3.18.2005
Krauthammer
The international left's concern for human rights turns out to be nothing more than a useful weapon for its anti-Americanism. Jeane Kirkpatrick pointed out this selective concern for the victims of U.S. allies (such as Chile) 25 years ago. After the Cold War, the hypocrisy continues. For which Arab people do European hearts burn? The Palestinians. Why? Because that permits the vilification of Israel -- an outpost of Western democracy and, even worse, a staunch U.S. ally. Championing suffering Iraqis, Syrians and Lebanese offers no such satisfaction. Hence, silence.
That choice language falls toward the end of Dr Krauthammer's latest column, entitled What's Left, Shame?, on page A23 of the WaPo. Bush's humility, like Reagan's, is a key ingredient in his bold success as a shaker of policy and a mover of world history.
The international left's concern for human rights turns out to be nothing more than a useful weapon for its anti-Americanism. Jeane Kirkpatrick pointed out this selective concern for the victims of U.S. allies (such as Chile) 25 years ago. After the Cold War, the hypocrisy continues. For which Arab people do European hearts burn? The Palestinians. Why? Because that permits the vilification of Israel -- an outpost of Western democracy and, even worse, a staunch U.S. ally. Championing suffering Iraqis, Syrians and Lebanese offers no such satisfaction. Hence, silence.
That choice language falls toward the end of Dr Krauthammer's latest column, entitled What's Left, Shame?, on page A23 of the WaPo. Bush's humility, like Reagan's, is a key ingredient in his bold success as a shaker of policy and a mover of world history.
3.08.2005
The South. Lost Cause? Hardly. Our heritage Rocks!
We've heard, for years and years and years, about the negative vibrations from the South. Racism! Bigotry! Hatred! Who in tarnation caused this to begin with? Liberal effetes, that's who. High nosed, righteous minds...who never bothered to walk the ground, and swat the misquitos, of the South to begin with.
We Southerners are sick and tired of liberal city-bigots in the north telling us what their perception of right is. To you who have never lived long enough in our land to perceive the truth of this region: we are sick and tired of your judgment. You know not of what you speak.
I got ticked, and I got proud, of this collection of CS Monitor letters. Read 'em all -- you'll get the picture. As for me, I'll stick to what I know best, and that is: a love of my heritage (including the 'flag' and its battlefield history), my brothers (of all stripes and colors), and my culture (hospitality -- check the etymology of the word).
The South has, despite the unceasing attacks upon its meaning and cultural thrust is going to retain its identity. We are not to be 'homogenized'; you snobbish 'hippies' can rant all you want about utopia. It is not the UN's ideal. Utopia, at least on this earth, consists of 'diversity', and the South is a distinct ingredient.
We've heard, for years and years and years, about the negative vibrations from the South. Racism! Bigotry! Hatred! Who in tarnation caused this to begin with? Liberal effetes, that's who. High nosed, righteous minds...who never bothered to walk the ground, and swat the misquitos, of the South to begin with.
We Southerners are sick and tired of liberal city-bigots in the north telling us what their perception of right is. To you who have never lived long enough in our land to perceive the truth of this region: we are sick and tired of your judgment. You know not of what you speak.
I got ticked, and I got proud, of this collection of CS Monitor letters. Read 'em all -- you'll get the picture. As for me, I'll stick to what I know best, and that is: a love of my heritage (including the 'flag' and its battlefield history), my brothers (of all stripes and colors), and my culture (hospitality -- check the etymology of the word).
The South has, despite the unceasing attacks upon its meaning and cultural thrust is going to retain its identity. We are not to be 'homogenized'; you snobbish 'hippies' can rant all you want about utopia. It is not the UN's ideal. Utopia, at least on this earth, consists of 'diversity', and the South is a distinct ingredient.
3.07.2005
Good Golly Joshua!
Bono may be next World Bank Head
I thought I had heard it all when Jimmy Carter won his Nobel Peace Prize. Now this. What next? Tim Robbins assumes the reins of US Ambassador to the UN?
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has confidence in Bono. Snow said, ‘He's somebody I admire. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development.’
Other names under consideration include former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor and former Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Christine Todd Whitman, according to this Business World article.
Geez, I don't know. The last time I got a good look at the man (whose music I generally admire), was his band's Super Bowl performance a couple of years back. The fellow looked rather grundgy -- a bit short on the shampoo, dull razor, wearing threads longing for the laund-ro-mat. Call me...stodgy?...but I prefer my bankers to look the part...
The news also places Bono in nomination for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Bono may be next World Bank Head
I thought I had heard it all when Jimmy Carter won his Nobel Peace Prize. Now this. What next? Tim Robbins assumes the reins of US Ambassador to the UN?
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow has confidence in Bono. Snow said, ‘He's somebody I admire. He does a lot of good in this world of economic development.’
Other names under consideration include former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor and former Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Christine Todd Whitman, according to this Business World article.
Geez, I don't know. The last time I got a good look at the man (whose music I generally admire), was his band's Super Bowl performance a couple of years back. The fellow looked rather grundgy -- a bit short on the shampoo, dull razor, wearing threads longing for the laund-ro-mat. Call me...stodgy?...but I prefer my bankers to look the part...
The news also places Bono in nomination for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
3.06.2005
Russellville house where ghost is reputed to reside in tower (note painted glass)
Morning in the Middle East
Oh, my. Oh, my!
