MP3 Player Advice

I’ve been meaning to write something like this for years… and having just spent the last two months shopping for one, and getting pestered by friends who know I’m an uber-nerd, I’ll give it a whirl. MP3 Players come is a couple different flavors and price points, all varied for the needs of the individual. Here is a quick breakdown of the available options on portable MP3 solutions:

High Capacity Players:

TV, Movies, and Digital Photos are these physically largest in class aim. The gold standard was the classic iPod, but has since been supplanted by the Toshiba Gigabeat. The Gigabeat may not have the iPod name, but it is lighter, has a better screen, more video capability, and longer battery life. There are also other options in this category, such as the Creative Zen (a good choice, but heavy), the Philips Gogear (slow with a small screen), and the Cowon iAudio X5L whose main drawback is its lackluster controls and proprietary cables. The iPod, while no longer the technological standout in this category, is the cheapest High Capacity Player for the buck, and the only one that is able to connect to iTunes (the worlds largest online music library). Expect these models to start at $250 and up, depending on how my gigabytes you “need”.

Mid-Capacity Players:

Smaller in size, storage, and “wow” appeal, these 4GB(ish) models work off of flash memory instead of the hard-drive setup used in the High Capacity Players. This leads them to be a bit more problematic, but less expensive alternative for those not interested in watching Star Wars or 24 on a 2” screen. There are a bevy of new options in Mid-Capacity Players, including the Archos (ill-refined in my option), the Cowon iAudio 6 (which was slow when I tested it), the iRiver (a good alternative to all others with excellent sound and controls, but iffy screen), Samsung YP-Z5 (basic player for a high price), Sandisk Sansa E260 (good for music only people, meaning it doesn’t support video at all), the Siren Edge (should be avoided at all cost for its terrible design), with the he easy leader in this category as the iPod Nano. All of these models fall around the $200 range.

Mini Players:

Cheap(er), basic, and easily portable, these tiny flash players are the small, go-anywhere, models that fit most people’s essential needs. The only option here is slightly larger storage capacity, and a screen. To me, the screen makes all the difference. The best player of the group is easily the Apple iPod Shuffle. It’s tiny, cheap (under $80), and clipable to almost any piece of clothing. Unfortunately, it is one of the last models in the category that does not come with a screen. So playback consists of either a random setting, or a shuffle setting. The other options in this category, the Creative Zen V Plus and the Sandisk Sansa C140 are both better options to me. The drawback with the Sandisk model is that it only runs on AAA batteries, which requires either a separate battery charger, or a never-ending supply of batteries. The Creative Zen is ugly, larger, and was hard to operate with my fat fingers, but did everything that I could have wanted in a Mini Player.

Things to Remember:

1,000MB = 1GB, and each song (MP3) is about 4MB.
1GB of memory in a player is equal to about 250 MP3s.
1 hour of video is about equal to 800MB.
Each picture is about 3.5MB.

So a smaller GB High Capacity Player (30GB) will hold 7,500 songs or about 37 hours of video, a Mid-Capacity Player (4GB) will hold 1000 MP3s, and a Mini Player (1GB) will hold about 400. Almost all models have adapters that can send their signals from the player directly into a car stereo, but only one (the iPods) have special controls prebuilt into some new vehicles and home stereos. Also, the iPod models are currently the only players that work with iTunes, but you can expect this to change as soon as some of the current lawsuits work themselves out.

So the real questions you need to ask yourself are as follows:

Am I going to want to watch video on my player?
About how many songs am I realistically going to store on my player?
How physically large of a model do I want to carry around?
Do I want an icon, some nice techo arm candy, or something that I’m actually going to use?

And of course, how much do I really want to spend to conveniently listen to music?

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Hope it helps someone out there.

Quote for the day

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?”

Epicurus 305 BCE

Quote for the day

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one" - J.D. Salinger

Happy Valentine’s Day

Hoses are black,
Mallets are steel,
Two days in a diaper,
Tells you just how I feel.

Have a safe and happy Valentine's Day.

After 9-11, what should have happened?

I think we can all now admit that the War in Iraq was a bad idea and that the War in Afghanistan may be a lost cause.

Now before you start in with all of the “Hindsight is 20/20”, and “Monday morning quarterbacking”…, let me tell you we study the past so that we can deal with the future. So as the Pulitzer Prize winning biographer and historian David McCullough said, “History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are”. Or more simply put by Thucydides, “History is Philosophy teaching by examples”.

