Vox Popoli

The administration gestured and David Frum barked. Now he’s rethinking the wisdom of lapdoggery:

This over at the FT [Financial Times] is rather more disturbing. The story deals with the emerging attempt within the Bush administration to rename the “Global War on Terror” as the “Struggle Against Violence Extremism.” When I first heard the new term, I thought it had a lot to recommend it. I was cheered to note that Victor Davis Hanson thought so too, and for similar reasons: The new language seemed to expand the problem from the what of terrorism to the who behind the terrorism.

Okay, anyone who actually thought this latest bit of incompetence by the Bush administration had a lot to recommend it should be forced to turn in his pundit’s card immediately. This is a level of monumental cluelessness usually only approached by Maureen Dowd. Now, I understand that it is very, very difficult for the Three Monkeys – even a single-issue Three Monkey like VDH whose work I generally like – to admit to the mere possibility that St. George’s jihad is less than divinely inspired, supremely strategized and brilliantly realized.

But still… if you did not respond to the announcement of The Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism with at least a snort of disbelief, if not a contemptuous guffaw and shake of the head, then you need to have your head examined. If you’re still supporting administration and its conduct of the war – sorry, I meant to say struggle – the mere fact that its loudest cheerleaders are thinkers of this abysmal quality may make you want to reconsider a few things yourself.

What was once tragic but arguably necessary has been transformed into parody piled on top of farce.

Hollywood, as always, is full of merde:

FX’s new drama OVER THERE about an Army unit in Iraq is well produced and visually arresting but takes a sharp left turn from reality. After watching the Pilot episode of ‘Over There,’ I conclude that the only thing they got right were the uniforms which, right down to the black socks used to cover goggles, were spot on.

Unfortunately, the costume designer is the only person who seems to have actually studied the war, pictures of the war or video of the war. As someone who has been over there it was easy to see that if Steven Bochco hired a military consultant, he didn’t pay attention to him or, if they did listen to him, that consultant should be fired. In Bochco’s depiction of the war, the tactics are wrong, the dialogue is wrong, the set-ups are wrong and the scenarios are ridiculous….

In the fake war on FX, a high-tech communications unit is brought in to transmit the negotiations. In the real war, this would result in a secure coil/compound being set up. With the addition of another Platoon sized element and possibly an outer cordon.

In the real war, one, five-man fire team would not be the only grunts on the scene. A fire team may be in an area off on their own for a while, but once the bullets started flying, every swinging soldier in the area would be converging on the action.(1)

In the FX war, the soldiers are given orders to advance towards the building. So, in keeping with the ‘reality’ of this ‘gripping’ drama, they all stand up on-line and walk towards the building. Wrong.

A fire team advancing over open terrain towards a building they took fire from would be in 10 yards sprints, one team member at a time.

Finally, there is the shoot-out. The terrorists rush out of the buildings in a mob and the Hollywood tacticians have members of the fire-team rush at them as if recreating a scene from Braveheart.

In real life, the grunts would just sit back and pick the terrorists off. But, evidently that isn’t dramatic enough for FX.

What’s annoying is that the producers and their defenders will tell you that it’s necessary to highlight sex, violence and foul language because it’s “true to life”. But the truth is that whenever reality gets in the way of what they want to show, they toss it out the window without thinking twice.

From the Telegraph, via NRO’s Corner:

“A wealth of evidence has come to light to show how, over the next two decades, the British Army will have been almost wholly reorganised and re-equipped as part of the European Rapid Reaction Force (ERRF), directed from Brussels, using equipment supplied almost entirely by other countries in the EU. No longer will it be technically or politically possible for Britain’s Armed Forces to fight independently, or in alliance with those of the US. Yet the scale and the speed of this astonishing transformation has been deliberately concealed by the Ministry of Defence – to the point where British firms are being instructed to buy foreign-made defence equipment which can be relabelled to look as though it is British-made…Britain’s abandonment of its military co-operation with the US in favour of integration with our European “partners” has been prompted by the forthcoming revolution in warfare centred on satellites, electronics, and a new generation of vehicles, unmanned aircraft and weapons systems. Almost across the board, the MoD is turning its back on joint defence projects with the US, even where these involve British firms, in favour of equipment supplied or developed by firms in France, Germany, Italy and Sweden.”

You may wish to keep this in mind this as NAFTA+CAFTA morphs insensibly into the American Union. It wasn’t all that long ago when people told me that I was being paranoid by insisting that the European Common Market was a dictatorial political entity in the making – it’s just a free trade zone, they protested, that’s all. They’re not saying that anymore.

