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October 2003 Entries
Transnational Progressivism

I've been wanting to link to this article for a while now.  It's a discussion of a clash of cultures ... that doesn't involve Islam.  Transnational Progressivism as embodied by the U.N., E.U. and American non-government organizations (NGO) also present a significant threat to American sovereignty.

Nearly a year before the September 11 attacks, news stories provided a preview of the transnational politics of the future. In October 2000, in preparation for the UN Conference Against Racism, about fifty American nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) called on the UN "to hold the United States accountable for the intractable and persistent problem of discrimination."

The NGOs included Amnesty International-U. S.A. (AI-U. S.A.), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Arab-American Institute, National Council of Churches, the NAACP, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and others. Their spokesman stated that their demands "had been repeatedly raised with federal and state officials [in the U. S.] but to little effect. In frustration we now turn to the United Nations." In other words, the NGOs, unable to enact the policies they favored through the normal processes of American constitutional democracy—the Congress, state governments, even the federal courts—appealed to authority outside of American democracy and its Constitution.

At the UN Conference against Racism, which was held in Durban two weeks before September 11, American NGOs supported "reparations" from Western nations for the historic transatlantic slave trade and developed resolutions that condemned only the West, without mentioning the larger traffic in African slaves sent to Islamic lands. The NGOs even endorsed a resolution denouncing free market capitalism as a "fundamentally flawed system."

It's a good article to read.  It appears the goal of these groups is to gradually eliminate countries.  The U.S. and our Constitutional protections stand squarely in their way.  This should keep things interesting for the next few decades.

The article also touches briefly on the change in international law.  Traditionally this governed conduct between countries.  Increasingly it's governing the actions of inidividual citizens.  Thus infringing on my rights.

posted @ Wednesday, October 29, 2003 4:58 PM | Feedback (0)
Cheap Diamonds

Wow.  It's been a while since I've posted.  Thanks for pointing me to this one Dave.  It looks like artificial diamonds are on the horizon.  And at a fraction of the cost.  That will hurt the DeBeers monopoly and cut funding for a few revolutions in Africa.  I wonder what will be a girl's new best friend?

posted @ Monday, October 27, 2003 9:36 PM | Feedback (0)
1946 = 2003?

Do you think that the Marshall Plan was a success in Europe following WWII?  Do you think they welcomed us with open arms?  Do you think the years we spent rebuilding Europe were worth it?

Someone dug up an article (page 1, page 2) from Life Magazine from January 1946.  That was roughly six months after the end of the war in Europe.  And how were things then?  Horrible. 

Friend and foe alike, look you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are disappointed in you as an American.

Sound familiar?  Here's another great quote:

We have swept away Hitlerism, but a great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease.

You could do a few clever search and replace changes and pass this off as an article on Iraq.  Here's the closing paragrpah:

The time has come, for our own future security, to give the best we have to the world instead of the worst. So far as Europe is concerned, American leadership up to now has been obsessed with a fear of our own virtues. Winston Churchill expressed this state of mind brilliantly in a speech to his own people which applies even more accurately to the people of the U.S. “You must be prepared,” he warned them, “for further efforts of mind and body and further sacrifices to great causes, if you are not to fall back into the rut if inertia, the confusion of aim and the craven fear of being great.”

We have been down this path before.  Europe doubted our ability then as they doubt it now.  Apparently they didn't learn from what happened to them.  Now is the time to endure and stay the course in Iraq and not fear being great (Churchill rocks!).

posted @ Saturday, October 18, 2003 4:07 PM | Feedback (0)
4 Americans Killed in Gaza

Palestinian terrorists killed 4 (or 3 depending on who you believe) Americans in the Gaza Strip today.  They exploded a road side bomb as their van drove by.  The Palestinians, as usual, condemned the attack.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia denounced the attack. "We strongly condemn this incident and we will conduct an investigation and we will follow it to find the source of this attack," he told reporters in the West Bank.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, speaking to CNN, said the Americans were in Gaza to monitor the peace process. "These are American martyrs that came here at Palestinian request," he said.

They know the source of the attack.  They just refuse to do anything about it.  They don't do anything when these terrorists kill women and children.  I wonder what they'll do now.  America sends people to monitor the peace process and they get killed by terrorists.  There's some weird irony for you.

posted @ Wednesday, October 15, 2003 7:21 AM | Feedback (0)
What do you want from the United Nations?

Den Beste has an article that discusses how the United States view of the U.N. differs from that of the European Union.  Pretty dramatically.

Of course, the Europeans have little interest in such unimportant points as Constitutional limits on Federal power. They tried to include clauses in a treaty regarding chemical weapons which would have violated the Fourth Amendment, and the ICC treaty violates Article III and amendments 4, 5, 6, 8, 14 and probably also Article I and amendments 9 and 10, and likely other Constitutional provisions as well. There was a proposal for a treaty regarding the Internet which would have infringed the First Amendment. This keeps happening, and when US negotiators point out that such treaties cannot be ratified, and would be nullified by the courts even if they were ratified, the Europeans fall back on denunciations of the Americans as not being team players, not being multilateral. It seems as if they don't really understand just how serious we are about the Constitution, or that they do understand but think it's an atavism, something we can and should outgrow, and that the US government should demonstrate its political maturity by ignoring the Constitution.

This is an interesting read.  It puts some of the European's comments into perspectives.  They just don't seemt to practice democracy the same way we do.

posted @ Monday, October 13, 2003 4:32 PM | Feedback (0)
Suing Customers Failed Before
Car makes sued their customers 100 years ago. It didn't work then.
posted @ Thursday, October 09, 2003 12:31 PM | Feedback (0)
Investigate the Leaks?
Here's the best overview article I've found on leaking the name of a CIA operative.
posted @ Sunday, October 05, 2003 11:43 AM | Feedback (0)
19 Israelis killed; Israel Attacks Syria

In response to a suicide bombing in Haifa that killed 19, Israel bombed a terrorist training camp in Syria.  This could get very interesting.  The U.S. warned Syria to dismantle their terrorist training camps.  Syria is borderd by Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Israel.  Oh and Lebanon.  But since Syria controls Lebanon I really don't count it.  With Iraq now in U.S. hands Syria suddenly finds itself with less friendly borders.  Turkey and Jordan are at best neutral.  I'm sure that was involved in Israel's planning.  I wonder where else Israel will attack?  With the U.S. having a large army in the region I'm sure Israel feels safer in their reprisals. 

It's funny the way world politics works.  A group based in Afghanistan attacks the U.S. and we take over the country.  There was some political fallout but not much.  Israel is attacked by a group based on Syria and they attack one small base.  Let's see what type of fallout comes from this.  Especially from the U.S.  I'm not sure how we can tell them not to do what we did ourselves.  And of course, we get away with it because we have a really big army.  And lots of aircraft carriers.

posted @ Sunday, October 05, 2003 11:25 AM | Feedback (0)
Conservative Professors
The NYT has an article on conservative college professors -- and how rare they are.
posted @ Wednesday, October 01, 2003 7:29 AM | Feedback (0)