Jonesin'

First, a Few Loose Ends...

Next Stop, Iran? Saturday, I blogged on Norman Podhoretz's commentary on the "War against World War IV," and wondered about Iran,

Why haven't we already destroyed Iran's capability to make nuclear weaponry? Is Bush so brain-dead that he thinks diplomatic efforts are worth even so much as a hill of beans? Or is he buying time or hoping to catch the theocracy off-guard?

Well, via Ego and Instapundit, I see that we may well be getting ready to fix their little red explosive-laden wagon! See Seymour M. Hersh's New Yorker article on "The Coming Wars." The article reiterates the idea that Iraq is just part of the big picture. As Glenn Reynolds said, "I hope that this is true." From the article:

“This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq is just one campaign. The Bush Administration is looking at this as a huge war zone,” the former high-level intelligence official told me. “Next, we’re going to have the Iranian campaign. We’ve declared war and the bad guys, wherever they are, are the enemy. This is the last hurrah—we’ve got four years, and want to come out of this saying we won the war on terrorism.”

Damage Control by Amputation? Last Saturday, I blogged on my annoyance with ARI for not linking their clarification of their PR blunder concerning aid to tsunami victims to the original botched statement. Apparently, the original statement, which I maintain should have provided a link directly to the clarification (or better, should have included it as it does on this non-ARI site) is no longer posted at ARI. It has instead been replaced by a statement concerning our conduct of the war in Iraq! (The term "tsunami" gets two instances of the clarification only in their site search engine.) I know they received my email, because I'm now on a mailing list. Maybe I should have told them that I occasionally donate.

Submarine Captain in the Crosshairs: The headline says it all: "Old charts partly to blame in U.S. nuclear sub collision." From the article:

Outdated charts were partially [emphasis added] at fault for the undersea grounding of a U.S. nuclear submarine last weekend, according to a U.S. agency that analyzes spy satellite imagery and produces maps and charts for the Defense Department.

Officials at the Bethesda, Md.-based National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said Saturday the main chart likely used by the USS San Francisco didn't reveal any obstacle anywhere near where the boat struck on the side of an apparent mountain in the Pacific Ocean during underwater operations Jan. 8 about 350 miles south of Guam.

Key word: partially. My guess is that the captain will take the fall for operating the boat too fast, given the age of the chart. And if he does, I'd figure on the Navigator and the Officer of the Deck (the officer who was in charge of the ship at the time of the mishap) as well. Update Other submariners show drydock pics, comment from this link.

Helping out a Fellow Blogger

LaShawn Barber is conducting some kind of research on blogging. I've decided to participate, and will post her questions and my answers here.

1) How long have you been blogging? Since mid-October 2004. As of now, that's almost exactly 3 months

2) Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.) Addicted? Heavens no! I blog for medicinal purposes only!

More to the point, I think it is habit-forming, but in my case, I'm also doing it to practice writing opinion pieces and to explore whether opinion writing as a career might be good for me. As a result, while I enjoy it most of the time, I'd say that about a fifth of the time I basically have to force myself to do it.

3) Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long? Yes. I refrained from blogging for something like a week in December while my wife and I were visiting relatives for Christmas. Part of the reason for this was that it would have been inconvenient at best to blog during that trip.

4) Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not? No! I like a lot of what I've written. Also, the chance to vent here helps me maintain a good emotional balance.

-- CAV

Updates

2-6-05: Added link to San Fran update.