Mark Steyn says that the US Presidentâs âtransformationalâ response to Muslim fundamentalism can save the Old World; European âmanagerialismâ canât. Steyn discusses the consequences of basic collapse of European will and the devastatingly low European birthrate on the future of Western civilization.
Last July, speaking to the United States Congress, the only assembly on the planet in which heâs still assured of a warm reception, Tony Blair remarked: âAs Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible but, in fact, it is transient. The question is: What do you leave behind?... Excellent article in between, well worth the few minutes required to read.
âWhat do you leave behind?â asked the Prime Minister. There will only be very few and very old ethnic Germans and French and Italians by the mid-point of this century. What will they leave behind? Territories that happen to bear their names and keep up some of the old buildings, in the way that the great cathedral of St Sophia in Constantinople is now a museum run by the Turkish government? Or will the dying European races understand that the only legacy that matters is whether the peoples who will live in those lands after them are reconciled to pluralist, liberal democracy? The Bush vision is the best shot.
#1
I first started reading this sort of stuff the week of 9/11, and am more and more convinced our kids and our kids' kids will rue the day we didn't scream it into their faces...
It's like being transported back in time like some stupid Twilight Zone episode, being made to watch the Russian Revolution as Lenin consolidated his power, fought the "Red vs White" war and came out on top.
Somebody's gonna have to deal with it, and somebody's gonna die doing it... we'd all be better off waking up now and dealing with it now, while we're stronger than them, than leaving it to our kids when their adversary has become stronger.
If it wasn't so tragic, it'd make a good Simpsons/South Park episode... oh yeah, those jerkoffs don't take this shit seriously, either...
How can we ignore this blatant Muslim program of "expansion and reconquest," asks the archbishop, especially when radical Muslims have been so forthright about their intentions? Bernardini recounted a conversation he had with a Muslim leader who said to him: "Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you."
In London, Sheikh Omar Bakri openly declared his intention to transform the West into Dar Al-Islam and to establish Sharia on British soil. "I want to see the black flag of Islam flying over Downing Street," he has said. In fact, his al-Muhajiroun group is dedicated to this goal. Likewise, Abu Hamza, widely quoted as saying thereâs nothing wrong with Osama bin Laden or his beliefs, headed up a similar organization called Supporters of Sharia, dedicated to the Islamicization of Britain. Muslim clerics like Bakri and Hamza (both immigrant British citizens, by the way), have not exactly been shy about their modus operandi: to exploit the Western system which guarantees them free speech, well-being, and respect for religious rights in order to ultimately impose their intolerant (and in many cases barbaric) laws on that same Western society. This clever brand of jihad confirms Bardotâs contention that "Not only does [Islam] fail to give way to our laws and customs. Quite the contrary, as time goes by it tries to impose its own law on us." http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_3429.shtml
Posted by: Man Bites Dog ||
04/26/2004 2:52:37 AM ||
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do the euros have any balls left? these asshats would be put on trial in the states.
Posted by: Dan ||
04/26/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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Sadly, I don't think they would be put on trial here in the US.
#3
No, they would appear on 'Good Morning America' or 'Today show' where they will be 'Heroes of the Religion of Peace' and be allowed to spew their rancid vomit into every living room in america.
Kerry (who once served in Vietnam you know) whould appear beside them and would promise them that we would not offend their religion by opposing our dhimmitude if only he were president.
#4
Twice convicted of inciting racial hatred after she criticized the ritual sacrifice of sheep by Muslims during their Eid el-Kebir holy day, Brigitte Bardot is making news again for much the same reason. Two French human rights groups took swift legal action against the provocative French screen siren, charging that her latest book Crî dans le silence is full of racist attacks against Muslimsâthough, of course, Muslims are of all races.
Someone who is 100% French who doesn't act that way. No wonder they are after her. "No appeasement? We must reeducate you. You are not acting very French."
Of course her thing is animal rights, based on past things she has said. But even so, in coming to the right conclusion in a round-a-bout way, she can still raise an alarm about the dangers of the new so-called re-conquest.
#6
Hell, we all know it won't be really, REALLY important until the Peoples' Republics of NY and CA make animal sacrifice an integral part of "human diversity", right?
STOKENHAM, England (AP) - Sixty years ago, 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors were killed when their D-Day landing practice was attacked by German torpedo boats off the south coast of England.
It was one of the least-known Allied disasters of World War II. On Sunday, at St. Michael's and All Angels church in the coastal village of Stokenham, American and British veterans attended a memorial service for the men of Exercise Tiger, who died in the early morning darkness of April 28, 1944. The eight-day exercise was the U.S. 4th Infantry Division's practice for the D-Day invasions, using the beach at Slapton, near Stokenham, because of its similarity to the Normandy landing sites.
The exercise involved 3,000 ships and 30,000 men. Only one British corvette provided escort for the slow-moving convoy of U.S. Navy ships to Slapton Sands. Nine fast-moving German torpedo boats happened upon the convoy, sank two ships and badly damaged a third. The attack killed nearly four times as many men as the division later lost in the D-Day landing, June 6, 1944.
The survivors were warned to keep it secret, and the casualties were not announced until nearly two months after the Normandy invasion. Full details were not known until 1974, when the records were declassified.
The convoy was lightly guarded and, because of a typographical error, the American ships were on the wrong radio frequency and unable to receive warnings. Because the soldiers were top-heavy in full battle dress, many bodies were found floating feet up.
After Sunday's memorial service, the veterans and local residents attended a wreath-laying ceremony at a U.S. Sherman tank that had been lost at sea during the operation. It was recovered in 1984 to become a beachside memorial.
We had lots of setbacks and mishaps in WWII. Wonder how the media today would have played this?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2004 12:18:11 AM ||
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Penis Jennings, Danny Rather Stupid and Tommy "America's Greatest Degenerate" Brokaw would have gone public with the date of the D-Day landing and masturbated on-air to the Allies' carnage. Traitors NOW would have been traitors THEN. Piss on 'em....
#2
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/26/2004 8:44 Comments ||
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"We had lots of setbacks and mishaps in WWII. Wonder how the media today would have played this?"
Poorly. VERY poorly.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/26/2004 9:00 Comments ||
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A poignant reminder that wars are fought by men and men make mistakes. It's just that in war, the price of a mistake is so much higher.
One benefit of an all-volunteer force is that the level of training is higher and the number of fatal mistakes correspondingly lower. Even so, "Eternal Father, strong to save...
Detectives hunting the killers of Glasgow schoolboy Kriss Donald are planning to travel to Pakistan where they are believed to have traced a suspect in the case. Strathclyde Police CID officers in charge of the investigation into the 15-year-oldâs murder confirmed last night that the man, identified as 27-year-old Imran Shahid, has been wanted in connection with the murder since 2 April. He is believed to have left the country last month and is currently staying with family members in Karachi.
Last month two men appeared separately at Glasgow Sheriff Court charged with the murder of the teenager who was allegedly beaten and tortured to death after he was abducted near his home in the ethnically diverse Pollokshields area of Glasgow in March. Daanish Zahid and Zahid Mohammed, both 20, made no plea or declaration when they appeared at the court on 5 April. Following their appearance the men, both of Shields Road, Glasgow, were remanded in custody and a warrant was issued for the arrest of the third suspect, Imran Shahid, on 2 April. Speaking last night a police source said Strathclyde officers were already in talks with the Crown Office and Home Office and hoped to travel to the country in the next month. He said: "As things stand we believe we have located the third suspect in this case. The individual who has been subject to a warrant since the beginning of April is currently in Pakistan and we are seeking formal measures to travel out there and arrest him. We have obviously been in touch with the embassy and are seeking advice on extradition which may cause a great deal of hold-up. This is something that is obviously our biggest concern."
Detectives believe that the suspect in question travelled abroad after the murder, crossing the Channel into France and on to Asia through mainland Europe. Kriss was last seen near his home in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow on 15 March shortly before he was bundled into a car by his assailants. His body was later discovered the following morning behind a Celtic supportersâ club just yards from Parkhead football stadium, he had been tortured, stabbed and beaten to death. A fortnight ago Strathclyde Police revealed that the forensic examination of a flat in Pollokshields, which has become the focus of the investigation into the death of the teenager, had been completed.
Posted by: TS (vice girl) ||
04/26/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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There shouldn't be too many Pakistanis with Glasweigan accents, should there? Och no, Jimbo I havna seen anyone.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/26/2004 6:13 Comments ||
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Thanks Howard UK! lol! Time for the kilts and pipes! Yeah!!
Hey Antibrainwar: Yoo-hoo!! Another act of aggression on the part of your beloved Islamotwerps for you not to comment on! Yoo-hoo!!
EFL
WHEELING, W.Va. - John Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran criticized by Republicans for his anti-war activities during the Vietnam era, lashed out at President Bush on Monday for failing to prove whether he fulfilled his commitment to the National Guard during the same period. Looks like the baiting worked.
"If George Bush wants to ask me questions about that through his surrogates, he owes America an explanation about whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it. Thatâs what we ought to have," Kerry told NBC News in an interview. "Iâm not going to stand around and let them play games." "The Bushitler is a deserter!"
In 1992, as Democratic candidate Bill Clinton faced criticism for avoiding service in Vietnam, Kerry said, "We do not need to divide America over who served and how. I have personally always believed that many served in many different ways." "Clinton was only raping in Arkansas, not Vietnam."
