A Brave New World Begins

Our president bows down to tyrants. I wonder what's happening to my nation. Maybe it's all hope and change, and a brave new world begins.


Rudyard Kipling, "The Gods of the Copybook Headings"

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Our president shakes hands with dictators. I wonder what's happening to my nation. Maybe it's all hope and change, and a brave new world begins.


On Frances Bacon, Novum Organum

Idols of the Tribe are deceptive beliefs inherent in the mind of man, and therefore belonging to the whole of the human race. They are abstractions in error arising from common tendencies to exaggeration, distortion, and disproportion. Thus men gazing at the stars perceive the order of the world, but are not content merely to contemplate or record that which is seen. They extend their opinions, investing the starry heavens with innumerable imaginary qualities. In a short time these imaginings gain dignity and are mingled with the facts until the compounds become inseparable. This may explain Bacon's epitaph which is said to be a summary of his whole method. It reads, "Let all compounds be dissolved."

Idols of the Cave are those which arise within the mind of the individual. This mind is symbolically a cavern. The thoughts of the individual roam about in this dark cave and are variously modified by temperament, education, habit, environment, and accident. Thus an individual who dedicates his mind to some particular branch of learning becomes possessed by his own peculiar interest, and interprets all other learning according to the colors of his own devotion. The chemist sees chemistry in all things, and the courtier ever present at the rituals of the court unduly emphasizes the significance of kings and princes.

(The title page of Bacon's New Atlantis (London 1626) is ornamented with a curious design or printer's device. The winged figure of Father Time is shown lifting a female figure from a dark cave. This represents truth resurrected from the cavern of the intellect.)

Idols of the Marketplace are errors arising from the false significance bestowed upon words, and in this classification Bacon anticipated the modern science of semantics. According to him it is the popular belief that men form their thoughts into words in order to communicate their opinions to others, but often words arise as substitutes for thoughts and men think they have won an argument because they have out talked their opponents. The constant impact of words variously used without attention to their true meaning only in turn condition the understanding and breed fallacies. Words often betray their own purpose, obscuring the very thoughts they are designed to express.

Idols of the Theater are those which are due to sophistry and false learning. These idols are built up in the field of theology, philosophy, and science, and because they are defended by learned groups are accepted without question by the masses. When false philosophies have been cultivated and have attained a wide sphere of dominion in the world of the intellect they are no longer questioned. False superstructures are raised on false foundations, and in the end systems barren of merit parade their grandeur on the stage of the world.

http://www.sirbacon.org/links/4idols.htm

Our president waves away the dying. I wonder what's happening to my nation. Maybe it's all hope and change, and a brave new world begins.

James Lewis, "Obama flunks on social pathology," American Thinker. 17 April 2009

Social pathology: crack and heroin epidemics, family violence, out-of-wedlock births, abortion as "just another option," alcoholic mothers having brain-damaged babies, violent and uncontrollable schools, constantly irresponsible and self-destructive behavior, endemic crime. Obama has seen that for twenty years in South Side Chicago, and it is well-established that social pathology is directly responsible for the failure of the "structurally poor" to rise out of their misery.

Obama seems to be in denial of the obvious. His own life is entirely middle class. Married, career-oriented, successful, steadily rising income, two daughters born in his marriage. Yes, Obama has a lot of dubious ideological friends. J-Wright's Trinity United Church claims to be against "middleclassness" -- which is all the good and healthy habits that keep people out of poverty. But in fact the Obamas are a perfect example of middleclassness.

As the charismatic hero of the Left, Obama could be teaching, teaching all these obvious rules of behavior, which have worked so well over two centuries since the Industrial Revolution, to bring people out of poverty. Just like Jesse Jackson could be teaching healthy lifestyles, instead of blackmailing corporations. They know exactly what's going on. They know, just like white liberals, what works in their own lives. But they will not draw the obvious conclusions: That would be "conservative." Almost a kind of treason to the sacred doctrine of state control.

Every liberal policy stance is infected by that bottomless chasm of hypocrisy. We all know what works to help people grow out of poverty, because most of us have practiced those habits in our own lives. But strengthening the family, keeping fathers and mothers responsible for their kids, much stricter discipline in the schools, postponing immediate payoffs for long term goals, avoiding destructive life choices -- all those standards, habits and customs that helped the whole industrialized world rise from poverty, are simply denied by the Left. It's mighty strange. Today we can see those habits of hard work and "middleclassness" revolutionizing billions of people in China and India, as they visibly rise out of centuries of misery and poverty. It's right in front of our eyes!

But that lesson is never, ever learned by the Left.

The biggest question to ask liberals is: Why don't you support those solutions that have worked so well in your own life?

It is hard to avoid the feeling that the Left is endemically racist and classist: That they have simply decided that what works in their own lives will never work to raise poor blacks, Hispanics and whites out of poverty.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/obama_flunks_on_social_patholo.html

A Brave New World Begins, and it's all Hope and Change. Hope and Change. Hope and Change. A Brave New World begins.

The Mysterious Spengler No Longer A Mystery

Spengler, longtime anonymous columnist for Asia Times, has "outed" himself in his column this week.

He admits that he is actually the associate editor of First Things magazine, David P. Goldman.

Harvard ethics

First, as this blog's contribution to keeping up the internet's record of notable events, let's have a look at two recent statements from Harvard University clerics. There is this much noted (in certain blog quarters) passage from a sermon of Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, head of the Episcopal Divinity School:

And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight — only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing.

These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

I want to thank all of you who protect this blessing – who do this work every day: the health care providers, doctors, nurses, technicians, receptionists, who put your lives on the line to care for others (you are heroes — in my eyes, you are saints); the escorts and the activists; the lobbyists and the clinic defenders; all of you. You’re engaged in holy work.

And then there is this little brouhaha about Harvard's Muslim chaplain sticking to Islamic orthodoxy:

Harvard Islamic chaplain Taha Abdul-Basser ’96 has recently come under fire for controversial statements in which he allegedly endorsed death as a punishment for Islamic apostates.

In a private e-mail to a student last week, Abdul-Basser wrote that there was “great wisdom (hikma) associated with the established and preserved position (capital punishment [for apostates]) and so, even if it makes some uncomfortable in the face of the hegemonic modern human rights discourse, one should not dismiss it out of hand.”

The e-mail was forwarded over Muslim student e-mail lists and later picked up by the blogosphere, sparking debate and, in many cases, criticism of Abdul-Basser from those who have interpreted his statement as supporting the execution of those who leave the Islamic religion.

Next, let's look at what they don't teach at Harvard. Here's the Rene Girard-inspired anthropology of Gil Bailie:

We are religious beings with religious hungers. Cultures which allow religious pluralism to degenerate into ideological secularism cease to foster sanctifying and civilizing forms of religious experience. In the absence of more edifying expressions, the hunger for transcendence grows desperate and eventually takes crude and primitive forms.

Since death is the one thing that cannot be fully secularized, those desperate for religious meaning eventually turn to death, as fallen humanity always has, siding with death against death, turning death into a cure for death, eluding death by exploiting its mystique and becoming its pious accomplices. In a post-religious world, both those who are desperate for meaning and those who have despaired of it will find in death an unspoken organizing principle. Whether fleeing from it or flirting with it, whether bound to it by fear or fascination, death eventually becomes the default preoccupation, the chief obsession, of those who come to regard it as the final, incontrovertible fact.

