Oriana Fallaci on the War Against Islamofascism

Atlas Shrugs reports on a recent speech about the evils of Islamofascism and the inability of Western Civilization to effectively combat it, which was given by Oriana Fallaci, a famous author and journalist who is dying of cancer. Read this post. It is rather lengthy and apparently written on the fly, but provides some excellent insights. Here are some excerpts:

"Our opponents are leftists. Conservative are too genteel. You are warriors and warriors can not get tired."

"The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage."

In describing despotism, Fallaci said the despot ignores the body and attacks the soul. Because it is the soul the despot wants to put in chains. The despot wants to put the soul in shackles. "You are free not to think. Think as I do. The Truth Inspires Fear".

"Europe overflows with the witch hunts.... hits any one going against Islam. It overflows the with New Inquisition. Trying to muzzle. Oh yes, like your Ward Churchills, your Noam Chomskys, your Louis Farrakhans and your Michael Moore's etc. TRAITORS! against which all antidotes seem to fail. Combined Neo-Nazi [and] Islamo fascism" [Atlas note: Fallaci spit these names out with such repulsion and utter contempt........riveting].

Like love, hate belongs to human nature. Should there be a penal code for the persecution for "hate"? Can we judge? Yes! It can be judged, but only on a moral basis. For instance, the moral basis of religion, the Christian religion, is based on love, not on a political basis or a criminal basis..........."It grants me the right to love who I want but also the right to hate who I want. And the West directs a hate towards itself. The West has lost its spirituality. It stands silent in the slander of Islam. The censure of Europe. Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder," the historian Arnold Toynbee wrote.

"Don't believe in a dialog with Islam. That's a naivete. It can only be a monologue. They do not believe in pluralism. There is no such thing as a "moderate Islam" and a Radical Islam. There is only one Islam." [Atlas note: I too believe this as much as it pains me to say it. I would like nothing better to believe that there is a side we can do business with, talk to. But that is self deluding].

"The real enemy is Islam and the most catastrophic threat is immigration not terror. It is immigration. And they do not integrate in Europe. Maybe in the USA but not in Europe. Those riots in France are a result of that very thing. The Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. immigrants are not rioting and tearing down the very fabric of society."

"WAKE UP WAKE UP. WE ARE AT WAR. WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED ON THE WEST AND WE MUST FIGHT. One or the other must perish."

In light of the weight of evidence that Western Civilization will not defend itself, Fallaci appeared to succumb to fatalism:

"I do not believe the West will win" [it's war against militant Islam].

Turkey Bowl

A group of my friends get together every Thanksgiving. For several of us it's the only day of the year we see each other. For many years we met on Thanksgiving morning and played tackle football. After one particularly grueling game that resulted in several broken bones, some (read: our wives) would say we started using our brains and began playing flag football. Toward the latter years, the football teams always ended up pitting the younger guys ("youngies") against the older guys ("oldies"). Surprisingly, the oldies totally dominated the competition. In the earlier days, it was our physical prowess; toward the latter years, our intelligence. While there is some dispute as to the actual record, as far as I remember it was (give or take):

Oldies : 20

Youngies: 2

Since the oldies have begun entering our late '30s, we've transititioned from football to bowling. Last year the youngies pounded us pretty good on the lanes. So, this year the oldies took them to the woodshed. The first game was won by a single pin, while Game 2 saw the oldies spank the youngies like the wayward children they are (the alcoholic beverages we purchased for them worked to perfection).

Unfortunately, the oldies were victims of their own success. We began to believe that we had the strength and stamina of our youth. So, we accepted the challenge of a third game and then, after losing handily, a fourth. We allowed the youngies to claw back and salvage what little dignity they had. So, officially, it was a tie; but, only because of the oldies largesse. Next time we won't be so magnanimous.

Pictures to follow.

This is a photo of the youngies. As you can see, they are not very impressive.

The oldies--good and decent human beings.

There was no shortage of "ball" jokes. Here, Jason Hagen shows off his ball sack.

In action-two "YOUS": Youngies of Unusual Size.

Most of the youngies bowled like wussies.

However, this was just a ruse to conceal their evil intentions.

Oldies are not fooled easily, though. Here, Al Davino is settin' up to knock 'em down.

It was a great night. I can't wait until next year.

The Culture of Martyrdom

This is an excellent article that looks at the culture of "martyrdom" and its origins in the Muslim world. One of the most interesting points the author makes is that those who are attracted to the message of suicide bombers are fascinated not so much with what they say as with the heroic image that they portray. The author argues that suicide bombing is actually un-Islamic and refutes the claim that helplessness and despair justify the use of the human body as a weapon. Here's a sample:

I have four things to say to those who, however reluctantly, support suicide bombings in Palestine. One, if suicide killing was a viable weapon of a just war, however conceived, then the Prophet Muhammad himself would have used it. He had ample opportunity to do so. Two, a Muslim community cannot really be in a state of despair - however bad its situation. Indeed, despair in Islam is a cardinal sin. As classical Muslim scholars have repeatedly pointed out, despair signifies rejection of God's mercy and abandonment of hope. The very raison d'etre of Islam is to provide hope. Three, suicide is also a cardinal sin in Islam. Life is the ultimate gift of
God: nothing signifies ingratitude more than taking your own life - whatever the cause. According to Islam, suicide is one thing that God may never forgive. Four, taking one innocent life is, according to the Koran, like murdering all humanity. Indeed, even in a fully fledged state of war, killing innocent women and children is forbidden. You can fight only against those who fight against you on a battlefield.

The great and good scholars who support suicide bombings in Palestine know all this better than I do. Which makes their position even more perverse. They practice double standards: it is OK there but not here. And they provide legitimacy for the likes of Khan to take an inductive leap - from Palestine to London to everywhere.

Khan [one of the London suicide bombers], as many Muslim leaders in Britain have rightly pointed out, is an anomaly. But the only way to prevent recurrence of such incongruity is to stand up unambiguously against all suicide bombings everywhere - in Palestine as elsewhere. And to denounce, loudly and clearly, the vile culture of martyrdom. Suicide bombers are not heroes but murderers, pure and simple.

Amen. This article gives me hope that mainstream Muslims are coming to realize that the only way to effectively combat this ghastly practice is for members of their community to condemn it in no uncertain terms.

The Problem With "Success"

Myke over at Collected Apologies has an interesting post about the emptiness of "success." He writes:

Without being so bold as to claim the secret of life, I theorize that the way to get rid of that gaping void inside is counter-intuitive: to give of ourselves. Only by experiencing true charity, giving to humankind and righting life’s wrongs can one get respite from the ache and toil of your inner-void. Or so I think.

