Sunday, July 31, 2005

What Is Being Left - v.11.0...

Mr.Atos

In her first novel, Mrs. Rowley introduces Harry Potter to the Mirror of Erised. Relatively innocuous by Hogwarts' standards, the ornate furnishing merely shows the person peering through it, their greatest heart's desire. The happiest person in the world, in fact, would see nothing more than their own reflection. But, the one who covets things they do not have or obsesses over a life that is not, risks staring into that void for an eternity, longing for the spectral delusion of its fallacious promise. They squander existence for want of that which cannot be.

Many of my neighbors still display their Kerry-Edwards 2004 yard signs and bumper stickers. Nearly one year after the climax of the campaign, the spectral delusion remains. If that weren't sad enough, on an adjacent street, another neighbor put up a fresh new Kerry-Edwards sign this week. It seems as though more appear daily, but one thing is certain ... they are not going away. Just what message are these Democrats intending to convey? In an area of the city dominated 3 to 1 by that political persuasion it hardly makes sense, the desire to assert a default position with such obstinate furor. Its almost as if they are really attempting to convince themselves that America is still in the midst of the 2004 election season, and all that has happened since, is a surreal illusion soon to vanish when the clock radio severs REM for NPR.


The illusion affects Congress even now, deluding members of the Senate to upend over 200 years of civic tradition with regard to Executive appointment procedures set forth in 1789. For what is being Left in the Senate, this particular President simply cannot be allowed to exist... in any way.

In the mind's eye of what is being Left, the election of President George W. Bush in 2000 was a fraud. It did not happen because it should not have happened. In 2004, Bush's election was an illusion. It did not happen because it could not have happened. The existence of George W. Bush is an image on a splinter of the devil's mirror piercing the mind's eye of what is being Left. And they desperately want that image gone. It has become a consuming desire that haunts their very being. Just visit Yahoo and type "Impeach Bush." Google "Hate Bush." Or drive through S.E. Portland along Clinton, Division or Hawthorne. You will see exactly what I mean.

What is being Left is wasting away before the mirror.



See also:
What Is Being Left v.10.0
What Is Being Left v.9.0
What Is Being Left v.8.0
What Is Being Left v.7.0
What Is Being Left v.6.0
What Is Being Left v.5.0
What Is Being Left v.4.0
What Is Being Left v.3.0
What Is Being Left v.2.0
What Is Being Left v.1.0

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Bear Necessities

Dueler88

One of the first things that budding wilderness aficionados learn is that you don’t mess with bear cubs. If you run in to one while you’re hiking in the woods, you’d better keep your distance from it and be very watchful of your surroundings if you want to live. The reason is that its mother is never too far away, and mama bears do not take kindly to people that get too close to their young, let alone threaten them. And God forbid if you find yourself between a mother and a cub. If you’re not packing a large-caliber firearm, the chances of you surviving the next two minutes are greatly diminished.

In the human species, especially in American society, we go through cycles of valuing masculine or feminine characteristics, both as individuals and as a society at large. For the purposes of our discussion, I will label feminine characteristics as follows: aesthetics, words, philosophy, arts, emotions, etc.; I will label masculine characteristics as substance, action, science, security, etc.

Now before you go labeling me as sexist, let me make very clear the idea that both masculine and feminine characteristics, yin and yang, have their place in us, as individuals and as a society. Lord knows my daily activities in architecture and music are replete with feminine characteristics, so I know the critical value they have in modern society.

Living in relative peace for extended periods of time tends to reinforce the value of feminine characteristics. The unfortunate side-effect of this is that masculine characteristics lose their value. One might even say that masculine characteristics are demonized. Words mean more than actions. Extended dialogues take precedent over decisive action. Art and philosophy are valued more than brute science. Expression of emotion is more important than living securely. It’s all good, baby – as long as nobody is threatening you.

Well, in case you haven’t been paying attention, we are now being threatened. I would venture to say that the security of our society has never been in more danger than it is this very second, and it’s not getting any better anytime soon.

Meanwhile, we remain in the thought patterns and values systems that have molded our society for the last 40 years: philosophy, introspection, aesthetics, selfishness and emotion. The values system that empowered us to defeat fascism in 60 years ago seems very very far away. Perhaps it doesn’t even seem relevant anymore.

America, masculine values are knocking at your door, but you don’t hear it. They are warning you of impending disaster. They are crying out to you to start listening to them. They are desperately trying to tell you that our representative republic, our liberal democracy, is very fragile and needs to be protected.

Mother bears know what to do when their young are being threatened. If only some of mama bear would find its way in to American society, we might make it through the next 10 years.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Introducing Hearing Loss to Republicans

Major Mike

I was a little bit discouraged when early on in my military career I was informed that I had minor hearing loss in both of my ears. Although I was still able to fly jets, I, like everyone, had my hearing closely scrutinized every year to ensure that it would not worsen, and that I would suffer no long-term disability due to this loss.

It has its drawbacks…I tend to go through speakers in my truck when well-liked rock-and-roll songs are played…and played loud. Most speakers weren’t meant to go to 42, but it seems that 42 is right where I am feeling the full effect of the bass…sorry fellow commuters. My daughter is pretty good sneaking up on me. My wife accuses me of intentionally not listening, and my apologies must quickly follow.

It has its advantages. I can easily tune out the “conversational tone” dbs where my hearing loss resides. This is extremely handy in long, boring meetings. I can easily get into the “zone.” I get to upgrade speakers quite often. And taking a quick fighter nap is a snap, regardless of background din.

Republicans…embrace hearing loss. As the Dems begin to prattle on about Judge Roberts’ alleged (read as …completely fabricated) shortcomings…don’t listen. Don’t hear a word of it. Don’t fight it. Don’t counter it. Don’t get in the weeds with them. Just don’t listen.

You have the votes to confirm him. Know this and believe this, and most importantly, execute this. Believe in the ’04 election results. As it has been for over 200 years…the President picks the judges. If he has a majority, he gets his choice…period. It is OK to be polite and let the Dems flap their gums, but don’t react to it in anyway. Push your judges straight to the bench, and don’t look back.

Aside from electing a President who is doing a great job in fighting the GWOT, the ’04 election was always about judges…GOP Senators…don’t fumble on this. Roberts to the Supreme Court, and don’t hear any of the worn rhetoric or shrill, nonsensical protestations. Use hearing loss to your advantage…now and also when it comes to the Chief Justice. Don’t waiver, and don’t listen.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Welcome Major Mike, USMC!

We are quite pleased to announce that blogger, Major Mike , has joined Dueler and myself as a contributor here at My Sandmen. If you are as yet unfamiliar with the work of our fellow Oregonian, you soon will be. Mike combines great insight and experience, with a sound military perspective. And he writes good too. We are honored that he has accepted our invitation to join us and continue his unique and indispensible contributions to the continuum of this historic conversation.

I trust that Mike will allow me to borrow from his own blog to repeat his original introduction to the blogosphere...

