Ground State

This is not a question of fighting for Danzig or fighting for Poland. We are fighting to save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny and in defense of all that is most sacred to man. This is no war of domination or imperial aggrandizement or material gain: no war to shut any country out of its sunlight and means of progress. It is a war to establish and revive the stature of man.

Delivered in the British House of Commons, September 3, 1939, after the declaration of war on Germany by Britain following the invasion of Poland, as cited in Winston Churchill's War Leadership by Martin Gilbert, pp. 40

Thomas Sowell spells out the current situation - precisely in my view (HT: Atlas Shrugs).

What kind of people provide a market for videotaped beheadings of innocent hostages? What kind of people would throw an old man in a wheelchair off a cruise liner into the sea, simply because he was Jewish? What kind of people would fly planes into buildings to vent their hate at the cost of their own lives?

These are the kinds of people we are talking about getting nuclear weapons. And what of ourselves?

Do we understand that the world will never be the same after hate-filled fanatics gain the ability to wipe whole American cities off the face of the earth? Do we still imagine that they can be bought off, as Israel was urged to buy them off with "land for peace" -- a peace that has proved to be wholly illusory?
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After we, or our children and grandchildren, find ourselves living at the mercy of people with no mercy, what will future generations think of us, that we let this happen because we wanted to placate "world opinion" by not acting "unilaterally"?

From the People's Cube, I think they've got a pretty good handle on the modern multicultural response.



"Westerners need to look beyond 'the Jew' problem and learn from the early age that someone with so much faith in a one-Party rule, coupled with extensive social services administered by a totalitarian government can't be all bad," declares the BBC Director of children's programming Dan Foster. "Hezbollah is much like any other decent national-socialist government and we really shouldn't let small issue like Jews get in the way of social progress."

I'm pretty average economically. We have a nice house, but no pool. We have two cars, but they're both over 5 years old. We have a rental property, but no vacation homes. We're doing OK, we're not rich.

My tax return is 126 pages long. I do not understand it - literally. If it was not for TurboTax I would have no hope of preparing it in two weeks full-time. As it is, with TurboTax, it takes me three days on top of the year-round burden of saving and filing the most mundane records.

I complicate my situation by working for myself part of the time - but is that something the government wants me to suffer for?

We're talking about - in my case - a few ten's of thousands of dollars to be collected. It's not enough to buy a new HumVee for the Army. I'm certain it doesn't cover a year of lawn care at the White House - or 1/3 of a Senate staffers salary. Is it really worth 126 pages of documentation?

There's no end to the growth of complexity in the tax laws. Smart people are spending their entire careers helping large organizations and wealthy individuals pay less taxes by working a sneaky path through the 16,000 pages of rules and regulations. Is this how America is going to put its best foot forward in the new century?

I'm a flat-tax fan, not so much because I think progressive taxation is wrong - but because what we have is not anything like progressive taxation. The combination of social security taxes, Medicare taxes, and the income tax, along with the best tax avoidance attorneys money can buy - makes our taxation regressive throughout a good portion of the income spectrum. What's worse is this obscene complexity, the laws are growing like a tumor.

The downside to TurboTax is it allows me to manage an otherwise unmanageable problem. If I was forced to prepare a 126 page document to pay my taxes I'd be ready to revolt. As it is - my PC is in negotiations with the IRS computer about what I owe and I stand back and hope it all doesn't end up in an audit.

Is this really the best we can do?

Michael Ledeen is a persistent man. In September 2002, one year after 9/11, he published The War Against the Terror Masters. He has stayed on message for the last four years, and events continue to prove him correct. His latest in NRO is a recap in light of the victory just handed to Syria and Iran in southern Lebanon. Ledeen keeps explaining to us that we cannot win these regional conflicts while Iran pumps up the other side without cost. He has been explaining this, over and over again. You have to feel for the man. He was right then, he's right now, and each day we wait to take effective action - the situation gets worse.

Parents - this site maps out predators in your area you should be aware of.

One type of operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon would have been limited to retaliatory air or artillery strikes on rocket launch points exclusively. This operation would never be expected to eliminate, or render ineffective, Hezbollah. It would kill mostly civilians, as Hezbollah would set-up beside a schoolyard, shoot, and scoot.

Israel, to its credit, and in its tradition, chose another strategy. Shutdown southern Lebanon, cut the lines of communication, land, sea, and air, and sweep it out. This approach would, at least for as long as Israel held southern Lebanon, render Hezbollah ineffective. It has a higher cost on civilian infrastructure and costs more Israeli soldiers, but it goes along way toward undoing the Hezbollah build-up of a well-armed, well-trained army with 13,000 missiles under the watchful eye of UNFIL.

A ceasefire now is a something in-between, a worst of both worlds. Significant damage to civilian infrastructure has taken place. Lines of communication, while not cut for Reuter's reporters, are certainly impacted, and Iranian resupply of their army in southern Lebanon is difficult. The Lebanese have suffered significant civilian casualties notwithstanding the Hezbollah street-theater and MSM photoshopping. Hezbollah, however, has not been cleaned-out below the Litani river. A ceasefire now will be followed, within hours, by Hezbollah victory parades in southern Lebanon. The 'fragile Lebanese democracy', will be in a lesser position to wrestle control of Lebanon away from Hezbollah than it was 3 weeks ago. AhWantMyJihad's public statement, that a ceasefire now is in their tactical best-interest while pursuing their goal of the eradication of the Zionist entity will stand as a strategy publicly stated and carried out - another sign of his strength and the weakness of the west.

Is there one person on the planet who believes that UNFIL, or UNFIL2, can prevent Hezbollah from rearming completely in southern Lebanon? That UNFIL2 will take a single rocket-launcher out of Hezbollah's hands?

A ceasefire now is a Hezbollah victory. A ceasefire with a prisoner exchange and more territorial concessions is a Hezbollah shut-out. It will be perceived as such by the Shia worldwide, and the Iranian madman will have more encouragement.

We use an Arabic numeral system, superior to the Roman numeral system, in part because of the introduction of the numeral zero - not identified as a numeral in the Romans. And today the Arabs are reminding us of the definition of zero - here are some examples:

Zero: The chances that the UN can implement a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel

Zero: The chances that the UN will implement resolution 1559 - in particular "3. Calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias;"

Zero: The chances that the UN will deploy a force capable of taking a firecracker away from a determined Arab 5-year-old.

Zero: The chances that soft-power can slow-down Islamic facism.

Zero: The chances that France, with a rich tradition of homegrown anti-semitism and Muslim 'youths' taking over their cities at night, will raise a cap-gun against Hezbollah.

The Persians - anxious not to be outdone in instructing western civilization on the nuances of integer math - are providing their own lessons:

Zero: The chance Iran will peacefully give up its aspiration to be a nuclear power.

Zero: The chance AhWantMyJihad - having a nuclear weapon - will not export it for use by a non-state actor.

One: The probability that the Iranian regime will export nuclear devices to be used in: 1) Israel, 2) Russia, 3) India, 4) America.

One: The probability that Saudi Arabia is pursuing its own nuclear weapons at all possible speed to offset the Persian Islamic bomb.

One: The probability that Chavez, if still in power, will obtain a nuclear weapon from Iran for Venezuala.

We need to get a grip. Iraq is a battle - not the war. To paraphrase Mark Steyn, freedom and democracy are not appealing goals to populations with median ages under 20 raised in death-cult Islam. The death-cult is the culture. Democracy does not change that - it gives it expression.