I think so, too.

The Party of (In)Tolerance, Part II

That our schools are predominated by leftists teachers and administrators is well known. But, does anyone believe that liberal/leftist educators really care about tolerating views other than their own? These champions of tolerance rarely miss an opportunity to inject their political ideology into their curriculum; but, they become hysterical when conservative students espouse their own world views and/or religious beliefs.

During my college years leftists professors tried to humiliate me and other conservative students on a number of occasions because we presented thoughtful arguments antithetical to liberal orthodoxy. These guardians of free speech and expression often couldn't put their prejudices/hatred aside long enough to afford us the freedom to contribute to the marketplace of ideas. Teachers ostensibly concerned with "preventing a hostile learning environment" were actually creating one. The implication was that only acceptable speech was permissible. As a result, many students came to believe that sharing a conservative viewpoint was tantamount to "shoving our values down their throats."

Well, it is no surprise that leftists educators are still at it. Although examples are myriad, a couple of the most recent instances of leftist hostility toward conservatives are here and here. Thankfully, the bully in the former example has resigned.

Kim Jong (Ev)Il

North Korea is a hell hole, especially for Christians. Check out this appaling example from William F. Buckley.

Nine years ago in South Pyongan province, a unit of the North Korean army was assigned the job of widening a highway connecting Pyongyang to the nearest seaport. Demolition of a house standing in the way revealed, hidden between two bricks, a Bible and a list of 25 names: a Christian pastor, two assistant pastors, two elders and 20 parishioners. The 25 were all detained and, later that month, brought to the road construction site, where spectators had been arranged in neat rows. The parishioners were grouped off to one side while the pastor, the assistant pastors and the elders were bound hand and foot and made to lie down in front of a steamroller. As if following a script written in early Roman history, they were told they could escape death by denying their faith and pledging to serve Dear Leader Kim Jong II and Great Leader Kim Il Sung. They chose death.

Ms. Clyne quotes Mr. Hawk's report: "Some of the parishioners ... cried, screamed out, or fainted when the skulls made a popping sound as they were crushed beneath the steamroller."

Statues of Liberty

Charles Krauthammer's commentary advances the notion that America's devotion to liberty is subtly demonstrated, in part, by its public statues to foreign liberators in Washington and New York.

Discount if you will (as fashionable anti-Americanism does) the Statue of Liberty as ostentatious self-advertising or perhaps a relic of an earlier, more pure America. But as you walk the streets of Washington, it is harder to discount America's quiet homage to foreign liberators -- statues built decades apart without self-consciousness and without any larger architectural (let alone political) plan. They have but one thing in common: They share America's devotion to liberty. Liberty not just here but everywhere. Indeed, liberty for its own sake.

America has long proclaimed this principle, but in the post-9/11 era, it has pursued it with unusual zeal and determination. Much of the world hears America declare the spread of freedom the centerpiece of its foreign policy and insists nonetheless that America's costly sacrifices in Iraq and even Afghanistan are nothing more than classic imperialism in search of dominion, oil, pipelines or whatever such commodity most devalues America's exertions. The overwhelming majority of Americans refuse to believe that. Whatever their misgivings about the cost and wisdom of these wars, they know how deep and authentic is the American devotion to liberty.

Memo to Murtha

Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent and current president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies a policy institute focusing on terrorism, pens this open letter to Congressman Murtha that raises a number of fair questions about the Congressman's desire to bring the troops home before the job has been completed. The letter is written in the spirit of honest debate, which is a refreshing change from all the name-calling going on in Washington.

The Limits of Multiculturalism

Via Powerline:

As an ideology, multiculturalism is a corrupted form of Marxism in which race and nationality replace class. Like Marxism itself, it is an ideology that must be opposed if we are to preserve a country founded on the proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights.

I'm becoming convinced that multiculturalism is unworkable. Ideally, our society is at its best when it integrates the vast array of cultures into a single fabric that holds sacred the principles upon which our democracy was founded. Admittedly, this ideal will never be perfectly acheived. However, the proponents of political correctness have had far too long to try their theory of multiculturalism out on our society. Clearly, their results have been abysmal. We need to get back to the time when people came to America to become Amercians-with all that entails.

Can't Wait to Get Back to Killin'

This freakin' psychopath is a former torturer for Sadaam Hussein who relishes the opportunity to go back to work torturing and executing his fellow Iraqis. Here's a brief look at his handywork:

Death always came after weeks of torture. "Sometimes we would hang them upside down and beat their feet with clubs. Or we would electrocute them," he said.

"One of the worst things was putting 10 people in a one-square-metre room for weeks. They had a brief break every day and were allowed the toilet every three days," he said.

Three executions were carried out each Monday and Thursday. One day Saddam's feared son Uday showed up and asked about eight political prisoners standing nearby. He ordered their immediate execution, said Abu Hussein.

Abu Hussein, a father of three, said watching men writhe in agony as they died sometimes made him cry. But he said nobody could afford to defy orders in Saddam's Iraq.

"We would have been killed on the spot. One time this executioner was one hour late in hanging someone and he was himself hanged. What could we do? All of this had a toll on us," he said.

"I cry every time I think that he is on trial. I pray for his strength and freedom. Saddam must come back to rule Iraq," he told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "I am ready to return to my job if Saddam comes back."

Is it just me, or is it strange that Reuters profiles this guy-a Sunni who works in the Interior Ministry, which is dominated by Shi'ites oppressed under Hussein-and yet doesn't tell law enforcement of his crimes and whereabouts. I mean, it sounds like this guy is responsible for incredible amounts of suffering and rivers of Iraqi blood. At what point does human decency trump a good story?

Listen to the word on the 'Arab street'

Mark Steyn provides some interesting insight in this article on the current state of affairs in the War on Terror. He writes,

Demonstrating the will to lose as clearly as America did in Vietnam wasn't such a smart move, but since the media can't seem to get beyond this ancient jungle war it may be worth underlining the principal difference: Osama is not Ho Chi Minh, and al-Qa'eda are not the Viet Cong. If you exit, they'll follow. And Americans will die - in foreign embassies, barracks, warships, as they did through the Nineties, and eventually on the streets of US cities, too.

