Why Joe Lieberman Is Being Thrown Out Of The Democratic Party

In the Washington Post today Robert Kagan delineates why Joe Liberman is being given the boot by the Democrats. Is it because he is a "bad" Democrat on social or economic issues? No. Is it because he is a "hawk"?

The Last Honest Man: "No, Lieberman's sin is of a different order. Lieberman stands condemned today because he didn't recant. He didn't say he was wrong. He didn't turn on his former allies and condemn them. He didn't claim to be the victim of a hoax. He didn't try to pretend that he never supported the war in the first place. He didn't claim to be led into support for the war by a group of writers and intellectuals whom he can now denounce. He didn't go through a public show of agonizing and phony soul-baring and apologizing in the hopes of resuscitating his reputation, as have some noted 'public intellectuals.'"

The willfull misleading of the public by various elites both in politics and the media was rampant during the lead up to World War II as well.

Quote Of The Day

"The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins it is only by default: the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles."

- Ayn Rand from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

WWCD

In this article, Victor Davis Hanson relates how much the world stage of today resembles Europe in 1938 at the height of appeasement. The only question we have left to ask is "What would Churchill do?"

VDH's Private Papers::The Brink of Madness: "But what is lost sight of is the central moral issue of our times: a humane democracy mired in an asymmetrical war is trying to protect itself against terrorists from the 7th century, while under the scrutiny of a corrupt world that needs oil, is largely anti-Semitic and deathly afraid of Islamic terrorists, and finds psychic enjoyment in seeing successful Western societies under duress.

In short, if we wish to learn what was going on in Europe in 1938, just look around."

I'll Bet She Didn't Look Like Jessica Tandy Either

Our son, the summer alpaca rancher, had to take one of the animals to The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical facility in Columbus for some tests. He told me that only after checking the animal's name tag did he discover that he had been driving "Miss Daisy".

Quote Of The Day

"When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. "

- Anonymous

Best Overheard Conversation

M'Lady and I were having breakfast one Saturday morning recently when a rather large local farmer decked out in bibb overalls and a John Deere baseball cap came into the greasy spoon to join his cronies. After verbally abusing the waitress, which apparently was considered good sport by his fellows, and ordering a cup of coffee he leaned back in his chair and said "Well, I guess the drought's over".

The previous evening it had rained 6 inches.

Great. My Headset Jack Doesn't Work Anymore.

Gizmodo, The Gadget Guide: "A UK newspaper reminds us that cellphones are just downright disgusting, and are even dirtier than toilets. That's because they're exposed to much more bodily bacteria than any toilet seat. A combination of being near your mouth with all that spit and stuff, and those cellphone electronics keeping the bacteria warm all day turns that handset into a teeming metropolis of creepy-crawley microbes"

Well, They're Better Than Toasters

I heard not one but two offers on the radio today for free Apple iPods. Get an iPod for signing up for classes at some business school no one has ever heard of and get a Nano for setting up a new checking account (?). Cool.

A Visit To The Fair

We finally got a break in the hideously hot weather as a line of thunderstorms moved through the area and M'Lady and I decided to take in the county fair this evening. A nice time was had by one and all. We viewed practically every animal on the premises from lamb to draught horse, goat to peacock, bee to bull, not to mention some of the human variations on display. The people watching was particularly good, which I attributed to the musical headliner of the evening - Styx. They were bad enough the first time around and I doubt they have improved while playing county fairs for $30 a head.

M'Lady took particular interest in the duck races the children held. Pet ducks raised by the contestants were simultaneously released inside 10 foot long pens and encouraged to run to the opposite end by much table top banging. Good, clean fun that even the ducks seemed to enjoy and not a PETA member in sight.

And since much of life consists of good timing, the last words I heard the announcer say as we walked out the front gate were "Styx will be coming on stage in two minutes and tickets are still available....".

Quote Of The Day

Seen on a church sign:

"If the grass is greener on the other side, fertilize yours."

I Love David E. Petzel

the gun editor for Field & Stream:

The Gun Nut: "Through the history of firearms, many of the most effective guns have also been the most graceful, the Kentucky rifle, the Springfield Model 03, the Colt Peacemaker, the Winchester Model 12, the Savage Model 99. Gun designers who put ugly firearms on the market should be sealed in a room where the collected speeches of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are played at a deafening volume for all eternity."

It's Like Hitting A Fastball

If you think about it - it's over.