Kerry was asked to reconcile two explanations for why he didnât throw his own medals: He told The Washington Post in 1985 it was because he didnât want to personally, and told the Boston Globe in 1996 that he didnât have time to go home and get them. "Plus, uh, the dog ate them!"
#1
The building of the Moscow subway was terribly expensive, and just before its grand opening, the American ambassador was given a sneak preview by the Russian Foreign Secretary. The American was very impressed by how elaborate it all was, then asked, what kind of subway cars do you use?
The Russian Foreign Secretary immediately and angrily snapped back at him, "But what about your mistreatment of the blacks in the American South!?"
(The Russians had spent all their money that year on the tunnels, and didn't have any left for subway cars.)
Didn't he live in New York, and wasn't one of the medals he did throw belong to a New Yorker that he got from that veteran at a VA hospital in New York? I am confused?
#3
As far as it goes, Kerry should be as happy with the focus on the medals and ribbons as Bill Clinton surely was about the blue dress. The medals are window dressing as compared to the allegations he made against fellow servicemen.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/27/2004 0:32 Comments ||
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"If George Bush wants to ask me questions about that through his surrogates,..
Sounds like one of those types that believe conspiracies of all kinds are afoot.
From the April 18, 2004, News Herald (Florida) - via Robert Prather EFL
By Phil Lucas
The stories we tell define the nation. Stories poorly told can destroy it. It works the same with children. If you tell 10 stories a day to a lovely child and nine of them say she is weak, ugly and stupid, she will come to believe it. She may be pregnant by 15, a meth addict by 17, join a cult by 19, then elope with the family cat to get married in Massachusetts. So it goes with the country. Consider our national storytellers: the media. Yecch
Ten days ago, American and coalition forces engaged Iraqi âinsurgents,â as the national press politely calls them. Sane Americans know them as the enemy, gunmen of an Islamic religious leader. An American brigadier general gave a televised briefing on the battle for several cities. As he explained the fight for Fallujah and how we had taken three bridges at Kut, suddenly across the bottom of the screen appeared a Fox News Alert: EXPLOSION HEARD IN BAGHDAD!!!!! Fox immediately switched to a camera shot of a Baghdad skyline. The voice of a reporter came on, urgently speculating about an explosion, perhaps caused by a car bomb or a mortar or an RPG (rocket propelled grenade, to the unwashed) or whatever else the reporter could think of. Then the camera zeroed in on a hole in some concrete, perhaps a parking lot or sidewalk. The hole appeared to be about the size of a wheelbarrow, the evident location of the EXPLOSION HEARD IN BAGHDAD!!!!! They got an expert on the phone. The TV guys keep a herd of experts handy for just such an event. The reporter asked the expert what could have happened. He said to her, and I paraphrase, âIâll tell you what happened. This is a war of information. You were showing the generalâs briefing, and they wanted you off it, so they set off a bomb in Baghdad.â The reporter stammered, âUh, oh . . .â and commenced to get the guy off the phone. He had more expertise than she expected. Heh
We have all noticed that the few stories we get from people who have served in or visited Iraq rarely match the sky-is-falling enthusiasm we get from our press. Some call this biased reporting. I call it deceitful, or just plain lying. Me, too - particularly the lying part.
Press folly plumbs new depths when witnessed live, as in the televised press conference itself. It was enough to raise old editors from the dead, their standards and self-discipline sorely missing from the modern newsroom. Others of us just squirmed with embarrassment, partly for the president, prone to trip over a syllable, but mostly for the profession. Reporter after reporter couched questions in the negative, assuming the worst was true, knowing the worst was true, looking for the kill. They used words like failure, defeat and mistake, time after time after time. Thatâs not reporting. Thatâs not seeking truth. Thatâs an agenda. Smelling blood, the pack salivated for an apology from the president. On this point I agree. An apology is in order. So here it is.
I am sorry our storytellers have us by the neck. We are better than they picture us. We are better than they are. As an editor, I apologize to Americans for the national disgrace of inept and self-indulgent journalists, who hound after the worst and ugliest to the exclusion of much else, who strut their opinions with conceit, and who spew it all forth upon the public and call it news. Preach it, brother! I need to bookmark this web site. His editorials should be published around the country. The previous one I posted should get a Pulitzer. Neither will happen - he writes what the majority of Americans think, not what the whiny-assed elite liberal "news" media thinks.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut bskolaut@hotmail.com ||
04/26/2004 4:52:13 PM ||
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Barbara - Thanks! If the rest of his stuff is as full-on anti-idiotarian as the two examples you've posted, he's a MUST READ.
I didnât see this posted or linked here. Sorry if Iâm blind.
Link goes to transcript.
GIBSON: senator, i was there 33 years ago and i saw you throw medals over the fence and we didnât find out until later -
KERRY: no, you didnât see me throw th. charlie, charlie, you are wrong. thatâs not what happened. i threw my ribbons across. all you have to do -
GIBSON: someone elseâs medals, correct in?
KERRY: after -- excuse me. excuse me, charlie. after the ceremony was over, i had a bronze star and a purple heart given to me, one purple heart by a veteran in the v.a. in new york and the bronze star by an older veteran of world war ii in massachusetts. i threw them over because they asked me to. i never --
GIBSON: let me come back to the thing just said which is the military --
KERRY: this is a phony -- charlie, this is a phony controversy.
#1
but he agreed to accept the medals before he agreed to decline the medals
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/26/2004 17:02 Comments ||
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They should have asked him about 'Winter Soldier'.
Like for example did Kerry know it was a fraud? Kerry is not a fool and I doubt he did not know that some/all of the winter soldier (link) 'investigation' where testamony was fraudulant (by people who had never been to Vietnam) or made by imposters.
The metals / ribbons issue is a red herring to allow Kerry to 'address his anti-vietnam-war' stance without addressing the real issues.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/26/2004 17:37 Comments ||
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It may have been intended as a red herring, but looking frantic on breakfast TV... that's not good. It is worse than his inability to respond to the left-wing, pinko professor at the City College of New York earlier this month. Why? Because people actually SEE Good Morning America.
Limbaugh posited that this morning's moments of discomfort were payback for Kerry's having lied about the thing to Peter Jennings. Maybe, maybe not. But it was some good, uncomfortable viewing. Cringe-worthy, even.
#9
Drudge has this on his site right now but no link to anything. Kerry unaware being taped after GMA segment, "Geez... They're working for the Republican National Committee" of ABC's Charlie Gibson, GMA Staff...
From what I saw this morning on FoxNews Kerry was clearly very angry. He's blaming the republicans for all of this.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
04/26/2004 19:11 Comments ||
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I think this is an online version of JFKerry's book, "The New Soldier"
#15
Charlie Gibson may not be working for the RNC after all.
Inquiring minds want to know if there are any checks drawn on a bank in Chappequa, NY and signed by someone named "Clinton", and payable to a Charles Gibson
This scenario has a familliar ring to Robert Toricelli.
#16
Yeah, it is a familiar-looking play. I believe he'll be out prior to the close of the convention, so they won't have need for any Supreme Court hijinx.
#17
#8 So I wasn't dreaming that clip made the ABC evening news. It appeared at the end of the story like a local action news flub up. So all you people on the west coast see if you can catch it. Maybe Kerry's staff has to learn not only not to PO an anchor but those lowly people who can, oops pushed the wrong button.
Posted by: bruce ||
04/26/2004 20:13 Comments ||
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Regardless of whomever created this opening, Kerry can be rocked on his heels now and he knows it; from now until the demo convention if the pressure is kept on. Doesn't matter what, doesn't even matter from whom. Keep piling the pressure on.
Teresa Heinz Kerry says she's pro-choice but believes abortion is "stopping the process of life," it was reported yesterday."I don't view abortion as just a nothing," said Heinz Kerry in an interview with Newsweek, in which she took a side in the long-festering debate over when life begins.
Unlike her husband, who took both sides.
The comments on abortion by the wife of presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry came during a weekend where an estimated half-million people marched in Washington to support women's reproductive rights. "My belief - and I maybe am very wrong - is that women, generally speaking, do not want to have abortions," Heinz Kerry said. "With the exception of people who are mindless - and there will always be mindless people of both sexes - most women wouldn't want to," she added.
So, the wife of the presumed Democratic nominee for President just called women who want abortions, "mindless". Anyone see this on ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/PBS, etc?
Heinz Kerry once said that she was "not 100% pro-choice," but told the magazine that now the issue is black and white for her. "I ask myself if I had a 13-year-old daughter who got drunk one night and got pregnant, what would I do. Christ, I'd go nuts," Heinz Kerry said.
It'd be a short trip.
Asked if he shares his wife's views, Kerry told Newsweek, "I do not know the answer to that. We've never - she's never had to vote."
"I didn't know she had a view, or a SUV, I was in Vietnam."
Kerry appeared at an abortion rights rally in Washington Friday, saying, "Abortion should be rare but it should be safe and legal. And the government should stay out of the bedrooms of Americans." Both husband and wife agree that she is more traditional in her values than the Massachusetts senator, owing to the fact that she's five years older. "He's of the generation of the Beatles, and that's the line of demarcation," Heinz Kerry said.
