Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Grim Milestone
The
Media
Need
To
Get
New
Material.
The antiwar left seem mystified that they haven't been able to "wake people up" and energize a large movement to make the war politically impossible. It seems beyond their comprehension that perhaps us pro-war folk have already thought things through, perhaps more in depth than they ever thought to go themselves.
And perhaps we've weighed the probable consequences of continuing on a path of doing little or nothing to stop the crazy madness that has been sweeping the middle east the last couple of decades against the consequences of taking comparatively swift, decisive action. Perhaps we find the latter the low-risk avenue at the moment.
Perhaps we've got enough sense of historical perspective to realize that we haven't come close to losing as many of our finest young people throughout this entire war in two countries as we did many times on a single battlefield in most wars before this one.
Perhaps we look with pride at those purple fingers that the Left finds so amusing/offensive.
Perhaps we're well aware that we can't take down every dictator in the world, but look with pride on the fact that unlike our ever-so-sophisticated counterparts in Europe, we've gone ahead and bodyslammed two, scared one into giving up his arms program and made the rest of the flock very nervous and much more careful.
All that, and the cost is less than a single battle for a single valley or river in France or Germany 60 years ago. Maybe the antiwar people should take a hard look at the product they're trying to sell. Compared to the alternative that we're seeing played out right now as elections happen and terrorists are visibly beaten back militarily and politically, it's not a very good deal to someone who has their eyes open to the other factors involved.
Do I ever reconsider my stance? You bet. Almost every day, I reevaluate whether I should still support this thing. Matters like war demand no less of concerned citizens. But I've never really seen a compelling reason to consider turning around since the first day I sat and watched a tank roll out of Kuwait and into Iraq. After that, the costs of quitting have outweighed the costs of seeing it through by miles.
The fact that we're winning this thing is as plain as the nose on your face. Open your eyes and look. The "milestone" just isn't as grim as it could be if we did nothing. Besides, it's a fake milestone anyway.
Yes, that's right. We have blogs now to point out how full of crap the media's "facts" are. No way will this war end up like Vietnam. The flower-power crowd will have to get a new playbook if they want a chance to see the US lose this one.
Media
Need
To
Get
New
Material.
The antiwar left seem mystified that they haven't been able to "wake people up" and energize a large movement to make the war politically impossible. It seems beyond their comprehension that perhaps us pro-war folk have already thought things through, perhaps more in depth than they ever thought to go themselves.
And perhaps we've weighed the probable consequences of continuing on a path of doing little or nothing to stop the crazy madness that has been sweeping the middle east the last couple of decades against the consequences of taking comparatively swift, decisive action. Perhaps we find the latter the low-risk avenue at the moment.
Perhaps we've got enough sense of historical perspective to realize that we haven't come close to losing as many of our finest young people throughout this entire war in two countries as we did many times on a single battlefield in most wars before this one.
Perhaps we look with pride at those purple fingers that the Left finds so amusing/offensive.
Perhaps we're well aware that we can't take down every dictator in the world, but look with pride on the fact that unlike our ever-so-sophisticated counterparts in Europe, we've gone ahead and bodyslammed two, scared one into giving up his arms program and made the rest of the flock very nervous and much more careful.
All that, and the cost is less than a single battle for a single valley or river in France or Germany 60 years ago. Maybe the antiwar people should take a hard look at the product they're trying to sell. Compared to the alternative that we're seeing played out right now as elections happen and terrorists are visibly beaten back militarily and politically, it's not a very good deal to someone who has their eyes open to the other factors involved.
Do I ever reconsider my stance? You bet. Almost every day, I reevaluate whether I should still support this thing. Matters like war demand no less of concerned citizens. But I've never really seen a compelling reason to consider turning around since the first day I sat and watched a tank roll out of Kuwait and into Iraq. After that, the costs of quitting have outweighed the costs of seeing it through by miles.
