The Bosque Boys

This article covers a "mutiny" by British airline passengers who refused to allow the plane to take-off until two suspicious passengers were not allowed to board. I think the American public is not too far away itself from demanding profiling of passengers. Really, who stands in line at the airport these days and does not eye their fellow passengers, giving some more attention than others? I do. Who stands in line at the airport these days and feels safer when the 70 year-old Midwestern grandmother is asked to step aside for a more intensive search. I don't. No one has a constitutional right to fly. If the IRA begins bombing American planes I'll understand if I am searched more thoroughly (I am not Irish but could pass if I don't open my mouth). And, I'll be angry at the IRA and ask what I can do to destroy them.

This story makes the point that suicide is higher among old white males. This fact is fairly old news, but rarely makes headlines. Interesting to me is the juxtapositon of this article and the news of Bill Clinton turning 60. What connection do I see?

I predict the following: we will see an increase in suicides among the elderly as the Boomers move past 65. No generation in American History has been less inclined to age gracefully. Boomers from their youth have expected the world to cater to them. Boomers do not resign themselves to unalterable facts of nature. Boomers have made a cult out of youthfulness. When arthritis and osteoporosis and circulation problems and functional-problems-that-Viagra-can't-solve become Boomer reality, several will take the only step of control and protest remaining to them and commit suicide. I hope I am wrong, but that is my prediction.

The publishing house of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently published a book that accuses the US government of bringing down the World Trade Center as a justification to create an American Empire. Not surprisingly, the book has angered many Presbyterians. Putting aside the question of the book's dubious thesis (actually wacko thesis), the decision to publish once more demonstrates that the bureaucratic elites at most mainline denominations remain clueless as to the reasons for the decline of these once great and powerful churches. Article from the Washington Times. Here is the hompage of the publisher which features an ad for the book, and favorable reviews prominently. (Also an explanation for why the book was published.) More information in this Christianity Today article.

Meanwhile, the former mainline churches continue their move to the sideline. See my earlier post.

From Britain, the Anglican Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, writes a searing critique of British multiculturalism and the harm it has created over there. Most of what he has to say applies here as well. Hat tip Michael Barone.

A sample: "It is clear, therefore, that the multiculturalism beloved of our political and civic bureaucracies has not only failed to deliver peace, but is the partial cause of the present alienation of so many Muslim young people from the society in which they were born, where they have been educated and where they have lived most of their lives. The Cantle Report, in the wake of disturbances in Bradford, pointed out that housing and schools policies that favoured segregation, in the name of cultural integrity and cohesion, have had the unforeseen consequence of alienating the different religious, racial and cultural groups from one another."

Read article

From the New York Times editorial, "Ruling for the Law":

"...with a careful, thoroughly grounded opinion, one judge in Michigan [Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the United States District Court in Detroit] has done what 535 members of Congress have so abysmally failed to do. She has reasserted the rule of law over a lawless administration and shown why issues of this kind belong within the constitutional process created more than two centuries ago to handle them."

From the Washington POST editorial, "A Judicial Misfire":

"Unfortunately, the decision yesterday by a federal district court in Detroit, striking down the NSA's program, is neither careful nor scholarly, and it is hard-hitting only in the sense that a bludgeon is hard-hitting. The angry rhetoric of U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor will no doubt grab headlines. But as a piece of judicial work -- that is, as a guide to what the law requires and how it either restrains or permits the NSA's program -- her opinion will not be helpful."

"The judge may well be correct in her bottom line that the program exceeds presidential authority, even during wartime. We harbor grave doubt both that Congress authorized warrantless surveillance as part of the war and that Mr. Bush has the constitutional power to act outside of normal surveillance statutes that purport to be the exclusive legal authorities for domestic spying. But her opinion, which as the first court venture into this territory will garner much attention, is unhelpful either in evaluating or in ensuring the program's legality. Fortunately, as this case moves forward on appeal and as other cases progress in other courts, it won't be the last word."

From Wes Pruden and the Washington TIMES, "Zeal can be good, but it's dangerous":

"Before the Corporate Republicans in the government, whose instincts are to run the government as they would a large corporation where how secrecy is enforced is nobody else's business, ride off in three directions at once to denounce the ruling they should...[think of] Janet Reno, the attorney general under Bill Clinton, [who] rankled Republicans and other conservatives with imaginative assertions of dubious federal rights (think Waco, think Elian Gonzalez) to make the jobs of cops and government bureaucrats easier. Republicans, even Corporate Republicans, would rightly scream foul if a Democratic attorney general in the mold of Ramsey Clark or Janet Reno should assert the right to flout the requirement of obtaining a warrant because it was just too much trouble.