I intend to elaborate, pontificate and illuminate on issues historical, military, political, and occasionally, cultural. I am a retired Marine Corps Major, with a B.A. in History (emphasis on American, Asian, and Russo-European), from the Harvard of the South (a little insecurity in branding here?), Tulane University. I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1978 via the NROTC program…big thanks to SSgt. (later SgtMaj) Raymond Edwards for his hard grizzled approach in taking a scrawny 17 year-old and turning him into a hard charging Leatherneck. I flew F-4s for ten years, AWS for a year, trained Lieutenants at TBS for 3 years, flew F-18Ds for 5 years, and finished up writing requirements papers for the Navy staff in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

For those in the culture of professional military publications, I have had eight articles published between Proceedings and The Marine Corps Gazette. Topics have included counter-point articles on comparative value of aviation weapons systems…I am 3-0 in defending the F-18 against all comers, CMC backed me up in Proceedings on one of these articles. I published two book reviews, including The Nightingale’s Song and Once Upon a Distant War; an excerpt from The Nightingale’s Song review is printed on the inset of the first edition paperback. I wrote a well received article on dovetailing and modifying the performance evaluation and promotion systems…this one came with a nice little email from DCS Manpower telling me what a great article it was, but no changes like that were going to be made. I was not overly shocked that none of my changes were incorporated in the modest modifications that took place in 1997/1998 as I was retiring from the Corps. I have also released for publication two articles that have not, and probably won’t make it to print, one challenging the efficacy of the current promotion board structure and operating schemes, and the other a leadership extract. Additionally, I have had an article published in Plant Engineering magazine on effecting change within maintenance teams.

Although, I don’t totally rely on editors to correct my many punctuation mistakes, I endeavor to minimize them. I keep my 12th edition Harbrace College Handbook at the ready, so tight criticism of my punctuational (new word) shortcomings will not be welcome.

I landed on my feet after retiring, getting a job as a maintenance manager with a well-known investment casting firm in the Pacific Northwest. I eventually was leading five departments, including two production departments, when I was contacted by a major sports footwear and apparel company, also located in the Pac Norwest, about taking over the facilities maintenance operations for their world HQ. I must admit, I overcame 20 years of Marine Corps indoctrination, and went for the opulent surroundings, and rarely miss the 120 plus temperatures found in the business end of a foundry.

What do I think? I am a daily listener of Hugh Hewitt at hughhewitt.com, who makes me use my brain everyday. I think Larry Elder has the best discussions on race in this country. President Bush is the right man to be President in this difficult war on terrorism. Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a great job of trying to guide the military into a modern, sustainable force capable of fighting myriad of threats with myriad of options. I think that our military is the best it has ever been, culminating a thirty-year drive out of the post-Vietnam doldrums, to a zenith unmatched in history. I credit the hard work of a lot of junior officers in the eighties, some brilliant staff work in the eighties and nineties, and the superb quality of the officers and men serving throughout the services today.

I think ice hockey is the best sport for kids. I think getting old sucks, but if you keep working out, you can delay its effects. I prefer bass fishing to trout fishing. I haven’t caught enough fish to let any legal catches go yet. I drink Tanqueray and tonic, but settle for Gordon’s when in a financial pinch…but I digress.

(read the entire post, here)


Welcome Aboard, Major Mike!

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Clogging The Memory Hole...

Mr. Atos

When Democrats can flush no more facts down the clogged memory hole, DNC Chairman Howard Dean spreads Party agitprop like feces on the walls of reality. Town Hall highlights Dean’s latest obscenity, proclaiming the right-wing Supreme Court to be responsible for surrendering private property rights to the graft of political patronage. (HT.Balloon Juice via Hugh Hewitt )

"The president and his right-wing Supreme Court think it is 'okay' to have the government take your house if they feel like putting a hotel where your house is," Dean said, not mentioning that until he nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court this week, Bush had not appointed anyone to the high court. "

"We think that eminent domain does not belong in the private sector. It is for public use only."


The undeniable fact of the matter is that ‘the swinger,’ O’Connor joined the three Constitutionalists (so-called Conservatives) - Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas – in the 5 to 4 decision, in the case of Kelo vs. New London. Writing in his dissent in fact, Justice Thomas makes the point,
The consequences of today’s decision are not difficult to predict, and promise to be harmful. So-called “urban renewal” programs provide some compensation for the properties they take, but no compensation is possible for the subjective value of these lands to the individuals displaced and the indignity inflicted by uprooting them from their homes. Allowing the government to take property solely for public purposes is bad enough, but extending the concept of public purpose to encompass any economically beneficial goal guarantees that these losses will fall disproportionately on poor communities. Those communities are not only systematically less likely to put their lands to the highest and best social use, but are also the least politically powerful. If ever there were justification for intrusive judicial review of constitutional provisions that protect “discrete and insular minorities,” United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U.S. 144, 152, n. 4 (1938), surely that principle would apply with great force to the powerless groups and individuals the Public Use Clause protects. The deferential standard this Court has adopted for the Public Use Clause is therefore deeply perverse. It encourages “those citizens with dis-proportionate influence and power in the political pro-cess, including large corporations and development firms” to victimize the weak.

But, the facts are conveniently lost on Howard Dean, being that he is either too stupid to know them, or too malevolent to rely on them. If the latter be the case, he trusts instead in his perception of the American people as too stupid themselves to know better. His is the essence of liberal pomposity and he is the chosen representative and spokesman of the Democrat Party.

Dean is right to fear the consequences of the majority opinion in that case - if genuinely he does. As I pointed out on this blog at the time,

The labyrinth of bureaucracy can conceal innumerable injustices. And there is very little recourse in the courts with the SCOTUS decision offering a shield of legal precedent. What is afterall the nature of "public use?" By the time you litigate that semantic conundrum, your home, farm, ranch, business will be demo'ed and regraded... or simply designated a 'Natural Area.' What is to keep Corporations from being established, whose specific purpose is confiscation for public use? Frankly, I'm not particularly concerned about Wal-Mart, Intel, or even Pfizer. Ultimately they must face the wraith of public opinion expressed on the market by the flow of capital. But, Confiscation, Inc. maintains its funtional viability by means of political patronage.

But the Democrats should also be quite concerned about the political ramifications of that decision and the anger it has ignited among the American people. Is it any wonder, then, that Dean would try to pervert the facts in this matter to fit the preferential perception prior to a key confirmation process for the next member of that very same court? When the truth is that it is the Left that is clearly subverting the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, using the Courts as the tyrannical authority by which to usurp power, and the constructionist Justices of the Supreme Court to rewrite law according to the Left's social manifesto. And Dean knows it. Lying has simply become par for the current course among the Democrat leadership, despite their protestations and counter-accusations. Here is proof of fact. And in light of Howard Dean's overt attempt to misrepresent the facts in this matter, I defy anyone to challenge my ascertion.

