The United Nations' Crisis of Moral Legitimacy

The Diplomad, a blog by employees of the U.S. State Department, on the "United Nations -- "the thirty-year single malt of bureaucracies" -- and why we should regard it as "a massive, expensive hoax that needs to be ended once and for all."

Having actually worked for and with the U.N., they're entitled to make their case. Meanwhile:

• AP reports "The United Nations is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape." Prompting Patrick Spero to wonder: "why is CNN reporting on it now when the story broke in May?" (via Instapundit).

• Staff revolt gathers pace at UN Times Online, Nov. 20, 2004.

• Fire Kofi, by the editors of National Review Online. Nov. 24, 2004.

Together with the U.N. Oil for Food scandal, I'm continually mystified by the contensions of those who contend that all manner of things will be well if the Bush Administration only learns to "work with the U.N."

Update: Sen. Norm Coleman of the Foreign Relations Committee says Kofi Annan must go.

Belmont Club gives a history lesson ("Bush = Hitler")

This is an easy target and a worthless argument among educated folk, but given the degree to which the "Bush = Hitler" comparison comes up among the MoveOn.org, perhaps Belmont Club's history lesson is necessary:

Oliver Stone portrays Alexander the Great as gay and whether or not that was the case, it illustrates the potential dangers of learning history according to Hollywood. While the Third Reich still remains a potent historical image only the very old have any first hand recollection of it and there is the danger the term 'Nazi' may become just as much a figure of speech as 'working like a Trojan' -- a reference to nothing anyone understands in particular. When people aver that 'Bush is like Hitler', it presumes the speaker has a clear historical knowledge of what Hitler was really like, an assumption which is increasingly invalid.

For one, Hitler would have taken a very dim view of Jesusland, a country which George Bush is said to be in the process of founding, whose geographic location is to the immediate south of the United States of Canada. Martin Bormann said, "National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable." Hitler, according to Klaus Fischer's Nazi Germany stated that "one day we want to be in a position where only complete idiots stand in the pulpit and preach to old women." In a concession to popular feeling, however, the Nazis offered the public certain acceptable 'faith traditions' including something called "Gottglaubig", a dished-up creed heavily overladen with ancient Germanic pagan beliefs with versions of rituals for birth, marriage and death.  "By 1938, carols and nativity plays were were forbidden in the schools, and the words 'Christmas' itself was replaced by the word 'Yuletide'." . . . READ MORE

When God says "It's Not Your Time" . . . It's Not Your Time.

A Hindu seer in India's eastern Orissa state was berated by angry crowds when he failed to die after declaring his soul would leave his body at an appointed time, a report said on Friday.

The chief cleric of the Sriguru Ashram in the Kharagaon area of Konark said he would die a natural death on Wednesday between 6am and noon, the Asian Age newspaper said, without naming him.

Elaborate police arrangements were made as a crowd of 15 000 turned up to see the "death by will" miracle. . . . reporters asked the seer what had happened, he replied: "Perhaps the will of God was somewhat different. I am very shocked to have given you so much pain. I wanted to leave my mortal body, but I could not. Please forgive me."

- Mail & Guardian Sapa-AFP. (Via The Revealer).

President George W. Bush - Dissident!

"There is a great difference between politicians and dissidents. Politicians are focused on polls and the press. They are constantly making compromises. But dissidents focus on ideas. They have a message burning inside of them. They would stand up for their convictions no matter what the consequences.'

"In spite of all the polls warning you that talking about spreading democracy in the Middle East might be a losing issue — despite all the critics and the resistance you faced — you kept talking about the importance of free societies and free elections. You kept explaining that democracy is for everybody. You kept saying that only democracy will truly pave the way to peace and security. You, Mr. President, are a dissident among the leaders of the free world."

Natan Sharansky to President George Bush, in a private meeting.

According to the National Review, both the President and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have read Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy.

Lounge Against The Machine?!?

"Lounge Against the Machine, by Richard Cheese.

On Lounge Against the Machine, alt-rock hits get the Vegas treatment way before their time. Vocalist Richard Cheese and his piano trio really know how to warp a song. Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio" sounds smooth as silk, if incredibly schmaltzy, in the hands of this wayward lounge act. The Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia" gets completely defanged in Cheese's rendition. And it's definitely strange to hear the rage drained out of Nirvana's "Rape Me" and replaced with bland, mindless enthusiasm. The tone of these covers is so far removed from the originals that at times you forget what you're really listening to. At moments like these, Cheese and the boys sound like some anonymous combo going through the motions. But then you'll hear the singer let loose with some foul language or croon a harsh line and it sounds downright strange and funny. Lounge Against the Machine can be tiresome at times, but it certainly takes the piss out of these songs.

-- Fred Cisterna (Amazon.com)

This is SO WRONG on so many levels . . . but, oddly intriguing just the same.

