Posse Incitatus

Pacifist self-defense -or- "When the Marines don't show up"

One of the (few) good things about places like Berkeley is that its city council demonstrates just how loopy leftist anti-war types are once all constraints are removed from them.

The latest example (via the hated Instapundit) is the resolution the City Council has just passed declaring the Marines to be “intruders” and “unwelcome” in the city.

Now the obvious response would be to declare federal dollars equally “unwelcome” in Berkeley – say highway funding and Medicare payments for starters.

But Berkeley is important because it illustrates just how much of pacifism is about being a moral free-rider.  Surely the council members know that if their town was threatened by hostile invasion, the Marines would hasten to their rescue.

Likewise, their ban of weapons in the space over the town is all about feeling good, since there is no reliable way for the US missile defense system to only let through projectiles that target Berkeley alone (would that there was).

My point here is to illustrate that by and large, pacifism should be viewed as what it is – morally bankrupt and inherently cowardly.

It is one thing to attempt to resolve a dispute without violence.  It is another thing entirely to personally reject it while expecting others to undertake it on your behalf.

The McCain Mutiny

Well, Rudy and Fred are out, so now its down to Mitt and McCain.

Sheesh.  What a choice.

Given that the Clintons will likely win the Dem nomination (which says more about the moral bankruptcy of the Democrats than any Republican smear), it's pretty much a given that I will vote for who ever gets the nomination.

Still, it would be nice to have a president I could really support rather than just sort of vote for.

Oh well.  The nice thing about being out of politics is that I care a lot less about this sort of stuff than I used to.  If I were still in "the game," by this point I'd be hiding the sharp objects and keeping my ammo off-site. 

At least I'll be able to blot out most of the election nonsense with football.

Get some, Tom Cruise...b*tch of scientology...

Hello out there in internet land.  Sithkitten here.  I think most of you know that I absolutely hate scientology.  So, when I find interesting videos out there that rip on this Kool-Aid Cult, I have to link and repost.  Do you know why scientologists don't like psychology?  Because everytime a true believer visits someone with a professional background in psychology they tell them they are frijeeking nuts...not to get too wrapped up in technical jargon.  Katie, you apostate, don't drink the Kool-Aid!

Home Improvements

It’s been a busy couple of weeks around the ranch, and posting has taken a back seat.  We’ve decided to get a bigger spread, so the bathrooms are getting redone, walls a fresh coat of paint, and a dozen other little projects are finally being dealt with.  Basically, we’re getting the house to where we should have had it years ago – just before we move out.

Anyhow, I see that McCain is now The Man to Beat, (for this week, at least).  I probably should have posted wall-to-wall coverage of Michigan’s primary, but I was a bit busy.

Sometimes I think the pundits overlook that.  The 24-hour news cycle whips right past and speaking as someone who has both been a part of it and an observer, I can say that if you skip a few days, you don’t really feel like you missed anything.  It’s sort of like coming back to school after being out sick for a week.  The New Big Thing is something you don’t know about, but after a day, it’ll have changed again so no harm done.

I have been able to follow a little bit of the New York Times’ latest rehash of the “crazed vet” smear. 

You just know that at some point, at least one of these reporters thought:  “Of course they have mental problems – only a nut job would join the military in the first place.”

I’ve noticed that whenever military service comes up, there are two reactions.  Most people are impressed by it.  Some will say “Thank you for your service,” but the general reaction is something along the lines of “Wow, I hear that’s tough, good for you for doing it.”

The anti-war types (and I am drawing a distinction here between them and liberals, because I know quite a few liberals who deeply respect military service) have a very different response: they are truly horrified by it and usually can’t cover it up.  It’s that visceral.

I’ve remarked before how this anti-military attitude usually bespeaks other issues – that even people who profess themselves virtuous pacifists and opponents of violence and war strive to find a substitute for the courage they so conspicuously lack.  Often this takes the form of simply being rude and “speaking truth to power,” which is a euphemism for insulting people who you know won’t do anything to you.

That is why these folks never “speak truth to power” if it involves criticizing radical Islam – those people will kill you.  After all, real courage should involve no danger whatsoever. 

Anyhow, the good news is that today’s veterans aren’t taking this crap lying down.  They’re asserting their rights – as they should.  The fact is that the anti-military types are in fact cowards – physically and intellectually – and it’s well past time this fact was exploited.

