Friday, December 24, 2004
"Free speech can go so far"? Since it's Christmas Eve day I won't use the language I would like to -- Christian self-censorship if you will. But let's just say that Sikhs would seem to be intent on catching up to Muslims on the list that Christians would have if they weren't so -- well -- Christian. (Hat tip Glenn)
Ridiculous? Yes, that would pretty much describe the AP -- again given it's Christmas Eve day. But not those who don't believe a word they print anymore. Maybe they can become full-time Rather apologists while they're at it...
Thursday, December 23, 2004
OK, one final jab at the nutcase libs over the Ukraine -- by someone who knows a bit about the region -- before I finally go extract that cork... (Hat tip Glenn)
We all need a good laugh before Christmas eve... I don't know about you, but after a hard day of snow sledding and shoveling with the boys, it's time to go remove the cork on something...
All You Need To Know About Israel (And Europe)
Is well summarized in this article (for those who are very short on time).
And this longer but very worthwhile "View from the Eye of the Storm" which addresses the importance of Eurabia as the pivotal battleground -- as it has been for the past two millenia. [UPDATE: Well really more like one milennia, but it certainly feels like two...]
P.S. You do remember the scorecard -- don't you?
And this longer but very worthwhile "View from the Eye of the Storm" which addresses the importance of Eurabia as the pivotal battleground -- as it has been for the past two millenia. [UPDATE: Well really more like one milennia, but it certainly feels like two...]
P.S. You do remember the scorecard -- don't you?
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Rehabilitating The French?
out-of-band-introduction
Not sure why I have been holding off on posting this one for so long -- maybe it had turned into a sheltered child of some sort. Anyway, here is the last Soapbox left that I had submitted to the Fort Collins Coloradoan that they chose not to print. As I pointed out a few months ago when I de-anonymized We The Free, "Blogs are the letter to the editor that the editor does not want to print." So even though I was (sacre bleu!) underestimating the scale of corruption of the French and the U.N., I'm publishing it here unaltered as I submitted it -- I think it has obviously stood its nine-month test of time quite well... Enjoy!
P.S. Needless to say, one of the joys of the blog is no editors -- especially for titles! While I give the Coloradoan credit for printing my Soapbox bodies unaltered, they never would print my submitted titles. They probably would have headed this one "War Monger Hates Our Founding Fathers' Best Ally" if they had chosen to print it ;) Just one of the not-so-hidden secrets of the MSM...
/out-of-band-introduction
Rehabilitating The French?
No sooner than the Spanish had proven to Al Qaeda that European democracy was no match for terror than Osama’s targets grew and somehow the French are now in need of violent rehabilitation for their transgressions with “wine, pigs, loose morals and nudity” according to CNN.
As someone with a proven track record of psychoanalyzing the French, comments are in order.
But first – surprise! – I would like to give a big, solid B+ to Cheryl Distaso for her recent Soapbox in the Coloradoan (“Whether Bush’s or Clinton’s war, oppose it”, 3/18/04).
It’s OK -- I’ll pause now while the gentle reader climbs back onto their chair.
You see, the first thing that Cheryl did right was to actually pay attention to the counter-protesters at her organization’s recent event. This shows that she has some degree of consideration for alternate viewpoints.
And she must have had some level of respect for her critics – for how else to explain that she spent a meaningful portion of her column rebutting her critic’s charges of hypocrisy and clarifying that she protested Clinton’s wars also. I believe Cheryl is consistent.
Another mark in Cheryl’s favor is the somewhat levelheaded tone of her piece. While she did make reference to “the Bush administration is promoting violence”, her words about “Clinton’s ruthless military actions” were certainly negative.
Where Cheryl fell short was in the following two areas: putting real meat on the foundations of her position and admitting that she is likely a minority in her organization regarding consistency. Were the protest crowds locally and around the world opposing Kosovo even within an order of magnitude of those opposing Iraq II? I certainly don’t recall it – perhaps I can be proven wrong?
As for the foundations of her position, there are two likely alternatives: complete, consistent pacifism and “transnational progressivism”. If she is a complete pacifist then I grudgingly admire her consistency. It’s fascinating to contemplate a world where Lincoln didn’t fight the Civil War and Hitler was unopposed in WWII.
More likely (my best reading since she didn’t completely clarify it) she believes that wars should only be undertaken based on some form of “international law”. Most often, this seems to take the form of a “democratic” vote by the U.N.
The problem with this line of logic comes in when the “democratic vote” is cast by the ambassadors of dictators. Other than Israel, Turkey and someday the now fledgling Iraq, there are no democracies in the Middle East! How can voting rights for dictators not be an affront to the very concept of democracy?