Of course, Pat Boone did it first, way back in 1997 with the phenomenal "In A Metal Mood".

The light through the darkness . . .

According to Matthew Heidt (Froggy Ruminations):

I can’t say that these Four Horsemen are collaborating or conspiring against us, but the coalescence of these dark forces portends of future disaster not only for us but for them as well. Fear not, because we are defeating these foes where we can, and if we stay the course and make it out the other side, we will be able to bask in the sunlight of our victory. On that day we will have no debtors to repay, and yet we will be bloodied but not bowed.

Sometimes you just gotta laugh.

In Jerusalem, an American female journalist heard about an old rabbi who visited the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a long, long time.

In an effort to check out the story, she went to the holy site and there he was. She watched the bearded old man at prayer. After 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview.

"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN, sir, how long have you been coming to the Wailing Wall and praying?" she asked.

"For about 50 years," he said.

"50 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?" she asked.

"I pray for peace between the Jews and the Arabs. I pray for all the hatred to stop, and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship," he said.

"And how do you feel, sir, after doing this for 50 years?" she asked.

Without hesitation he said, "Like I'm talking to a f**king wall."

Fayrouz ("Live from Dallas").

Post-Election Blogger Roundup

Just a few of the post-election reflections that I found amusing, interesting, or appealing.

• Jeff Jarvis offers some good advice his fellow Democrats: "suck it up and repeat after me: He's our President, too."

• Mark Shea: explains why the Left is losing hearts and minds: "They don't know what's killing them. They cannot conceive of a world where those who disagree with them are not evil, stupid, or insane."

  Case in point -- this message from John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace:

  It's hard to know what to say. To see Bush re-elected with the first electoral majority since his father's first election is an emotional blow. He seems to have secured a mandate based on his policies of pre-emptive war, war on the environment, crony capitalism, veiled racism, homophobia and a fundamentalism that would make the Taliban proud. This despite the largest "Get out the Vote" effort in the history of progressive causes in the United States.

• Meanwhile, Instapundit comments on some photos of sore losers voicing their discontent at a post-election rally in San Francisco: "The Democrats are going to have to distance themselves from stuff like this, if they want to carry swing states."

• William Luse: "small blessings, Biblical proportions":
  And the Lord God in His mercy looked down upon the earth and searched in His might from the Ohio River to the shores of Lake Erie, and found stuck somewhere in the midst of the vastness one TS O'Rama, and announced to the assembled heavenly host growing impatient with Ohio's slothfulness at counting votes in a timely manner: "Behold, any man who can pray, drink German beer, and watch election returns at the same time is a man worth saving.

• Prof Bainbridge concludes they really do hate us, and cites a revelatory passage from Christopher Lasch:
  [T]he new elites, the professional classes in particular, regard the masses with mingled scorn and apprehension. In the United States, "Middle America" -- a term that has both geographical and social implications—has come to symbolize everything that stands in the way of progress: "family values," mindless patriotism, religious fundamentalism, racism, homophobia, retrograde views of women. Middle Americans, as they appear to the makers of educated opinion, are hopelessly shabby, unfashionable, and provincial, ill informed about changes in taste or intellectual trends, addicted to trashy novels of romance and adventure, and stupefied by prolonged exposure to television. They are at once absurd and vaguely menacing. (p. 28 Revolt of the Elites).

• Peggy Noonan wants us to savor the moment:
  George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, became the first incumbent president to increase his majority in both the Senate and the House and to increase his own vote (by over 3.5 million) since Franklin D. Roosevelt, political genius of the 20th century, in 1936. This is huge.

• Powerline on Dan Rather's "blame it on the bloggers" remark:
  "This from a guy whose network coordinated an attack on the president, based on forged documents, with the Democratic party and the Kerry campaign?"

• The New Criterion's weblog on the Democratic interpretation of "moral values":
  . . . to draw a line from "moral values" to "gay marriage" is to misread this response completely. "Moral values" do not necessarily represent an "issue" distinct from terrorism, the Iraq war, domestic issues, gay marriage, and so on. Moral values inform the approach one takes to those issues. What voters may have seen in John Kerry is a man without convictions or values--at least, without any he made very clear. Voters may see just the opposite in Bush--and respect what they see, even in cases where Bush's convictions and values lead him to decisions with which they themselves disagree.

• Jeff Miller ("Curt Jester") how to really annoy liberals:
  Since many liberald said that Bush stole the first election and that they had to work to re-defeat Bush I propose we go along with them. Four years from now we have President Bush run again since he first four years were an electoral mulligan.

• Bill Cork responds to Garry Wills and Thomas Friedman's laments on the Bush win with a lesson on the foundation of American freedom.

