The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has an editorial excusing the UW Student Senate on the whole COL Boyington memorial flap. Bizarrely, they condescendingly and incorrectly claim that the memorial was shot down because it wasn't honorific enough of enough different veterans. But this is exactly the opposite of what the minutes of that meeting made clear was at issue. Sloppy journalism at best.
Hilariously, the paper also gives credit to these students for a more "inclusive" memorial that is now being supported, as if that would have happened without the entire nation shaming them into it.
Shameful. The statue was opposed not because the students wanted more, but because they wanted less. The P-I snidely looks down their nose at the bloggers while giving these students a pass for making overtly insulting comments to military members. Typically, they excuse the comments saying "asking a question is always fair."
This is as untrue as "There are no such thing as stupid questions." Because the P-I shares an ideology with the anti-memorial, anti-military students, they took the "senators" backpedaling explanations on pure faith without ANY skepticism or question.
The P-I does no favors to these students' civics education by implying that legitimate criticism for their public comments is somehow out of bounds, or by reinforcing their re-write of what was actually said at the meeting. They also do no favors to their own credibility.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Hamas Spokesman Jimmy Carter...
...once again embarrasses his country and sticks up for oppression and evil in the name of "peace," this time in this Washington Post Op/Ed begging the world and the United States, "Don't Punish the Palestinians."
The same logic, willful ignorance, and unique "grasp" of the issues of the day that brought us late 70's economic and social malaise, reinvigorated the Soviet Union, and taught the Middle East that we were weak, ineffectual, and would do no more than write strong letters when attacked is now put into play to convince us that we should follow his advice with regards to Hamas.
My favorite part (remember - this is Jimmy Carter's own words):
Ankle Biting Pundits has a fantastic response, stopping along the way to point out his many examples of collusion with oppression.
Whatever moral credibility Carter may have once had is gone. Wherever he goes, oppression smiles because it knows it will be excused and forgiven, and the forces of freedom will be chided for not being more understanding. He happily skips down the proverbial road to hell paved with the best of intentions, and makes the world a more dangerous place as he goes. He is no longer this nation's "Best Ex-President". He is a menace to freedom, and exemplifies the reason Americans do not - and cannot - trust the current Democratic Party with the nation's National Security.
The same logic, willful ignorance, and unique "grasp" of the issues of the day that brought us late 70's economic and social malaise, reinvigorated the Soviet Union, and taught the Middle East that we were weak, ineffectual, and would do no more than write strong letters when attacked is now put into play to convince us that we should follow his advice with regards to Hamas.
My favorite part (remember - this is Jimmy Carter's own words):
Abbas has announced that he will not choose a prime minister who does not recognize Israel or adhere to the basic principles of the "road map." This could result in a stalemated process, but my conversations with representatives of both sides indicate that they wish to avoid such an imbroglio. The spokesman for Hamas claimed, "We want a peaceful unity government."HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, wait. He was being serious. But Hamas isn't going to take Jimmy Carter any more seriously than we are. The fact that he honestly believes Hamas is willing to renounce their founding principle of eliminating Israel and slaughtering Jews is exactly the reason Americans didn't trust Jimmy Carter to handle world affairs in 1980, and still don't trust him now. I would say that he should know better, but I guess he never new in the first place.
Ankle Biting Pundits has a fantastic response, stopping along the way to point out his many examples of collusion with oppression.
Whatever moral credibility Carter may have once had is gone. Wherever he goes, oppression smiles because it knows it will be excused and forgiven, and the forces of freedom will be chided for not being more understanding. He happily skips down the proverbial road to hell paved with the best of intentions, and makes the world a more dangerous place as he goes. He is no longer this nation's "Best Ex-President". He is a menace to freedom, and exemplifies the reason Americans do not - and cannot - trust the current Democratic Party with the nation's National Security.
The Orwell Silliness
Every once in awhile, you come across the silly Bush Administration = 1984 references, and they just make you laugh. This one was in the Seattle times the other day, and I found it linked to some left wing blogs that were all e-nodding in solemn agreement.
It's funny that they don't recognize that 1984 was written in 1948 in response to communist oppression, which was starting to make itself known to the rest of the world in 1948. The media wasn't owned by "big corporations" that had to answer to their advertising demographics (aka, "The People"), it was owned by the government which answered to nothing. You couldn't own a business, because the government owned the means of production. You couldn't pick your job. You couldn't save up and buy a nicer house. The government was not going to step down voluntarily just because a 200 year old piece of paper said so. And you certainly couldn't vote against the guy you didn't like, or jump on the internet and inform yourself of actual happenings overseas. 1984 is about the ultimate Big Government.
That was Orwell's vision. But it was more than a vision. It was also descriptive of ACTUAL happenings in real places, like in Iraq and Afghanistan before we went in. And it still is in places like North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia - just not in the USA.
I also note that the author ignores that we really are at war against people who really do want to kill us. That's not a GOP fantasy. That's reality. And that's why these people aren't taken seriously by people who understand the world has real problems in it.
If we actually lived in the world Ryan Blethan or any of the rest of the "Orwellian Scholars" think we do, they would have been disappeared before their article came out, and the Seattle Times office would mysteriously have been burned for endorsing John Kerry. The Daily Kos would be shut down. The internet would be censored, as it is in China. The entire staff of the NYT would be in jail for leaking national security secrets. We would not have a 2008 election. Or any elections.
I understand their feelings, though. People want to be validated for their ideas. And when it becomes abundantly clear that people reject your ideas election after election after election, all you have left is to say, "They WOULD have agreed with me if only we didn't live in Big Brother land and were too dumb/scared/ignorant/hickish/Southern to bow to my wisdom."
