Archive for March, 2011
Land of the Rude, Home of the Jerk
There must be some reason or reasons, why the Jerk has become the archetypal American character. Without going too deep into themysteries of social history, here is a little experiment that might stand in for several hundred pages of tedious social history. Herewith a little theoretical foundation for my continuing study of Jerkus americanus.
From the Shores of Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma
I have so far refrained from commenting on the Libyan fiasco. I do not understand what is going on, and the administration has so far not condescended to enlighten us. We are not taking sides or deciding the future of the country–that is up to the Libyans, we say–but then declare that no outcome is acceptable unless Gaddafi is sent packing.
A Reminder of Hope
As our country plunges into yet another foolish war in the Moslem world and teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, it is easy to be focused on the negative. But today’s news also brought a small reminder of hope. The synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, meeting in Lvov, just elected 40-year old Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the third youngest Catholic bishop in the world, to be the Major Archbishop of Kiev-Halych and the de facto head of the Church. Under Soviet rule, such an event could not have occurred: until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was the the largest illegal religious body in the world. After the Soviet conquest of western Ukraine during World War II, all of the Church’s property was confiscated and all of its clergy who were unwilling to accept Soviet domination were sent to the Gulag, where many perished. The Soviet suppression of the Ukrainian Catholic Church was preceded by Lenin’s murderous persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church and was accompanied by Stalin’s persecution of all varieties of Christians in all the lands of Eastern and Central Europe that fell into his lap after World War II. For those of us who grew up during the Cold War, the fact that people in those lands are now free to practice the faith of their fathers still seems little short of miraculous. And the fact that such an event could occur in a land once in the grip of Soviet tyranny should remind all of us that evil does not have the last word, no matter how bleak the contemporary political scene might seem.
How Killing Libyans Became a Moral Imperative
When Greek patriots sought America’s assistance, Daniel Webster took up their cause but was admonished by John Randolph. Intervention would breach every “bulwark and barrier of the Constitution.”
Oh, What a Stupid War!
The war on Libya now being waged by the U.S., Britain and France must surely rank as one of the stupidest martial enterprises, smaller in scale to be sure, since Napoleon took it into his head to invade Russia in 1812.
Europe’s Uncrowned Leader
“Total German triumph as EU minnows subjugated,” The Daily Telegraph headlines a report by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s latest diktat. Whoever wants credit must fulfill our conditions, she declared. Her conditions amount to capitulation by three vulnerable states on core policies, and further erosion of sovereignty for the rest of the eurozone.
Here, on the Other Side of the Ring of Fire
Americans read the increasingly panic-stricken reports of deepening catastrophe at Fukushima 1, speed to the pharmacy to buy iodine and ask, “It’s happened there; can it happen here?”
The Rising Irrelevance of Obama
“This will not stand!” declared George H.W. Bush. He was speaking of Saddam Hussein’s invasion, occupation and annexation of the emirate of Kuwait as his “19th province.” Seven months later, the Iraqi army was fleeing up the “Highway of Death” back into a country devastated by five weeks of U.S. bombing. When Bush spoke, the world sat up and listened.
Barred From Canada: An Update
On March 3 Ambassador James Bissett had a letter published in Alberta’s premier daily, the Edmonton Journal, taking issue with an “assistant adjunct” professor [sic!] at the University of Alberta who had voiced support for the cancellation of my lectures at UBC and UofA because of my “denial of genocide” at Srebrenica.
Can Japan Rise Again?
We can thank Providence that the earthquake was not 150 miles closer to Tokyo, else Japan’s dead might number in the millions.
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