This quote from John Adams is worth re-reading:
Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.
One can easily get the impression that our democracy is right in the middle of [...]
Archive for June, 2007
suicide
Posted in Terrorism, War and Peace on June 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Never give up, never surrender
Posted in Immigration, Politics on June 29, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Never give up, never surrender. This is Newt Gingrich’s call to arms for defeating the abomination known as the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill. In reality, an amnesty bill that now sleeps with the fishes.
At least for now. All the usual suspects will whine about how we Americans hate immigrants, are racists, [...]
Rescue me
Posted in Islam on June 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
President Bush, throwing good money after bad, has now pandered to the very people who only wish us to convert or die. In a speech before the Islamic Center in Washington, he promised to, among other things, appoint a superfluous envoy to the Jew- and Christian-hating Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The envoy’s purpose? [...]
Protestants
Posted in Islam on June 27, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
In the basic meaning of the word, of course. Christian Protestants, although initially protesting the abuses of the Roman Church, are nonetheless the very antithesis of Muslims protestant. Protestants, of the Christian persuasion, have free will and freedom of conscience at the very heart of our faith.
We Baptists (and many others) [...]
“sensible provisions?”
Posted in Liberty on June 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
It is no surprise that those who pine for statist solutions to all “problems” would bemoan the latest Supreme Court decision on free speech. The case, dealing with some details of the McCain-Feingold Act, upheld, in all-too limited fashion, the First Amendment.
In case any have forgotten, this Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the [...]
Bush’s Brain
Posted in Media, Politics on June 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
That used to be the canard about President Bush: that he was merely a creature of Dick Cheney, who was pulling the strings like the evil Halliburton wizard that he is. Dick Cheney, neocon! Dick Cheney, warmonger! Dick Cheney, single-handedly responsible for our ill-thought out war on [...]
“reparations”
Posted in Idiotarians, Iraq on June 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Christian charity prevents me from writing the adjective that first came to mind when I read the following paragraph from, who else, an Episcopal priest:
My prescription for a way out, I freely admit, is based on policy considerations, not necessarily a moral compass. My sense is that [...]
“colourful language”
Posted in Iran, War and Peace on June 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
This story of an encounter between some Islamothugs from Iran and the Royal Australian Navy may be illustrative of how to deal with Iran.
While the circumstances were different from the abject surrender of some British sailors and marines, the Iranians basically disengaged because “the Australians had pointed [...]
a “Bonhoeffer moment”
Posted in Christianity, Politics on June 22, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Jesuits are known as being protean, and conforming, chameleon-like, to whatever the current Roman Church hierarchy seems to expect. Or, of late, the opposite of what the Roman Church expects. Once called the Pope’s Shock Troops, now, perhaps, they might be called the Popes Legal Beagles.
Here in [...]
Never Forget
Posted in Terrorism, War and Peace on June 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The liberal newspapers are ever eager to show us, as the Washington Post calls them, “faces of the fallen.” In news stories, and in (at least) weekly displays, photos of our servicemen and women killed in Iraq.
The reaction that is sought? Anger at our pursuit of a war that, in the received opinion of the [...]
Hillaryland
Posted in Politics on June 21, 2007 | 1 Comment »
I pity the man trapped in a room with these wannabe alpha females. The coven pictured is proudly displayed on the front page of today’s WaPo, with the headline “Gatekeepers of Hillaryland.”
The size of the picture, the prominence of the story all point to a future editorial in the Post: Hillary for Empress, oh, sorry, [...]
True face of Islam?
Posted in Islam on June 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The Brits have awarded a phony knighthood to the boring author Salman Rushdie. Yawns all around. But then Islamis started to whine and rustle, and threaten death and destruction all around.From a typical news account, first a slam:
In a later address to the parliament Pakistan’s religious affairs minister Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, urged Muslim nations to [...]
“an extreme and dangerous force”
Posted in Arabs. Israel, Terrorism on June 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The title is exactly correct when applied to Hamas. And yet today we find more evidence that the “moderate” Fatah differs from Hamas only in terms of means, not of ends. Hamas wants to destroy Israel and kill Jews. They are a terrorist organization. Repeat slowly: they. are. a. terrorist. organization.
Now, in the New York [...]
“unfavorable scrutiny”
Posted in Mormonism, Politics, Religion on June 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
SSDD — Same S***, Different Day. So it goes on the apparently endless campaign trail. This time it’s Kansas Senator Sam Brownback who’s been sent to detention by the political correctness that has infested both parties.
At issue is something labeled an “attack” on Gov. Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith. The basics, from the WaPo story:
An [...]
Charleston’s Bravest
Posted in Culture on June 19, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Nine dead, men who died rescuing civilians. Heroes all.
Think about such men, who race into burning buildings, not out. Who risk their lives, day in, day out, to protect us and our property.
The story of these brave men will fade, all too quickly. Think also of the relative attention paid to airheads like [...]
“I’m a centrist progressive”
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized on June 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Only a dues-paying member of the Liberalati™ could create a cartoon such as this. Tom Toles is one such, and he is a creative basher of all things good and noble. And, I hasten to add, every once in a while deadly accurate in his renditions of public figures.
