Everyone keeps telling Israel to use proportional force.
This fight is extremely disproportionate, but in the favor of the terrorists; they are not wearing uniforms, so they can disappear into the crowds they hide behind. They are not bound by any rules, like, don't shoot at ambulances. They will shoot from places of worship, and God help whoever returns fire. As I said before, knock a chip of paint off of an outhouse in the middle east, and you have 'Desecrated one of Islam's holiest shrines'. Every city is 'The Holy City of...' They shoot from hospitals, or even among UN 'Observers', then scream foul when Israel shoots back anyway. The press is invaribly forgiving of the terrorists tactics, explaining that this is the only way they can score kills. Yet they are unforgiving when Israel takes out one of the children these scumbags hide behind.
When the terrorists have a prisoner, they always seem to demand Israel trade twenty or fifty or hundreds of their guys in custody to get the Isreali back. So, by their math, one of Israel's guys is worth twenty or fifty or hundreds of theirs? How proportional is that? They do the same thing to us in Iraq, unless they chop up the prisoner first. Given the apparent value to humanity these people show, I think their disproportionate math is probably justified.
It occurs to me that what people seem to want when they ask for 'Proportionate Response' is a war that ends in a tie. Just like the scoreless soccer and football that liberals like to play, they want the wars, if you must have them, to be even and fair. Sorry, but a 'fair' fight is the one that I win. I am sure the Japanese didn't think the nukes we hit them with was 'proportional', but they damn well gave up, too. The Germans probably didn't think we were being fair, either. Tough.
The best measure of force to use is enough to win. Convincingly.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
How proportional do you want it?
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
The New Israeli War
The tag line of this blog has been 'It's 1939 all over again' for months, almost since I started it. It is more and more apparent that this is true to me. The similarities are significant. I am not one to scream the sky is falling, but there is reason to pay attention to what is going on.
We have seen a week or so of the new Israeli War. I really thought it would happen sooner, but everyone keeps telling Israel not to over-react, and to moderate it's response.
Exactly what is the response to a teenager, male or female, who is taught to hate Israel with every breath from birth, who then straps on a shirt full of C-4 and walks into a daycare and kills twenty people? The explosive vest is probably packed with nails coated with fecal material. Or ball bearings.
President Bush has said that where terrorists are harbored, we will consider those that give them safe haven enemies. Why shouldn't Lebanon face the same music? They have allowed Hezbollah to be there. Same for Syria and Hamas. Seems to me that if your guest is shooting at the neighbors house, the neighbor has every right to burn your house down. And if you cannot get rid of that guest because of your own weakness, then your neighbor has a duty to his house to do it for you.
These people (Hezbollah and Hamas) have no other reason to exist other than to kill Jews. How can you reason with anyone who's stated purpose, whose sole reason to exist, is to extinguish you? How can you live with people who do not want to live themselves?
Islam is forever stuck in the fourth century. It is apparently immune to reformation. How can the world live with a group who demands we see the world their way?
You need to listen up and watch what is going on. The news from the middle east is repetitive and ugly and hard to listen to. No one wants to hear another story about people cutting somebody's head off while they scream. But you need to know just what these savages are capable of. You need to know that if they could they would do it right here in Texas. Or Montana. Or New York City.
Instead of telling Israel to exercise restraint, we need to cheer them and back them. That is one less battle for us to fight in this coming war.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
The Flight 93 "Memorial"
I am not a big fan of memorials placed where bad things have happened. The OKC Memorial is the only example I have seen in person; it is beyond maudlin. I do understand that they provide closure or whatever. I am of the school that says if you need a memorial at the World Trade Center, put it on the 110th floor of the rebuilt towers, next to the Patriot missile battery. Or you could engrave all the names on the anti-aircraft guns and be done with it. But put the towers back up.
The 'Crescent of Embrace' planned for Shanksville is nothing but a memorial to the scumbags who hijacked Flight 93.
This is beyond just being a tacky memorial. There are elements of this design that seem to be directed towards honoring Islam; for example, the crescent in the design points towards the big cube in Mecca within a couple of degrees; it is a mihrab, which is a crescent muslims use to orient themselves so they can point towards the cube to pray. Also, a line drawn across the crescent seems to point at the terrorists target - DC. The crescent is even red, built using imported trees. One of the other elements is forty-four glass blocks showing the flight path in the design, which seems to indicate the number of people on Flight 93 - including the terrorists.
There have been a couple of changes made since the first introduction of this memorial; it is 'The Bowl of Embrace' instead of the crescent. Some trees were added, but there is no significant change.
There is more info here.
If you'd like to voice a comment on this memorial, you can go here.
It's started
The morning sickness, that is. I can't imagine how miserable this must be. Since we found out, my wife has been a little nauseous. The favorite phrase seems to be, "I don't feel so good..." followed by, "You know what sounds good?"...
The cravings haven't been strange, but thet are apparently strong. Tacos, for one. At 11PM. Gotta have some tacos.
She has never been one to whine, so I can imagine it must be pretty uncomfortable. The doctor told us that this is a good sign. OK, and I am sure after the kid is born, we'll look back and laugh, and all that, but for now, this looks to be quite an ordeal for her. Glad it's not me. I do whine.