Earlier today, British officials discovered two parked cars filled with explosives in the heart of London. The devises were set to be trigged by cell phone and were placed in high traffic areas such as outside a nightclub. Government sources so far have pegged “international elements” to be responsible for the car bombs.
And so Gordon Brown faces his first great crisis only three days into office as Prime Minister. Two years ago, Tony Blair acted with steadfast resolve and moral clarity when his country was rocked by jihadist terrorism. Today, Gordon Brown must set the stage for how his government—and indeed the United Kingdom as a whole—will react to the forces of jihad in the post-Blair era.
Mr. Brown faces quite a challenge. The Muslim population of the UK is amongst the most radical in the world. According to the left-leaning Guardian periodical, Muslims in the UK are the most anti-western in Europe, and a full ¾ of the Islamic population of Great Britain blames jihadist activity on western disrespect of Islam.
Britain’s liberal immigration laws have allowed radical clerics to preach the doctrines of jihad in London mosques and now the country finds itself swamped with a radicalized population where it is easy to walk into any movie store in Islamic communities and purchase propaganda DVDs from al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups.
Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the United Kingdom was a steadfast ally against radical Islam despite its internal crisis. The attempted bombings of today are clearly a test to challenge the fortitude of Mr. Brown. Gordon Brown is a capable minister and a decent man—but he must meet the challenge presented to him head on and wage war with the forces that have attempted time and again to destroy everything that his society is predicated upon.
The response of the Brown government will be a clear indicator of how the UK will act years into the future. The British people will either retain their stubborn pride and finish the fight or they will slink silently back into the darkness. This is Gordon Brown’s moment. How he chooses to respond is up to him, but he would do well to remember the words of Ronald Reagan:
“During the dark days of the Second World War, when this island was incandescent with courage, Winston Churchill exclaimed about Britain's adversaries, ‘What kind of people do they think we are?’ Well, Britain's adversaries found out what extraordinary people the British are. But all the democracies paid a terrible price for allowing the dictators to underestimate us. We dare not make that mistake again. So, let us ask ourselves, ‘What kind of people do we think we are?’ And let us answer, "Free people, worthy of freedom and determined not only to remain so but to help others gain their freedom as well.”
Friday, June 29, 2007
What can Brown do for you?
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
It depends on what the meaning of 'rhetorical' is.
Bats: Do you remember how to hot-wire a car?
Brick: Can the Pope dance?
Bats: Can the Pope dance?
Pepper: My Solly couldn't dance, poor thing- he had varicose veins like a Turnpike waitress.
The Crew
Monday, June 25, 2007
Rudy's Achilles Heel
Everyone remembers the lightning striking the building when Rudy was explaining his... nuanced opinion about abortion, right?
Well, Ann Althouse calls this Kerry syndrome.
There's far more support out there for the merger of politics and religion than the separation of politics and religion. And yet, Giuliani is popular. So was Kerry (up to a point). What's different about Giuliani is that the disjunct between his religion and his politics is also a disjunct between his politics and his political party.
Can a barely religious Northerner get elected President? Conventional wisdom would say no. You have to be either genuinely religious if you're a Republican or you have to pander to the religious freaks if you're a Democrat if you want to get elected. Also, everyone knows only Southerners vote and they only vote for fellow Southerners.
But is it true?
My gut says no. My gut says that people will see Giuliani's convictions and abilities and qualifications, and look at Hilary's lack of convictions (alas) and Obama's lack of experience and substance, and will go Rudy.
Most people, after all, hold competing and contradictory opinions. I, for example, believe that homosexuality is a grave sin and I think the state has no business in the bedroom. I believe that we should give tax cuts to the rich- they create wealth, which creates business, which creates jobs, which creates wealth- and I also believe rich people are jerks who should be shot. I believe that most social services are a waste of taxpayer money and I also believe that many social services are vital. I support the death penalty and oppose abortion. I am glad that Saddam is dead and Chemical Ali has a date with the hangman, and
I am saddened immensely that any human being, anywhere, has to lose his life.
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.
As for conventional wisdom-
The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events. John Kenneth Galbraith
Havel Havelim #122 is up.
Good stuff, maybe the best one yet. Check out this post from blog-I've-never-heard-of Circus Tent: Money talks at BMG (the other gimmel tamuz)
I was wondering what shaichus a (not the... there is no the) Satmer Rebbe had to the BMG. The comments, as always when you get to any sinas chinam post, are fascinating.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Movie Review: Big Nothing
I just saw Big Nothing. I picked it up because it stars Simon Pegg, and the back of the dvd looked interesting.
Quick Review: it sucks enormously. If you are on a plane and this is the movie that they are showing, walk out.
Spoilers follow in super secret highlight-o-vision.
Natasha McElhone was completely unbelievable as a small town detective in Oregon. Everyone dies in this super violent crapfest, except it doesn't happen fast enough. I thought it was a comedy, but there are no jokes and very few ridiculous moments, although one character is murdered with one of those enormous lollipops, so that was cool. I thought David Schwimmer doesn't do a half bad job of the former professor with an unbelievable disease and poorly written dialogue.
