Islam, the Peaceful Religion

A gunman slipped past guards at a Southern Baptist hospital and opened fire Monday, killing three American missionaries with shots to the head and wounding another. Officials said he may be part of an Islamic militant cell targeting foreigners and secular-minded politicians in Yemen.

Clearly, Patty Murray was correct. We need to build more hospitals and infrastructure in the Middle East, and then staff them with our citizens, and then they will stop worshipping Osama and his twisted religion.

*** Update ***

The Instapundit already said very much the same thing, so yet again, I am not as original as I thought I was.

Islam, the Peaceful Religion APost + Comments

Alex Knapp asks:

What is a Democrat, anyway? Go find out why he is asking.

Alex Knapp asks: What isPost + Comments

That Damned Flag

Racism seems to be the drug of choice for some of the lefty bloggers out there, and it appears that racism is so rampant that it is everywhere. In fact, you might be a racist and not even know it, at least according to the standards now being floated about my the more paranoid in our midst. I know for sure I am a racist, because just like Bill Frist, I would choose to hand out unsharpened pencils if I were campaigning- that is the level of absurdity to which the current debate has sunk. At any rate, now the confederate flag appears to be an issue again with the lefty bloggers. I admit no allegiance to the confederate flag, and I have no idea why people like it and wear it proudly. To me, and to most black people, the flag stands for one thing- slavery. As I have stated before, when I see someone wearing a confederate flag, I just think of them as having a case of the stupids- because the meaning of the flag is so clear to me, at least. To others, this is not the case, and I could never figure out why, particularly when I know a lot of decent, non-racist people who do fly the flag. I knew a bunch of great guys in the Army who were proud of Dixie, and they did not have a racist bone in their body. Sebastian Holdsclaw, in a comment on Matthew Yglesias’s site, has one plausible explanation:

I think that displaying the Confederate flag is disgusting, but if the question is, “How can Americans who think of themselves as patriotic wear it?” I have a thoeretical answer: symbolism drift. It isn’t a technical term (so far as I know) but I think you all know what I mean.

Roughly (and with many intermediate steps) I think that the drift is: Symbol of the Confederacy (treasonous), Symbol of Rebellion against intrusive Government (somewhat unmoored from the specific rebellion), Symbol of General Southern Rebelliousness (think Dukes of Hazard). Generally, patriotic, Confederate flag wearers tap into their southern rebelliousness as a facet of their American spirit.

In parallel with this drift (or perhaps causing it) are the lies which Southern culture tells itself in order to ennoble the Confederate rebellion without embracing slavery. I do not mean the coded racists who embrace the Confederate rebellion because they hate black people, I mean other people with Southern roots who want to be able to take pride in their heritage. Unfortunately for them, the legacy of the Confederate rebellion is such that their heritage is deeply tied to the evil of slavery, so mental gymnastics are required which end up looking foolish or scary to outsiders.

I can understand that. I am coming to the conclusion that the flag is worshipped by those people Sebastian has discussed, as well as the real racists, skinheads, and other scum. Throw into that mix people with sentiments like this:

As much as I hate to admit it, I doubt if we will ever get a chance to vote on the flag issue,” said Tom Nesbitt, 61, a disabled Vietnam veteran and farmer in Cordele. “It’s like everything else the liberals cram down our throats. Once they have the upper hand, there’s no going back. All we can do in rural Georgia is keep voting the [politicians] out of office.”

Perhaps he is lying. Perhaps he is speaking in code. Or, perhaps this is a legitimate protest against an obnoxious ruling party. I guess there are multiple reasons that people loved that damned flag, but for me, I can live without it. I don’t like the meaning I associate with it.

That Damned Flag Racism seemsPost + Comments

Sheesh…

Ted Barlow is back and blogging ferociously, and he is willing to ignore Roger Ailes’s charge that Bush is engaging in mail fraud by having Christmas Cards stamped from Crawford but mailed from Austin because of logistical difficulties (I know- yawn). However, in order to preserve his lefty credentials, Ted notes:

Roger argues that this is mail fraud, while a commentator disagrees. I don’t know. But logically, it makes about as much sense as postmarking your Christmas cards from your time-share condo.

