Sloth

Stefan Beck quotes from Evelyn Waugh's contribution to an anthology on the seven deadly sins on sloth, and attributes that deadly sin to Kerry and his party:

"Sloth, he says, is not mere laziness — 'lying too long in the bath or postponing our letters of congratulation or condolence' — but rather 'sadness in the face of spiritual good.' It is knowing what will lead one to success, joy, or salvation, but remaining inert because 'the whole apparatus of salvation fills [one] with tedium and disgust.'"

The analysis of sloth itself is interesting, and the essay effectively pins it on Kerry and his party.

My conscience pins it on me, but that's (sigh!) another story.

Kerry's Rickety Coalition

Peter Beinart analyzes Kerry's dithering on Iraq as a function of the disunity on the issue among the Democrats:

"But if Iraq is the biggest single issue, then Kerry has by far the harder task. And that's because the same question that has bedeviled Kerry for two years haunts him still: What's his position on Iraq? And while it's true that Kerry himself is a natural bloviator who would never say in 10 crisp words what he could say in a soggy 100, there's a logic to his wind-sockery on the Iraq question. That is, he has three different constituencies in the Democratic Party that he needs to please, and the best way to please them, he figures, is to unspool yards of yarn every time he talks about Iraq.

"The first group within his coalition are the outright hawks, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman. By now, the Connecticut Democrat is mostly a closet Republican, but because of his national standing, any criticism he might utter of Kerry would be wounding indeed. And so Kerry must keep him and like-minded Democratic neoconservatives on the reservation.

"The second group in the Kerry Kamp are the doves, who include such prominent figures as Sen. Teddy Kennedy and former Vice President Al Gore. These folks, who see Iraq as another Vietnam, represent the base of the Democratic Party.

"The third group are those in between, who support the war but insist at the same time that Bush has mishandled it. This group includes Sen. Joe Biden and most senior Democrats in Congress, as well as, oftentimes, Kerry himself. Many in this group express deep doubts about Iraq - but only privately. "

A leader at least must seem to cut through diverse views. Kerry has a problem, but he sure hasn't solved it.

Mexican North America?

The US has its own problem with potential cultural transformation, as Victor Davis Hanson warns, joined by Samuel P. Huntington, with whom I once studied "government," Columbia University's appropriately named version of "political science," each argues in his own way.

We seem unwilling to grasp the immigration nettle, which would require (a) fortifying and militarizing the frontier, (b) actually incarcerating unauthorized border-crossers until they are deported, (c) deporting thousands of people from communities away from the frontier; and (d) doing menial work with our own hands or those of our legally present neighbors.

Neither the "multiculturalist" left nor the corporate welfare right is likely to grasp this nettle. We can only hope that acculturation occurs fast enough to avoid the Mexicanization of large parts of the country and the resultant Belgian/Quêbequois conflicts.

Japan, of course, has its own problems. Population growth has fallen below replacement levels, and the culture is very resistant to immigrants, even to the absorption of Koreans who speak Japanese natively and are in the third and fourth generations.

The absence of immigration contributes to a different set of problems.

"Multiply and replenish the earth" is the first commandment in the Bible, and carries with it implications about family and sexual life that an increasingly secular industrialized world ignores. A Christianity of lesbian priestesses and sexual latitudinarianism contributes unwittingly to its own demise, in the industrial world at least.

Perhaps "revival," originating in Africa or elsewhere in the Third World, is still in prospect, and will upset all mechanistic projections.

Islamic Europe?

The reknowned scholar of Islam, Bernard Lewis, matter-of-factly predicts an Islamic Europe:

"SELDOM HAS THE COURSE of European history been changed by a non-politician's throwaway remark in a German-language newspaper on a Wednesday in the dead of the summer doldrums. But on July 28, Princeton historian Bernard Lewis told the conservative Hamburg-based daily Die Welt that Europe would be Islamic by the end of this century 'at the very latest," and continental politics has not been the same since."

Now, predictions based solely on today's birthrates ignore the likelihood of a reduction in these rates over time, if women are educated and empowered, infant mortality remains low, and welfare-state pensions remain in effect. But continued immigration from the Maghreb is likely, especially if conflict and instability persist, and the Arab world remains economically paralyzed. And with the decline of Christianity, Europe has little inherent cultural strength with which to resist its dhimmification.

Amazing and scary stuff. The End of History? I don't think so.

Priceless?

Oompa Kerry
Originally uploaded by octopod.

Yes. Priceless. Sen.Nuance auditions for the starring rôle in a remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory..

I know. I know. This is serious business. But how serious would it be if we elected this pampered cipher as Commander-In-Chief?

Oompa Loompa

Oompa Loompa
Originally uploaded by octopod.

Kerry turned up orange Sunday night.

Rush mocks him and Blogs of War supplies the lyric.

Hat tip to Hugh Hewitt.

Funny, but shows how ersatz he is.

For Shame! Indeed

Christopher Hitchens comments on the "vile spectacle" of Kerryite defeatism, in particular, Teresa Heinz Kerry's fatuous remark implying that Osama Bin Laden has been stashed somewhere to turn up as an "October Surprise":

"What will it take to convince these people that this is not a year, or a time, to be dicking around? Americans are patrolling a front line in Afghanistan, where it would be impossible with 10 times the troop strength to protect all potential voters on Oct. 9 from Taliban/al-Qaida murder and sabotage. We are invited to believe that these hard-pressed soldiers of ours take time off to keep Osama Bin Laden in a secret cave, ready to uncork him when they get a call from Karl Rove? For shame."

