Ironies of our Era Abound

This article on NRO has a disturbing account of the slippery slope of the marriage debate. On the surface, gay-marriage activists seek acceptance by legalizing gay marriage. After gay marriage they seek to legalize polygamy and polyamory. The result of their advocacy will be to entirely destroy the entire institution of marriage.

The irony of this age is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, once derided for practicing polygamy, will end up being one of the strongest voices against polygamy. The prophets were truly inspired to release the Family Proclamation in 1995. Its message will protect those who follow its counsel.

A Great Clip From Mitt

As usual, thanks to NRO for having a link to this great clip of Mitt putting a reporter in her place.

One Immigration Solution

There are two parts of the immigration problem. One is that it is very easy to enter the US illegally. The enticements of jobs, money, and opportunity make it very hard to combat illegal immigration.

The other half of the problem is that countries illegal immigrants leave are so bad that no one wants to stay. If they want to enter the US and leave Mexico, how can you stop them. There have been a few improvements in making it harder to enter the US, but that doesn't make anyone want to stay in their homeland. If Mexico had a free and open society and opportunities for jobs and prosperity, there would not be this huge flood of people leaving.

I think the US should encourage economic reform for societies who have people who want to come here. There should be standards of overcoming corruption, putting the dealings of government in the daylight, and cultivating opportunities to take advantage of the vast natural and human resources of these countries. These countries could be given more freedom to enter the US as they become more prosperous.

To make it hard to enter the US will help, but to give them a reason to stay home will do far more.

Also, the US can set the example in shedding daylight on government and overcoming corruption. If this was the policy of the US, many problems would be solved across the hemisphere.

When a Christian Man Can Enter a War

This is from John Bytheway who quotes President David O. McKay in the April 1942 General Conference (the first conference after Pearl Harbor was attacked):

There are two conditions which may justify a truly Christian man to enter, mind you I say enter - not begin, a war: one, an attempt to dominate and to deprive another of his free agency. And two, loyalty to his country. Possibly there is a third. Defense of a weak nation being unjustly crushed by a strong, ruthless one.

Preventing Torture

I am amazed at the naivete of the people who argue against all "torture" or coercive interrogations. I am just fine with someone arguing against torture. I hate when they use stupid arguments. Here is the latest one:

Make no mistake — logically, that's where the ticking-bomb scenario takes you. [Hillary] Clinton insists that she wasn't really saying that torture should be legal — no, no, of course not. She still thinks that torture is immoral, ineffective and counterproductive. It's just that for an "improbable but possible eventuality" such as a true ticking-bomb scenario, she thinks that we should make "a very, very narrow exception within very, very limited circumstances."

And this wouldn't undermine the Geneva Convention? You'd better believe that countries such as Syria, North Korea and Iran would also just love to carve out some "very, very narrow exceptions" to treaties banning torture.

This is a stupid argument because Syria, North Korea, and Iran ALREADY VIOLATE GENEVA CONVENTIONS. It is well known that these countries hold political prisoners and starve, torture, and kill them. North Korea's gulags and reeducation camps are infamous.

Our good behavior is not going to change their bad behavior. If you want to argue against coercive interrogations, fine. But don't pretend I am an idiot.

As a side note, I am surprised to (partially) agree with Hillary Clinton.

On Vietnam

I once had an interchange with an idiot on CougarBoard.com who said Iraq and Vietnam were both unwinnable wars short of genocide. I think that is patently absurd. The U.S. military is the best fighting force in the history of this planet. None have sacrificed more to bring freedom and hope to the rest of the world.

The media of the day portrayed the Tet Offensive to be a disaster of biblical proportions for the U.S. military. Military history, however, tells a different story (no surprise there). NRO had a link to this site:

The summary of the Wikipedia entry on the Tet offensive captures the current view of military historians, even if it is quite different from the conventional wisdom of the Boomer editors and producers who set the agenda in the mainstream media:

The Tet Offensive can be considered a crushing military defeat for the Communist forces, as neither the Viet Cong nor the North Vietnamese army achieved any of their tactical goals. Furthermore, the operational cost of the offensive was dangerously high, with the Viet Cong essentially crippled by the huge losses inflicted by South Vietnamese and other Allied forces. Nevertheless, the Offensive is widely considered a turning point of the war in Vietnam, with the NLF and PAVN winning an enormous psychological and propaganda victory. Although US public opinion polls continued to show a majority supporting involvement in the war, this support continued to deteriorate and the nation became increasingly polarized over the war.[1] President Lyndon Johnson saw his popularity fall sharply after the Offensive, and he withdrew as a candidate for re-election in March of 1968. The Tet Offensive is frequently seen as an example of the value of propaganda, media influence and popular opinion in the pursuit of military objectives.

The Boy Scouts is a Favorite Target of Leftists

This was good, so I will just quote Jay Nordlinger (from NRO):

It may be too much to speak of a war on the Boy Scouts, but they are certainly being . . . hampered. A couple of items: In Berkeley, Calif., “a Scouts sailing group lost free use of a public marina because the Boy Scouts bar atheists and gays.” (I’m quoting from a news story.) Okay, that’s Berkeley — Berserkley, whatever.

In Connecticut, “officials dropped the group from a list of charities that receive donations from state employees through a payroll deduction plan.”

Okay, that’s Connecticut, land of nutmeg and nutters.

And in Philadelphia? “The city is threatening to evict a Boy Scout council from the group’s publicly owned headquarters or make the group pay rent unless it changes its policy on gays.”

Just a little more quoting: “On a separate matter, federal judges in two other court cases that are being appealed have ruled that government aid to [the Scouts] is unconstitutional because the [organization] requires members to swear an oath of duty to God.”

Etc.

No, it’s too much to speak of a war on the Scouts. But should I say “too much” or “too early”? Will there come a day when the Scouts will be some kind of underground organization?

These are weird times, my friends.

Mitt Hits a Line Drive

I am so glad to see Mitt getting the message of the Family Proclamation out in the public square. Even if he has no luck in the presidential arena, his message will do some seroius good. NRO has a summary here. The money quote is this:

“Marriage,” Romney said, “is primarily about the nurturing and development of children.” He added, “A child’s development is enhanced by the nurturing of both genders. Every child deserves a mother and a father.” And, driving the point home: “The price for same-sex marriage is paid by children.”

NRO also has a link to this great website supporting Mitt.

More Problems in France

The Corner on NRO points out this article about French Muslims.

Scores of youths had attacked seven officers who had tried to arrest a man for not wearing his seat belt while driving. The driver refused to stop and later rammed a police car trying to block his path.

Les Mureaux Mayor Francois Garay criticized aggressive police tactics that left "the people on the ground to pick up the pieces."

This opposition to police action sounds like the opposition to the mission in Iraq: "Don't oppose the criminals (terrorists) or you will make them mad."

An Interesting Quote on War

I found this interesting quote on NRO and thought I would preserve it for later use.

John Stuart Mill... is no conservative favorite, that’s for sure, but this is arresting:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.