The fact that we're winning this thing is as plain as the nose on your face. Open your eyes and look. The "milestone" just isn't as grim as it could be if we did nothing. Besides, it's a fake milestone anyway.
Yes, that's right. We have blogs now to point out how full of crap the media's "facts" are. No way will this war end up like Vietnam. The flower-power crowd will have to get a new playbook if they want a chance to see the US lose this one.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Ennui
Hmmm. I suspect Gerard has grown a bit jaded by the environmentalists' rhetoric. I share his feelings, for the most part.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Just Because
Reminds me of the public pool back home when I was growing up, it does. Not sure why.
Islam's Body Count (since 9/11/2001)
No, really, it's a religion of peace. Trust me. Keep in mind, that doesn't count the many, many thousands that the Jihad has taken in the decades and centuries before 9/11. It's been going on for as long as Islam.
You know, if people were doing this sort of thing this often and this effectively in the name of a religion I called my own, there is no way on earth I would stay in the fold of that religion. I'd rather be an atheist.
I've mentioned before that I once dated a Muslim when I was in high school. She was a very sweet person, intensely intelligent, and incredibly ambitious. Also very pretty. She was one of the first people I thought of on Sept. 11, 2001 after the second plane hit and I knew it was terrorism. People can condemn me all they want for rushing to the judgement that it was Islamic terrorism, but you know what? I was spot on in that case, insane conspiracy theories about Bush or the Mossad notwithstanding. This girl is the main reason I didn't immediately call for the full deportation of all Muslims from the US and the razing of all mosques, like some that are even more excitable than me. If a life in Islam can produce a young woman like her, it can't be all bad, my reasoning went.
Thanks to a google search on my part and an email exchange a year or two ago, I know that, unsurprisingly, she's now working in a university, and, much more surprisingly to me, like the rest of the blinkered academy she can't seem to see why people have begun to view people who hold to her religion with some suspicion. She virtually ignores the blood that people are spilling in her name and castigates those who wonder if she--or especially her male relatives--might be dangerous after all. If anyone can read the information at the link above and not understand why most people might question why "moderate" Muslims aren't raising loud and frequent objections to what these savages are doing in their name without prodding from some talk show host or newspaper reporter, then I don't know how to have a conversation with them. A cold, hard list like that should at least make clear why people might be worried to all but the most obtuse.
CAIR, the group that's supposed to help smooth over these kinds of things, has had several top executives indicted and convicted on terrorism-related charges. They're clearly on the other side in most cases. The Muslim Student Association has been infiltrated several times and recordings of what they really say in their meetings are freely available on the internet. They're basically recruiting for the other side. Pointing these things out will get you called a "racist", never mind that it's all very true, very pertinent, and Islam is not a "race" so much as it seems to be a mental disorder waiting to happen to anybody who opens their mind wide enough for their brain to fall out.
These alphabet-soup Muslim groups claim to have been spreading the message that these maniacs don't represent them, but you know what? I have been looking, and I have not seen one billboard condemning any act of Islamic terrorism anywhere I've went in 4 years. Not one. I've seen many, many billboards bearing anti-Bush (or other Republican figures) messages. Not one against the people who we have documented evidence are slaughtering thousands a year, including their own people. Whenever you do see or hear a Muslim condemn these murderers, it's universally followed by "but" or "however" and then a laundry list of real or imagined sins of America, the Bush administration, it's foreign policy, etc. Bleah. I can't take anymore.
Too many cases have cropped up of American Muslims saying and doing things that a couple of decades ago would have been considered treason by 90% of the population. Now they get a pass due to the vile and disgusting disease call Political Correctness that seems to have infected the Academy and has now spread to a large portion of the population at large.
I'm sorry, but that girl's influence on my opinions about Islam is weakening with each innocent person (including Muslims themselves) that die at the hands of freaks proclaiming that they are doing it in the name of Islam while these "moderates" allow the chirping crickets to voice their only objections.
