Year: 2005

It doesn’t surprise me that the newest hero in the American armed services, Capt Ian Fishback, is a devout Christian. Fishback tried for 17 months to get his superiors to address systematic, condoned torture and abuse of military prisoners. His superiors knew they had the green light from the very top and did nothing but intimidate Fishback. He persisted. Why? He has a conscience. As he put it: “We are America. Our actions should be held to a higher standard. I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is ‘America.'” Part of his courage, however, came from faith:

[F]or Fishback, who friends describe as a deeply religious Christian and patriot who prays before each meal and can quote from the Constitution, his ordeal may be just beginning. Army officials have temporarily furloughed him from Special Operations training school at Fort Bragg, N.C., to make him available to the Criminal Investigation Command as it sorts through his allegations.

The Bush administration policy of allowing cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners is about as deep a moral crime as one can imagine. It violates every central tenet of Christianity, and the hard-won honor of the U.S. military, which is why some evangelical Christians, to their credit, have spoken up about it. These last few days, however, I have waited for others to take note of what Fishback has testified to, at great personal risk. I have waited for his courage to be hailed, especially on conservative Christian blogs. There are few moral evils worse than torture. So why the silence? Why?

Another mass-murderer gets his come-uppance. Some mild rejoicing is in order. There is evidence that we are making some gradual progress against the insurgency, although so much depends on the political developments of the next few months. My hope is that the experience of voting might prompt many Sunnis to abandon the Jihadist and Baathist insurgents. My fear is that the new constitution is too tough on the Sunnis – especially with regard to oil revenue – and that if they vote in large numbers but still fail to reject the current deal, they might sour on the new Iraq even further. But the bottom line in Iraq is that any move to democracy under even optimal circumstances would require a grueling campaign against the minority who once ran Iraq with appalling brutality and will not go quietly. Better for other Iraqis to battle them than us. But as long as we can, we need to train and fight alongside the defenders of the nascent Iraqi state. Now is not the time to cut and run. Now is the time to stay the course, while constantly adapting tactics. And by ‘stay the course,’ I envisage some American military role for at least five more years, and probably longer.

Here’s the loony-left version of the Republican kiddies’ book. This one isn’t as clearly aimed at children, but it certainly reads like something some moonbat parent might read to a five-year-old. Sigh. Then again, a reader makes the following decent point:

Is a six-year old socialist somehow inherently more absurd than a six-year old Christian or a six-year old Muslim? We think nothing of ascribing religious beliefs to (or imposing religious beliefs on, if you prefer) our youngest children, or sending them to schools for — again, depending on your perspective — spiritual enlightenment or religious indoctrination. But a six-year old is no more able to make a free choice about his or her religious beliefs than about his or her political beliefs. So why mock someone for sending a child to “Socialist Sunday School” and let them off the hook for sending a child to religious Sunday school? Surely both are simply examples of parents attempting to pass along their own worldview to their children, to fix their beliefs before they are old enough to really think them through. The only real difference as far as I can see (and this is a perception unsupported by any hard numbers) is that kids are far more likely to change their political views as they mature than they are to reject their religious schooling?

My response would be that there’s a difference between teaching children about the meaning of the universe and telling them which contemporary politicans might be lurking under their beds.

GLOOMY ABOUT THE WORLD? This is a piece of sentimental but real uplift. Grace happens.

A reader writes:

“I think there’s an even better Philip Larkin line, although it refers to a specific artist. In “For Sidney Bechet” he writes “On me your voice falls as they say love should/ Like an enormous yes.”
By the way, this poem, which begins “That note you hold, narrowing and rising, shakes/ Like New Orleans reflected on the water . . .” and which ends “And greeted as the natural noise of good/Scattering long-haired grief and scored pity” has a particular poignancy at this moment.”

Indeed. if you are unfamiliar with Larkin, you are missing, to my mind, the greatest English-speaking poet of the last half-century. Try the Collected Poems. None disappoints. Some never leave your consciousness.

“Aren’t you guys in charge of the “legislative agenda”. And for all the talk of your disdain for ‘flaunting rhetoric’ what have you done? Nothing. When push came to shove you refused to put any of the ‘pork’ to your home district on the table. What is this, ‘Do as I say, not as I do?’. That doesn’t work for parents and it sure as hell won’t work for you.
And even worse was the apparent tongue lashing you gave conservative House members for actually proposing real cuts. The article claims you don’t like GOP House members portraying the GOP as big spenders. Well, it’s the truth isn’t it? Perhaps you need to look in the mirror and take stock of whether or not, to paraphrase Jack Nicholson, you can handle the truth. Plus, you’re not a king, so you don’t get to tell the ‘peasants’ when to speak and when to shut up, especially when they are speaking uncomfortable truths.” – anklebitingpundits, formerly “CrushKerry,” speaking the truth to Tom DeLay.

“Poetry is what is lost in translation” – Robert Frost.

“All music is what awakens from you when you are reminded by the instruments.” – Walt Whitman.

“Forget that the nation and the party would both have been better served by the temperamentally suited and professionally qualified John Roberts’ winning Senate confirmation with 90-plus votes.
The nation would have been better served because such a margin would have represented an un-petty act in a city descended into hateful pettiness.
And the Democrats, because by acknowledging Roberts’ obvious assets — intellectual firepower, genuine respect from, and friendship with, colleagues who are active Democrats, a reputation for open-mindedness and not being a captive of ideology — they could have then believably used the “Roberts standard” to measure President Bush’s future court nominees.” – Mark Shields, taking his own side to task for stupidity and cravenness toward special interest groups. I couldn’t agree more. if John Roberts is not good enough as a Republican nominee to the court, who on earth is? I might add that Hillary Clinton’s no-vote is to my mind a clear reminder not to trust her alleged move to the center. I don’t believe her.

The war within the Catholic church continues. This time, parishioners are standing up for a priest who actually spoke truth to power – and has therefore been smeared and dismissed.

“I have been abandoned at many times in my life. By friends who didn’t want to associate with a “fag.” By family members who couldn’t deal with having a gay relative. By coworkers and associates who wondered every time I had a cold or took a sick day, if I finally had that “gay disease.” Through it all I’ve always had faith in my church and the old saying that everything happens for a reason. I would often lie in my parents’ backyard at night, looking up at the stars knowing there was a higher power and someday the answers would all be revealed to us. But now, the abandonment I feel from my church is almost too much to handle. What do I have left? The stars didn’t look real to me last night. My church has told me the stars are not for me, they are for straight people only.”