Quadrennial Defense Review Report

Okay, so I was reading an article in the Economist about the Quadrennial Defense Review Report, which outlines how the military will respond to future needs. I navigated to the Department of Defense QDR web page and found the lengthy report...

Quadrennial Defense Review Report

FIGHTING THE LONG WAR
Afghanistan
Iraq
The Fight Beyond Afghanistan and Iraq
Humanitarian and Early Preventive Measures
The Department’s Role at Home
Operational Lessons Learned

OPERATIONALIZING THE STRATEGY
Defeating Terrorist Networks
Defending the Homeland in Depth
Shaping the Choices of Countries at Strategic Crossroads
Preventing the Acquisition or Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Refining the Department’s Force Planning Construct for Wartime

REORIENTING CAPABILITIES AND FORCES
Joint Ground Forces
Special Operations Forces (SOF)
Joint Air Capabilities
Joint Maritime Capabilities
Tailored Deterrence / New Triad
Combating WMD
Joint Mobility
Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR)
Achieving Net-Centricity
Joint Command and Control

RESHAPING THE DEFENSE ENTERPRISE
Toward A New Defense Enterprise
Governance Reforms
Management and Work Reforms

DEVELOPING A 21st CENTURY TOTAL FORCE
Reconfiguring the Total Force
Building the Right Skills
Designing an Information Age Human Capital Strategy

ACHIEVING UNITY OF EFFORT
Strengthening Interagency Operations
Working with International Allies and PartnersStrategic Communication

U.S.-China Trade Relations

So, I was reading an article in the Economist about trade relations with China. Peeps in the US are upset with the huge trade deficit with China and the perceived undervaluation of China's currency. Peeps are threatened by China's growing economic and military might. What will Congress do? Let's visit the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Robert Portman and the USTR have published a report...

U.S.-China Trade Relations: Entering a New Phase of Greater Accountability and Enforcement

Here is the table of contents:

REVIEW OF U.S. TRADE PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
Overall Trade Policy
China Trade Policy
Phase 1 (1986-2001)
Phase 2 (2001-2005)
Phase 3 (2006 forward)

KEY CHINA TRADE OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITY GOALS
Participation
Implementation and Compliance
Enforcement of U.S. Trade Laws
Further Market Access and Reform
Export Promotion
Proactive Identification and Resolution of Trade Problems

KEY ACTION ITEMS
Expand USTR Enforcement Capacity
Expand USTR Capability to Obtain & Apply Information on China’s Trade Regime
Expand Trade Policy and Negotiating Capacity in Beijing
Increase Coordination with Other Trading Partners
Deepen and Strengthen Regional Engagement
Increase Focus on Regulatory Reform in China
Increase Effectiveness of High-Level Meetings with China’s Leaders
Expand Bilateral Dialogues on Current and Potential Problem Areas
Strengthen U.S. Government Interagency Coordination
Strengthen the Executive-Congressional Partnership on China Trade

Meet a Hamas Representative

Aljazeera has a website in English, and I have started visiting the site more often. I read an article containing excerpts from an interview with Aziz Duwaik, a professor of urban planning at the Najah University of Nablus and a winner of a parliamentary seat for the Change and Reform party in the Palestinian elections.

God Is Love by Pope Benedict XVI

I read about the Pope's encyclical in the Economist. It sounded interesting so I decided to read the real thing.

Deus Caritas Est (in English: God is Love) is the first encyclical written by Pope Benedict XVI. It was promulgated at 11:00 UTC on 25 January 2006 in Latin and in translations into seven other languages (English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish). The encyclical contains almost 16,000 words in 42 paragraphs over 70 pages, and reflects on the concepts of eros (possessive, often sexual, love), agape (unconditional, self-sacrificing love), logos (the word), and their relationship with the teachings of Jesus. It is the first encyclical to be published since the Vatican decided to assert copyright in the official writings of the Pope.