If this continues, it will be a very, very ugly time to be a Muslim in the West, and particularly in the US and Australia, where the PC madness hasn't gotten as deep a hold on people as it seems to have gotten in Europe, Canada and elsewhere.
I'll close my little screed with 2 predictions: over 20 people and maybe many more will die this week due to the deliberate actions of some maniac(s) quoting from the Islamic scripture and claiming they are killing those people in the name of Islam. Nobody will be killed this week by some maniac(s) quoting from the Christian scripture and claiming they are killing in the name of Christ.
Which prediction do you think will be more accurate at the end of the week?
UPDATE: More reason to suspect American Muslims.
You know, if people were doing this sort of thing this often and this effectively in the name of a religion I called my own, there is no way on earth I would stay in the fold of that religion. I'd rather be an atheist.
I've mentioned before that I once dated a Muslim when I was in high school. She was a very sweet person, intensely intelligent, and incredibly ambitious. Also very pretty. She was one of the first people I thought of on Sept. 11, 2001 after the second plane hit and I knew it was terrorism. People can condemn me all they want for rushing to the judgement that it was Islamic terrorism, but you know what? I was spot on in that case, insane conspiracy theories about Bush or the Mossad notwithstanding. This girl is the main reason I didn't immediately call for the full deportation of all Muslims from the US and the razing of all mosques, like some that are even more excitable than me. If a life in Islam can produce a young woman like her, it can't be all bad, my reasoning went.
Thanks to a google search on my part and an email exchange a year or two ago, I know that, unsurprisingly, she's now working in a university, and, much more surprisingly to me, like the rest of the blinkered academy she can't seem to see why people have begun to view people who hold to her religion with some suspicion. She virtually ignores the blood that people are spilling in her name and castigates those who wonder if she--or especially her male relatives--might be dangerous after all. If anyone can read the information at the link above and not understand why most people might question why "moderate" Muslims aren't raising loud and frequent objections to what these savages are doing in their name without prodding from some talk show host or newspaper reporter, then I don't know how to have a conversation with them. A cold, hard list like that should at least make clear why people might be worried to all but the most obtuse.
CAIR, the group that's supposed to help smooth over these kinds of things, has had several top executives indicted and convicted on terrorism-related charges. They're clearly on the other side in most cases. The Muslim Student Association has been infiltrated several times and recordings of what they really say in their meetings are freely available on the internet. They're basically recruiting for the other side. Pointing these things out will get you called a "racist", never mind that it's all very true, very pertinent, and Islam is not a "race" so much as it seems to be a mental disorder waiting to happen to anybody who opens their mind wide enough for their brain to fall out.
These alphabet-soup Muslim groups claim to have been spreading the message that these maniacs don't represent them, but you know what? I have been looking, and I have not seen one billboard condemning any act of Islamic terrorism anywhere I've went in 4 years. Not one. I've seen many, many billboards bearing anti-Bush (or other Republican figures) messages. Not one against the people who we have documented evidence are slaughtering thousands a year, including their own people. Whenever you do see or hear a Muslim condemn these murderers, it's universally followed by "but" or "however" and then a laundry list of real or imagined sins of America, the Bush administration, it's foreign policy, etc. Bleah. I can't take anymore.
Too many cases have cropped up of American Muslims saying and doing things that a couple of decades ago would have been considered treason by 90% of the population. Now they get a pass due to the vile and disgusting disease call Political Correctness that seems to have infected the Academy and has now spread to a large portion of the population at large.
I'm sorry, but that girl's influence on my opinions about Islam is weakening with each innocent person (including Muslims themselves) that die at the hands of freaks proclaiming that they are doing it in the name of Islam while these "moderates" allow the chirping crickets to voice their only objections.
If this continues, it will be a very, very ugly time to be a Muslim in the West, and particularly in the US and Australia, where the PC madness hasn't gotten as deep a hold on people as it seems to have gotten in Europe, Canada and elsewhere.
