Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Check out this May 1996 CNN piece titled "Abu Abbas: from terrorist to peace advocate":
[T]imes have changed, and now, he offers advice on reaching a lasting peace in the Middle East. He spends his days rushing from meeting to meeting, lunching with officials of the new Palestinian National Authority, networking, listening and making suggestions....He now says the time for armed struggle has ended, but not the struggle itself. "The purpose of armed struggle is not simply to kill ... its purpose is to reach a political goal," Abbas said...."The media didn't tell the world that Abu Abbas saved the lives of six hundred passengers, only that a disabled man was killed," he said. [CNN, 5/10/96]
The triumph of CNN nonobjective nonjudgmentalism.Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
The New York Times' editorial "North Korea Blinks" makes this preposterous assertion:The breakthrough came when North Korea stopped insisting on one-on-one talks with Washington. The Bush administration wanted a broader regional meeting. The invasion of Iraq may have given North Korea second thoughts, but pressure from China was probably more significant.
What?! I had to write a letter to them:
Dear Editors:
We just witnessed the overwhelming and swift destruction of an "Axis of Evil" regime, then North Korea suddenly is willing to have discussions about its nuclear program--on American terms. Yet you arbitrarily, without any evidence, assert that "pressure from China was probably more significant" in forcing North Korea to reconsider its bellicosity than the North Korean regime's fear that it too might be toppled.
This assertion is incredible. It contradicts the most obvious reason for this change of heart, and it flat-out contradicts what your own reporter, James Brooke, has been writing: that Kim Jong Il's regime is terrified that they are next on America's list. It seems to me that you have chosen to discard the obviously true rather than to admit that Bush's war against Iraq is actually having positive effects elsewhere.
I encourage others to email them at: letters@nytimes.com.
Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From its beginning, America has stood for the ideals of the Enlightenment: reason, individual rights, capitalism, the pursuit of happiness. The dominant trends in America today, however - trends endorsed not only by our leadership, but seemingly by the public at large - represent the opposite of these ideals. On Monday, April 21, 2003, Dr. Leonard Peikoff, will hold a free public lecture in Irvine, California titled "America vs. Americans." In his talk Dr. Leonard Peikoff explores this contradiction, along with our current moral cowardice, giving special emphasis to foreign policy.Dr. Peikoff is the legal and intellectual heir of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand, and founder of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the author of Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (1991); The Ominous Parallels (1982); and numerous Ayn Rand anthologies. This event is free to the public. Location: Hyatt Regency Irvine, 17900 Jamboree Road (at Jamboree and the 405 Freeway), Irvine, California. Time and Dates: Monday, April 21, 2003, Doors open at 6:30 PM; Presentation: 7:30 to 8:30 PM, Q&A: 8:30 to 9:30 PM; Reception follows until 10:00 PM. For more information, please call 949-222-6550, or email events@aynrand.org.
Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
A good example of how those who rule by force are necessarily out of touch with reality:
Col Said, 42, commanded 150 soldiers in an engineer unit attached to the Hammurabi division, charged with defending the north-western approaches. Yet even before the fighting began, Col Said said, most Republican Guard soldiers viewed Saddam with hatred and contempt. "We would say, 'Our leader is mad, mad, mad. And he wants to cut all our throats'. "We knew we would never fight. I thought the war would never start because it was madness." Col Said described the cynicism of sycophantic Republican Guard generals who assured Saddam of victory during televised meetings. "They told him we would fight any power in the world. When we heard this, we couldn't believe it. But then the generals told us, 'No, no - don't worry. Just keep quiet. Stay in your positions. It won't happen'." [Daily Telegraph, 4/17/03]
Apr 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
U.K.--Already prohibited from carrying around firearms, British police officers are pathetic enough. But now there is rising concern over a new program that allows them to carry Tasers (stun guns). After all, getting shot with a Taser kind of hurts.Although panty-waisted British officials have already banned "export" of Tasers (which is a bit silly, since they are made in the United States, not the U.K.), officers in London, Northamptonshire, North Wales, the Thames Valley, and Lincolnshire will carry the devices for a one-year trial period. The officers will be instructed to shout, "Taser, Taser, Taser!" before firing, despite possible concern that shouting may do more harm than the Taser itself by hurting someone's feelings.
It has not yet been proven that building a country full of hypersensitive sheep is an effective defense against terrorist aggression.
