Money vs Miracles

Whilst I have been working, my wife has been watching a show on TV called Dr. 90210. The show is about plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills and in this episode featured one of the most vain, pompous, superficial people I have ever seen. The mans name is Dr. Matlock and every single word out of his mouth is about himself and how much he spent to buy some suit or car or dumb gadget that no one cares about.

He must be a really cool guy to be friends with. Just think, you could hang out all day listening to how much his new shoes cost or even better, he could tell you how great he looks in a tank top and sweat pants. The amazing thing about this chap is that he probably thinks this is really impressive and that we are all oooing and ahhing. I personally think it's more along the lines of grrrr but hey, maybe people are actually impressed that he spent $800 on a shirt that looks the same as a shirt that costs $50.

In the same episode the main star of the show, Dr. Rey, spent the entire time in Mexico doing pro bono work to help under privileged folks. All of these people would never have a hope in hell of fixing some of their problems. He was fixing children's cleft lips, removing tumors, separating fingers and more. It was amazing to see.

Which of the doctors do you think had the most fulfilling week? When it's all over and things are said and done, do you really think that people are going to remember how much your suit cost. Or do think that maybe, just maybe, they'll remember how you allowed their son to breathe and eat properly again?

Nuclear Neighbors

Any of you reading the news these past few weeks would have seen the emergence of a new threat to the free world. Iran has re-instituted its nuclear research and development program, and said “Up yours” to the rest of the world. Ok, so not everybody, just the countries that already have nuclear weapon capabilities and don’t want everyone else to share in the joy of being able to destroy the world at the push of a button.

Personally, I think that nukes are a bad idea and we would be better off without The Bomb. Now nuclear power, that’s a different story. Well maybe.

I wonder if this action is going to be the case for every country that starts its own nuclear development program. Surely everyone is going to want to take a crack at developing a nuke when their country has a bit of spare change to foot the bill for the research. The biggest question really is this, how does one stop this problem once and for all? How do you get people to unlearn what they have learned? Nuclear power is an efficient and cost effective source of power which could help a lot of impoverished nations supply much needed amenities to their populations, yet with a little work and a lot cash can become the deadliest force yet built by man. Quite the conundrum.

Aside from all that, I can’t help thinking how this was the way the Iraq war started. Maybe someone at the CIA screwed up and spelt Iran wrong. That would explain all the sheepish faces when it was announced that there was no evidence of nuclear weapons development in Iraq… 400,000 troops in Iraq saying ‘Where are the nukes?’; one Special Agent in Iran saying ‘Where are the troops?’. It could be that or possibly a game of ‘Tag Team Enemy of the World’.

Land of the Free

Censorship, Phone taps and Opened mail.

The United States of today has some similarities with the South Africa of yesterday. Growing up in apartheid South Africa, everything we saw and heard ran through a board of censors before it ever reached the public. You couldn't read a newspaper or a magazine that hadn't been censored.

Everybody knew that the government was watching. Illegal phone taps and opening mail where all common practices in what was the archaic regime of the South African government. Does this sound familiar?

President Bush authorized the NSA to monitor any international calls. That might be a bit of an invasion of privacy but hey, what do I know? It turns out that mail was also being opened in this, the War on Terror (a war that cannot ever end)

When you see the FCC watching and censoring everything we see and hear, George listening and reading everything we send or say, does it really feel like the 'Land of the Free'? I think this mantra should be modified to be 'Land of the Free*'.

I love living in the USA and all the ideals that it was built on. I feel like we lose a little of what makes America great every time the powers that be encroach on our privacy.

* Freedom doesn't include:
Speech, international phone calls, medical aid, opinions, naked bums on TV, letters to Mom, choice or civil rights.
Does include:
Frivolous law suits, invading other countries, mass media hype and blatant lies.

A bigger shell

This week has seen another flare up in the debate regarding the troops in Iraq not having adequate protection. The primary focus of the debate this week is the lack of peripheral armor around the ceramic plates in the soldiers body armor. The studies are showing that as many as 80% of the lethal torso injuries incurred in Iraq could have been prevented by sufficient body armor.

This may or may not be true. I don't think there is such thing as a preventable death in war. Body armor makes it less likely to be killed but not impossible.

Consider that a soldier will be carrying a 8.3 pound (3.77kg) assault rifle, a further 3 pounds of clothing and boots, 4-8 pounds of ammunition, 8 pounds of webbing and 16.4 pounds (7.4 kg) of body armor. Add a couple of extra 4 pound (1.8 kg) plates to cover those currently unprotected places and you have one seriously heavy soldier. You also have to factor in the heat of the Iraqi climate.

If you add more armor you slow down the soldier, making him a sitting duck as he lumbers across open areas. So he won't be killed by the round that hits him in the chest, but he may be killed by the 3 or 4 subsequent hits that he would have avoided had he been faster.

The advantage has ebbed and flowed between machines, gadgets and tech versus the basic human being for as long as there has been warfare. For every strength there is an exploit or one just around the corner.

The thing about war is that people die. The only way to prevent these guys from dying is to pull them out of Iraq and end the war.

Article in Forbes