So what examples should be taken from the post 9-11 tragedies that lead towards our failed campaigns? What should have been done differently or not at all? And what can we do to instill this knowledge into future generations?

Follow this question on Yahoo Answers

And I feel fine...

About a year ago I wrote a blog on how, in order for the keep up interest, the 24 hour news stations had to make every insignificant story the most important thing ever. At the time, I felt it was just the news. Now I realize that it is all of us who equally share the blame. And if these actions continue, and somehow unify into one self-important, cosmic collection, it may eventually rip apart space and time, wholly undoing the very fabric of our universe.

What we all seem guilty of is maintaining a constant state of fanatical movement from one angry mob to another in a hopeless attempt to find a unifying, cohesive cause. Everything from the "war for civilization" we are fighting in the Middle East, to the "global emergency facing our plant through our own careless lifestyles", all the way to whether or not everyone is praying enough, to the right God, in the right way, so that He will not send down upon us a Judgment Day of boiling blood and bowl-shaking demons, hell bent on ripping our souls from our still pulsing bodies.

Is this cataclysmic scaled arguing overwhelming the good causes in all of this? How do we get excited about real issues in a level suitable for intelligent action? How do we keep perspective when the norm is believing we are catastrofucked? Why are we so damn addicted to feeling like every little piece of our lives must be the most important moment ever? Who knows, maybe everything that is going on right now is the most important thing to have ever faced humanity as we know it. Or maybe it's just our stem cell destroying, endangered species consuming, eroding morality, democracy annihilating, war mongering, self inflicted narcissistic, gas guzzling bandwagon, which is on a direct collision course with the apocalyptic death machine that is reality, that haunts us.

Or maybe, we all know that reality happens to be plain and boring - and that scares us the most.

Pan’s Labyrinth, sadistically enchanting

This last weekend the misses and I ventured out through the freshly snow covered world to see what is being billed as an adult fairytale. Side jokes about the certain adult fairytales involving female prison shower scenes aside, we were excited about the prospect of a good fantasy flick aimed above usual Disney marketing level.

The first thing that I feel I should tell you is that this film is subtitled. This fact seemed to surprise only me, but I still need to share as it does lend to the level of mysteriousness presented when you look at the movie experience as a whole. The second thing is that even though the protagonist is a little girl, this is by no means is this a children's movie. Parts of this movie are stomach-churningly violent, but do work effectively in framing the story, characters, and underlying message.

In true Brothers Grimm style, the labyrinth, fantasy characters, and main individuals work well as both stunning allegorical pieces and indispensable parts in a symbolic tapestry representing a greater lesson to be learned. Entertainment and story are just the natural outcropping when that undertaking is successful. No where in recent movie memory have I seen that done more creatively than in this movie.

On a quick side note, an interesting outcropping of this movie was that after viewing it I finally and truly understood the appeal of religion.

I give this movie four out of four stars for making me think about it for a couple of days, and for moving me without resorting to jingoism, tired clichés, or overworked Hollywood storylines.

You don’t deserve shit

Alright, so I was reading through this months Popular Mechanics (come on people, you know I’m a nerd) and I came across and ad for the Tempur-Pedic® bed spouting the now commonly used phrase “You Deserve It”. Now I’ve seen this stupid phrase on everything from daytime TV ambulance chaser attorneys, to a time-share across from the “scenic New Jersey Turnpike”, all the way to an odor eating shoe insole. So you know what? Fuck you. Seriously. What the fuck makes you think you deserve my naked tired ass, fresh from an accident on the I95, which I had to walk home from?

Besides, what the fuck is “you deserve it” suppose to mean? Are you trying to imply that I should feel guilty about buying your odor eaters? Does my life suck that bad that I deserve an attorney with a bad hairpiece and a law degree from the Community College of Nicaragua? Am I normally incapable of living my fucking life, but somehow will find the strength to relocate next to an 8 lane highway because of your selfless, delightfully enchanted, encouragement? Maybe it’s that I’m just too stupid to lie down, so I must deserve your “Space Certified” sleeping apparatus to sooth my primate brain.

So you know what there you pity inducing, forcibly self-loathing, disappointment encouraging, marketing douche bags? You can go ahead and kiss my ass, because you deserve it.

