12. september 2003

What? Us worry? Fellow Norwegian blogger Bjørn Stærk on how Europeans naively think the war on terror does not affect them. Humans have irrational instincts about risks - we sometimes exaggerate them, and other times refuse to believe a danger exist until we stare it in the eye. This is clearly a factor in the transatlantic split - Americans feel that September 11 happened to them, and Europeans don't. This is not rational. Contrary to Gros' claims, everything that has happened after September 11 confirms that al-Qaeda do not separate between good Westerners and bad Westerners, or even between Westerners and Muslims - there's only the Cause and Enemies of the Cause. At best, we Europeans are considered to be useful idiots, providers of safe havens to stage attacks from, (thanks to a combination of low security and high proximity to the primary targets), but this will clearly not protect us from attacks, and if it does, the implications are so abhorable that we should take absolutely no comfort in it. European (and, many American) leftists have been very vague on exactly what should be done about terrorism. In Europe, there was a grudging support to the war in Afghanistan, and strong opposition to the war in Iraq. There has also been strong attacks on the American "agenda", in particularly the neocon plans. But what precisely should the west have done instead? 8:02:47 PM    comment []  trackback []

Czech man cheated out of his sperm According to a decision in a Prague court, Jitka Bouchalova tricked her boyfriend Tomas Kaspar to give her a sample of his sperm with the excuse that doctors at a fertility clinic needed it to find out what contraceptive was the best for her. Instead she and the clinic used the sperm to impregnate her, and she gave birth to twins, no less. She then demanded he pay child support. Instead the court awarded Kaspar more than £20,000 in compensation from the clinic and his ex-girlfriend. The defendents claimed that he had known what the sperm should be used for. That is rather difficult to believe. If he wanted to impregnate his girlfriend, he wouldn't give her his sperm in a cup. 5:30:09 PM    comment []  trackback []

— Winning the war on terror Mark Steyn in The Spectator argues that the US is winning the war on terror, kicking hard at the delusional attacks on president Bush from the left. Case in point: It's the second anniversary of the horrible terror attacks on the US that sparked the war, and there has been no further attacks on American soil. There has been tapes where Osama bin Laden threated blood-thirsty attacks on not only the US and its allies Britain and Australia, and also weak appeaseniks like Canada, Ireland and even Norway, but none of this ever materialised.  As Steyn says: "They’re all turban and no jihad." It is obvious, as I have said earlier, that al-Qaeda would launch attacks on the US every day if they could. There is no restraint in these fanatics. The absense of attacks shows that the terrorist's ability to attack has been seriously damaged by the war on terror. 5:23:04 PM    comment []  trackback []

Unblogged I've been security guard for this charity auction arrangement tonight, convincing stupid drunk people to not harass the poor contestants standing still holding a rope. The last guy standing will win a Bentley '56, and they are far tougher than I expected. It's been cold and raining the most of the time. I almost feel sorry for those people standing there while I find my warm bed. 7:05:25 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.10.2003; 02:24:30.