Senator Compares Gitmo to Concentration Death Camps

On the Senate floor, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) read an e-mail from an FBI agent, complaining:

one al Qaeda suspect was chained to the floor, kept in an extremely cold air-conditioned cell and forced to hear loud rap music.

After reading the e-mail, Mr. Durbin said, "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."

On behalf of the United States of America, I would like to apologize to the souls of my dead Jewish ancestors who perished in the Holocaust and holocaust victims and survivors everywhere.

Most of us know that Hitler did not just force Jewish people to listen to Wagner, quote Nietzsche to them, or make them catch chills. Most of us know that these two things do not equate. Mr. Durbin, however, apparently slept through history class.

Not, of course, that I am equating Wagner with rap music. Rap music is obviously far, far worse.

I hope the voters of Illinois plan to send a real apology. On his "contact center" page, Durbin expresses his "hope you take a moment to share your thoughts with me so that I may continue to serve and represent your interests and concerns." Please also keep this in mind in 2008 when Mr. Durbin is up for reelection.

Gold Star Mothers For Peace: Please Allow Your Children to Rest in Peace

The Urban Grind comments on Religious Liberals and why they are the worst kind.

It has always bothered me when one group or another cloaks their political arguments in religious justifications. I totally respect that some people's faith leads them to certain beliefs, such as not wish to serve in the war. However, we have a separation of church and state and you will have to produce another argument if you want to influence policy, rather than just be a conscientious objector.

What alo upsets me in this case is that these people are making use of their dead adult children's memories for a cause that these independence adults may not have supported. If these children were conscientious objectors, they should not have been in the military. We have a volunteer military.

So, we have mother doing a terrible dishonor to the service and sacrifice her son gave to the country.

As the Urban Grind excerpts:

"We're watching you very carefully and we're going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people," she said, quoting a letter she sent to the White House. "Beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life," she said, as the audience of 200 people cheered.

Such violent imagery from one who wants to claim a religious justification for urging peace! If she is against the war, that is her business. If she wants to honor her son's death, however, this is just associating his name with more violent imagery and repudiating everything he fought for.

From another article this got me:

Quoting scripture and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hinson suggested the nation is greedy and morally bankrupt and warned that America's fear of terrorism is excessive and unhealthy. Denouncing "fear that immobilizes, fear that causes you to lash out mindlessly, fear that prompts a nation to launch a preemptive strike against an imagined enemy, fear in excess," Hinson said, "Only God's love can bring that kind of fear under control.

Hmmm... fear that immobilizes... causes you to lash out mindlessly? Pot, kettle, black???

I disagree with her and her inflammatory language but I find it hard to hate her, she did after all lose her son. Heck, I find it hard to hate, in general. I don't know what she was like before but I guess she is probably wild with grief... that causes her to lash out mindlessly. I feel for her.

I wonder what her son would think, though, and if she realizes that she is dishonoring his service.

Grand Master Flash Replaces Sartre

Glancing at a recent edition of a major high school WESTERN CIV textbook I am using (which shall remain nameless because I am an employee) I noticed that they removed a document by Sartre and replaced it with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message."

The barbarians have breached the gates.

I do not mind tossing in a little social history, a little rap or hip-hop, something to draw the students in. When you replace Sartre with Grandmaster Flash, however, you have simply sent up the white flag in the culture wars.

No retreat, no surrender! Take a close look at the books your schools are using, students and parents, and don't be afraid to make your opinions known.

Disappearing Comments

Comments from earlier posts seem to have disappeared! Sorry about that. Hopefully it will not happen again.

I have not been posting a lot lately--I'm trying to finish up work before I go on vacation. When I come back from vacation I'll decide whether I'm going to keep this side of the blog up or if I'm going to just concentrate on "An Army Wife's Life."

If you don't already read The Onion, you should give it a try. Here's a fun one:


Kuwait Starting To Notice Girls

KUWAIT CITY—In light of the country's recent decision to allow women to vote and hold public office, observers around the world have noted that Kuwait appears to have discovered the fairer sex. "The boys in Kuwait are really taking notice of how much the girls have changed over the country's long political winter," said Fouad Ajami, an expert in Arab affairs. "They're no longer shyly avoiding women they're not related to or clumsily shooting them for not wearing veils in public." Ajami added that he was not entirely surprised by Kuwait's discovery, given its long history of teasing women, calling them names, and stoning them to death for being unclean.