What we see happpening here with Howard Dean is not new nor unique with the Left. It goes on daily. And the insult of Dean's lie is furthered in its offense by the failure of the mainstream media to challenge his grossly fallacious statements with fact. Nothing coming from the Left, therefore, should be assumed to be genuine unless and until obscenities like this agitprop eminating from the cavity of the Democrat National Committee are challenge and corrected from within. That goes the same for the Old Busted Media, lest they remain old and busted.

What is being Left stinks rotten, and Howard Dean and his fan club are at its core.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Dear Militant Islamist: . . .

Dear Militant Islamist:

I want to love you, but I can't. I resent you for wanting to determine my belief system and that of everybody around you. I abhor you for wanting to make my wife and daughter cover their faces and submit to whatever you or your religious leader might tell them. I detest you for wanting to kill anybody that doesn’t think like you do. I loathe you for acting upon that desire. But that doesn’t compare to the main reason why I have such negative feelings for you: you have made me change my thinking.

I hate that, rather than seeing a potential friend, I now look suspiciously out of the corner of my eye at the middle-eastern-looking man with the large backpack that rides the train with me. I hate my thoughts of having to put two 9mm hollowpoints in that man’s head as he puts his thumb on the detonator in that backpack. I hate contemplating, while on my leisurely ride home to see my family, what it would be like to get blown in to oblivion in a split second. I hate that I now spend more time honing the warrior than I do nourishing the artist, more time becoming a better shot than becoming a better musician. I hate that I might need to be just as ruthless as you are if I want my family to survive the next 10 years. I hate what I am becoming, all because you hate what I represent more than you love life.

Sincerely,

dueler88

Monday, July 25, 2005

Manhattan Projections...

Tancredo Might Recognize What Stimson Learned About Kyoto.


Mr. Atos

The right has become effectively divided by the incendiary comments of Colorado Congressman, Tom Tancredo, essentially suggesting that the U.S. Nuke Islamic Holy sites in retaliation for any comparable Islamicist terrorist attack on an America city. In the midst of growing and converging waves of support and indignation, Tancredo took his case directly to the public in
Sunday's Denver Post, defending sensibilities if not his initial suggestions,

...perhaps the civilized world must intensify its approach.

Does that mean the United States should be re-targeting its entire missile arsenal on Mecca today? Does it mean we ought to be sending Stealth bombers on runs over Medina? Clearly not.

But should we take any option or target off the table, regardless of the circumstances? Absolutely not, particularly if the mere discussion of an option or target may dissuade a fundamentalist Muslim extremist from strapping on a bomb-filled backpack, or if it might encourage "moderate" Muslims to do a better job cracking down on extremism in their ranks.

In expanded context, it is difficult to refute the Congressman's logic. 9/11 afterall could be said to be a direct result of tolerant pacifism taken to an extreme. For decades the West endured derision, violence and mass murder at the hands of Islamic fanatics. The response was impotent at best or nothing at all. The Clinton Administration in fact, personified both impotence and nothingness, effectively nurturing the plot of those savage attacks on September 11th that marked an insidious crescendo of ongoing savagery. 9/11 also marked the climax of terror's reign of fear by severing America's patience for its own blind stupidity once and for all. The righteously resolute have no fear. But, the enemy that we have finally started to engage, certainly did not begin it's assault on us with the attacks on 9/11; nor by temptation of the second invasion of Iraq, as has been continually and absurdly alleged by the hopelessly fearful Left. The Anchoress recently outlined a modern chain of Islamicist assaults on Western Civilization beginnning in 1972 with the Munich Olympics.

With that in mind, it becomes profoundly clear that any perceived weakness now will surely invite an ever more destructive response from the enemies of Man. Tancredo is both an American individual as well as a representative of the nation as a whole. He is expressing on the one hand, the frustration that is growing in the West with mainstream Islam for their relative silence of opposition to their own fanatic fringe. The 'Religion of Peace' has been quick to denounce defensive Western aggression, and very slow to recognize Islamicist insanity. The sound of their silence is beginning to be perceived as the applause of abject approval. Is it any wonder that many Americans cheer Tancredo's boisterous rhetorical recklessness? The President said at the beginning of this engagement, that if you are with 'Us' you are with the terrorists. Now perhaps, in Lucas' deluded fantasy, such absolute statements represent the thinking of scoundrels. But, in the face of the onslaught of a maniacle horde of butchers intent of cleansing Man from the face of the Earth, it is incumbent on Islam to embrace the side of Man against the Monsters. The choice between the two is theirs to make.... and time is running out.

Nevertheless, Tancredo is not simply a Representative of the People. He is a respresentative of this Nation... a dignitary on the world stage. His statements must be considered very carefully with respect to their impact on the situation as a whole. The Bush administration has been fighting a very careful surgical engagement by which Allied forces have attempted to sever the cancer of fanaticism from the organ of Islam. It is an extremely delicate procedure involving the cultivation of trust, a steady focus, and extreme patience. The metastacized pollips must be removed from the body of man bit by bit by bit... even while the village idiots of the Left scream for the procedure to end and the staus quo of death be resumed. The focus has remained fix. It must, because if trust is severed now, the organ will succomb to the cancer, and the entire body of Man will be engaged in a mortal struggle against itself for survival.

Before indulging brash threats regarding the use of Nuclear Weapons as a means of diplomacy, Congressman Tancredo and his supporters should reflect for a moment (or more) on the careful considerations that haunted the original team that was responsible for "The Bomb's" creation; those infamous members of the Manhattan Project.

Newsweek Magazine summarized an interesting recount concerning the selection of targets that is particularly relevant to this particular debate. Below is an excerpt.

The scientists working on the bomb at the Manhattan Project's top-secret laboratories in the New Mexico desert were confident that they could make a big bang - but they weren't sure how big. More cautious military planners argued that the bomb would have to be followed up by a raid of B-29's dropping incendiary bombs to guarantee a large conflagration. The planners did not think the bomb would be big enough to end the war in one blow.

Groves was determined to demonstrate the power of what he called "the gadget." But by the late spring of 1945 he was running out of good targets. Gen. Curtis LeMay of the 20th Air Force was methodically destroying the cities of Japan with numerous firebombing raids. During 10 days in March, 11,600 B-29 sorties had wiped out 32 square miles of the four largest Japanese cities, killing more than 150,000 people. A raid on Tokyo on May 25 created a gigantic firestorm; bomber crews in the last waves could smell burning flesh thousands of feet below. Reading the bomb-damage assessments, Groves worried that he would not be able to find a city sufficiently unsullied to serve as a proper showcase for his new terror weapon.

Hiroshima, a city of 280,000 people at the southern end of Honshu, the largest of the Japanese islands, was a possibility. According to a report prepared by Groves' staff, the city was surrounded by hills that would "produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage." But, crisscrossed by rivers, Hiroshima was not the best candidate for a firestorm. A better target, Groves believed, was Kyoto. The ancient capital with its Buddhist and Shinto shrines, had been spared so far. Groves liked the fact that the city was an "intellectual center." The victims would be "more apt to appreciate the significance" of the bomb.

