#1
Methinks we all can gues what CYNTHIA MCKINNEY might do wid it > INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE > BLACK AGENDA REPORT > "WE MUST RESIST" article, when Voting + "the [Diplo-]Talk, etal just won't cut anymore. Plus, see THE LATE GREAT AMERICAN NATION. Lest we fergit, see also WAFF.com > JR NYQUIST > CHINA'S [anti-US/West] MILITARY STARTEGY TAKES A PLAY FROM LENIN'S PLAYBOOK. The Oceans [= SSSHHHH World also] won't be peaceful again until China = Chinese Communism is able to take it ALL over. The PLA must become strong enuff and capable enuff to march thru Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco, Washington, etc - China must make use = take advantage of the Terror Threat as meaningful DIVERSION agz USA-West/Allies; while also acquiring NON-DESTRUCTIVE WEAPONS IN ORDER TO KILL PEOPLE, I.E AMERICANS, WITHOUT HARMING THE LAND [Chinese-centric "Living Space?]. FINISH OFF AMER ONCE LATTER IS DESTABILIZED AND DISORIENTED [FROM TRUE THREAT(S)?]. Prob safe to say Amer's enemies must strike before Amer gets too strong.
Four years in. An inch of time. Four years in and the foolish and credulous among us yearn to get out. Their feelings require it. The power of their Holy Gospel of "Imagine" compels them. Their overflowing pools of compassion for the enslavers of women, the killers of homosexuals, the beheaders of reporters, and the incinerators of men and women working quietly at their desks, rise and flood their minds until their eyes flow with crocodile tears while their mouths emit slogans made of cardboard. They believe the world is run on wishes and that they will always have three more.
Like savages shambling about some campfire where all there is to eat are a few singed tubers, they paint their faces with the tatterdemalion symbols of a summer long sent down to riot with the worms. They clasp hands and sing songs whose lyrics are ash. "We shall... over... come." Overcome what, overcome who? Overcome their own nation? Is that their dream? It is the lifelong dream of those that lead them, that much is certain.
Four years in and we see these old rotting rituals trotted out in the streets like some pagan procession of idols and shibboleths, like some furred and feathered fetish shaken against the sky by hunkering witch-doctors, to hold back the dark, to frighten off the evil spirits and graven images that trouble the sleep of the dreamers.
Four years into the most gentle war ever fought, a war fought on the cheap at every level, a war fought to avoid civilian harm rather than maximize it. Picnic on the grass at Shiloh. Walk the Western Front. Speak to the smoke of Dresden. Kneel down and peek into the ovens of Auschwitz. Sit on the stones near ground zero at Hiroshima and converse with the shadows singed into the wall. Listen to those ghost whisperers of war.
Four years in and the people of the Perfect World ramble through the avenues of Washington, stamping their feet and holding their breath, having their tantrums, and telling all who cannot avoid listening that "War is bad for children and other living things." They have flowers painted on their cheeks. For emphasis. Just in case you thought that war was good for children and other living things.
There were children and other living things on the planes that flew into the towers. They all went into the fire and the ash just the same. But they, now, are not important. Nor is the message their deaths still send us when we listen. That message is to be silenced. The rising brand new message is "All we are say-ing is give...." And it is always off-key. . . .
Hit the link and go read the rest of it.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/19/2007 10:18 ||
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#1
"The women of Rohan have learned that those who do not carry swords may still die upon them."
Haditha Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich's trial may be months away, but last night '60 Minutes' reporter Scott Pelley decided to court martial him on national television. It was one of the most outrageous displays of media bias ever. In case your memory needs refreshing, the Haditha incident was a situation in Iraq where a group of Marines, led by Wuterich, cleared a house that they thought was being used by insurgents. It turns out it was occupied by several women and children and all were killed. They've been charged with murder and their trial is expected later this year.