What the Terrorists Really Fear

We can debate "torture" and the "reasons" for terrorism and Gitmo and Abu Ghraib until the cows come home but the truth is we're just missing the point.

When it comes down to it, the difference between "us" and "them" is that we try to save human life whereas they try to destroy it. The US would much rather be helping people than blowing them up. (And yes, making a healthy profit in the process... what's wrong with that?)

I had an exciting debate with some friends who visited for Memorial Day weekend during which I asserted that it basically comes down to the fact that we are being attacked by people who simply put a lower value on human life than we do here in the West. One friend was willing to concede this but argued that the issue was about opportunity, mostly economic. He said that if there was more mobility in these societies, they would value life more and not be so eager to blow themselves up.

While I don't think poverty helps matters, I disagree with my friend. The past five or so centuries of Western tradition have been about valuing the individual. The mindset in the Islamic Middle East is entirely different, with, of course, individual exceptions. I don't think that is part of Islam itself but I do think it has become part of Middle Eastern Islamic culture.

Anyway, this is a long-winded introduction to a little bit of good news. The terrorists want to draw attention away from the good we are doing in Iraq, and the fact that this is actually our intent. They want to do this because if Iraqis and Muslims in general begin to see the truth about the United States, they will see that we really just want to help. They will begin to see the value in human life. Then there will be stability, and capitalism, and democracy. Slowly the fear will recede and the fanatics will lose power. That is why the terrorists would prefer riots and battles.

I hope you enjoy reading this bit of news:

New York Civil Affairs Unit 'Supplies' Village

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Roberto L. Garcia, 353rd Civil Affairs Brigade government team chief, has been in Iraq since September, and he said the basic mission of his unit is to help restore the country of Iraq.

“From schools to hospitals, law, agriculture, water - everything from A to Z, we do it,” said Garcia, a Chicago resident and windy-city police officer.

The brigade works with Iraqi French Village council members to discuss concerns in the area, and a large part of Garcia’s agenda revolves around relief missions that provide the local children with school supplies and toys donated by American citizens.

Alumni in Poll Say President of Harvard Shouldn't Quit

BOSTON, June 4 - A majority of Harvard alumni believe that the university's president, Lawrence H. Summers, has done a good job over all and should not resign, according to a poll conducted for a new independent alumni magazine.

The majority of respondents to the survey, 62 percent, said they disagreed with Dr. Summers's statements, and 58 percent said they thought discrimination and upbringing, not aptitude, was the biggest factor contributing to the under-representation of women in science.

Asked whether Dr. Summers had diminished the university's reputation, 42 percent of respondents said yes, 28 percent said no, and 30 percent said they did not know or refused to answer the question.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents, or 63 percent, said Dr. Summers should keep his job, and just over one-half had a favorable impression of him and said he was a victim of political correctness. A spokesman for Dr. Summers declined to comment.

We should listen to the wisdom of our elders on this one. They understand that they can disagree with Summers without stifling academic discourse.

85 Percent of Iraqis Likely to Vote in October

Update--

Maybe I'm missing it, please let me know if I am, but this not yet been commented on by any major news source but FOX News. If you've seen this in a major newspaper, please let me know!
---Original Post---

Myers Says 85 Percent of Iraqis Likely to Vote in October

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2005 – Some 85 percent of Iraqis said they will vote in October elections to ratify a new constitution in October, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a Pentagon news conference today, citing recent polling data.

I wonder how long it will take the national media to pick up this story, if they do at all... What is in the headlines right now besides the usual gloom and doom? Deep Throat and Tom Cruise.

Leaving aside Cruise for a second...

After the election, liberals seemed to think they lost because of values voters. I wonder if the Democrats keep losing because they are simply so stuck in the past. Conservatives are supposed to look back on the past with fondness but it is the liberals who are nostalgic for the old days.

During the election, a number of pundits noted that the Kerry campaign seemed awfully fixated on Vietnam.

Now, our top news story is about the scandals of the Nixon administration. The boomers just don't want to let go.