More on "They Hate Our Freedom"

More on the fatuous notion that "they hate our freedom". A Gallup World Poll found:

"Muslims in the 10 countries polled (Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia) said what they most admired, after technology, was the west's political freedom. Overwhelming majorities in every country would support freedom of speech, religion and assembly if drafting a constitution. Majorities in virtually every country also felt women should have the same legal rights as men."

Furthermore many were critical of the lack of freedom, corruption, terrorism, and fananticism in their own countries.

Toon Heads

Many "conservatives" are crowing over the sometimes violent protests over the Danish Mohammed cartoon, undoubtedly believing that the actions of a few thousand confirms their prejudices regarding over a billion people. I'm not going for the low hanging fruit of how a similiar inference can be drawn regarding abortion clinic bombers and the Christian faiths.

While I'm not cracked-up on the suppression of free speech aspect of this, I want to point out that at least these protesters are standing up for what they believe, even to the extent of using violence to correct what they perceive to be a great wrong. Let's contrast this to what happened when Serrano's "Piss Christ" was unveiled in 1987. Undoubtedly there was some of the obligatory complaining from "conservatives". I don't know if there was any protests as a result of this , but there certainly weren't any violent ones.

Undoubtedly some will argue that their Christian faction is more civilized than their Moslem counterparts. But how far does this hommage to civilization go? Does it demonstrate more civility to have offensive art such as the "Piss Christ" funded by the government? Or is it a testament to "conservative'ss" civility that the National Endowment for the Arts is still alive and kicking nearly 20 years later, when Republicans control the Legislative and Executive branches of the federal government? Or perhaps it is the rank-and-file's disdain of tax evaders, depite the fact that tax revenues often fund immoral practices?

It is high time for conservatives to quit turning a blind eye, and take a page from the Muslim's playbook.

Ashamed of Myself

Our Benevolent Leader® told us that the reason behind 9/11 was that terrorists hated our freedom. I kick myself for not asking this question, "Who would hate freedom?" A few people come to mind, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot... But nearly without exception, the guy working the plow is not going to be in favor of being oppressed.

So the notion of sending a bunch of guys to the US for flight training on a suicide mission to stop freedom eludes me. "Yes Osama, we are learning much in flight school--shhhh Crystal, you'll get me in trouble." It defies credibility to think that some guy suffering under the yoke of oppression is going to come to America (purportedly the freest of all nations) to go on a suicide mission. If it were me, I'd spend all the flight training money on strippers.

Sloppy Thinking

I have read that "we need to [fill in the blank] in this time of war." Aside from the fact that is a lousy justification, how many of stopped to ponder that the United States is technically not at war? Congress has not declared war against either Iraq or Afghanistan. There is indeed a lot of killing and shooting going on over there, but the same thing occurs in inner city neighborhoods. Neither is legal or moral. Congress does not have the authority to delegate its power to declare war. The President doesn't have legal authority to declare war.

I also dislike the sloppy use of the term "we". The use of the phrase "We are at war" conjures the mental image of speaker on foot patrol in Iraq. Rarely this is the case. It is usually some self-appointed armchair warrior who has never served a day of military service.

Cornyn to the Rescue

My fellow Texas residents should be thankful that Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is there to look out for them. Not only for Texas residents, but the entire nation should be grateful. The junior Senator is finally doing something about a grave menace to the republic. Al-Queda? Illegal Immigrants? Cancerous decay of civil liberties? Runaway federal debt? No, it's much worse.

James Bovard's blog details Cornyn's plan to protect the American people from the menance of hand jobs. If one more man get's a happy ending at a massage parlor, the terrorists will have won.

I just know everyone will sleep better at night without fearing a hand job.

Magic Shows

Misdirection is one of a magician's favorite tricks. The success of their illusion depends on your attention not being at a crucial place. Politicians do the same thing. Instead of having you pay attention to something important, they will misdirect you to inconsequential issues. Or perhaps a problem they caused but were able to pin on someone else.

Recently there have been a lot of real interesting developments the Bush Administration would prefer that you not to pay attention to. Such as the pack of lies surrounding Mr. Bush's war of aggression. Or maybe the spying the Bush Administration has been doing on American citizens. Or maybe the looming monetary crisis.

But unlike the magician's illusion, you many not want to be clapping after the politicians perform their tricks.

Immigration Woes

Along with the "war on Christmas", illegal immigrantion seems to be the other thing that's getting "conservatives" into a tizzy these days. I'd agree that people coming to this country to receive welfare isn't a good thing. But I fail to see the problem with people coming to America looking for a job. Many of them are paying taxes and propping up the social security system, and not receiving any benefit from it. As evidenced by the political bowing and scraping that "conservative" leaders do to the social security system, they ought to be viewing the "contributions" by illegal aliens to be a good thing. Furthermore, many illegal immigrants are sending US dollars south of the border. Students of economics will recognize that if those dollars never return, it is a counter-inflationary. Which is also a good thing.

Immigration isn't a problem in regards to private property. Private property owners can exclude anyone they like from their property (or at least they ought to be). If someone doesn't want Hispanics, Blacks, Jews, Catholics, or Homosexuals on their property, then so be it. On the other hand, if someone wants these groups on their property, then by the same token, they ought to have the opportunity to extend them an invitation. There is a group of private citizens who have banded together in the Southwest to keep trespassing illegal aliens off their property. Ironically, conservative darling Sean Hannity sandbagged the leader of this organization on his syndicated talk show in November 2002.

Given that people ought to have freedom of association and a right to use one's property as one sees fit, it would follow that immigration is a problem of "public" resources. In other words it is a problem that is a result of the government having control of far too much land and resources.