Encyclical Letter of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI to the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful on Christian love

God Is Love

Part I: The Unit of Love in Creation and in Salvation History

A problem of language
Eros and Agape - difference and unity
The newness of biblical faith
Jesus Christ - the incarnate love of God
Love of God and love of neighbor

Part II: The Practice of Love by the Church as a Community of Love

The Church's charitable activity as a manifestation of Trinitarian love
Charity as a responsibility of the Church
Justice and charity
The multiple structures of charitable service in the social context of the present day
The distinctiveness of the Church's charitable activityThose responsible for the Church's charitable activity

Spengler

worth reading...

Why can't Muslims take a joke?
The Mohammed cartoon affair is even worse than it looks, yet the images are tame compared with other topics that the mainstream media avoid. With freedom of choice and access to information come doubt. Christianity and Judaism are bloodied - indeed, drained almost dry - by nearly two centuries of scriptural criticism; Islam's turn barely has begun.

When even the pope has to whisper

ATOL re: Cartoons

this man is angry:

Punishing Denmark, the wrong enemy
Publication of a cartoon insulting the Prophet Mohammed was indeed irresponsible and intellectually inept, but it is strange that the Arab/Muslim world can manage to coordinate an attack on a small European country over a drawing in a newspaper while it fails to do so against much more serious acts of Western and Israeli aggression.

ATOL Editor's Note

Cartoons and the clash of 'freedoms'
If someone yells "fire" in a crowded theater, is he exercising his freedom of speech or is he being recklessly irresponsible? To many Westerners, insulting Muslims by publishing offensive cartoons of their Prophet is seen as their sacred and inflexible right; but the unrestrained exercise of "freedom" without respecting others' sacred tenets is misplaced in today's global village.

The misplaced defense of free speech
Free press? Or cowardly media eager to please their wealthy masters? The media do little to ask for the impeachment of the consummate liars and mass-murderers who occupy elected positions in more than one Western democracy today, even as they pretend to teach lessons in political morals to less fortunate countries.

Sunni v Shi'a

Islam

Sunni Islam

Shi'a Islam

Sunni-Shi'a Divorce

The Historic background of the Sunni-Shi'a split in Islam started with prophet Muhammad's death in 632 CE, which was followed by a dispute over who was to lead the Muslim community, and how the leader was to be chosen. A gathering of Muslims at Saqifah gave their allegiance to Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, as the first caliph. Sunni Muslims accept Abu Bakr as a righteous and rightful caliph. Shi'a Muslims believe that the prophet had appointed his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor and that in following Abu Bakr, the Muslim community had strayed from the true path. For further discussion of this contentious matter, see Succession to Muhammad.

Later, some thirty years after Muhammad's death, the Islamic community plunged into the First Islamic civil war. This civil war led to the emergence of three distinct Islamic groups:

Sunnis - Sunnis regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman, and Ali) as Rightly Guided Caliphs, that is, caliphs who ruled in accordance with the Qur'an and the sunnah, or way of Muhammad. Sunnis believe that most of the succeeding caliphs failed to live up to these standards. In spite of these failures on the part of the secular leadership, the Sunni clergy (the ulema) counseled believers to submit to the authorities; this was better than constant community strife. The full name of the Sunni branch is Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'ah.

Shi'a - Shi'a generally reject all caliphates except that of Ali, believing that his was the only "Rightly Guided" caliphate, and that only the household and descendants of Muhammad have the right to rule. Shi'as and a handful of Sunni scholars accepted Hasan ibn Ali's claim as caliph, though historical consensus states that Hasan never ruled, and never actually held the title. Some Sunnis, particularly the Salafis, do not accept certain groups of the Shi'a as Muslims.

Khwarij, or Kharijites - The Khwarij were initially loyal to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph, but turned against him after he accepted arbitration during the First Islamic civil war. Because the Khwarij had a very narrow view of what constitutes kufr (acts that invalidate one's Islam), they quickly split up into sects within themselves, each accusing one another of having fallen into disbelief. Though one branch of the Khwarij survives in Yemen and Oman as the Ibadi denomination of Islam, Khwarij doctrine has been largely rejected and relegated to the history books.

