.html
Mexican army kills 25 drug cartel gunmen near the US border
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 2/Sep/2010 21:52
“The Mexican army says it has killed 25 suspected drug cartel gunmen in a clash near the US border.
The army said a patrol came under fire as it approached an apparent training camp that had been spotted during an aerial search.
In his state of the union address on Thursday morning, the president admitted the violence was worsening but defended his approach, saying the cartels were being weakened.
“The capture or killing of important criminal leaders has made the crime organizations more desperate,” Mr Calderon said.
“It is an ever more bloody war between organized crime groups fighting for territory, markets and routes … If we want a safe Mexico for the Mexicans of the future, we must take on the cost of achieving it today,” he said.”
A Soldier’s Perspective: USS Cole Victims Spat Upon
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Opinion on 2/Sep/2010 19:31
“In 2000, I made a conscious decision to change my field of specialty within the Army. The catalyst for that decision was the murder of 17 Sailors on the USS Cole in the Port of Aden. In 1998, hundreds of people were killed in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Two years prior to that, 19 more servicemembers were killed by Islamic terrorists. When the USS Cole was bombed, I made a conscious decision to stay in the military (I was contemplating getting out) and change my specialty to be in a position where I could make a difference in stopping these attacks. While I was in school, 9/11 happened, confirming I had made a good decision.
The hardest part of this job is the politics that goes into fighting terrorism, especially these days. The country seems to have lost focus and forgotten about all the events leading up to 9/11.
We seem to have forgotten all the events SINCE 9/11 as well: the Bali nightclub attack that killed over 200, the Beslan school hostage crisis that killed nearly 400, 53 killed in London subway attacks, over 200 killed in Mumbai train bombings, the “shoe bomber”, the Fort Hood massacre, the Arkansas recruiter shooting…I could go on and on and on about Islamic terrorism. And yet, our country just doesn’t get it. We continue to play politically correct and pretend that either we aren’t at war with Islam or Islam isn’t at war with us!
The fact that an extremist Muslim cleric wants to flaunt his people’s attacks on 9/11 by opening an “Islamic Cultural Center” near ground zero and on the anniversary of the attacks is seen as okay by some!”
Don’t ‘Turn the Page’ on Our Troops in Iraq
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Opinion on 2/Sep/2010 19:27
“… in his Oval Office address to the nation, our Commander-in-Chief said it’s time to “turn the page” on our country’s current mission in Iraq. While we welcome the shift from a combat role to an advisory and assistance mission for the Iraqi government and its security forces, let’s not forget that we still have 50,000 American troops serving in harm’s way separated by distance and danger from their families.
The hard truth is that Iraq will continue to remain a target for those who hope to destroy freedom and democracy. The Iraqi people — and the American people — deserve to know what we are prepared to do if the cause for which our troops sacrificed their lives is threatened.
Over the past several months, we’ve often heard about ending the war in Iraq, but not much about winning the war in Iraq. If we honor what our men and women fought for, we cannot turn our backs now on what they have achieved.
When we support our troops, we support them all the way — there is no such thing as supporting our troops, but not their mission.”
173rd Airborne Brigade Soldiers arrive at Forward Operation Base Joyce
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 2/Sep/2010 19:22
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrive to Forward Operation Base Joyce, Afghanistan in a CH-47D Chinook helicopter, Dec. 17, 2009 Photo by Sgt. Teddy Wade
Operation Copper Cactus
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 2/Sep/2010 19:19
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Border Patrol agents patrol the U.S. border with Mexico seen on Aug. 25 near Nogales, Ariz. Up to 1,200 National Guard troops are deploying to the four Southwest border states in support of the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
Going Home from Iraq: Soldier’s Voices
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Warriors on 2/Sep/2010 19:12
Witch Hunt in Arizona?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 2/Sep/2010 19:10
AP – Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks to the media after learning the U.S. Justice Department is …
PHOENIX – The Justice Department sued the nation’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” on Thursday, calling Joe Arpaio’s defiance of an investigation into his office’s alleged discrimination against Hispanics “unprecedented.”
It’s the first time in decades a lawman has refused to cooperate in one of the agency’s probes, the department said.
“I think they know we have not been racial profiling, so what’s the next step — camouflage the situation, go the courts, and make it look like I’m not cooperating,” Arpaio said Thursday.
Arpaio said he provided “hundreds of thousands” of reports but hasn’t turned over others because the department’s request was too broad.
Arizona Republican Sen. Russell Pearce, author of the new Arizona law, called the Justice Department’s actions against Arpaio a “witch hunt.”
“This is the game that’s played,” he said. “They couldn’t find any violations … that’s why they’re very vague about what they want. It doesn’t take a very high IQ to figure out what’s going on with these folks.”
Gates: the fight against corruption needs to be Afghan-led
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 2/Sep/2010 18:03
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks during the US Forces-Iraq change of command ceremony in Baghdad, Wednesday Sept. 1, 2010, as a new US military mission in Iraq was launched ending seven years of combat.(AP Photo/Jim Watson, pool)
“KABUL — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that while the fight against corruption must be led by Afghans, the U.S. is working on new ways to prevent millions of American dollars flowing into the nation from underwriting bribery and graft.
