Conservative Donnybrook

On my way home during rush hour today I was flipping around between the BBC, NPR and Chicago’s greatest radio station 97.1 The Drive. I know it sounds terrible but I’ll admit, I like listening to All Things Considered on NPR. I blame it on my old man who made me listen to it (after Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy) as a kid, so I knew “what the enemy was thinking.” So while driving today and listening to NPR I heard an interesting piece (some of it can be heard here) on a recent Pew study regarding the African American community’s views of their situation as a race, if it’s improved over the past several years, and whether they should be optimistic for the future. Interestingly, the outlook on all aspects is neither positive nor optimistic.

Given that the vast majority of African Americans have voted for the Democrats for the past forty years (88% of African Americans voted for the Democrats in 2004) one wonders if this recent study will start the ringing of alarm bells. Maybe, after all of these years supporting the Democrats and now admitting that things have not progressed well under that party’s watch, the African American community will take a second look at a different party (Republican or otherwise).

It was inappropriate to make the comments that were made on the General Tibbets post for the simple reason that the post was his obituary. I will not countenance the character assassination of any person we provide an obituary for. Henceforth, derogatory comments about those who have passed will automatically be deleted.

That said, I realize that there is a profound difference of opinion about General Tibbets’ contribution to the war effort. I provide this thread for comments about that issue.

Since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the United States government’s subsequent detention of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, we haven’t heard the end of how horrible life is for those detained there. We heard about how detainees were forced to wear women’s underwear on their heads and how they were shackled in “awkward positions.” We also heard about how the Koran was mistreated in front of some detainees. The complaints were seemingly endless, even going as far as to complain about the temperature of cells and lack of sleep.

Before I get to the real point of this post I can’t help but point out the absurdities these complaints highlight. First, the allies of those who were forced to wear women’s underwear on their heads and get shackled in “awkward positions” are the same one’s who, rather than force their captives to wear women’s underwear on their head, just take their head off. Second, I find it ironic that those on the left that complain about the mistreatment of the Koran in front of enemy combatants, would file federal suit to stop public school students from having a moment of silence. Finally, I live in an apartment that is constantly at least twenty degrees warmer than it is outside during the summer (i.e. always above 92 degrees, if not more) and at least twenty degrees colder than it is outside during the winter (i.e. always 40 degrees, if not less) so I have little sympathy for the detainees when it comes to cell temperature. Oh, I went to law school and studied for and passed the bar. Lack of sleep comes hand in hand with my profession and just about every hard working American’s.

As it turns out, after all of these complaints, maybe conditions at Guantanamo are not as bad as everyone thought. Now we actually have lawyers filing in federal court to keep their clients at Guantanamo Bay. Maybe it’s even a little better than home?

If you’re increasingly annoyed and bored with the mindless screeds of conservative talk radio, and even more bored with the dull liberalism of NPR, might I suggest some excellent lectures and talks available online as MP3s?

For instance, lectures sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute are available on their Web site in both video and audio formats. Outstanding examples include George Nash on Russell Kirk, Rod Dreher on Crunchy Conservatism, Bill Kaufman on American Regionalism, Bruce Frohnen on Robert Nisbet and communitarianism, and Roger Scruton’s “England: an Elegy.” (These links go directly to the MP3 files. Right-click and “Save As…” to download them.)

Also noteworthy is the Ludwig Von Mises institute’s collection of lectures. Particularly, all of historian Thomas Woods Jr.’s lectures are excellent. Paul Gottfried also has a number of fascinating talks there.

Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com has finally come out and stated the obvious: Giuliani is not the moderate that pundits make him out to be.  Read his entire post, but here are two worthwhile snippets:

A warmonger with authoritarian impulses and liberal positions on social issues isn’t a “moderate” or a “centrist.” He’s just a warmonger with authoritarian impulses and liberal positions on social issues.

“Whatever else Giuliani might be, “centrist” and “moderate” is not it. He is one of the most radical major candidates in memory. But the more he is characterized as a “moderate” by our media stars, the more viable a candidate he becomes and the more his radicalism is obscured.”

On a different note (I’m sure your friends at CD will have much to say about this later on), can you imagine Giuliani’s cabinet?  Norman Podhorentz, Daniel Pipes, and Michael Rubin?  I might have to strap on my GI surplus helmet and hop into that A1 Abrams after all, James.  Kidding.  Kinda.

Well, it looks like Rupert Murdoch has decreed that the Wall Street Journal’s online content is going to be free, with an advertiser-supported model replacing the current subscription-based setup. This will turn out to be even better news if Rupert doesn’t end up destroying the paper.

