18Sept06

From my friend and colleague, Mike S. This says a lot about folks in that part of the world:

"Now, here's a really telling quotation. Apparently Pakistan's nucle ar threat is nothing to worry about, as it's clear that there are not a lot of rocket scientists there."

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence "

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman (of Pakistan) Tasnim Aslam, ISLAMABAD, Pakista n Sep 15, 2006 (AP)

/John

18Sept06

Fatal shooting in the Midwest. Force-on-Force training pays off:

"The investigation is still in progress, but here is what we know:

Yesterday evening, our patrolman (just successfully completed probation) wa s in foot pursuit of a home-invasion suspect. The suspect suddenly stopped, turned around, and fired at least one shot in the direction of our officer. Range was less than three feet! Suspect had a four-inch, six-shot revolve r. Not sure if he was firing 38Spl or 357Mg ammunition.

The suspect's shot(s) missed! Our detectives are still trying to fi nd the suspect's bullet(s). Our officer instantly responded with eleven r ounds from his 40S&W (G22, Gold Dot). The suspect may have fired one or two additiona l rounds. If he did, it/they also missed.

The suspect (local, six-time loser) went down immediately, DRT. At the scene, I counted nine entry wounds, chest and abdomen, but the medical peop le did not have all his cloths off yet, so there may have been additional wounds i n his limbs. I did not see him when they rolled him over, so I don't know about exit wounds. In any event, officer, pistol, and ammunition all perfo rmed well. Our officer sustained muzzle blast burns on both arms, but is otherwise okay. No one else was hurt.

Co-incidentally, the entire department had just been exposed to force-on-force training, using Airsoft pistols. During training scenarios, we emphasized, among other things, shooting continuously until the threat is c learly stopped. This training surely paid off, much sooner than any of us thought it would!"

Comment: Force-on-force training, when conducted well, is invaluable, as we

see! This officer knew what he had to do, and he did it with precision and

without hesitation. Good guys are all okay, and one piece of human sewage is permanently removed from the gene pool. Good show!

/John

18Sept06

Man-Eaters!

In the early part of the last Century, as European colonization infused tribal Africa with the values and traditions of Western Civilization, vast a reas of sub-equatorial Africa saw European-style, organized agriculture for the first time in history. While far-away governments in Portugal, England, Holland, France, Belgium, and Germany displayed great interest in their Afr ican colonies' natural resources, they simultaneously displayed almost n one in indigenous populations, whose lives and livelihoods (due to arbitrary lines drawn on maps) they routinely turned upside down. Local colonial administrators, many surprisingly enlightened, could count on scant interest, and even less

tangible help, from Europe. European immigrants, seeking opportunity in th is lush, new land, quickly learned not to depend upon any colonial administrat ion. For those who didn't learn self-reliance promptly, the "African Adv enture" was short and unhappy, frequently lethal. For the unwary and uninitiated, the African bush was notoriously unforgiving. It still is! Believe me; I

know.

Toward the end of 1937, unprecedented weather changes brought about compounded plagues in present-day Mozambique, on the east coast of the Afric an Continent. Malaria, a perpetual problem, was joined by outbreaks of Africa n sleeping sickness (spread via the ubiquitous Tsetse Fly) and leprosy. This

resulted in a large percentage of local populations being incessantly sick and weakened. Many died, but nearly everyone was affected. An unforeseen cons equence was that the local lion population suddenly discovered a relatively easy, high-protein diet!

In this way, large prides of man-eating lions, including both sexes, periodically made their frightful appearance, and the situation in 1937 was the worst on record! Hundreds, probably thousands, of weakened natives were at tacked and eaten that year in southeast Africa. In fact, the odor of the sick and

dying, wafting from villages, was known to attract entire prides of lions, sometimes from miles away. Lions quickly learned they had little to fear f rom frightened and emaciated natives, even the few healthy ones. Of course, no ne of this ever saw the light of day in any European or American newspaper!

Heavily-armed European farmers looked upon lions as little more than pests,

the same way coyotes are regarded today (in Western USA). However, to the less-technological natives, lions, particularly hungry ones, were about as s cary as animals get, and many European farmers became instant heroes when they, at great personal risk, had enough empathy to hunt down and kill the man-eaters. It was an exciting time, a time of great danger and great hero es!

Today, decedents of those brave European adventurers are nearly all gone from the verdant Eden that was once the Zambezi Valley. Mozambique, plague d by civil war since Europeans left, is now barren, unproductive, embroiled in never-ending, sectarian violence, racked with a new plague (AIDS), and so littered with landmines (which will never be cleared) that it is too danger ous to travel into many areas, places that once supported a thriving, agricultural

economy.

Writing about that best-of-times/worst-of-times era, Adelino Serras Pires, famous guide and hunter, says wistfully, "For the first time, local people felt that someone actually gave a damn! Another crisis had been survived. Until the next time. In that magic, African bush, there was always a next time. The mercy was that we could not see into the future!"

Perhaps it is merciful that we, in our era, can't see the future either!

/John