Such thinking seems ghoulish now, but it was not out of the mainstream in the spring of 1945. Bombing civilian centers was anathema at the beginning of the war, but after the London blitz and the day-and-night raids against Germany in 1943-44, city-bashing had become routine, accepted by a war-weary public. In its March 19, 1945 issue, Newsweek celebrated the fact that "perhaps one million persons were made homeless" by LeMay's firebombing of Tokyo. It seemed clear, after the kamikaze attacks and fights to the death in Okinawa and Iwo Jima, that breaking Japan's will would take drastic measures.

Still, the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, was disturbed by the firebombing of Japan. Stimson was an old-school gentleman, the unofficial chairman of the East Coast establishment. He was a warrior - at the age of 50, he had asked for a combat command in the first world war - but he believed in civilized war, with the rules of fair play. As secretary of state in the late 1920's, he had abolished America's code-breaking capability because "gentlemen do not open other gentlemen's mail." Now, as secretary of war, he thought that he had insisted on "precision" bombing, and he protested against the wholesale slaughter wreaked by General LeMay's bombing campaign.

Stimson was still stewing over the May 25th firebombing of Tokyo several days later when he called General Groves and demanded to know the target list for the A-bomb. Groves was balky about telling him. "On this matter, I am the kingpin," insisted Stimson. Groves grudgingly replied that the target was Kyoto. Stimson, who had visited the shrines decades before, said no. Smashing Japan's cultural center was wrong. It was akin to the Japanese targeting the Lincoln Memorial.

Stimson was haunted by the bomb, which in his diary he also called "the thing", "the dire", "the dreadful", "the terrible", and "the diabolical". The night after he ordered Groves not to bomb Kyoto, he was unable to sleep. In his diary, he wrote that the bomb "may destroy or perfect International Civilization." The weapon could be "a means for World Peace." Or, he wrote, it may be "Frankenstein". Stimson's ambivalence was the product of his background. As a Wall Street lawyer, he had tried to be ethical, refusing to represent seedy clients. But his real-world experience had also taught him that expediency was sometimes necessary. This mix of principle and calculation was blended into his strongly held view that the United States must be the single greatest power after the war... "

This account by Evan Thomas strikes me as far more conjectural than the raw history as represented in the correspondence and memoranda that have become the historical record of the project. Nevertheless, one can cleary ascertain the nature of the logic involved in Stimson's thinking. Kyoto would have indeed been a great target of emotional impact. For the Japanese Culture it was both supremely holy and profoundly significant, and its destruction would have represented collective psychological devastation... a certain indicator of hopelessness in their cause. It would have been complete destruction by humiliation.

And in the aftermath of such an abomination, there would have been no hope of ever reassembling the body of Mankind. Stimson knew that if the United States were going to emerge from this inevitable choice as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, it must be able to remain a monument of virtue in its own mind, in the eyes of it's friends, and in the hearts of its former enemies. The dividend of that choice today yielded a resolute friend where once there was an absolute enemy.

Stimson recognized that the power of "The Bomb" must not transform the men that deploy it into the purveyors of terror that they sought to destroy. Mr. Tancredo might do well to give history a bit more consideration when choosing between the emotions of men and the dignity of Man.

She's Back...

Jane Fonda's Anti-War Bus Tour

Mr. Atos

Running on vegetable oil and vitriol, Jane Fonda plans to ressurrect her unconsionable history for a generation who may not even know how degenerate this third-rate, has-been actress has been. From this morning's AP,
SANTA FE, N.M. - Actress and activist Jane Fonda says she intends to take a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq.

"I can't go into any detail except to say that it's going to be pretty exciting," she said. Fonda said her anti-war tour in March will use a bus that runs on "vegetable oil." She will be joined by families of Iraq war veterans and her daughter.

They plan to return to the Santa Fe area, where she was promoting her book, "My Life So Far" on Saturday.

Prompted by a question from the audience, Fonda said war veterans that she has met on a nationwide book tour have encouraged her to break her silence on the Iraq war."I've decided I'm coming out," she said.

Hundreds of people in the audience cheered loudly when Fonda announced her intentions to join the anti-Iraq war movement.

"I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam," she said. "I carry a lot of baggage from that."


I submit that Mrs. Fonda has not seen 'baggage' like that with which she will be burdened on her return from this latest ill-conceived moral fiasco. Not much more can be said to denigrate this woman than has already been established, and most appropriately been said, so there is little need to pile on. Nevertheless, if this particular carnival fails to satisfy her crises of eternal self-loathing, perhaps she can next visit with Baathists butchers in Fallujah, where her new friends can photograph her actually cutting off the head's of her countrymen.

What would be the difference then or now?

Enjoy the drive across your selective heartland, Mrs. Fonda. My buckets of garbage and rotten vegetables will be here fermenting just waiting for you.

Update... From Major Mike

I extracted this from the comments board, because his words on this issue should speak for themselves.

There is no more reviled anti-military personality than Jane Fonda. Her Vietnam antics, which directly translated into additonal torture and abuse of American POWs, is not only NOT forgotten by the Vietnam era military types, but they are known by all who serve today. Just as Marines remember Dan Daly and Chesty Puller, they remember Jane Fonda...obviously in the opposite light and with little regard...sometimes I am the master of the understatement. She is roundly HATED for her anti-military...it is anti-military not anti-war, rhetoric. History may never sort out the true effects of the anti-war movement during Vietnam, but rest assured the Islamafacists view her ilk as part of their team. Their only path to eventual victory includes a rising and effective anti-military swell in this country. This must not happen. They cannot be allowed to gain any momentum through our homegrown, nearly illiterate, acting crowd, who cannot probably muster one college degree within the totality of the SAG.

Jane Fonda must be stopped cold. Her bus must be greeted with the massive disdain it deserves. She must be halted at stop number one, if not sooner. She must be met and confronted by warriors of all types. Her egocentric, surgified persona must be vigorously persuaded to abandon her road trip...if she comes to your town, shut her down. This is why the VFW, The Legion, AmVets, etc. exist, not simply to tell war stories and drink beer. Protect your honor and reputation...protect this country...shut her down!!!

Don't let her bus into your town. If she shows up, blockade it. If she speaks, drown her out. Do not let her get traction. Make her turn her vegamite burning Winnebago around and head back to Hollywood. This egocentric has-been would hand this country over to terrorists, if it gave her just five more minutes in the spotlight. Make her aware of your anger, and your ill feelings toward her...don't let her in the ring for round two. MM

Bravo, Sir! ... Indeed.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Trumping the U.N...