I seem to recall a certain saying about fooling someone twice….

The Chick Magnet, from the Onion:

Hey, I don’t want to brag, but when you got it, you got it. And when it comes to picking up women with severe personality disorders, I’ve got it. Seems like whenever I’m in the same room with a sexy young nutcase looking for some hot dysfunctional action, we lock eyes and I gaze right into the twisted, abnormal recesses of her psyche, and then—bam! We make an instant, undeniable, and incredibly unhealthy connection….

I know what you’re thinking: “Who is this guy to sound so full of himself?” I’m not being egotistical—it’s just true. Hey, I know I’m not perfect. Who is? We’ve all got problems. I’m sure I’ve got some myself. But here’s one problem I don’t have: the ladies. When it comes to charming every borderline psycho in a skirt, I take second place to no man. I guess I just give off that “Hey there, pretty lady with the lifelong unresolved emotional issues” vibe. It can’t be taught—you either got it or you don’t. And I got it….

The sex is great, too. Believe me, all these highly unstable women have so many self-esteem issues, identity crises, and subconscious needs for approval from absent or emotionally abusive father figures, they’ll do practically anything to try to please a man, no matter how self-destructive it is. Sweet!

It is one of the great mysteries of life, and to be honest, a theoretical variance that I find somewhat difficult to fully comprehend. For in contrast to the above theme, nearly every church teaches that true love is more fulfilling and sex in a married relationship is much better than that experienced by those sad, hedonistic unfortunates philandering their way through life.

However, it seems that most of the married Christian men I know could easily pass for Woody Allen in Annie Hall, while every predator-at-large is aware that the whackjobs with mental health issues are not only more available on a regular basis, but are much more enthusiastic about the business than the average woman, religious or otherwise.

I’m not saying this is any justification for running off with the nearest bipolar yoga instructor on Prozac or anything, only that the church may be doing a real disservice to both men and women by creating false expectations through focusing primarily on the self-fulfillment aspects of marriage instead of the sacrificial ones.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if John Norman turned out to be correct and this entire Sexual Revolution turned out to not only be physically and societally damaging to women, but erotically ruinous as well? The mysterious appeal of his wildly un-PC novels to women would seem to hint that this just might be the case.

Chuck Colson writes on Townhall:

Recently, a Wall Street Journal poll announced that both political parties—Republicans and Democrats—are now held in low regard by the American people. Usually if the fortunes of one party decline, the other party increases—sort of a zero sum game. Now, however, for the first time in polling history, both parties come up in negative territory.

It’s good to see that not all Republicans are the Three Monkey variety. Now, if those people who are rightly disgusted by the faux-conservative Bush administration can manage to withstand the temptation to give into the quadrennial “vote for x is a vote for y” deception, perhaps we can see one of the third parties begin to gain some traction.

As some have noted in light of what appears to be the recent CAFTA chicanery, arguments that change must come through the two-party system are increasingly dubious, since those in power have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to break the rules in order to maintain their position of primacy.

In any case, I find the strategic arguments for voting two-party to be irrelevant. Only if you vote your conscience are you properly fulfilling your responsibility as a free citizen. Pragmatists are merely intellectual whores by another name, and as Governor Schwarzenegger is currently demonstrating in California, it’s clear that their methods are ultimately doomed to failure anyhow.

The inestimable Peter Drucker on Alan Greenspan:

“The Alan Greenspan of the 1920s and 1930s was Montagu Norman, the governor of the Bank of England. He had the same reputation as Greenspan has now. But he lost it with the Depression, the same way Greenspan will lose his. The idea that the Federal Reserve chairman has power is a delusion. The only power he has is over the interest rate, and the interest rate has ceased to be important because businesses are no longer dependent upon borrowing from banks. The interest rate is only important to the stock market, to people that short or buy on margin. For the economy — yes, if it goes up to 18% or down to 2%, but half a point is a symbolic gesture. The Fed has control only as long as people trust that when Greenspan opens his mouth, it is meaningful. But the first time it does not work — well, magicians get no second chance.”

Peter Drucker was the author I read most voraciously during my intellectual formative years. I haven’t read anything of his in over a decade, since I basically lost interest in the boring world of normal business once I entered the game industry. But it doesn’t surprise me that such an incredibly astute mind would instantly see through the Grand Charade and the Master Charlatan.

This showed up in the inbox. I can’t vouch for it.