Other divisions have arisen since the civil war of the 7th century CE. Some groups are now extinct. Of the existing groups, Sunni Muslims do not accept members of the Nation of Islam, Ahmadiyya, and Zikri as fellow Muslims.

Court Decisions re: US Freedom of Speech

great source:

Library of Court Decisions for Freedom of Speech in the US

Historical Development
1. English Heritage
2. to WWI

Controls upon the Content of Speech
3. Political Heresy: Sedition in the US Since 1917
4. Defamation and Invasion of Privacy
5. Religio-Moral Heresy: From Blasphemy to Obscenity
6. Provocation to Anger and Words That Wound
7. Commercial Speech

Special Issues
8. Prior Restraint
9. Special Problems of a Free Press
10. Constraints of Time, Place, and Manner
11. Institutional Constraints: Schools, the Military, Prisons

Technology
12. Copyright
13. Broadcasting, Cable, and Access Theory
14. The Internet

Freedom of Speech

Blasphemy

United States free speech case law

Freedom of Speech in the United States

Abrams v. United States
Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616 (1919), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court involving the Sedition Act of 1918, which made it a criminal offense to criticize the U.S. federal government. The Court ruled 7-2 that the Act did not violate civil rights under the First Amendment, with Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis dissenting. The case was overturned during the Vietnam War era.

Respect for the Sacred

Here's a good BBC article:

Cartoon row highlights deep divisions
In Damascus, Syria, both the Norwegian embassy and a building containing the Danish, Swedish, and Chilean embassies were stormed and set afire by protesters. The Danish General Consulate in Beirut was burned down by more than 10,000 protesters.

Beirut Mob Burns Danish Mission Building Over Cartoons
An early morning march through downtown Beirut soon exploded into violence, when a breakaway crowd surged toward a high-rise building that houses the Austrian and Danish Missions, chanting obscene anti-Danish slogans in Arabic and vandalizing cars, office buildings and a Maronite Catholic church nearby. Other protesters burned Danish flags and flags bearing images of the cross.

"This was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration, but people who love God and Muhammad are becoming overwhelmed by their anger."

Main article: Aniconism

The Qur'an, the Islamic holy book, does not explicitly prohibit the depiction of human figures; it merely condemns idolatry (verses 41 and 52). Direct prohibitions of pictorial art, or any depiction of sacred figures, are present in the Hadith.

Views regarding pictorial representation within the Muslim community have varied from group to group, and from time to time. Shi'a Muslims have been generally tolerant of pictorial representation of human figures, Sunni Muslims less so. However, the Sunni Ottomans, the last dynasty to claim the caliphate, were not only tolerant but even patrons of the miniaturists' art. Many Ottoman miniatures depict Muhammad; they usually show Muhammad's face covered with a veil or as a featureless void emanating light (depicted as flames). Pictorial surveys of Islamic religious art can be found on the internet.[25][26][27] Note that the last site also contains some extremely and intentionally offensive modern depictions of Muhammad.

Most contemporary Muslims believe that ordinary portraits and photos, films and illustrations, are permissible. Only some Salafi and Islamist interpretations of Sunni Islam still condemn pictorial representations of any kind. Offensive satirical pictures are a somewhat different case — disrespect to Islam or to Muhammad is still widely considered blasphemous or sacrilegious.
According to the BBC "It is the satirical intent of the cartoonists, and the association of the Prophet with terrorism, that is so offensive to the vast majority of Muslims."[28] As Muhammad is the proto-typical Muslim this association with terrorism is comparable to a generalisation to all Muslims. Furthermore, the cartoons were published in a conservative mainstream newspaper in the context of what many Muslims perceive to be an Islamophobic mood in many of the western countries involved France hijab ban, Submission, and 2005 Cronulla race riots. In this context the effect of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons on Muslims differs significantly from the effect of comparable cartoons on a Christian living in the west.

Medicare

Rival Visions Led to Rocky Start for Drug Benefit
"Medicare is an enduring commitment of our country," said Mr. Bush, locked in a tight race with Vice President Al Gore. "It must be modernized for our times." What emerged in the next three years, culminating in the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, was an effort to blend a classic big government program from the Great Society with the conservative, market-oriented philosophy of the Republicans in power.