At the Resurrection, ‘the power of death’ was broken. Only by living in the light of that victory can we keep from slipping back into the old religious swamp out of which we were dredged at Easter. Post-Christian culture, bereft of religious vigor, is becoming such a swamp, a ‘culture of death.’ Threatened from without by a resurgence of pre-modern forms of sacred violence, it is inwardly imperiled by postmodern forms of nihilistic resignation, dickering with death – in a world ‘distracted from distraction by distraction,’ death being the only distraction weighty enough to distract. Naïve irreligious secularism is powerless to meet this challenge. Christianity is not.

One of the many fascinating things about our times is that we will get to see how once revered institutions of learning move on from their present dead ends. Will they try to mover further downhill and prove Bailie right, falling deeper into a death worship and thus, one assumes, eventually losing what's left of their ability to maintain public credibility (at least among those who are capable of maintaining our civilization) in the contests over truth and finance? Will Cambridge crumble? Will the schools turn back to respect for Christianity? Or will it be possible for them to embrace an anthropology (inspired by but not identical to Christian faith) and simulate the Judeo-Christian embrace of life, in an intellectual culture that remains secular, i.e. not dependent for its sacred charge on belief in God?

No doubt the answer to such questions depends on us. In the meantime, Catholic Georgetown University, or President B.H.Obama, cannot allow Obama's presence at Georgetown to be shared with, or subsumed by, a sign of the name of Jesus Christ.

Ugetsued: Gates of Hell

The government that governs best governs least. But what government there is should make sense.

Gates: No need to bulk up response to piracy

By ANNE GEARAN – 7 hours ago

DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he doesn't see any immediate need to bulk up the military response to piracy near the Horn of Africa.

He added, however, that "we'll make those decisions as they come along."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gnPpwRiOsjgI0z57NytZve0-sHMgD97II3PG1

Let's hope he doesn't rush into anything here. It'd be a shame to see the man bang his shins.

Pirates Fail in Attack on U.S. Ship

By MARK McDONALD

Published: April 15, 2009

HONG KONG – An American cargo ship was attacked by pirates armed with grenade launchers and automatic weapons in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, but the attackers failed to take over the ship, which was able to continue with its delivery of humanitarian food aid to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

The ship, the Liberty Sun, was damaged in the attack but the crew members were not hurt, according to a statement from the shipowner, Liberty Maritime, of Lake Success, N.Y.

"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets,” a crew member aboard the Liberty Sun, Thomas Urbik, said in an e-mail message to his mother, the Associated Press reported. “We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt.”

Mr. Urbik said a rocket had "penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out.”

The attack occurred shortly before noon, a United States Navy spokesman said. By the time the U.S.S. Bainbridge arrived — about six hours later — the pirates had fled. The Bainbridge, the navy destroyer involved in the rescue last week of another American cargo ship, was escorting the Liberty Sun to Mombasa on Wednesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/africa/16somalia.html

"Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he doesn't see any immediate need to bulk up the military response to piracy near the Horn of Africa."

Well, it looks to me like Gates is offering less government. I think it's not what I mean when I call for less government.

So, if the government isn't going overboard defending the nation, what is the government doing?

Uh, I dunno, Lenny. what is the government doing? Living off the fat of the land?

Lance Fairchok, "DHS, 'Rightwing Extremism' and Information Warfare" American Thinker. 14 April 2009.

The DHS Intelligence Assessment Document marked "For Official Use Only" and entitled; Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, was released to law enforcement agencies nationwide. Its stated purpose was to "deter, prevent, preempt, or respond to terrorist attacks against the United States." Read the entire document here.

[....]

Rightwing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/dhs_rightwing_extremism_and_in_1.html

Now I get it. Our government is freaking out about all them thar Klan rallies in Washington, D.C.

Somali pirates? What was I thinking?

But at least there's one ship coming on-stream from Gates that'll patrol the Somali coast. What a relief.
For a while there I was wondering just whose side our government is on here.

Rick Warren On The Difference Between Mentors And Models

Interesting interview last Friday on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, which I finally got around to listening to tonight as a podcast. Pastor Rick Warren, author of "Purpose Driven Life", one of the highest-selling books of all time, and Saddleback Church fame was a guest for the final two hours of the broadcast.

The interview covered a number of worthwhile subjects, but I particularly enjoyed Pastor Warren's concluding remarks, which included this insightful guide on learning from the various types of relationships we can form with others:

“You need four people in you life: mentors, models, partners and friends.

You need a mentor who is alive, who can coach you… by the way, it’s good to have multiple mentors, you can have one mentor who helps you in an area, another that helps you in another. Because no mentor knows everything.

For instance: I’ve had in my life, many many mentors. Billy Graham mentored me in terms of leadership in culture; Peter Drucker mentored me for years and years on leadership and management of an organization. My own father mentored me in how you do relationships and get along with everybody no matter who they are. A man named Harry Williams, who was like a father to me, mentored me in evangelism. How to see each person’s need, and how to show how the Gospel can meet that need.

So different people teach you different things.

Then you need a model. Your model should always be dead. Don’t have a live model. You can have a live mentor, but not a live model. Because you don’t know how they’re going to end up yet. A lot of times you have someone as a model, and they flame out morally, and… you’re goin’: “what.. what happened?” So, have a dead model.

And then you need partners, the guys who’ll work with you.

And then you’re going to need friends, who are going to love you even though you’re
cracked.

Transcripts of the two Friday interviews can be found here.

No one blasphemes Canada's state religion like Kathy Shaidle

It's great to see that 600 people paid five bucks a piece to hear her. The other well-known speakers might have been part of the attraction, but something tells me it was the heretic Shaidle - previously denounced by a local hack and various righteous bores in attempts to shut this event down - who was the star of the night.

Blazing Cat Fur: Packed house for Levant, Shaidle, Mansur talk in London. Shaidle:

But then again, the Left draws most of its motivating energy from imaginary problems, like global warming, DDT, backalley coathanger abortions, and the chronic boredome of American housewives in 1950s suburbia. The Left is very concerned about something they like to call “social justice”, which I define as the stubborn application of unworkable solutions to imaginary problems.

Like Spinal Tap’s second drummer, who famously “choked to death on someone ELSE’s vomit,” Canadian leftists have always resented their neighbors in the United States for having a romantic, large scale Civil Rights Movement during the 60s and 70s.

So the HRCs became the Canadian Left’s state-sponsored version of the Woolworth’s lunch counter sit ins but, without the stirring LIFE magazine photos and crappy folk music soundtrack.
[...]
The problem with the HRCs is most commonly presented as an issue of freedom of speech. However, I’d like to raise two additional aspects that don’t get as much play.

First, the HRCs are engaged in class warfare. The majority of “hate speech” cases are brought by highly educated, highly privileged white liberals -- against less educated, working class, blue collar “reactionary” whites, who insist on speaking to each other about topics like immigration, using old fashioned, politically incorrect language.

Therefore, the enforcement of Section 13 is an expensive exercise in state sponsored snobbery, in which people’s own hard earned tax dollars are used by their “betters” to scold and shame them. Worse, the process silences people who already feel linguistically, politically and educationally disenfranchised, angry and powerless. We often compare the tribunals to 1984, but to me they’re more like Pygmalion.

As British writer, Brendan O’Neill wrote:

Today’s Top-down ‘anti-racism’ has nothing whatsoever to do with ensuring equality of opportunity for all); rather it is about policing people’s behaviour and etiquette, especially amongst the lower classes. Accusations of ‘racism’ are no longer about indicting someone for their views on ethnic minorities but rather have become a snobbish judgment on their lack of breeding. ‘Racist’ has largely become code for ‘underclass’: uneducated, uncouth, thick, fat, ‘not one of us’.