So, it is all the drugs he took in the 60's.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2004 10:17:52 AM ||
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should the title have been "leash"? Or is this a subtle commentary on their marriage should some available richer lady come along?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2004 10:48 Comments ||
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Frank, I had th esame question. My guess is that Terayzah hasn't leased anything in a long time.
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/26/2004 10:50 Comments ||
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Frank G - Or if John Frenchlooking Kerry starts to bore her?
#5
Ok, ok, I get the hint. It was supposed to be "leash", but it's Monday morning, I haven't had my third cup of coffee, people keep coming in and wanting me to work, and Fred's spell checker still isn't working.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2004 11:58 Comments ||
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John French-looking Kerry bores everyone, Frank G.
Personally, I think Tarayyyyza has the Hots big time for Karl Rove, and he's just manipulating her! j/k
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
04/26/2004 12:06 Comments ||
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He's manipulating her. Her faux French husband, who is not a real man, will have a tough time competing with that!
#8
I think MS.Heinz Kerry is stating what most Americans believe,we don't want abortions,but we want abortion legal just in case.While this might drive true believers on either side nuts,I doubt her honesty will hurt Kerry among most voters.
Wonder how long before first wistful column suggesting wrong spouse is running for President is printed.(Yes I know she is not eligible.)
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/26/2004 14:17 Comments ||
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It won't be long, Stephen. The way Kerry was hammered on ABC this morning by Charlie Gibson, I don't expect his name to be on the ballot come November.
#10
There were 1,150,000 people at the march on Sunday. I was there, by the way.
Posted by: Thomas Pruitt ||
04/26/2004 16:56 Comments ||
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100 milliom marchers wouldn't make it right.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/26/2004 19:51 Comments ||
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"There were 1,150,000 people at the march on Sunday. I was there, by the way."
To march FOR abortion? Then you must have been the only *man* there.
Like your ladies to have those unfortunate "conceptions" aborted, do you?
Posted by: Jen ||
04/26/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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#10 There were 1,150,000 people at the march on Sunday.
Who am I to quibble about a half-mil? However, AP places the number at âbetween 500,000 and 800,000 peopleâ from âacross the nation and from nearly 60 countries.â Interesting . . . This is such a crucial time, for (them) such a crucial issue, and this is the best they can do? As I understand the trends, more and more youth (who realize they could have been aborted) are more and more against abortion.
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and the Democratic Party will open a week-long assault on Vice President Cheney today in hopes that tarring him as promoting secrecy and controversial policies will erode confidence in President Bush. Cheney is less popular than Bush in polls, and Democratic strategists said they need to further inhibit the vice president's effectiveness as Bush's attack messenger.
I don't see it, Cheney doesn't have to be popular to get the attack out. The VP is always news.
Cheney is expected to deliver a major address in Missouri today charging that Kerry's record shows he would be unsuitable to serve as commander in chief in an era that requires an unwavering leader who can recognize gathering threats and is willing to speak out against them, even when that is difficult or unpopular. Aides said Cheney will say the president must set a clear and consistent foreign policy, and support a military strong enough to use decisive power as a last resort.
You'd think this would be in the basic skill set of a would-be president.
Kerry's campaign said he will focus first on Cheney's record as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, charging that Cheney proposed cuts to weapons critical to recent military operations. Bush's campaign replied that Cheney took his stands during the peace-dividend rollback of the military after the Soviet Union collapsed. On Wednesday, Kerry is to turn to White House efforts to prevent disclosure of records of an energy-policy task force led by Cheney. On Friday, Kerry plans to highlight Cheney's connections to the Halliburton Co., a major U.S. contractor in Iraq.
Bush aides said they considered it a victory to have Kerry campaigning against Cheney instead of Bush and talking about national security.
Karl Rove must be pleased.
Bush's campaign today will begin a heavy run of ads charging that Kerry "has repeatedly opposed weapons vital to winning the war on terror." For the first time, the campaign is customizing ads for specific swing states to highlight locally made systems or components Kerry has opposed. The campaign is also staging a two-week "Winning the War on Terror Tour," in which Republican officials and decorated veterans will appear at plants that make weapons Kerry has opposed.
Since he opposed everything that should be easy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2004 12:41:51 AM ||
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Ah, the WaPo on its daily journey of trying to destroy President Bush...
I love the headline..."to target" like it's a new, future thing.
The Dims have been targeting Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice and Rove...ad infinitum for months now if not years!
Remember before 9/11 the LLL media called Bush Admin officials like Cheney "retreads?"
Then, right after 9/11, it was "Thank God Bush's Cabinet has such experienced professionals!"
Posted by: Jen ||
04/26/2004 1:04 Comments ||
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good! - no offense intended to Cheney, but maybe Bush will replace him with Rice - which would assure his reelection and set her up to defeat Hillary next time around.
#3
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and the Democratic Party will open a week-long assault on Vice President Cheney today in hopes that tarring him as promoting secrecy and controversial policies will erode confidence in President Bush.
#4
B, I like the Rice VP idea but she has said she has no interest in elected office. She wants to be NFL commissioner or something. I think its unlikely she'd be a VP candidate.
I think Rudi Guliani would be a better choice. Rudi has national name recognition. He's tough, yet compassionate. He'd be a nightmare for the Democrats to deal with.
Either way Cheney should step aside. I like him, but he has heart problems that ensure he will not be president in 2008, leaving the Republicans without the incumbant advantage.
Contradicting his statements as a candidate for president, Sen. John Kerry claimed in a 1971 television interview that he threw away as many as nine of his combat medals to protest the war in Vietnam. "I gave back, I can't remember, 6, 7, 8, 9 medals," Kerry said in an interview on a Washington, D.C. news program on WRC-TV's called Viewpoints on November 6, 1971, according to a tape obtained by ABCNEWS.
"They came from my vast collection of Vietnam medals -- um, you do know I was in Vietnam, don't you?"
Throughout his presidential campaign, Kerry has denied that he threw away any of his 11 medals during an anti-war protest in April, 1971. His campaign Web site calls it a "right wing truth fiction" and a smear. And in an interview with ABCNEWS' Peter Jennings last December, he said it was a "farking myth." But Kerry told a much different story on Viewpoints. Asked about the anti-war veterans who threw their medals away, Kerry said "they decided to give them back to their country." Kerry was asked if he gave back the Bronze Star, Silver Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded for combat duty as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam. "Well, and above that, [I] gave back the others," he said.
Which ones? Anybody know?
The statement directly contradicts Kerry's most recent claims on the disputed subject to the Los Angeles Times last Friday. "I never ever implied that I did it, " Kerry told the newspaper, responding to the question of whether he threw away his medals in protest. "I'm proud of my medals. I always was proud of them," he told Jennings in December, adding that he had only thrown away his "ribbons" and the medals of two other veterans who could not attend the protest. The disputed incident happened 33 years ago this past weekend, on April 23, 1971, when Kerry led the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War in a protest against the war they fought. Many veterans were seen throwing their medals and ribbons over the fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. At the time, The Boston Globe and other newspapers reported that Kerry was among these veterans. "In a real sense, this administration forced us to return our medals because beyond the perversion of the war, these leaders themselves denied us the integrity those symbols supposedly gave our lives," Kerry said the following day. But in 1984, when he first ran for the U.S. Senate, Kerry revealed he still had his medals. According to a Boston Globe report on April 15, 1984, union officials had expressed uneasiness with Kerry's candidacy because he had thrown his medals away. Kerry acknowledged the medals he threw away were, in fact, another soldier's medals. He reportedly invited a union official home to personally inspect his Silver Star, Bronze Star and three purple hearts, awarded for his combat duty as a Navy lieutenant.
I'm not surprised he'd keep these. Too bad he lied about it.
In the 1971 Viewpoints interview, he made no mention of the ribbons or the medals belonging to another veteran. And in 1988, Kerry again clarified his statement by saying he threw out ribbons he had been awarded for three combat wounds, but not his medals. "I was proud of my personal service and remain so," he told the National Journal. Eight years later in 1996, Kerry said while he did throw out his ribbons, he didn't throw out his own medals because he "didn't have time to go home [to New York] and get them," he told The Boston Globe.
And he was proud of them
Kerry's campaign Web site says he "is proud of the work he did to end the war even though they made me look like an ass. The Nixon Administration made John Kerry one of its targets and Republicans have been confronting smearing him ever since. John Kerry threw his ribbons and the medals of two veterans who could not attend the event, and said, 'I am not doing this for any violent reasons, but for peace and justice, and to try to make this country wake up once and for all.'" A spokesperson for Kerry's campaign said he didn't make a distinction between medals and ribbons, but Kerry plans to respond on Good Morning America.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2004 12:11:04 AM ||
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...I have gotta believe that the knives are out for Kerry now. Frictionless William had some fairly solid proof available for his mistakes before the Presidency, but the media flat out ignored them. The problem now is we end up with Madame Mao....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/26/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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#2
Knives, if powder puffs have a honed edge. Senator sKerry will appear on ABC and be fed sympathetic powder puff questions from some ABC talkinghead who would rather be giving him oral pleasure in the green room -- allowing the Senator to bash the right-wingers who did not serve in Vietnam who dare question the war hero's patriotism. Bash the Republicans who are seeking to besmirch the reputations of the leader of the band of brothers who served our nation honorably...blah...blah...blah...