Wuterich says he's innocent. That the way he cleared that house was consistent with his training and that if Marines start asking before they shoot, they die. That's war...that's how it works. People die...and sometimes those people are innocent. It's called collateral damage. So anyway, all of this wasn't enough for the smarmy, condescending Scott Pelley on '60 Minutes' last night. He interviewed Wuterich and naturally, immediately took the side of the enemy.
Pelley called it a massacre...wrong. A massacre would be walking into a house, ordering everybody out, and shooting them in the head. This was a house-clearing operation, something that's done to root out insurgents in Iraq everyday. But Pelley continued his interrogation of the 25-year-old Wuterich...questioning his actions and mocking him because he hadn't seen combat prior to Haditha.
Ironically, with Pelley's interview..he may have created quite a bit of sympathy for Frank Wuterich. Just what we expect from the mainstream media...always blame America first.
#3
I tried to e-mail CBS, but kept getting kicked out.
The irony is, CBS ambushed and overwhelmed Wuterich on their turf, in their field of expertise, quite a bit like what they think he did to the Iraqi civilians.
The difference is, he's sorry innocents died. CBS is proud of their wackjob.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/19/2007 14:10 Comments ||
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#4
I haven't watched 60 minutes in years and years.
Who advertises on the show, anyway?
I gotta copy machine and a word processor....
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/19/2007 14:16 Comments ||
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#5
This is yet another lesson from WWII that has been forgotten by America. I seem to recall that smear jobs on our troops were not tolerated back then. Some changes are not for the better.
#1
From the article: "presenting students with propaganda (the film 'Obsession') that defines terrorism in such limited terms cannot promote anything resembling true understanding."
From the news: "Marines from Golf Company said they recently fished two bodies out of the local river: a man had been decapitated, and his 4-year old tied to his leg before both were thrown into the river and the little boy drowned. The killings were a product of Al Qaeda terror "
#3
I used to feel some sympathy for the Muslims who died at Srebrenica. Not anymore. I'm much more understanding about why the Serbs did what they did. Muslims bring this on themselves and I wouldn't blame any country on earth for standing up tomorrow and saying "Muzzies out now. We've had enough of your murderous criminality."
Posted by: Mac ||
03/19/2007 9:26 Comments ||
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#4
Mac,
You're not alone. Once upon a time, a long time ago, I believed Srebrenica was an atrocity. Today I question if Srebrenica happened in the way we've been told. And even if it did, so what? We were on the wrong side of the war supporting muslims against the Christians. Period. End of discussion.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
03/19/2007 13:56 Comments ||
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#5
I remain extremely curious as to just how it is that we are supposed to tolerate the world's most intolerant religion (if it even is a religion, which it isn't). This sort of nonsense is what continues to pollute thought processes in the West and thereby enable Islam's slow jihad.
To paraphrase .com's supreme question about Islam (i.e., What redeeming features does Islam have to offer?):
What in Hell are we supoposed to "tolerate" about Islam?
Terrorism? Abject gender apartheid? No freedom of religion? No freedom of speech? Capital punishment for misdemeanor offenses?
#6
If any Rantburger in greater Chicagoland is interested, there's a "talk" at Community Presby Church in Clarendon Hills by Dr. Ronald Miller of Lake Forest College about The Children of Abraham, The Shared Legacy of Three Major Religions on Friday April 13 and Sat 4/14.
I'm going, I looked him up. I have to do a lot of reading between now and then.
Jules Crittenden fisks a "news" article to within an inch of its life:
The APs Stephen R. Hurst proclaims the resilience of Sunni insurgents!
BAGHDAD (AP) - Sunni insurgents, resilient despite the five-week security crackdown in the capital, killed at least six more American troops over the weekend. A Sunni car bomber hit a largely Shiite district in the capital Sunday, killing at least eight people.
Im getting a warm and fuzzy Pravda kind of feel off that, the resilience. Stalwart insurgents resiliently marching forward! You have to troll the North Korean web to find that kind of thing these days!
To the tractor factories, comrades! The Five Year Plan must be fulfilled!