Thus, the impact of official ‘anti-racism’ is not to make society more free and equal, but more authoritarian and censorious.

Radio Memories: Easter Passion

"The Theater Of The Mind": for many years this was one of the favored ways of describing the early 20th Century's beloved, and dearly departed, art form of radio drama. Today's radio offers news, music, this and that, but precious little of the kind of programming that filled its airwaves for that brief window of time when radio, not television, was king.

Every Sunday, through these Radio Memories posts, we pause to pay tribute to "The Theater Of The Mind", as we take a break from blogging about more serious subjects to listen a while for echoes of a different time, through a lost art.

This week we feature an episode from the waning years of radio drama, from the series that believe it or not was actually responsible for coining the very term, "theater of the mind", in its opening credits (the expression had to come from somewhere, after all..!): the one-of-a-kind CBS Radio Workshop.

In his 1979 autobiography As It Happened: A Memoir, CBS President (and longtime owner) William S. Paley revealed that this was one radio series that his company would always handle with special treatment. It was broadcast as what was known as a "sustaining" program, meaning that it would never be commercially sponsored; the network would insist on paying the bill, themselves. Not for lack of interest on the part of potential sponsors; many came calling but all were turned away. Paley felt that the moment the show possessed an actual sponsor it might dilute the purpose of the series: to creatively experiment with the art form of radio drama, in music, sound effects, story content, acting styles... whether it was adaptations of Alduous Huxley, the Gettysburg Address or the King James Bible, each week's effort would be a unique theatrical result, and as close to "art for art's sake" as the business of show business might ever aspire to.

The pioneering anthology series ran in several packages over the years, starting off in 1936 as the Columbia Workshop, lasting in some comercial-free form or another until 1947. So many of the network staff missed the show's creative challenges so dearly, that Paley brought the program back for one final year's run in 1956-57, as the CBS Radio Workshop.

For their Sunday, April 21st 1957 Easter broadcast, the Workshop offered "The Son Of Man", a play written (or should I say, edited) by Archibald MacLeish, consisting of Gospel passages read by Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall, Victor Jory and Robert Young, with narration by Raymond Burr, all interwoven around the music of J.S. Bach (narrator Burr explains that "the music has an actor's part", a delightful description of the stirring use of music in this play).

It is a reminder of a different time, of the power of words, and of the faith that can come from them...

Previous Radio Memories posts:

Great Gildersleeve: Easter Rabbits

Dimension X: Time And Time Again

An American In England: Women Of Britain

Cavalcade Of America: Bob Hope Reports

The March Of Time: Feb 10 1938 broadcast

Hear It Now: Coming Home From The Korean War

Escape: Vanishing Lady

Rogers Of The Gazette: Rewinding The Town Clock

Saving Captain Phillips: Pro and Con

Richard Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, captain of the Maersk Alabama, is freed from pirate captivity off the coast of Somalia. U.S. Naval forces killed three of his captors and captured the fourth. Happy Easter.

In their report on this incident Reuters includes this:

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said the rescue would change the stakes in future pirate attacks.

"This is a big wake-up to the pirates. It raises the stakes. Now they may be more violent, like the pirates of old," he said.

Pirates have generally treated hostages well, sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even passing phones round so they can call loved ones. The worst violence reported has been the occasional beating and no hostages are known to have been killed by pirates.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53A1LP20090412?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

At a news conference, Maersk Line Ltd. President and CEO John Reinhart said he talked to Phillips by phone and quoted Phillips who said: "John, I'm just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyV4nn4zeH4WZ7yY5NTDs-ahmi2AD97H4IJ01

It's not clear if Hillary Clinton finds the rescue as laugh-inducing as she did the original hostage taking. See here for video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_c3B5AasI

It's a serious business, this likelihood of escalation with pirates.

I turned to an expert for his take. Below is some of what he thinks:

gjohnsit, "Somalia pirates are an American policy blowback," Daily Kos. 10 Apr. 2009

[F]or most Americans, every event is new and unprecedented in the world. That's because most American's grasp of history is deplorable.

An embarrassingly large percentage of Americans are completely unaware that this isn't America's first global war with terrorism. To make matters worse, a large percentage of the public that is familiar with our first global war on terrorism is under the false impression that we won a clear victory.

And now Somali pirates have dared to take an American hostage.

Given the level of concern and outrage in the media and on the blogs you would never know that America is more responsible for pirates in Somalia than anyone else.

gjohnsit's diary:

[A]merica is hardly a blushing virgin in the arena of pirating. During the American Revolution the new government authorized privateers to operate against British shipping. More than 300 British merchant ships fell victim to these legal pirates.

George Washington himself was an investor in a privateer operation. Banker and tobacco baron Robert Morris owned several privateers during the war. During America's colonial days corrupt governors openly exchange safe haven to pirates for a piece of the action. But this is all ancient history, right? It can only teach us that trying to stop pirates with a naval blockade is doomed to fail. If there's one thing we've learned about Americans in the last couple decades is that we are "smarter" than everything history can teach us.

[I]'ve been writing articles about Somalia for about three years, and almost no one on DKos, or any other blog for that matter, has bothered to care.

[T]here were 72 functioning hospitals in Mogadishu when the islamists controlled the city. Now there are only two. The Mogadishu airport and harbor were opened up to commercial use for the first time since 1991, and the price of an AK47 had fallen to less than half due to lack of demand.

However, the Bush Administration had heard that the ICU was full of al-Qaeda terrorists. Where did they get that information from? Why the very same warlords that the ICU just chased out of Somalia (the same ones that killed American soldiers in 1993).

So the Bush Administration decided that the ICU had to go. Somalia couldn't be allowed to have peace in our time.

[D]uring the [Ethiopian] invasion the Bush Administration had refugees renditioned into other countries where they were tortured and "disappeared".

Meanwhile our military was busy bombing refugees in the hopes that some of the ones we killed were actually hostile to America beforehand.

[S]o what does this have to do with Somalian pirates? Well, remember how the ICU virtually wiped out the pirates on the Horn of Africa?

The resulting chaos from the American-funded invasion has allowed the pirates to return. And make no mistake, those pirates are being funded by local warlords. Some of whom I believe were receiving CIA funds just a year or so ago.

Now that you've been educated about the situation, you can now return to being "outraged" by the actions of the pirates against us "innocent" Americans who never did anything wrong. Or maybe you might just want to see pictures of pooties.

Anything to avoid acknowledging how our nation has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

The poster's comment on solving this problem:

A naval blockade won't change things. Blowing up some rubble in Somalia from thousands of feet won't fix things. Killing a few thousand more Somalians won't fix things.

The only thing that will fix things is to allie ourselves with a powerful social and political movement in Somalia that is also against the pirates - the Islamists.

The ICU, for 6 months, brought peace to Somalia and eradicated the pirates. They can do it again.

Of course it won't be easy. We've spent the last few years demonizing the ICU. Ethiopia lost several hundred soldiers in a failed occupation effort in Somalia and will oppose this as well.

Therefore I don't expect us to take this step easily. When we finally do, after all other efforts have failed, I suspect it will be done by the backdoor, maybe through Eritria or Saudi Arabia.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/10/718743/-Somalia-pirates-are-an-American-creation-

OK, so the Daily Kos hosts a writer who desires a return of The Council of Islamic Courts. It's probably too late for that great solution now that we arrogantly shot and killed three pirates. It will be an escalation of tensions to come. If we had just left well enough alone, the FBI hostage negotiation team could have resolved this dispute without violence, and thing could have continued as they were. Because we are ignorant of history, and violent cowboys, now all Hell will break loose, the pirates will no longer feeding hostages goat meat and it won't be a party on the beach with a gaggle of Bob Marleys.

