Galloway Slapped Down

Way down. Christopher Hitchens (at Slate) slaps George Galloway into a deep, hole in the ground! An excerpt:

Galloway's preferred style is that of vulgar ad hominem insult, usually uttered while a rather gaunt crew of minders stands around him. I have a thick skin and a broad back and no bodyguards. He says that I am an ex-Trotskyist (true), a "popinjay" (true enough, since its original Webster's definition means a target for arrows and shots), and that I cannot hold a drink (here I must protest). In a recent interview he made opprobrious remarks about the state of my midriff, which I will confess has—as P.G. Wodehouse himself once phrased it—"slipped down to the mezzanine floor." In reply I do not wish to stoop. Those of us who revere the vagina are committed to defend it against the very idea that it is a mouth or has teeth. Study the photographs of Galloway from Syrian state television, however, and you will see how unwise and incautious it is for such a hideous person to resort to personal remarks. Unkind nature, which could have made a perfectly good butt out of his face, has spoiled the whole effect by taking an asshole and studding it with ill-brushed fangs.

Sheesh, I hope I never piss off Mr. Hitchens! The rest of this column is just as good, though for different reasons — you really don't want to miss it (at the link above).

A tip of the hat to Saint Paul, at Fraters Libertas; I wouldn't have found it without you...

Hawra

Hawra — a little girl from Rashid, Iraq — suffered severe burns when she was caught in a cross-fire between terrorists and coalition forces. As she recuperates, her spirit motivates injured troops at the aid station.

From the 4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office, through Cool Blue Blog comes this touching story about Hawra and Sgt. Tracy Perfors, a medic assigned to C Company, 703rd Forward Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. An excerpt:

Perfors was the only female medic on shift that day, so she spent the afternoon with Hawra assisting with her medical care. She listened as the little girl told stories of life in Iraq since Saddam and of living with her 11 brothers and sisters. Hawra raved about the chance to eat cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese when she visited the aid station — “it was the largest meal she ate all week,” Perfors said.

Hawra also told Perfors about her dream of going to school in the fall and maybe one day having a family of her own.

“Hawra had captivated me,” Perfors said. “I found it astonishing that a person with her medical problems and family history could remain so upbeat.”

As they say, read the whole thing. And poke around Cool Blue a bit; there's lots of good stuff there. Don't miss his picture galleries!

How Specs Live Forever

Via friends at work (thanks, Rick and Johnny!):

The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of the old, long-distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts. So who built these old rutted roads?

The first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus we have the answer to the original questions. The United States standard rail gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. Specs and Bureaucracies live forever.

So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war horses.

There are some parallels to this in the software world; the Windows API comes right to mind...

Hard to be the Bad Guy

On today's military news about Iraq from Strategy Page, there's an interesting article about the effects of the recent battles in Tal Afar and the significance of the increasing competence and capabilities of the Iraqi Army and police forces. An excerpt:

Meanwhile, in Tal Afar, ... thousands of local civilians are being hired for reconstruction jobs. American civil affairs units have been most aggressive with this tactic, developed and honed over the last two years. Even while the fighting is going on, civil affairs teams are noting what infrastructure is in need of rebuilding, or is getting damaged. As soon as Iraqi police declare a neighborhood pacified, hiring begins to help unload and distribute relief supplies, rebuild roads and electrical systems, and do any other jobs that need being done. Workers are paid daily, and given one more reason to stay away from the terrorist organizations. Not that a lot of unemployed Sunni Arabs need much encouragement there. By now, it’s almost impossible to get volunteers to attack the Americans, and prices to hire people for that work keep going up. Shooting at Americans is seen as suicide, because not only do the Americans promptly shoot back very accurately, but they then come after you. The Americans have those damn little planes in the sky, the ones with cameras, making it difficult for attackers to hide or get away. It’s much easier to attack Iraqi police or soldiers. But these guys are now wearing body armor, and will counter-attack as well. Worse, the Iraqi police will start questioning people in the area, put up roadblocks, and hunt you down. It’s getting so hard to be a bad guy in Iraq.

"It's getting so hard to be a bad guy in Iraq." I had to smile when I read that...

This sounds to me like Iraq is at, or on the threshold of, a "tipping point" — a point where historians will someday say "This is when Iraqi democracy turned the corner, when it became clear that it was going to prevail." If so, that's very good news indeed.

BTW, if you're not familiar with StrategyPage, they're well worth your time for an occasional visit. There aren't many places where one can find the kind of sober and balanced reporting that is on their pages every day.