Some questions just kind of answer themselves, you know?
There are no mass demonstrations outside the Syrian embassy in London. The story is rarely on the front page or on the TV bulletins. Even when there is a shocking atrocity, such as the Daraya massacre of up to 400 people in August, it makes only a fleeting impact.
It's not as if this is par for the course, that we never get exercised by the loss of innocent life in the Middle East. We do. Nearly four years ago Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, designed to halt Hamas rocket fire from Gaza. For nearly a month that story was never off the front page, and it often led the TV news, here and around the world. There were large and loud public demonstrations. The DEC set up a fund and sought to air a televised appeal, famously refused by the BBC. Of course, if the columnist -- one of the Guardian's regular nitwits-- really wanted to make his point he would ask about how the media covered the thousands of rockets fired into Israel.
Anxious for answers, I called Lindsey German of Stop the War, who told me the organisation was not active on Syria because that "isn't Stop the War's job". Its focus is on what "Britain and the US are doing". "'Cause when Americans kill somebody, that guy is completely dead. But when Mooslims kill somebody, they're only mostly dead. See my point?"
Why, then, was it so vocal on Gaza? Because the west "was very much in support of the Israelis, so it was very different". She adds that the Palestinian question "has its own dynamic, which isn't true of any other country". The real fun is in the comments, where the Guardianistas wrestle with this vexing question. You only have to read about 20 comments down for the US to be blamed for Syria, and as for Israel...
Posted by: Matt ||
10/20/2012 11:19 ||
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#1
No one cares when its all done withing the community whether its Syria or as in Iraq or for that matter Chicago. There's no way to sell guilt to garner or leverage power over other groups/communities.
#2
For people like Lindsey German, the difference is simple: the U.S., Britain and the West (except themselves) are evil, whereas the Syrians and North Koreans are just misguided.
See the difference?
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2012 13:14 Comments ||
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#3
Dresden.
First, better and cheaper. We invented evil.
Remember that.
#5
Perhaps we could park an entire fleet of ships at the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain over the upcoming holidays (carriers excluded of course) and hope for the best.
Matt Barber praises Americans willing to correct their mistake of 2008.
Did you vote for Barack Obama in 2008? A lot of people did -- obviously.
What a time. There's still room for improvement, but what a testimony to just how far we as a nation have come in terms of racial harmony, tolerance and diversity.
Only decades earlier a man like Barack Obama -- a black man -- couldn't even drink from the same water fountain as a white man, let alone become president of the United States. A hundred years prior to that, and he may well have been counted another man's property.
On Nov. 4, 2008, millions gathered at the ballot box to prove, once and for all, that, in large measure, we as a nation have healed from our disgraceful, self-inflicted wounds of racial abuse, bias and division.
That we could elect an African-American to lead the free world is indeed a very good thing.
We just happened to elect the wrong African-American.
In life, we sometimes find that the idea of a thing is far better than the thing itself. As a boy, I once ordered, from a comic book, a pair of X-ray glasses that promised to allow me to see the bones beneath my hand (my motives were a bit more ignoble). The two weeks it took for the glasses to arrive seemed like an eternity.
Once they did arrive, I ripped into the package and put them on, darting my head to-and-fro. It's difficult to express my level of disappointment. As I quickly discovered, the glasses merely formed a halo effect around objects, creating the illusion of transparency. I felt embarrassed. I got took.
Barack Obama's presidency has been a halo effect. Like I did so many years ago, in 2008 America fell victim to false advertising. As the past four years have demonstrated beyond any serious debate, the idea of President Obama was far better than the reality of President Obama. We were promised the world. We were promised transparency; but we were sold an illusion. We got took.
Indeed, during the 2008 campaign, a then-Sen. Barack Obama promised us that, if elected, we would look back upon the moment he took office and "tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth."
That was the idea of President Obama. That was what many good, well-meaning people voted for. That was the hope offered and the change promised.
That was not what we got.
Though it's certainly not a comprehensive analysis, during the second presidential debate, Mitt Romney, in response to Mr. Obama's attempts to gloss over his mounting leadership failures, summarized a few of the big ones. While addressing an audience member who, perhaps like you, voted for Obama in 2008, Romney observed, in part, the following:
I think you know better. I think you know that these last four years haven't been so good as the president just described and that you don't feel like you're confident that the next four years are going to be much better either. ...
