Whether It's Bribery in Mexico or Or Posing With A Dead Suicide Bomber, Let's All Bow To Political Correctness

American troops posing with a dead suicide bomber is the story that broke first, so let's begin there.  Shock.  Oh, the sight of it!  (Actually the press was pretty good in suppressing the picture.)  Oh, the horror!

Give me a break.  Some Islamist soldier of God wants to go to heaven and take with him as many American troops, not to mention women, children, and other civilians, as he can, and our  troops are supposed to show respect to what's left over after he sets off the explosives strapped to his waist?

Look, I respects the remains of the dead; to a point.  If someone dies in battle, his or her body is not to be defecated on, or urinated on.  Nor, should we do that to the remains of a suicide bomber.  However, I see nothing wrong with photographing a suicide bomber's remains and giving the image the widest possible circulation (as long as it can be kept from children).  A suicide bomber's remains deserve no respect.  Let other would-be suicide bombers see what their decapitated remains will look like after they release their murderous explosives.  Maybe it will give them pause.

I've heard tell that Muslims proclaim that suicide bombers are behaving in an unIslamic way.  Good.  They then should have no problem having everyone see what a suicide bomber looks like after he takes the lives of others.

But, that point of view is apparently politically incorrect.


The next story deals with Wal-Mart and their bribery of Mexican bureaucrats and other officials up and down the line.  I read the story in the NY Times (and a lengthy and well written story it was).  But, it aimed its guns at the wrong target.

Why is it that large, international companies act in compliance with all of our country's laws and regulations, but get in trouble overseas?  Wal-Mart is a retailer, but it also happens in the oil business, in the aviation business, and in the selling of military supplies, to mention but a few of the many businesses that find themselves having to deal with corrupt officials.  It's not that America doesn't have any corrupt officials.  It seems that it's endemic to all bureaucratic structures.  But, in America we don't accept it as a normal way of doing business.  When it happens, we do our best to ferret it out.  The key to keeping a government clean is to elect clean citizens to high office and then trust that they will do all possible to keep their departments clean.

But how can you do business globally, if grease is the only way to make any progress?  Here the options seem to be greasing palms or watching competitors from other countries with greater sensitivity to local business practices rob you of your market.

But, of course, this too is politically incorrect.   We want to change the world.  In the process, we shoot ourselves in both feet.

The Need For Pro-Israel Slogans

Slogans have long been a part of the American scene.  Go back far enough and you get slogans like, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."  Other slogans include, "54 40 or Fight," "I Like Ike," or Al Sharpton's favorite, "No Justice, No Peace."


Slogans can be dismissed as mindless messages with little purpose greater than expressing one's feeling or insulting one's opponents.  However, they do go hand in hand with political demonstrations and  can introduce talking points into a national debate.  Muslims have understood this and have come up with such slogans as "Zionism is Racism," or "Israel - An Apartheid Nation," or false eviction notices affixed to college dormitory room doors in imitation of eviction notices allegedly given to Palestinians living in Jerusalem.


It is a kind of communication which I believe Israel has failed to latch on to.  To even up things a bit, I offer the following suggestions for use on T shirts, or bumper stickers:


Invention: Palestinian people
Copy rights:  Assigned to Arafat

or

ARCHITECTS WANTED
Assignments:
    Mosque designs for superimposition on other people's holy sites.
Pay:
    Excellent
Where to apply:
    Saudi Arabia

or

Islam is love . . . . . and honor killings, death by stoning, hatred of other religions.

or

By their fruits you shall know them:
     Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Gaza, Egypt, etc.

or

The Arab Peace Plan -- No recognition, No negotiation, No peace   (Arab League's Three No's)

or

Gaza reaches out to Israel -- hundreds of missiles a month.

Note:
With regards to Gaza, Israel is remiss in not posting a daily missile report, much along the lines of a weather report.

What Must Be Clarified To Supporters Of Gunter Grass

Artists infected with the sickness of Jew phobia aren't all that unique. Names that come to mind include Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound, and Cat Stevens. When Emile Zola wrote J'Accuse, the Parisian community of Impressionist painters divided sharply over the guilt, or innocence, of the French officer, Dryfuss (a Jew found innocent with the subsequent discovery of evidence that should have been uncovered far earlier).