The next three paragraphs are devoted to American death, spiced up with phrases like the one about Anbar being controlled by the Sunni insurgency. Im concerned that might be somewhat overbroad, when you consider the significant influence of both the U.S. and Iraqi military and pro-government tribes have over what goes on in Anbar. But thats what good propaganda is all about! Then we get to this:
While U.S. and Iraqi troops have flooded the Baghdad streets and a heavily armored American column was sent north to adjacent Diyala province, attacks on American and Iraqi forces have been robust.
The resilient enemy is also robust! Strangely, no mention of the dozens of resilient, robust insurgents who were granted martyrdom in that action. But lets not dawdle about the trivial details. Well get to those, such as the violence down later. Were following APs schedule, and AP is playing gotcha! Any action or reaction by terrorists who have been severely set back is a sign of surge failure, and must be played high, resiliently and robustly. All American statements must be buried, carefully selected and couched to suggest futility. . . .
Go read the rest of it
Posted by: Mike ||
03/19/2007 07:08 ||
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#1
Aha the terrorists respond to "The Surge" in the only way they can, via their media allies.
#2
BP you nailed it. I saw the "resilient" headline floating around on Yahoo news last night and thought about posting it here too, but I'm glad I didn't. Mr. Crittenden's fisk was magnificent:
You have to troll the North Korean web to find that kind of thing these days!
#5
Had the same reaction when I saw the headline yesterday. Typical poor, tendentious "analysis" masquerading as journalism - and always, always in one direction.
In the Palace, in the golden days, we had a nearly daily fisking of the news from Iraq, usually an email circulated in the office and to a few carefully vetted outsiders, who'd be discreet with them. And Rantburg has always been one thing keeping me from setting up a daily fisk site - this place seems to fulfill the mission more than adequately.
#7
Search and engage operations can have limited effect in a conflict where the terrorists kill by planting remotely controlled explosives. 24-7 patrol methods do little more than provide easy targets for the enemy. Either we create conditions for both gathering better Intel and executing disproportionate retaliation, or we will do little to deter this enemy.
And given that over 60% of US casualties have occurred in Anbar Province, Saudi interference should not be overlooked.
Those of you who live in Minnesota have probably listened at one time or another to Joe Soucheray's"Garage Logic" AM 1500 drive time radio show. While not very well read on WOT he does at time hit the mark.
My very own newspaper is asking for feedback regarding the refusal by certain Muslim cashiers to handle pork. This latest development, coupled with the problem of certain Muslim cabdrivers at the airport refusing to take passengers who have alcohol, was apparently too much for the newspaper to understand.
As an institution, we must have gotten into a room and scratched our heads.
In asking for help, the newspaper printed an anonymous e-mail from a reader, a cruel and thoughtless e-mail that featured the word "savages," which suggested to me that the newspaper not only doesn't understand the depth of the controversy but presumes it to be just another "talk radio" conversation held by the Greek chorus of the great unwashed.
That's the impression I got. The newspaper I don't know who feedback@pioneer press.com is seems to take a not very thinly veiled position that here again is a poor minority immigrant community victimized by an unfeeling majority and why don't you all tell us about it and maybe we can help enlighten you.
#1
I go to a supermarket in the twin cities where a Somali girl works. She wears plastic gloves when she handles the food. She never gives us any grief when we ask for pork products.
As for the alcohol and dog issues, a fatwa was issued allowing the cab drivers to take customers with either in their car as long as the did not touch the items themselves. The "Complaining Drivers" are ignoring their own fatwa.
Very simply, something else is going on, and it isn't religious sensitivity.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/19/2007 10:44 Comments ||
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#2
"something else is going on, and it isn't religious sensitivity."
Its them taking advantage of "Victimization" that allows those that can claim to be victims of just about anything, a superior social/moral status in society. Its a way of dividing people off from one another, absolving them from individual responsibility and allowing collective politics to be practiced.
The Democrats (and trial lawyers who practice this daily) have managed to embed this horrible philosophy in so many areas that it is reachign absurdity quickly. The problem is the MSM aids and abets instead of questioning and clarifying.
