Pat Buchanan: I can't believe that I agree with him so much.
At that time, I thought of Pat Buchanan as an immoral, right wing nut job.
But now, I subscribe to his magazine, The American Conservative, and can recommend it.
Yes, I still believe in abortion rights, in conservation, and in compassion for the poor. But what I can't stomach is the way we've become an international bully in the world.
So, today's postings are about:
- Getting along with the world's 1.2 billion Muslims
- Senator Feingolds "censure President Bush" resolution
- Cracks in the dikes: Conservatives run away from current Republican politicians
- Letter from Judy Baar-Topinka: the clear GOP favorite in Illinois
March 13, 2006 Issue
Copyright © 2006 The American Conservative
Cultural Warmongers
Picking a fight with a faith 1.3 billion strong
by Patrick J. Buchanan
Understanding this, President Bush ceased to call the war on terror a “crusade.” Visiting a mosque, he removed his shoes. He has hosted White House gatherings for the breaking of the fast at the end of Ramadan. He sent Karen Hughes to the State Department to improve our dismal image in the Islamic world. He has declared more times than many of us care to recall, “Islam is a religion of peace.”
President Bush knows we are in a struggle for the hearts and minds of Islamic peoples, and if we are to win this struggle we must separate the Muslim monsters from the masses. For as that great American military mind Col. John Boyd defined it, strategy is the appending to oneself of as many centers of power as possible and isolating your enemy from as many centers of power as possible.
This is what makes the Mohammed cartoons so stupid and self-destructive. They have given Islamic extremists visible proof to show pious Muslims that the West relishes mocking what they hold most sacred: the prophet. They have united Muslim moderates with militants in common rage against us. They have added to the hatred of the West in the Islamic world as friends like King Abdullah of Jordan, Presidents Mubarak of Egypt and Karzai of Afghanistan, and Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey warned us they would.
One wonders. Did the cynical Europeans learn nothing from the Salman Rushdie episode? Did they learn nothing from the firestorm that erupted in the Islamic world when Christian ministers in the United States, post-9/11, called Mohammed a “terrorist”?
Why then did they do this? Why did the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten publish cartoons it knew to be so blasphemous to Muslims? Why did Le Monde, France Soir, Die Welt, El Pais, Il Stampa republish them—on their front pages? If a European newsman was oblivious to the probable effect among Muslims of plastering a cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban on page one, he is too stupid to be an editor. But if he did know the near-certain effect of such an in-your-face provocation, why would he do it? Is this the reflexive secularist hostility of the Europress to all religious faiths on display here or something else?
And so we come to the heart of the matter. Why? What was the motive here? What is the game that is afoot? The rationale of the imams who ensured that all Muslims knew of the cartoons and their contents and called for demonstrations and assaults on Western consulates and embassies is evident. They hate us, and they wish to drive us out of the Middle East. But what propelled our own ideologues to prod U.S. editors to republish the cartoons in “solidarity” with the Europeans? Who pushed George W. Bush and Condi Rice not to condemn the cartoons but to “stand up” for the freedom to publish and defy any “intimidation” by the Islamic world?
Answer: our cultural warmongers, who seek the same goal as their cultural warmongers—to ignite a war of civilizations. Both want the “long war” of which the Pentagon speaks, the “World War IV” against “Islamofascism” that is the dream of neoconservatives and the nightmare of their countrymen.
As has been evident for some time, bin Laden and the neocons both seek the same thing: a fight to the finish, no matter how long, no matter how many invasions it takes, no matter how many lives are lost. For if peace were reached between the Islamic world and the West, even a cold peace with Iran and Syria, what would they do then?
As the provocations of Ahmadinejad are music to the ears of neocons, for they rule out dialogue and diplomacy, the escalation of the cartoon wars into an all-out culture war between Islam and the West has made their day. But it has also wiped out much of the goodwill that George W. Bush has sought to rebuild in the region.
As one explores the arguments of the provocateurs in the West for what they are doing, on inspection all appear hollow. “We believe in the First Amendment!” comes the blustery reply of journalists when asked why they published the cartoons. The First Amendment protected the right of Trent Lott to toast Strom Thurmond. But that did not save Lott from the savagery of the neocons who demanded and got his ouster as Senate majority leader. Yet which is the more egregious offense? To pay a birthday tribute to a century-old man who was once a segregationist or to insult deliberately the most revered figure in the faith of a billion people?