First, Times Select, now the WSJ. The winds of freedom blow among the mainstream media!

Incidentally, I’m wondering if there’s some grand synergy in store now that Murdoch owns both MySpace and the WSJ. Like, perhaps WSJ.com users will be allowed to customize the latest bomb-Iran editorial with the latest Ludacris single and a Hello Kitty background. Plus you could “friend” Daniel Henninger. Exciting times!

For registering more than 1 million cases of chlamydia last year, a “new U.S. record.”

I personally think that keeping it in one’s pants is the best way to avoid those “externalities” that come with sexual intercourse, but for those of you who just need to engage in promiscuous, unprotected sex, here’s an advisory warning.

The struggles in which we humans, we Westerners, we Christians have been engaged these many millenia have taught and reinforced ponderous burdens. The majesty of God and His terrible vengeance, the sublime value of peace, and our involvement in and confusion about them are profound mysteries we will continue to fathom. We will often be able to criticize. We should more frequently adopt an ascetic silence. By that I mean that sort of askesis as a means to contemplative and vertically oriented prayer which we hope opens us up to communion with our Lord. Reflection about our military victories, defeats and the methods with which we undertake them is no less appropriate a subject for this practice than any other area of our life. We have been richly blessed with the civil liberties we are all concerned to debate, disparage, and enjoy; often this blessing is accompanied by temporal sacrifice and, indeed, sometimes punishment.

It is the position of those of us who comprise the authorial body of The Conservative Donnybrook that while tactics, strategies, and motives are always debatable, the moral character and vision of the men who participate in them is most often best left aside of the discussion.

The recent fracas over the life and accomplishments of the late General Tibbets (resquiescat in pace) is a case in point. It is no resort to a Nuremberg Nazi “only doing his duty” defense when Gen. Tibbets was praised for taking action he believed necessary and prudent in the course of an indescribably brutal war against a city which contained undeniable strategic value. The resultant catastrophic losses must never be forgotten — especially by those who decry the proliferation of nuclear weapons in our current geopolitical context — but neither must they be taken out of the context of the time and the knowledge or ignorance of the consequences at which they occurred as a result of the late General’s unwavering sense of duty and devotion to his own people and nation and the obligation he had undertaken on behalf of those being slaughtered, desecrated and dehumanized by a totalitarian regime of the worst order.

No further derogatory commentary which rises to the level of what we deem character assassination will be tolerated. I do not appreciate it when it happens to me, and I will do my part to ensure that personal opinions which run afoul of this policy of ours will remain just that. Comments on this thread are neither solicited nor welcome. Vital and vigorous discussion will continue unabated, but our place is our place.  

Last summer my friends, a Hindu couple, were wed in the conference room of the law firm for which I clerked.  Presiding over the marriage was the managing partner of the firm, an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.  A year earlier, the couple had a traditional Hindu wedding in the presence of their friends and family.  They jokingly referred to this as their “real” wedding, while the “fake” wedding in front of the managing partner, myself, and an associate merely fulfilled legal requirements under New York State law. 

Thankfully they live in New York and not Pennsylvania, because a state lawmaker there is sponsoring an amedment that would invalidate those marriages that were presided over by those who have received “quickie ordinations.” 

A few days back, Karl had this post, alerting us to the possibility of the Supreme Court considering the meaning of the Second Amendment for the first time in 68 years.

SCOTUS Blog reports that the Supreme Court has not taken any action - yet. Today’s Supreme Court Orders List makes no reference to the District of Columbia’s appeal or the cross-petition. However, this does not mean certiori has been denied, as “the nine” will be holding another Pre-Turkey Day conference to decide what cases will be heard in the Court’s upcoming term.

The history and procedural posture of the case can be found here.

According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon wants to oust several dozen Colorado ranchers from 418,000 acres of privately owned land sitting on an arid plateau adjacent to 235,000 acres of military training ground.  The military claims the expansion is necessary because nearby Fort Carson will soon be housing an additional 10,000 soldiers.  For the moment, the government will appeal to the ranchers’ sense of “patriotism.”  But, as one rancher put it, “I find the city people are real patriotic with our property.”  Does anyone know if JAG’s handle eminent domain claims?

Perhaps the scariest part in all this is that the U.S. Army estimates it will need approximately 5 million acres of land by 2011.  That’s the size of New Jersey!  I say: just give them New Jersey.  No one will miss it.  Well, except this guy.

Update: Ilya Somin of The Volokh Conspiracy has the a wonderful legal analysis here, pointing out the “particularly serious” concerns regarding the property’s subjective value.