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60 Million Minds20 comments to 60 Million Minds |
Targets of Opportunityblog advertising is good for you Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke “You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex For the Effort!Subscribe Tagsafghanistan AGW army Blogging buffoonery china culture economy Flying Friday Musings geopol Gratuitous slap GWOT Headlines health care History iran iraq issues Media Memory Lane Military Navy norks Oz pakistan piracy politicians politics Politics and Culture pundits Russia science sea stories silliness Small Stuff SoCal sport Tech Lust technology UAVs UK usaf usmc weapons WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better. Categories |
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“I’d add that it is with tremendous grace that George Bush has accepted his designated role as villain, fall guy, punching bag…”
Understatement of the freakin’ year. Never met the man, met his wife once. I wasn’t a fan in the late summer/fall of 2000 (thought I was for McCain and all that), but I became respectful over the years. Glad for his signature on my retirment papers nowadays. He probably will be looked upon very favorably in history books 20 plus years from now.
Problem is, we won’t hear the apologies owed from those that spout their hatred now.
“In an age of growing threats and challenges, the projection of hard power matters, and America’s next president would be wise to take heed.”
Let us sincerely hope the new President does.
I wish Obama well, I truly do.
But, I hope he has the courage to face some of the hard truths about life in today’s world that so many liberals prefer to ignore.
I, personally, wish everybody well. But this makes the final question on the page, sound something like this, “Are you free?” The problem is they have not looked at the following page with the final question. It sounds something like this, “Now, that you are free, what are you going to do with that new found freedom?” The answer will take literally forever to answer. It will also be the only true measurement of success. I believe America has done the best She can do, but ultimately, it is up to the people of the region.
I sure get tired of these MSM jerks acting as if their smearing of GWB over the years was some fun pastime everyone in the world enjoyed, and they are now going to help us rubes understand that it might not end up being fair or wise.
Some of us saw clearly both the villany of the MSM and the gallantry of GWB all along. Yes, gallantry – there’s a word you don’t hear very often these days, but it applies perfectly to our President. And “villany” applies perfectly to the vermin we call journalists, too.
History will record that this administration stood firm in America’s fight against a fanatical ideology hellbent on the destruction of the West. The costs have been high, but Bush’s commitment to victory in Iraq and the broader war on terror will place him in the category of great foreign policy presidents as the immediacy and partisanship of the moment fade over time.
The thing you have to respect George W. Bush for the most is that he knew he was going to get hammered for going to war. He knew would be reviled. He knew that what he did would not be acknowledged in his lifetime, and he rolled up his sleeves and went to work, and never looked back. Good men worry not about what’s behind them when they set about to do what must be done. They just get it done. God bless George Bush.
“But, I hope he (Obama) has the courage to face some of the hard truths about life in today’s world that so many liberals prefer to ignore.”
I, unfortunately, came across such a liberal on Christmas Day. Making merry with “friends” can be hazardous to your spiritual health… If I weren’t the polite person that I am I would like to ask all the candle lighters and kumbaya people what they envision the world to be like without the U.S. military, the Navy especially.
I imagine that they haven’t thought that one out too far ahead.
Oh, Sherlock and Byron, I’m with you on this…Bush is a man with guts and grace, and an always earnest aim to do the right thing, no matter how unpopular it was. I only hope that in 20 years or so, presidential historians will have gained enough distance from today to truly appreciate him.
Marianne
Like former President Jimmy Carter, eh?
Flit: Carter lost Iran to fundamentalists, lost Central America to communists and couldn’t retrieve Iranian hostages. G. W.B. deposed two evil regimes to give hope for freedom to millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t see revisionist history treating Jimmy Carter as well.
Are you just poking at the hornets nest to see if it’s empty?
Bush has acted with exceptional grace, no doubt. And unlike his predecessor, and the candidates who faced him in his election campaigns, he was not afraid of action. Notable virtues worthy of emulation.
But 60 million minds freed? Nile Gardiner is as unemcumbered by reality as Code Pink. While the war against Islamist terrorism certainly has its successes thanks to Bush’s willingness to act when action was called for, the jihad has continued apace and we are losing ground across the board, and Briton Gardiner knows it well. Bush has learned nothingof Islam or sharia or jihad over the past seven years, and he allowed whatever gains could have been made in Iraq and Afghanistan to be pissed away by allowing each newly recreated nation to enshrine sharia as its fundamental and inerrant guide. As long as the rules are set by sharia, no minds have been freed.
History is full of good men who made unwise and ignorant decisions that gravely damaged their peoples. Bush was a good man, but it remains to be seen how gravely he has damaged the West.
Iraq’s government also condemned Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza, which began Saturday.
In a statement, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq is demanding that Israel immediately halt attacks on Gaza and called on the international community “to take the necessary steps to stop this attack.”
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said condemnation didn’t go far enough.
“Expressing condemnation and denunciation for what is going on against our brothers in Gaza and expressing solidarity with them by words only doesn’t mean anything in the face of the big tragedy they are facing,” he said in a statement released by office in Najaf.
