evolution

The sixty-third edition is up, courtesy of the Tonk.

Hello again, and welcome to this, the sixty-second edition of the RINO Sightings, a weekly blog carnival consisting of the collected thoughts of the Raging RINOs, a blogging coalition made up of conservatives, libertarians (and some liberals) who are sick of politics as usual and are advocating for something new.

RINO, of course, stands not for its usual meaning (Republicans In Name Only) but for Republicans and Independents Not Overdosed (on party Kool-aid).

Now that you know the scoop, you should know this: We’re pretty grouchy this week. This is the third time that the RINOs have stomped by evolution, and the last time it happened I titled my round-up “dark days“. The world hasn’t improved much in that month and a half.

Is there any hope for a unity among people who enjoy freedom? Not likely. But there might be a place to start — an international body consisting solely of democratic nations which and promoting democracy and individual liberty to rival the U.N., which meets none of those criteria. Judith Weiss of Kesher Talk was all over it; she has links, audio, and more in a three-part series that covers a New York symposium on the subject that was held on 11 September. It’s worth considering — but here’s your challenge: name ten nations outside the United States that both are democratic and champion individual liberty (and thus ruling out the wet-noodle European-style “social democracies”). I can’t.

Speaking of New York, here’s a happy thought: Set the over/under on “years until New York City is the target of a terrorist nuclear attack” at 10, and then take the “under”. That’s what Mark Coffey of Decision ‘08 says one Harvard analyst — and a lot of other reasonable people — are doing:

…[M]y best judgment is that based on current trends, a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States is more likely than not in the decade ahead. Developments in Iraq, Iran, and North Korea leave Americans more vulnerable to a nuclear 9/11 today than we were five years ago. Former Defense Secretary William Perry has said that he thinks that I underestimate the risk. In the judgment of most people in the national security community, including former Sen. Sam Nunn, the risk of a terrorist detonating a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil is higher today than was the risk of nuclear war at the most dangerous moments in the Cold War. Reviewing the evidence, Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor and a legendary oddsmaker in pricing insurance policies for unlikely but catastrophic events like earthquakes, has concluded: “It’s inevitable. I don’t see any way that it won’t happen.”

A friend of mine said recently that he thought Western civilization — at least that which is based on democracy, individualism, and freedom — has about ten years left. If this happens, he’ll be right.

Related to New York, 9/11, and terrorist plots is Islamic fundamentalism; that has been on panoramic, 360-degree display in the past week, owing to the Pope’s recent remarks. The foriegn minister of Pakistan, noted bastion of religious tolerance and freedom, says of the Pope: “Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence.” Got it? The Pope made bands of Islamist militants murder a nun in Somalia. Dane Gunderson of DANEgerus rounds up the complete insanity that has ensued since.

How about a double-shot of the Pope? Allan at the Politechnical Institute asks,

The Pope’s statement about Islam could be easily discredited as he is not Muslim. However, by some of the ummah responding to the Pope’s allegations about violence in Islam with riots only proves the point. It would be far better for Islam if some Muslims would grow a thicker skin.

After all, since when does the Pope speak for Islam?

True enough, but when you understand the goals of the Islamists — eradication of non-adherents and the establishment of a pan-Islamic nation under oppressive sharia law — it makes a twisted sort of sense. Values considered to be “Christian” are violated as a matter of routine in Western media and art with very little notice. Yet nowhere in the West, where the various flavors of Christianity are prevalent, is there violence outside the occasional unique incident (something I wrote about a long time ago). The reason is that most countries where Christianity is prevalent are (or in the case of Western Europe, “were”) successful societies, and there is no need for violence in order to seek redress for one’s grievances. Indeed, most Westerners these days will twist themselves into impossible pretzel shapes to avoid “giving offense”, and in some places the “freedom from offense” (which I do not believe exists) has been codified. Societies where Islam is prevalent are almost all dysfunctional, where the only outlet allowed citizens is to blame the West (and in fact, that is encouraged as a matter of policy). When reasonable adherents of Islam step up and demand successful societies from their leaders, they will find that their (legitimate, non-violent) faith receives more respect and trust.

I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon.

Dysfunctional Middle Eastern societies, you say? Jane Novak of Armies of Liberation has been a tireless chronicler of the dysfunctional society in Yemen, and she reports on the indictments of three Yemeni-Americans for illegally selling military technology and equipment to the (dictatorial) Yemeni government.

The dysfunction sharia brings wherever it goes may soon be coming to Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. An old friend and longtime reader of the big e, Pigilito of Pigilito says…, fills us in on radicalism in the Aceh province of Indonesia, which is struggling to maintain cohesion as a result.