Some places speak distinctly

Over my life I have moved many times, more so in the last decade, and have come to realize that I miss certain select places within each of those locations just as much as I miss the people. And as it seems trite to drone on about friends and family, I would instead like to say something about the comfort of places lost.

I am currently living in Saginaw, MI and am not very happy about it. We had to move here so that my wife can finish the last of her med school. For this I blame neither her nor Saginaw. But still, I cannot find anywhere here that feels just right.

The last place we lived, in Roswell, Georgia, had two comfortable places located fairly close to each other. The first is in a small glass nook in which a breakfast table was located at my father and Sherry’s house. It was a wonderful place to curl up with a hot mug of tea and a good book when the weather darkened. The second was the most wonderful trail I have ever had the enjoyment of getting to know. It had everything from a 50 foot waterfall, to a covered bridge, to secluded paths weaving for miles over all sorts of terrain. I miss both immensely.

Before Roswell was a house in Anderson, SC near my mother and Edgar. The house lent itself to being welcoming though age and want -- but it was the distinct loop of streets around the house that seemed to speak the loudest. I was forever finding reasons to walk that route, dog happily trotting beside me, whenever possible.

Maine enjoyed a most warm bedroom paradise. It was that it was a converted attic bedroom above a second floor that we had rented out, and it was just the first place I remember feeling tangible love after leaving hurricane devastated Cayman. The bedroom itself was tiny, the bed was too small, and the floors all creaked. Still, it felt safe and needed me there.

In Grand Cayman we lived in two separate places. One for 90% of the time that we lived on the island, and the other for the last 10% before the storm. Neither felt hospitable in a warm way. Instead, there was a rarely touched beach way back in the National Reserve that drew Kela, our then new dog Lucy, and myself to it every time it could muster a voice strong enough to reach us. Hours, afternoons, thoughts, and memories slipped away there; always with no regrets and a promise to return. Hurricane Ivan destroyed that spot. I hope it returns to call someone else someday.

Previous to Cayman was Kennesaw, GA where Kela and I purchased a fixer-upper in hopes of something I no longer remember. Each room in the house took hours of work; carpet was laid everywhere, tiles redone, walls painted, decks rebuilt. Everywhere in that house felt mine and still does.

From there back I remember sparks of the fires of places. A spot near the river off of La View Circle, the top of the mountain near 7 Loves Lane in Woburn, my crawlspace in Dunwoody, the kitchen where I had a surprise party in the Order, the room in which I got to see Superman on my birthday, and the bed where I played with my Grandmother while my sister was born.

I don’t have a place that nurtures my soul here in Saginaw and I’m not sure I’ll find one. It’s not for lack of want or looking, but it still taunts me with its illusiveness. Maybe there isn’t one here. Maybe I don’t want to find one. Maybe it doesn’t want to find me. Or maybe one just doesn't exist.

Religious view on intelligent life elsewhere?

A new report released today shows that “two NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them” (1) and I’m just overly curious how the religious community will process and respond to alien life. Now I’m not saying that this find is in any way intelligent, but what happens when we do actually find another self-realized being?

I know that the Christian Church has no official position on this matter of intelligent alien life, but wouldn’t they immediately have to have one? How could they continue to assert their divine importance of humanity with existence of different life elsewhere? Could ancient scripture actually be stretched thinner to accept the entire universe and all of its new possibilities? Seeing how most religious text claimed man’s unique status, the earth’s position as the center of the universe, and that we were created in any perfect image, could it still claim to be valid? Or would the find of intelligent life elsewhere make most of our present organized religions so emaciated and archaic as to make them impossible to believe in?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/07/mars.life.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Fun with Latin

Simple, convenient sayings for everyday use:

Vivere commune est, sed commune mereri.

Everybody lives, not everybody deserves to

***

Homines libenter id quod volunt credunt

Men easily believe what they want to

***

Bibamus moriendum est

Death is unavoidable; let’s have a drink

Why they still believe

I have a number of friends who, after all that has happened and has been revealed since the beginning of the war in Iraq, still unwaveringly support the president’s decision to invade and still condone his actions in the decrease of government openness while similarly taking away individual citizen’s rights. Mutual friends have asked me why these individuals still continue to adamantly support this president who has been so wrong, unjust, and illegal on so many fronts. And I suppose, this is a question that many of you have about people you know as well. So let me take a minute to explain why this is so.