The Crying Game

Victor Davis Hanson penned an an excellent article in today's edition of the National Review Online. The article analyzes the Democrats' wartime criticism of the Bush Administration. Hanson suggests that the Democrats should consider some critical questions:

First, are the metrics of this war in the terrorists’ or our favor? Are the Iraqi security forces growing or shrinking? Are elections postponed or on schedule? Are Europe, Jordan, Lebanon, and others more or less sympathetic to a war against Islamic terrorism in Iraq? Are bin Laden, Zawahiri, and Zarqawi more or less popular or secure after we removed Saddam? Is al Qaeda in a strengthened or weakened position? Is the Arab world more or less receptive to democracy in the Gulf, Egypt, Lebanon, and the West Bank? And is the United States more or less vulnerable to a terrorist attack as we go into our fifth year since September 11?

I ask those questions in all sincerity since the conventional wisdom — compared to the true wisdom and compassion of those valiantly fighting the terrorists under the most impossible of conditions — is that we are losing in Iraq, our enemies are emboldened, and the Arab world has turned against us. But if we forget the banality of New York Times columnists, the admonitions of NPR experts, and the daily rants of a Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, or Al Gore, more sober and street-smart Democrats are in fact not so sure of these answers.

So these wiser ones wait and hedge their wagers. They give full rein to the usefully idiotic and irresponsible in their midst, but make no move yet to undo what thousands of brave American soldiers have accomplished in Iraq.

What exactly is that? Despite acrimony at home, the politics of two national elections and a third on the horizon, and the slander of war crimes and incompetence, those on the battlefield of Iraq have almost pulled off the unthinkable — the restructuring of the politics of the Middle East in less than three years.

And for now that is still a strong hand to bet against.

New Arrival

No...no...my wife is not pregnant. But, we do have a new member of the family living with us. Cherie's brother, Myke, has relocated from Toronto to sunny Southern California! We're excited he's here. Myke is a great guy whom my wife and kids adore (I think he's a pretty good guy, too).

Myke's intelligent and a talented musician and writer. His blog, Collected Apologies, is one of my featured links. He is engaged to be married in May 2006 to a sweet young lady named Dara. Until then, he'll be living with us. We're thankful that he's come and excited to see what God has for his future. Welcome Mychael, Mychael!

Beautiful Maidens

This may be good news in the battle of the hearts and minds of Muslims as it relates to the War on Terrorism.

Pushback Strategery

This is, in my mind, an accurate assessment of the Bush Administration's "pushback" strategy in the current political debate regarding the Iraq War (via Protein Wisdom).

Clearly, the important administration arguments are beginning to coalesce: 1) Criticism of the war is not by itself unpatriotic 2) Similarly, answering anti-war critics is not challenging their patriotism 3) But opportunistic and cynical anti-war critics who are trying to walk back their own votes and level spurious charges at the Administration (they lied to take is into war) are themselves lying 4) These lies are hurting the country and the troops. 5) The burden of proof, in a post 911 world, was on Saddam Hussein to prove he’d disarmed; we could not wait for the threat to become imminent before acting 6) The cause the troops are fighting for is just and right 7) Iraq is moving toward freedom; and things on the ground are improving daily, regardless of what the MSM and prominent Dems would have us believe.

These points, taken together, form an easy, concise, and—most importantly—a factually correct counter-narrative to the Dem / MSM narrative that has preached confusion, failure, quagmire, American criminality (torture, WP), and the relentlessness of an insurgency whose battleground savvy and knowledge of the Arab world are thwarting the plans of our confused military leaders and civilian war commanders. Oh. But we LOVE THE TROOPS!

I think the narrative is a good one, but it needs to be repeated as loud and as often as the one the Dems have been peddling.

"Smart" Liberals Are Moral Idiots

Some liberals are so irritating. Particularly the ones that think they're smarter than everyone else. You know, the condescending types. Well, Paul Mirengoff at Powerline puts the wood to one of those liberals--Chris Matthews--who claims that terrorists are not evil and that "the smartest people understand the enemy's point of view..." After ripping apart the controversial portion of Matthews' speech, Mirengoff's concludes:

Matthews' enemy is the Bush administration, and he clearly doesn't understand it's point of view.

Sometimes I wonder if liberals live in a parallel universe. Today I was listening to Michael Medved's radio program and some young guy called who was basically making the same argument as Matthews. That is, we shouldn't judge the hearts/motives of someone as "evil" because our morality is no better than theirs...blah, blah, blah. Medved asked him to repudiate the notion that terrorists who slam planes into buildings for the purpose of killing as many civilians as possible aren't evil, and the guy couldn't bring himself to do it. He had these pathetic "don't judge me" answers couched in the language of moral relativism, which he probably just learned in his Philosophy 101 class at school. It doesn't take long for the university system to turn perfectly good gray matter to mush when it comes to understanding good and evil.

I wish Medved would have asked him if he thought George W. Bush was evil. I bet he wouldn't have equivocated with that question. Liberals may see no evil and hear no evil (though they make exceptions for Republicans), but those within the Party of Compassion and Tolerance certainly can speak evil.

UPDATE:

Via The Politicker:

Funny how George Bush is "evil" and doesn't just have a "different perspective".

Michelle Malkin has it right: Remember this perspective?

Buddha Boy In Nepal

Drudge Report links to this article in the Telegraph about a 15-year-old boy who has been hailed as a new Buddha. Reportedly, Ram Bomjon has been meditating beneath a tree in southern Nepal, without eating or drinking anything since he sat down 6 months ago.

It sounds interesting. I mean, what 15-year-old kid just checks out like that? His devotees say he hasn't even relieved himself yet and that a light emanates from his head sometimes. I've seen and heard of some crazy spiritual stuff in my day, but haven't heard that one yet. I wouldn't be surprised if his devotees are guilty of some hyperbole. But, this boy is a strange curiosity. He's becoming a cottage industry for locals who are making some dough off the pilgrims that come to check him out.

I wonder if he'll claim some new revelation. Or, maybe he'll take a page out of Forest Gump and one day announce he's bored, get up, and go take a dump. We'll see.

Barone Exposes the (Very) Big Lie

The debate over the use of faulty intelligence that led us into the Iraq war has heated up. Michael Barone methodically disproves the Democrats' cynical lies about the Bush Administration's use of intelligence in this article. Barone explains that the purpose of the Big Lie is,

"to delegitimize not only [President Bush], but also all the progress that has been made as a result of Iraq, progress both toward freedom for Middle Easterners and toward a Middle East that will no longer threaten the United States."

I (Don't) Want It That Way

Check out these two Chinese students lip-syncing to a Backstreet Boys song. It's hilarious.

These two really have a future. Just not in music.

Democrat Strategy on War In Iraq

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid explains the Democrat's strategy for Iraq (hat tip: Powerline).