Daily, U.S. editors decline to publish ethnic slurs and obscene remarks and cartoons that might offend a race or religion. This is not censorship. It is editorial judgment. The motto of the New York Times, which declined to publish the offending cartoons, is “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
Conservatives contend that Islamic nations tolerate cartoons and TV shows far more viciously anti-Semitic than these cartoons were anti-Islamic. They are right. But Western newspapers never publish such cartoons, first, because they are outrageous, second, because publication would cost them advertisers, readers, and maybe their jobs. Insulting Muslims and Mohammed is a less risky and less expensive hobby than insulting Judaism or Jews. Indeed, if you insult Islam, you can make out credentials as a moral hero.
Though State initially condemned the cartoons—“Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is unacceptable”—the neocons rapidly re-seized control of the message. In hours, State was in retreat: “While we share the offense that Muslims have taken at these images, we at the same time vigorously defend the right of individuals to express points of view.” Of course we do. But do we believe freedom of the press was responsibly exercised when these idiot editors used it to incite a religious war?
And when it comes to press freedom, Europeans are world-class hypocrites. British historian David Irving has spent months in a prison in Vienna awaiting trial for two speeches he made 15 years ago. In Europe, skeptics and deniers of the Holocaust are fined and imprisoned with the enthusiastic endorsement of the press.
Unfortunately, Bush let slip an opportunity to show respect for the Islamic world and faith and, instead, let himself be intimidated into silently condoning an insult to both. Standing beside the King of Jordan, Bush denounced the violence the cartoons had ignited but declined to condemn the cartoons. Condi Rice denounced Iran and Syria for exploiting the rage over the cartoons but did not condemn the cause of that rage. If there is a double standard here, Bush is the guilty party. He rightly denounced Iran’s president for mocking the Holocaust but would not denounce the European press for mocking the prophet.
If Bush and Rice cannot muster the moral courage to condemn the insulting content of the cartoons, as well as the violence being promoted by anti-Western agitators and demagogues, our wars for democracy in the Middle East are in vain. For we can never win the friendship of these people if they believe our words of respect for their religion cover up a sneering contempt. 
March 13, 2006 Issue
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=25248&mode=&order=0
Cenk Uygur: 'Note to moronic Democratic Senators: Americans can't stand George Bush'Posted on Tuesday, March 14 @ 10:12:40 EST
This article has been read 790 times.
The Republicans are unbearable. They break the law, lie, spin, spend, invade, torture and give away our money to lobbyists. So, I'm trying my best to not disparage the Democrats, since they're our only hope left.
I don't want to perpetuate the image of them as soft, feckless and spineless. I am worried to death that will turn off some voters and have them vote for Republicans who are driving this country over a cliff instead.
But the Democrats sometimes make it impossible to not criticize them.
Senator Russ Feingold wants to introduce a resolution to censure the President for breaking the FISA statue. There is no question that the President has done this -- he admits it. The law clearly states that you must have a court order to spy on Americans. The President says he doesn't need one and won't get one. It is brazen law breaking.
The cowardly Republicans talked a big game about holding the President accountable and then buckled instantly. The big talkers like Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe and Mike DeWine all threatened to keep the President in check. Then they turned around and not only voted to make sure this is not investigated but went further to try to make the illegal actions legal in retrospect. The way they put their party above their country sickens me.
These are the same guys who had the nerve to try to impeach Bill Clinton because of their "respect for the rule of law." Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
But on the other hand, the Democrats refuse to be outcowarded. In the face of overwhelming facts -- on their side for the love of God -- they will not back their fellow Senator in pressing forward with a censure.
This is not an impeachment. This is not to throw the guy out of office. This is something that is obvious -- and absolutely necessary. The President says he is going to continue to spy on Americans WITHOUT getting a warrant. I have never seen a clearer violation of a federal law in my life. If the Senate doesn't censure him, he is rightfully going to believe that he is above the law. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not men.
So, why oh why, would the opposition party not support this move to censure -- because they are worried about the effect it is going to have on centrist voters? Are you fucking nuts? George Bush is at 36%!!!!!!!! America can't stand him. They think he is incompetent, that he has blown Iraq and Katrina and Social Security and the budget and the economy. And you're worried that you are going to alienate centrist voters by coming out against him?
