re: "Shadow of the Past"

Richard Fernandez (the blogger-formerly-known-as-Wretchard) at Belmont Club connected Andrew Breitbart's last video with a narrative undercurrent.

Money quote(s):

"The period concerned is not just Barack Obama’s college days, but more generically what happened after 1968. That’s what Breitbart really seems to want to talk about, what he means when talks about “vetting”.

In that period, if we’re to believe people like David Horowitz, a prominent radical from the New Left, what called itself the Peace Movement was actually a totalitarian conspiracy with possible links to foreign intelligence agencies, which eventually set out to control the Democratic Party, if it has not already."

Silly conspiracy theory, right?

("The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.")

"(I)t’s the stuff of conspiracy theories all right, equal in scope if not greater than those of the Kennedy assassination, which argue that to truly understand things one has to go back to 1968 and what followed. Because that’s when it all began.

What began, you might ask? Well it. And the indication of its subterranean existence is the narrative. One measure of how famous narrative has become, even when it does not supposedly exist is when it becomes a staple of detective fiction."

Wretchard proceeded to reference Stephen Hunter's latest Bobby Lee Swagger novel, I, Sniper, with some juicy popular culture.

His conclusion included the following:

"The narrative is all powerful. And to understand where the narrative comes from, Hunter argued one needed to go back to 1968 and follow the links to that era, the Silver Pony Tails and their Soviet contacts. In some sense, Breitbart was claiming in his last video that here was a rock that was at least worth looking under."

3/3

re: "The United States should breathe new life into the Atlantic community"

Joerg Wolf at the Atlantic Review ("A Press Digest for Transatlantic Affairs") commented on an essay by Prof. Charles Kupchan of Georgetown U.


Money quote(s):


"Europe welcomed the election of President Obama. America is much more popular than before, but European policies have not changed that much. The US is not getting that much more support from Europe. When Obama surged in Afghanistan for instance, Europe has also increased troops, but not at a level to justify the term "surge". I think Democrats had illusions regarding support from Europe before Obama's election, but now they don't have them anymore."


Nothing to add to that.


"I thought the term "progressives" referred to only the very left wing of the Democrats, but this seems to have changed as Kupchan seems to adress the party mainstream."


I laugh every time I read that sentence. The former parts of the Democratic Party which are not "progressives" (i.e., what used to be "the very left wing") are primarily two: the so-called "Reagan Democrats," many of whom are still members of the party, but not comprising many of its party or elected officialdom; and those known as neo-conservatives. That is, once the party moved too far left, they found themselves to be conservatives-by-default.


The "progressives" are like Europe's 68-ers, except that since the Soviet Union was safely and so far away they never had to grow up.


"(I)t seems to me that Kupchan is trying to convince the Democrats that Europe and NATO are important, while acknowledging that conservatives already recognize this."


Just so.



1/2

re: "Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) backs Purple Heart for soldier murdered in Arkansas jihad attack"

Robert at Jihad Watch ("dedicated to bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts") spotted a superb example of constituent service by one of our congressional representatives.

Money quote(s):

"Carlos Bledsoe, also known as Abdulhakim Muhammad, is serving a life sentence without the chance for parole after pleading guilty and admitting his motivation for the shootings stemmed from the United States’ presence in the Middle East. Bledsoe converted to Islam, became radicalized in Nashville, TN and travelled to Yemen in 2007 where he was arrested by Yemeni authorities in 2008. Following his deportation from Yemen in 2009, he attacked the Little Rock recruiting center, killing Long and wounding Ezeagwula." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

Bledsoe (a.k.a. "Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad'") traveled to Yemen where he spent two years learning to become a "mujahid." The year (give-or-take) spent in jail wouldn't have been all that likely to isolate him from even more radicalizing influences. The argument that Bledsoe's murderous actions had no "international terrorism" character holds little water thereby.

12/9

re: "Biden calls Republicans terrorists"

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive ("the paratrooper of love") is all out of love for the vice president.

Money quote(s):

"I realize that politicians sometimes wrestle with difficult issues and tempers can flare, but the number of times that Democrats have compared the opposition to terrorists during these debt discussions is disgraceful. It is low and shameful, and I wish I could say I expect better. But I don't, even from the second highest office holder in the land, a man elevated far above his abilities."

&

"As for the rest of the Dems who think that fiscal responsibility equates to slaughtering innocents, well prepare yourselves for the chopping block come next November. The American people are sick of a bunch of jackasses who think that they have first claim on the fruits of our labor. Wrong answer. We the people do not owe Washington our earnings with whatever they feel they don't need grudgingly returned to the productive class. Looters and moochers have overstepped their bounds. Time to set them straight and shut the redistribution of wealth machines down."

re: "Military Intervention In Libya Is A Bad Idea"

streiff (Profile) at Redstate ("We’re happy warriors and we’re glad to have you in the fight.") does not favor U.S. intervention in Libya.

Money quote(s):

"One of the immutable laws of politics is that the Democrat party will refuse to use military intervention in any location where the US has strategic geopolitical or trade interests. The corollary to that law is that there is no Third World craphole (see Somalia, Darfur, Haiti) to which the Democrats will not offer to send US troops so long as it is high risk and with no real purpose.

One must understand both these rules to comprehend the calls coming from the left demanding US intervention in Libya."

The above would be hilarious if it didn't ring so historically true. Why it is that the U.S. must always act in its disinterest remains an intellectual leap beyond my poor powers.

"(I)t all boils down to the same thing: they are considering sending young men and women to death and injury for no purpose larger than feeling good about themselves and they are doing it with the same callous insouciance with which they cheerfully supported John Murtha’s (D-Ninth Circle) slow bleed strategy in Iraq."