As they come home from Iraq, they are going to assert themselves and the results are going to be interesting to watch.  We'll see just how low they will stoop when their "we support the troops" mantra comes to actually voting for them.

Primary Motivations

I haven't blogged much about the Eternal Primary, simply because it doesn't interest me.  Once upon a time, I worked in politics and elections were pretty much the star around which my world orbited.  No longer.

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed Hillary! getting her butt kicked in Iowa.  I hope the trend continues and we can finally drive a stake through the heart of the Clinton Machine.

On the GOP side, I'm comfortable with Rudy and Fred, and my vote in Michigan's primary is pretty much a toss-up between those two.

Oh, and Ron Paul scares me.  He's got this weird vibe and his commercials seem...odd.  A little too much cult of personality about them, I guess.  That and the signs his supporters have put up around town ("Who is Ron Paul?") are kind of creepy.  [Yes, I get the reference, but I found the book too tedious to finish.]

Catholic Warmongers

Responding to our take down of Paleocon John Derbyshire, reader Robert M. asks:

Oh by the way, doesn't your Catholicism conflict with proactive war? I am a Catholic too, and I have a hard time squaring "preemptive" attacks with Christian doctrine, of any denomination. I am not 100% sure what the Church's position on this issue is, but I suspect it is not exactly supportive of a when-in-doubt-strike-first strategy.

I suspect by "proactive" war, he is not referring to a true war of aggression, but rather the liberation of Iraq.

This was of course a reactive war - it was a reaction first and foremost to the military aggresion of Saddam Hussein in his invasion of Kuwait in 1990.  It was subsequently a reaction to his refusal to agree to the terms of the cease-fire by which hostilities ceased.

After Sept. 11, 2001, it became clear that the United States could no longer afford to have its troops tied down watching a dictator test the will of the UN and violate these terms.  Not only did the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia inflame public opinion against us, the continued defiance of Saddam Hussein undermined the prestige of US arms and the will of the United States.

As a Catholic, I see supporting the overthrow of a murderous tyrant and declared enemy of my nation as a righteous act.  While the Church was somewhat muddled on the matter (theologians argued both sides), I feel that the case for concluding hostilities - that is ending the slow-motion genocide and half-way conflict - is far stronger than one for abandoning helpless victims to their fate through the fig leaf of the United Nations.

To be passive in the face of evil is to be complicit in it.  While it is beyond our power as people and as a nation to undo all evil, we have a moral obligation to stop what we can.  If I am carrying my revolver when a criminal attacks someone near me, I have a duty to use my power to stop it.  To do otherwise is to be an accessory to the atrocity.

So the argument that the war in Iraq was one of aggression is false; to argue that it is against Christian doctrine is either disingenous or ignorant.

The liberation of Iraq was long overdue, but at least it has helped wipe away the shame we incurred by leaving a thug like Saddam Hussein in power all those years ago.

This, by the way, is another example of how the "realists" once again botched things.  By leaving Saddam in power, we were stuck with not only "the bastard we knew," but a very pissed-off and defiant one.  We were also stuck with an open-ended commitment to contain him that was every bit as onerous as the eventual task of removing him.  Had we marched on Baghdad in 1991 with 250,000 more troops than we had in 2003, with a half-million more reserves at our beckon call and (perhaps most importantly) with much higher confidence and prestige (because we hadn't yet hung our Iraqi allies out to dry), the whole thing would likely have cost a lot less in terms of lives, treasure and pain.

Alas, history is replete with examples of how well-meaning people have, through a misguided sense of fair play and a desire to avoid undue effort - allowed evil to fester and grow.

At least we've tried to square the debt and rip it out.

Brian, Brian, Brian

Happy (belated) New Year.  As is usual, I was taking time with the family and not paying terribly close attention to the blog.

I was among the Spartan faithful who watched the...amazing...performance by Brian Hoyer at the Champs Sports Bowl (via satellite, unfortunately).

Five turnovers.  Five.

Coach Dantonio insists he's the guy for next year, but...geez.  Still, I guess it would be ungenerous to pile on at this point.

Adding insult to injury, Michigan won (though I did enjoy Mike Hart's fumble-rama).

Oh well, the new season is only nine short months away.