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Veteran's Day Thoughts
Today, November 11, is a national celebration that is too often overlooked or made cynical. Today is Veteran’s Day. Formerly known as Armistice Day after the signing of the armistice ending World War I, Veteran’s Day has come to be a day of recognition of those men and women who have taken upon their shoulders the burden of caring for and protecting our country through service in the military.
Free Speech and the American University
On Saturday, the Washington Post ran a story by Princeton University senior Asheesh Kapur Siddique, who claimed David Horowitz’s proposed "Academic Bill of Rights" [the text of which can be found here] amounts to nothing less than "Thought Police in the Lecture Hall," as the piece is titled. The ABOR, as Mr. Siddique calls it, "takes the form of student resolutions or legislative proposals claiming to protect the academic freedom of college students from ideological indoctrination by professors." This is obviously harmful to the learning process, says Mr. Siddique
Activism and the American College Student
According to CM reader Janelle, "California college students would love to have some sort of protest so crazy it would invoke the wrath of the Governator, or even better--the federal government. Similar to the Kent State shootings in 1970, but perhaps without the deaths. I know quite a few people who admire the protests of the 60's and 70's and sort of look upon such racous [sic] radicalism with admiration and would see a Kent State- like scenario as a badge of courage." Quad blogger Seth Simmons adds, "I think a bunch of the leftist professors on campuses across the nation are upset that students today are generally far more conservative than their 1960-70s counterparts. And even the lefty students who protest are considerably less radical (in action, not belief) today." An interesting thought, one I thought I might look a little into.
An American Soldier Talks About Iraq
Yesterday in his column Best of the Web Today, James Taranto reasserted his support for the war in Iraq, recalling his March 4, 2003 speech in which he refuted a number of myths regarding the war. In today's Best of the Web, Taranto posted a comment he received in reply to yesterday's column. The letter is from an American soldier in Iraq, who writes at length about what America needs to do to win. I am reposting here the unabridged version of that letter.
There's been a lot of discussion back home about the course of the war, the righteousness of our involvement, the clarity of our execution, and what to do about the predicament in which we currently find ourselves. I just wanted to send you my firsthand account of what's happening here.
Radical Islam finds US 'sterile ground'
From The Christian Science Monitor:
The Islamist radicalism that inspired young Muslims to attack their own countries - in London, Madrid, and Bali - has not yielded similar incidents in the United States, at least so far.
Howard Dean, Political Gladiator
In in appearance on MSNBC, DNC Chairman Howard Dean was asked why he refused to debate GOP Chairman Ken Mehlman on the cable news networks. His answer: that "the spectacle of the debate overwhelms the desire to get the message out." He then criticizes television news in general as "infotainment."
Wait a sec. Anyone who knows anything about the media or watches any cable news networks knows that the whole reporting system is shallow, raucous and over-simplified. The roles of the DNC and RNC chairmen--go on and score some political points--were practically made for the cable news networks.
But enough of that. You want to know the real reason Howard Dean won't face Ken Mehlman? He can't pronounce "gladiatorial conquest" to save his life. Watch it at the link above. It's hilarious.
Harvard gets some religion--maybe
The Washington Post published an editorial by the president of the University of Notre Dame concerning the newly proposed policy at Harvard that would add a "Reason and Faith" course to the core curriculum (hat tip: Rebecca). President Jenkins writes:
The Harvard committee rightly noted that students coming to college today struggle with an academy that is "profoundly secular." This was not always the case, at Harvard or at many other universities. For centuries scholars, scientists and artists agreed that convictions of faith were wholly compatible with the highest levels of reasoning, inquiry and creativity. But in recent centuries this assumption had been challenged and assertions of faith marginalized in, and even banished from, academic departments and university curricula. Requiring courses in "Reason and Faith" would be a welcome step toward reintroducing faith to the academy.I agree. The religious component of higher education never should have been discarded in the first place.
Are mainstream Muslims more tolerant?