In the beginning of this conflict they listened to the government say again and again and again that something was true (or hinted and suggested and made connections – think about the nonexistent link between Iraq and al Qaeda), and then when the president finally denied the statement, its was not enough to penetrate what had already become a mountain of lies. This mountain of lies is part of the indoctrination process that imposes a willful blindness to evidence and contradictions.

These lies and contradictions are more readily embraced by the educated class to the degree that the more educated and specialized individuals become, the more interest they have invested in the system that provides them with special privileges and rewards for continued support. For this reason, we often see people whose consciousness has not been totally atrophied, yet they fail, sometimes willfully, to read reality critically and they often side with hypocrisy. In most cases, these individuals begin to believe their lies, and in their roles as functionaries of the state, they propagate these same lies.

This chosen ignorance is steadfast in its unawareness and hostile to anyone who dares try to disrupt their balancing act with what the rest of us would call 'reality'. Any attempts by anyone from friends and family, to simple facts from the media, are quickly internalized as mistruths meant to lead them to a path that they've already decided to be false. It is a sad place that they are in, but it is one that they have chosen because it reaffirms that they deserve to be part of the crowd who is told that they are right, just, and special for still believing.

Saddam taunted, hung, and made into a martyr

I understand the want and need for revenge - especially with someone like this who deserves it - but it does not solve anything. It does not bring back those people. It does not undo the pain their friends and family must still live with. All it does is creates an artificial end without addressing how and why a crime was allowed to happen.

There is no way for a government sanction killing without simply justifying more killing. It is obviously not a deterrent and only pushes the social acceptance that killing begets more killing. Only when that cycle is stopped can we move on to actual deterrents and social change towards acceptable revenge with a focus on initial prevention.

* Video does not show hanging

Lake Superior State University Banished Words List

Lake Superior State University proposes an exit strategy for 2006: the 32nd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.

On Dec. 31, 1975, former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and some colleagues cooked up the whimsical idea to banish overused words and phrases and issued the first list on New Year's Day. Much to the delight of word enthusiasts everywhere, the list has stayed the course into a fourth decade.

Through the years, LSSU has received thousands of nominations for the list, which is closing in on its 1000th banishment.

This year's list is culled from more than 4,500 nominations received mostly through the university's website, www.lssu.edu/banished. Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, fields of education, technology, advertising, politics and more. A committee makes a final cut in late December. The list is released on New Year's Day.

So gitmo chipotle-flavored eggnog, curl up with an undocumented alien, and cut-and-run to the 2007 list. It won't be coming to a theater near you.

GITMO -- The US military's shorthand for a base in Cuba drives a wedge wider than a split infinitive.

"When did the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base change to 'Gitmo,' a word that conjures up an image of a fluffy and sweet character from a Japanese anime show?" -- Marcus W., St. Louis, Missouri.

COMBINED CELEBRITY NAMES -- Celebrity duos of yore -- BogCall (Bogart and Bacall), Lardy (Laurel and Hardy), and CheeChong (Cheech and Chong) -- just got lucky.

"It's bad enough that celebrities have to be the top news stories. Now we've given them obnoxious names such as 'Bragelina,' 'TomKat' and 'Bennifer.'" -- M. Foster, Port Huron, Michigan.

"It's so annoying, idiotic and so lame and pathetic that it's 'lamethetic.'" -- Ed of Centreville, Virginia.

AWESOME -- Given a one-year moratorium in 1984, when the Unicorn Hunters banished it "during which it is to be rehabilitated until it means 'fear mingled with admiration or reverence; a feeling produced by something majestic." Many write to tell us there's no hope and it's time for "the full banishment."

"The kind of tennis shoes you wear, no matter how cute, don't fit the majestic design of the word." -- Leila Hill, Damascus, Maryland.

"That a mop, a deodorant or a dating service can be called 'awesome' demonstrates the limited vocabularies of the country's copywriters." -- Tom Brinkmoeller, Orlando, Florida.

"Overused and meaningless.' My mother was hit by a car.' Awesome. 'I just got my college degree.' Awesome." -- Robert Bron, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand.

GONE/WENT MISSING -- "It makes 'missing' sound like a place you can visit, such as the Poconos. Is the person missing, or not? She went there but maybe she came back. 'Is
missing' or 'was missing' would serve us better." -- Robin Dennis, Flower Mound, Texas.

PWN or PWNED -- Thr styff of lemgendz: Gamer defeats gamer, types in "I pwn you" rather than I OWN you.