Now it’s time to talk about those other issues which seem to have led to irreconcilable differences in our society.

Right now, there is no bigger irreconcilable difference than the war in Iraq, which may be described as “going well” by only the most ardent Bush cheerleader. Another friend of evolution, TPD’s Commissar, spots a piece in the Washington Post by Bill Kristol and Rich Lowry that calls for more troops in the region. They say:

“The territory over which we fight is among the most strategically important in the world. Victory will place the most dangerous regime on the planet, Iran’s fascist theocracy, in serious peril. Defeat will leave that same regime inestimably strengthened.”

The Commissar responds:

I gotta holler “Bullshit!” This is mission creep of the first order. Think about the consequences of defining the mission in Iraq this way. Such a mission requires no other success in Iraq, beyond our troops being there, supplied and not driven out. As long as we can have some number of troops, sitting in tolerably secure bases, dodging IEDs, and moving around in armored columns, regardless of what else is happening (good or bad) in Iraq, then some could claim, “Aha, but we are holding the line against the mullahs in Iran.” Sorry. That’s a new game; that’s a different game. That is not what we signed up for.

No, it’s not. Be sure you read the comments to this one.

Let’s move now from the former caretaker of the Raging RINOs to the new one: Digger is talking about that precious freedom from offense. Nowhere is it taken to more ridiculous extremes than when it involves discussions, debates, and crude humor regarding ethnicity on college campuses. Just go read Digger’s post.

Another issue which has become a partisan nightmare is the fate of the city of New Orleans, flooded badly in a hurricane a year ago. Bloodspite of Techography went walking through the streets of New Orleans with his camera to see how the city was doing.

Not enough division in society for you? You can even segregate your dates based on politics. I’ve been told that dating me is painful, but Eric Scheie of Classical Values (my readership of his blog actually predates the Raging RINOs) has discovered that I’m not the only one.

We’ll end with a couple of folks who see a silver lining. Gary the Ex-Donk liked what he saw from the President’s 9/11 speech (I wasn’t impressed, but I may have been biased by all the things I’m disgusted with the man over), and new-to-me Raging RINO Miriam tells us the story of how she became an “Ex-Donk” herself.

Finally, a Raging RINO comes along to offer a distraction. No doubt those regular evolution readers among you have been following the saga of my grill (and how it is illegal for me to operate it on my own deck), and you know that I’m a passable cook with enough recipes to have a running cooking feature (with a forthcoming addition) on evolution called top of the food chain. Well, Rachel Sawyer of Tinkerty-tonk — whose sole comment to me on current events was “Richard Armitage is a shit” — relates her experiences with Julia Child’s magnum opus titled Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Being more indoctrinated to the cuisine of Kansas City (grilling and barbecue), I imagine I’ll have to check that out.

That’s all for now — the sixty-third edition is one week from today at Tinkerty-tonk, the home of one of my fellow TPD rabble-rousers. And turn those frowns upside-down.

UPDATE: As if he could detect all of the glum feelings, Larry Bernard comes back from his break to tell us all to buck up.

Submit your posts to the Monday 18 September edition of RINO Sightings via e-mail or the Blog Carnival submission form.

Hosted this week by the always-stealthy Don Surber.

This week courtesy of Below the Beltway.

RINO Sightings LVII this week is courtesy of All Things Jennifer.

Kansas Guild of Bloggers is at Wichita’s own Blog Meridian.

This week courtesy of Dane Gunderson.

Hello again folks, and welcome to RINO Sightings, the collected thoughts of the Raging RINO blogging community. RINO, of course, stands not for its usual meaning (Republicans In Name Only) but for Republicans and Independents Not Overdosed (on party Kool-aid). We’re conservatives, libertarians (and some liberals) who are sick of politics as usual and are advocating for something new.

Politics isn’t all I’m sick of. I had a hard time coming up with a clever title for this post, and so I sat down to read the posts that comprise it — these, together with the constant news reports, leave one without a lot of things to be happy about. These are dark days indeed, for everyone.

The Commissar asks: Is it time to bail out of Iraq? With sectarian violence prevalent and growing there, it’s perhaps time to consider it. He offers some suggestions on how to salvage some chance of peace there.

The situation involving Israel, Lebanon, and Hezbollah continues to dominate the headlines — and spawn hordes of idiotic commentary. Mark Coffey pounces on one such example. As far as I can see, there’s only two outcomes for Israel — restrained by themselves and the “international community” (what a joke that is) and look weak to their enemies, or go all-out after Hezbollah and be condemned daily in the media or accused (falsely) of genocide.