It's pretty clear that America started all this:

"During the American Revolution the new government authorized privateers to operate against British shipping. More than 300 British merchant ships fell victim to these legal pirates. George Washington himself was an investor in a privateer operation."

Why did the American colonies go to war against the premier naval power of the day in the first place? The colonists could have continued negotiating and within a hundred years or so, like Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, they could have gotten their independence without firing a shot. and what's with making all those English ships come all the way across the Atlantic ocean just so they could be captured? The English government has a good case of pursuing war crimes charges against America at the Hague. And the only reason the "colonists" were in America in the first place was to steal resources and to kill Indians. More war crimes. Genocide, in fact.

"It can only teach us that trying to stop pirates with a naval blockade is doomed to fail."

That's hard to argue against, given all the trouble we've had with the Barbary pirates in the past 200 years. All we really gained from it is that Marines are referred to as "Leather Necks." What? Well, it's just co-incidence that the Barbary pirates were Muslims, and that the Koran states one must "Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them Cut off their heads and their finger-tips." Q. 9: 5. Yes, Marines were beheaded so often in their struggles against the Barbary pirates that they took to wearing leather neck braces in battle. Cf Joshua E. London, Victory in Tripoli. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley; 2005.

But that's all historical stuff that we don't know about because we're ignorant.

We do know how great was the rule of the ICU [Council of Islamic Courts.]

The ICU, for 6 months, brought peace to Somalia and eradicated the pirates. They can do it again.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer described al-Qaeda’s operational control over the ICU:

The Council of Islamic Courts is now controlled by al-Qaida cell individuals, east Africa al-Qaida cell individuals. The top layers of the courts are extremist to the core. They are terrorists and they are in control. They are creating this logic of war, and that’s a problem. (David Gollust, “US Says al-Qaida Elements Running Somali Islamic Movement,” Voice of America, December 14, 2006

The ICU, headed by Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is listed by the US government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, has partnered with al-Qaeda to set up terrorist training camps to wage jihad all over Africa. According to a Reuters report, as many as 4,000 foreign jihadists had been trained and were fighting as part of the ICU’s front against the TFG. The ICU has also given shelter to three al-Qaeda terrorists directly responsible for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

(For more info on the ICU’s background, see Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Bill Roggio’s article, “A New Terrorist Haven”.)

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=A65D20E5-1514-4797-970E-EBEEC0B73C5E

If America hates them, they must be good. But not all Americans hate the jihadis:

The Islamic Courts also had supporters in the United States. Last Saturday, 1,500 Somalis gathered in Minneapolis’ Peavey Park for a demonstration in favor of the Sharia regime and against American support for the Ethiopian and Somali forces that toppled it. Hassan Mohamud, imam of St. Paul’s Al-Taqwa Mosque, who teaches Islamic law at William Mitchell College of Law and is also president of the Somali Institute for Peace and Justice, the group that organized the demonstration, won cheers from the crowd as he thundered: “We ask the president of the United States, Mr. Bush, and his administration to stop supporting the terrorists. Ethiopian troops are terrorists.” Mohamud has praised the Islamic Courts regime for bringing “peace and security to a large part of the country within 16 days where the international community could not help the Somalis for 16 years.” When asked if Somalis based in Minnesota were supporting the jihadists financially, Mohamud responded: “What I know is that they have overwhelming support inside of Somalia because of the peace and law and order. If you have the support of your people inside of Somalia you don’t need any support from outside."

http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=05482766-A562-4092-821B-2ED333154FFF

Peace, order, and good government. I can go for that. And morality too.

"The Islamic courts' militia are trying to close all entertainment centres of the district," one local resident Ahmed Dhuhulow said.

Three people died yesterday and another nine today in clashes that caused inhabitants to flee the area and shops to close, witnesses said....

Leaders of Mogadishu's influential Islamic courts oppose Western and Indian films which they say promote immorality in the mainly Muslim nation.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008998.php

Robert Spencer writes:

Late in 2003, a Somali journalist named Bashir Goth wrote in the Addis Tribune about a group of Islamic clerics known as the “Authority for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.” This group, Goth complained, was “trying to impose draconian moral codes on Somaliland citizens.” He concluded: “It is time we have to speak out. If we don’t do it today, we won’t be able to do it tomorrow. Because there will be no tomorrow as our country descends into 7th century Arabia.”1

That descent, when it came, was swift. Criticizing the warlords on Islamic grounds, and declaring Somalia’s traditional Islamic culture to be not sufficiently Islamic, a jihadist group affiliated with al-Qaeda, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), began to make major advances in late 2005 and early 2006, particularly in southern Somalia and the Mogadishu area. “The existing government is not an Islamic one,” explained Islamic Courts Union leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys in October 2005, “and we will be having our own Islamic faith and we will be very strong in influencing our people.”2 Later, while the ICU was in power in Mogadishu, the group’s first vice chairperson, Ar-Rahman Mohomood Jinikow, declared: “We will only approve a constitution based on theology, because an Islamic constitution is the only one that serves all of us justly…. Secular constitution, whether it is democratic or any other, is never fair and right, and Muslims have only one constitution which is entirely based on Allah’s Qur’an that will avail all Muslims in the world now and the Hereafter.”3

In April 2006, the Islamic Courts declared jihad against the country’s warlords. At a Mogadishu rally, Sheikh Nur Ollow of the Courts declared that the warlords were “unholy elements” who were “serving the interests of non-Somalis who could not care less about our well-being, culture and religion”—a clear reference to the United States, which had noted the group’s connections with al-Qaeda early on. “It is time to help those who want peace and harmony among Somalis and the teachings of the commands of Allah and the words of the Prophet,” continued Ollow. “We will not be governed by a few warlords financed by the enemy of Islam.”

In early 2006, the battle was joined in earnest, and by mid-2006, the Islamists had taken full control of Mogadishu. In subsequent months, they conquered most of the remaining pockets of organized resistance to their rule in the southern portion of the country. ICU forces seized the port city of Kismayo in late September, firing on demonstrators who turned out to rally against their regime.5 In late November, the President of the northern region of Puntland announced that he too would henceforth rule according to Islamic law.6 Aweys, who became the group’s leader around the same time it began to gain significant power in Somalia, struck an explicitly anti-American posture and spoke of the Islamic Courts’ effort to take control of Somalia as part of the global jihad, vowing to fight America and its allies “everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan.”7

[T]he regime received an endorsement from none other than Osama bin Laden. In a message circulated on the Internet in late June, bin Laden exhorted Somalis: “You have no other means for salvation unless you commit to Islam, put your hands in the hands of the Islamic Courts to build an Islamic state in Somalia.”10 Meanwhile, foreign Islamists were hastening to aid the new regime in Somalia. The United Nations Security Council reported in November 2006 that the Islamic Republic of Iran was supplying weapons to the ICU in an attempt to obtain uranium in return.11

[....]

