Multicellular Microorganism

At The Truth Laid Bear, there is an "ecosystem" of blogs in which blogs are assigned to evolutionary rankings from "Insignificant Microbe" to "Higher Being." For reasons entirely unbeknownst to me, this blog's ranking has advanced to "Multicellular Microorganism" — and unexpected and delightful honor!

The complete ecosystem:

Higher Beings
Mortal Humans
Playful Primates
Large Mammals
Marauding Marsupials
Adorable Rodents
Flappy Birds
Slithering Reptiles
Crawly Amphibians
Flippery Fish
Slimy Molluscs
Lowly Insects
Crunchy Crustaceans
Wiggly Worms
Multicellular Microorganisms
Insignificant Microbes

I thought I understood how this worked: ranking in the ecosystem is related to the number of links that others make to your blog. But...so far as I know, the number of links to this blog hasn't changed (0 = 0!), so I'm not sure what caused my blog to make this evolutionary leap. But who cares! It's a good excuse to break out the bottle of good wine!

Onward and upward to wiggly wormhood...

PETA kills

The PETA organization has long disgusted me. My recent discovery that PETA is in the business of wholesale euthanization didn't improve my outlook on them. Now there's this news (from Fox):

PETA Workers Charged With Animal CrueltyFriday, June 17, 2005

AHOSKIE, N.C. — Two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (search) have been charged with animal cruelty after dumping dead dogs and cats in a shopping center garbage bin, police said.

Investigators staked out the bin after discovering that dead animals had been dumped there every Wednesday for the past four weeks, Ahoskie police said in a prepared statement Thursday.

PETA has scheduled a news conference for Friday in Norfolk, Va., where the group is based.

Police found 18 dead animals in the bin and 13 more in a van registered to PETA. The animals were from animal shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties, police said.

The two were picking up animals to be brought back to PETA headquarters for euthanization, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk (search) said Thursday. Neither police nor PETA offered any theory on why the animals might have been dumped.

Police charged Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, of Virginia Beach, Va., and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk, Va., each with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty and eight misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal of dead animals. They were released on bond and an initial court date was set for Friday.

Hinkle has been suspended, but Cook continues to work for PETA, Newkirk said.

Newkirk said she doubted Hinkle had ever been cruel to an animal and said if the animals were placed in the bin, "We will be appalled."

Appalled. Indeed.

The Dick rolls on

At Technicalities, Teresa comments on her (Illinois) Senator Dick Durbin:

Can we say Linda Foley anyone? Now he's saying "if it did indeed occur" What does he mean? If he's not sure it occurred then why is he talking about it? Why did he state it as fact on Tuesday? If he's not going to compare our methods to Nazis, Soviets, and Pol Pot... why even bring them up?

The only reason is to shock people, to stick a thought in their mind where it will sit and grow. It doesn't have to be true... you only have to say it long enough and loud enough. That's the way it has worked over the years. That's how the liberals have always gotten things done. Keep repeating a lie long enough and people will start to believe.

Well, we have the internet and transcripts and we can go back and see exactly what was said by whom. Mr. Durbin has his lies repeated, but hopefully the lies won't win this time.

I find myself feeling rather slimy living in Illinois... And I am angry for the soldiers who are doing such a difficult, dangerous job. It just got a lot harder. According to Rush Limbaugh... Senator Durbin is earning high praise from al-Jazeera...

Later, Teresa calls for Senator Durbin to resign. And I agree with her, though I'd take it one step further (and I have, in an email to Senator Durbin): if he really, truly believes what he's said, he should renounce his U.S. citizenship and move to a country more to his liking.

Aliases

Major K. (a very good milblog, BTW) has an interesting post about the use of aliases by the Iraqi terrorists.:

The most annoying thing as far as intelligence goes, is the fondness for aliases. It is cultural phenomenon. Having children is such a mark of social distinction in the arab culture, that it creates a whole new name for the parent. Men become known as "Abu" which means "father of." So, if your name was Khaled, and you named your son Muhammed, your new nickname/alias is Abu Muhammed. The arhabi make good use of this dynamic. Half of the guys we are chasing here are only known by such "fatherly names." In case you hadn't noticed, the same is true of #1 scumbag Abu Musab al Zarqawi. His name means "father of Musab of the Zarqawi tribe." While these aliases make finding these scumbags frustrating, they do not make them invisible. We continue to put the puzzle together, and then go grab the guys that are shown by the completed puzzle. The raids are the part of the job that everyone is trained to do, and the part that everyone wants to do. Developing the intelligence that gives you the raid target is the hard part. It reminds me of math homework...

As many of my readers know, I have spent quite a bit of time in Russia and Estonia. When I've thought about the challenges facing our intelligence folks on the ground in Iraq, those places have been my mental model for a context. But as Major K. makes clear, it's actually much more difficult in Iraq. I've been to Japan (though just twice), and after reading Major K's post I suspect my experience there is a much better context. I remember well just how completely bewildering everything in Japanese was. Grocery stores were nearly impossible (even the packaging conventions are different!); maps were impossible, and navigation within a town or city was nightmarish. I cannot imagine trying to collect intelligence in an environment where even the alphabet was alien. In Japan, whenever I ran into someone who spoke English (no matter how badly!), it was an enormous relief. I used those occasions to get a whole bunch of questions answered; I'll bet our intelligence folks in Iraq do the same with the interpreters...

Polish twins

A fascinating political story from Chrenkoff, about identical twins running for different high political offices in Poland. And they might both win!

Bush on Iran

President Bush spoke yesterday on the election in Iran:

In recent months, the cause of freedom has made enormous gains in the broader Middle East. Millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq defied terrorists to cast their ballots in free elections. Palestinians voted for a new president who rejects violence and is working for democratic reform, and the people of Lebanon reclaimed their sovereignty and are now voting for new leadership. Across the Middle East, hopeful change is taking place. People are claiming their liberty. And as a tide of freedom sweeps this region, it will also come eventually to Iran.

The Iranian people are heirs to a great civilization - and they deserve a government that honors their ideals and unleashes their talent and creativity. Today, Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world. Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy.

...

America believes in the independence and territorial integrity of Iran. America believes in the right of the Iranian people to make their own decisions and determine their own future. America believes that freedom is the birthright and deep desire of every human soul. And to the Iranian people, I say: As you stand for your own liberty, the people of America stand with you.

After I read the whole speech, I tried to imagine what any leading Democrat might have said. I've seen no coverage of any leading Democrat's remarks; this is purely my imagination:

Kerry: A 2,000 word speech leaving you with the vague impression that he supports the election, but with no particular interest in the outcome (or its fairness).

Reid: What election in Iran?

Dean: Arrwwrrgharwahwahwah!

Sorry. It's really hard to imagine anything rational, useful, or even entertaining coming out of that group. I just can't take them seriously...