Sick French

I just wanted to point this out. Unbiased news writer Philippe Boulet-Gercourt has written an article in Le Nouvel Observateur entitled "Charming No More: Strauss-Kahn Braces for the Wrath of American
Puritanism", which has been translated by Worldcrunch and published by Time. This headline alone is noteworthy, let's discuss it. The apparently [formerly] charming Mr. Strauss-Kahn emerged naked from a bathroom, forced a maid to perform a sex act on him, held her temporarily captive, and attempted to rape her. Mr. Boulet-Gercourt apparently feels that it is "puritanical" to bring Mr. Strauss-Kahn to justice for this. Was this just a natural act for Mr. Strauss-Kahn? Is the maid just being overly sensitive? Is this how they do things in France, the great nation known for, well, being underhanded, weasly and just plain contemptible?

Mr. Boulet-Gercourt seems to imply that the only person who is completely in the right here is Mr. Strauss-Kahn, and he goes on to give numerous examples of consensual sex and how these somehow justify what Mr. Strauss-Kahn did to this maid. He also decries how Mr. Strauss-Kahn's flight to quickly exit the country after committing sexual assault and imprisonment will somehow bring disrepute on the French people for being "cowardly and depraved", as if they needed any help in doing so. Finally, we are told of the so-called
smear campaign against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, how he has been allegedly-unfairly called "a disreputable man" who "wallowed in sex", and how this latest event is somehow going to reflect badly on him, and is somehow the fault of America or those committing the initial "smear campaign", which sounds fairly accurate to me.

At NO POINT in the article does Mr. Boulet-Gercourt say anything resembling "if Mr. Strauss-Kahn committed this horrible act, he should be held accountable for his actions and punished". I can sum this up pretty simply. If there was ONE THING that any French writer could have written that could have made the situation with Mr. Strauss-Kahn any worse, Mr. Boulet-Gercourt has done it.

Here, in the land of people with non-hyphenated last names, we still believe that raping people is a crime, and we punish criminals. We believe that criminals should be brought to justice, and we don't try to smear other people and other countries for the crimes committed by individuals. Mr. Strauss-Kahn is a criminal and a sicko, and while he may be French, we don't necessarily equate his actions with the nation of France or the French people
on-the-whole. Mr. Boulet-Gercourt, you have brought to light, by standing up for Mr. Strauss-Kahn's disgusting actions and blaming everyone else but the perpetrator, that maybe you ARE worthy of the contempt that most
Americans have for your country.

Canada and the Iraq Invasion

Former Canadian PM Jean Chrétien is reported by Wiki Leaks to have secretly offered to provide assistance to the United States, and in some cases, actually provided support in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This, after
publicly refusing at the time to join the "coalition of the willing" in the effort. What's most disturbing about this to me is why Mr. Chrétien felt the need to publicly speak against doing what he was privately willing to do. Obviously, he felt it was important to help the United States, but apparently it wasn't politically expedient to let this be known. It seems to me that the right thing to do would have been to explain to the Canadian people who didn't understand what a monster Sadam Hussein was, to lay out the risks that his WMD programs created, to point out his unwillingness to continue agreed-upon UN weapons inspections, his mass-murder of Iraqi citizens, and his use of murder, torture and imprisonment against political foes. Then, he could have explained how,
after the 9/11 attacks, for the west to fail to respond somehow, anyhow, would be viewed as weakness and passive submission to the terrorist elements of the world. And then, having fully laid out the rationale for why
attacking the primary terrorism-supporting nation at the time was justified, he could have proceeded to do exactly the same thing that he actually did do, which was to provide assistance to the United States in the invasion of Iraq.

And so, thanks go to the former Canadian PM for privately doing the right thing, thanks to the Canadian military for providing support, and to the liberal Canadian people and politicians, once again, thanks for nothing.
You can be assured that in the future, when disaster strikes, or when you need a political ally, we will be there openly providing physical, financial and diplomatic assistance to you, even though you are unwilling to lift a
finger to help us make the world a safer place.

Drill!!

Here in America, we have many resources available to us. They are some of the things that make us great. We have vast stretches of land, fertile soil, expansive shorelines, a moderate climate, and OIL. It is definitional
insanity when you possess resources to say that you shouldn't use them, and to work to eliminate them. The United States has oil, the United States needs oil, it is not therefore a logical progression to say that we need to
curtail the use of oil and find alternative energy sources. Looking for alternative energy sources is what you do when you RUN OUT of something, or are preparing to run out. We have hundreds if not thousands of years of oil in our ground, and right now, most of that is being pumped out by foreign companies or sold to foreign countries, while we suffer through near $5/gallon gas. Going forward, there are plenty of idiots who hate fossil
fuel who are going to spur on the development of alternative energy sources. For the rest of us who like and depend on dinosaur power, can we please drill??