The hostile takeover transformed Somalia’s foreign policy. The ICU became a voice in the international jihadist movement, joining those who called for the murder of Pope Benedict XVI after his remarks in Regensburg, Germany, in August 2006 were widely interpreted as an insult to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Tensions with Ethiopia, meanwhile, increased almost immediately after the ICU took power. The group’s leader Sharif Sheikh Ahmed declared on July 2nd that “Ethiopians have been illegally crossing our border since earlier last month and now they are in some parts of our territory but, God willing, they will regret it.” Calling Ethiopia “the enemy number one of the Somali people,” he urged Somalis to fight back.18 Ethiopia initially denied sending troops, but Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stressed the new Somali government’s ties to the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group Al-Ittihad.19 And by the end of July, Ethiopian troops were entering Somalia in significant numbers, with the Islamic Courts Union regime renewing calls for jihad in response.

The ICU responded with more threats. “We call on Ethiopia to withdraw its forces from Somalia, otherwise be ready for full-scale war,” Aweys said in late August. “We say again that Ethiopian intervention in Somalia will never be accepted; no one can dare divert us onto a path other than Sharia law.”20 The ICU also threatened the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which in late 2006 endorsed a plan to send Sudanese and Ugandan peacekeeping forces to the Somali border. The ICU’s education minister, Fuad Mohammed Kalaf, stated that “our policy is to fight against countries in IGAD who are our foes,” as he announced the opening of jihad warfare training camps.21

Finally, on October 9, 2006, the ICU regime formally declared jihad against Ethiopia.22 In doing so, Sheikh Ahmed asked for help from Somali expatriates: “I am appealing to all Somali communities… abroad to take part in the Jihad operation against the Ethiopian troops who want to occupy our land.”23 This call did not go unheeded: Somalis from as far away as Canada returned home, and after the ICU regime collapsed American, British, and Australian passports were found on the bodies of slain warriors.24

Just three weeks later, the ICU announced that it had accumulated 3,000 recruits. Sheikh Abdinur Farah, an ICU commander at a jihadist recruitment post south of Mogadishu, stated: “We have trained them to fight and that is a religious obligation. Ethiopia has made clear its intention: that is a war against us. So we are calling an open war against Ethiopia and every young fighter is welcome to join the jihad against the Ethiopian invaders.”25

The Daily Kos is right on top of this one. All of the Horn of Africa should be ruled by Somali jihadis, and then peace will prevail and the hated Americans will have to despoil somewhere else. Spencer continues:

The rapid collapse of the regime took many Western observers by surprise. The Western press had been remarkably hospitable to the ICU regime, praising it as the best hope for a recovery of peace and order in that anarchic land, and generally expressing the expectation that it would solidify its hold on power and bring long-lasting stability to Somalia. In June 2006, the BBC opined that the ICU’s coming to power in Mogadishu “may prove… to be a turning point in the peace process.” It warned that the real danger to peace was not the jihadist extremism of the ICU, but the Western characterization of that extremism: if the ICU were “treated with respect—as partners—they could turn into the group which delivers the capital to the government and so end years of conflict.” If, however, ICU strongholds were “viewed as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, that too, could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”39 Subsequently, in late February 2007, the BBC lamented the end of the ICU regime: “Since the overthrow of the Union of Islamic Courts at the turn of the year, Somalia has been descending back into the violence and chaos seen in the previous 16 years….”40

The Times of London went even farther. In his coverage, Times reporter Martin Fletcher waxed lyrical about the new, ICU-controlled Mogadishu: “For the first time in a generation Somalis can walk around safely, even at night. Children play football in the streets. Squads of Somalis in fluorescent yellow jackets emblazoned ‘Employment for Peace’ are removing mountains of garbage. Shops are painting brightly coloured pictures of their wares—mobiles, satellite dishes, radios—on their walls. The derelict port has been reopened, though every vessel must be unloaded by hand as there are no cranes, and children point excitedly at the sight of aircraft overhead.” Fletcher quoted a local doctor who had worked in a London hospital: “It’s like paradise compared to even one year ago. I’m feeling more safe here than in London.”41

In light of the stories of ICU troops firing into crowds, imposing draconian punishments for offenses such as watching soccer games, and energetically working toward the Talibanization of Somalia, and in light also of the cheering crowds in Mogadishu that greeted the troops who toppled the ICU regime, such accounts have an ironic piquancy. The ICU’s rigidity and harshness, and its rapid fall, makes it extremely unlikely that it could ever have enjoyed significant popular support. This is even more unlikely given the fact that the vision of Islam it was determined to impose upon Somalia was so at variance with the syncretistic cultural Islam that had hitherto prevailed in Somalia. Western analysts who saw in the ICU regime a new hope for the restoration of political order in Somalia were falling into the same mistake as did the 1930s journalists and analysts who praised the Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini regimes for the order they brought to their respective countries. By entering into Somalia so rapidly after the ICU’s seizure of power, the Ethiopian troops may have spared Somalis years of suffering under an extremist, totalitarian, brutal regime.

Somalia still desperately needs a strong government that will finally restore stability to this troubled nation. But the Islamic Courts Union regime only offered Somalis a new hell in place of an old one.

http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2007/13/spencer.php

What Somalia needs is a return to the rule of law, and, according to the Daily Kos, the ICI is the group to pull it off:

The Daily Star-By Agence France Presse (AFP)

MOGADISHU: An Islamic court in southern Somalia on Tuesday sentenced a man found guilty of murdering a UN aid worker to paying the victim’s family 100 female camels in compensation. The defendant, a member of an armed organization, pleaded guilty to the murder of senior World Food Program official Ibrahim Hussein Duale. “After a five-day trial, the court finally announced its verdict today … He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay 100 female camels,” a relative of the victim, told AFP. The trial took place in the town of Bardhubo, in the Gedo region, which is under the control of the hardline Islamist group Al-Shabaab and its allies.
The Islamist administration in the area has opened courts applying a version of Sharia, or Islamic law, over the past year. In the UN aid worker’s murder case, the judges deliberated and gave the victim’s family the option to choose the death penalty for the accused or receive compensation. Abdullahi Hussein, a local elder who was part of a committee involved in the case and suggesting an adequate sentence, said the 100 female camels were worth around $45,000. “Each she-camel is worth 10 million Somalia shillings, so 100 of them works out at around $45,000,” he said.

http://vladtepesblog.com/?p=6622

But now the American government has gone and wrecked all the good works of the Somali islamists. Will it surprise us if the Somalis go crazy and kill the next batch of hostages they take? No. It's all our fault. Rescuing Captain Richard Phillips was a mistake on our part. We should have negotiated. It's just a matter of camels, you know. But of course, you don't know, being American and ignorant of history. Now we know why Hillary was laughing. She probably had no idea she was worth so many camels.

Times of renewal in Vancouver

Sail Away, Sail Away

Looks like Obama is grist for caricature after all.

And for satire.

After maintaining his silence for two days, President Obama will soon make his first public statement about the pirate attack upon an U.S.-flagged vessel off the Horn of Africa. After several inquiries and a few well-placed bribes, Exurban League has received an early transcript of the President's remarks:

.

Good evening. As you know, early yesterday, Somali-based pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama, a freighter carrying relief supplies to Kenya. While we do not yet know all the details, the Alabama's crew re-took control of the vessel and forced the pirates off the ship.

Since the pirates are still holding the captain, I have sent FBI negotiators to facilitate his safe and speedy release. I assure his friends and family that I will not stop until this man-made disaster is resolved in a peaceful, tolerant and ecologically-sound manner.

Obviously, this incident has raised many concerns among Americans. There have been calls for justice and even violence against the misguided perpetrators. But such an emotional reaction has led to the disparagement of entire groups with which we are unfamiliar. We have seen this throughout history.