Gates spoke to reporters in the Afghan capital with President Hamid Karzai, who complained about the tactics of two Western-backed anti-corruption units that recently arrested one of his top aides on suspicion of bribery, likening them to heavy-handed Soviet tactics.”
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/09/02/5030932-us-def-sec-afghans-should-lead-corruption-fight
Rethinking American Options on Iran
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 2/Sep/2010 15:31
Rethinking American Options on Iran is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
Public discussion of potential attacks on Iran’s nuclear development sites is surging again. This has happened before. On several occasions, leaks about potential airstrikes have created an atmosphere of impending war. These leaks normally coincided with diplomatic initiatives and were designed to intimidate the Iranians and facilitate a settlement favorable to the United States and Israel. These initiatives have failed in the past. It is therefore reasonable to associate the current avalanche of reports with the imposition of sanctions and view it as an attempt to increase the pressure on Iran and either force a policy shift or take advantage of divisions within the regime.
My first instinct is to dismiss the war talk as simply another round of psychological warfare against Iran, this time originating with Israel. Most of the reports indicate that Israel is on the verge of attacking Iran. From a psychological-warfare standpoint, this sets up the good-cop/bad-cop routine. The Israelis play the mad dog barely restrained by the more sober Americans, who urge the Iranians through intermediaries to make concessions and head off a war. As I said, we have been here before several times, and this hasn’t worked.
The worst sin of intelligence is complacency, the belief that simply because something has happened (or has not happened) several times before it is not going to happen this time. But each episode must be considered carefully in its own light and preconceptions from previous episodes must be banished. Indeed, the previous episodes might well have been intended to lull the Iranians into complacency themselves. Paradoxically, the very existence of another round of war talk could be intended to convince the Iranians that war is distant while covert war preparations take place. An attack may be in the offing, but the public displays neither confirm nor deny that possibility. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraq: signs of a new U.S. mission
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 2/Sep/2010 13:21
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military’s war is officially over in Iraq, even as the future of the country remains undecided. The signs of the end were everywhere Wednesday, despite the presence of about 49,000 American troops who remain mostly sequestered on large U.S. bases.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090106523.html
Arrizona Poll: 81% approved of requiring people to produce documents to prove they’re legally in US.
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Opinion, Threat Watch on 1/Sep/2010 23:18
“PHOENIX — A poll released Wednesday found that an overwhelming majority of Arizona voters support the types of provisions that are at the heart of a national debate involving the state’s immigration law.
The survey conducted on behalf of Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy found 81 percent of registered voters approved of requiring people to produce documents that show they’re in the country legally.
It found that 74 percent believe police should be allowed to detain anyone who’s unable to verify their legal immigration status, and 68 percent say police should be allowed to question anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.”
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/09/01/5028155-poll-ariz-voters-favor-immigration-enforcement
President Forbids Sale of Korean War Rifles
This story comes on the heels of the EPA trying to ban lead ammunition. The South Korean government is trying to sell thousands of M1s and M1 carbines to U.S. citizens to raise money. Gun control advocates don’t want the transfers to occur:
“Guns that can take high-capacity magazines are a threat to public safety,” said Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Even though they are old, these guns could deliver a great amount of firepower. So I think the Obama administration’s concerns are well-taken.”
The State Department’s excuse was:
“The transfer of such a large number of weapons — 87,310 M1 Garands and 770,160 M1 Carbines — could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes,” the spokesman told FoxNews.com.
The problem is the federal government assumes the worst about the people who will buy these weapons. I doubt a single person who purchases one of these rifles will commit a crime with it. My guess would be that most will be bought by vets who actually fought in the war and collectors.
Environmentalist Takes Hostages And Is Killed By Police
Posted by Brian in News, Opinion, Threat Watch on 1/Sep/2010 18:19
Some crazy guy took hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in California, spouting nonsense about saving the earth.
From Fox News:
“All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions,” the list of demands read.
“In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.”
He did end up ridding the world of one person, himself. I guess he achieved his goal, if only in a small way.
The news report states that at a previous trial in which he was charged with disturbing the peace he said:
(I) began working to save the planet after being laid off from his job in San Diego. He said he was inspired by “Ishmael,” a novel by environmentalist Daniel Quinn and by former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Now, if I were looking for any excuse to blame anyone but the perpetrator, like many liberals, I might say that Daniel Quinn and Al Gore are responsible for the crime that was committed. I might say that those two men obviously created their works of art to incite people to violence in the name of Mother Earth. I could also say the NBC/Universal is partly to blame because of their “green week” which they sponsor every year and require the writers of the shows to incorporate environmental plots.
I could say all of those things, but I won’t. What I will say is that this man who took those hostages and said these insane things was himself insane. He and he alone is to blame for his actions. I believe this because I have this weird value called individual responsibility.
If anyone out there believes that humans should start sterilizing ourselves I have a suggestion; take your argument to its logical conclusion and do away with yourself.