The Gun Nut: "I'm indebted to my friend John Thomas for this one. John is a retiree who teaches rich people how to shoot a shotgun, and we were talking the other day about a client of his who couldn't hit a crossing target.
His problem, said John, is he thinks about it. It's a clear case of analysis paralysis.
Truer words were never spoken. If you want to miss with a shotgun, or a rifle in most cases, just think about what you're doing. Gene Hill used to say that the ideal trapshooter would be a gorilla who knew how to handle a gun; he'd be too dumb to analyze, and recoil wouldn't bother him. "

Zen And The Art Of Shotgunning. While you need to be aware of everything around you when handling a firearm, you can't think about what you're doing when actually shooting. Try to explain that to someone that wants to take away your Second Amendment rights.

Quote Of The Day

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

- Abraham Lincoln

Democracies Don't Fight Each Other

Michael Totten is filling in for Glenn Reynolds this week at Instapundit and posts the following item:

Instapundit.com: "This war in the Middle East nearly demolishes the theory that democracies don't go to war with each other. Lebanon, aside from Hezbollah's state-within-a-state, is a democracy. At least it's an almost-democracy. Aside from my personal affection for Lebanon, the country where I recently lived, the only country other than the US where I've ever lived, this is what anguishes me the most: The Arab world's only democracy is being torn to pieces by another democracy.
But it's telling, I think, that the Lebanese army, the fighting institution that represents democratic Lebanon and not just one totalitarian-sponsored political party, has chosen to sit this one out. "

Far from proving the point, Israel is fighting Hezbollah - a "totalitarian-sponsored political party" in Totten's words, not Lebanon. Lebanon's fledgling democracy is in no condition to fight this militia. The infrastructure damage Israel has caused to Lebanon is to keep Hezbollah from being resupplied by Syria and Iran - not to strangle the new Lebanese democracy in it's infancy. It might also explain why the Lebanese military has decided to sit on the sidelines since they can't possibly win. While the Arab League has issued a denunciation of Hezbollah, a polarization of political opinion must happen in the Middle East. The time is quickly approaching for these countries to make a decision - which side are you on?

Quote Of The Day

"What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally happens."

- Benjamin Disraeli

The Fragility of the Good Life

The question is do we have the ability to see a long term war through to victory or will we sacrifice that goal if our "good life" begins to unravel. You can be sure that the terrorists of the world are counting on us to become distracted.

VDH's Private Papers::The Fragility of the Good Life: "In our own new age of war, terrorism, huge debt, high-priced gas and frightful weapons and viruses that we try to ignore, we should remember that civilization's progress is not always linear. The human condition does not inevitably evolve from good to better to best, but always remains precarious, its advances cyclical.

The good life sometimes can be lost quite unexpectedly and abruptly when people demand rights more than they accept responsibilities, or live for present consumption rather than sacrifice for future investment, or feel their own culture is not particularly exceptional and therefore in no need of constant support and defense."

Midterm Madness

Madness indeed. Jack Murtha is a disgrace as a former Marine and a member of the United States House of Representatives. I can only imagine the type of voter that would be swayed by his appearance at a campaign rally.

Midterm Madness: "MURTHA ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. The Hill reports that Rep. John Murtha will stump for 41 House Democrats throughout the country as November nears. Two years ago he campaigned for none. But since then he's come out against the war, allowing the hawkish congressman to gain a whole new fan base."

The truly sad part of all of this is that Murtha is making these appearances for political "chits". The Democrats are already beginning to divide up the spoils of a mid-term election rout of the Republicans before the votes have even been counted. One can only wonder at the horrors in store for this nation if the Appeasement Party takes control of the House and/or the Senate.

Mel Gibson's Apology

While there has been a great swirl of interest in Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant while being arrested for DUI, most of it prurient, I think his apology should be just as widely circulated.

ABC News: Mel Gibson's Statement: "There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.
I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God's child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.
I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. Its about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad."

Mel has accepted complete responsibility for his comments and their implications. I think his apology comes from a true sense of remorse, not from some financial or otherwise ulterior motive. Now we will have an opportunity to watch him make amends with actions not just words and then we can truly gauge his sincerity.

Whatever the outcome of this incident to Mel Gibson, personally and/or professionally, it will be interesting also to watch how the people that vilified him apply the same standards to others such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Or not.

Why Don't The Cleveland Indians Have A Web Site?

Because the can't put three W's together. It appears this season is not so slowly sinking into the sunset and that the "re-building" has already begun.

Transformed Into A Religious War

Charles Krauthammer is one of the truly "wise men" writing about politics and world events today. I have been wondering how long it was going to take for us to see this conflict as a religious war.

TIME.com: Actually, the Middle East Is Our Crisis Too -- Aug. 7, 2006 -- Page 1: "Something radically new is emerging in the Middle East: the century-old Arab-Israeli dispute has been transmuted from a nationalist to a religious war. And as a result, the Arab-Israeli wars are now merging into the global conflict between radical Islam and the West."