• Phil Dilon, a self described "prairie apologist, transplanted Bostonian and Kennedy Democrat who has found refuge in the Kansas Flint Hills," provides an excellent roundup of Democrat hand-wringing over Bush's victory, with a focus on their latest epiphany that in order to win the votes of Middle America, they must speak the language of Middle America. Unfortunately, says Mr. Dillon, In Order To Be Sincere, You Must First Really Be Sincere.

• Andrew ("The Backseat Philosopher") writes a letter To My Fellow Democrats. Probably the best advice for Democrats ever offered in a single post on this election. Read it.

Chrenkoff on the next coalition: "A bit more willing this time around?"

For the past few years, the "international community" has built its policy vis-a-vis the United States on an assumption that Bush, that uncomfortable aberration from Texas, would be a one-termer. Walled in inside their own echo chamber, reinforced and amplified by the American mainstream media's anti-Bush stance, foreign governments have managed to convince themselves that no incumbent could survive electoraly the "quagmire" of Iraq abroad and the groundswell of opposition at home. In other words, the leaders from Caracas to Paris, and from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur, made the assumption that since they wouldn't vote for Bush, and the "New York Times" wouldn't vote for Bush, the American people wouldn't either - that is, for all the sophisticates' sneering about America and the Americans, the "unwilling" governments around the world thought that in the end the US voters would behave as "rationally" as the Belgians or the Jordanians would in these circumstances.

It was not to be. George W Bush has been clearly and convincingly re-elected and his policies at home - and most importantly abroad - re-endorsed by the majority of the electorate. And France, Germany, the EU, the UN, and all others are stuck with W in the White House for the next four years. Going back to the good old days of doing nothing and doing it all together is no longer a possibility.

Arthur Chrenkoff, chronicling the congratulatory statements of various nations around the globe (including France, Germany and Russia), who are re-thinking their past hostility and are now cozying up to President Bush.

Certifiably insane?

Eminem/P. Diddy's Youth Vote -- What happened?

Associated Press on the youth-vote (or lack thereof):

This was not the breakout year for young voters that some had anticipated.

Fewer than one in 10 voters Tuesday were 18 to 24, about the same proportion of the electorate as in 2000, exit polls indicated. Still, with voter turnout expected to be higher overall, more young people appeared to have come out.

A vigorous push on college campuses by both parties and national mobilization drives had raised expectations that 2004 would be the year of the youth vote.

This was disappointing but predictable. Just the fact that a 20-something year old digs an Eminem video (much less P. Diddy's "Vote or DIE!" campaign) doesn't necessarily translate into a reliable flood of votes.

Now, were they living in Alaska -- where the legalization of marijuana is on the ballot, you'd see some serious motivatin'.

Tom Wolfe: "The liberal elite hasn't got a clue"

. . . "Here is an example of the situation in America," he says: "Tina Brown wrote in her column that she was at a dinner where a group of media heavyweights were discussing, during dessert, what they could do to stop Bush. Then a waiter announces that he is from the suburbs, and will vote for Bush. And ... Tina's reaction is: 'How can we persuade these people not to vote for Bush?' I draw the opposite lesson: that Tina and her circle in the media do not have a clue about the rest of the United States. You are considered twisted and retarded if you support Bush in this election. I have never come across a candidate who is so reviled. Reagan was sniggered it, but this is personal, real hatred.

"Indeed, I was at a similar dinner, listening to the same conversation, and said: 'If all else fails, you can vote for Bush.' People looked at me as if I had just said: 'Oh, I forgot to tell you, I am a child molester.' I would vote for Bush if for no other reason than to be at the airport waving off all the people who say they are going to London if he wins again. Someone has got to stay behind."

Where does it come from, this endorsement of the most conservative administration within living memory? Of this president who champions the right and the rich, who has taken America into the mire of war, and seeks re-election tomorrow? Wolfe's eyes resume the expression of detached Southern elegance.

"I think support for Bush is about not wanting to be led by East-coast pretensions. It is about not wanting to be led by people who are forever trying to force their twisted sense of morality onto us, which is a non-morality. That is constantly done, and there is real resentment. Support for Bush is about resentment in the so-called 'red states' - a confusing term to Guardian readers, I agree - which here means, literally, middle America. I come from one of those states myself, Virginia. It's the same resentment, indeed, as that against your own newspaper when it sent emails targeting individuals in an American county." Wolfe laughs as he chastises. "No one cares to have outsiders or foreigners butting into their affairs. I'm sure that even many of those Iraqis who were cheering the fall of Saddam now object to our being there. As I said, I do not think the excursion is going well."

And John Kerry? "He is a man no one should worry about, because he has no beliefs at all. He is not going to introduce some manic radical plan, because he is poll-driven, and it is therefore impossible to know where or for what he stands."

Tom Wolfe. "The liberal elite hasn't got a clue" The Guardian Nov. 1, 2004.