#4
Al, Grom is right. I've heard to many other tales such as Muslim women refusing to even shake a humans hand, Somali husbands leaving their entire family off at a hospital forcing the staff to deal with them (wife was in treatment). I could go on.
The "something else" is Sharia law which counts us humans as inferior to Islamics. Joe doesn't understand this but his point was well taken. The local media especially the TV stations here bend over backwards to blame the white Christians while portraying the Sharia Muslims as victims.
The next State Fair we should all go to their nightly open air night news shows and start throwing bacon wrapped Qurans at them.
Over the weekend the TV stations covered the anti-war protests, local and some national. NOT ONE OF THEM mentioned the largest protest group, the Gathering of Eagles. Bias, hell yes. The Twin City media hates us Americans but loves Islamics and the left.
#5
There have been NO problems here in French-Canadian Somaliland (Lewiston, Maine). But then locals here have told the National Pressure Groups (CAIR, WCC etc) to get lost. Even after the bone-headed rolling the pig head into the Mosque incident. The usual chip-on-the-shoulder attitude is just completely missing here.
Posted by: Oscar Phirong8231 ||
03/19/2007 14:29 Comments ||
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#6
"Very simply, something else is going on, and it isn't religious sensitivity."
Look, its no coincidence that the Twin Cities has had The flying Imams, The no alcohol Cabbies, and now The no pork cahiers controversies. Simply said, these are all manufactured issues in a region that is easily exploited by its reputation for liberal cultural sensitivities. Its also no coincidence that you see the same players behind these stunts. Just a couple of years back Abdirahman Omar Ahmed, the imam at the Abuubakar Islamic Center in South Minneapolis issued a fatwa, of sorts, that if Somali Muslims have any impure thoughts or so much as break wind while on the job they must do the complete body cleanse before their next prayers. As a result, the break rooms at a large Corporation had all the Muslim employees washing their feet and genitals in the sinks five time a day. Not surprisingly, some of the non-Muslim employees were offended by this practice and complained to management. And even before the corporation had a chance to offer a resolution the same people that were involved with these latest stunts visited them with threats of lawsuits. (Surprise, surprise almost like they had an idea what was going to happen in advance.)
They are Hassan Mohamud vice president of the Muslim American Society and the Somali Justice Advocacy League, Omar Jamal of the Somali Peace and Justice Center in St. Paul and, Saeed Fahia, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community of Minnesota. The lawsuits were dropped (including the ones against the complaining non-muslims employees) in exchange for prayer rooms with separate break rooms outfitted with Muslim style Bedays. This story comes from a first hand account. There are many other non-reported stories of this extortion in the T-Cities, however most companies, as this one, have chosen to settle out of the limelight.
#8
something else is going on, and it isn't religious sensitivity
These contrived incidents all have a single motive: They are all aimed at cloaking Islam with an exaggerated, yet entirely unmerited, appearance of rectitude and moral authority. This is "holier than thou" taken to the very limit. Such hysterical bewailings over the least perceived or even unintentional slight to their endless Muslim sensitivities are not just about "victimhood" but also a method of making the general public gunshy about critcizing anything to do with Islam. This allows their slow jihad to go unchecked and unmonitored. CAIR's continued existence is a prime example of this.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Chief of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) commenting on the prevailing situation said that Army's impression in the eyes of the masses is being eroded. The present government has paralyzed all the national institutions including Army. Speaking to journalist here on Sunday after Islamabad Bar Association President Haroon-ur-Rasheed called at PIMS to inquire about his health, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the government is completely confused. One can't understand what the government is doing. On the occasion other party leaders were also present. Qazi said we will fight as we want to save the institutions and the country. The orders of law and judiciary are not being honored.
Mr. Totten's latest essay, with photos. Read the whole thing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2007 15:25 ||
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#1
Excellent catch, Steve. Makes you wonder what could be made of Iraq as a whole if we removed the Iranian, Saudi and Syrian influences.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/19/2007 16:45 Comments ||
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#2
I am concerned about one aspect of Kurdistan. While the Arab South has been problematic, by being so, their military and police forces are learning invaluable lessons of modern armies, from the best military on the planet.