Mr.Atos

As I listened to Hugh play a taped excerpt of Donald Trump speaking with Congress today, I was astounded by what I was hearing. Trump was enlightening Congressman of The Senate International Security Subcommittee about the United Nation's plans to spend 1.5 Billion dollars to renovate their Headquarters in New York. Now, I have never been a fan of Mr. Trump the celebrity, so I had nearly forgot about Mr. Trump the real estate developer. I heard him articulate details about design, renovation, unit prices, budgets, construction, the building trades and real estate. He lectured the Congressmen with an acute degree of honed professional expertise. My admiration of this man grew tremendously. Working in the industry myself, I deal with people like Trump all of the time. They are down-to-Earth, market veterans who have a profound understanding about the environment in which they exist... as precisely as a wolf knows its particular allopatry. These men and woman have earned the positions that they occupy through ability and experience which have yielded them respect and authority. They genuinely know what they are doing. And when they speak, as Trump did today, they know what they are talking about. So, the contrast in the scene that Mr. Trump was illuminating could not have been more astonishing. The people at the United Nations are, as Trump suggested, grossly incompetent, or worse.

My involvement with the United Nations began with a letter, which I will give to the committee, from the Ambassador to the United Nations from Sweden. And it's a long letter, and a very beautifully written letter, and essentially, he read an article about the success of Trump World Tower, which is the building that I can show you, right here, which is, as you can see, very, very substantially taller than the United Nations, bigger than the United Nations. And he read an article in the New York Times, saying that the building cost approximately $300 million dollars to build. So, he wrote me a letter, and ultimately called me, and said is it possible that that building cost $300 million dollars, because it just seems so much bigger, and so much better, and so much more expensive, and so much more luxurious. And how could you have done that for $300 million dollars, when, at that time, Senator, they were talking about $1.5 billion dollars to renovate the United Nations. And this was around December of 2000. And I said well, there's only two reasons. Either gross incompetence, or something far worse than that.
Now, I would not presume U.N. personnel to be experts on real estate development, in New York nor elsewhere. It is not exactly their area of responsibility as dignitaries of a worldwide deliberative body of nations. But, then neither would I expect a Hospital, University, or Software manufacturer to know such things either. And yet, the clients with which we deal are represented by extremely competent staffs who understand their own functional requisites, and budgetary limitations. They study the conditions in which they operate, and understand how they relate. And most of all, they know that what they don't know must be known prior to action being taken in that area. Information is the lifeblood of market economies. And it, like everything else can be purchased if needed. Their economic fecundity depends on them getting the best work possible for the best price available. And if you are an entity - any entity - operating in that environment, you must have the information you need to make sound decisions. Clearly, those in charge of the U.N.'s project to renovate their headquartes have absolutely no idea what they are doing, unless corruption is their specialty and intent. And judging by what we are learning about the U.N. regarding the Oil For Food scandal, perhaps this particular white elephant is just another attempt to line the pockets of elaborate bureaucratic grifters with the wealth of hopelessly charitable fools.

Radioblogger has posted the transcript of the testimony and it can be heard in its entirety, at this link. Since American's share of the building's repairs are expected to cost 600 million dollars over the next 30 years, I encourage everyone to read or listen to Mr.Trump's assessment, because it should become an historical document with profound significance on many levels. Essentially, his exchange demonstrates the virtue of Capitalism against the degeneracy of Socialism. A corrupt class of so-called public servants operating in a vaccuum of self-importance squander the efforts of production for the hubris of altruistic vanity disguised as virtue. It is a Capitalist professional engaging Marxist charlattans in an arena where they historically fail to perform... reality. And the Marxists have the nerve to label the Capitalist a 'Robber Baron.'

They (the U.N.) are in fact the robbers. That is afterall, Mr. Trump's ultimate point regarding the organization itself. It is a scandal in any regard... one of supreme stupidity or insidious corruption. And it must be remedied immediately.

Why, for instance, would the United Nations be attempting to dump in excess of 700 million dollars into New York State prior to the 2008 Presidential Election? Let your imagination be your guide... and start your thinking with the letter, H.

The United Nation has become as rotten as its headquarters building. It will take far more than 1.5 billion and a new shiny skin to correct. And although Mr. Trump admits to being a 'very big fan' of the U.N. in theory, the body in fact, must be renovated or demolished forthwith, lest it continue to subject its many other endeavors to similar reprehensible procedures. Yet since it is extremely unlikely we will see the U.N. dissolved in the near future, let us at least insert a representative of the United States into that body who might infect it with a degree of competence similar to that expressed by Donald Trump.

Senators! If you did not catch the gist of what you were being told today, let me reiterate the point...

Confirm John Bolton, now!!




Friday, July 22, 2005

What Is Being Left - v.10.0...

Mr.Atos

We find evidence of what is being Left, again this week through a post by Wretchard over at
Belmont Club highlighting Unite Against Terror, a site in which British writers pledge their unwavering resistance to fascism today and explain why. One particular contributor demonstrates the caliber of men that once represented the Left's sensibilities... evaporating away from the increasingly septic core of insanity. Sadly, what is being Left today, is not Peter Tatchell (Human Rights campaigner, London).



We are witnessing one of the greatest betrayals by the left since so-called left-wingers backed the Hitler-Stalin pact and opposed the war against Nazi fascism. Today, the pseudo-left reveals its shameless hypocrisy and its wholesale abandonment of humanitarian values. While it deplores the 7/7 terrorist attack on London, only last year it welcomed to the UK the Muslim cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who endorses the suicide bombing of innocent civilians. These same right-wing leftists back the so-called 'resistance' in Iraq. This 'resistance' uses terrorism against civilians as its modus operandi - stooping to the massacre of dozens of Iraqi children in order kill a few US soldiers. Terrorism is not socialism; it is the tactic of fascism. But much of the left doesn't care. Never mind what the Iraqi people want, it wants the US and UK out of Iraq at any price, including the abandonment of Iraqi socialists, trade unionists, democrats and feminists. If the fake left gets its way, the ex-Baathists and Islamic fundamentalists could easily seize power, leading to Iranian-style clerical fascism and a bloodbath. I used to be proud to call myself a leftist. Now I feel shame. Much of the left no longer stands for the values of universal human rights and international socialism.

Rational minds on the Left are able to recognize the schism that exists within their ideological affiliations, between the purveyors of sensible logic, and an increasingly fanatic congregation of delusional insanity. You see, the actual battle that is being waged within Western Civilization today is not a political skirmish between Right and Left. It is, in fact, a fundamental struggle between Right and Wrong. In that regard, what is being Left continues separating from itself; evaporating the nutrients of minds like that of Mr. Tatchell in favor of the filth of Craig Rosenbraugh.

Michelle Malkin demonstrates
Why The FBI Watches The Left.


In March 2003, I reported on a manifesto disseminated across the Internet by infamous eco-radical Craig Rosebraugh former spokesman for the violent Earth Liberation Front who called on fellow leftists to take "direct actions" against American military establishments, urban centers, corporations, government buildings, and media outlets. His instructions included:

1) Attack the financial centers of the country. Using covert or black block techniques...physically shut down financial centers which regulate and assist the functioning of U.S. economy. This can be done in a variety of ways from massive property destruction, to online sabotage, to physical occupation of buildings

2) Large scale urban rioting. With massive unrest and even state of emergencies declared in major cities across the country, the U.S. government will be forced to send U.S. troops into the domestic arena thereby taking resources and political focus away from the war.