And while the French and the rest of the Europeans may be largely democratic, they are vulnerable to bribery and corruption for their U.N. votes. You see the GAO now estimates that Saddam skimmed north of $10 billion through kickbacks under U.N. auspices in the “Oil for Food” program supposedly meant to feed starving Iraqi children. The U.N.’s Kofi Annan now admits “It is highly possible that there has been quite a lot of wrong-doing but we need to investigate and get to see who was responsible.”
Who do you suppose the new Iraqi government accuses of being a key player in taking Saddam’s corrupt “commissions” alongside Russians and Chinese? Anti-war for oil, tres bonne affaire?
So now the French need rehabilitation according to not just me and George Bush but the Islamists and shortly U.N. investigators.
Unless the French veto the U.N. investigators as well.
Alas, efficacious vetoes may be more difficult with the Islamists. “Fire sale” on Bordeaux wine anyone?
Bob Gronlund
Fort Collins
bob_wtf@comcast.net
Not sure why I have been holding off on posting this one for so long -- maybe it had turned into a sheltered child of some sort. Anyway, here is the last Soapbox left that I had submitted to the Fort Collins Coloradoan that they chose not to print. As I pointed out a few months ago when I de-anonymized We The Free, "Blogs are the letter to the editor that the editor does not want to print." So even though I was (sacre bleu!) underestimating the scale of corruption of the French and the U.N., I'm publishing it here unaltered as I submitted it -- I think it has obviously stood its nine-month test of time quite well... Enjoy!
P.S. Needless to say, one of the joys of the blog is no editors -- especially for titles! While I give the Coloradoan credit for printing my Soapbox bodies unaltered, they never would print my submitted titles. They probably would have headed this one "War Monger Hates Our Founding Fathers' Best Ally" if they had chosen to print it ;) Just one of the not-so-hidden secrets of the MSM...
/out-of-band-introduction
Rehabilitating The French?
No sooner than the Spanish had proven to Al Qaeda that European democracy was no match for terror than Osama’s targets grew and somehow the French are now in need of violent rehabilitation for their transgressions with “wine, pigs, loose morals and nudity” according to CNN.
As someone with a proven track record of psychoanalyzing the French, comments are in order.
But first – surprise! – I would like to give a big, solid B+ to Cheryl Distaso for her recent Soapbox in the Coloradoan (“Whether Bush’s or Clinton’s war, oppose it”, 3/18/04).
It’s OK -- I’ll pause now while the gentle reader climbs back onto their chair.
You see, the first thing that Cheryl did right was to actually pay attention to the counter-protesters at her organization’s recent event. This shows that she has some degree of consideration for alternate viewpoints.
And she must have had some level of respect for her critics – for how else to explain that she spent a meaningful portion of her column rebutting her critic’s charges of hypocrisy and clarifying that she protested Clinton’s wars also. I believe Cheryl is consistent.
Another mark in Cheryl’s favor is the somewhat levelheaded tone of her piece. While she did make reference to “the Bush administration is promoting violence”, her words about “Clinton’s ruthless military actions” were certainly negative.
Where Cheryl fell short was in the following two areas: putting real meat on the foundations of her position and admitting that she is likely a minority in her organization regarding consistency. Were the protest crowds locally and around the world opposing Kosovo even within an order of magnitude of those opposing Iraq II? I certainly don’t recall it – perhaps I can be proven wrong?
As for the foundations of her position, there are two likely alternatives: complete, consistent pacifism and “transnational progressivism”. If she is a complete pacifist then I grudgingly admire her consistency. It’s fascinating to contemplate a world where Lincoln didn’t fight the Civil War and Hitler was unopposed in WWII.
More likely (my best reading since she didn’t completely clarify it) she believes that wars should only be undertaken based on some form of “international law”. Most often, this seems to take the form of a “democratic” vote by the U.N.
The problem with this line of logic comes in when the “democratic vote” is cast by the ambassadors of dictators. Other than Israel, Turkey and someday the now fledgling Iraq, there are no democracies in the Middle East! How can voting rights for dictators not be an affront to the very concept of democracy?
And while the French and the rest of the Europeans may be largely democratic, they are vulnerable to bribery and corruption for their U.N. votes. You see the GAO now estimates that Saddam skimmed north of $10 billion through kickbacks under U.N. auspices in the “Oil for Food” program supposedly meant to feed starving Iraqi children. The U.N.’s Kofi Annan now admits “It is highly possible that there has been quite a lot of wrong-doing but we need to investigate and get to see who was responsible.”