Medicare

Medicare is a health insurance program for the elderly and disabled in the USA. It was first passed on July 30, 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as amendments to Social Security legislation.

Medicare is partially financed by taxes imposed by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and the Self-Employment Contributions Act of 1954. In the case of employees, the tax is equal to 2.9% (1.45% withheld from the worker and a matching 1.45% paid by the employer) of the wages, salaries and other compensation in connection with employment.

Generally, Medicare is available for people age 65 or older, younger people with disabilities, and people with End Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant).

Medicare has several parts: Part A (Hospital Insurance), and Part B (Medical Insurance, helps cover doctors' services, outpatient hospital care, and some other medical services that Part A does not cover). Neither Part A nor Part B pays for all of a covered person's medical costs. The program contains deductibles and co-pays (payments due from the covered individual). Previously, certain medical needs such as drug prescriptions were excluded. Medicare Part D went into effect on January 1, 2006. Anyone with Parts A and B is eligible for Part D. It was made possible by the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act.

Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (108th Congress)
H.R.1 (enrolled as agreed to or passed by both house and senate)

Economic Competitiveness

In Energy Work, One Hand Giveth and the Other Taketh
About one research dollar in every five appropriated by Congress for the development of renewable energy sources is for a specific project inserted directly into the budget on behalf of a member of the House or Senate, and directed to a contractor or a university in the lawmaker's state or district. When ordered to pay for such pet projects, known as earmarks, the Energy Department reduces spending on similar projects at its own laboratories.

Behind Bush's New Stress on Science, Lobbying by Republican Executives
The industry and science leaders told the officials that the administration needed to respond to concerns laid out in a report by a National Academy of Sciences panel headed by Mr. Augustine. It warned of a rapid erosion in science, technology and education that threatened American economic competitiveness.

The report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future," has been circulating in draft form since October. It was put together by a group of top technology and science leaders, who say the country faces a crisis that the Bush administration is ignoring.

The executives said that the administration had also been induced to respond by a growing bipartisan movement in Congress supporting basic research and education.

Two bills tackling this matter have recently been introduced. One is the Protect America's Competitive Edge Act, by Senators Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico; Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico; Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee; and Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. A similar bill was introduced by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut. Several of the senators met with President Bush in December to encourage him to support the competitiveness legislation.

Apple
Making add-ons/accessories for the iPod is a $1 billion business. Does that sound like hyperbole? Consider this. Last year, Apple sold 32 million iPods, or one every second. But for every $3 spent on an iPod, at least $1 is spent on an accessory.

The Case for Cutting the Chief's Paycheck
Corporate America has made some progress in cleaning up its governance, but overly high compensation levels for chief executives show that much remains to be done, says Nell Minow, editor, founder and chairman of the Corporate Library, a research group based in Portland, Me. This article contains excerpts from a conversation.

Muhammed Cartoons Controversy

Debate about self-censorship

On 17 September 2005, the Danish newspaper Politiken ran an article under the headline "Dyb angst for kritik af islam"[2] ("Deep fear of criticism of Islam"). The article discussed the difficulty encountered by the writer Kåre Bluitgen, who was initially unable to find an illustrator who was prepared to work with Bluitgen on his children's book "Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv" ("The Qur'an and the prophet Muhammad's life"). Three artists declined Bluitgen's proposal before an artist agreed to assist anonymously. According to Bluitgen:

One [artist declined], with reference to the murder in Amsterdam of the film director Theo van Gogh, while another [declined, citing the attack on] the lecturer at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute in Copenhagen. [In October 2004, a lecturer was assaulted by five assailants who opposed the lecturer's reading of the Qur'an to non-Muslims during a lecture at the Niebuhr institute at the University of Copenhagen[3]].

The refusal of the first three artists to participate was seen as evidence of self-censorship and led to much debate in Denmark, with other examples for similar reasons soon emerging. The comedian Frank Hvam declared that he did not dare satirise the Qur'an on television, while the translators of an essay collection critical of Islam also wished to remain anonymous due to concerns about violent reaction.