Let's hope these idiots remain in their current free fall.

Irony

This is hysterical. Well, mightily amusing to those who follow this stuff:

Heard Dick Morris on the radio the other day, and he was promoting something he worked on called Fahrenhype 911, a documentary put together to rebut Moore and his movie. One of the things that he said was that Moore gets some mileage about Saudi investment in Harken Energy, the company that a lot of poeple got exercised about regarding a stock sale that Bush made while a director, claiming there was some crime there. There wasn't, of course, but it was certainly good fortune (literally) for Bush, because the proceeds of that sale went to his investment in the Texas Rangers, which did make him wealthy on his own.

But Morris says that the biggest investor in Harken Energy was George Soros - and sure enough, he's right.

Soros is the money behind all of those 527's and who pays Oliver Willis' blog salary, for example. So, the Wikipedia entry says "Ironically, Soros's Harken Energy bailed out Bush in 1986 by buying his ailing oil venture, Spectrum 7."

Or maybe not so ironic. Because all that 527 action is falling flat - and it is causing Kerry to lose.

Hat tip to Allah.

Scary Stuff

Michael Novak's report on a speech by Spain's former Prime Minister will stand your hair on end:

Former Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, spoke at breakfast Friday morning at AEI and predicted three spectacular terrorist events in the near future. First, a major destructive action in the United States before election day on November 2, possibly during the last 72 hours, for massive effect in causing confusion and commotion. Second, a dramatic escalation of action in Iraq leading up to November 2, and again in late December and early January to head off the Iraqi election at the end of January. Third, a spectacular attack in the United Kingdom next May to disrupt the re-election campaign of PM Tony Blair.

.

Hat tip to the redoubtable Hugh Hewitt.

Mark Steyn Sticks It To Kerry

In a piece entitled "Kerry's looking for American failure -- and he's it", the highly productive (and incisive) Mark Steyn says:

"But, because this pampered cipher has floundered for 18 months to find any rationale for his candidacy other than his indestructible belief in his own indispensability, Kerry finds himself a month before the election with no platform to run on other than American defeat. He has decided to co-opt the jihadist death-cult, the Baathist dead-enders, the suicide bombers and other misfits and run as the candidate of American failure. This would be shameful if he weren't so laughably inept at it."

Pampered cipher? He's guilty as charged, Your Honor.

A Different Analogy

Is Vietnam the correct analogy for the war in Iraq? This article persuasively suggests it's Guadalcanal:

"In one of our first counteroffensives against the Japanese, U.S. troops landed on the island of Guadalcanal in order to capture a key airfield. We surprised the Japanese with our speed and audacity, and with very little fighting seized the airfield. But the Japanese recovered from our initial success, and began a long, brutal campaign to force us off Guadalcanal and recapture it. The Japanese were very clever and absolutely committed to sacrificing everything for their beliefs. (Only three Japanese surrendered after six months of combat--a statistic that should put today's Islamic radicals to shame.) The United States suffered 6,000 casualties during the six-month Guadalcanal campaign; Japan, 24,000. It was a very expensive airfield. "

Iraq is like Vietnam in that a strong domestic opposition to the war exists. Fifth Column?

Looking Backward

Sgt. Gell
Originally uploaded by octopod.

Before I go into this, a confession is in order. I was one of those who didn't go (legally), but opposed the war in Vietnam.

In retrospect, I was wrong on both counts. Cambodia alone proves that. This is a season for reflection and repentance, and a time for that thought.

In any event, this blog entry epitomizes the disdain so many veterans and families of veterans have for Senator Nuance.

The picture shows Sgt. Gell, who was killed in Vietnam, the last time he was with his family. His daughter writes:

I don't blame Kerry for my father's death, and I don't much care if he shamelessly chased after medals. But I do care that when he returned from Vietnam he gave aid and comfort to the enemy while our soldiers were still dying. I care that he smeared my father and a generation of our armed forces with false charges of war crimes while posing himself as a hero. I care that Kerry's false charges encouraged our enemy who was pressuring our POWs in inhumane ways to confess to imaginary war crimes. I care that he went to Paris to meet with the Viet Cong in 1970 while still an officer in the Navy Reserve, returning to publicly advocate for their position and against America's position.

This isn't about politics. It's about honor and betrayal and protecting our country. And for me it is deeply personal, as it is for countless vets. Thirty-nine years later, my mother still cries on Nov 14. Thirty-nine years later, we miss my father every day. Thirty-nine years later, Kerry poses as a hero. As children of Vietnam veterans, many of us feel an unwelcome emotional strain as the arguments about what really happened in Vietnam are tugged back and forth, often by people who were not there. We deeply resent the suggestion that our fathers were war criminals as that theme inevitably seeps into the argument.

We are educated and grown. We have children of our own, some in the service. We know in our heart and soul the scars of war that will never go away. But we are not weak, and we will not be silent. I will stand with the Vietnam veterans who speak out, and the voice of my father will be heard through me.

As long as I have breath and Kerry seeks the office of president, I will speak out against him. Others like me are too many to count.

This is gut-wrenching, and too strong to discount entirely. You can't make policy just with emotion, but you can't discount it, either. In focusing his campaign on his four months in Vietnam, Kerry stepped on a land mine.

And the pundits who dismiss the Swift Boat Veterans as just a Karl Rove smear must consider the feelings this piece expresses so well