Remember Ed Asner and "Not in Our Name?" How about Sean Penn's intellectual tomes from his rich, fact-finding forays into pre post-Saddam Iraq? Or the great French statesman, de Villepin's brave confrontations against the evil US on the UN floor? Michael Moore and his 'Minutemen' of Iraq? Bushitler? Ronald Raygun?
"The lesson of these last weeks is that it turns out Washington's Zionists know the Arab people a lot better than Europe's Arabists." Hoowhee, Mark Steyn, you are one for pithy zingers!
The Left is again using its superior intellect to configure the rightness of riding the wrong side of history. So it would seem. Let's take the recent happenings in Lebanon as an example:
"The fact that there are people in the streets of Beirut calling for Syrian withdrawal would have been inconceivable six months ago," said Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's former National Security Adviser. "I realize that my partisan friends would not like it if I said it, but the answer is, yes, there has been some success."
Last saturday capped an astonishing week: an unrehearsable combination of tragedy, popular will, carefully coordinated behind-the-scenes diplomacy and unusual allied unanimity. The most electrifying moment came on Monday, when 25,000 Lebanese defied a government ban and staged a rally in Martyrs' Square to coincide with a parliamentary debate on the Valentine's Day massacre of Hariri, which was widely believed to be the work of Syria. The Beirut gathering was as unprecedented as it was diverse, in a country where power is constitutionally divided among sectarian communities. Troops and riot police deployed around the city center, but they did not stop thousands from joining the peaceful throng. Inside, the parliamentary debate dissolved into chaos after pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami stunned the chamber by announcing his resignation. "Real independence is not given," said Issaf Chaker Skinner, a Lebanese woman in the joyous crowd outside. "It must be taken." The unprecedented images of people power that beamed across the Arab world on al-Jazeera, said State Department officials, were almost as important as the event itself. -- Time Magazine's Michael Duffy
What are we seeing in these days? Well, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are all in the midst of a controlled revolution. Whether it is the same old 'one step forward, two steps back', or something a bit more -- time will tell. I believe it is the latter. The Left wants the former, oh, you know they do. You see, its all about the failure of the hated, chimp-like cowboy from Texas. This, for the Left, is victory. Never mind problem-solving in the real -- the Left would prefer that it remain upon the blackboard -- the better to nuance and fine-tune their utopian future (always in the future) ideals.
Morning in the Middle-east. Grand, isn't it?
Oh, my. Oh, my!
Remember Ed Asner and "Not in Our Name?" How about Sean Penn's intellectual tomes from his rich, fact-finding forays into pre post-Saddam Iraq? Or the great French statesman, de Villepin's brave confrontations against the evil US on the UN floor? Michael Moore and his 'Minutemen' of Iraq? Bushitler? Ronald Raygun?
"The lesson of these last weeks is that it turns out Washington's Zionists know the Arab people a lot better than Europe's Arabists." Hoowhee, Mark Steyn, you are one for pithy zingers!
The Left is again using its superior intellect to configure the rightness of riding the wrong side of history. So it would seem. Let's take the recent happenings in Lebanon as an example:
"The fact that there are people in the streets of Beirut calling for Syrian withdrawal would have been inconceivable six months ago," said Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's former National Security Adviser. "I realize that my partisan friends would not like it if I said it, but the answer is, yes, there has been some success."
Last saturday capped an astonishing week: an unrehearsable combination of tragedy, popular will, carefully coordinated behind-the-scenes diplomacy and unusual allied unanimity. The most electrifying moment came on Monday, when 25,000 Lebanese defied a government ban and staged a rally in Martyrs' Square to coincide with a parliamentary debate on the Valentine's Day massacre of Hariri, which was widely believed to be the work of Syria. The Beirut gathering was as unprecedented as it was diverse, in a country where power is constitutionally divided among sectarian communities. Troops and riot police deployed around the city center, but they did not stop thousands from joining the peaceful throng. Inside, the parliamentary debate dissolved into chaos after pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami stunned the chamber by announcing his resignation. "Real independence is not given," said Issaf Chaker Skinner, a Lebanese woman in the joyous crowd outside. "It must be taken." The unprecedented images of people power that beamed across the Arab world on al-Jazeera, said State Department officials, were almost as important as the event itself. -- Time Magazine's Michael Duffy
What are we seeing in these days? Well, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are all in the midst of a controlled revolution. Whether it is the same old 'one step forward, two steps back', or something a bit more -- time will tell. I believe it is the latter. The Left wants the former, oh, you know they do. You see, its all about the failure of the hated, chimp-like cowboy from Texas. This, for the Left, is victory. Never mind problem-solving in the real -- the Left would prefer that it remain upon the blackboard -- the better to nuance and fine-tune their utopian future (always in the future) ideals.
Morning in the Middle-east. Grand, isn't it?
Identity Theft
You may have felt the sharp pangs of "data rape", or you may yet be blissfully ignorant. As for me, I've seen it in my family. As of today, it is the victim's burden to undue the transgressions upon him. Read this WaPo article for your edification -- important information is contained therein.
More importantly, we will all probably have free access to one complete credit report, per year, from each of the big three Credit Reporting Agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experion (formerly TRW).
You may have felt the sharp pangs of "data rape", or you may yet be blissfully ignorant. As for me, I've seen it in my family. As of today, it is the victim's burden to undue the transgressions upon him. Read this WaPo article for your edification -- important information is contained therein.
More importantly, we will all probably have free access to one complete credit report, per year, from each of the big three Credit Reporting Agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experion (formerly TRW).