It's an easy thing to do, when you don't have any skin in the game. Having said that, active duty aviation colleagues of mine seem to feel pretty can-do about being able to handle the job of a no-fly-zone.

Naturally, if Italy, for example, invokes the NATO charter in the face of a sea-borne invasion from Libya, the U.S. would be honor-bound to assist, I'm sure.

"Libya is the anti-Iraq. Where Iraq occupied key real estate and had the underpinnings of being a significant regional power, Libya has nothing and virtually is nothing.

If we’ve learned anything in the past 20 years is should be that we cannot let US foreign policy be driven by media coverage. We intervened in Haiti’s internal strife in 1994, again to make a certain class of intellectual feel good about “doing something” and withdrew having done nothing but show the world we did nothing. More tragically, we became embroiled in Somalia for the same reason, to “do something” without any observable strategic purpose, and our subsequent pell-mell retreat convinced bin Laden that he could replicate the effect.

Truth be told, what happens in Libya doesn’t matter to us so long as it stays confined to Libya. If anyone should be concerned it is the Euros who, no matter which way the situation turns out, will be on the receiving end of a stream of political refugees. If the EU does become involved it is hard to see exactly what value-added US forces will represent given the relative proximity of the EU to Libya."

The U.S. was already suckered into doing the heavy lifting in the Balkans, which at least had the excuse of not actually being contiguous with any actual NATO countries. And yet, I seem to remember it was the same NATO partner which faced the Former Yugoslavia across the Adriatic Sea as is directly north of Tunisia. Hmmm. I'm trying to recall whether Italy sent anything to Iraq except Communist journalists and spooks to pay their ransoms. Maybe they were more involved in Afghanistan.

"Let’s not fool ourselves. If we intervene in Libya we do so for no strategic or humanitarian purpose and without any real consideration of what may follow."

A strategy for which an intervention operation would be an integral part would be such a nice thing to have.

re: "More Thuggish Threats of Teabagger Violence"

Confederate Yankee ("Because liberalism is a persistent vegetative state") took the cheap shot.

Money quote(s):

"Pidrman was a $250 Democratic donor to the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign and a self-described blackout drunk.

Sounds like he'd be right at home in the State Department."

re: "Another Stealth Amnesty"

Thanks to Federal Agent 86 at Federale ("Because Policing The Internet Is Not For The Weak Of Heart") for the mention.

Money quote(s):

"The amnesty campaign is in full swing, both an overt effort and now a covert effort on the right to give all illegal aliens in the U.S. status that will eventually lead to citizenship and a Demoncrat majority based on third world immigration."

"(O)nce the illegals are legalized with "registration," what arguement will there to prohibit the illegals from being granted LPR status? None. They will be here, they will be working, they will be paying taxes, they will be on welfare. The illegals will be defacto Legal Permanent Residents. Without any doubt some liberal federal judge will see the obvious and grant LPR status based on some manufactured penumbra of the Constitution."

&

" "registration" is just another RINO inside the beltway stealth amnesty."

re: "Obama: You Know, We Might Want To Start Thinking About Comprehensive Immigration Reform"

Drew M. at Ace of Spades HQ considers the timing.

Money quote(s):

"Considering that immigration isn't exactly a front burner issue for most people, this is clearly an effort to get the Democratic base, especially Hispanic voters, energized. After a year of issues that unite Republicans and divide Democrats (Cap and Trade, Health Care, Afghanistan, etc.), the White House must desperately want to put something on the table that divides Republicans for a change. Yes, there are some members of the Democratic coalition that oppose immigration reform, though labor has come along recently, but it's still a more divisive issue for Republicans and conservatives."

JG - Disowning crime

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Disowning crime

published: Sunday June 15, 2008

Orville Taylor

He is that relative that you wished you never had. He turns up at the most inopportune times, wearing awful-looking shirts, reminiscent of certain politicians, and speaks with a loose tongue, publicly revealing details about your life that you would have preferred to forget.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Like a sex tape that the nasty public seeks to milk as it flows like spilt liquid, he touches everybody, destroying all that he reaches.

Everything that he hits he swallows and he has a voracious appetite.

Although he consumes a large part of the national income, nobody seems to be able to control or collect from him, because his name is crime and he does not pay."

"The PNP's big man moves with the dexterity of a ballet dancer as he points to the growth of the international drug trade and, of course, his favourite scapegoat - deportees.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that most of the homicides and major crimes are by boys who have seen only the planes used by carpenters, this has continued to be a beating stick.

Face it!

The jump in murders coincides with his tenure."

"Indeed, some of the crimes are caused by deportees, but the majority of deportations are for relatively minor and immigration offences and not capital crimes.

Moreover, the allegation of their major involvement in the crime wave is not supported by the police data."

"(T)he increase in homicides is directly correlated to the insensitivity to non-unionised labour in the 1990s."

&

"Nonetheless, there is also an external cause.

Doubtless, the drug trade, the wanton importation of deportees (and I mean the cars here, Jake!), cellphones, the Internet and cable television, bear the blame as well.

Also, the loss of agricultural and manufacturing jobs is directly linked to the actions of the American Democratic Party.

Ironically, the so-called 'anti-black' Reagan/Bush/Bush-led Republican Party had created the Caribbean Basin Initiative, giving preferential treatment to West Indian imports and creating thousands of jobs in manufacturing.

Paradoxically, the decline in the agricultural sector is correlated to the Bill Clinton initiative that killed the Caribbean banana industry.

If you destroy the banana farmer, won't he grow weed or buy guns?"


Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona. Send feedback to orville.taylor@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com.