Victor Davis Hanson on the Iraq War. Plus an appropriate update about...North Korea?

   You see here what you may think is a strange juxtaposition of the Iraq War and the years leading up to World War 2 (a war that Winston Churchill called the most easily prevented war in history). Linking the two eras of history is the influence of the pacifist left, then and now.
   In a world growing ever more dangerous, with truly evil men possessing the most awesome of weapons, as happened in the 1930's we see leaders in the free world paralyzed by the pacifist left and unable to meet evil with strength and will. The Nazis and the Japanese noticed college groups and their professors in Britain declaring they would never fight for England and they were emboldened.
   As Winston Churchill observed in The Gathering Storm, in just a few years, many of those very students would be killed or maimed fighting that same Axis they had so encouraged.
   Following 9-11, similar pacifists resisted America punishing the Islamic radicals, they opposed the surge that gave us victory in Iraq and voted for a president who would squander that same victory and tarnish the honor of our nation.    The Tunnel Dweller

Iraq a Convenient Scapegoat  "We can perhaps admire either those who were consistently against the war when it was at first unpopular, or those who kept their support when it was even more unpopular. But how does political convenience — in a war that hinged on the enemy destroying our morale — translate into courage or wisdom?"   (Emphasis added.)

Above: World War 2 cartoon depicting pacifist democracies who would not fight Hitler until it was too late to save Europe and the millions who were murdered by the Axis*.

  .... "Going to war is a matter not of avoiding mistakes, but of seeking to correct them as soon as possible. For a postmodern society that knows no history, mistakes must not occur. And when they do, someone else is always to be blamed."  (Emphasis again added)

Iraq – Agony, Ordeal, and Recovery  "We are an ahistorical, me-only generation. An Okinawa or Hue does not exist in our memories. War is supposed to proceed like apps on an iPhone. No one knows of the intelligence failures surrounding Pearl Harbor, the near criminally wrong protocols of the B-17 campaign between 1942-3, or the failure to provide our troops with adequate tanks and anti-tank weaponry in World War II.

"Going to war is a matter not of avoiding mistakes, but of seeking to correct them as soon as possible. For a postmodern society that knows no history, mistakes must not occur. And when they do, someone else is always to be blamed.

"Axis", for all history-challenged readers is explained here.  We know there are at least 50 million such people in the US.  

 

And North Korea wants all those 50 million to stand by them: North Korea to progressives: Join us in war against U.S. (Update).

"According to a post at the North Korean News Service, the United States is the “common enemy” of all the world’s progressives, including, apparently, those in the United States.  And the regime wants them to join Kim Jung Un in his effort against the United States."  Hat tip to Joe Newby

Those enlisting in this fight will get a free Un-phone.

Hitler Survivor: ‘Keep Your Guns and Buy More Guns’

The Right Planet   "Katie Worthman was born in Austria and lived there for seven years under Hitler’s brutal regime. After World War II, she also lived for three years under Soviet communist occupation. Needless to say, Mrs. Worthman is someone who has an acute awareness of how the media distorts things and tyranny comes to power." 

MSNBC’s Resident Marxist Melissa Harris-Perry: All Your Kids Belong to Us (Updated)

The Right Planet 

"...MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry considers the unborn child a “thing” which takes a “lot of money” to “turn into a human,” costing thousands of dollars to care for each year of his/her life. Now it appears that Harris-Perry thinks that, after they’re born, children fundamentally belong to the state.

"Narrating a new MSNBC “Lean Forward” spot, the Tulane professor laments that we in America “haven’t had a very collective notion that these are our children.” “[W]e have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to their communities,” Harris-Perry argued."

While I think it is true that our children are a national resource and the future of our nation for good or evil, the import of Obama-thinkers' social philosophies can be scary to contemplate. I fear the consequences if Harris-Perry's outlook translates into government control.
 