But the peaceful Kurds, what is their Peshmurga learning? For all their economic development, without a powerful military, trained in modern tactics and with modern weapons, they are at grave risk.
Certainly, some of them operate beside the Iraqi army, but are they learning all the lessons?
This goes hand in hand with the great question about the Iraqi military: when are they going to get their heavy weapons, their artillery, their anti-aircraft, and their air force?
We have built them from the ground up to be a strong military, but they need the final blocks in their defensive wall.
#4
Arabs are moving up here from the center and south when they can, and as long as they are cleared by internal security and theyre hired to do menial jobs the Kurds no longer want. Sunni Arabs were once the oppressors of Kurds. Now they are reduced to the same low status as migrant Mexican workers in the United States.
Pardon me while I laugh and point. Paybacks and all that.
The Kurds are providing a vital example of how prosperity and peace has been brought to Iraq. If our Mumbler in Chief had any brains, he'd be trumpeting this Iraqi success story throughout the land. Instead, Bush is still sipping his Religion of Peace [spit] Kool-Aid and cannot bring himself to point out the obvious fact that Shiites and Sunnis form the core of international terrorism.
The rebirth happening in Northern Iraq is doubly remarkable in light of how the Kurds were amongst the most oppressed of all groups under Saddam. I wish them well.
Irans project in Iraq has recently been facing one setback after another. There are an increasing number of signs that the projects prospects for success, for realizing Irans ambitions in Iraq, do no point upward anymore. It simply isnt having much success lately in undermining Iraqs emerging democracy through politics and force.
In the past Iran has employed several tracks to interfere directly and indirectly in Iraq. The mullahs celebrated several achievements in the project. They rejoiced when pro-Iran powers took over a big part of the Iraqi government.
In this they saw the real chance of a satellite Islamic state in Iraq offering them a strategic extension into the western front. It seemed as if the project of exporting the Islamic revolution designed by ayatollah Khomeini was reaping fruit after decades of planning. The dramatic fall of Arab nationalism in Iraq and the potential transformation of Iraq into a Shia theocratic ally would mean the fall of the last geographic wall between Iran and the allies in Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territory. It would make the dream of Tehrans dominance in the region a reality.
Continued on Page 49
#1
"I think an escalation in attacks by militias loyal to Iran will take place soon, especially outside Baghdad."
I concur - and I think those inside Baghdad will start fighting as well, especially the Madhi Army of Sadr. They may realize that we are cutting away their roots by replacing them and the security & jobs they provide with our work in Baghdada and the Iraqi Army and Police's growing abilities and increasing numbers deployed in their "home base" areas.
Fact is they thrive on the sectarian violence, and without that, the locals have no reason to stay withthem and plenty of reason (reconstruction, peace) to go withthe Iraqi government and the alliance forces.
Its probably going to get very ugly over there as the weather get right for action.
Whether or not the Middle East is beyond redemption, it certainly seems to be beyond satire. The attempt to turn radicals into moderates, terrorism into resistance, serial political murderers into negotiating partners, and situations of total anarchy into great opportunities for diplomatic progress never ends.
But here is one of my favorites in this genre, quoted from Newsweek, where it was published without any hint of irony: "'The Supreme Leader [of Iran, Sayyid Ali Khamenei] was deeply suspicious of the American government,' says a Khameini aide whose position does not allow him to be named. 'But [he] was repulsed by these terrorist acts [of September 11] and was truly sad about the loss of the civilian lives in America. For two weeks, worshipers at Friday prayers even stopped chanting 'Death to America.'"
Two whole weeks! Is that holding out the hand of friendship, or what?
Suddenly, at the worst possible moment in history for success, resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become the top priority for many governments.
How is it that the West cannot bring itself to notice this? The entire MME (Muslim Middle East) will milk Palestinian misery and suffering like the last cow on the farm until we grow a brain and task fellow Arab nations with peaceably solving the problem themselves.