In fact, it's almost as if the liberal author is misleading the reader about the current state of affairs to scare people into supporting his position. Hmmmm...
Why, it's almost like George Orwell wrote the script.
It's funny that they don't recognize that 1984 was written in 1948 in response to communist oppression, which was starting to make itself known to the rest of the world in 1948. The media wasn't owned by "big corporations" that had to answer to their advertising demographics (aka, "The People"), it was owned by the government which answered to nothing. You couldn't own a business, because the government owned the means of production. You couldn't pick your job. You couldn't save up and buy a nicer house. The government was not going to step down voluntarily just because a 200 year old piece of paper said so. And you certainly couldn't vote against the guy you didn't like, or jump on the internet and inform yourself of actual happenings overseas. 1984 is about the ultimate Big Government.
That was Orwell's vision. But it was more than a vision. It was also descriptive of ACTUAL happenings in real places, like in Iraq and Afghanistan before we went in. And it still is in places like North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia - just not in the USA.
I also note that the author ignores that we really are at war against people who really do want to kill us. That's not a GOP fantasy. That's reality. And that's why these people aren't taken seriously by people who understand the world has real problems in it.
If we actually lived in the world Ryan Blethan or any of the rest of the "Orwellian Scholars" think we do, they would have been disappeared before their article came out, and the Seattle Times office would mysteriously have been burned for endorsing John Kerry. The Daily Kos would be shut down. The internet would be censored, as it is in China. The entire staff of the NYT would be in jail for leaking national security secrets. We would not have a 2008 election. Or any elections.
I understand their feelings, though. People want to be validated for their ideas. And when it becomes abundantly clear that people reject your ideas election after election after election, all you have left is to say, "They WOULD have agreed with me if only we didn't live in Big Brother land and were too dumb/scared/ignorant/hickish/Southern to bow to my wisdom."
In fact, it's almost as if the liberal author is misleading the reader about the current state of affairs to scare people into supporting his position. Hmmmm...
Why, it's almost like George Orwell wrote the script.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Non Fidelis at UW
I'm so ashamed of my school right now. The student senate has voted not to support even the idea of honoring WWII Congressional Medal of Honor winner Gregory "Pappy" Boyington because we shouldn't honor people who kill. Apparently, even if those people killed were literally fascists who were attempting actual global imperialism.
The award for the Most Asinine Hippy Statement of the Month goes to "Senator" Jill Edwards, representing the Honors Croquet League, who said that she didn't think "a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce." This profoundly disrespectful statement for military people in general is disgusting. Are we really going to go back to spitting on the troops? Does Miss Edwards really think the world would be a better place had we not had US Marines in WWII? Certainly this goes beyond disagreement about the Iraq War.
The University itself brags about the distinguished Marine on their official alumni page. I wonder how proud the author of that article is about his alma mater now. More importantly, I wonder how much money they'll be willing to give to the school in the future. I hope President Emmert is taking notice.
Of course, this whole hoopla may wind up helping the school recognize COL Boyington. I wouldn't have known about the effort. If I find a way to donate to the effort, I'll post it here.
Read the full minutes of the Student Senate session here. Contact Miss Edwards here.
The award for the Most Asinine Hippy Statement of the Month goes to "Senator" Jill Edwards, representing the Honors Croquet League, who said that she didn't think "a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce." This profoundly disrespectful statement for military people in general is disgusting. Are we really going to go back to spitting on the troops? Does Miss Edwards really think the world would be a better place had we not had US Marines in WWII? Certainly this goes beyond disagreement about the Iraq War.
The University itself brags about the distinguished Marine on their official alumni page. I wonder how proud the author of that article is about his alma mater now. More importantly, I wonder how much money they'll be willing to give to the school in the future. I hope President Emmert is taking notice.
Of course, this whole hoopla may wind up helping the school recognize COL Boyington. I wouldn't have known about the effort. If I find a way to donate to the effort, I'll post it here.
Read the full minutes of the Student Senate session here. Contact Miss Edwards here.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Chuztpah, Thy Name is Hillary
Here's Hillary Clinton's take on the Dick Cheney non-story:
"The refusal of this administration to level with the American people on matters large and small is very disturbing, because it goes counter to the way our constitutional democracy ... is supposed to work."
Holy friggin' cow.
This coming from the wife of a man suspended from the bar for perjury, from a woman who failed to report Vince Foster's suicide note to the media until 30 hours after the fact and his house had been sanitized, and from someone who has still failed to explain how Rose Law Firm documents she swore were destroyed ended up in her White House bedroom.
Unbelievable. Or not.
This, of course, despite the fact that Cheney immediately ensured his victim had emergency medical care, that he immediately notified the local sherrif, and immediately told the rancher on whose land they were hunting that he could tell the local media.
"The refusal of this administration to level with the American people on matters large and small is very disturbing, because it goes counter to the way our constitutional democracy ... is supposed to work."
Holy friggin' cow.
This coming from the wife of a man suspended from the bar for perjury, from a woman who failed to report Vince Foster's suicide note to the media until 30 hours after the fact and his house had been sanitized, and from someone who has still failed to explain how Rose Law Firm documents she swore were destroyed ended up in her White House bedroom.
Unbelievable. Or not.
This, of course, despite the fact that Cheney immediately ensured his victim had emergency medical care, that he immediately notified the local sherrif, and immediately told the rancher on whose land they were hunting that he could tell the local media.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Ideological Diversity in the Classroom
The Yale Fed Soc is launching a program to lobby for a more balanced faculty at their law school. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.
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