MSNBC's expected outlook   "Of course, if as Harris-Perry holds,"[t]he cost to raise a child [is] $10,000 a year up to $20,000 a year," and if children should be viewed as collectively "owned" by "society," then taken to its logical extension, a woman's choices about having a child should be informed by the economic considerations of the "community," would it not? But of course, that logic would take someone to justify, for example, the "one-child" policy in Communist China.
"What's more, the notion of collective responsibility for children was a philosophy that undergirded the Cultural Revolution in Communist China under Chairman Mao. I bring that up because, as you may recall, another Harris-Perry "Lean Forward" spot contains a reference to a "great leap forward," which calls to mind the disastrous agricultural reform plan which starved millions of Chinese to death in the 1950s."

Update: If Politicians Are Stupid and Corrupt, Why Should We Let Them Run Our Lives?   Mayor Bloomberg ironically asks:

“And yet these are the ones we keep re-electing. You’ve got to ask yourself why.”

 

If government wants to raise our children, they will be brought up by nincompoops. Which leads us to our next post...

Nincompoopery

Always On Watch
Nincompoop:

a person lacking common sense, a person who lacks good sense or judgment ;  a foolish or stupid person  40 Obama White House aides owe the IRS $333,000 in back taxes Obama's White House is open to the rich and closed to the poor: President Obama's pledges to open up the White House are going in reverse American food stamps advertised by the American government — in Mexico Health Insurance Companies Privately Warning Premiums Could Jump By As Much As 116% Because Of Obamacare +30.5B: Federal Spending Up, Not Down, in First 5 Months of FY13 Taxpayer-Subsidized Lab Obama Used To Plug His Green Energy Plan Hasn’t Produced A Single Battery (and the batteries were for the official car of the Obama administration, the Chevy Volt) ICE on Release of Illegals: ‘We Have Released Many Individuals Who Have DUI Offenses’ Massachusetts principal calls off Honors Night because it could be 'devastating' to students who missed mark

Tony Branco, one of my favorite cartoonists

Check out his work at Comically Incorrect. Here is just a sample:

 

 

Military warned 'evangelicals' No. 1 threat; Christians targeted ahead of Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, KKK

Look out! He's carrying an offering plate!

World Net Daily  "A slide titled “Religious Extremism” lists multiple organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Hamas, the Nation of Islam, the Ku Klux Klan and the Christian Identity movement as examples of extremist groups.
"However, the first group on the list is evangelical Christianity. Catholicism and ultra-orthodox Judaism are also on the list of religious extremist organizations."
....
"Crews said it is astounding that soldiers were taught that a key foundation of the Christian faith is now considered extreme and compared to those who want to implement Shariah law."  But I thought Sharia was now cool.

Ah HA! Are they singing "Glorious things of thee are spoken" or is that the German national anthem, "Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles"?

bsimmons.wordpress.com

 

It was just between Democrats. Nothing to see here folks; keep moving. It's not as if it was said by a Republican

Obama Apologizes to Calif. AG for Comment on Looks
"Carney said Obama did not want the reference to her appearance to “diminish the attorney general’s accomplishments and her capabilities,” noting Obama said he believed Harris has done “great work” and is “dedicated and tough.”
"Carney sought to make the comment appear a little less controversial by noting that Obama and Harris are old and good friends, suggesting it was kind of joshing between people who know each other well."

Obama Excited by California’s Attorney General

Obama gave a shout-out to Rep. Mike Honda and to state Attorney General Kamala Harris, noting a couple of times that she is, objectively, easy on the eyes. “She’s brilliant and she’s dedicated, she’s tough… She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general…. It’s true! C’mon.” The crowd laughed.

Governor Palin got the Obama treatment as you may recall from 2008
Along the same lines, do you remember Obama calling this reporter "Sweetie"?

Why not give Obama the Musberger treatment?

After Obama; Republican or Democrat, our next president will be a budget hawk.

Victor Davis Hanson 

"Barack Obama is a landmark figure: young, charismatic, seemingly post-national, and supposedly post-racial. For those reasons alone, he enjoys a level of unshakeable political support not predicated on the actual record of his tenure as president (just as most remember fondly that he won the Nobel Prize but don’t quite know what he did to earn it).
"Obama’s economic record will be dispassionately acknowledged to be similar to that of Jimmy Carter. But, unlike Carter, Obama will remain a mythical figure in liberal circles.
"To borrow a line from a classic Western, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” And so we will do just that."   
 