What do all these things have in common? Not looking at how the interests and ideas of extremists direct them; wishful thinking that concessions and empathy can resolve real conflicts, and so on.
It is this that makes me continue speculating how Bush's own fundamentalism blinds him to any comprehension of how Islamic fundamentalists are playing the West for fools like a violin.
In case you dont recognize the name, Cloy Richards is the son of Tina Richards, the anti-war activist who famously accosted Rep. David Obey outside his offices last week.
Ms. Richards claims her son is a Corporal in the US Marines, who has been driven to the brink of suicide because of his military service in the war in Iraq.
Several posters at S&L with access to military records claim to have searched for the name "Cloy Richards" and found no record of anyone currently or recently having served in the military under that name.
Far be it for us to question the military service of anyone, especially in time of war. But both the Iraq Veterans Against The War and Veterans For Peace have a long and checkered record of producing Iraq veterans whose actual service does not meet their claims. (Cf. Jesse MacBeth, among several others.)
So it is our unfortunate duty to wonder if Mr. Richards is indeed what he and his mother claim he is.
#2
I did some Googling, and it appears that the obsession to make false claims of Vietnam combat status, is widespread. Even a MLB Manager BSed a non-existent experience. These liars should be forced to get help.
"They always blame America first." That was Jeane Kirkpatrick, describing the "San Francisco Democrats" in 1984. But it could be said about a lot of Americans, especially highly educated Americans, today.
In their assessment of what is going on in the world, they seem to start off with a default assumption that we are in the wrong. The "we" can take different forms: the United States government, the vast mass of middle-class Americans, white people, affluent people, churchgoing people or the advanced English-speaking countries. Such people are seen as privileged and selfish, greedy and bigoted, rash and violent. If something bad happens, the default assumption is that it's their fault. They always blame America -- or the parts of America they don't like -- first.
Where does this default assumption come from? And why is it so prevalent among our affluent educated class (which, after all, would seem to overlap considerably with the people being complained about?). It comes, I think, from our schools and, especially, from our colleges and universities. The first are staffed by liberals long accustomed to see America as full of problems needing solving; the latter have been packed full of the people cultural critic Roger Kimball calls "tenured radicals," people who see this country and its people as the source of all evil in the world.
On campuses, students are bombarded with denunciations of dead white males and urged to engage in the deconstruction of all past learning and scholarship.
Not all of this takes, of course. Most students have enough good sense to see that the campus radicals' description of the world is wildly at odds with reality. But this battering away at ideas of truth and goodness does have some effect. Very many of our university graduates emerge with the default assumption thoroughly wired into their mental software. And, it seems, they carry it with them for most of their adult lives.
The default assumption predisposes them to believe that if there is slaughter in Darfur, it is our fault; if there are IEDs in Iraq, it is our fault; if peasants in Latin America are living in squalor, it is our fault; if there are climate changes that have any bad effect on anybody, it is our fault.
What they have been denied in their higher education is an accurate view of history and America's place in it. Many adults actively seek what they have been missing: witness the robust sales of books on the Founding Fathers. Witness, also, the robust sales of British historian Andrew Roberts's splendid "History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900."
Roberts points out almost all the advances of freedom in the 20th century have been made by the English-speaking peoples -- Americans especially, but British, as well, and also (here his account will be unfamiliar to most American readers) Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. And he recalls what held and holds them together by quoting a speech Winston Churchill gave in 1943 at Harvard: "Law, language, literature -- these are considerable factors. Common conceptions of what is right and decent, a marked regard for fair play, especially to the weak and poor, a stern sentiment of impartial justice and above all a love of personal freedom ... these are the common conceptions on both sides of the ocean among the English-speaking peoples."
Churchill recorded these things in his four-volume history of the English-speaking peoples up to 1900: the development of the common law, guarantees of freedom, representative government, independent courts.