He said that, by now, we'd have unemployment at 5.4 percent. The difference between where it is and 5.4 percent is 9 million Americans without work. ...
He said he would have, by now, put forward a plan to reform Medicare and Social Security, because he pointed out they're on the road to bankruptcy. He would reform them. He'd get that done. He hasn't even made a proposal on either one.
He said in his first year he'd put out an immigration plan that would deal with our immigration challenges. Didn't even file it.
This is a president who has not been able to do what he said he'd do. He said that he'd cut in half the deficit. He hasn't done that either. In fact, he doubled it.
He said that by now middle-income families would have a reduction in their health insurance premiums by $2,500 a year. It's gone up by $2,500 a year. And if Obamacare is ... implemented fully, it'll be another $2,500. ...
The middle class is getting crushed under the policies of a president who has not understood what it takes to get the economy working again. ... [T]he number of people who are still looking for work is still 23 million Americans.
There are more people in poverty, one out of six people in poverty.
How about food stamps? When he took office, 32 million people were on food stamps. Today, 47 million people are on food stamps. How about the growth of the economy? It's growing more slowly this year than last year -- and more slowly last year than the year before. ...
The president has tried, but his policies haven't worked.
Recently, my wife and I attended an outdoor festival in central Virginia. Although the event was not political, there were people from both the Obama and Romney camps handing out campaign stickers and other items. I suspect that if a poll were taken, liberals out-numbered conservatives by about two-to-one.
That's why I was so taken aback. Although we saw dozens of people wearing Romney stickers, we only saw one man wearing an Obama sticker.
We walked up to a fellow with a gray pony tail, John Lennon glasses and Birkenstocks. He was wearing a Romney sticker.
"Mind if I ask why you're voting for Mitt Romney?" I asked. "I assume you are."
His reply -- and these were his words, not mine -- was short and to the point: "Because I refuse to be that stupid twice."
Changing one's mind doesn't always reveal a tendency toward indecision. Sometimes, changing one's mind reveals a tendency toward wisdom.
Matt Barber is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as vice president of Liberty Counsel Action.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/20/2012 01:35 ||
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#1
Only decades earlier a man like Barack Obama -- a black man -- couldn't even drink from the same water fountain as a white man,
Yes, that still is in living memory, but it's also well over a half a century in time. It's only been a country for about 224 years since the ratification of the constitution. It's over two generations ago. How about giving up the white guilt. We did something very few cultures and civilization have ever done in an historically amazingly short period of time. Time to congratulate yourselves and quit allowing other to get power over you by beating you over the head with it.
#3
when a lying racist jackhole like John Lewis, living off past good, can lie about being spit on during their march to the capitol with Pelosi, despite all video and witness evidence to the contrary, and Breitbart's bounty on proof, it still is a hammer to be used.
F*ck them
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/20/2012 10:34 Comments ||
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#4
That we could elect an African-American to lead the free world is indeed a very good thing.
"O's" leadership is lacking. As a result, the free world is more rather than less dangerous.
#6
On Nov. 4, 2008, millions gathered at the ballot box to prove, once and for all, that, in large measure, we as a nation have healed from our disgraceful, self-inflicted wounds of racial abuse, bias and division.
-and further proved that voting based on emotion and mis-placed guilt vice rational thought is dangerous in a representative democracy...I voted for the un-vetted, un-tried, smooth talking African-American slickster over the other guy but at least that proves I'm not a racist (puke).
#1
Unfortunately, based on those segments I'd seen per the televised Debates, it strongly appears that the POTUS Admins of either will have foreign policy as their focii, notsomuch the ailing economy.
Lotsa nice, emotional talk about fixing the economy, but little or nothing serious about really doing so.
#3
We worked hard together, her and I. I looked forward to future and to a comfortable life of modest ease. We weathered many ups and downs but continued to stick it out in good markets and in bad. But now our government betters tell me others more deserving need her more than I.
I'm now in the last and final stages of denial and preparing to say goodbye to my ailing 401k plan.
#5
But now our government betters tell me others, many of whom have not worked an honest day in their entire life or contributed an iota to society, are much more deserving need her more than I.
#6
My cynical view. If Romney wins... then ... in the short time from Election Day +1 until Jan 20th when Romney is sworn in... the USA will be totally looted by Obama's team.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
10/20/2012 19:54 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Matt Barber praises Americans willing to correct their mistake of 2008.