This is unjustifiable. Independent voters give the President a 27% approval rating -- that is stunningly low. It's hard to imagine that number being lower for any President at any time. What are you waiting for?!!!
How in the world would it alienate these centrist, independent voters to censure a President they cannot stand?
The Democrats for the 100th time in a row have bought into a nonsense Republican talking point: Centrist voters don't like to criticize the President in any way, after all, look at how it hurt the Republicans to try to impeach Bill Clinton.
President Clinton was a wildly popular president. His approval numbers doubled this President's. That's right -- DOUBLED! On the day of his impeachment, President Clinton had an approval rating of 72%. That is exactly twice as high as Bush's approval rating today.
The Republicans went after a stunningly popular president at a time when the economy and the budget could not have been in better shape. And they went after him based on a sex scandal. Republicans could talk until they're blue in the face about how it was about perjury and the "rule of law," but voters understood then that Ken Starr had just spent millions of dollars on a fishing expedition and found a sex act.
They were on extremely weak ground against a very strong president. Right now, the situation is the exact opposite. Breaking a federal law by going around the court system and Congress is a matter that goes to the heart of our constitutional system. It is a challenge to the very core of our system of government.
We can protect Americans. We can defeat the terrorists. But we must do it without compromising our principles. It is perfectly acceptable to spy on terrorists -- there isn't a court in the country, let alone the very permissive FISA court, that wouldn't give you a warrant based on the smallest piece of evidence. But you cannot say that you will spy on any American you like without getting a court order -- not only is it illegal, but it is un-American.
If we have to get rid of our core values to try to defeat these terrorists, then what have we become?
In reality, we don't have to make these compromises, but this administration is too lazy and too power hungry to do it the right way. They want to cut corners and they want to grab as much power for the executive as possible. Terrorists are an excuse, not the cause.
In the face of this brazen unconstitutional power grab by a wildly unpopular president -- what do the Democrats do? Cower! It is hard not be repulsed by them.
The only prominent politicians I have any respect left for now are the four horsemen of the Democratic Party -- Al Gore, Russ Feingold, Howard Dean and Jack Murtha. They must rebuild this party from the ground up.
The cowards who run it now are more afraid of their own shadows, and the shadow of Fox News Channel, to ever stand up for the people who voted for them in the first place. The whole country is waiting for you stand up to these bullies. Will you, for the love of God and country, do it already?!
Copyright 2006 © HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Source: The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/note-to-moronic-democrati_b_17261.html
-------------------------
Now a letter from Townhall.com. Note how some conservatives are distancing themselves from the current GOP politicians.
Fortunately, true conservatives like you and I need not give up hope. Ed Feulner, the president of The Heritage Foundation and a good friend of mine, lays out the solution we've been looking for in his book Getting America Right co-written with Townhall.com chairman Doug Wilson.
Steve Forbes
214 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E.
Suite 310
Washington, D.C. 20002-4999
Ok, now for a letter from the Judy Baar Topinka campaign.
The choice is unanimous: Judy Baar Topinka is the best choice for governor!
This weekend Judy Baar Topinka swept newspaper endorsements around the state, receiving support from the Peoria Journal-Star, the Northwest Herald, the Journal-Standard, the Daily Herald, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With only 9 days until the primary election, Topinka's campaign is energized by this weekend's encouraging words from these five respected newspapers.
Daily Herald
"Topinka boasts extensive legislative experience and a personality that would let her work with lawmakers, even across the aisle", says the Daily Herald.
Click here to read the full story:
Peoria Journal Star
"No one in this race can match her experience."
Click here to read the full story:
Northwest Herald
"We recommend that voters choose Topinka in the March 21 Republican primary for governor. If any Republican is prepared to run for governor, it is Topinka."
Click here to read the full story:
Journal-Standard
"State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is the clear choice."
Click here to read the full story:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Ms. Topinka has hands-on experience with state government. She deserves the nomination."
Click here to read the full story:
Now is the time to ensure Illinois' future is in the right hands. Make sure you tell your friends and family to get out and vote for Judy Baar Topinka on March 21st in the Republican Primary.
For more information about Judy's campaign, or to sign up and get involved or contribute, go to www.judyforgov.com.
posted by Harriet at
3/14/2006 08:45:00 AM
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