“Now more than at any other time, both Arab and Islamic nations are required to take a practical stance for the sake of stopping this repeated aggression and to break the unfair besieging of these brave people,” the statement said, without giving details of the proposed stance.
http://news-en.trend.az/world/afghanistan/1383571.html
The Afghan Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Sunday strongly condemning Israel’s air raids on the Gaza Strip of Palestine that left hundreds of civilians dead and injured, Xinhua reported.
“The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is following the recent attacks by Israel on the innocent people of Palestine with great concern and strongly condemns these attacks,” the statement said.
The statement noted that “the bombardment and killing of civilians cannot be justified with the policies of Hamas.”
So, Zane, you’ve claimed that Bush didn’t really free their minds because they went ahead and adopted sharia as their fundamental and inerrant guide. Seems to me that’s not such a big deal until it gets to the killing non-believers part, which I doubt you’ll find in the written law itself.
But, pondering, isn’t it enough to give them the free agency to adopt the government and law that they wish? If they choose different than we, perhaps they’ve wasted their gift, but the gift was still given.
– Max
And is it just me, or would others find it refreshing to see an official press release along the lines of, “The United States is following the developments in the Gaza Strip and officially doesn’t give a damn. Because if you fire rockets you might just get bombed. Duh. See us for all your ammunition needs, call 1-800-BUY-GUNS and our operators are standing by.”
I think it would be kind of, you know, catchy.
– Max
Max, I wasn’t the one who claimed Bush “freed 60 million minds.” I just said it was an absurd statement. The burden of proof is on Nile Gardiner to prove such an utterly false statement. I wish him luck.
Does it matter? Well, as you can see from the stories I posted, neither of these “free mind” regimes are reliable allies against terrorism. And just how “free” are these minds, especially if, as you imply, the centrality of sharia to these regimes doesn’t matter much? Look up the case of Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan and then tell me what you think. There have been plenty of other similar cases, but his is as illustrative as it needs to be for anyone willing to understand.
As for the squandered gift, there is such a thing as pearls before swine. Who is the fool, the one who casts the pearls or the swine?
Zane, I’d ponder that question of pearls and swine carefully. When I was in Korea I ate kimchee, when in Norway I ate lutefusk. When in South Africa I couldn’t take it and ate nothing while the locals ate the gutpile from a kudu. Later on we had steaks from the backstrap, and they were quite tasty to us, but sort of a meat-and-potatoes thing to the locals.
This afternoon I had a green bean casserole, sans the tater tots. You know, saving the gourmet experience for later.
Local customs and conditions in food are no less illogical than local customs in government. We’ve extended an opportunity, paid for in blood. We can hardly complain if they elect the same local hero tainted with ties to Hussein than we can ostracize the people of Mass for continuing to elect Senator Kennedy.
Part and parcel of giving people freedom is giving them to freedom to choose un-wisely.
They’ll figure it out. We elected Nixon, we elected Reagan, Bush, Clinton, another Bush… Heck, if we haven’t figured out how to elect leaders in over 200 years, we ought to cut the Iraqui’s a little slack.
– Max
… we ought to cut the Iraqui’s a little slack.
But MD, that’s exactly the point–the swine don’t know better. The shame lies with the fool who squanders his own treasure on them.
More baffling to me, though, is that you treat Shar’a, that divine immutable stain on human existence, as if it were a mere local custom, something that will change when something better comes along. You’ve treated it similarly in other posts. I don’t think you give shari’a the approbation and respect it deserves as a determined, ruthless and implacable enemy that will destroy you if it all it can. It’s that difference in understanding between us that is the nub of our disagreement.
Although I do heartily approve of your press statement on the events in Gaza!
Max Damage
What part of Norway? I only got to Bodo in the WINTER during a NATO exercise, and no time for fun and games. The Bartender at a local bar I frequent in NO has a blues band that tours the Norway circuit every summer–seems they’re big on Jazz and the Blues–he’s even played Bodo. I made a big mistake by not taking leave up that way in the summer–always thought I’d have the time later–but later never came.
Had a roomie for a while in DaNang who was a ground FAC with the Korean White Horse Div. down in II Corps prior to coming up to the big city–claimed there was NOTHING like nice, sun-warmed Kimchee after it had been sitting a few hrs fermenting out in the field during ops sweeps……
Gotta jet–if I don’t sign off and get to bed I’m going to be in “deep kimchee” with my wife myself…..
Virgil, I was in the Sogn og Fjordane region, Forde parish, visiting relatives.
The lutefisk was, I think, their idea of a joke.
When they learned that their kin had spent weeks on a leaky boat to reach America, only to settle in the coldest, flattest place to be found… Well, I think they regarded us as just a little insane.
– Max
MAX:
Heh, I’ve always wondered myself why the settlers, when they reached Minn., the Dakotas, Montana, etc., after “surviving” their first winter, didn’t just take a hard left and head due south as fast as those oxen hooves would take ‘em. Maybe your kin back in Norway were right. Maybe all that cold froze
their brains. “Insane in the membrane!”