The Punisher's Ball

The post title links to an article in Michael Yon's Online Magazine, which describes a ball that was held for members of the Duece Four combat batallion--one of the most highly decorated battalions in the Iraq War. Michael Yon was a blogger embedded with the Duece Four and has posted many fascinating and dramatic articles during his time with them. The article reports on the celebration of their final return home to the U.S. It's worth the read.

Heightened Security

Via Iain Murray at The Corner:

This is doing the rounds on email, but deserves the widest possible audience:

The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent bombings and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." Londoners have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorised from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

Also, the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaborate." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It's not only the English and French that are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "shout loudly and excitedly" to "elaborate military posturing". Two more levels remain, "ineffective combat operations" and "change sides".

The Germans also increased their alert state from "disdainful arrogance" to "dress in uniform and sing marching songs". They also have two higher levels: "invade a neighbour" and "lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual and the only threat they worry about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

Media Reporting: A Question of Priorities

In a scathing post, John Hinderaker @ Powerline exposes the agenda of mainstream journalists as it relates to important issues with implications to our national security. Hinderaker reports that Stansfield Turner, ex-CIA director during the Carter Administration, recently did an interview with British ITV, in which he attacked the Bush administration, and especially Vice-President Dick Cheney for being "a vice president for torture." He writes,

Stansfield Turner is one of the worst bureaucrats ever employed by the United States government. As we have noted before, Turner is one of the chief reasons for the decline of the CIA into virtual uselessness, as he enthusiastically slashed 25 percent of all intelligence operatives from the payrolls.

It's interesting, isn't it, that for the last six months, the newspapers have breathlessly repeated the claim that the identification of a single non-covert desk employee of the CIA, Valerie Plame, somehow did great damage to American security interests. Well, if the neutralizing of a single "agent" is so newsworthy as to dominate the papers and the evening news for months, how about firing one-quarter of all the CIA agents--the really covert ones, I mean--in the world? Wouldn't that compromise our security to an almost unimaginable extent? How much publicity should that act of folly generate, in comparison to the meaningless Plame farce? And how much did it receive? That comparison speaks volumes about the agenda that drives mainstream journalism.

As for Turner, he should be ashamed of himself for slandering a man far better than himself, who has the difficult task of dealing with a world whose dangers Turner never acknowledged or understood, with resources that have never fully recovered from Turner's misguided stewardship.

Why Would the Jordanians Be Shocked?

Dennis Prager examines Muslim reaction to the recent terror attacks in Jordan in this article. In it he writes,

"Now there is widespread condemnation of Zarqawi's terror in Jordan. There is even a fear that the name of Islam will suffer. Unfortunately, however, it is only because Zarqawi was foolish enough to massacre Jordanian civilians, and not confine his massacres to Iraqis and non-Arabs. What has aroused Arab voices against Zarqawi has nothing to do with the immorality of blowing up people celebrating at a wedding -- it has to do with the immorality of blowing up Muslims celebrating at a wedding."

Fait Accompli?

This is a thoughtful analysis of the crisis in Western Europe which, as the author explains, is symptomatic of a larger problem.

Multiculturalists overlooked a major flaw in their rationalist creed: the world is not only composed of many cultures, but also a handful of civilizations, of which cultures are a subset. The strife in France’s cites are less about chafing cultures than it is about the age old divide between Islamic and Christian civilizations. I really doubt that multicivilization is a remotely workable concept. Multiculturalism can only work under the roof of one civilization. This war is not between cultures; it’s between civilizations. It’s not about i-dotting and t-crossing in a multicultural court; it’s about Sharia versus liberal democracy. There’s a choice at hand, and there’s really no complacent, pacifist middle ground to mix oil and water. They will not mix.

I Got An Idea...Let's Defame the Christians!

Jay Tea over at Wizbang sounds off against the topsy-turvey world of Hollywood, where Christian terrorists take Muslim hostages in a mosque.

What I'd like to know is: Why have Christians suddenly become the big threat? Even some Jewish groups are getting in on the act. Via Mark Krikorian at The Corner:

Steve Steinlight, former policy director at the American Jewish Committee and a Fellow at my center, wrote a piece for me last year with an excerpt that’s relevant here:

“Reality is dawning on many American Jews that something is amiss, although it seems lost on some of the country’s most venerable Jewish organizations. There’s a sad, if comic irony associated with the fact that employees at organizations like ADL, the American Jewish Committee, and the Presidents’ Conference must pass through a gauntlet of concrete barriers, armed guards, metal detectors, and double bulletproof anterooms as they come to work each morning to protect them from radical Islamic terrorists, in order to spend their days studying and disseminating reports on the "threat" posed by Evangelical Christians. Meanwhile, the legislative affairs staffs of these organizations are directed to lobby against immigration reforms that could minimize the danger.”

Clinton Lied, People Died (Part III)

An interesting post by The Political Teen that features a video and transcript of Bill Clinton's address to the nation in 1998 about a military strike that he ordered against Iraq.

From the transcript:

"Earlier today, I ordered America’s armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors.

Their purpose is to protect the national interest of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world.

Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors or the world with nuclear arms, poison gas or biological weapons."

Who knew that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were members of his national security team?

Five Questions Non-Muslims Would Like Answered

Dennis Prager identifies five questions for Muslims that people who do not share their faith would like answered in this article in the Los Angeles Times. Read it.

Whose "American Way?"

Via Powerline:

Here's the tail end of a story in today's Washington Times about Judge Alito's 1985 statement of philosophy:

Judge Alito went on to say that "racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed" and that he strongly favors "limited government, federalism, free enterprise, the supremacy of the elected branches of government, the need for a strong defense and effective law enforcement, and the legitimacy of a government role in protecting traditional values."

[Ralph] Neas [president of People for the American Way] said this proves the nominee's "fervent allegiance to virtually every pet cause of the radical right" and "underscores our concern that he would vote to turn back the clock on decades of judicial precedent protecting privacy, equal opportunity, religious freedom, and so much more."

So let's see -- according to Neas, the "pet causes" of the "radical right" are race-free, merit-based selection decisions; limited government; federalism; free enterprise; the supremacy of the elected branches of government; strong defense and law enforcement; and protection of traditional values. As an opponent of the right, Neas' pet causes appear to be race-based preferences, unlimited government, unfree enterprise, the supremacy of unelective branches of government, less than strong defense and law enforcement, and indifference (if not hostility) towards traditional values.

Which set of people is "for the American way?"

My Little Rockstar

The Next Generation

Did Bush Lie? Ask Google

Thank God Al Gore invented the internet. Otherwise, the "Bush lied" meme wouldn't be as easy to expose. As this article points out, a simple Google search uncovers the hypocrisy of anti-war politicians.