More recently, Adam Hochschild, in his excellent "Breaking the Chains," tells the story of the extraordinary English men and women, motivated by deep religious belief, who successfully persuaded Britain to abolish the slave trade and then slavery itself. Their example was followed in time, and after a bloody struggle, by likeminded Americans. The default assumption portrays American slavery as uniquely evil (which it wasn't) and ignores the fact the first campaign to abolish slavery was worded in English.
The default assumption gets this almost precisely upside down. Yes, there are faults in our past. But Americans and the English-speaking peoples have been far more often the lifters of oppression than the oppressors.
"There is something profoundly wrong when opposition to the war in Iraq seems to inspire greater passion than opposition to Islamist extremism," Sen. Joseph Lieberman said in a speech last week. What is profoundly wrong is that too many of us are operating off the default assumption and have lost sight of who our real enemies are.
#1
I am convinced that Conservatives are going to have to get UGLY if we are going to even halt the tide of Socialism, let alone, turn back its already substantial gains. It wouldn't even be where it is today if Conservatives had fought back hard and taken off the blinders.
We are guilty of our own form of denial, and when the bill comes due, it is going to be a monster. Unless of course we just continue to do what we've been doing. I believe there needs to be less talk and more action, we know who the enemies are. I find myself these days, (more often than I like to think about) contemplating just what is going to set the push back into motion, and what the outcome will be.
Have we gotten to the ammo-box stage yet? If not, when.
#2
First, all publicly funded arts and social sciences departments have to be closed and their faculty fired. Second, the boards of private universities have to insist their vast endowments be spent on advancing civilization and not sedition. Third, and perhaps most important, laws against treason and sedition - ancient laws with an ancient purpose - need to be rigorously and ruthlessly enforced. If there is no consequence for sedition, indeed if sedition is rewarded with tenure, then sedition we will have.
I agree things may have to get ugly. Arm yourselves with a side-arm and the Good Book (take your pick for the last one: I suggest "Starship Troopers" or "Citizen of the Galaxy" though Scripture is also an option).
#3
Excal - What you suggest is desirable, but first do the possible. When your university calls or writes for money, tell them no, and why, in writing. Then take the money you would have given them and send it somewhere else - for instance Hillsdale College, or Texas A & M, and tell them why.
Money talks. If there are enough of us, it will speak loudly. If there are not, then we don't matter, and nothing else would work anyway.
#4
First, all publicly funded arts and social sciences departments have to be closed and their faculty fired.
I would actually limit the recommendation to Departments of -Studies. You get rid of these units of Identity Politics Uber Alles, you save budget money for the Sciences and the (classical) Liberal Arts such as Literature, Classics, and so forth--even and especially the works of the now-dreaded Dead White European Male.
#2
Good article from someone whose definitely seen that collective hallucination known as communism. Although, I was always more of a John fan when it came to the Beatles' songs.
#3
Imagine if musicians
It's easy if you try
No gum on the sidewalks
Above us Byrds flying in the sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine a beautiful country
where musicians never lecture
telling us what think and vote for
It isn't hard to do
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace and freedom
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one who wants
never to be moralized to
where musicians only sing and dance
and never tell us what to do
I hope someday you'll join us
#5
In the nearly six years since 9/11, the most brilliant essay I've seen up to now is Lee Harris' analysis of the fantasy ideology of Islamofascism.
"The Gospel of John & Yoko" is almost as good. As I was reading it, it struck me that the "peace" movement is just as caught up in fantasy ideology as its de facto terrorist allies.
Oh, and Lennon himself? One half of the best songwriting team to walk the earth, but the man was deeply messed-up.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/19/2007 7:07 Comments ||
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#8
Did Lennon ever read Brave New World? For those of you who haven't, Huxley had already imagined the world Lennon would dream of, and had found the implications rather nerve-wracking.
#11
If John and Yoko were really into communism and thought it so good, they would have redistributed their wealth to the masses. They ain't happening.
#14
What's even more pathetic is that Lennon's lyrics became less politically sophisticated as Yoko's influence grew. There's more wisdom in Revolution ("If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao/ You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow" than the pied piper nihilism of Imagine three years later.
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.