9/11 has been forgotten

Yes, apparently, 9/11 has been forgotten. Even in the wake of Bin Laden's death, a victory for which we've waited almost ten years, we now have evidence that people have no memory and nothing constructive with which to concern themselves. A Canadian police officer made an unfortunate public comment about a rape victim, referring to her as a "slut". Now, throughout Canada and the United States, there are marches planned, supporting "sluts". This exhibits insanity in so many areas of our culture. First, someone was victimized. This is terrible, and we are sorry for the victim. We hope she (we assume it's a she) gets justice. Look closely though, there are also instances like the Duke rape case, in which a supposed victim, a prostitute, falsely claimed rape. This case was spearheaded by the disgusting and criminal attorney general, and approximately ten young men had their lives run into the ground over false charges. This shouldn't take anything away from true victims, but it should raise the bar on how cases like this are investigated and prosecuted. Then, we have the morons who are parading for "sluts" rights. Come on. It's not even funny. It's disgusting. We are fighting several wars. We have 10% unemployment. Gas is nearly $5 a gallon. We have a political season ramping up that promises to be the biggest and most important in decades. We have a dollar and a manufacturing base that are suffering. We have people losing their homes, or worse, with no life savings and property that is worth less than they owe on it. And people are marching for "sluts"?? In San Francisco, of all places, the shock of it, they are trying to make it a "family event". Please, speak out for victims, including those who are falsely accused. But can't we please leave sexuality where it belongs, in private? It's not a public thing, it's not supposed to be. Why do so many feel the need to make this into something it's not? The more people protest about stupid things like this, the more I see that they have completely lost sight of what our country stands for.

Unbelievable!

Ok, just read another article, in which parents are talking about the "difficulties" of explaining who bin Laden is to children who were not born yet on 9/11, and how there are "inconsistencies" in explaining that people are happy over bin Laden's death. There is of course no mention of the fact that bin Laden died while he was SHOOTING AT the Navy Seals. (Thank you, by the way Seals!! Go Navy!!) This is pure craziness. Here is what you can tell your children: Two wrongs don't make a right, but it's not wrong to put a murderer to death. Putting a murderer to death is not a "wrong", it is justice. My jaded outlook makes me wonder though, how many children do we NOT have to explain this to because they are not alive because their mothers believe in the right to "choose"? HERE is a good question...how do you explain that it's not ok to bring a murderer to justice, but it's ok to take the life of an innocent unborn child because it's inconvenient for the parents?

For a little perspective, I was not yet born when President Nixon was elected. I did not understand much about the United States, or the Presidency, or justice when Watergate occurred. And yet, I clearly remember as a child, my father asking me to pray for President Nixon, and then later explaining that President Nixon had done "something wrong", and then even later still asking me to pray for President Ford. My father used it as a lesson for me, and though I was only 3 at the time, and though I don't actively participate in religion at this time, the whole episode was an EXCELLENT tool that helped me to understand about right and wrong, and about the morals of the bible and religion, even if you don't follow that religion.
And so parents, as a former child, may I suggest that you use this whole episode as a learning tool? Turn off the computer, turn off the Xbox, turn off the TV, and TALK to your children. Don't hide them from reality, immerse them in it. Explain that terrible things happen, explain that there are good people, and bad people, and sometimes good people do bad things, and sometimes people are evil. Explain that when people do bad things, they must be punished. And explain that they can be good people, and that sometimes good people have to make tough choices based on the actions of bad people. This is reality. This is the world that you chose to bring your children into. Someday, you will not be around to guide them, or to help them make decisions. So teach them.

Islamophobia?

In an MSN article, a man by the name of Sufu Hashim was quoted as saying of bin Laden's death "Maybe the Islamophobia can stop now". This "phobia" banter has got to end. "Phobia" is a word used to indicate an IRRATIONAL fear. Unfortunately, when a vast majority of individuals committing acts of terrorism are of a particular faith, who look the same, and make the same religious claims of their acts, it's impossible NOT to come to certain conclusions. What's worse, it's not even true that Muslims have been treated unfairly. We've all heard the reports and seen the videos of the white grandmothers and little children being frisked at airport checkpoints, while Muslims have largely escaped any sort of scrutiny.

To Mr. Hashim and other sensitive Muslims, I would suggest that, instead of indignant claims of "Islamophobia", that the following be your talking point: "We are glad that bin Laden is dead, and we are sorry to have seen the disrepute that his reign of terror has brought upon Islam. Please don't judge us by this criminal or his insane followers, please give us the opportunity to prove to you that Islam today truly is a religion of peace, starting with the proclamation that ANY act of terror in the name of Islam will be condemned in the harshest terms." And then DO it. SPEAK OUT against terror, at every opportunity. That, my Muslim friends, will go a long way towards endearing you to the people who have actively been targeted by the fringe within your religion.

Great day in America

Osama Bin Laden is dead. It's a great thing. Some have said that it won't amount to anything, or that Americans cheering over Bin Laden's death are no better than those in Islamic countries who cheered on 9/11. They are both wrong. The fact that Bin Laden has been taken down is a huge moral victory for America. The criminal who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, for the unprovoked and unwarranted murder of over 3,000 innocent civilians -- not to mention the countless other mindless acts of terror committed in the name if Islam -- has finally been brought to justice. How a celebration over this fact can be compared to the celebration that some exhibited on 9/11 is beyond me. One celebrates justice, the other celebrates evil. It's a great day in America, a criminal has been brought to justice, and in the starkest terms possible. America does not tolerate evil, and America will bring those who commit acts of evil to justice. Osama Bin Laden learned his lesson the hard way. Who's next?