Two hours of debate on CAFTA ended in the U.S. House at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday night. Representative Ray LaHood (R-Illinois), speaker pro tempore, then ordered a 15-minute vote — at the end of which CAFTA had been defeated! But with the vote kept open for more than one hour after it began, the “final” vote tally was 217 in favor to 215 against, with two not voting. Or was it? We were led to believe that the two members who didn’t vote, Jo Ann Davis (R-Virginia) and Charles Taylor (R-North Carolina) who were already on record as going to vote “no” and would have defeated CAFTA, had been persuaded to remain silent. Mr. Taylor’s was a key vote from a textile state that everyone was watching.

Republican leaders “spent much of [the] time wrestling with about 10 rebellious but ‘undecided’ Republicans, pleading and pressuring one after another to vote for the agreement.”

But on Thursday, the day after the vote, I received a telephone call from a talk radio host in Congressman Taylor’s district. He told me he had asked Mr. Taylor that morning why he didn’t vote against CAFTA as he had pledged. The talk radio host told me “Taylor said he had voted ‘no’…but somebody changed it and Mr. Taylor was furious.” “‘I voted NO,’ Mr. Taylor announced in a terse statement on Thursday, saying the House clerk’s written log showed his vote….”

If they’re going to this sort of trouble and playing games with the voting record to make sure something is rammed through the House and Senate, you know it’s heap bad news.

UPDATE – Congressman Taylor’s statement: “I voted NO on the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) in the vote last night. I informed the Majority Leader and the Appropriations Chairman I was voting no, as I had informed my constituents I was voting no. Rep. Howard Coble and I voted “no” together. Due to an error, my “no” vote did not record on the voting machine. The Clerk’s computer logs verified that I had attempted to vote, but it did not show my “nay” vote. I am re-inserting my “No” vote in the record. But even with my NO vote re-inserted, the bill still passed.”

Of course it did, Chuckie. Of course it did….

The secular extremists, the left-wing academics, the legacy media, the lavender lobby and professional anti-Christian activists might want to keep this in mind:

Chinese Christians outnumber members of the Communist Party

During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong’s China turned on itself, torturing and killing hundreds of thousands of people. But the seeds were sown for an unexpected upsurge in Christianity.

In a social revolution that has prompted a heavy-handed response from the Government, religion is spreading through town and countryside and Chinese communities abroad.

Protestantism and Catholicism are among the approved faiths, the others being Buddhism, Taoism and Islam.

Buddhism and Taoism claim most worshippers but the state-sanctioned churches count up to 35 million followers. More significant are the underground or “house” churches, which are believed to have up to 100 million members, many more than are members of the Communist Party.

I’ve met any number of Christian workers here in China and the crop is indeed bountiful. One man is a Chinese American who returns each year on a mission trip, and believe me the man is fruitful. Others come here as English teachers and quietly preach the word.

Nero couldn’t do it. Julian the Apostate couldn’t do it. Diocletian couldn’t do it. Lenin and his Soviet successors couldn’t do it. Mao and his Chinese Communists couldn’t do it. As Jesus Christ said nearly two millenia ago, all the gates of Hell will not prevail against his church.

It is the temptations offered by the good things of the world that weaken one’s soul. Evil and oppression, on the other hand, serve to strengthen one’s convictions to cling to the rock of salvation. What could be more terrible than the rise and rule of the Antichrist? And what could offer a greater testimony to the timeless truth of the Word than witnessing that, except the Second Coming itself?

Michael Yon writes of American soldiers who are not American citizens:

Across Iraq, I keep running across American troops who are not Americans. Many of these soldiers and Marines are working towards attaining U.S. citizenship while in uniform, under fire, in Iraq.

SPC Saroth Muth (Cambodia)
SPC David Floutier (England)
SPC Hugo Juarez (Mexico)
SPC Evans Martin (Antigua)
SPC Octavio Rodriguez (Mexico)
SGT Ringsey Khin (Cambodia)
SPC Abdel Phipps (Jamaica)
SGT Collin Campbell (Trinidad)
SPC Bosco Jerez (Nicaragua)
SPC Jose Alvarado (Honduras)
SPC Moises Medina (Mexico)

SGT Walter Gaya, from Argentina, was scheduled to be sworn in with this group, but he was recently wounded in combat and could not attend the ceremony.

I have no doubt that these are all fine young men, the sort of energetic immigrants who quickly adapted to American culture and society and helped the nation achieve what today is its preeminent place in the world.

On the other hand, I can’t help but think of Rome’s foreign legions and at what point in Roman history they became common. Of course, if we were following the Roman example precisely, we’d have an army full of Saudis occupying Iraq.

Mr. Yon’s online magazine is a great blog, by the way. It makes for very interesting and sobering reading.