Publication of the drawings

On 30 September 2005, the daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten ("Jutland Post") published an article titled "Muhammeds ansigt"[4] ("Muhammad's face"). The article consisted of 12 satirical drawings of Muhammad and an explanatory text, in which Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten's culture editor, commented:

The modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with temporal democracy and freedom of speech, where you must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always equally attractive and nice to look at, and it does not mean that religious feelings should be made fun of at any price, but that is less important in this context. [...] we are on our way to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the self-censorship will end. That is why Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten has invited members of the Danish editorial cartoonists union to draw Muhammad as they see him. [...]" [5]

The twelve drawings were drawn by twelve different caricaturists, after an invitation from Jyllands-Posten for around forty different artists to give their interpretation on how Muhammad may have looked. Each of the twelve drawings portrays Muhammad in a different fashion. In the clockwise direction:

The face of Muhammad as a part of the Islamic star and crescent symbol, his right eye the star.

The most controversial drawing shows Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, with a lit fuse and the Islamic creed written on the bomb.

Muhammad standing with a halo in the shape of a crescent moon.

An abstract drawing of crescent moons and Stars of David, and a poem on oppression of women "Profet! Med kuk og knald i låget som holder kvinder under åget!". In English the poem could be read as: "Prophet! daft and dumb, keeping woman under thumb"

Muhammad as a wanderer, with a donkey.

One shows a nervous caricaturist, shakingly drawing Muhammad while looking over his shoulder.

Two angry Muslims charge forward with sabres and bombs, while Muhammad addresses them with: "Rolig, venner, når alt kommer til alt er det jo bare en tegning lavet af en vantro sønderjyde" (loosely, "Relax guys, it's just a drawing made by some infidel South Jutlander"). A South Jutlander is a person from South Jutland; the reference is to a common Danish expression for a person from the middle of nowhere, which is how many Danes regard South Jutland.

An Oriental looking boy in front of a blackboard, pointing to the Farsi chalkings, which translate into "the editorial team of Jyllands-Posten is a bunch of reactionary provocateurs". The boy is labelled "Mohammed, Valby school, 7.A", implying that this Muhammed is a Danish second-generation immigrant rather than the man Muslims believe was a prophet. On his shirt is written "Fremtiden" (the future). According to the editor of Jyllands Posten, he didn't know what was written on the blackboard before it was published.

Another drawing shows Muhammad with a knife and a black bar over his eyes. He is flanked by two women in burqas.

Muhammad standing on a cloud, greeting dead suicide bombers with "Stop Stop vi er løbet tør for Jomfruer!" ("Stop, stop, we ran out of virgins!"), an allusion to the promised reward to martyrs.

Another shows Kåre Bluitgen, wearing a turban with the proverbial orange dropping, with the inscription "Publicity stunt". An "orange in the turban" is a Danish proverb meaning "a stroke of luck." In his hand is a stick drawing of Muhammad.

And in the center:

A police line-up of seven people, with the witness saying: "Hm... jeg kan ikke lige genkende ham" ("Hm... I can't really recognise him"). Not all people in the line-up are immediately identifiable. They are: 1) A generic Hippie (possibly Imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen) 2) Politician Pia Kjærsgaard 3) Possible Jesus 4) Possible Buddha 5) Possible Muhammad 6) A generic Indian Guru (although some people claim to recognise the image as Imam Ahmad Abu Laban ) 7) Journalist Kåre Bluitgen, carrying a sign saying: "Kåres PR, ring og få et tilbud" ("Kåre's public relations, call and get an offer")

Not all of these drawings were wholly new, according to the chief editor of Jyllands Posten; one or more had already been published in the newspaper at earlier dates without drawing major criticism.

Cross Country Skiing

I bought cross country skis, bindings, boots, and poles at REI.
I've been cc skiing once before and I look forward to improving my balance.
Now show me the snow.

State of the Union

Transcript of State of the Union Address