Save the planet-stop breathing!

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Pedophilia Is A Sexual Orientation Under CA Bill?

gopthedailydose  "California Congresswoman, Rep. Jackie Speier ...(D-duh), wants to federalize a state law to prohibit counseling to change a person’s sexual orientation. That doesn’t sound that extreme, but pedophilia is a sexual orientation according to this bill as well.
"Under the bill’s language, a mental health counselor could be sanctioned if there was an attempt to get a pedophile or gay individual to change his behavior or speak negatively about their behavior as it relates to sexuality.
The bill calls on states to prohibit efforts to change a minor’s sexual orientation, even if the minor requests it, saying that doing so is “dangerous and harmful.” "
....
“This language is so broad and vague, it arguably could include all forms of sexual orientation, including pedophilia,”....“It’s not just the orientation that is protected—the conduct associated with the orientation is protected as well.”
....
"It also means that, if pedophilia is a sexual orientation, that discrimination laws also apply to pedophiles. That means you cannot block a pedophile from being a preschool teacher or any other high-risk occupation."
....
"We don’t put pedophiles in prison to make them stop being pedophiles; we put them there because they threaten the safety of the most vulnerable people in a society."

This article fears the report may be stretching things a bit, but the report has many in the gay community concerned:

Gay Community Outraged: Pedophilia Is A Sexual Orientation Under CA Bill

As a man, first – I am appalled. As a gay man looking at this,  all I see is another effort to associate good people with bad. It is my hope that the gay community (whoever we are) steps forward and calls this for what it is.  Knight Shift

More on this woman's efforts in other areas:
Speier also wants to tax internet sales I see a big check to her from Amazon in the future.  More on that subject here:

Congresswoman Jackie Speier of [Pelosi's region] has announced that she, along with “a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives and two small business owners” will have a press conference Thursday afternoon to talk about the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013.

Every time liberals propose "fairness" we become less free.
.
Congresswoman Speier Uses Personal Tragedy to Promote Child Murder

We might cry with her on her loss but we won’t be fooled into continuing to fund the murder of unborn children at the hands of America’s largest baby killing organization.

 There is an illustration in here that may trouble you. You've been warned.

How Long Will Obama Continue the Diplomatic Charade with Iran?

Jonathan S. Tobin  "Acting on behalf of the United States and its allies, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had offered Iran the possibility of easing up on sanctions if only they would demonstrate that they were telling the truth about not working to build a nuclear weapon. But despite these high hopes and the certain knowledge that the West was willing to compromise about letting them keep some of their nuclear toys, the Iranians showed up today offering Ashton and company nothing."

Meanwhile, we show weakness by approaching them with a deal. What have we learned from History?
That we are obtuse.

“You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.”
  Winston Churchill on Chamberlain’s return from signing the Munich Pact with Adolf Hitler. 

Wait, does this mean tax cuts help employment, and tax increases hurt it?

Instapundit  "HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? ...  The Scary Thing Is That This Bad Jobs Report Wasn’t Even About The Sequester. It’s caused by the end of the payroll tax cut."....

From American Interest; Jobs Report? What Jobs Report? Hey Look, Gay Marriage!

We are, however, thrilled that we don’t have a Republican in the White House, because if we did, the press would be incessantly yammering about this bad news until we were all sick of it. As it is, they are likely to say as little as possible about what appears to be a massive failure of economic policy and go back to covering the really important issues, like gay marriage.
If a Republican president got very busy on social issues at a time of economic stagnation and disappointment, there would be earnest hand-wringing of the “What’s Wrong with Kansas” variety about how American rubes were being diverted from their true economic interests by the skillful manipulation of emotionally charged social issues and identity politics. This would be taken as a sign of the cynicism of the ruling party and the clueless credulity of the hypnotized voters.
Fortunately, we aren’t going to have to listen to any of that depressing rhetoric now. Social issues are good and important; economic questions like jobs and incomes and growth are a distraction from the real business of the people.