#3
"Senator sKerry will appear on ABC and be fed sympathetic powder puff questions"
Just watched GMA and Charles Gibson started kind of easy but sKerry pushed back so hard and so stupidly Gibson took him down pretty hard. What will be missed is during sKerry's tirade of the difference between medals and ribbons and how in 1971 everyone saw them as the same thing, he blatantly accused GW of being AWOL from the Texas National Guard not once but on four seperate times.
The medals and ribbons tirade was pretty bizzare. I was but a young teen in 1971 and living in this area (Wasington DC) when the medal throwing incident occured. I remember distinctly people I went to school with coming in that Monday and showing ribbons and medals that they had picked up from the steps of the Capitol. Even as kids we knew what was a ribbon and a medal and that one was entirely different from the other. I cannot believe he offered such a reply.
#4
He was filleted and served up by ABC no less!
Check out the transcript of GMA on Drudge - What a dissembling liar. I just hope he doesn't Do a Howard Dean moment implode before tehir convention
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2004 9:30 Comments ||
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excerpt at Captains Quarters:
In a somewhat heated interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday, Kerry insisted, "I stood up in front of my nation and took the ribbons off my chest" -- in front of TV cameras, he noted -- and then threw those ribbons over a fence.
"I never asserted otherwise," Kerry said on Monday -- moments after ABC played part of the 1971 intervew in which Kerry indicated he threw his medals over a fence. ...
"Good Morning America" anchor Charlie Gibson said he was there 33 years ago when Kerry threw medals over the fence. "I saw you throw medals over the fence, and we didn't find out until later (interrupted) that those were someone else's medals," Gibson said.
Kerry, not listening to the end of Gibson's statement, said, "Charlie, Charlie, you're wrong. That is not what happened. I threw my ribbons across. And all you have to do..." [Gibson tried to clarify that Kerry threw someone else's medals over the fence, but Kerry would not give him an opportunity.]
Kerry eventually clarified that he did throw two medals (not his) over the fence at the request of two veterans.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2004 9:55 Comments ||
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#6
The press should start asking him if he knows what the meaning of is is.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/26/2004 10:28 Comments ||
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#7
The Knights-Who-Say-NYT (Fred's term, I believe) ran their version of this story on page A-17 of today's print edition: "1971 Tape Adds to Debate Over Kerry's Medal Protest". It's a debate, see, not a contradiction, and according to the Knights this is an issue raised by Republicans "nervous about questions regarding President Bush's Air National Guard Service."
Nope, no spin there.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/26/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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#8
When you see the"fruit salad"on a uniform those ribbions represent several things(1)areas/countrys where the person was stationed,(2)battles they were in,(3)most relevant they are smaller representations of awards and medals earned.
When Flip Flop says he did not throw away medals,only ribbons he is a damn liar.Throwing away the ribbions is the same as throwing the medals themselves.
Posted by: TS (vice girl) ||
04/26/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Its a contradiction that the Left is in complete denial about and this article seems to deliberately obscure which is that rich people overwhelmingly support left wing parties.
From memory, 94% of the political donations over $1M go to the Democrats. Small donations < $100 overwhelmingly go to the Republicans.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/26/2004 1:21 Comments ||
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Note that in most cases the blue cities are white, weathy neighborhoods, where there are few ghettos - like New England, Portland, SF, etc.... or they are in the ghettos themselves. Interesting, no? Most folks who live in the middle vote red.
#3
As this map shows, it is not only the cities anon mentions, but New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles that are the primary big money centers for the Democrats. Race has nothing to do with it and should be left out.
Likewise, it is correct to say that left wing parties overwhelmingly get their financial support from rich people, but not that rich people overwhelmingly suooprt left wing parties, Plenty of people show up for $25,000 per plate meals for Republicans too. The big difference is all those small contributions from fly over country.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/26/2004 11:47 Comments ||
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whoa..whoa..whoa..
NY..WDC and LA...where the average price of a house is $600,000+. Can you afford it without 2 very GOOD incomes??
All of those cities have 2 things in common. Weathy neighborhoods/vs the ghettos full of peopl who mow their lawns and clean their homes.
Maybe race has nothing to do with it. I'd entertain that notion. But the bottom line is that blue is represents either the wealthy or the poor. The middle tends to be red.
#5
The concentrations of Democrat contributions from Boston, NYC, LA and DC are indicative of wealth that is derived from finance and law, both industries heavily involved with government. Not all the rich people live in these cities. The rich in the rest of the country are as red as their less well off neighbors. That is the distinction I am trying to make. Otherwise we are in violent agreement.
Bottom line; blue represents those who suckle at the public trough. The smart and clever ones get megabucks, the dumb and innocent ones enough to survive to the next election when they vote for bread and circuses again.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/26/2004 12:16 Comments ||
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#6
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.George Orwell
You see good reader the enlightened ones are allowed to have the blessings of unlimited cash. Mr. Soros has shown enlightenment. Many of the talented souls who have entertained us for years on TV and at the movies are enlightenment personified. They are allowed to keep the unlimited funds, because they are trusted messengers of truth. Our great leader John Kerry has shown wisdom in marrying into enlightened money. This allows him to be able to educate us all withough the burden of working hard.
A representative list of NFL players who served in the military during the Korean and Vietnamese conflicts:
Korea
Cloyce Box, Detroit
Eddie LeBaron, Washington, Dallas
Bob Gain, Cleveland
Ed Modzelewski, Pittsburgh, Cleveland
Arnie Galiffa, N.Y. Giants, San Francisco
Jim Mutscheller, Baltimore
Sonny Grandelius, N.Y. Giants
Les Richter, Los Angeles Rams
Bill Jessup, San Francisco, Denver
Ray Romero, Philadelphia
Don Klosterman, Los Angeles Rams
Art Spinney, Baltimore
Vietnam
Rocky Bleier, Pittsburgh
Joe Don Looney, Detroit, Washington, New Orleans
Gary Bugenhagen, Buffalo
Roger Staubach, Dallas
Woody Campbell, Houston
Don Steinbrunner, Cleveland*
Bob Kalsu, Buffalo*
Ed Sutton, Washington, N.Y. Giants
* Killed in action
World War II
Several active and former NFL players served in the armed forces during World War II. Listed below are the 23 NFL personnel - 21 active or former players, an ex-head coach and a team executive -- killed during the war.
Mike Basca, Philadelphia, 1941 - Killed in France in 1944
Charlie Behan, Detroit, 1942 - Killed on Okinawa in 1945
Keith Birlem, Cardinals-Washington, 1939 - Killed trying
to land combat damaged bomber in England in 1943
Al Blozis, Giants, 1942-1944 - Killed in France, 1945
Chuck Braidwood, Portsmouth-Cleveland-Cardinals-Cincinnati, 1930-1933 - Member of Red Cross. Killed in South Pacific, winter 1944-1945
Young Bussey, Bears, 1940-1941 - Killed in Philippines landing assault in 1944
Jack Chevigny (coach), Cardinals, 1932 - Killed on Iwo Jima in 1945
Ed Doyle, Frankford-Pottsville, 1924-1925 - Killed during North Africa invasion in 1942
Grassy Hinton, Staten Island, 1932 - Killed in plane crash in East Indies in 1944
Smiley Johnson, Green Bay, 1940-1941 - Killed on Iwo Jima in 1945
Eddie Kahn, Boston/Washington, 1935-1937 - Died from wounds suffered during Leyte invasion in 1945
Alex Ketzko, Detroit, 1943 - Killed in France in 1944
Lee Kizzire, Detroit, 1937 - Shot down near New Guinea in 1943
Jack Lummus, Giants, 1941 - Killed on Iwo Jima in 1945
Bob Mackert, Rochester Jeffersons, 1925
Frank Maher, Pittsburgh-Cleveland Rams, 1941
Jim Mooney, Newark-Brooklyn-Cincinnati-St. Louis-Cardinals, 1930-1937 - Killed by sniper in France in 1944
John OâKeefe (front office), Philadelphia - Killed flying a patrol mission in Panama Canal Zone
Gus Sonnenberg, Buffalo-Columbus-Detroit-Providence, 1923-1928, 1930 - Died of illness at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1944
Len Supulski, Philadelphia, 1942 - Killed in plane crash in Nebraska in 1944
Don Wemple, Brooklyn, 1941 - Killed in plane crash in India in 1944
Chet Wetterlund, Cardinals-Detroit, 1942 - Killed in plane crash off New Jersey coast in 1944
Waddy Young, Brooklyn, 1939-1940 - Killed in plane crash following first B-29 raid on Tokyo in 1945
Source: NFL.com
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/26/2004 2:44:41 PM ||
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#1
Jack Lummus won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/26/2004 15:12 Comments ||
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Slightly off-topic, but Ted Williams left baseball twice (WWII and Korea). Imagine what kind of career numbers he might have put up had he not sacrificed.
#7
Also be think Johnny Rutherford, I disliked the man but I'm damn glad he knows how to fly. Be thinking about the Argentine Airforce in the South Atlantic War good drivers make good flyers.
Two Chinese diplomats, away from their Los Angeles consulate improperly, recently sped their vehicle past a Los Alamos National Laboratory guard post near classified facilities in what U.S. officials think was an intelligence mission, The Washington Times has learned. The diplomats, identified as Hua Yu and Bo Lai, were on an intelligence-gathering mission that is raising new worries of Chinese nuclear spying against the United States, according to U.S. officials familiar with the incident.