For too long, America has been too dismissive of the proud culture and invaluable contributions of the Pirate Community. Whether it is their pioneering work with prosthetics, husbandry of tropical birds or fanciful fashion sense, America owes a deep debt to Pirates.

The past eight years have shown a failure to appreciate the historic role of these noble seafarers. Instead of celebrating their entreprenuerial spirit and seeking to partner with them to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

Read it all here:
http://exurbanleague.com/2009/04/09/obama-issues-statement-on-the-pirate-attack.aspx

America: The world's most genocidally insane pot-smoking bureaucratic military in history threatens Somali pirates with, y'know, like, stuff.

President Obama still hasn't made any public statements about the latest act of piracy against American shipping. We turned instead to an unofficial source for a hint of the shape of things to come.

Joe DeCapua, "Somali Piracy - An Overstated Threat?" VOANews.com. Washington, D.C. 10 April 2009

While the piracy problem off the Somali coast is getting a lot of media attention, exactly how big a threat to maritime safety do the pirates pose?

John Patch ... associate professor for strategic intelligence at the US Army War College and a retired Navy surface warfare officer and career intelligence officer [has] an article an [at] US Naval Institute website – on Somali piracy. His comments are not to be taken as official US government policy.

In an interview with VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua, he says the Somali piracy problem may be overstated.

"Even with the incident of a US-flagged vessel taken, there's quite a lot of hype involved. World opinion and sometimes US opinion as well is often driven by passion, incidents of the moment and US pride. And we've got to be careful about formulating policy on those kinds of things," he says between puffs of some sah-mokin' weed.

Do statistics support an increase in Somali piracy activity? Commander Patch says, "Are the numbers up, numbers down? That's kind of debatable in a cosmic way. The data behind the actual seizures is very varied, actual as opposed to imaginary or smoke induced, y'know?. For example, if they have an approach by a small boat in the middle of the night, sometimes, with no actual piracy incident, that's still counted as an incident…. I'm not so sure that piracy is actually escalating out of control right now. My spidey-sense is, with the naval task force in the Gulf of Aden escorting daily many, many ships with safe passages, you've got to compare the number of piracy incidents to the actual safe passages and you'll see that the instances are still very low. Like, what's a ship here and there? Dig?"

The pirates, however, are now expanding operations outside the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, which is too large to adequately patrol, which is also a bummer.

"I would say that's a valid concern. Big ocean, little ships. I checked it out in my bath tub. There are only so many US Navy ships and, frankly, so many international naval capabilities, navy assets. So, all of those nations, including the US, have to pick and choose where they're going to place the resources. Like, my yellow duck here, and my little boat here. Who keeps an eye on Mr. Winky? It's a tough call, man. My argument in the article I think is still valid. And that is if you rack and stack global national security interests for the US and, frankly, for other nations, there are much more important issues that have to be addressed with a naval presence. Like, what about all the dope coming into the country? Who will supply me if we have ships dicking around with pirates? Piracy falls very low on the scale of important global issues that affect national interests," he says.

If tough action is not taken against the pirates, however, could it make the United States and other nations appear weak and lacking political will?

Patch says, "It may perhaps in the short term, but I think there have been many famous quotes over the years by leaders that say if you base your policies on pride and passion and public opinion, you will go in the wrong directions. So I think we have to be cautious with that. It's like jazz, when a sax-player is off on a riff and doesn't come back to the main theme?"

He says the Maersk Alabama has a lot of people "shaking their fists like guys at a Bon Jovi concert." He advises, though, it would be better to "keep an eye on the big picture and look at the end game. Like with Nintendo. There is a reason for it and that is to win a free beer at the bar."

As for there being enough international will to solve the problem, Patch says, " I think if you put a dollar figure beside what it would require to solve the problem ashore – and in Somali waters you're talking a huge international requirement of essentially nation building…I don't think anybody wants to sign that check right now. My spidey-sense is there will not be a lot of international resolve to attempt to do that in Somalia. They grow khat there, which is not nearly as good as pot. So why bother?"

Some have suggested a very targeted military response, such as destroying the pirate mother ships or the pirate leader mansions built from ransom money. Patch advises caution there as well.

"If there was any kind of effort to move ashore, if I was making any recommendations, it would be to ensure it's a multi-lateral approach…sanctioned by the UN. We call it, in the business, C.Y.A. That is, very clear and specific information on what the objective is that you're going after…. Imagine the ramifications if we hit the wrong house, the wrong village and we have 50 dead Somali civilians on our hands. It's a p.r. nightmare, dude. When that kinda shit comes down you want to be able to spread the blame far and thin. It can really slow your career. That is an issue that might result in much worse situations and, frankly, a policy outcome that the US doesn't necessarily want," he says.

He stress[ed] his views are not those of the US government [or] the war college.

"My spidey-sense is we don't have enough will, enough wherewithal and enough information to prosecute a sound land campaign. We're pretty busy elsewhere. Two and a half other wars going on right now, and what with the dope we got, who needs the extra hassles," he says.

Patch says that US leaders are "mulling over" what actions to take against policy and it appears they favor a multi-national approach. He recommends using "law enforcement ships rather than warships against the pirates.

'We're talking Coast Guard vessels, maybe perhaps ten or fifteen nations could provide their coast guard-type vessels with law enforcement detachments on board to try to patrol Somali waters and stop those boats before they get out in the open ocean and threaten shipping," he says, "you know, like a Tom Clancy movie. I want Brad Pitt to play me in the lead. Cool, huh?"

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-04-10-voa40.cf

Dude, now I know why we call 'em the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Far out.

Up-date:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama declined to answer reporters' questions on Thursday on a hostage crisis off the coast of Somalia, where a U.S. ship captain is being held captive by pirates.

Obama was asked to comment on the situation several times by reporters at a White House event on refinancing for homeowners. Obama, however, stuck closely to the script and replied that he wanted to remain focused on housing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5383TQ20090409

Unlike those damned French who get people killed:

One French hostage has died and four others have been freed in a rescue operation by French troops on a yacht off Somalia, French officials say.

Two pirates were killed in the operation and three were captured, the French presidency said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7994201.stm

They could have sent an FBI hostage negotiation team to talk it over:

The US Navy has enlisted the help of FBI hostage negotiators to try and broker a deal for Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama, captured by Somali pirates in the sea of Aden.

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/home/regularieninhalte/world-news-ticker/world/2009/04/09/us-send-fbi-negotiators-to-broker-deal-with-somali-pirates.html

An unidentified F.B.I. spokesperson said, "Chill, frog-dudes."

Passover 2.0

Pharaoh threw the boys into the Nile; Obama, shooting sulphur into the upper atmosphere, may find his metier in transcending the "anti-science" (burned) Bush and realizing his own campaign claim: "“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that… this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…”

Obama looking at cooling air to fight warming (via Belmont Club):

At first, [Obama science adviser] Holdren characterized the potential need to technologically tinker with the climate as just his personal view. However, he went on to say he has raised it in administration discussions.

"We're talking about all these issues in the White House," Holdren said. "There's a very vigorous process going on of discussing all the options for addressing the energy climate challenge."

Holdren said discussions include Cabinet officials and heads of sub-Cabinet level agencies, such as NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The 65-year-old physicist is far from alone in taking geoengineering seriously. The National Academy of Sciences is making it the subject of the first workshop in its new climate challenges program for policymakers, scientists and the public. The British Parliament has also discussed the idea. At an international meeting of climate scientists last month in Copenhagen, 15 talks dealt with different aspects of geoengineering.