Who do you suppose the new Iraqi government accuses of being a key player in taking Saddam’s corrupt “commissions” alongside Russians and Chinese? Anti-war for oil, tres bonne affaire?
So now the French need rehabilitation according to not just me and George Bush but the Islamists and shortly U.N. investigators.
Unless the French veto the U.N. investigators as well.
Alas, efficacious vetoes may be more difficult with the Islamists. “Fire sale” on Bordeaux wine anyone?
Bob Gronlund
Fort Collins
bob_wtf@comcast.net
Cool!
And thanks to Ravenwood's Universe for accepting my "Pulling Democracy From The Constant Memory Hole" for this week's Carnival of the Vanities! And as usual, thanks to Glenn for keeping COTV in his spotlight.
Another entry that you should DEFINITELY read this week is Dean Esmay's little vivisection of the latest "National Debt" panic.
Another entry that you should DEFINITELY read this week is Dean Esmay's little vivisection of the latest "National Debt" panic.
If You Forced Me To Guess ...
... I'd be guessing that posts like this are why Lynne Cheney loves Powerline:
READ. THE. WHOLE. THING. IT'S. NOT. LONG.
By the way, we know families of fallen Marines who've been flown to sites where President Bush was speaking. He met with them privately after his event, never any press coverage, and the families have said that - after being given an agenda for their time with the President and being told that he's on a very tight schedule - Mr. Bush talked to every family member as long as they wanted to talk, never hurried anyone, cried with family, hugged everyone and they all felt like he had nothing else to do for the rest of the day but bring comfort to them. For that, George W. Bush has my eternal respect and gratitude. And there was NEVER one word of publicity surrounding any of these meetings with families. (I have pictures to dissuade doubters.)I know they're why I do.
Bottom line, we support Sec Rumsfeld. The people who are making a big deal about this have their heads up their collective a****. They need to have a serious priority check on what people in positions of responsibility should be doing with their time. They should also chat with some military families if they could figure out how to contact them.
READ. THE. WHOLE. THING. IT'S. NOT. LONG.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Pulling Democracy From The Constant Memory Hole
... that the MSM is working overtime to maintain on Iraq:
The Victocrats would have you believe these people are too stupid to look for the truth after decades of experiencing one of the most Orwellian societies ever -- not one of them ever sneaking a peek at satellite television from the West.
Poppycock.
The real question is whether the Baathists and Jihadists will be broken after killing and jailing another 10-20,000 of them or whether it will take maybe ten times that to do it. Don't forget that there were perhaps millions of Sunnis corrupted with evil in varying degrees by Saddam's commands and threats.
We let it go on way too long folks -- and now there is a steep price to pay.
Today's MSM would have had us surrender to Japan after Pearl Harbor -- and just imagine what they would do with an Operation Tiger!
Can you say Sayonara Normandy?
TIME FOR AN UPDATE ALREADY: Strategy Page has an extension to this little Iraqi/American history lesson:
And did I mention that if Iraq is judged to be an "illegitimate democracy" because only 70-80% of the electorate get to cast their ballots then by that standard the U.S. is also?
Wha-huh? you say?
I have often wondered where in history the self-righteous leftists REALLY think the U.S. turned the corner and became evil. I kept listening to Chomsky-ites imply it was with our victory in WWII -- we became the Nazis as part of the grand plan of (Democrat) FDR and (Democrat) Harry Truman.
But now I realize it all really DID start with the Republicans after all. That's right, I've finally admitted it.
The U.S. actually lost it's legitimacy and became "evil to the core" when that d**ned Republican Lincoln fought to free the slaves and hold the country together at the same time -- for you see in the process the South didn't vote in the election of 1864...
And the Iraqi majority of Shia and Kurds -- and what have they been but slaves? -- are now attempting to free themselves from the brutal repression of the Saddamite Sunnis while aiming still to hold Iraq together in the end. Like Lincoln, they're not showing any signs of letting a "difficult" election get in their way.
How illegitimate of them!!!
An "evil" -- and certainly very, very, very Republican -- Abraham Lincoln just winked I think...
What will you base your vote on?What's that you say? Dan Rathered not to report it? I'm SHOCKED I tell you!
Political agenda - 65% Factional origin - 14% Party Affiliation - 4% National Background - 12% Other reasons - 5%
Do you support dialog with the deposed Baathists?
Yes - 15% No - 84% Do not know - 1%
Do you support postponing the election?
Yes - 18% No - 80% Do not know - 2%
Do you think the elections will take place as scheduled?