According to an incident report, the diplomats sped a white Ford Escort past a guard post at the New Mexico facility at about 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 26. Security guard Joseph Chavez was at the post at the time and reported that the car "ran his post at a high rate of speed," the report said. The white Escort, rented in Colorado, was stopped a short distance from the post by three Los Alamos security police on Pajarito Road. The diplomats were questioned, and their car was searched.
I hope they were picking gravel out of their teeth.
Mr. Hua and Mr. Bo identified themselves as Chinese diplomats posted to the consulate in Los Angeles. "At this point, we briefed the gentleman on the fact that Pajarito Road was closed to the general public, and [they] were escorted out of the area," the report states.
"Git!"
Kevin Roark, a spokesman for Los Alamos, confirmed that the incident took place and said no apparent compromise of security occurred. Pajarito Road also is the site of two sensitive facilities, Mr. Roark said. One is the Critical Assembly Facility known as Technical Area-18, and the other is the Plutonium Research Facility, known as Technical Area-55. Both facilities are used for classified nuclear-weapons activities at Los Alamos, part of the Energy Department's nuclear-weapons program. "They were asked for identification. They were briefly questioned as to what they were up to. Their vehicle was searched, and after that, they were promptly escorted off the road," Mr. Roark said. He declined to comment on whether the FBI was notified. An FBI spokesman could not be reached for comment.
Since they were Chinese, the FBI most likely already had agents dating them.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2004 10:07:56 AM ||
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we should not forget that the chicoms believe they could eventually win in a confrontation with the US.
Posted by: Dan ||
04/26/2004 10:41 Comments ||
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Hua Yu? Riiiggghhhhhttt
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2004 10:53 Comments ||
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#3
Steve, LOL.
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/26/2004 12:50 Comments ||
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You get an LOL from me, too.
Maybe that's why the FBI doesn't have the Internet. The Chicoms would've already set up an online dating service for lonely agents.
A satirical Iranian movie depicting the life of a convicted criminal who disguises himself as a cleric has become a box-office hit in Iran. The film, Marmoulak (The Lizard), was originally scheduled to be screened in late March during the Iranian new year holidays. But the authorities found the message of the film offensive to the clergy and ordered it to be banned. Later they allowed it to be screened with some cuts. The film follows the fortunes of Reza Marmoulak - Reza the Lizard - a convicted thief who disguises himself as a Muslim cleric to escape from prison. He then discovers the benefits of life as a preacher under Iranâs clerical rule.
On his way to the border to leave the country illegally, he arrives in a village where the people have been waiting for a cleric to lead their Friday sermons. Reza the Lizard becomes their popular religious leader and captivates their imagination by his simplicity and brings worshippers flocking back to the mosques. So one message of the film is that even a convicted criminal could go through a moral transformation and find God himself.
But what has probably angered conservative clerics is the underlying criticism of their privileged position in society. Hardliners are also uncomfortable with the prospect of a criminal acting as a cleric and a mullah who does not know much about Islam and jokes with the worshippers. Mocking clerics is a taboo under the Islamic government and The Lizard is the first film to cross this red line. The director of the film, Kamal Tabrizi, has said that the clergy must understand that in order to be able to survive they should accept criticism. Film critics say that The Lizard is one of the funniest films ever made in Iran about the clergy and they predict that it could become one of the most commercially successful Iranian films of all time.
#3
I'm just dying to see the Iranian versions of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye!
[I]t could become one of the most commercially successful Iranian films of all time.
Um, yeah... Color me underwhelmed...
Posted by: Dar ||
04/26/2004 23:44 Comments ||
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#4
Pappy, aren't you thinking of the Whoopie Goldberg vehicle, Sister Act? :=)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/27/2004 0:35 Comments ||
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#5
Also brought to mind Brother Orchid (Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, etal, 1940), although the plot is considerably different. Yeah, I'd buy a DVD, too.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
04/27/2004 0:58 Comments ||
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Super Hose / Pappy : You are thinking of "Were No Angels". In the movie Penn and Robert Deniro escape form prison and disguise themselves as monks. Penn decides to stay at the monastery where he avoids recapture by the prison guards, and Deniro escapes over the Canadian border with Demi Moore . . .
From the Canadian Frasier Instituteâs research report "Environmental Indicators (6th Edition)" Severely EFL
Newspapers in Canada, like those in much of the developed world, give extensive coverage to alarming claims about environmental degradation and related health impacts. Claims linking increasing rates of asthma and deaths due to air pollution are carried uncritically as are laments regarding humanityâs supposedly increasing âecological footprintâ and associated loss of biodiversity on Earth. In a poll conducted for Natural Resources Canada, 65% of respondents to the survey of Canadiansâ environmental attitudes felt that forest management and overcutting are the primary threat facing the countryâs forests today. Through surveys of college students, The Fraser Institute has found a strong disconnect between Canadian student perceptions of environmental trends (mostly negative) and the reality of environmental trends (mostly positive): Preach it, brother!
65% of the students attending Fraser Institute seminars believe that air quality is deteriorating. Fifty-eight percent of students are convinced that annual forest harvests exceed regrowth. Seventy-three percent of students believe we need to expand recycling programs and further control waste to avoid a âtrash crisis.â But the reality of the state of the environment is quite different from the portrayals of alarmists or the understanding of the public. Things are, in fact, improving dramatically in the developed world as improvements in technology, higher incomes, and democratic systems have created an ever-increasing ability to protect the environment. There is every reason to believe that similar improvements will be seen globally as developing countries open to international trade and have access to advanced technologies. And locally, while many Canadians are unaware of it, the majority of environmental trends in Canada have been positive for decades.
The Fraser Institute believes strongly in the idea of public policy debate infused by hard data, and sound logic. We published our first Environmental Indicators report in 1997, going to the original data sources (primarily governmental) to compile evidence that might show us the real state of environmental progress. What we have found is a story of optimism that is simply not understood by a large section of the population.
⢠One of the most far-reaching environmental improvements is the increasing quality of the air Canadians breathe. Ambient levels of sulphur dioxide, a pollutant produced by burning coal and oil, which can cause breathing problems and aggravation of respiratory disease, decreased 72.2%
from 1974 and 2000.
⢠Ambient levels of particulate matter ... decreased 50.7% from 1974 to 1999.
⢠Improvements in technology have resulted in an 82.6% decrease in ambient levels of carbon monoxide from 1974 to 2000 despite the fact that there has been a 30% increase in total vehicle registrations over the same period.
⢠The decline in ambient lead levels is the greatest success story in the efforts to reduce air pollution. Ambient lead levels fell 94% in Canada from 1974 to 1998, a concentration so low that it no longer needed measuring, and resources were diverted from lead measurement to other activities.
⢠Nitrogen dioxide, a highly reactive gas emitted by both natural and industrial activities, is a cause for concern because it combines with volatile organic compounds to produce ozone, considered to be a precursor to smog. Canadian ambient levels of nitrogen dioxide decreased 34.4% from 1974 to 2000.Much more (112 pages of very readable, well-laid-out FACTS) at the link.
I learned about this from a specialty newsletter. Think it will ever be the lead story on any of the "mainstream" media in Canada or in this country? (Iâd be delighted if some Canadian Rantburgers said they saw it on the news!) Think the "enviromentalists" will applaud this and lay off for a while? Think the public will change their perceptions? Naahh, me neither.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut bskolaut@hotmail.com ||
04/26/2004 3:53:51 PM ||
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#1
Thank Gawd, Barb.
I thought you were gonna add:
Environmental Misperceptions Rampant, But Thereâs Good News:
I saved a bundle on my auto insurance by switching to Geico. ;o)
#2
LOL, badanov. You watch waaaay too much TV! :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/26/2004 22:56 Comments ||
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#3
The trash data is surprising to me. I was worried that so much attention was being paid to Global Warming that solid waste was being ignored. I am pleasantly surprised.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/27/2004 0:46 Comments ||
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Changing the mindset of jihad, one by one
Stung by their reputation as places of backwardness and militancy, Pakistanâs madrasas -- traditional schools where Islam is taught in great detail -- are teaching computer and Web literacy as a way to gain respectability. There are about 12,000 madrasas in Pakistan, with more than 1.5 million students enrolled. Most of the students are too poor to afford a modern education. So boys between 8 and 15 years old attend these schools where they spend several hours a day memorizing the verses of the Koran. Older students undergo a difficult eight-year course that interprets the holy book. Jamia Naimia in Lahore is one of those madrasas. Subjects like math, English and general sciences are not taught here. But the school has a computer science department that teaches Windows applications, Web design and Basic. The computer room with 26 PCs -- most of them upgraded to Pentium 4 last year -- is in sharp contrast to the surrounding simplicity of the school, where students usually sit on the floor to learn.
The students seem to like the machines; in fact, some of the students are inspired by them. Fifteen-year-old Amjad Shahzad said he wants to become a software engineer. His friends in the room talked about similar professions. "We have computers, not terrorists," said Naimiaâs principal, Sarfraz Naeemi. "Anyone can go in and have a look. We have nothing to hide." But why not teach math and science, along with computer literacy? "Islamic studies is a vast subject in itself," Naeemi said. "How will the students find time for other things? Computers are important to their future. Thatâs why we decided to teach them computers. And we decided that on our own. We didnât do it because Musharraf asked us to change."