It's easy enough to write all this off as some kind of insane ideology seeking massive control and power through various "scientific" pretensions to redeem a fallen humanity, as the people at Belmont Club are doing. While there is much to this argument when we are talking about the Obama crowd, more generally it's not simple, it seems to me. Once it becomes possible and unavoidable for man to influence global physical systems in measurably significant ways, as we are probably starting now to do; and once, as is inevitable, a science further develops to weigh risks and probabilities of various possible actions, will it be possible for humankind to just say "no", "no, we won't try to change conditions to avoid what may be present or foreseeable high risks and dangers (whether or not we are in any way responsible for the evolution of these threats to human life or ecological systems).

In other words, is it true that once you can, often you must, when life and death is in the balance? Even if one is maximally aware of the dangers of hubris (as I believe Obama and his people are not) is it not imaginable that some circumstance must in time arise with an imperative that demands we take some reasonable risk and try our best to influence climate or other geophysical systems? Is there an analogy to be made, for example, to our now common attempts to control ecological systems as we decide how much of a certain species of fish or game it is safe or a good idea to kill or consume, from the point of view of maintaining other species?

8-Year Old Gets Surprise Visit From Hero Home On Leave

A benign conspiracy between mom, grandparents and coach leads to a big treat for a little leaguer in Walkertown North Carolina:

Young Matthew Armstrong knew that Saturday would be a big day, since it was the first day of the season for his Little League team.

But Matthew, 8, of Walkertown, didn't know how big the day would be until an announcer called him up to the microphone during the opening ceremony. She asked him where his dad, Frank Marques, was.

"In Iraq," he replied shyly.

And what message would he like to send to Marques?

"That I love him," Matthew said.

The youngster then got his chance to deliver that message in person.

Frank Marques, back home on a two-week leave from his tour of duty with the Army, emerged downfield and walked from first base toward home plate, where Matthew was standing

Matthew ran out and jumped into Marques' arms, hugging him tight. And the crowd of hundreds applauded.
...

An eventful hug caught on tape.

[Hat tip to Jeff at Voices In My Head]

The pressure to merge Islamic values and Western values, or globalization as slavery

Islamic values: BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Dark side of the Dubai dream

Offering a purchase that would see a £438,000 apartment rise to £1.33m in just 10 years, the sales reps also said they believed the workers were happy to be there.

"It's much more difficult to earn some money in Pakistan or India, so people actually save by living for free in proper housing, eating for free in the canteen, using the transport and sending something to their families," she said.
[...]
Paying up to £2,000 to make the trip, the sum often has to be borrowed or family land sold in the belief that within 18 months the debt can be repaid.

Instead on arriving in Dubai they are met with shanty town conditions hidden from public view. In a country that penalises journalists reporting stories which negatively reflect the economy or insult the government with massive fines and even imprisonment, it was important to maintain a low profile.
[...]
None had been paid the money they were promised by the recruitment agencies, and many couldn't afford to eat properly, living on a diet of potatoes, lentils and bread. Average salaries are often no more than £120 a month. This for a six-day week, often working up to 12-hour shifts. One company paid approximately 30p an hour for overtime.

"I am not able to pay any of my debt and I cannot provide food properly to my family as well. I have made a great mistake coming here," one man told us.
[...]
"The latrines are so filthy we cannot use them, we are so disgusted. The roads are full of garbage and waterlogged."
[...]
We decided to find out for ourselves.

Armed with a secret camera we sneaked into the camp to be met with the smell of raw sewage. Sewage had leaked out all over the camp, and workers had to create a network of stepping stones to cross it and get back to their accommodation blocks. One toilet block had no water supply and the latrines were filled with piles of raw faeces.

Documents obtained by us showed that a month previous to our visit, the Dubai authorities described the sewage situation at the site as critical. Arabtec had been fined 10,000 dirhams, approximately £2,000, for allowing sewage to overflow into workers' accommodation.

The authorities also reported that the camp was overcrowded with 7,500 labourers sharing 1,248 rooms with poor ventilation.

But with the downturn in the economy, the workers feel less able to complain as the consequences are graver.

Western values, via scaramouche:

ISTANBUL (AP) — The incoming head of NATO called on Monday for a balance between free speech and respect for religious feelings after a dispute over his support for the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad had threatened his appointment.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who overcame objections from Turkey about his suitability for the alliance top job, said he will pay close attention to religious sensibilities when he becomes NATO secretary-general in August. His stance over the caricatures had angered Muslims around the world.

"I would never myself depict any religious figure, including the Prophet Muhammad, in a way that could hurt other people's feelings," the former Danish prime minister said at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey.

"I respect Islam as one of the world's major religions," said Fogh Rasmussen

American values: Obama Declines to Call Armenian Deaths in World War I a 'Genocide' - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com:

ANKARA, Turkey -- President Obama on Monday declined to repeat his claim that the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I was a "genocide," stepping back from his campaign pledge to Armenian Americans that the "widely documented fact" would be fully commemorated during his presidency.

During a joint news conference alongside Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Obama said he did not want to "focus on my views" or in any way interfere with delicate negotiations between Turks and Armenians on what the president called "a whole host of issues."

Obama sidestepped the issue -- a key tension point between Turks and Armenians and a rallying cry among Armenian-Americans -- saying he was trying to be as "encouraging as possible."

"I want to be as encouraging as possible around those negotiations, which are moving forward and could bear fruit very quickly, very soon," Obama said. "What I want to do is not focus on my views right now but focus on the views of the Turkish and Armenian people. What I told the (Turkish) president is I want to be as constructive as possible in moving these issues forward quickly. My sense is that they are moving quickly. I don't want to, as the president of the United States, want to preempt any possible arrangements, announcements that might be made in the near future."

Canadian values (this comments on the Sheikh who, “Asked how he felt about Jews, Sabri answered: “...I am filled with rage toward the Jews. I have never greeted a Jew when I came near one. I never will. They cannot even dream that I will. The Jews do not dare to bother me, because they are the most cowardly creatures Allah has ever created….”): Blazing Cat Fur: My Dinner with the Sheikh

Repeated calls were made by the Shiekh for the liberation of "The Holy Land of Palestine" , as well as the "whole" of Palestine. This call was echoed by the Bishop who stated specifically that the only solution was "One Palestine" - a real crowd pleaser by the way. Israel was described as a non-viable state reliant for its existence upon violence and foreign military aid and merely a temporary occupation force within "Holy Palestine".

Shades of Ahmadinnerjacket: When the Palestinian state is established, and that day is coming soon we were assured, only those nations which sided against Israel would be among the favoured.

Huzzahs all round by the crowd when shout-outs were made to CAF and fellow travellers, Sid Ryan, CUPE and CUPW. The crowd was also pointedly advised that the pendulum has swung and they should be sure to vote Liberal as most grit party members now favoured the Palestinian cause over Israel - Yea Lying Jackal you read that right. Neither Jason Kenney nor PM Harper were favoured with a cheer when their names came up.

Omar Algabra and Carolyn Parish - Mississauga's next Mayor according to a local reporter covering the event, both being "that type of majority Liberal" were noted guests as well as a Liberal MPP who may have been Navdeep Bains (unconfirmed at this time).

What was striking was listening to various of the speakers recite as if by rote all the Multi-Cult calling cards - diversity, shared "Canadian" values etc, close your eyes and you'd think Bernie Farber was MC'ing.