3) Attack the media centers of the country...Using any means necessary, shut down the national networks of NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc.

4) Spread the battle to the individuals responsible for the war and destruction of life — the very heads of government and U.S. corporations. No longer should these people be able to hide behind their occupations, living their lives in peace while they simultaneously slaughter countless people. Hit them in their personal lives, visit their homes, and make them feel personally responsible for committing massive atrocities.

5) Make it known publicly that this movement DOES NOT support U.S. troops as long as they are serving an unjust and horrifying political regime. Create an atmosphere lacking of support to assist U.S. troops at home and abroad in losing their morale and will to fight.

6) Actively target U.S. military establishments within the United States...use any means necessary to slow down the functioning of the murdering body.


And she has still more evidence. Unfortunatley there is always a wealth of it. Because, what is being Left abandoned rational philosophy as the first rite of their descent from the pinnacle of human hegemony. With an objective standard eliminated, next came morals, then logic, science, art, religion, being, identity, and finally decency. With no foundation of individual respect, force and violence remian as the single mechanism of human interaction. Cooperation is nothing more than a surrender to primal fear in the face of power ... in the absense of a conscious and resolute will to exist. And that ultimately is the last thing to be surrendered. Because what is being Left devoured its soul when it embraced the self-loathing prerequisite of nihilism.

Hence what is being Left concentrates its sole damnation on its own Right hand for daring to pull Man back to his feet to face the Devil that pushed him down.

See also...
What Is Being Left v.9.0
What Is Being Left v.8.0
What Is Being Left v.7.0
What Is Being Left v.6.0
What Is Being Left v.5.0
What Is Being Left v.4.0
What Is Being Left v.3.0
What Is Being Left v.2.0
What Is Being Left v.1.0

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Portland's Brand Of Tolerance...

Suspect Arrested Following Death Threats Against Conservative Talk Show Host

Mr. Atos

Police have finally made an arrest in the case of ongoing and very disturbing death threats made against a Conservative Portland radio talk show host, Lars Larson. The Larson family was forced to move once in 2004 after the threats and stalking began. Soon thereafter the sequence resumed. As KATU news reported yesterday, a suspect was arrested by local police officers on the property of the Larson family. (HT: Salvation)

PORTLAND, Ore. - A man who investigators believe is behind threats made to radio commentator Lars Larson has been arrested on harassment charges.

Vancouver police took 38-year-old Bret Harter of Portland into custody Wednesday morning following a seven-month investigation.

The case involves death threats made by telephone to Lars Larson and his wife, Tina. Lars Larson is the host of a nationally syndicated radio talk show based out of Portland. According to investigators, the Larsons say they received numerous harassing phone calls throughout 2004 and 2005.

Larson told KATU News that the phone calls were quite disturbing. "On one occasion, he called Tina and said 'you left the house a little later than normal today and you went to Lake Oswego. Why did you go to Lake Oswego?' "

The threats became the buzz of Portland late last year after an on-air outburst by Lars Larson. "They said, 'We're going to come and rape your wife to death - we're going to rape her until she bleeds.' If this is offending anybody - good! 'Cause I'm mad," Larson said on the airwaves in November of 2004.

Police ended up arresting Harter on Wednesday after seeing him on Larson's property.
An audio recording of Lars Larson's broadcast remarks regarding the threats against his wife and children can be heard here.


All charges against Mr. Hartner, at this time are just that... charges. Do let's continue to follow this story to see if in Portland, Oregon this is indeed what is being Left.

Reign Of Fire...

Mr.Atos


The seige of London may have resumed. Only two weeks since the previous round of carnage, the fascist horde of the Caliph of stygian whores may have dispatch the bombers to London again.

The details are still very sketchy but we will attempt to update them here as they solidify.

Live information at...
Free Republic

Fox News... Three London Underground stations were evacuated at midday Thursday following reports of incidents, British Transport Police said. The Fire Brigade was investigating a report of smoke at one station. Emergency services personnel were also responding to some sort of incident on a bus in the Hackney neighborhood.

Sky News... There have been unconfirmed reports of an explosion on the London Underground, and an incident on a bus in Hackney, East London. Stations at Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush have been closed.

CNN... Three small devices have exploded at three separate Underground subway stations in London, two weeks after the July 7 terror attacks, police said.
Police said the small blasts happened at Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush stations. Transport Police told ITN there was an injury when a device exploded on an Underground train near the Warren Street station, in the center of the capital. There are no other reports of casualties.

Update...
Did London's Mayor, Ken Livingston provide an invitation yesterday when he said this?
LONDON, England (CNN) -- London Mayor Ken Livingstone has said that Western "double standards" in the Middle East have contributed to the growth of Islamic extremism and terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.Livingstone told BBC radio on Wednesday that Western intervention in the Middle East since the end of World War I had been motivated by a desire to control the flow of oil.
When will the moore-ish Left come to understand the nature of evil? How much more blood will it take? George Galloway understands. As a representative of the British Left, he endorses it, pledges affiliation and extended his invitation in June.
"It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage capitalist globalization which is intent upon homogenizing the entire world turning us basically into factory chickens which can be forced fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to movies and TV culture. "
Homegrown British butchers fed on his brand of poison, responded to Galloway's encouragement. Let us hope that Livingston's inanity has not yielded more carnage for the people he attempts to represent with his empty fortitude, bloviated marxist talking points, and spineless integrity.

It seems that we in America have extended our own official invitation, compliments of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer. (HT: Eric Hogue)

California's Attorney General Bill Lockyer has invited 'political artist', Steven Pearcy, to hang his creations in the lobby of the Attorney General's Office at the Department of Justice, 1300 I Street, in Sacramento.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Judge Dread...

Mr. Atos

I am in no way qualified to discuss The President's forthcoming Supreme Court nominee (9:00pm est). So, I will defer to the experts. Hugh Hewitt is beginning 6 hours of special SCOTUS coverage extending into the evening. His line-up tonight is the best you'll find anywhere, including the Hammer himself. From his latest post...

If you would like to listen online, try the "Listen Live" link at KSKY in Dallas or the"Listen Live" link at WIND in Chicago. Guests will include K-Lo from NationalReview and Terry Eastland from the Weekly Standard, and law profs John Eastman, Erwin Chemerinsky, Jonathan Adler, and Glenn Reynolds.

This will begin an epic political melee, regardless of the candidate. Stay strong and smile. The moonbats will be swarming like a summer evening under the Congress Avenue Bridge.


Update...
Rumor has it, Judge Dread will be John Roberts. Red State.

Update...
John Roberts it is. Hugh Hewitt.
Judge John Roberts may be the smartest lawyer I have known, and he combines that intellect with a graciousness and good humor that will make it hard for any except the most extreme ideolouges to oppose him. Here's his bio, but it cannot fully convey the great intellectual force which Justice Roberts will bring to the SCOTUS.
As expected and despite this man's astounding record and credentials, he is proving to be the dread of what is being Left, like People for the American Way...
People for the American Way is extremely disappointed that the President did not choose a consensus nominee in the mold of Sandra Day O’Connor. John Roberts’ record raises serious concerns as well as questions about where he stands on crucial legal and constitutional issues – it will be extremely important for Senators and the American people to get answers to those questions. Replacing O’Connor with someone who is not committed to upholding Americans’ rights, liberties, and legal protections would be a constitutional catastrophe.