The kid wants to become a software engineer with no math?
President Pervez Musharraf, faced with growing international concerns over what is taught in the madrasas -- especially the interpretations of the word "jihad" -- appeared on state television last year and asked the traditional schools to change. He even unraveled a plan called the Madrasa Ordinance with a budget of over $115 million, which is trying to lure the schools into making curriculum changes and stepping into modern times. "But an overwhelming majority of madrasas have resisted change," said Shahzad Qaiser, a former secretary of education for the state of Punjab and a civil servant who today is a faculty adviser for a research group that studies Madrasa education. "The academics in the madrasas feel that Western influence will reduce their stranglehold over a form of education that they have ruled for years," he said. "Also, they do not want to appear as though they have succumbed to pressure from America, the country they believe is influencing President Musharraf."
The precise number of madrasas that have included computers in their curriculum is not clear, but they are a very small portion. They are chiefly in large cities like Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. "These madrasas have been forced by the government to appear modern," said Mohammed Riaz Durrani, an Islamic academic. "The police have been raiding madrasas on the pretext of searching for militants. Some madrasas donât want to be harassed. So they are toeing the government line of modernizing. What better way to do it than say you are teaching computers?"
MDRS105: Controlling the Djinn that Runs Your Computer (3SH)
Tahir Hameed Tanoli, another academic who has written a doctoral thesis on the psychology of Muslims, disagrees. "First, itâs a misconception that computer education comes in conflict with madrasa education," he said. "Madrasas are genuinely beginning to see the usefulness of computer education. So itâs not a cosmetic change." While madrasa students -- fascinated by computers and the Internet -- are beginning to dream of modern professions, the school managers say Islamic education will remain the only priority. In April, Jamia Ashrafia, a madrasa in Lahore with over 1,500 students (including girls), got a consignment of 50 computers for a total of 150 at the school. This academic year the school will see the introduction of math and science. "There will be no compromise on the content of Islamic education," Ashrafiaâs principal, S.M. Rafia, said. "If we make too many drastic changes too often, it will be an admission that something was wrong. And we would like to believe that nothing was ever wrong with the madrasas."
Show me a software engineer who's never had any math and I'll show you a drag on the profession...
Posted by: joe ||
04/26/2004 14:48 Comments ||
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#3
Studies in Islamic Computers:
ICOM 101:
"Islam and Computers: A History in the Koran"
ICOM 102:
"Islamic Computers Through the Centuries"
ICOM 201:
"Koranic Principles for Operating a Computer"
ICOM 203
"Designing Jihadi Web sites"
ICOM 325
"Reviving Your Islamic Website When Your Kafir Server Boots You"
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/26/2004 15:29 Comments ||
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#4
ICOM 102:
"Islamic Computers Through the Centuries"
LOL A course suitable for those Cricket Players on Scholarship.
#5
we would like to believe that nothing was ever wrong with the madrasas THIS is what is wrong with Islam. It is unable to accept that anything even remotely associated with it is ever wrong, therefore, nothing about it can ever change. If it can't change, it can't adapt to changes in the world around it. Ask AP about what happens when stresses build up along a fault, or watch California over the next couple of years as pressure continues to build along the San Andreas. Pressure has been building between Islam and the rest of the world for 700 years. Modern technology is accelerating those stresses, as the rest of the world changes twice a day. No wonder the poor jihadis explode - their poor heads can't handle change.
Maybe we need to fence off the entire Arabian peninsula and keep it as a preserve for those that want to live in the 13th century.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2004 15:57 Comments ||
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#6
pr0n will become our greates weapon
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/26/2004 17:19 Comments ||
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Hmmm...I like the lack of Hamas green and HizbâAllah black, but Iâm not real happy with the GIANT CRESCENT MOON at the top of the flag. Rantburgers, what do you think?
Iraqâs U.S.-picked leaders approved a new flag for the country, making a dramatic change that dumps the Saddam Hussein-era colors and slogan âGod is greatâ and introduces symbols of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a spokesman said Monday. The new flag is white, with two parallel blue strips across the bottom representing the rivers and a yellow stripe between them representing Iraqâs Kurdish minority. Above the stripes is a blue crescent representing Islam. Council spokesman, Hameed al-Kafaei, said the U.S.-picked council approved the design as the new official flag â though the artist was asked to touch up the color of the crescent, perhaps to a darker blue or a different color. Read the article for some Iraqi comments...
#3
meh. Looks a little bottom-heavy. Shoulda made the crescent smaller, tucked it into the corner and put something Iraq-specific in the center. I mean, yeah, yer an Islamic country. But so are like twenty other countries.
Posted by: Cthulhu Akbar ||
04/26/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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#4
Take a look at the flag of Turkey. Big Crescent also. . .
#5
Yeah, there's a big crescent in the Turkish flag, but there are many muslim countries that don't have such a crescent. The same way that some Christian countries have crosses in them, and some don't.
But it's not a good sign IMO when a country goes from a flag without a crescent to a flag carrying one. Not when the wider war being waged is one against Islamofascism.
#6
Theyre going from a flag that had allahu akhbar. As a Jew id have less trouble with a flag with a cross on it, (RULE BRITTANIA!!!) then with one that said, say "Christ the King". Theyre taking replace a flag that was the symbol of a brutal dictatorship with one of their own. And theyre putting an Islamic symbol, that is obvious to all is the same symbol as the one used by Turkey - subtle reference to Kemalism, just possibly. Oh, and an explicit reference to the Kurds - pretty unique for an ARAB country, Id say.
What does the wider war being against Islamofascism have to do with it? The crescent is a symbol of Islam in general, not just of Islamofascism.
#7
I'm thinking they should have an interim flag... perhaps steal the design (an excellent one IMHO) from Alaska. The Little Dipper could represent the Oil for Peas years.
#9
"The crescent is a symbol of Islam in general, not just of Islamofascism. "
True, but a major dividing lines between Islamofascism and not-Islamofascism is how strong the separation between church and state is. A religious symbol on a new flag... ugh, I still think it isn't a good sign. What need was there for it at all?
#11
It's perhaps indicative of cultural differences between the West and Islam that the only widespread use of crescent moons in the US was as decorative ventilation on outhouse doors.
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
04/26/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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#12
mhw
The Kurds, who descend from the Medes, use a yellow Sun as their symbol.
I love Steynâs way with words
Itâs a good rule of thumb that so-called moderate opinion is several degrees to the left of popular opinion. You can test this for yourself easily enough: pick a subject such as, say, illegal immigration and compare the position of every Democratic senator, the majority of Republican senators and 90 percent of the media with the position of the American people.
Thatâs why the press were befuddled by last weekâs polls. A month of Richard Clarke, the 9/11 Commission, Bob Woodward, Muqtada al-Sadr, Fallujah and Basra, and a constant drip-drip-drip of conventional wisdom on the presidentâs "vulnerability" from the Beltway to Hollywood to the Ivy League to that brave radio station in Plattsburgh, N.Y., thatâs now the flagship of Al Frankenâs Air America âânetworkââ -- and what happens? Bushâs numbers go up and Kerryâs go down.
Another six weeks of Dick Clarkeâs book tour, of snotty network reporters condescending to the president at his press conference, of the sneering Richard Ben Veniste and emotionally unhinged Bob Kerrey badgering Condi Rice at their hack hearings, of Bob Woodward and his unreadable book filling up slabs of CNNâs prime time every night with irrelevant arcana about what did Prince Bandar know and when did he tell Woodward he knew it, another six weeks of things that make Bush ââvulnerable,ââ and heâd be heading for a 49-state blowout over Kerry.
Donât get me wrong: Americaâs still a 50/50 nation. Thatâs to say, 50 percent of the nation backs Bush, and the other 50 percent either loathe him, or are undecided, or arenât yet paying attention to Campaign â04. I think the presidentâs numbers should be higher.
But the problem for John Kerry is that he and the networks and the New York Times are finding it all but impossible to make any dent in the Bush half. If it is a 50/50 nation, one sideâs 50 percent is pretty solid and the otherâs a lot softer.
How can this be? Well, letâs turn to our senior political analyst, the late Osama bin Laden. In his final video appearance 2-1/2 years ago, Osama observed that, when people have a choice between a strong horse and a weak horse, they go with the strong horse. But, to take that a stage further, the strong horse doesnât have to be that strong when the other fellowâs flogging a dead horse.
The 9/11 Commission? Nobody cares. You canât drive the car when youâre staring in the rear-view mirror. And, as those polls showed, if Americans are forcibly plonked in front of that rear-view mirror, they lay more blame on eight years of Clinton administration policy than eight months of Bush administration policy.
WMD? Another dead horse. Whether you were pro-war or anti-war had nothing to do with WMD. Bush thought Saddam Hussein had âem, but so did the French, Germans and Russians, and they were all anti-war. For most pro-war Americans, the need to whack Saddam was more important than the pretext on which he was whacked. He was unfinished business from Sept. 10. All the rest is footnotes, more rear-view mirror stuff.