"This word is just an overly used Internet typo. It has been overused to the point that people who play online games are using it in everyday speech." -- Tory Rowley, Corunna, Michigan.

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS -- Heard in movie advertisements. Where can we see that, again?

"How often do movies premiere in laundromats or other places besides theaters? I know that when I want to see a movie I think about going to a shoe store." -- Andrea May, Shreveport, Louisiana.

WE'RE PREGNANT -- Grounded for nine months.

"Were men feeling left out of the whole morning sickness/huge belly/labor experience? You may both be expecting, but only one of you is pregnant." -- Sharla Hulsey, Sac City, Iowa.

"I'm sure any woman who has given birth will tell you that 'WE' did not deliver the baby." -- Marlena Linne, Greenfield, Indiana.

UNDOCUMENTED ALIEN -- "If they haven't followed the law to get here, they are by definition 'illegal.' It's like saying a drug dealer is an 'undocumented pharmacist.'" -- John Varga, Westfield, New Jersey.

ARMED ROBBERY/DRUG DEAL GONE BAD -- From the news reports. What degree of "bad" don't we understand? Larry Lillehammer of Bonney Lake, Washington, asks, "After it stopped going well and good?"

TRUTHINESS – "This word, popularized by The Colbert Report and exalted by the American Dialectic Society's Word of the Year in 2005 has been used up. What used to ring true is getting all the truth wrung out of it." -- Joe Grimm, Detroit, Michigan.

ASK YOUR DOCTOR -- The chewable vitamin morphine of marketing.

"Ask your doctor if 'fill in the blank' is right for you! Heck, just take one and see if it makes you 'fill in the blank' or get deathly ill." -- R.C. Amundson, Oakville, Washington.

"I don't think my doctor would appreciate my calling him after seeing a TV ad." -- Peter B. Liveright, Lutherville, Maryland.

CHIPOTLE – Smoked dry over medium heat.

"Prior to 2005 . . . a roasted jalapeno. Now we have a 'chipotle' burrito with 'chipotle' marinated meat, 'chipotle' peppers, sprinkled with a 'chipotle' seasoning and smothered in a 'chipotle' sauce. Time to give this word a rest." – Rob Zeiger, Bristol, Pennsylvania.

i-ANYTHING -- 'e-Anything' made the list in 2000. Geoff Steinhart of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, says tech companies everywhere have picked this apple to the core. "Turn on…tune in…and drop out."

"Banish any word that starts with it. i am just tired of it. it's getting old. -- Brad Butler, Adrian, Michigan.

SEARCH -- Quasi-anachronism. Placed on one-year moratorium.

"Might as well banish it. The word has been replaced by 'google.'" -- Michael Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.

HEALTHY FOOD -- Point of view is everything.

Someone told Joy Wiltzius of Fort Collins, Colorado, that the tuna steak she had for lunch "sounded healthy." Her reply: "If my lunch were healthy, it would still be swimming somewhere. Grilled and nestled in salad greens, it's 'healthful.'"

BOASTS -- See classified advertisements for houses, says Morris Conklin of Lisboa, Portugal, as in "master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces -- never 'bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum,' or 'kitchen laments pathetic placement of electrical outlets.'"

LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2008 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit.php.

With all respect to Mr. Alighieri

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.

So bitter is it, death is little more;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there.

I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way.

But after I had reached a mountain's foot,
At that point where the valley terminated,
Which had with consternation pierced my heart,

Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet's rays
Which leadeth others right by every road.

Then was the fear a little quieted
That in my heart's lake had endured throughout
The night, which I had passed so piteously into Saginaw, MI.

Entry for December 27, 2006

In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe - Carl Sagan

Entry for December 20, 2006

You are truly a nerd only when you know what the first action is in making an apple pie from scratch.

Are Evangelicals the worst of America?

A couple of weeks ago the Christian Coalition of American forced the retirement of their president-elect because he was spreading a different message then their current beliefs. "I wanted to expand the issues from only moral ones -- such as opposing abortion and redefining marriage -- to include compassion issues such as poverty, justice, and creation care” said outgoing president-elect Rev. Joel C. Hunter (1).

This of course did not make much news due to the fact that the story of outgoing National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group representing more than 45,000 churches with 30 million members, founder Ted Haggard has rightfully stolen the spotlight. For those of you who have lived in a cave over the last month, Haggard was caught buying methamphetamine from a gay prostitute (2) and was forced to resign.