Over the last five years, most newsworthy Islamic activity has been negative—bombings, minority oppression, throwing tantrums (and Molotov cocktails) when upset by the "insensitive" West, beheading Americans on television, etc. The standard response from the left has been that the majority of the world's billion Muslims are peaceful and non-radical, but that they don't covered by the news. I've always hoped this is the case, but I've been troubled by the seeming lack of denunciation and anger towards the Islamic radicals from the so-called peaceful mainstream. Christians always distance themselves from abortion-clinic bombers and zealots who fancy themselves modern Crusaders; why can't Muslims? Well, they're beginning to--or at least they're finally showing up in the news.
Seth Simmons
in posts by Simmons
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James Taranto: That Guy, He Cracks Me Up
From James Taranto's Best of the Web Today:
Great Moments in Higher Education
Brian MacLean, a professor at Toronto's York University, has a prescription for marijuana "for an undisclosed illness," the CBC reports. But he refuses to set foot on campus because "there is no place at work where he can smoke it":
Remember the Days of Playing Cowboys and First Peoples?
The College of William and Mary has joined the growing number of higher education institutions in this country forced to buckle under NCAA rulings about inappropriate athletics mascots or logos - inappropriate in this case because the logo might have offended some Native Americans (to use PC terms). William and Mary has decided to drop the two feathers protruding from the letters WM in their athletics logo (seen at the top of this page) because of the NCAA's policy against using "American Indian mascots, names and imagery."
Commentary on the Columbia University Fiasco
Updated on Friday, October 6, 2006 at 05:23PM by
Cody Beckman
I am speaking, of course, of the recent debacle at Columbia University in New York, where protestors from the Chicano Caucus of Columbia University, the student chapter of the International Socialist Organization, and the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism ( ANSWER ) Coalition broke up the planned appearances by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, and fellow Minutemen Marvin Stewart and Jerome Corsi. Mr. Stewart, an ordained minister, began the speeches, but was shouted down by students from Columbia and other New York schools, who called Stewart, in his own words, “[t]he N-word, sell-out, you name it.” The Columbia Spectator reports “Audience members shouted interjections throughout his address, calling Stewart, who is black, a hypocrite for supporting the Minutemen. Stewart responded by becoming louder and telling the audience that they did not know anything about government.” (Video of the protest available via the Spectator's website, or found here.)
A Hollywood Producer on a Christian College Campus
Jack Hafer, producer of the movie To End All Wars, came to John Brown University today to speak in a chapel service, to make appearances in several classes, and to answer questions following a showing of his film tonight. Previously published in England under the titles Through the Valley of the Kwai and Miracle on the River Kwai, and the basis for the fictionalized movie Bridge on the River Kwai, To End All Wars is the story of Ernest Gordon, a Scottish POW in World War II, captured by the Japanese and held captive in Thailand for three and a half years. While in the prison camp, Gordon and his fellow prisoners experienced a spiritual movement, a revival of Christianity that caused them to act positively toward both one another and toward their Japanese guards.
The Young Hipublicans
I just ran across the following story from the New York Times, dated May 25, 2003. Titled "Armies of the Right: The Young Hipublicans," it is an interesting look at the development of collegiate conservatism in the last few years. Read the story here.
ABC is Trying to Poison our Kids
Media Matters for America, a "progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media," announced on September 7 that ABC and Scholastic Inc. have teamed up to "inject[. . .] conservative misinformation into the classroom" by asking "100,000 high school teachers nationwide and their students to watch the controversial miniseries [ Path to 9/11] and then use Scholastic's 'discussion guide' in class." This is obviously a conservative attempt to brainwash our kids
James Taranto Is Right (As Usual)
This is so good I had to quote it in full. From yesterday's Best of the Web Today:
The Real American Threat
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is having political problems at home, but he has a message Europe would do well to listen to, the so-called news agency Reuters reports:
Blair launched a withering attack on Thursday on what he called "mad anti-Americanism" among European politicians.
Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush's closest ally in the so-called war on terror, said the world urgently needs the United States to help tackle the globe's most pressing problems.