Don't Humanize the Inhuman

This article is related to the post below about Bush Derangement Syndrome. It is written by Dr. Helen Smith, a forensic psychologist, who argues that the liberal stance of trying too hard to "humanize" our enemies is a mistake that will make the problem worse, and produce more violence rather than less. She writes,

In my private practice, I don't work with terrorists but I do work with violent people. I used to believe (as many of my colleagues still do) that empathizing with my patients and increasing their self-esteem would help them on the path to self-actualization. Of course, for some anxiety-ridden patients who need faith in themselves, the technique of empathy and support works. However, for those patients with serious violent tendencies, just the opposite is true. With those patients, I've found that setting clear boundaries and making judgments about their immoral behavior works like a charm.

Those patients who threatened me backed down only when I got up in their face and told them forcefully to stop -- the slightest hint of fear or intimidation (or sympathy!) on my part was met with increased threats. In the real world of private practice, confronting real murderers, I learned to act in ways that were different from what I had been taught in graduate school.

Unfortunately, there are still those in the ivory tower who have not learned this valuable lesson. They continue to believe that to humanize and to empathize with violent students, professors, and terrorists is the only way to treat those who wish to do them harm. In fact, however, the old saw "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" applies. Without clear boundaries, and a sense of consequences, their behavior will spiral out of control until they injure themselves and others.

Read the whole thing. It's very informative.

Bush Hatred Is A Mental Illness

Dr. Sanity has an interesting post about a terrible malady affecting much of today's leftists around the globe--Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS). A practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Sanity explains that the delusional degree of Bush hatred among leftists is the result of displacement, whereby their anger is directed toward President Bush instead of terrorists where it is appropriate. Dr. Sanity explains,

One way you can usually tell that an individual is using displacement is that the emotion being displaced (e.g., anger) is all out of proportion to the reality of the situation. The purpose of displacement is to avoid having to cope with the actual reality. Instead, by using displacement, an individual is able to still experience his or her anger, but it is directed at a less threatening target than the real cause. In this way, the individual does not have to be responsible for the consequences of his/her anger and feels more safe--even thought that is not the case.

Rather than blame the terrorists; rather than admitting they have to take action against them; their fear is transformed to anger and displaced onto President Bush. If everything is his fault, then the reality of what happened does not have to be faced (this also explains the intense psychological denial that these same individuals tend to have about 9/11).

Bush becomes the "criminal mastermind", so devious, so evil, that everything he says is a "lie", everything he does is part of a vast global conspiracy. His family has intimate ties to Bin Laden and the Saudis; He is trying to enrich his oil business friends; He is trying to avenge the insult to his father by getting rid of Saddam; He plans world domination etc. etc. I could go on an on, but you get the point.

What is most funny is that these psychologically naive individuals simultaneously think of Bush as this "criminal mastermind"--a genius of evil; and also as a complete moron who isn't capable of uttering a sentence without making a hash of it; or that his brain is controlled by the equally evil Karl Rove.

The cognitive dissonance required to have all these contradictory beliefs swirling around in one's brain is astonishing. But besides the primary function it serves to erase from consciousness what is happening in the world today, it is serving a secondary purpose--it makes them feel in control of what might come.

They can predict with the complete accuracy of the delusional mind that whatever happens--whatever horror is unleashed by Al Qaeda or Hamas or Islamic Jihad--was caused by President Bush's actions/inactions/intentions (take your pick).

They can conduct a brave protest march against the evil Bush...but clearly they don't are protest real terror or terrorist acts the way that the Jordanians or the Lebanese did, for example. The terrorists are simply poor, misunderstood individuals who have been oppressed by...Bush. Get rid of Bush (or America; or Israel) and voila! Problem solved!

It would be a foolproof defense against the threat, except...except...if it weren't for ... reality.

Goin' Down to South Park

I saw this picture on the web and loved it, so I had to post it. It's the evolution of Paul McCartney as a South Park character.

Macca Nation

The wife and I went to the Paul McCartney show at the Anaheim Pond last night (the picture at left was taken from her cell phone). My sister had purchased two tickets to the show several months ago. Unfortunately, she needed to be home with her 9-month old (Chub-chubs) and couldn't make it. So, we bought the tickets from her.

The show started around 8:15 p.m. with a DJ playing house mixes that blended a number of McCartney tunes. About 20 minutes later, the large TV monitors began playing a short biography narrated by Paul, which was really cool. The bio ended with a montage of images playing faster and faster until the climax--Macca and the band appearing onstage, kicking off with Magical Mystery Tour! The sound was great and our seats were excellent. Paul played a good variety of old songs with a few new ones sprinkled in. The band appeared to be having a good time together. One of the funny moments occurred duing I'll Follow The Sun. It's such a short, happy tune and once it ended, Paul evidently wanted to hear it again. So he ended it again...and again...and again. Actually, he ended it five times.

We also learned a new word: "peradventure." Paul talked about how proud he was to fit that word into one of his new songs (I don't recall which one). Headmaster McCartney instructed us that this word meant "perhaps" or "maybe" and joked that he may rename one of his hit songs Peradventure I'm Amazed.

I was surprised that one of my favorite songs of the evening was Too Many People. I love that song anyways, but Rusty Anderson's guitar solos took it off the charts. The band was amazing as always, superbly executing the instrumentation. The background vocals were impeccable.

Jet, Band On The Run, and Helter Skelter kicked butt, as did Live and Let Die, which featured exploding cannons and fire walls. Of course, he played old standards such as Yesterday, Let It Be, Hey Jude, Blackbird, Long and Winding Road, and Eleanor Rigby. Fixing a Hole was a nice addition, as well; but, I missed She's Leaving Home from the last tour (obviously, he's written so many amazing songs that some had to be left out). After a couple of encores, Paul ended with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) and The End. Fantastic.

Heartbreaking

From Michael Yon, a blogger embedded with the U.S. military, in an interview that aired last night on MSNBC's "Rita Cosby: Live and Direct":

Well, I shot that photo on a day when a suicide or homicide car bomber ran into one of our Stryker vehicles, injured a couple of our soldiers, and, unfortunately, there were a lot of children who had crowded around to wave at our people. And the attackers had every opportunity to just wait a couple of blocks and attack our guys later, without the children being around, but instead chose to attack straight through the children. And Major Bieger, who is in the photo, found the little girl -- her name is Farah -- and decided he wanted to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible. And so he picked her up, wrapped her in a blanket, and loaded her into one of our
vehicles and started to take her to the hospital as fast as possible. And unfortunately, little Farah died en route.