It seems clear that art, even great art, can be produced by individuals stained by the pathology of Jew-hatred. Today, artists so afflicted are generally aware that their sickness has come increasingly under the microscope of psychologists. For this reason the German sicko, Gunter Grass, tries to sell his anti-Semitism with his poem's title proclaiming, "What Must Be Said." In other words, you, who share my dislike of Jews and Israel, should not shy away from expressing those same feelings we applauded when some of us served in the SS.

Besides pointing out what is so clearly obvious about the nature of Gunter Grass, let us also address his nonsense. First, there is his concern that Israel may launch a strike against Iran. Clearly, Mr. Grass has little concern over existential threats to Israel. Was Grass also aghast when Israel took out Saddam Hussein's atomic reacter?

The impulse towards pacifism is a noble one, but as WW II demonstrated, it can be far more deadly than timely confrontation. The loss of life in WW I (the war to end all wars) was horrendous. It was not something the European nations ever wanted to see repeated. Again they put their faith in treaties; especially, treaties that would defang Germany. Unfortunately, when Hitler chose to disregard those treaties, the Europeans, in their aversion to military action, chose to dawdle. Ultimately, when confrontation could no longer be avoided, the price for such confrontation -- in terms of human lives squandered -- became far greater than it need have been if Hitler had been confronted earlier.



For readers who don't quite understand some of the other issues that distract the left, the NY Times helps out with the following line, "In Germany, as elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, the conflict with the Palestinians has earned Israel its share of detractors." Might this not have been written better as follows: In Germany, as elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, the left has generally sided with the Palestinians in the struggle that has kept these two parties from achieving peace. But, no, that's not the NY Times. No, indeed. In its conflict with the Palestinians, it is Israel, according to the Times, that has "earned" its detractors. How, pray tell, does one go about innoculating a newspaper?

Obama vs Romney

What will it be, a president far more able to speak in generalities, a man elected on the strength of two words, "hope," and "change," but delivering neither?  Or, shall we vote for a candidate, whose party speaks of bringing down the size of government -- making it less intrusive -- and yet carries the banner for those demanding that we impose the religious litmus of "right to life."

I'm voting for Romney, despite my abhorence over people telling women whether or not they should abort.  I don't believe that life begins at conception.  But, I wouldn't mind such people so much, if only they would confine they ideology to those who think as they do.  Don't impose it on others.

I will nevertheless vote for Romney because I'm truly afraid that America's mushrooming debt will enfeeble this country.  I realize that in a world of globalization it is inevitable that America and China may well have to enter into a symbiotic relationship.  But, I believe we must retain, at the very least, parity.  To allow China to develope greater financial strength than America will only lead to a woeful day of reckoning.  We must address this problem now.

And, that's what gives the Democrats their great advantage.  They are masters at kicking the can down the road.  Reform?  Sure, tomorrow.  Obama's own commission comprised of Simpson and Bowles came up with a plan that might be a workable blueprint for getting us back on the right fiscal path.  But, did it find any real support from Obama? No.  Paul Ryan comes up with a plan which gets passed in the House.  Do Democrats say we've got a better plan?  No, they go after Ryan's plan with knives unsheathed, but never offer a plan of their own.

I mentioned this once to a Democrat, whose response was, "look, while we may have a majority in the Senate, it's not filabuster proof."  Maybe that's true.  But, it's long been a custom to offer something up that your party feels is positive.  If the other party filabusters it, you can always tell the voters what you tried to do in their behalf.  You can then put the other party on the spot by pointing out what you had hoped to do legislatively for the country and how you were frustrated by the opposing party.

So why hasn't Obama encouraged Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, to do that?  Very simple.  Any plan to begin reducing the nation's debt will produce some pain, or, at the very least, belt tightening.  People don't like that.  See what's been going on in Greece.

That's why I'm voting for Romney.  The Republicans have guts.  The Democrats don't.  And, with out a certain amount of backbone, you're not going to improve our economy, you're not going to produce significant job growth, you're going to fritter away America's strength in the international arena.  In short, China will begin eating our lunch.

This spinelessness on the part of the Democrats carries over to other issues such as illegal immigration into the U.S. from Mexico.  We clearly need an amnesty program.  But, and it's a big "but," it can only succeed if we hermitically seal our border.  Obama won't do that.  He jokes about ditches with alligators.  Ah, he does have a way with words.  But, actions are a different matter.