"The danger is if they decide to pull up the drawbridge and disengage. We need them involved," Blair said, spelling out his political vision in a pamphlet published by The Foreign Policy Center think-tank.
"The strain of, frankly, anti-American feeling in parts of European politics is madness when set against the long-term interests of the world we believe in," he said.
This is spot on. The more isolationist America becomes, the more Europe will be left to fend for itself. Given the continent's weak militaries, greedy welfare states, lax attitudes toward crime, low native birthrates and exploding Muslim populations, it's hard to muster much confidence in Europe's ability to go it alone.
One man who seems to have a dim understanding of the need for American engagement is, believe it or not, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Reports Agence France-Presse:
Asked what Middle East leaders had told him about their views of the consequences of the US-led war in Iraq, he said: "Most of the leaders I spoke to felt that the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath have been a real disaster for them . . . They believe it has destabilized the region."
He added that many leaders wanted the Americans to stay in Iraq until the security situation improves, noting that "having created the problem they cannot walk away."
Walking away is precisely what the Murtha-Kerry wing of the Democratic Party wants to do. Let us hope their irresponsible unilateralism does not prevail.
College Students Remember 9/11
On an informal discussion board of which I am a part, a group of mostly college students were asked where they were on 9/11. I hope they don't mind my sharing their answers -- they are a thought provoking, moving tribute to a day that forever changed America.
Where were you when you first heard of the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon?
Remembering September 11
Growing up, I often heard people say in relation to November 22, 1963, “I’ll never forget where I was and what I was doing on that day.” On September 11, 2001, another such memory was burned into the minds of the American public. Unfortunately, the latter has spawned perhaps an even greater number of conspiracy theories and has led to more finger pointing, this time on a far greater scale.
Political Jesus
“Would St. Joseph send his Son to St. Joseph's?” The bold title of the ad caught my eye, and I felt compelled to look at the small print. St. Joseph's. Sounds like a hospital. I read on. “The way we figure it, St. Joseph had a lot to do with the way Jesus turned out. And, as we all know, Jesus fought corruption, hypocrisy, and the decadent power structure. He shook people up and you know what He got for that!” Hmm. An interesting take on the life of Christ. This far in, there was no going back. I had to see what these people wanted.
Misplaced Priorities
Earlier this year I received my first legal punishment - a parking ticket for parking on the wrong side of the street. It was 5:00 in the morning when I pulled up to the town square to meet a guy for a ride to work and I simply pulled into a parking spot. Apparently it's illegal to park facing traffic even if you are completely within a parking place. I honestly did not know this. I have to say though that what made me the most upset about the ticket was the amount: $4. Four dollars! I think I would have been happier with a $40 ticket. I live in a town with the usual amount of break-ins and drunk driving and with an inordinate amount of teenage drinking; but it was apparently more important to write me a measly $4 parking ticket that day than to tackle any of these real issues.
An Iranian "confession" film
The Iranian government is about to release a film documenting the "confessions" of Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo, the eminent Iranian philosopher of non-violence, apparenly obtained while he is incarcerated without any charges in Iran's notorious Evin prison.
Preliminary conjectured sections of the 'confession' are being written about on Rooz On-Line. So far, the clerics and religious police in Iran's theocracy have obtained Ramin's confession that he created the "web," and that he also created the "CES" organization to disseminate information.
Last I heard, in the 2004 American elections Al Gore had claimed credit for creating the 'web,' despite its actual invention by the computer scientists at CERN. As for the 'CES,' I'm sure the people in Las Vegas will be fascinated to watch the Iranian film, in order to learn that their 'Computer Expo Show,' the world's largest convention, was created by an Iranian philosopher.
If these early trailers turn out to be the actual 'confessions' in the film, their laughable absurdity will be lost in the film's ominous import: the clerics and their theofascism are utterly disconnected with reality. The official disconnect with reality is an important feature of totalitarianism (see Arendt's book, Totalitarianism).
Want to bet whether this film wins an Oscar for 'Best Foreign Film'?
'Be free.'
Don Kirk
in Duoism, the Philosophy of Freedom
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