We went back to that neighborhood the next day, and the people there actually welcomed us with open arms. They welcomed us into their homes. We got into a firefight there again the next day. And the people in that part of the city began to give us more and more information about the terrorists until it got to the point where -- it's very dangerous to be a terrorist now in Mosul.

When will it become apparent to the Muslim world that the Islamofascists have no agenda other than terror, misogyny, subjugation of "infidels" (which include just about everyone except them), and misery, in general? There are thousands of little stories like the one Michael Yon tells above that are occurring in Iraq. Hopefully, Iraqis will soon tire of the daily atrocities
committed against them by fellow Muslims. The question is: How long before the Sunnis see the insurgency as a dead-end (or a direct path to civil war, which they will lose)? Obviously, if the Sunnis come to believe that the ballot box is the best way to air grievances and resolve problems, the whole complexion on the ground changes. Al-Qaeda in Iraq cannot sustain a terror campaign against Iraqis without the support of the Sunni population.

Who Is Lying About Iraq?

According to Norman Podhoretz, among the many distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications that have emerged from the debate over Iraq, the one in particular that stands out above all others is the charge that George W. Bush misled us into an immoral and/or unnecessary war in Iraq by telling a series of lies that have now been definitively exposed. He does a good job of debunking that falsehood in this article.

Also, this is very interesting. Last night, Chris Mathews was interviewing Carl Levin (D-Michigan), who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The interview was ostensibly about Levin's view that the intelligence was misused by the Bush Administration to justify the decision to go to war with Iraq. During the course of his explanation, he said something I found surprising:

I think basically they [the Bush Administration] decided immediately after 9/11 to go after Saddam. They began to—look there was plenty of evidence that Saddam had nuclear weapons, by the way. That is not in dispute. There is plenty of evidence of that.

Say what? The notion that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons "is not in dispute"? I had never heard that from anyone before, much less someone who is an opponent of the war. So what is it? Did he have WMD or not?

Some prominent liberal politicians weigh-in here.

Schadenfreude Anyone?

Glenn Greenwald reminds us of the pious, pompous, condescending lectures about social order, racial and economic inequalities, and government competence which the French doled out to America in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

I'll bet the cheese-eating surrender monkeys are trying to find a way...anyway...to make the riots Bush's fault.

UPDATE:

This is a devastating piece by Ralph Peters in the NY Post (hat tip: The Corner @ NRO).

Paralyzed French officials complain of "unfair" media attention (welcome to the reality club, Pierre). Yet, hardly two months ago the French media celebrated the suffering in New Orleans — ignoring the brave response of millions of Americans to Hurricane Katrina to concentrate exclusively on the Crescent City's lower 9th ward and one nutty, incompetent mayor.

Utterly devoid of self-awareness, the French cherish their image of America as racist. But minorities in the United States have opportunities for which their French counterparts would risk their lives. Our problem is that demagogues convince the poorest of our poor to give up on getting ahead. In France, the non-white poor never have a chance of any kind.

France has no Colin Powell or Condi Rice, no minority heading the equivalent of a Fortune 500 company, no vibrant minority political culture. When Americans who adore la vie en France go to Paris (the intelligentsia's Orlando), they don't visit the drug-and-crime-plagued slums. If tourists encounter a Moroccan or a Senegalese "Frenchman," he's cleaning up the sidewalks after the dogs of the bourgeoisie.

Willfully blind to reality, liberals continue to praise the racist culture of France by citing the Parisian welcome for Josephine Baker or the Harlem jazz musicians in the 1920s. But the French regarded those few as exotic pets. The test is how they treat the millions of immigrant families whose members don't play trumpets in bars or sell their flesh in strip clubs.

There is no Western country more profoundly racist than France. …Does anyone really believe that the country that enthusiastically handed over more of its Jewish citizens to the Nazis than the Nazis asked for is going to treat brown or black Muslims as equals?

Meanwhile, the Chirac government is stunned. Its members truly believed that supporting Arab and African dictators and defying America's efforts to liberate tens of millions of Muslims would buy safety from the 5 million immigrants and their children who have not the slightest hope of a decent future. …

Desperate apologists for France's apartheid system claim that the present uproar is merely about youthful anger, that Muslim fundamentalism isn't in play. Just wait. Islamist extremists aren't stupid. Thrilled by this spontaneous uprising, they'll move to exploit the fervor of the young to serve their own ends.

Expect terror. Whether the current violence ebbs tonight or lasts for weeks to come, the uprising of the excluded and oppressed in the streets of France has only begun.

Monkey Business

This picture was taken during my senior year in high school (I'm in the background playing the crazy blue guitar). One of my best friends is prominently featured in the foreground monkeying around with his shirt off. I've known this guy since he was 12 years old. He had a serious 5 o'clock shadow even then. Right after this photo was taken my furry friend noticed some smart-ass yanking the guitar cable of the guy decked out in the red outfit and cool shades. He went ape-shit on the joker. It was gruesome.

Flushing Plush

Last Friday night LTA and Afterfall played Plush Cafe in downtown Fullerton. Unfortunately, it was one of those gigs where Murphy's Law was in full effect. It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did.

LTA took the stage after a great 30-minute set by a band named Bril. After setting up on the tiny stage (all our band members couldn't even fit) I turned my pedal board on, flipped the switch to my amps and, to my dismay, was greated by a huge buzz emanating from my amps. After what seemed like an eternity (there's nothing like being the center of attention on a stage when something really bad is happening), Bob Hartry and I finally isolated the problem (my Rotosphere pedal) and removed it from the system, although that would not be the end of my battle with the evil equipment gremlins.

Slightly rattled (but mostly relieved), we opened the set with our cover of The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and proceeded directly into Nothing Can Separate Us. We found out shortly thereafter that the house P.A. hadn't been turned on, so all that could be heard was stage flow (i.e. amps, drums) and the (virtually useless) monitor, which meant that the vocals were basically non-existent. Eventually someone in the crowd who had experience with sound systems kindly turned the P.A. on for us. I struggled without the Rotosphere because it is a significant part of the vibe that creates the LTA sound. I tried other modulated delays and vibes on the fly, but nothing was quite the same. Then my Line6 delay started to cut out randomly.

I wasn't the only one that had equipment malfunctions. Bob Hartry had a problem with his system during a song in which he hardly played at all. It was completely random. Also, during the AF set Dale, the bass player, broke his 'D' string, which I have never seen happen in nearly 25 years of playing. It was a crazy night.