"It's not that the government has a shortage of lawyers, or a shortage of sympathetic judges. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act created a secret court where the government can apply for warrants. The court has turned down government requests only three times in 30 years, and in the present climate where nobody -- well, almost nobody -- discounts the lethal threat of Islamic fascism it's difficult to imagine the court making it difficult for the president's men to get a warrant to protect American lives. "It's not the most difficult statute to comply with," says Evan Caminker, dean of the University of Michigan Law School, "but they do have to have some reasonable belief that the person may commit a crime." No fishing without a license, you might say."

For reference: the Post news story; bg and commentary from Powerline; Judge Taylor bio; the opinion.

Other good editorials: Opinion Journal; NRO.

More to come...

Somebody remind the Chinese government that economic transformation is supposed to lead to political transformation. This article/editorial from the Washington Post reports on further crackdown on the media by the Chinese government. Garrett Epps, the writer, also surveys the current situation in China and why it's dangerous for us. Link from Instapundit.

As I've written before, I cannot accept the theory that economic liberalization will inevitably lead to political liberalization. China is a nation with thousands of years of central rule behind it and no indigenous tradition of limited government and citizen participation in government. Its current government/economic system may perhaps be described as mature fascism, a system that seems able to combine economic advancement and totalitarian government. I would love for time to prove me wrong.

Watching the C-SPAN call-in show last Friday, I was struck by the level of contempt for the Bush administration and government in general. One call from Texas typified the tone of many, insisting that the Bush and Blair governments, desperately in need of a PR victory, manufactured the terror plot and staged bogus arrests. However, if the plot turned out to be true, the Texas caller asserted, the United States merited punishment of this magnitude, at least, for past and continued misdeeds.

Here is a Brit blogger with a similar theme (sent to me by an earnest friend).

Conspiratorial thinking is not new for us. Political opponents of George Washington charged him with a secret plot to surrender the Republic back to Britain. GEORGE WASHINGTON! Some of our coutrymen still believe FDR complicit in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (in order to fulfill his desire for US entry into the world war). If the Republicans were out of power, and a Clinton were in the White House, our black-helicopter brigade would be on red alert about these same issues.

But still...

This persistent belief that our government is lying to us on this scale is an alarming cultural sign post. We have two unappealing possibilities. Dupes like us are fiddling while Rome burns. Or we are quickly approaching a crisis in which a critical mass of Americans no longer possess the requisite faith in government to make self rule practicable.

In earlier posts I have mentioned that Benedict XVI is taking a clear-eyed view of Islam, and that this honesty is being more and more seen in the hierarchy. here ( For all his greatness, John Paul II did not seem to "get" the threat from Islam.) Here is a simple and honest column from the Archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput: "In Christian-Muslim relations, peace not served by ignoring history
Healing of conflict requires honesty, repentance from both parties." Link from Jihadwatch.

From the New York Times (8-16-06):

"Hezbollah Leads Work to Rebuild, Gaining Stature"

"BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 15 — As stunned Lebanese returned Tuesday over broken roads to shattered apartments in the south, it increasingly seemed that the beneficiary of the destruction was most likely to be Hezbollah.

"A major reason — in addition to its hard-won reputation as the only Arab force that fought Israel to a standstill — is that it is already dominating the efforts to rebuild with a torrent of money from oil-rich Iran."

From the Washington Post (8-16-06):

"Hezbollah Balks At Withdrawal From the South:
Lebanese Officials Work on Compromise"

"BEIRUT, Aug. 15 -- Hezbollah refused to disarm and withdraw its fighters from the battle-scarred hills along the border with Israel on Tuesday, threatening to delay deployment of the Lebanese army and endangering a fragile cease-fire."

I have been out of the loop for a few days, so this may be a bit stale--but here goes:

Ned Lamont may be the Lunatic Left's Dan Quayle. I was never convinced that Quayle was a fool, but he certainly played a convincing one on TV. The best you can say about George Herbert Walker Bush's hasty surprise choice for VP was that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Lamont may get better, but right now he is woefully ill-prepared for a marquee Senate race with national implications. He looks and sounds like a small-time cable operator trying desperately to bone up on serious issues of statecraft. The Radical Left tapped Lamont to overthrow Joe Lieberman because they desperately wanted to send a message. This race may prove that their desire for an available candidate outpaced their better judgment.

Time will tell.