Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Bush at the Air Force Academy

President Bush’s speech at the Air Force Academy was pretty good, I thought. A sample:

"In the terrorists’ vision of the world, the Middle East must fall under the rule of radical governments, moderate Arab states must be overthrown, nonbelievers must be expelled from Muslim lands, and the harshest practice of extremist rule must be universally enforced. In this vision, books are burned, terrorists are sheltered, women are whipped, and children are schooled in hatred and murder and suicide.

Our vision is completely different. We believe that every person has a right to think and pray and live in obedience to God and conscience, not in frightened submission to despots. (Applause.) We believe that societies find their greatness by encouraging the creative gifts of their people, not in controlling their lives and feeding their resentments. And we have confidence that people share this vision of dignity and freedom in every culture because liberty is not the invention of Western culture, liberty is the deepest need and hope of all humanity. The vast majority of men and women in Muslim societies reject the domination of extremists like Osama bin Laden. They’re looking to the world’s free nations to support them in their struggle against the violent minority who want to impose a future of darkness across the Middle East. We will not abandon them to the designs of evil men. We will stand with the people of that region as they seek their future in freedom."

Discussions - 14 Comments

Hey, I have a question. Why hasn’t Bush sent US troops into Sudan yet? More than 10,000 people have been killed by the Janjawid militia in the last 15 months. So why hasn’t our President acted yet? I mean, that WAS why we went into Iraq, wasn’t it? I sure did hear from a lot of you (after the WMD claims all fell through) that the reason we were going into Iraq was to ease the suffering of the many at the hands of a few. So, if that was REALLY the case, why aren’t we in Sudan RIGHT NOW?

Hey, Starbuck, do you believe in principle in giving money to charities?

If so, do you give money to every charity that approaches you?

If you don’t, does that make you a hypocrite?

Starbuck,

To the credit of the Bush Administration, they have brokered a deal in the Sudanese Civil War. And it’s not me that is being complimentary, it’s Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times.

[url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/29/opinion/29KRIS.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fNicholas%20D%20Kristof]Article[/url]

However, rather than look to the Bush Administration as an attempt to debunk the humanitarian rationale for going into Iraq, you should call upon the United Nations. If there was (yet another) example of where the United Nations could show some real character and leadership, it is Sudan.

Regardless, without blaming anyone, this another place where sitting idly by is criminal.

Paul Oliu

John, I may not give to every charity that approaches me, but then again, I don’t make those decisions based on which charities have oil that I can take. But either way, we’ll take your inability to offer a legitimate answer as an admission that you were wrong about the war.

If so, do you give money to every charity that approaches you?

So then why did we "give" to the Iraqi "charity?" There’s no difference between that and whats going on in a number of different parts of the world right now.

I don’t make those decisions based on which charities have oil that I can take.

How silly of me. That explains why gas prices have been so low lately.

According to the latest National Geographic, "By mid-January of 2004, 270 mass graves had been reported. The Free Prisoners Society estimates that five to seven million people ’disappeared’ in the past two decades, the majority of them Shiites." That’s millions, not thousands. And I don’t recall the Sudanese shooting at American aircraft over the past ten years.

Oh, I see... So now we went to war with Iraq not because of WMDs or human rights, but because Iraqis were "shooting at American aircraft," according to John. Actually, John’s response is just further evidence that the Conservative rationale for going to war with Iraq every time the previous excuse gets blown of out the water.

Gee John, you’re kind of like the Borg that way, aren’t you?

I didn’t know it was not valid to have multiple reasons for going to war!

Bush talked about WMD’s, talked about hideous human rights violations, and talked about the refusal of Saddam to abide by 17 different UN resolutions, not to mention Saddam’s links to terrorist groups. You can disagree with Bush’s reasoning or with the if the threshold needed to make war necessary was reached, but it is intellectually dishonest to say that Bush did not provide many different reasons to invade Iraq.

intellectually dishonest to say that Bush did not provide many different reasons to invade Iraq.

Nonsense. What is dishonest is manufacturing new reasons for war each time the previous reason is revealed as being illegitimate.

Guys and Gals, dont feed the "trolls". To borrow a line from Mr. Whittle’s newest essay at www.ejectejecteject.com, "Don’t argue with them, don’t engage them. They want to make this about rhetoric and sophistry, which they fetishize, and not about the simple difference between right and wrong, which is a world where they cast no reflection."

The reality behind Sam’s comments is that this is a tired (not to mention lame) tactic developed by the Right for the sake of shutting up those who insist on doing their own thinking. See, according to Sam, if you do not agree with him, you a troll. This is not unlike how the Bush administration has claimed that anyone who disagrees with our feeble-minded dope of a president is "unpatriotic."

Since Sam seems to offer little more than "don’t feed the trolls" in his occasional rants, I guess that qualifies him as the REAL troll here.

Well Starbuck, if you checked out that site Small Sam mentioned in his last post, it’s perfectly understandable.
So, now it’s your turn, Small Sam: lay that loud handle on us boy, and tell us why Starbuck is a troll.

Blah, blah, blah... more of the same. Anyone who doesn’t agree with you is a troll. The reality, Frank, is that you and Sam are the trolls. Maybe you should start by looking up the definition.

Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

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