I was really bummed out about the LTA set, but was glad for the opportunity to redeem myself during AF's set. Darren did a great job calling audibles from the set list and interacting with the crowd. It lightened up the mood a lot and ended up being fun. He introduced a new song entitled More, which I think went over really well. We played tight.

Wade (our drummer) told me that the bartender that works there said the three bands that played that night were in the top 5 that he's seen at Plush Cafe. Talking to people afterward, I realized that most people didn't even see the struggles we were having. So, those things made me feel better. I was mostly disappointed because we work so hard to write songs from our hearts, practice them to near perfection, and play them before an audience with the sincere hope of connecting with them. Then equipment malfunctions occur, which steal a bit of that momentum. But, that's part of the unpredictability of playing live, which makes it all the more exciting.

THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF TODAY'S LEFT

I've got a fever and the only one that can cure it is Dr. Sanity.

Clinton Lied, People Died (Part II)

From Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online:

Just how big a threat was Saddam Hussein? Let’s reprise what our leaders had to say on the subject. First, here’s the president:

If he refuses or continues to evade his obligations through more tactics of delay and deception, he and he alone will be to blame for the consequences. … Now, let’s imagine the future. What if he fails to comply, and we fail to act, or we take some ambiguous third route which gives him yet more opportunities to develop this program of weapons of mass destruction…? Well, he will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction. And some day, some way, I guarantee you, he’ll use the arsenal. And I think every one of you who’s really worked on this for any length of time believes that, too.

Here is the vice president:

If you allow someone like Saddam Hussein to get nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, how many people is he going to kill with such weapons? He’s already demonstrated a willingness to use these weapons. He poison-gassed his own people. He used poison gas and other weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors. This man has no compunction about killing lots and lots of people. So this is a way to save lives and to save the stability and peace of a region of the world that is important to the peace and security of the entire world.

Here’s the hitch: That was Clinton and Gore in 1998, not Bush and Dick Cheney in 2002.

More From the Religion of Peace

Muslims rampaging in the Paris suburb of Sevran poured gasoline on a handicapped woman and set her on fire.

Lower Than Angels & Afterfall @ Plush Cafe

Lower Than Angels and Afterfall will be performing this Friday night!

WHERE: Plush Cafe-downtown Fullerton.
WHEN: Friday, November 4th.
Doors open @ 7:30 p.m.

8:00 p.m. - Bril
8:30 p.m. - Lower Than Angels
9:00 p.m. - Afterfall

HOW: $5 cover charge at the door ***** all ages welcome.
WHY: Familiar faces, great music, good times, and split pea soup for the soul.

The Plague of Islamism is Spreading

This outstanding article by one of my favorites-Victor Davis Hanson-discusses the spread of of what he terms "The Real Global Virus." One of the most intriguing aspects of the piece is his illumination of the correlation between current geo-political realities with that of a previous era:

Most Americans think that our present conflict is not comparable with World War II, in either its nature or magnitude. Perhaps — but they should at least recall the eerie resemblance of our dilemma to the spread of global fascism in the late 1930s.

At first few saw any real connection between the ruthless annexation of Manchuria by Japanese militarists, or Mussolini’s brutal invasion of Ethiopia, or the systematic aggrandizement of Eastern-European territory by Hitler. China was a long way from Abyssinia, itself far from Poland. How could a white-supremacist Nazi have anything in common with a racially-chauvinist Japanese or an Italian fascist proclaiming himself the new imperial Roman?

In response, the League of Nations dithered and imploded (sound familiar?). Rightist American isolationists (they’re back) assured us that fascism abroad was none of our business or that there were conspiracies afoot by Jews to have us do their dirty work. Leftists were only galvanized when Hitler finally turned on Stalin (perhaps we have to wait for Osama to attack Venezuela or Cuba to get the Left involved). Abroad even members of the British royal family were openly sympathetic to German grievances (cf. Prince Charles’s silence about Iran’s promise to wipe out Israel, but his puerile Edward VIII-like lectures to Americans about a misunderstood Islam). French appeasement was such that even the most humiliating concession was deemed preferable to the horrors of World War I (no comment needed).

Hanson implores us to learn from our recent history and begin to see radical Islamism for what it is.

...the world — if it is to save its present liberal system of free trade, safe travel, easy and unfettered communications, and growing commitment to constitutional government — must begin seeing radical Islamism as a universal pathology rather than reactions to regional grievances, if it is ever to destroy it materially and refute it ideologically.

He then provides three strategic "antidotes," which (directly or indirectly) involve four major nation-states. It shouldn't be difficult to guess which ones.

Dems Lying Again

Bill Crawford over at All Things Conservative has a good post discussing today's lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal. The editorial outlines how Bush-hating liberals are slandering the President by continuing to claim that he lied about pre-war intelligence. The editorial states,

In short, everyone who has looked into the question of whether the Bush Administration lied about intelligence, distorted intelligence, or pressured intelligence agencies to produce assessments that would support a supposedly pre-baked decision to invade Iraq has come up with the same answer: No, no, no and no.

John Hinderaker at Powerline thinks that something else is at play in the Dems' strategerie of stupidity.

...the whole idea that the administration would use Iraq's WMDs as a "pretext" for war is stupid. If the administration knew Saddam didn't have the weapons, then it also knew its "pretext" would be exposed as soon as the invasion was complete. No one would be dumb enough to go to war on the basis of a claim that was not only wrong, but would quickly be shown to be wrong. So the Democrats aren't acting in good faith, they're playing politics.

...the Senate Democrats can't come through for their party where it counts. I doubt that the timing of the Month of Valerie is a coincidence; I suspect it is intended mostly to distract the Democratic base from the reality of the Senate Democrats' impotence.

Race To The Bottom

James Taranto at Opinion Journal makes an important point about one aspect (of many) of the liberal worldview about race that is damaging to blacks.

Here's an interesting story from News 14 Carolina, a local cable channel in Raleigh, N.C.:

Smart black students being accused of "acting too white" is an issue Triangle educators are debating at a youth and race conference this week. Students say the stigma is keeping some of their peers from doing well in school. Tenth grader Anais Guzman is on the honor roll. She says some of her peers see the achievement as acting too "white."

"They can get high grades but they don't want to because they'll be considered as acting white, so they put white people down," Guzman said.

This problem illuminates why the liberal worldview on race, while not entirely false, is several decades out of date. The idea that achievement is "white" and lack thereof is "black" is an ugly stereotype that no doubt originated in white racism. But the problem today isn't that whites believe it; it is that many blacks have internalized it and recast it as a point of pride.