Thatâs why even the old quagmire scenario now playing 24/7 on the cable channels doesnât work for Kerry. Visiting foreigners often remark on that popular T-shirt slogan, usually found below the Stars and Stripes: "These Colors Donât Run." To non-Americans, it seems a trifle touchy. But for a quarter-century the presumption of the countryâs enemies was that those colors did run -- they ran from Vietnam, from the downed choppers in the Iranian desert, from Mogadishu. Even the successful campaigns -- the inconclusively concluded Gulf War and the air-only Kosovo war -- seemed designed to avoid putting those colors in the position of having to run. As Osama saw it, these colors ran from the African embassy bombings, and the Khobar towers, and he pretty much expected them to run from 9/11, too.
A narrow majority of Americans get this: Being seen not to run -- or, if you prefer, being seen to show ââresolveââ -- is now an indispensable objective of U.S. foreign policy. So, when four contractors get lynched and hung off a bridge in Fallujah, poor foolish Sen. Robert Byrd may think itâs time for an ââexit strategy,ââ but most Americans want to see the thugs who did it hunted down and killed.
One day it will not be necessary to sell ââThese Colors Donât Runââ T-shirts. But it is as long as Byrd, Ted Kennedy, Michael Moore & Co. are twitching to add Iraq to the pockmarked pantheon of Vietnam, Iran and Somalia.
The left resists this analysis. ââResolve,ââ they say, may sound macho but itâs also simplistic. Not necessarily. In todayâs phony-baloney world, nuanced inertia is the simple choice, the default mode of international diplomacy, of the U.N. and the European Union. When you dig into whatâs holding up American resolve on Iraq, the people seem to be making more subtle distinctions than their elites.
Thus, the presidentâs numbers arenât affected by the sob sisters of CNNâs Baghdad bureau filing their heartrending reports on how thousands of Baathist apparatchiks havenât been paid since they were made redundant from Saddamâs Department of Genital Mutilation and Electrode Clamping last April.
U.S. public opinion is hardheaded about this: The welfare of the Iraqi people is a bonus, but the welfare of the American people is the primary objective. Thatâs why the United States went to war.
Thatâs the problem for the Democrats. If ââresolveââ is the issue, can you beat it with âânuanceââ? If I had to name the definitive Kerry campaign headline it would be this, from Britainâs (left-wing, Kerry-backing) Guardian last week: ââKerry Says His âFamilyâ Owns SUV, Not He.ââ That Chevy Suburban in the yard has nothing to do with him. Who you gonna believe? A respected senator or your lying eyes?
His statement is true in the sense that his ââfamilyââ (i.e., Teresa) also owns the house and the grounds, and indeed a big chunk of his presidential campaign. But itâs hard to claim that your powers of diplomatic persuasion would have won over the French and Germans when you canât even win over your ââfamily.ââ And do Americans want to hand over responsibility for Iraq to someone who wonât even take responsibility for the car in his driveway?
Posted by: tipper ||
04/26/2004 11:13:12 AM ||
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#1
Thus, the presidentâs numbers arenât affected by the sob sisters of CNNâs Baghdad bureau filing their heartrending reports on how thousands of Baathist apparatchiks havenât been paid since they were made redundant from Saddamâs Department of Genital Mutilation and Electrode Clamping last April.
See why I like this guy? He has a way with words, and comes right to the point. Do I give a shit that some thousands of ex-torturers, secret policemen and thugs of all stripes are out of work? Well, yes - I'd like to see them dying of some lingering parasitic infection.
#3
The Dems' Campaign Strategy is in complete dissaray and shambles. Very much like Hitler's 'Barbarrosa' campaign into Russian. Which has just experiences its first month of Russian Winter.
Started at the wrong time (Six months early, in both cases) and with the wrong objectives ('Electability vs. Leadership) fully encompassed by John 'I don't have a clue' Kerry.
The people have had a Belly full, and there's still more than a month to go before the Convention! When most of the Negative Campaigining and colorful mudslinging is supposed to happen!!!
Come August, Kerry will have very damned little in his quiver to send 'W's' way. While the President
will have the better part of an entire arsenal at his disposal!
I don't predict a landslide. Though, I expect President Bush to win re-election handily!
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
04/26/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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#4
Bravo! Encapsulates it all! On a related note I was surfing at DU(I) this morning and it seems that many of them are ready to leave the U.S. if Bush wins! Can anyone say BONUS POINTS! Just where are these self-loathing idiots going to move to? And if they do will the influx of a 500,000 NEW immigrants offset their loss? I think everyone knows the answer to that. Goodbye, good riddance, and bon chance (I am guessing they are moving to France or Canada).:
I'll trade Cuba 3 DU-ers for one of the guys who turned a '53 Chevy truck into a boat. Anybody with that much initiative and love of liberty is welcome in my country anytime!
Posted by: Mike ||
04/26/2004 12:38 Comments ||
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#6
Cyber Sarge -- I'll believe their threats when Berkeley's depopulated.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/26/2004 13:05 Comments ||
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#7
Kerry has got to be walking around w/the tightest sphincter imaginable.He has to be wondering if one more Kerryclysm will start respected Democratic columnists/politicians "suggesting" that "for the good of the party" Kerry should be replaced,esp. because of Kerry's "health issues".Kerry was sold to Democratic Party as being ELECTABLE.If the party believes he isn't,will they go down w/the ship,or will they try to find a new captain?
Ther has been speculation as to why Republicans haven't launched hard attack ads aimed at Kerry.Maybe the Republicans want to make sure Kerry is the Demo candidate,before flooding airwaves.
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/26/2004 15:06 Comments ||
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#8
Stephen? SSShhhhhhhhh
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2004 15:15 Comments ||
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#9
. . .it seems that many of them are ready to leave the U.S. if Bush wins!
Cyber Sarge -
What happened to all those folks who were going to leave after 2000? The only one I know of is Gweneth Paltrow. At least she is naive enough to be consistent.
I always remember the movie "Hunt for Red October", and wondering how Fred Thompson held his cool without smacking Alec Baldwin upside the head.
Donât get me wrong: Americaâs still a 50/50 nation. Thatâs to say, 50 percent of the nation backs Bush, and the other 50 percent either loathe him, or are undecided, or arenât yet paying attention to Campaign â04. I think the presidentâs numbers should be higher.
But the problem for John Kerry is that he and the networks and the New York Times are finding it all but impossible to make any dent in the Bush half. If it is a 50/50 nation, one sideâs 50 percent is pretty solid and the otherâs a lot softer.
my take -
If W has a clear lead in all the polls, 8-10% in late October (like 52-42-3), the peacnik leftys may feel free to Nader it, or stay home, and the margin could be exaggerated, ending up with a 56-37-7. Kerry would receive no more than 50-60 electoral votes. (like NY MA DC RI - maybe a couple others like VT HI)
#11
My take is that Kerry will continue to flip-flop and his defenses of his flip-flops make him look worse and worse. Meanwhile Iraq and the economy get better. Anti-everything protestors show up outside the Republican convention in NY and the Democrats lose the entire center when Kerry won't distance himself from them. End result, Bush carries nearly every state.
Perhaps I'm too optimistic but Kerry's melting down already.
#12
Wrong dog paddlers. Kerry could still pick me for VP. I'm a stone cold tee vee personality and every American kid loves me. And be real in the VP debates I would kick ass and have lunch all in prime time. Talk to my posse. I'm available.
#13
DUer's are "threatening" to leave the country if Bush wins -- yeah, right. If only it were true.
Sadly, however, for them to leave the country would require some sort of INITIATIVE (if only to track down, obtain, and fill out the right forms) follwed by ACTION. Smells too much like work, I'm afraid. Thus, to our nation's detriment, it will never happen.
#14
Shamu: OK, but how does your weight compare to Hillary's?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/26/2004 16:35 Comments ||
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#15
His statement is true in the sense that his ââfamilyââ (i.e., Teresa) also owns the house and the grounds, and indeed a big chunk of his presidential campaign...And do Americans want to hand over responsibility for Iraq to someone who wonât even take responsibility for the car in his driveway?
Sounds like a Sam Kinnison routine:
"I can't go, fellahs. She's got 'em locked away in her jewelry box. Yeah, she found the extra set, too..."
#16
Matt I'ma bout 12 times the senator's weight. But frankly i'm about 19 times more apealing. I also have an ear for politics and would make a good 2nd chair for Letterman.
And Matt... I don't dink around with wrinkle remover... My high tech skin system relives that stress.
I'm only missing one thing to make me perfect. Join my posse SH.
#17
Zell Miller has it right - the Donkey party is self-destructing. In time, even Hillary will abandon ship in the vain hope of keeping her political hopes alive. Not even Shamu can keep the party afloat. Besides, he's too big to fit aboard AF 2.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2004 19:41 Comments ||
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#18
The Donkey part will survive. The party out of power always goes insane for awhile. At some point (2008 or 2012) they will regain their senses and move to the middle again. By that time the Elephants will have probably moved rightward giving up dominance of the center in order to satisfy their base.
It's an endless dance. Sometimes the party out of power takes longer than usual, sometimes they catch on quickly.
WE shouldnât be discouraged by the recent round of violence in Iraq. It was predictable. But there were two disheartening signs:
* We should be troubled that, in this bloody month, none of the insurgents waved an alternative constitution - unless we count their perversion of the Koran. None of those violent men is fighting for freedom - theyâre fighting to strangle liberty in the cradle. They are, without exception, forces of reaction, not liberation, no matter how madly al-Jazeera twists the facts.
