Friday, August 31, 2007

Monday, August 27, 2007

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Heads Still Placed Firmly In The Sand

One of my favorite movie lines ever is the line from The Usual Suspects, in which Verbal Kint, speaking of mystery villain Keyser Soze, remarks that "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn't exist." Apparently, even if he came out and told them, some people still wouldn't believe. Consider this from Christopher Hitchens:

Over the past few months, I have been debating Roman Catholics who differ from their Eastern Orthodox brethren on the nature of the Trinity, Protestants who are willing to quarrel bitterly with one another about election and predestination, with Jews who cannot concur about a covenant with God, and with Muslims who harbor bitter disagreements over the discrepant interpretations of the Quran. Arcane as these disputes may seem, and much as I relish seeing the faithful fight among themselves, the believers are models of lucidity when compared to the hair-splitting secularists who cannot accept that al-Qaida in Mesopotamia is a branch of al-Qaida itself.

Now, there is obvious religion-bashing going on this statement (we're all aware of Hitchens' God-hatred), but the highlighted part appears to be tragically true. Some people just don't get it, and they continue to abide under the most idiotic of assumptions.

Read the whole thing, but check out another excerpt:

We can not only deny the clones of Bin Ladenism a military victory in Iraq, we can also discredit them in the process and in the eyes (and with the help) of a Muslim people who have seen them up close. We can do this, moreover, in a keystone state of the Arab world that guards a chokepoint—the Gulf—in the global economy. As with the case of Afghanistan—where several provinces are currently on a knife-edge between an elected government that at least tries for schools and vaccinations, and the forces of uttermost darkness that seek to negate such things—the struggle will take all our nerve and all our intelligence. But who can argue that it is not the same battle in both cases, and who dares to say that it is not worth fighting?

Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and regrettably others, who ought to know better.

HT: Instapundit

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Well, Somebody Had To Say It

You really have to read Jasmyne Cannick's spot-on commentary on the out-of-balance reaction to Michael Vick's alleged dogfighting. She says what I've been basically thinking for a while now, although cruelty to animals isn't a small matter. An excerpt:

"I am not in the camp of people that think that dog fighting deserves this much of our attention. Sure it's not pretty and for the most part is horrific, but it's not the worst thing Vick could be charged with - try 14 counts of child pornography and having sex with an underage minor. Enter R&B singer R. Kelly. Set to begin his long overdue trial next month on 14 counts of possessing child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with a girl, prosecutors have said could be as young as 13, you wouldn't know it the way his albums are still flying off shelves and black people are still bumping and grinding to his music. So what does R. Kelly have to do with Michael Vick? While traditional black organizations have been quick to jump to Vick's defence, for the most part they've said nothing on Kelly. Last time I checked a dog was not human, but a 13-year-old girl was. And regardless as to whether or not she willingly engaged in the act, she was the minor and he was the adult."

Now, I'm not at all defending dogfighting either, and it is a horrible and sickening crime. If Vick actually allowed this to happen in his house, or enabled it, he did a horrible thing. Cruelty to animals is in fact a horrible thing, and as I said, not a small matter.

Here's the thing: I've seen serial rapists get less heat in the press than Vick's getting from some. A bit bass ackwards, don't you think?

HT: Booker Rising

Monday, August 06, 2007

Back From My Blogging Break

I've been away for a while, just wanted to let everyone knows I'm still alive, and I finally plan to get caught up on things I've been meaning to blog on. Not much longer now.