“The real problem is not that we are different, nor that we disagree and have conflict. It's that most of us automatically view conflict as something negative rather than as a tool God can use to help us better understand ourselves and one another.

--Robert Ricciardelli”

Monday, October 23, 2006

In The News

Given my recent series of posts on election thoughts and issues, I found some news items today that gave me pause. Maybe they will give you some, too.

I thought this was interesting. It’s some historical perspective on warfare from the Boston Globe. We should remember stuff like this when we ask the question of “if we knew then what we know now, would have…?”

The Times finally apologized for their story on secret intelligence gathering. It seems they are also admitting there was nothing done wrong in the first place, as well. Here’s a good breakdown—including the original article links--from the Captain's Quarters. And, for those still wondering about CNN and their sniper video broadcast, here is a reminder of how CNN works.

The BBC has revealed its ugly biased face for all to see. You should read the whole article for yourself. Personally, I thought this part summed it up pretty well.

In one of a series of discussions, executives were asked to rule on how they would react if the controversial comedian Sacha Baron Cohen ) known for his offensive characters Ali G and Borat - was a guest on the programme Room 101.

On the show, celebrities are invited to throw their pet hates into a dustbin and it was imagined that Baron Cohen chose some kosher food, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Bible and the Koran.

Nearly everyone at the summit, including the show's actual producer and the BBC's head of drama, Alan Yentob, agreed they could all be thrown into the bin, except the Koran for fear of offending Muslims.

It’s pretty obvious that fear runs the media. It would be nice if they would stand against the violence and false peace of Islam the way they stand against Christianity.

And, that same fear has resulted in some serious problems for France. Everyone made apologies for the violent riots of Muslims last year. Well, the problem is they enver stopped. And, now, the true Peace Of Islam is revealing it’s face in France to the tune of 112 cars a day being burned.
The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.

“The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us,” said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: “We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists.”

Car-burning has become so routine on the estates that it has been eclipsed in news coverage by the violence against police. Sebastian Roche, a sociologist who has published a book on the riots, said that torching a vehicle had become a standard amusement. “There is an apprenticeship of destruction. Kids learn where the petrol tank is, how to make a petrol bomb,” he told The Times.

Meanwhile, a former Clinton appointee to the Pentagon…and a current Democratic staffer…seems to have deliberately violated the rules of secret documents. It seems an aide to Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif), Larry Hanauer, is being portrayed as both a victim and a villain by the Dems. Although, it is interesting to note that:
An aide to Harman said Hanauer remained on the committee payroll, working outside the main committee offices on unclassified matters.

A pretty good breakdown can be found at The American Thinker. Rep. Harman, it seems, is rather furious that her aide’s name was given in the press. Does she (…or the rest of the Dems, for that matter...) get that upset about Republicans and their staffers who get the same treatment?

Just some thoughts...