I'll close my little screed with 2 predictions: over 20 people and maybe many more will die this week due to the deliberate actions of some maniac(s) quoting from the Islamic scripture and claiming they are killing those people in the name of Islam. Nobody will be killed this week by some maniac(s) quoting from the Christian scripture and claiming they are killing in the name of Christ.
Which prediction do you think will be more accurate at the end of the week?
UPDATE: More reason to suspect American Muslims.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
New Project
I've begun another blog, which you can find here. I don't know if it will cut into my writing on this blog, but I haven't had the political bug much lately, as you can tell.
I was a huge booster of Bush, but that was only because the alternative scared the hell out of me. Bush was an average candidate at best in retrospect, and I'm beginning to think below average. I'm still glad he was president during and after 9/11 because I don't see any Democrats in the presidential field that would have invaded Afghanistan, and if any Democrat was in power, not only would Saddam Hussein still be in power but there would be zero chance of him ever leaving power so long as the Dems were running things. I honestly believe this was the only way. Witness how much Clinton did to get Hussein out. Lob a few missiles at him and forget about it. Same for Bin Laden. At least now Bin Laden is hiding.
But now the Repubs have had control of all branches of government for long enough to make a difference in spending and other issues, and they've proven to be as bad or worse than the Dems at managing our pocketbook. Some of them have put forward a social conservative agenda, but haven't addressed the abortion issue in any meaningful way, which is the only socially-conservative position I have any strong feelings about.
My political apathy is growing, and I just can't get excited about it lately. That might change, but until it does I'm not likely to be an every-day (or even every-week) poster.
The new site is a much more personal endeavor, and you're welcome to stop by. It's quite literally a family site, so I'll tolerate less there in the way of snide remarks, cussing and so forth than I would here.
I'm also going to take more care in posting there than I have here...it's a little scary to actually apply yourself. I've just been knocking posts off the cuff here with little or no editing or rewriting, so it's no big deal if the finished product sucks. After all, no real effort was put into it. There, if it sucks, it was closer to the best I could do, and it's not a good feeling when you lay an egg in that situation. Add in the fact that it will usually be more of a storytelling style and the idea of actually trying to build a more substantial readership, and it's a different style from anything I've tried before. Could be fun. Could suck. Stop on by and find out.
I was a huge booster of Bush, but that was only because the alternative scared the hell out of me. Bush was an average candidate at best in retrospect, and I'm beginning to think below average. I'm still glad he was president during and after 9/11 because I don't see any Democrats in the presidential field that would have invaded Afghanistan, and if any Democrat was in power, not only would Saddam Hussein still be in power but there would be zero chance of him ever leaving power so long as the Dems were running things. I honestly believe this was the only way. Witness how much Clinton did to get Hussein out. Lob a few missiles at him and forget about it. Same for Bin Laden. At least now Bin Laden is hiding.
But now the Repubs have had control of all branches of government for long enough to make a difference in spending and other issues, and they've proven to be as bad or worse than the Dems at managing our pocketbook. Some of them have put forward a social conservative agenda, but haven't addressed the abortion issue in any meaningful way, which is the only socially-conservative position I have any strong feelings about.
My political apathy is growing, and I just can't get excited about it lately. That might change, but until it does I'm not likely to be an every-day (or even every-week) poster.
The new site is a much more personal endeavor, and you're welcome to stop by. It's quite literally a family site, so I'll tolerate less there in the way of snide remarks, cussing and so forth than I would here.
I'm also going to take more care in posting there than I have here...it's a little scary to actually apply yourself. I've just been knocking posts off the cuff here with little or no editing or rewriting, so it's no big deal if the finished product sucks. After all, no real effort was put into it. There, if it sucks, it was closer to the best I could do, and it's not a good feeling when you lay an egg in that situation. Add in the fact that it will usually be more of a storytelling style and the idea of actually trying to build a more substantial readership, and it's a different style from anything I've tried before. Could be fun. Could suck. Stop on by and find out.
