Saturday, July 14, 2007

Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at a light 2789 Diggs, is about the "Princess Bride" stars 20 years later. Imagine--they aged!

Kucinich Lukewarm in Opposition to Iran

It seems that Kucinich is not in favor of opposing Iran, at least, not strongly. In this story, he was one of only two Congressmen who didn't vote for a resolution denouncing Iran's President Imajihadi (or whatever his name is).

I think that, alone, should disqualify him as President of the United States. Anyone who doesn't see Iran and Imajihadi (or whatever his name is) as a threat is either horribly naive or just plain ignorant. Or both.

Update: First, the other "nay" vote was none other than Ron Paul. And second, Kucinich actually tried to have written into the record "alternate translations" of Imajihadi's (or whatever his name is) actual statements. Even though there have been hundreds of such statements, not just one, and they've been shown on numerous occasions to mean exactly: Israel should be and will be wiped out. Soon. By Islam. And best if it's by Iranian nukes. Allah willing, of course.

Yaron Brook on Israel and the West's Response to Radical Islam

Here's a fascinating story on Israel and the West's approach to radical Islam, all from a decidedly Objectivist viewpoint. It's definitely worth a careful reading.

Some choice bits:

"You don't fight a tactic," (Brook) said in his talk. "Terrorism is a tactic, and I believe we have to look at the ideological source of terrorism in order to identify the true enemy."

"We don't have the guts, the courage, the self-esteem to even identify who the enemy is. We couch it in terms of terrorists who happen to be Muslims who are 'hijacking a great religion.' We're afraid to say 'Islamic anything': Islamic fascism, totalitarianism, whatever you want to call it." The fear stems, he said, from the academic trend of multiculturalism, in which all cultures are morally equal, and moral relativism, in which "anything goes" in human behavior.

Much more good stuff in there.

Russia's Hatred of the West

An interesting take on Russian attitudes towards the West. From the Moscow Times, showing that absolute censorship apparently doesn't yet exist in Russia. Which has to be counted as a good thing, for as long as it lasts. Of course, journalists negative toward Putin have been known to be murdered.

The Right, as Seen from the Left

Here's a fascinating story by a Leftist journalist who joined a Republican cruise and provides his version of the abounding rhetoric. It's fascinating both for some of the truly crazy things some of the more right-wing cruisers really do say, and for some of the perfectly rational things that are said and assumed crazy by the story's writer.

One of the more interesting, and valid statements, by Bernard Lewis:

"The election in the US is being seen by [the bin Ladenists] as a victory on a par with the collapse of the Soviet Union. We should be prepared for whatever comes next."

I couldn't agree more with this statement. And perhaps more than anything else in this story, it highlights a fundamental difference between the Left and the Right on the issue of radical Islam.