This isn’t one of those times, however. [...]
“I am both Muslim and Christian”
Posted in Christianity, Islam on June 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Got to love the Episcopal Church. Its members run the gamut from orthodox catholic Christians (yes, this would mean something quite different if “orthodox” and “catholic” were capitalized), all the way to those who not only disagree that Scripture is the rock upon which our faith is based, but twist themselves in knots attempting to [...]
gangbangers-for-Allah
Posted in Arabs, Islam on June 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Ralph Peters, the angry-not-so-young military retiree-cum-pundit, has penned a must-read synopsis of what Muslim Arabs are about:
Look at Gaza, at the orgy of self-destructive savagery, the macho idiocy, the junkyard-dog religion and the murder-suicide cult sweeping Arab civilization. Then note that, barring a few fringe players, only two sides are fighting in the Gaza Strip.
In [...]
Stoned in Iraq
Posted in Iraq, Islam on June 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
From George Will’s column today, this little report — which says volumes about what our men and women are fighting for in Iraq:
Last month in Iraq, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), had lunch with three soldiers from his state, one of whom had been working with an Iraqi officer training police cadets. That soldier told Smith [...]
Inglés si, Español no
Posted in Immigration on June 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is being criticized by the Hispanic Ghetto Lobby, for his all-too obvious suggestion that Hispanic students might improve their academic performance by learning English faster. From an AP story, the basics:
“You’ve got to turn off the Spanish television set” and stay away from Spanish-language television, books and newspapers, the Republican governor said [...]
Hamastan
Posted in Arabs, Islam, Terrorism on June 16, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Interesting, and deadly accurate, article of this title from Barry Rubin at WSJ. He provides some useful background, a recent history of the Paleos descent into chaos — a chaos that is largely self-induced:
In 2000, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat turned down President Bill Clinton’s offer of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in east [...]
Not ‘in Touch’
Posted in Iraq, Politics, War and Peace on June 15, 2007 | 1 Comment »
According to Sen. Uriah Heep (D-for-Defeatist), the Army four-star who is in charge on the ground in Iraq knows much less about what’s going on than do those who sit in lofty arrogance in the U.S. Senate. From the WaPo today, Harry Reid claims that General David Petraeus:
“isn’t in touch with what’s going on in [...]
“Jew American Army”
Posted in Arabs, Terrorism on June 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
“Are too!” “Are not!” And so it goes between two spoiled, bratty kids. Unfortunately, these kids carry AK-47s, and when they’re not firing them off in the air to celebrate killing some infidels, they spray the landscape, hoping to nail a member of the other group.
These are the Stupids making war against the Crazies in [...]
What you see is what you’ll get
Posted in Politics on June 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The Hillary is in full pander mode. In this mode, the actual merits of a position matter far less than whether her position will appease the nutroots who appear to be driving the Donk nominating process.
Case in point is a Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. This should be [...]
no appreciable attempt…
Posted in Immigration on June 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
…to enforce immigration laws now on the books. The full statement is a useful complement to understanding the current struggle to pass a “comprehensive” immigration bill. From Rich Lowry at NRO today:
His [George Bush's] administration had made no appreciable attempt to enforce immigration laws until recently. A government can’t ignore its own laws without creating [...]
“Borders Still Vulnerable”
Posted in Immigration on June 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
You don’t say. The failure of our border “controls” (scare quotes quite appropriate) is highlighted in a front page story in today’s WaPo. Headlined “Breach Shows Borders Still Vulnerable,” the starting point is the arrogant and diseased Andrew Speaker, who exposed many to his own unique brand of TB. Speaker managed to evade, knowingly, [...]
343
Posted in Terrorism on June 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The liberal newspapers are ever eager to show us, as the Washington Post calls them, “faces of the fallen.” In news stories, and in (at least) weekly displays, photos of our servicemen and women killed in Iraq.
The reaction that is sought? Anger at our pursuit of a [...]
ad hominem
Posted in Immigration on June 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
We are never supposed to base our policy decisions on who is for, and who is against them. On the other hand, I’ve got to seriously question any bill that was crafted, at least in part, by Teddy White Whale Kennedy. Sure, John McCain was the other half, but, still, Kennedy’s touch is sufficient for [...]
“Quebec, Mexico or Brazil”
Posted in Immigration, race on June 7, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Somebody has fed Anne Coulter some red meat; she’s on one of her tears. This time, it’s about immigration, and the notion that “current immigration law is intentionally designed to reduce their [whites] percentage in the population.” Perhaps she is simplifying cause and effect, but consider this from her column:
In 1960, whites were 90 percent [...]
“a typical Washington mess”
Posted in Immigration, Politics on June 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
There is no doubt in my mind that Rudy Giuliani made the best showing at last night’s GOP “debate.” I use quotation marks on debate, not as scare quotes, but because whenever ten (ten!) would-be candidates for president show up, it’s nothing more than a beauty contest. Sans bathing suits, of course…
Aside from who might [...]