All of this comes on the heals of a events such as the Jesus Camp movie wherein an Evangelical summer camp does an Americanized version of what al Quada and other radical religious organizations have been doing for a couple decades. The only difference is that one is teaching their children to use guns; the other is pushing theirs to get elected so that they can command those armed with guns (3). Now one of those has more power, influence, and potential for causing massive casualties – and I’m sure you can guess which one that is.

The other Evangelical story over the last month was the inappropriate actions of Florida Representative Mark Foley with underage male House interns. Representative Foley supported the interests of the Christian Coalition of America 84 percent of the time (4). And all of this is just in the last month or two!!!

Now I know that there will be some Evangelicals out there who do not believe that the actions of a few predominate leaders truly represent the mindset or beliefs of the collective – but to this I would argue. When you have a leadership that you support who acts as these have, you have empowered them in whatever actions they do. Therefore, you are directly responsibly for their actions and also at fault of the events that have unfolded in the name of your alliance.

So my question is this: Is the collective Evangelical organizations in America the representation of the worst we have, or is there another equally large organization that I’ve missed that is somehow worse?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/28/christian.coalition/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/03/haggard.allegations/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_EKHK1C2IE

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=CNIP8121&type=category&category=Conservative

The War on Terror

On September 20, 2001 President George W. Bush, standing before Congress and a scared nation, announced, “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated” (whitehouse.gov). The task from there on out has been to define terror, terrorism, and terrorist in relation to our changing world; how to combat it; prevent it from spreading; and destroy the seeds in which it grows.

In 1937 the League of Nations originally defined terrorism as, “All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public” (unodc.org). For over 70 years this version was to stay the basic definition for international terrorism until, on March 17, 2005, a United Nations panel redefined terrorism as any act: “intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act” (un.org). This broader definition was to take into accounts the recent attacks by several terrorist groups that had been gaining in ambition and success.

Richard Clarke, who served as an advisor from 1973 to 2003 and for presidents Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush and was chief counter-terrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council during the events of 9-11, described the events that lead up to the current War on Terror in his books Against All Enemies. His vantage point is absolutely unique as to the events, actions, and reactions to terrorism within the past 20 years. And although his view is extraordinary, and his actions courageous, his reactions and strategies exemplify the endemic view within our government in relation to dealing with terrorism threats coming from different parts of the world and here at home.

The complexity of why terrorism exists, why it is able to flourish, and why it is extremely difficult to combat, is one not built on individual retaliatory measures, but on a systematic attack of the causes that allow terrorism to take root in the first place. South Korean Nobel Prize Laurent Kim Dae-jung has said, “At the bottom of terrorism is poverty. That is the main cause. Then there are other religious, national and ideological differences". In a Dec.10, 2001 article in the Christian Science Monitor (Jai, 2001). Several of the Nobel Laureates quoted highlight the role of low education and poverty in terrorism: “What is it that seduces some young people to terrorism? It simplifies things. The fanatic has no questions, only answers. Education is the way to eliminate terrorism” (Elie Wiesel). “If the mind is more open, that will automatically bring less fear. Education can narrow the gap between appearances and reality. The reality is that we and 'they' are not different” (Dalai Lama). “At the bottom of terrorism is poverty. That is the main cause. Then there are other religious, national, and ideological differences” (Kim Dae Jung). And, “External circumstances such as poverty and a sense of grievance and injustice can fill people with resentment and despair to the point of desperation” (Desmond Tutu). Clearly, it is the root of the problem that must be addressed: Education and Poverty. The issue then, is how to affect these two issues.

Education and poverty are the historical hallmarks of societies that remain closed to outside investment, communications, and influence (Bremmer, 2005). Open societies are more economically sustainable and, once established, have a built in self perpetuating system lead to more openness to the outside world. Governments that are successful in remaining closed and self perpetuating do so because they have either found outlets for the general discontent in either state or religious diversions.

There is a direct relationship between instability and demand within an authoritarianism society. A people who fear economic insecurity will suspend calls for freedom and representative government in favor of support for (or at least submission to) a single clear voice promising food, jobs, and social guarantees – whether it comes in the form of a state handout or religious offering. The purpose, therefore, of economic reform and the creation of a broad middle class, is to reduce demand for authoritarianism and to build the necessary public confidence that increases demand for an opening of society. When societal outrage is not properly supplied with essentials, or if middle class is unobtainable with the system of government in place, outrage must either be directly dealt with of redirected.