I want my money back.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wedding Legal Fun! I mean, Legal Wedding Fun! Fun Wedding Legal!
DISCLAIMER: IANAL
How do you become qualified to be an officiant at a wedding? Legally speaking, I mean.
My Google-fu is strong. I found this list of qualifications to be allowed to officiate at weddings, organized by state. Fascinating reading, if you have the time. The common denominator is, you have to be part of the gubmint (either a judge, county clerk, clerk of the court, mayor, councilperson, what have you) OR you have to be some species of religious poobah muckety muck. Most states are quite liberal in their definition of "sky pilot".
Alaska allows a "commissioned officer of the Salvation Army" to preform a wedding. Connecticut specifically states that "marriages witnessed by a duly constituted Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is are valid". Florida lets notary publics marry people. Guam keeps things simple by saying, simply "All ordained clergymen and priests of whatsoever religious faith who are recognized as such by the religious body whose faith they represent".
Hawaii lets members of Congress conduct weddings. Indiana, wanting to outdo Connecticut, recognizes "(6) The Friends Church, in accordance with the rules of the Friends Church. (7) The German Baptists, in accordance with the rules of their society. (8) The Bahai faith, in accordance with the rules of the Bahai faith. (9) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in accordance with the rules of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (10) An imam of a masjid (mosque), in accordance with the rules of the religion of Islam". A resident of Maine can be married in Maine by a lawyer and member of the Maine bar. Nevada allows even those authorized to preform marriages in other states to marry people in Las Vegas if they fill out a form.
New York allows leaders of The New York Society for Ethical Culture to preform weddings, and also I presume to drone on and on about secular humanism and to be as boring as real ministers of actual religions. in Ohio the "superintendent of the state school for the deaf" may preform weddings. In Oklahoma an "ecclesiastical dignitary" must be at least 18 to preform marriages, and Oklahoma is also the only state to refer to "him or her" instead of just "him". Pennsylvania requires that "marriage does require words uttered to establish at that precise time the relationship of husband and wife". South Carolina is the strictest, saying that "Only ministers of the Gospel or accepted Jewish rabbis and officers authorized to administer oaths in this State are authorized to administer a marriage ceremony". In fact, the only state in the union that will let any damn fool preform a wedding ceremony is Vermont, which doesn't appear to have any qualifications at all.
Yet there is no qualifications to actually get married. Maybe some kind of test or classes or counseling would be appropriate and help curtail divorce.
My baby bro got married last night, and my mind wandered during the chuppah. The lesson: when attending a sibling's wedding, charge your camera batteries beforehand. Otherwise, your camera will die and you will get bored and your mind will wander as you try not to die of heat exhaustion. Bonus: my bro's father in law's rebbi came, and at the chassan's tisch we learned that this esteemed individual is actually our third cousin (Jewish Geography ftw). When calling him up for a brocha under the chuppah, he was referred to as the "great uncle of the chassan". Hah.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Not a gloss on the Bush Administration at all.
Dusty: Time for plan B. Plan A was to break into El Guapo's fortress.
Carmen: And that you have done, now what?
Dusty: Well we really dont have a plan B. We didn't expect for the first plan to work. Sometimes you can overplan these things.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
I've had a tough day, due to lack of drugs.
Hate.
Anger.
Rage.
Murder death kill.
My back is somewhat better, so I stopped taking the Flexeril my doctor prescribed.
And now I want to set people on fire and punch buildings.
I know what I typed. I want to punch buildings right in their smug little cornicing.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
A guy cut me off in traffic. So I pulled into the oncoming lane, cut him off, boxed him in, and parked my truck so I could yell at him. Unfortunately, he got away, and I don;t have a gun. Instead, I summoned all my psychic energy and focused all my hate on him, trying to hate him to death.
I don't actually have any psychic powers but tried it just in case any latent psychic abilities chose that moment to manifest themselves.
The guy's head did not explode but I think his car's blue book value depreciated a teeny tiny fraction of a penny, and I'm going to have to settle for that.
Then I went to a pizza store to move a perfectly good camera, just because they decided to move the cash register.
I had my MP3 jammed into my ears, listening to Eitan Katz, in a desperate bid to lower my blood pressure, and also so no idiots could talk to me.
An idiot came up to me, and started talking.
I glowered at him, but he seemed unperturbed, so after about five minutes I took the headphones off and snarled "what?"
"What kind of calzones do you have?"
"I don't work here." I said. I have a drill in my hand and I'm wearing my company's uniform shirt with the name and logo on it, not the pizza store logo. Also, I wasn't wearing an apron.
"But I just want to know what kind of calzones you have!"
I did not leap over the counter and throttle the man in order to keep him from reproducing, but it was a near thing.
Then three more people did it to me- asked me a pizza related question and then argued with me when I explained that I did not work for the pizza store.
I need a drink.