Dan Melson of Searchlight Crusade takes a look at the Middle East as well, wondering what good will come out of an action that doesn’t eradicate Hezbollah. The answer, of course, is that there will be little or none. Even if Israel had the will to follow through and attempt to drive out Hezbollah, the Israelis would be buried under the weight of the resolutions that would be rushed to the UN (the tinpot dictator’s friend).

Ah, yes, another third rail of American politics — illegal immigration. Digger watched Morgan Spurlock’s latest agitprop-umentary so you don’t have to.

Still another one: stem-cell research. Barry Campbell of enrevanche penned a letter to the President (this is the second of two) demanding an explanation of his veto of the stem-cell bill. I want one too, and I want him to answer this: Why did he veto that, and yet allow every free-spending, pork-laden piece of crap that crossed his desk before that to become law?

Don’t forget gas prices: Jane Novak, implacable foe of the forces of oppression in Yemen, takes note of some disturbing reports concerning gas prices — and the fact that French-based Total seems to be selling itself gas for far less than those prices. Prediction: Total will make money no matter what happens.

And now gay marriage: A two-pack on this one, with a guest appearance — aTypical Joe arguing for, Kansas Guild of Bloggers founder Lyn Perry arguing against. Careful: they’ve hosted each other’s responses, so Joe’s article is at Lyn’s blog, and Lyn’s response is at Joe’s. I understand this won’t be the last of it, and it’s a rare sight in this medium when such discussions remain civil, but this one has. My position is that it’s a legal contract between two consenting adults and therefore should not be interfered in by government, but as we’ll see next, that hasn’t stopped them.

Lately I’ve had my dander up over issues of personal responsibility and the government subversion thereof, and I mentioned the various organs of the Kansas City metropolitan area considering pit bull bans. Eric Scheie of Classical Values, proud pit bull owner, took that ball and ran with it. That’s government logic for you: dogs kept in squalid conditions by people and mistreated by people go and menace people — must be the breed.

Cody Herche of Legal Redux asks in the light of the Floyd Landis doping allegations: Is cycling dead? Several of the most widely-known riders were kicked out before the race even started due to doping. French authorities tried to pin such things on Lance Armstrong for years. And now, the new champ is under a cloud. As Cody says, it’s possible cycling will make it — but I doubt it.

Sometimes you need to escape the madness, and at least one Raging RINO — “BloodSpite” of Techography — found it at work on St. Lucie. Hell of a way to make a living. He wrote me that he was “tired of politics just now”. You and me both.

Some people can’t even escape it through work. Veteran writer Don Surber sat through the West Virginia GOP convention and lived to tell the tale. I used to work at the Kansas State Capitol, and I had to sit through House committee proceedings where abortion was a frequent topic. After about the fifth time this was brought up by some moonbat/wingut (take your pick) I wanted to jam a flathead screwdriver into my own brain. Don’s skull appears to have emerged intact.

Following every dark day, however, is a sunrise: It’s almost primary day here in Kansas, which means that certain Creationist board members, having supported a movement that has now been discredited in every manner possible, will hopefully be tossed out on their asses. Pigilito found the IDers desperately pressing forward anyway. He found some of them doing word combinatorics on biology journals to attempt to show that various articles bolster their case. Pigilito did the reading; once again, we see IDers with all sizzle and no steak.

Finally, we’re going to give a link to Below the Beltway, whose hosting nightmare cost him his submission post for this week.

We’ll see you back here on 18 September.

UPDATE: The news doesn’t get much better when you check out this round-up of pictures, news, and opinion at DANEgerus.

Remember, I am hosting next week’s RINO Sightings, the fifty-fifth edition. Submission information should be in your e-mail inbox. Alternatively, you can use my contact form.

I’ll keep the lines open until 10:00 tomorrow (Sunday) night.

This week’s RINO Sightings, a weekly round-up of the Raging RINO community of blogs and opinion, is up courtesy of Nick Schweitzer.

“RINO” in this case stands for “Republicans/Independents Not Overdosed (on party Kool-aid)”. It consists of disaffected Republicans, disaffected ex-Republicans, disaffected ex-Democrats, disaffected independents, disaffected libertarians… well, you get the picture.

Next week (31 July), the fifty-fifth (LV — I say we bring back the Roman numerals) edition of RINO Sightings will be right here at the big e. Raging RINOs should please feel free to submit their posts anytime throughout the week using my official RINO address or through my contact page. I’m also going to host RINO Sightings LXII on 18 September.