Radio Memories: The Return Of Hope

Back when my wife and I were still engaged we took an afternoon to visit the picturesque community of White Rock, curious to see the actual white rock there. The end of our pleasant day together saw us strolling, hand in hand, along a deserted sidewalk when suddenly our path crossed that of an elderly woman heading in the other direction. I forget what she looked like, but I’ve never forgotten the advice she offered us as we passed by. After we smiled and greeted her with a friendly hello, she suddenly said to us, a note of urgency in her voice: “Love each other while you still can, while you’re still young together”.

Easter is around the corner, and not too many decades ago that meant a lot of Easter-themed programs broadcast over television’s entertainment ancestor, the theater of the mind: radio drama. Resurrecting the tradition I had to put temporarily aside in February, this week we resume our regular Sunday Radio Memories posts, taking a break from blogging about more serious subjects in order to spare a moment to renew our hope in better things to come, by remembering the good things that have already come our way.

To help get in the mood for Easter weekend, this week’s Radio Memory is a sentimental favorite, a radio play with an important plot point revolving around an encounter similar to the forementioned one my wife and I personally experienced that unforgettable afternoon in White Rock.

The episode is entitled “Easter Rabbits” and was first broadcast Sunday evening, April 25th, 1943. It is from the immensely enjoyable situation comedy series The Great Gildersleeve, sponsored for the first 13 of its long 16-year run by Kraft Foods. In those simpler days the common practice was that one sponsor could afford one whole program themselves, which frequently led to a fascinating, almost quixotic individuality in programming, as a series would grow to reflect something of the values of the individual family business sponsoring it. For The Great Gildersleeve, Kraft alternated advertising its still comparatively new products, Kraft macaroni and cheese dinner (introduced in 1936), and Parkay margarine (introduced in 1937), as well as their contribution to renewing America's love of cheese, courtesy of Kraft's development of long-lasting, processed cheese.

A remarkable tradition began with this particular wartime episode: each year septuagenarian Mr. Kraft himself, Canadian-born Mennonite (and later Baptist convert) James Lewis Kraft, would offer Gildersleeve's listeners some hopeful thoughts on the spirit of Easter, through a short talk re-routed to Hollywood from his company's home base in Chicago. Starting at the 25:49 mark in the closing moments of this Easter broadcast, Mr. Kraft delivered the following three-minute address, which I've transcribed below for the sake of those who may not be able to listen to the actual episode.
I find J.L. Kraft's epilogue invigorating to listen to today, and as comforting to those of us challenged in our time to keep faith in a positive future, as it must have been to those back in 1943:

“I’m glad of this opportunity to bring Easter Greetings to Kraft men and women everywhere, and to the families of our boys and girls who are now in the service of their country.

When we think of Easter we naturally think of the Resurrection; the two words are eternally linked together. In every Christian land today, the celebration of Easter will bring its age-old message of hope to a war-darkened world. The fact of the Resurrection and the faith which it symbolizes, have never been so significant to so many nations and to so many peoples in the world’s history.

In itself, the word ‘resurrection’ is one of the most beautiful in our language. It means bringing back to life, the conquest of death, the return of hope.

At this springtime of the year, all nature tells the story of resurrection. We read its meaning in the budding trees, and in the miracle of nature’s re-awakening to vibrant life.

There is still another significance to the word ‘resurrection’: to bring back to memory that which was forgotten or lost. And it is upon this meaning of resurrection that I have been reflecting on this Easter Sunday. While our boys are away fighting for freedom around the world, enduring hardships, loneliness, weariness, we on the home front have a high responsibility toward them. While they are absent, our virtues grow in their minds and our shortcomings are forgotten.

Let us so live our lives that their ideals shall not be shattered when they return. Let us make them as proud of us as we are proud of them.

And so it seems particularly fitting to me that each of us at Easter time should resurrect our faith in God, and in the ideals of our forefathers. That faith and those ideals upon which this nation was founded, and by which it grew strong and great.

As youngsters our mothers taught us to say, when we pray, ‘now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep’. I have just had a letter from one of our own boys in North Africa, in which he says that eight men of his group kneel at their bunks every night and speak this prayer as they go to sleep. It means something to them, it meant something to us as children.

Let us then, as we think of these simple prayers, resurrect the trusting faith of our childhood, and approach God understandably. Let us resurrect and renew our strength in the God-given pioneer virtues.

Let us, at home in our daily lives, have the courage, the strength and the fortitude of those who fight for freedom; that we and our children, and they and their children, may live in peace. They are counting on us, depending on us, to maintain their ideals of home and family, until they join us again.

And in this we cannot fail them.

The times change, but the message remains the same, doesn't it: to love each other as we can, so that even in the aftermath of painful loss the darkness of personal despair may be gently dispelled by the light of another's love, sparking a renewal of individual faith, leading to a general return of hope.



Previous Radio Memories posts:
Dimension X: Time And Time Again
An American In England: Women Of Britain
Cavalcade Of America: Bob Hope Reports
The March Of Time: Feb 10 1938 broadcast
Hear It Now: Coming Home From The Korean War
Escape: Vanishing Lady
Rogers Of The Gazette: Rewinding The Town Clock

All you need to know...

NEW York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller equated the Gray Lady to a PBS pledge drive, claiming readers have offered to donate money to keep the Times alive... "Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause."

CASH-STARVED TIMES COMPARED TO DARFUR - New York Post

The next great danger to the free exchange of news and opinion is the attempt to institutionalize the remnants of the old media as charities whose cause, whose left-liberal politics, whose supposedly authoritative discipline, will become represented as too noble, too professional, not to fund. And the wealthy and government will forever be guilted into supporting these Darfur-worthy victims.

Well, with just which side in Darfur do they side? After all, what is a professional but some kind of priest? And what is the bloody violence in Darfur but a form of sacrificial conduct (the bloody-minded self-interest of one segment of Sudanese society notwithstanding, their Jihad is arguably an Islamic and/or tribal sacrament)?

President Obama Humiliates America

On September 11, 2001 fifteen Saudi terrorist Muslims and four others outraged our nation by acts of mass murder.

Now our president outrages our nation by bowing down to their king.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/04/obama_bows_down_to_saudi_king.html
Here is a video of the unmistakable bow: (hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

A trip through the April 1 news...

British anarchists call for their dole to be paid, not in money, but, apparently, in goods or barter, as they trash a bank chanting "death to money". Getting into the spirit,

some bankers swapped their pinstripe suits for casual wear and others stayed home. Bolder financial workers leaned out their office windows Wednesday, taunting demonstrators and waving 10 pound notes at them.
[...]
One protester dressed as the Easter bunny managed to hop through the police cordon but was stopped before he could reach the Bank of England. Another black-clad demonstrator waved a fake light sabre at officers.

Musician and political activist Billy Bragg said the time was now to make a difference.

The Queen is so appalled, she is thinking of fleeing to Canada.

In other news,

Osama bin Laden works at Pearson Airport loading security-cleared luggage on departing flights, while the wife of a mafia drug lord sorts in-bound luggage before it gets to customs.

And, Lenin has finally come around to identifying with the impoverished condition of the workers:


In no surprise, French Jews are giving up the French language and fleeing to America.

But Jewish-American academics cast doubt on assertions that we are currently witnessing a rise in antisemitism, though no one can be sure just what words were covered up in duct tape. Readers are invited to lay their bets in comments:


Meanwhile, Vancouverites are raising $250,000 to build "artificial roots" for a long dead tree.


Finally, God is punishing Vancouverites for indulging in the global warming religion, with snow spotted at sea level, in April.