* Nor did the general Arab population or its leaders take a public stand against those who would renew their oppression. And those who will not defend their own freedom do not deserve to be defended by others.
Operation Iraqi Freedom has been, among other things, an attempt to give Arabs hope for a better future. The ultimate outcome wonât be known for years, but we must prepare ourselves for the possibility that the Arabs are going to fail themselves again.
With sufficient troops, we can force Iraqâs Arabs to behave. But we canât force them to succeed.
Ultimately, Iraq is not a test of the limits of American power. When necessary, we can do whatever must be done for our security and prosperity. Our use of force, in Iraq and elsewhere, has been remarkably - even foolishly - restrained.
If Iraq collapses into medieval fantasies and blood feuds, we still may be proud of having given this crippled civilization a last, great chance to heal itself. Weâve made mistakes, but their impact is minor compared to the unwillingness of Iraqâs Arabs, Sunni or Shiâa, to build a free and civil society of their own.
In the United States, campus-generated political correctness was never more than a joke - capable of turning somber conservatives purple but unable to alter anything that matters. The far more dangerous form of political correctness is that which prevails in the dream-world of diplomacy: We pretend that all civilizations have equal merit.
But they donât. Itâs time to face up to the functional and moral collapse of the Arab world - if we canât describe the problem honestly, we shall never deal with it effectively.
Arab civilization has failed.
Disguised in part by the trappings of oil wealth, the Middle East has become humanityâs sinkhole, less promising, if richer, than Africa. But no facade of garish hotels in the hollow states that line the Persian Gulf, and no amount of full-page advertisements funded by the Saudi government, can hide the truth any longer: The Arab Middle East has become the worldâs first entirely parasitical culture; all it does is to imitate poorly, consume voraciously, spit hatred, export death and create nothing.
Arab civilization offers its people no promising future, only rhetoric about a past whose achievements have been as exaggerated as they were impermanent. The present is a bloody, heartless muddle.
For all the oil wealth and expatriate university degrees, for all the hired-in expertise and Western "engagement," Arab civilization has degenerated to a point where it provides the rest of humanity nothing useful of its own design - while offering its own citizens only a culture of blame, corruption and lethargy.
Itâs a matter of culture, not race. In the free atmosphere of America, Arabs do as well as anyone else. All populations have their share of talent - but the oppressive environment of the Middle East enervates those individuals it does not crush entirely.
Iraq has been given a chance to break free of the thrall of a bankrupt culture, to establish a rule-of-law democratic government observant of human rights. But the chances are increasingly good that Iraqâs Arabs will fail to achieve and maintain even minimal standards of good governance.
The time has not yet come, but, contrary to the sort of diplomatic wisdom that so long protected Saddam, we can walk away if Iraqâs Arabs refuse to help themselves. And we can break up the country to protect the Kurds - a far better solution than turning Iraq over to the venal brokers of the United Nations.
The failure of Arab civilization in our time is the greatest such disaster in mankindâs history. And, bitter though we find the proposition, the failure is so colossal that it cannot be neatly contained. Whether in Iraq today or elsewhere tomorrow, we cannot fully extract ourselves from this problem simply because our enemies wonât let go.
If Iraq chooses failure, we can leave. But weâll be back, somewhere in the Middle East. Because, as we saw on 9/11, the Middle East will continue to come to us. Blame is the opium of the Arabs, and the sweetest blame for their failures is that directed at the United States (and, of course, Israel). It is our power itself, not its uses, that enrages Arabs trapped in their self-made weakness.
The oft-cited examples of the Arab worldâs problems, from a lack of interest in secular education and a poor work ethic to staggering corruption and the oppression of women, are symptoms, not root causes, of Arab failure. Past a certain analytical point, we come up against the wall of our own taboos - we cannot admit that the psychological premises of an entire civilization might be dysfunctional. Arab failure isnât about that which has been done to the Middle East, but that which the Middle East has done to itself.
Iraq still has a chance, if a slimmer one than we had hoped. But even if Iraqâs Arabs disappoint our ambitions, our efforts will have been worthy and our losses not in vain. Intervention was unavoidable, whatever the critics say. Continued passivity in the face of the Middle Eastâs implosion would only have made the price higher in the end.
We all would be better off were the Arabs to surprise us by building healthy, prosperous, modern societies. We would be foolish not to wish them well. But we would be equally foolish not to prepare ourselves for the consequences of their accelerating failure.
Ralph Peters
Posted by: tipper ||
04/26/2004 2:25:27 AM ||
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#1
"might be dysfunctional"?
I think there is a sizeable number of Arab cultured people who can pull off freedom. But as the article states...It's pretty apparent that the islam thing is broken vs the 21st century.
#2
Mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Bernard Lewis has a number of excellent books on this subject, probably the best of which, "What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East", just came out in paperback.
In 1938,Lewis earned a PhD in the history of Islam from the University of London and, with time out to fight in WWII, has been teaching ever since both at the University of London and, since 1974, at Princeton. Now a professor emeritus, he spends most of his time writing and consulting.
#3
We as a nation can lead the Arab World to the well of freedom but we cannot make them drink from it. Perhaps their societies are still too closely tied to the bonds of clan and tribe to allow a sysytem of civil governance to take root. If that be the case perhaps the best they can hope for is the proverbial benevolent dictator
#4
More from the continuing series..."As America wakes up and smells the coffee".
I agree with this, " Itâs a matter of culture, not race".
People are people. But the difference between their culture and ours is Christianity...where mother's tell their children to look inward, to forgive and promote charity. While their mothers tell their children there is no need to look inward or to love your neighbor, just blame the Jews...and now the Americans.
Good Morning America. Welcome to the clash of civilization.
Posted by: B ||
04/26/2004 10:06 Comments ||
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#5
Richard Sandall has an excellent commentary, on this subject also, which was published in Quadrant in Dec 2001.
It deals with the place of T. E. Lawrence in the Arabist cult, and is possibly an insight into the minds of those elite in the West, who romantise Arab Barbarism.
#6
One of the big problems we are still facing is the semi-random nations created by the colonial powers.
A small nation can be dominated by one ethnic groups fairly easy. A large, multiethnic, nation is much harder to dominate. A nation composed of a single ethnic group doesn't have this problem
I see two solutions: (1) Erase a few of those lines and create larger powers (2) Promote the breakup of different nations along ethnic lines.
Which solution works best would depend upon the region, of course. I think creating larger nations in West Africa, for example, would be a benefit while creating larger nations in Mesipotamia could be more problematic. Blindly sticking to artificial lines that seperate ethnic groups/clans and that lump hostile groups together is madness.
I'm not suggesting the US should go about and rearrange the globe, but this should be an underlying policy to nations we find ourselves closely involved with.
#7
tipper, that's interesting and I got the gist of it, even though it was above me in terms of historical knowledge.
If I'm good at one thing, it's seeing trends and where they are headed.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leave bow down their heads,
the wind is passing through.
Few spaces on a ship have a window. Yet there is a good reason why there is always one located in the weather office. No matter what the data screams, every weatherman knows that the best way to predict the weather is to look outside and see for him/her/self.
No matter what the historical models predict, there is a wind blowing today that must be recognized for the direction it is taking. History, the NYT, the WAPO ...all the data are meaningless compared to the force of the wind.
The elite may still seek to find shelter in the romanticism of Voltaire, but his text is old and moldy now. It is of yesterday and not of today.
I maintain that America is waking up to slowly understand the nature of the threat that we face. It was inconceivable to us before 911 - yet it is becoming ever more clear to us now.
At the risk of overdramatization - the wind is blowing. Nothing can stop it.
Posted by: B ||
04/26/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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EFL We know, from reading the blogs of our "sandbox warriors," there is the talent out there, to tell their stories. The stories the media doesnât know how to tell. We will come to know the stories of the battles of Iraq through the eyes of soldiers, with a gift of putting thoughts to words.
"I was talking to my old friend, (poet) Marilyn Nelson," Dana Gioia said. "She had just taught at West Point and my own sister had been called to active duty, in the Navy reserve. We were talking about how separate the worlds of literature and the enlisted man and woman were."
Gioia has decided to change that. The NEA this week is unveiling "Operation Homecoming," in which troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will attend workshops run by such writers as Tom Clancy, Tobias Wolff and James McBride. The best submissions will be published in an anthology, scheduled to come out at the end of 2005. snip
"We are proud of the fact we have free speech in this country, and if soldiers tell the stories of combat, their stories canât be all pleasant and joyful. These are stories they need to tell, and that we need to hear," Nelson said. snip
Gioia doesnât know the impact of the draftâs end, but he agrees war literature has declined since Vietnam. Seen any "new" war movies these past years? We are still watching the "old" favorites.
"We have the best educated and best trained military in American history. I canât believe that there isnât considerable artistic talent among this huge number of people," Gioia said.
Posted by: Sherry ||
04/26/2004 1:25:32 AM ||
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#1
"Save private Ryan".
"We were soldiers". This is one is incredibly moving when after the end you hear "Mansions of Lord" playing.
#2
This is a great idea. The movie industry is committing slow suicide - and not by overusing slow motion. They are as out of touch as if they were Monks, controlling the publishing industry and refusing to let anything be published but sermons. They are already in an advanced state of rigor mortis.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