Yes - 83% No - 13% Do not know - 4%
The Victocrats would have you believe these people are too stupid to look for the truth after decades of experiencing one of the most Orwellian societies ever -- not one of them ever sneaking a peek at satellite television from the West.
Poppycock.
The real question is whether the Baathists and Jihadists will be broken after killing and jailing another 10-20,000 of them or whether it will take maybe ten times that to do it. Don't forget that there were perhaps millions of Sunnis corrupted with evil in varying degrees by Saddam's commands and threats.
We let it go on way too long folks -- and now there is a steep price to pay.
Today's MSM would have had us surrender to Japan after Pearl Harbor -- and just imagine what they would do with an Operation Tiger!
Can you say Sayonara Normandy?
TIME FOR AN UPDATE ALREADY: Strategy Page has an extension to this little Iraqi/American history lesson:
More likely, there will be more force applied by the new government, at least more than American troops are applying, plus negotiating with the tribal and religious leaders for deals to work out how much oil money, and how many government jobs, the Sunni Arabs will get. Al Qaeda is not interested in this kind of deal, but al Qaeda is widely hated by all Iraqis. It is only tolerated by Sunni Arabs now because al Qaeda suicide bomb attacks are seen as effective weapons. Once the majority of Sunni Arab groups have made their deals, al Qaeda will have no place to hide. If the Sunni Arabs do not settle down, it will get ugly. Americans forget that, at the end of the American Revolution, a third of the population still supported the king. At the end of the revolution, over five percent of the American population, those loyalists who would not tolerate this new democracy, was killed or driven into exile.There you have it -- the uncomfortable truth.
And did I mention that if Iraq is judged to be an "illegitimate democracy" because only 70-80% of the electorate get to cast their ballots then by that standard the U.S. is also?
Wha-huh? you say?
I have often wondered where in history the self-righteous leftists REALLY think the U.S. turned the corner and became evil. I kept listening to Chomsky-ites imply it was with our victory in WWII -- we became the Nazis as part of the grand plan of (Democrat) FDR and (Democrat) Harry Truman.
But now I realize it all really DID start with the Republicans after all. That's right, I've finally admitted it.
The U.S. actually lost it's legitimacy and became "evil to the core" when that d**ned Republican Lincoln fought to free the slaves and hold the country together at the same time -- for you see in the process the South didn't vote in the election of 1864...
And the Iraqi majority of Shia and Kurds -- and what have they been but slaves? -- are now attempting to free themselves from the brutal repression of the Saddamite Sunnis while aiming still to hold Iraq together in the end. Like Lincoln, they're not showing any signs of letting a "difficult" election get in their way.
How illegitimate of them!!!
An "evil" -- and certainly very, very, very Republican -- Abraham Lincoln just winked I think...
STFU Update
Dale has some choice words for the loony left:
And while we're on the subject of things you drink a big, hot, steaming cup of STFU about, you can spare me the claptrap about how noble the UN is, at least until the UN manages to stop putting dictatorships like Libya in Charge of their Human rights efforts, manages to stop a genocide at least once, or manages to deploy peacekeeping troops without molesting everything--or everyone--that isn't nailed down.Did I mention that Stalin's sainted mother Russia actually went backwards in the Freedom House survey this year? But hey, dictatorships of all stripes are every bit as legitimate as democracies -- the left calls it "relativism". I call it horsepucky.
If you still think the Afghan War was about some oil pipeline, and the oil-for-food scandal is just some puffed up attempt by conservatives to discredit the UN, then I'm just not interested in what you have to say. Because, really, you're a crank. I just don't have the time.
And, increasingly, neither does the rest of the electorate.
MSM IS ON THE OTHER SIDE: "It was fortunate for the AP that their photographer was accidentally there." ... Remembering the Paris Match account leaps to mind: "In any case, the target was mistaken for a military 747, though of course, the attackers had no way at all of knowing anything at all about the identity of the flight. The journalists discover only later that the "commandoes had fired on a DHL Airbus... A civilian target!" Sacre Bleu! So sorry. Such careless noncombatants."
I'm sure AP were framed ... and Karl Rove planted the forged CBS memos ... and Osama is glad Kerry lost ... and ... [wretching sounds...]
I'm sure AP were framed ... and Karl Rove planted the forged CBS memos ... and Osama is glad Kerry lost ... and ... [wretching sounds...]
ACLU Redo: "The ACLU: Do as we say, not as we do." Sorry -- I just couldn't keep it in anymore and McQ nailed it to the floor...
Sunday, December 19, 2004
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