In an authoritarian state, opposition political organizations are suppressed, their activities are outlawed, their leaders are jailed or killed, and their supporters are intimidated into silence. As a result, opposition within these states becomes radicalized; opposition activism becomes, by definition, anti-state activity. And, as Newton’s Third Law tells us, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. Eventually the masses will rise up and suppress the system of government that suppressed them. The problem with this rebirth is that it rarely breeds anything different then new leaders of the same government for the simple fact that the new leaders who take over an authoritarian state, no matter how good-intentioned their original act was, immediately realize that they are now in control of the entire state completely unchecked by any opposing party and with current support of the masses.

Historically in Arab countries, the trend has been for closed societies and authoritarian systems since the British colonialization in the Arab world. This time also ushered in the period in which Arab countries have been dominated by a single political party or monolithic elite. And unlike the control of Communist Russia through economic pacification, the one party systems lead to a continuous rise of religious fundamentalism throughout the Arab world. This is because the natural flow of problems have been redirected not into compliancy for economic stimulus, but into religious centers. “Mosques offer institutional support for public protest and a vehicle for public frustration for those excluded from a share in the nation’s wealth” (Bremmer, 2005). Consolidation of anger/power builds the one party solidarity and, through the government controlled mosques, and directs it at targets away from the state as a means for diversion from other, deeper, economic and societal concerns from their citizens.

Consequently these types of states, be they Islamic, Christian, or Jewish, are home to substantial numbers of radicals. Most prevalent within the closes systems in the Middle East reside the Islamists who prefer the restoration of the Muslim Caliphate to the establishment of liberal parliamentary democracy to push power and control of the masses solely to the religious side of politics as a solution for the problem that they are helping perpetuate by not addressing the core root of the problem.

The current US strategy of dealing with this upswing in religious activism in the Islamic world is the universal democratization and the elimination of “outposts of tyranny”. Unfortunately, this targets the supply of autocratic rule without addressing the underlying demand for it. The formulation of a comprehensive strategy that addresses both sides of the problem, low education and poverty, which lead to these states, is vitally important.

Education, the second part of the equation, is equally at odds with a state controlled by religious means. As a state that directs it’s economically burdened and socially discontented populous towards religion, religion itself will become the educational arm of the government. This too is self propagating and leads toward more religious intervention into all levels of government and a sharper divide with the outside world who may not share their specific brand of beliefs. Therefore, it is the simultaneous elevating of both economic conditions and the separation of church and education, within closed systems, that must be done in harmony. To simply drive a strike at between the leadership and the people of a closed society completely ignores the subsequent generations that have already been educated, usually more virulently, to take up where the newly ousted leaders left off – and with the public support of an equally educated society.

Suppression through economic or religious means will always breed those who refused to be suppressed by any means. Every closed system throughout all of history has, sooner or later, fallen to internal forces wishing to overcome a system they believe in designed to keep them compliant or silent. Strategies that empower the individuals that comprise these groups within closed states to challenge the authoritarian status quo can create strong momentum for democratic change. A promise of basic necessaries or a redirection of anger is in no way a match for the hope of equality with those who clearly have done well at the expense of others.

A supply side foreign policy approach only works against a large, organized, state that is both diametrically apposed to your policies and financially weaker then your state. Supply side policy against a non-formed organization (think the War on Drugs) is destine to fail for the simple fact that in trying to alter market supply in a self-sustaining market. This will only drive up the cost and create more individuals/originations who will naturally see the increased risk offset by the an parallel increase in profit. And since the increase in policy only drives the price higher, the risk and profit also rise in line with the increase in spending on the initial policy. One does not need to study Adam Smith to know that where there is demand, there will always be supply. It is only when you attack both supply and demand can you have a realistic chance of making a true difference.

It is precisely on this supply-side principle that the United States risks losing the war on terror. There is demand for terrorism in parts of the Muslim world to further the closed societies, bolster a belief in an enemy that disagrees with the religious education, and maintain the belief that economic shortages are not due to the system, but instead do to outside forces acting to upset the balance of their homeland. With this rally call, there are growing numbers of angry young Muslims willing to surrender their lives in exchange for an outlet for their anger and a sense of pride and purpose for their state and family’s future wellbeing. These men have little stake in the success of their nations. They have little hope of lawfully altering their fates. If this or that Al Qaeda captain is captured or killed, a young Muslim looking for a war will find another officer to enlist him. When bin Laden is finally captured or killed, those who demand a champion to lead the terrorist jihad will create a new leader.

