Sunday November 2, 2003

GO RAMS!!

The Game: Rams @ San Francisco
The Time: 3: 15 p.m. (Central)
The Line: Rams by 2

If you can bear it, read this article in The Guardian illustrating The Madness of Kim Jong Il. Excerpt,

Lee's hands caught each other in midair and settled for a moment in her lap. 'Before I found God, I drank a lot, and I drank a lot of alcohol in front of the graves of my children. I want to tear Kim Jong Il to death. My eldest son's wife and two of their children died of hunger. Their father had been working at a chemical-weapons factory, and they were starving. Two grandsons were starving - eight and 10 years old. They went to a noodle seller, and begged. The noodle seller gave them some noodles. They ate and fell asleep on the shop floor. Then the owner killed them with an axe to put their meat into the noodles, because pork was very expensive at the time.'

Take a look at what the School Lunch Program has become. At the programs inception in 1969, approximately 15% school lunches were free or at reduced prices. By 2002, free or reduced price lunches comprised more than 57% of all school lunches. Fifty-seven percent! This illustrates one of the fundamental flaws of the Great Society and the War on Poverty: subsidize it and they will come.

But there are other ramifications as well. When I was a kid in high school, the vast majority of us went though the regular lunch line (typical standard school lunch) and there was no real knowledge of who received free, reduced priced or regularly prices lunches (at least I wasn't aware of it). Some went through the "snack bar" line (as I occasionally did), but that was thought to be personal preference. Today, many kids (mine included) will not go through the "regular lunch line" as it carries a social stigma: that's the poor kids line. Really. That's what my kids tell me. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I believe it--at least at middle class suburban schools. So the kids avoid the regular lunch line (and the social stigma) and end up getting mostly junk food at the other lines. Beyond the astronomical bloating of the School Lunch Program, this is another unintended consequence.

Here's a pretty funny "letter" from a new recruit:

We go on "route" marches, which the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.

The Sergeant is like a schoolteacher. He nags some. The Capt. is like the school board. Majors and Colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move. And it ain't shooting at you, like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Friday October 31, 2003

Here's an example of clear and reasoned analysis from the far-left from the San Franciso Chronicle:

Look. Bush told Americans we were going to enter into this savage and bloody war no one really wanted because Iraq posed an immediate and imminent threat to the security of the U.S. and its citizens. He gutted the economy for it. He destroyed long-standing relationships with countless international allies for it. He made America into this rogue superpower brat, disrespected and untrustable and appalling, for it. And it was never true...

... OK, I'll spell it out: George W. Bush and his entire senior administration lied, and continue to lie, flagrantly, openly, knowingly, with full intent, about the need to drive this nation into a brutal and unwinnable and fiscally debilitating war, one that protects no one and inhibits no terrorism and defends nothing but BushCo's own petrochemical cronies and political stratagems.

I don't know the actual portion of the population that really believes this, but I'd expect it would be something less than 20%. Of course belief in these ideas might be a bit higher in San Fran (or in the population of NPR listeners). hey, no offense. I listen to NPR too --ed.

Here are some thoughts on rising anti-semitism from Victor Davis Hanson:

This fashionable anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism — especially among purported intellectuals of the Left — reveals a deep-seated, scary pathology that is growing geometrically both in and outside the West. For a Europe that is disarmed, plagued by a demographic nightmare of negative population growth and unsustainable entitlements, filled with unassimilated immigrants, and deeply angry about the power and presence of the United States, the Jews and their Israel provide momentary relief on the cheap. So expect that more crazy thoughts of Israel's destruction dressed up as peace plans will be as common as gravestone and synagogue smashing.

Wednesday October 29, 2003

The deluded Israeli left still believes that it can deal in good faith with the Palestinians. Just last week there were "accords" reached in Geneva between former Israeli and Palestinian ministers which is essentially "Oslo Redux"--Israeli concessions for Palestinian promises. Rightfully, this idea was rejected by the current Israeli leadership and much of the Israeli public. The delusion and the yearning for peace-at-any-cost still persists. WorldNetDaily says this:

Oslo was a beautiful dream and Israel tried everything it could to make it work, but it's high time to accept the reality of the situation – there is no Palestinian peace partner, and should one ever emerge, things need to be handled much differently, in delicate stages that begin with the absolute crushing of Arafat's extensive terror apparatus.

