Sunday, August 06, 2006

A Slice of Modern Conservatism

New York Post columnist John Podhoretz asks:

WHAT if liberal democracies have now evolved to a point where they can no longer wage war effectively because they have achieved a level of humanitarian concern for others that dwarfs any really cold-eyed pursuit of their own national interests?
Yes, imagine a world where war is not waged because humanitarian concern dwarfs self-interest. Sounds pretty good to me.

If you read the whole article, you'll find that Podhoretz is joining Rush Limbaugh in joining Al-Queda and the Taliban in calling for more violence against civilians if it helps defeat enemies.

This is what modern conservatism in America has come to: In order to save our civilization, we must abandon the values that make it good. We must give up freedom in order to defend freedom. We must torture people in order to save our civilization from evil people.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

"This is what modern conservatism in America has come to: In order to save our civilization, we must abandon the values that make it good. We must give up freedom in order to defend freedom."

Yeah, and I just learned that 3 of the 24 would-be suicide bombers whose terrorist plot was thwarted today by a joint UK-US-PK task force have been ID'd, apparently, the victims of electronic surveillance: phone records, emails, and money transfers. Not to mention racial profiling.

It's so unfair. Did anyone check to see if this surveillance was even legal? How far are we going to go to be "safe"? These men's civil liberties were clearly violated.

Anonymous said...

Oh, cry me a river!

Anonymous said...

Do you know what irony is my friend?

Dan S said...

I didn't realize that British surveillance of phone records, emails, etc in England was a violation of US law. :)

Seriously, no one is against wiretapping terrorists. But if you are going to wiretap citizens in the US in order to try to catch terrorists, it must be done in a legal way, or we risk sacrificing what we say is important about our country.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, were so much better off with this Rush Limbaugh "The way things ought to be" modern conservatism. George W. and his administration is so tuff on terror that New York's twin towers and the Pentagon were hit without a single military plane leaving the ground before they struck their targets. Given the fact that this administration is only reactionary (not visionary for sure), the mastermind of this terrorist act on our soil is still running free. Now that is irony my friend. Even after G.W. talked so Texas tough that he would "smoke em' out" dead or alive. All of the legislation that has past within this time frame of "The way things ought to be" have been nothing short of disfunctional cynicism. The energy bill, medicare/prescription drug bill, Iraq war to name a few, are a total sham. Individuals besides the top 5%, need to reflect and ask themselves subjectively; am I better off today than 1999? The modern conservative has run it's course of the blame game. They now only have the media to blame. The same media that hosts a plethora of "fair and balanced" programs. Blaming the media in this broad and simple way is not only dangerous and shortsided, it carries a possessive gullibleness of a subservient follow like sheep mentality. If you champion unprecedented corruption, cronyism, nepotism and excess, then yes, this is "the way things ought to be".

Anonymous said...

Live conservatively (within your means) Think liberally (with an open mind)

Anonymous said...

"I didn't realize that British surveillance of phone records, emails, etc in England was a violation of US law."

You might want to read this then.

Britain's MI-5 intelligence service and Scotland Yard had been tracking the plot for several months, but only in the past two weeks had the plotters' planning begun to crystallize, senior U.S. officials tell TIME. In the two or three days before the arrests, the cell was going operational, and authorities were pressed into action. MI5 and Scotland Yard agents tracked the plotters from the ground, while a knowledgeable American official says U.S. intelligence provided London authorities with intercepts of the group's communications.

Gosh, it'd be a shame if anyone ran afoul of FISA or anything . . .

Dan S said...

This report doesn't claim it was illegal, non-FISA survellience that was used. In fact, it sounds like the perfect application for a FISA wiretap: Known terrorists who need to be spied on. FISA even gives a 72 hour grace period *after* you do survellience.

You are being pretty sarcastic about the gleeful disregard of US law. Are you some kind of left-wing anarchist? :)

Anonymous said...

I HATE those left wing anarchist's! At least I think I do, not sure. I must check my government mandated republican bible, tune into my favorite AM radio (think for me) program, dose up on oxycontin, double the dose of viagra and take advantage of some would be welfare (if it were this country)recipients on a third world island, blame the media while at the same time using media source stories to justify my HATE for left wing anarchist's.

brownie said...

KFINGTREE -

Please! Don't give into hate. Ever. Love those who despise you. Do not sink to their level.

DAN -

"Yes, imagine a world where war is not waged because humanitarian concern dwarfs self-interest. Sounds pretty good to me."

Sounds good to me too. Too bad that only a portion of the folks in the world feel that way. Those folks will be the lambs led to the slaughter by all the rest who do not think so liberally.

In the meantime, I believe governments should do what they can to provide both protection of the citizenry's freedoms and protection FOR it's citizenry. It's a difficult balance, for sure, in light of how the terrorists choose to wage their cowardly brand of warfare.

Namárië...