As we noted yesterday, black adults are subjected to the trope of "acting white" as well--for espousing conservative political positions or joining the Republican Party. Thus the Democratic Party, which routinely racks up 85% to 90% of the black vote, has an interest in encouraging blacks to think of themselves as separate from the broader American population--a separateness that rests on pernicious notions of black inferiority.

This is essentially the same argument that Bill Cosby made last year. Mr. Cosby, an icon in the black entertainment world, was pilloried by black leftists for having the gall to point out the obvious. These people would rather eat their own than face facts.

The Party of (In)Tolerance, Part I

The post title links to a selection of blogs compiled by Michelle Malkin documenting numerous examples of liberal hatred and bigotry against minority Republicans. The Democrat Party used to self-righteously claim that it was the party of "tolerance" and "compassion." This is as much a misnomer as the notion that Islam is the "Religion of Peace."

Jeff Goldstein--one of the blogosphere's most trenchant commentators on poisonous identity politics--points out that Democrat tolerance appears to be contingent upon party affiliation.

Lisa Gladden notes that racial jabs are to be expected in national politics, because “party trumps race” —in this case the argument being that (superficial) blackness being equal, the deciding factor in black identity politics is now political affiliation. Therefore, it follows that a move away from the Democratic party is tantamount to a move away from black authenticity, a willful act that opens to attack those “race traitors” who have surrendered the protections that proceed from adherence to the dictates of the group’s identity. Which is to say, racial jabs are okay when they are aimed at those who’ve surrendered the protections offered by the group, because those who’ve left the group no longer meet the requirements for protected blackness.

Perversely, then, we have progressives sanctioning the kind of racial attacks they would normally decry on the grounds that those who choose the wrong party affiliation have surrendered the protection of their race. And what makes this so troubling is that it redefines the idea of “offense” as something that is to be decided upon by identity groups—and so is yet another way in which identity politics robs the individual of autonomy.

UPDATE:

James Taranto at Opinion Journal reports that, for Democrats, tolerance of another's political views does not extend beyond party affiliation.

Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.

"Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community," she said. "His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people."

This is the equivalent of racist white politicians in the pre-civil-rights South denouncing a white liberal as a "nigger lover." If black Democrats--and white Democrats, for that matter--cannot disagree respectfully with a conservative who happens to be black, they have no moral authority when it comes to combating racism in other manifestations.

Our Own Worst Enemies

The Belmont Club has an interesting disussion of an Opinion Journal piece authored by Francis Fukuyama, in which he postulates that "the enemy [in the War on Terror] is us."

We have tended to see jihadist terrorism as something produced in dysfunctional parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or the Middle East, and exported to Western countries. Protecting ourselves is a matter either of walling ourselves off, or, for the Bush administration, going "over there" and trying to fix the problem at its source by promoting democracy.There is good reason for thinking, however, that a critical source of contemporary radical Islamism lies not in the Middle East, but in Western Europe.

Wretchard comments:

The events in France may turn out to have a greater strategic impact than September 11. French policies, however maddening, had the virtue of serving as the control case to the American experiment of attempting to reform the Islamic world. The latter acknowledged, however shyly, that it was facing an aggression which had to be met at the root; which had to be resolved by building viable societies in Islamic homelands. The former, and France in particular, maintained there was nothing that temporizing and appeasement, in one form or another, could not solve. What events in France have done is discredit the liberal recipe so badly that even those who are not prepared to admit that American policy may have been right must now root around for an alternative theory. Fukuyama's essay is a good step in that direction. Faster please.

All the News That's Fit To Omit

The left-wing bias in much of our media is nauseating, if predictable. The most irritating thing is the pretense of objectivity. Like most people, Americans do not like when people aren't what they claim to be. One of the worst offenders is the NY Times. An egregious example of selective reporting in the Times is pointed out by Michelle Malkin.

Last Wednesday, the Times published a 4,624-word opus on American casualties of war in Iraq. "2,000 Dead: As Iraq Tours Stretch On, a Grim Mark," read the headline. The macabre, Vietnam-evoking piece appeared prominently on page A2. Among those profiled were Marines from the First Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment, including Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr. Here's the relevant passage:

Another member of the 1/5, Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr, rejected a $24,000 bonus to re-enlist. Corporal Starr believed strongly in the war, his father said, but was tired of the harsh life and nearness of death in Iraq. So he enrolled at Everett Community College near his parents' home in Snohomish, Wash., planning to study psychology after his enlistment ended in August.

But he died in a firefight in Ramadi on April 30 during his third tour in Iraq. He was 22.

Sifting through Corporal Starr's laptop computer after his death, his father found a letter to be delivered to the marine's girlfriend. ''I kind of predicted this,'' Corporal Starr wrote of his own death. ''A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances."

The paper's excerpt of Corporal Starr's letter leaves the reader with the distinct impression that this young Marine was darkly resigned to a senseless death. The truth is exactly the opposite. Late last week, I received a letter from Corporal Starr's uncle, Timothy Lickness. He wanted you to know the rest of the story -- and the parts of Corporal Starr's letter that the Times failed to include:

"Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."

This is just a sample of the selective editing that is commonplace at the NY Times. Is it any wonder their subscriptions have been in free-fall?

A Belated Halloween Post

Halloween was really fun with the kids. My oldest decided to dress up as a baby, ironically. The second child, an avid animal lover, was a monkey. Little Man was "Dash" from The Incredibles, which was also quite appropriate, as those of you who know him can attest. And, of course, there was Princess "M." I know I'm biased, but I have to say my kids are beautiful, even in weird make-up and costumes.

On Saturday night we took the kids to the church-sponsored Harvest Festival, which has lots of bounce houses, games, slides, rock climbing, a band, and food, among other things. The kids enjoyed that tremendously. On Halloween evening, they trick-or-treated in our neighborhood and "M" had the most fun of all, absolutely marveling that people would load her up with candy while telling her how beautiful she was. I guess it doesn't get much better than that when you're a 3-year-old girl (I've never been one, so I don't know).

Of course, Little Man got in trouble for sneaking candy before bed. So, that was a bummer. But, the next morning, the wife reported, in utter amazement I might add, that the kids had spent the morning happily trading candies and making deals without a single harsh word. Astonishing!

Which Sports Fans Are Best?

Judging from this picture, I would say the NHL has a long way to go.

NBA Season Starts Tonight

I've been a Laker fan since I was a boy and, even though they are a shell of the dynasty they once were, I still get excited at the beginning of a new season. Tonight, the first NBA games will be played in a season that will likely be full of surprises, controversies, and (hopefully) a lot of great action.