And yet the Israeli left still persists. The peace camp, which brought Arafat back from Tunis and believed so fervently that the PLO would abandon its stated goal of destroying Israel in exchange for a state, has yet to own up to its mistakes, or admit that any fundamental change in direction is necessary.

...But Israeli citizens must be given more credit. They will never again delude themselves into believing in final status negotiations until an actual democratically elected Palestinian governing body really, truly proves over a long period of time that it has abandoned terrorism and is ready for peace. The left should have heard this loud and clear in the past two Israeli elections – Ariel Sharon won by landslides and Labor lost almost half its Knesset seats.

I believe it is truly too late for any real peace until the Palestinians are utterly defeated. The Palestinian leadership has poisened the well. Even at this point, as unlikely as it is, if the Palestinian leadership truly rejected terrorism and acted in good faith, the vast majority of ordinary Palestinians maintain a deep seething hatred of the Jews. This hatred permeates throughout all of Palestinian society. It is taught in the schools, it is portrayed in the media, it is taught in the Mosques. It has been inculcated to an entire generation of Palestinians. This is true not only in Palestinian culture, but throughout the Islamic world. Here are some examples:

This is from the Jerusalem Post:

OF THE many examples, one stands out for me: a June 2002 interview with a three-year-old girl named Basmallah on Saudi television, made available by the Middle East Media and Research Institute.
Anchor: Basmallah, are you familiar with the Jews?
Basmallah: Yes.
Anchor: Do you like them?
Basmallah: No.
Anchor: Why don't you like them?
Basmallah: Because...
Anchor: Because they are what?
Basmallah: They're apes and pigs.
Anchor: Because they are apes and pigs. Who said they are so?
Basmallah: Our God.
Anchor: Where did he say this?
Basmallah: In the Koran.

And this from FrontPage Magazine:

"Kill the Jews and those Americans who are like them and those who stand with them; they are all in one trench against the Arabs and Muslims. Because they created Israel here inside the beating heart of the Arab world, in Palestine, they created it to be the vanguard of their civilization, the vanguard of their armies, to be the sword of the West and the Crusaders, over the necks of the Muslims." (Palestinian Television, October 13, 2000.)

Or how about this interview on Palestinian Television (via Palestine Media Watch) with two 11 year old girls discussing Shadada (Death for Allah):

Host: "You described Shahada as something beautiful. Do you think it is beautiful?"
Walla: "Shahada is very, very beautiful. Everyone yearns for Shahada. What could be better than going to paradise?"
Host: "What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people, or Shahada?"
Walla: "Shahada. I will achieve my rights after becoming a Shahida."
Yussra: "Of course Shahada is a good thing. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife... The children of Palestine have accepted the concept that this is Shahada, and that death by Shahada is very good. Every Palestinian child aged, say 12, says 'Oh Lord, I would like to become a Shahid.'" [PATV, June 9, 2002]

Or perhaps, this article in the PA Daily:

"During these moments in history it is extremely important to adopt a direct and decisive position regarding imperialism, and especially regarding the Zionist entity. There is no option but resistance to imperialism... There is a need to crystallize a position regarding the imperialist-Zionist project in the Arab region. The resistance - that is meant to bring the expulsion of the American occupation in Iraq - should be supported by all means. The same applies to the struggle against the Zionist entity until the Zionist project is defeated, it's entity is eliminated, and a free and Arab Palestine is established as a first step towards uniting the Arab homeland and striving towards independent development and socialism. There are no other fundamental solutions to the Arab problem, but this one...
The two state solution, a binational state, or even one democratic state outside the Arab dimension, will not be capable of getting rid of the contrast between the Arab masses and the Zionist-imperialist project in the Arab region ...

It's clear that the Palestinians do not want peaceful coexistence. Even if a more modeate leadership were to emerge, it would not be supported by the people. The well has been poisoned.