Laura Curtis

On Monday, President Obama signed S. 1067, the “Taliban Disarmament and Afghanistan/Pakistan Recovery Act.” In his Signing Statement, the President said: “The legislation crystallizes the commitment of the United States to help bring an end to the brutality and destruction that have been a hallmark of the Taliban across several countries for two decades, and to pursue a future of greater security and hope for the people of the middle east.”

President Obama added,

The Taliban preys on civilians – killing, raping, and mutilating the people of the middle east; stealing and brutalizing their children; and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Its leadership, indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, has no agenda and no purpose other than its own survival. It fills its ranks of fighters with the young boys and girls it abducts. By any measure, its actions are an affront to human dignity.

Okay, I totally made that up. It was really the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament Act that he signed. The Taliban, he’s looking to cut a deal with.

Crossposted.

I do my fair share of bashing government employees and the government in general. Generalizations are easy when you’re trying to score a political point. But they’re not all porn-surfing SEC staffers. Some sit in offices stateside and quietly save lives:

Best known for: Leading an Army team that developed and fielded state-of-the-art medical evacuation equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan, allowing medics to more safely and efficiently transport injured patients from the battlefield to hospitals. This has significantly increased the survival rate of those wounded by makeshift roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices.

This means a lot to me, especially because my son in law in currently serving in Iraq as a gunner, escorting convoys targeted by IEDs.

I swiped this video of congressional candidate Lt. Col. Allen West from Drew M’s post at AoSHQ about  the mosque at Ground Zero.  Ace’s post is a must-read as well.

What West said, if you don’t want to watch the video:

“The first thing you’ve got to do is study and understand what we’re up against. You must realize that this is not a religion that you’re fighting against.   You’re fighting against a theo-political belief system and construct.  You’re fighting against something that’s been doing this thing since 622 AD – 7th century – 1388 years.   You want to dig up Charles Martel and ask him why he was fighting the Muslim army at the battle of Tours in 732?  You want to ask the Venetian fleet at LePonto why they were fighting a Muslim fleet in 1571?  You want to ask the Christian – I mean the Germanic and Austrian – knights why they were fighting at the gates of Vienna in 1683?  You want to ask people what happened at Constantinople and why today it’s called Istanbul because they lost that fight in 1543?   You need to get into the Quran, you need to understand their precepts, you need to read the Sura, you need to read the Hadiths and then you can really understand this is not a perversion.   They are doing exactly what this book says.  I want to close by saying this, and I think we’ve have said this all through this morning so far: until we get principled leadership in the United States that is willing to say that, we will continue to chase our tail because we will never clearly define who this enemy is and then understand their goals and objectives which is on any jihadist website and then come up with the right and proper goals and objectives to not only secure our republic but to secure western civilization.”

Both of those posts – and the video, as well – reminded me of Dan Simmon’s very hard-hitting short story about the Time Traveler and the century war with Islam.  (Go read it now.  I’ll wait….)  [Read more...]

To follow up on Howard’s post “South Park” Creators Poke Fun at Muhammad, Threatened by New York-based Radical Islamic Group, I’d just like to note that CNN has finally shown the Mohammed Cartoons to its remaining viewers.

Back in 2006 when the cartoons were published and the death threats against the cartoonists began, CNN issued a report with this statement:

CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam.

It seems Matt Stone and Trey Parke are more equal than the cartoonists who published their work in Jyllands-Posten. But kudos to Anderson Cooper for finally showing the MoToons and for drawing attention to the fact that fatwas and death threats are a frequent response by radical Muslims to insults to their faith.

Love it… especially since I just scooped up a great deal from the used book store: Winston Churchill’s 6 volume WWII memoir/history.

“I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler … Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.”
–J.R.R. Tolkien

Added: alternate qotd because I love it; this is something I’d do now that I’ve learned who Tina Fey is (that Sarah Palin impersonator):

What lame counter-protestors!

Group of Emerson College kids with a sign “Tina Fey Did It Better.” I said, “Who’s Tina Fey?” These dumb kids actually tried to explain to me: “She’s a famous comedian on SNL.” I said, “SNL is still on the air? I thought they died after Belushi!” “Oh no,” they assured me, “This is their 35th season!” Then I couldn’t resist! I asked, “What night is it on?” They actually answered me seriously, “Oh it’s on Saturday nights …” Then they realized I was mocking them and they got really pissed off.

I’ve linked this before – heck, everybody on the right’s linked it before. But it’s a slow news day and it’s also worth remembering, in light of the KSM trial, Iran’s nuclear announcement. Will anyone deny their intentions at this point or maintain the theory that an “open hand” is going to be helpful? Puhleeze. Obama’s done everything but kiss Ahmadinejad’s butt in the WTC pit, and he’s still being rhetorically slapped around by A’jad and burned in effigy by crowds. Anybody who is surprised by this Carter administration replay needs a good kick in the pants.  Because on many, many occasions, President Obama was crystal clear about his intentions with regard to security issues. Now he’s trying to take credit for Iraq, which is disgraceful after he and the rest of the Democrats – well, Liebs certainly earned a pass on that one – did their level best to Vietnamize it. The dog that didn’t bark: not one mention of Iran in this checklist of Obama’s deep, sincere concerns about our security situation.

I’ve seen this before, but since I just linked it in the comments in response to a Crusades misconception, I thought I’d repost it here as well. Enjoy!

You can't handle the truth!

A French Quarter armed robber can’t handle the truth:

Roy Lee Gant, a Lucky Dog vendor in the French Quarter, may look like an easy mark for an armed robber.

He wears a candy-cane-striped button-up shirt. He wheels around sausage and condiments to sell in a 1,200-pound cart shaped like a ballpark wiener, opting to make ends meet in the manner of Ignatius J. Reilly in “A Confederacy of Dunces.”

None of that oozes toughness. But Gant is a former U.S. Marine, trained in hand-to-hand combat. [Read more...]

Good stuff from Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series – War Comes To America; video below the fold. [Read more...]

No, not in Afghanistan… though, maybe a de facto surrender, just keeping up appearances by not pulling out troops, but refusing to give McChrystal what he needs to win. Worst of all possible worlds, that, because we still lose but more troops are killed. The media is already ratcheting up the “quagmire” talk and in a year or so we’ll finally march out, over the dead bodies of soldiers whose lives Obama could have spared if he’d make a freaking decision to stay in and do this thing or get out, already.

But I digress. [Read more...]