The progress of altering this trend is slow, and as General Wesley Clark has written, "Western labor unions, encouraged by their governments, aided the emergence of a democratic trade union movement, especially in Poland, Western broadcast media pumped in culture and political thought, raising popular expectations and undercutting Communist state propaganda. And Western business and financial institutions entered the scene, too, ensnaring command economies in Western market pricing practices” (Washington Monthly). In essence, the former Warsaw Pact countries did not choose democracy because they it was imposed on them by the outside world. Instead, the accepted Democracy because they wanted democracy internally because of nonmilitary outside forces and influences.

This influence from the outside world is well known in closed societies. The average North Korean knows little more about the world outside of their boarders then their government allows just as those in the closed Islamic countries allow only certain types of cultural influences to permeate into their own. This defense against unwanted outside influences is usually done through cooperation between the state and the religion as it is mutually beneficially needed for both to maintain power and the illusion that their followers are living the best life possible under the circumstances. Cultural protectionism that undermines cultural vitality as surely as economic protectionism limits economic growth and keeps the population in eternal check.

The challenge becomes in finding ways into these closed societies to help bolster the middle class and allow for economic and educational reforms knowing that resistance to reforms reinforces short-tem political stability as it softens the blows of social dislocation.

Realizing that countries are aligning to undermine their intentions, certain militant cells have decided to shore up recruitment both in their countries of origin and in those where they believe that individuals with the same backgrounds and upbringing as themselves now reside. The attacks have symbolized mainly Western, other religious interests, and in their own religious areas. “These strikes may contain a grim message for Muslims: Beware, anyone who cooperates with the West--the danger extends to you.” And advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI says that the terrorists' strategy is to create chaos aimed at undermining moderate Muslim governments by “attacking innocent victims as an indirect manner of striking Arab or Islamic governments that militants condemn as corrupt," (Time 2004) France's Jacquard calls the tactic a new "strategy of rupture." The purpose, he says, is to force Muslims "to finally, fatally decide whether they are for or against righteous jihad."

So I put the question to you out there, what is the key to undermining an authoritarian regime propped up by basic economic stability through natural resources while holding it’s populous in check through religious means?

Any ideas?

References:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/terrorism_definitions.html

http://www.un.org/unifeed/script.asp?scriptId=73

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html

Clarke, R. (2004). Against All Enemies. New York, NY: Free Press.

Jai, J. (2001, December 10). “Getting at the Roots of Terrorism: The Largest Gathering of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.” The Christian Science Monitor.

Bremmer, J, (2005). The J Curve. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster

Clark, W. (2004, March). “Broken Engagement.” Washington Monthly.

McGeary, J. (2003). When No One Is Truly Safe. Time, 162(22), 52-56.

Your Christmas Survival List

My wife and I went to the mall today and as we shopped for Christmas presents I wrote down a couple of things to remember. I hope that this short list can in some way help you through the season:

• Christmas is inherently the gaudiest time of the year. Don’t try to fight it, you will loose.

• You are going to end up buying at least one box of girl scout cookies, so buy one for the girl who had the guts to walk up to your door and not just from the ones who catch you walking into the grocery store.

• Whatever items you originally laugh at today as bad gift ideas will progressively look better the closer Christmas gets.

• There are only two options when buying jeans: comfortable, or the ones that make your butt look good.

• Of course the retail person who helped you at the mall was stoned. They have to be stoned to deal with a Christmas shopping you.

• Your husband wants nothing from Bath & Body Works. Nothing.

• Nothing says that you’ve hit middle age faster then a Christmas sweater you’ve made yourself.

• Whether you want to admit it or not, you too looked that ridiculous when you were a kid. So stop mentally berating those ridiculous looking kids at the mall. It’s called generational revenge and is inevitable.

• There is a higher probability that Paris Hilton will win a Nobel Prize then there is that you will not gain weight over the holiday.

• Christmas is suppose to give you a headache, stress you out, make you want to skip it next year, argue with your friends and family, and make you wish you could rip the stereo out of the car. Its part of the mystic, just go with it or it will consume you.