Basically, this statement reads like a formulaic opposition template prepared in advance of whichever candidate was presented for nomination. insert name in blank. There is no principled opposition currently on the Left. Only absolute opposition. Don't let's be surprised when they make this ugly.

Update...

Jay Jorgenson of The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies has published an article reviewing,

Precedent From The Confirmation Hearings of Ruth Bader Ginsburg For The Conduct of Judicial Nominees.

The information contained within should prove very useful as the confirmation process begins and unfolds for Mr. Roberts. (HT: Hugh)

Major Mike Closing His HQ...

Mr.Atos

The blogosphere is about to lose a great, if lesser known contributor to the continuum of this historic conversation. Many of you know him as a frequent caller to Hugh Hewitt's show. Major Mike is closing shop. If he goes, we'll miss insight such as this posted as a recent comment here,

I find two things even more remarkable. First, the farther successful societies get off their founding base, the more vulnerable to failure they become. The more the left, and the courts, continue to deny our very rooting in Christian beliefs, and the farther away or more neutral we become about that basis, the more vulnerable the US becomes to being tilted. I am not a holy roller, but it was the great inner strength ourour earliest settlers, a strength derived from religious beliefs, that put this country on the path to greatness. It is the religious grounding of our Constitution that makes it the credible, and longstanding document that it is. The continual denial of this important connection will eventually have this country founded simply on expansionism and continental domination, neither of which add foundation to this nation.

Secondly, it is incredibly ironic that in societies such as ours, our very freedoms can put us on the path to destruction...from without or from within. The non-constructive dialog of the left, and their continual pandering to special interest groups, will leave us particularly weak as we diminish our protections through the lapsing of some provisions of the Patriot Act, by not actually "profilling" those who aim to kill us, and not seriously developing alternative, but workable national security schemes. Theirs is the language of the diametric opposition...yes is always countered with a no. All ideas of the right are always wrong. The other way will the correct direction...none of which are true. Our people are more rooted in similarities than they are in opposition. What will keep us off tilt is a civil and constructive discourse whose actual objective would be to add to the stability and longevity of this nation...not simply to smear a President and win 5 house seats in the next election. The misuse of our freedoms, and the weakening of our country's foundation by continual attacks at the very things that make us strong, will ultimately lead to our demise.

Please visit his site and lend encouragement or just check out his archives. I have never met, the Major, but as a fellow Portlander, I think that he has profound insight to offer from this bastion of insanity. And he offers it well.

Friday, July 15, 2005

What Is Being Left - v.9.0...

Mr.Atos

Recently, I made the following comment regarding a posting by Wretchard at
Belmont Club.



When citizens become the slayers of their brethren the commonality of a unifying culture has ended. Two cultures with opposing values exists in one space at war with one another. In such a case, the culture that is most consistent with its values, regardless of right, will ultimately prevail. The Left has seen to it that one side remains confused while the other remains insulated... one denigrated while the other defended. I submit that the BBC and MSM have become every bit as motivating to butchers as the madrassas.
This is not necessarily an original thought, but as an anthropologist (among other things), one that I thoroughly believe. History is replete with cultures that were, at their core purveyors of the virtue of life. They nevertheless fell at the onslaught of aggressive hordes more consistent in their desire to see their enemy subjugated or dead. Europe itself very nearly dissolved before a solid fascist behemoth, held fast by the constitution of the Brits backed by the might of the U.S. Yet that caliber of integrity seems rare among Western Democracies today, even within the body politic of the United States. It has been replaced by the convenience of relative ascertions of perceptual imperatives passed along as personal truths peddled to popular consensus. Moral confusion in the ideology of Mankind is no less deadly than arsenic in the blood of a man. And there is no doubt that Western Civilization is suffering from its poisoning within, just as it comes under a deadly physical assault from without.

The Telegraph reports on how the BBC altered its coverage of the recent London attacks in order to avoid offensive labels.


Early reporting of the attacks on the BBC's website spoke of terrorists but the same coverage was changed to describe the attackers simply as "bombers".

The BBC's guidelines state that its credibility is undermined by the "careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments".
Yet, as Tennapel points out,

"Actually the removal of words that carry value judgments is in and of itself a value judgment."

That is true in a sense. But, it is less a judgment in favor of a particular value as much as total reckless abandon of all value. Forfeiting the semantic filter, everything is valid, and the distinction between butcher and victim eliminated from an assessment of righteous indignation. Paralysis ensues, and men capable of their physical defense are relegated to the status of shackled pigs in an abattoir. The judgment made therfore, by the BBC was not between conveying the term terrorist or bomber, but deciding between the premise of humans as men or pigs. To that end, I submit they are eternally confused.

What is being Left has been peddling poison as food for generations now, in the form of ideological diversity... the subversion of Western Civilization. And
this is what they have given us after four decades of surrendering discrimination to tolerance without judgment: home grown jihadist with enough misdirected hatred, and misunderstood history, to undermine any fraction of self-esteem they extract from their particular sub-culture. (HT: Michelle Malkin)


HOUSTON -- When Bassam Khalaf raps, he's the Arabic Assassin. His unreleased CD, "Terror Alert," includes rhymes about flying a plane into a building and descriptions of himself as a "crazy, suicidal Arabic ... equipped with bombs."

Until last week, Khalaf also worked as a baggage screener at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. "I've been screening your bags for the past six months, and you don't even know it," said Khalaf, who also said Thursday that he is not really a terrorist and that his rhymes are exaggerations meant to gain publicity.


Perhaps Mr. Khalaf is simply pandering to publicity. But, how many of the listeners in his community know that? Youths deprived of their passion and esteem, weened on America-hatred, and bigotry, and imprisoned by the Left's marxist quixotic delusions of fairness within the basement of American culture, are fed bile in place of hope in the form of popular art and liberal education. Tolerance is demanded again without judgment and poison digested for sustenance. How many are so close to that chaotic edge already, waiting for this imbecile's shove? Four boys in Leeds got their shove at some point. And in time we'll find out the nature of their own conversion from angels to demons. From The Globe and Mail, (HT: Jihad Watch )


LEEDS -- The transformation of four young British men into terrorists appears to have taken place at a government-funded storefront youth centre in Leeds that, according to youth workers, was a hub of radical Islamist activity. The centre was sealed off and searched by police yesterday after three of its workers said in an interview on the street outside that at least two of the suicide bombers had been "very regular" visitors at all hours to the Hamara Youth Access Point, and a third had been seen there occasionally.

Pray that we never discover that our Leeds exists in similar form in Detroit, Chicago, St. Jo, Watts, Newark, Houston, Denver, Memphis, and Cleveland. We found it in Lodi, in time.