C’mon, Ted. That is the best you can do? I might note that unlike some previous occupants of the White House, when Bush says he is going home for the Holidays, at least he has an idea of which state he is referring to, and that he actually owns a house and property in said state. I won’t mention who those previous homeless occupants were, though, because I would hate to be a right-wing wingnut or whatever the ad hominem of the day is.

Sheesh… Ted Barlow is backPost + Comments

Go download Mozilla.

**Update**

Fixed the link- thanks Bill Quick.

Go download Mozilla. **Update** FixedPost + Comments (1)

Not much to post about this weekend. Other than causing quite a stir for attacking the faux civil rights leaders in previous posts, not much has been happening. I have found out that it does not matter what your actual political positions are, if you disagree with the left on ANY issue you are a conservative. Period. Nothing, it seems, is more sacred than the hallowed ground of moral outrage on race issues that Democrats seem to believe that they have a stranglehold on, so questioning them will open you to charges of racism, mean-spiritedness, being a hack, a Dixiecrat, an unreconstructed redneck, a fascist, etc. And then there are the four letter words. Kind of amusing, actually. Bob Novak may act and look like the Prince of Darkness, and Ann Coulter may be shrill and irritating at times, but it becomes clearer and clearer that the true left is the real home of name-calling, ugliness, and unhappiness. I just can not believe how miserable most of these people are, and how awful they really think the world is. It is also amusing how they assign the worst intentions and motives to ANYTHING anyone does or says. Quite odd, really. And the guilt by association thing they seem to base everything on is really rather odd and inconsistent with what they claim their beliefs really are.

At any rate, a slow week-end for news (Yglesias has some worthwhile links to the elections in Kenya), and there were a number of important NFL and College Bowl games to watch. The Steelers won, which is nice, but it did not earn them a BYE as the Titans beat the Texans. Oh well.

Not much to post aboutPost + Comments

The Price is Right

The race pimps have made their demands and named their price (link via Atrios). Because Trent Lott was a bigot, Republicans should now cave in on a bunch of really stupid ideas. Here are the demands:

* Oppose five of President Bush (news – web sites)’s 15 federal judicial nominees who were left in limbo when Congress adjourned in November: Charles Pickering of Mississippi, Priscilla Owen of Texas, Carolyn Kuhl of California, Terrence Boyle of North Carolina and Jeffrey Sutton of Ohio. They have ”records of deep hostility to core civil rights principles,” the Leadership Conference contended. Supporters of the five say they are being opposed because they are conservative.

* Support legislation that would encourage federal investigations and prosecutions of hate crimes — acts believed to have been prompted by race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Most Senate Republicans have opposed the hate-crimes legislation on the grounds that all violent crimes are heinous, regardless of the motivation.

* Support funds for election reform. In October, Bush signed legislation that requires states to improve their voting procedures. So far, however, none of the $3.8 billion needed has been approved. ”That’s a real betrayal of a commitment,” Henderson said.

The election reforms I am in favor of. The rest is just the tired old laundry of the now morally vacant civil rights movement. Just ignore them. I mean, what are they going to do? Stop voting Republican? Call every GOP member a racist? Claim that if you don’t support them on every issue you are a bigot? Pay for commercials all but accusing Republicans of hate crimes and church burnings?

Gee- We wouldn’t want any of that to happen.

*** Update ***

I really regret calling the aforementioned civil rights leaders race pimps. I am just so sick and tired being called a racist because I don’t agree with everything they say. Calling someone a racist for no reason is a bully tactic- and that is why I stated what I did. It remains, however, an unfair statement on my part. I would get rid of it, but that would be dishonest. Leave it up, and suffer the consequences.

The Price is Right ThePost + Comments