But you see, what is being Left has found it necessary to disassemble the foundations of Western Civilization in order to fashion their experimental Utopian chimera. The two simply are not compatible. Yet, far from the noble illusion, their delusion veils a frankenstein-like monstrosity in reality, that has proven invariably to be just as similarly at odds with human existence as Shelley's creature. And even now as the consequences of their vision are being revealed before them, what is being Left works faster to demolish boundaries between civility and barbarism.


Like fish in a tank attempting to transform their realm by first breaking the glass, what is being Left is flushing the sustaining medium of humanity through the breach, to be replaced by the corrosive and certain air of suicide.


For similar, if not more profound insight, read Victor Davis Hanson today.


See also...
What Is Being Left v.8.0
What Is Being Left v.7.0
What Is Being Left v.6.0
What Is Being Left v.5.0
What Is Being Left v.4.0
What Is Being Left v.3.0
What Is Being Left v.2.0
What Is Being Left v.1.0

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Sanity's Radicals Revisited...

Mr.Atos

At some point, Conservatives are going to have to stop thrashing one another for speaking the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or how unpopular it may be. Many on the Right are joining Senator Kennedy in his rebuke of statements reiterated by his fellow Senator Rick Santorum.

Captain's Quarters supports the repudiation of Santorum by Kennedy,

Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania Senator has a habit of talking without thinking about the consequences of his rhetoric...

...It is unfair in the extreme of Santorum to blame the scandals on the community of Boston, a community that indeed was victimized by the pedophiliacs and those who hid their crimes. Santorum's remarks attempt to turn the blame away from the criminals and onto the victims. Those remarks were wrong three years ago, and he should have known better than to repeat them now. His spokesman, Robert Traynham, should also have known better than to keep digging the hole by blaming Harvard University for the sins of the Catholic priests and other clergy.


Ed refers to this statement by the Senator in reference to the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, as reported by the Washington Post...

"Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," Santorum wrote in a July 12, 2002 article for the Web site Catholic Online. "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

Asked by the Boston Globe this week whether he stood by his remark, Santorum said he did. "I was just saying that there's an attitude that is very open to sexual freedom that is more predominant" in Boston, the Globe quoted him as saying Tuesday.

Michelle Malkin agrees with Ed and a growing list of others following Senator Ted Kennedy who expressed his outrage from the floor of the Senate,

"Boston-bashing might be in vogue with some Republicans, but Rick Santorum's statements are beyond the pale."

Pardon me if I am simply not convinced by Kennedy's supposed indignation since every thing Republicans do from legislate to urinate is 'beyond the pale' in his eyes.

But, beyond that, myopically citing the statistics to refute Santorum's point, the critics ignore the real crux of his statement.

It was Cardinal Ratzinger himself who warned of the dangers of relativism just prior to his election as Pope Benedikt XVI.

"... from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism, and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today's standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. "


What is after all, at the heart of such abuses as transpired throughout the American Catholic church if not the complete forfeiture any reciprocal recognition of respect for humanity to the base tendencies of pure self-absorbed desire? And what mechanism allows a person to abandon the traditions of decency inherent to humans after 2 million years of physical evolution, and 2000 years of cultural evolution, if not the modern revolution of rationalized debauchery. And what has been the catalyst for the modern wave of subhuman degeneracy if not the surrender of discrimination to tolerance without judgment.

Principles it is now said, are subject only to the preference of the beholder. Morals are a personal issue to be divined and defined by idiosyncratic preference... or cultural charlattans. Ethics are irrelevant in light of subjective morals. And thus you have a culture of moral relativism that is dependent only on the shrewdness of its advocates, the lewdness of its high priests, and the fetid imaginations of its population, to be rendered with definition accordingly. And so, when some monstrous cleric of post modernity desires to devour your children to feed its stygian hunger, his is the only justification required for the forfeiture of their existence to his fetish.

Now, I ask you, which of the two political parties in this country supports this new cultural redefinition? It is, afterall, this same relativist pathology that is responsible in some small part, for the lifetime appointment of Ted Kennedy as Massachusetts's Senator... a man whose character is so fetid, that it requires the amnesia of older voters and the select stupidity of younger ones to attribute an ounce of virtue or contribute a grain of respect to a historic drunk who has yet to atone for negligent manslaughter. And it is centered in Boston, every bit as much as New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Austin, LA, San Fransisco, Portland, Seattle.

I'm just getting started...

Continued...
What I am discussing and Santorum is suggesting, is that we take a direct look at the menace of evil. Yes evil! Not the evil of Hollywood fiction where unseen demons rise from a mystic inferno to inhabit a young girl for the sole purpose of hurling obsecenities and green goo. Human evil is a real, horrifying, stinking, dark, cold malevolence; the kind that can slice a man's head from his neck in front of a camera, rape and bury a young girl alive, kidnap and devour its neighbor's children, stone a man nearly to death in an urban intersection, systematically gun down its classmates, or abuse the trust of the innocent in order to satisfy it's lustful perversions. This evil resides in the depths of men concealed like Pandora's sprites by the heavy lid of the manifest ethos of Western Civilization springing from one golden rule and ten great commandments. Undermined by the modern hubris of surreal little minds professing nothing to be anything, asserting that 'God is dead... therefore I am,' the lid was lifted and the vices unleashed to unravel the ancient fabric of humanity. Virtue became a question, while evil remained a given... ignored, defended, and celebrated in the guise of progressive humanism and the 'natural' affinity.

This evil is far from inherent to the Catholic Church or it's teachings. The Church was simply too archaic a dinosaur to react quickly and effectively to subdue evil's modern menace in time to prevent the damage of a crisis so abhorrent as to be nearly inconceivable. Sadly, it is the one institution that should have been best suited to the task. But, the nature of bureaucracies is to destroy the very institutions that breed them. For that negligence, The Church can be said to be supremely guilty. But, no less guilty is it than the communities that assemble solely for the protection of the existence of one another, and supremely for the protection of its children... and have failed miserably.

The people of the progressive community of Seattle-Tacoma are every bit as guilty as Rome and Boston. They enabled a monster like
Joseph Edward Duncan III for decades; refusing to acknowledge the persistence of his unreformable malevolence. After an infernal cycle of predation and incarceration he was again released to finally stalk an Idaho family. Inevitably, he killed all but one surviving young girl. With little Shasta Groen, Mr. Duncan shared his peculiar vision of a hell far beyond her or our imagination.

The same progressive culture of relativism existed in Madrid, Spain and
Leeds, England and even Lodi, California albeit with far more deadly potential. It preaches a self-loathing of Western Civilization, congruent with a celebration of unmitigated diversity that enables evil to thrive and execute its devastating perversions. Negligent in the maintenance of objective standards of decency, these communities are supremely guilty of the very evil that they foster.

Do you hear me fellow Conservatives? You who have built your own ivory soap boxes from which you now denounce assertions of truth for their political folly. I submit to you that any community that fails to manifest the standards of civilization is guilty of enabling evil.

Boston included!