The Wall Street Journal (April 29, 2005) has a fascinating article by Mary Anastasia O’Grady called “The ‘Cubanization’ of Latin America”. It seems that John Bolton has for a long time been sounding the alarm bells regarding the Cuban menace to regional stability and US security. But of course how dare this rude outspoken man speak truth which is out of fashion for the politically correct.
O’Grady lays out the facts of the Castro-Chavez connection regarding their goal to expand the communist revolution to other countries in Latin America. Her source is a former Venezuelan military officer who fled his country when he realized what Chavez was doing. Using Venezuelan oil revenues to arm subversive groups they are targeting Bolivia and Ecuador for their nefarious destabilization tactics.
But the cream on the cake that would “break the spine of democracy in the region” is Colombia. By breaking Colombia to their communist will the revolution would go to the international stage which has always been the dream of that gift to mankind – Castro.
It is amazing to me that having this ridiculous and evil man not 60 miles from our shores and knowing the expansionist dreams of this tin pot dictator we have allowed him to carry on as usual for so many decades. And then when another dictator, Chavez, “wins” the elections Bush does nothing! Well, now we can reap the bitter fruit of nonchalance and outright neglect of our neighbors to the south. Why is North Korea more important than what is happening on our doorstep? Granted, we’re spread thin around the world but we must not ignore that huge continent to the south. Let’s treat the pimple before it becomes a boil. And John Bolton may your voice be loud and clear about this nasty pimple.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
The Problem with Bolton
“If it (United Nations) lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
“While he (North Korea’s leader) lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty. For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare.”
“I don’t do carrots.”
John Bolton, the President’s nominee to be ambassador to the United States suffers from a rare affliction in our modern times. He speaks the truth and he’s not afraid, timid or remorseful about it. The truth is such a rare commodity in our political world that when we hear “it” we are stunned into a kind of silent horror as our minds grapple with the unexpected sequence of words and try to make sense of them.
John Bolton is out of step with the times and therefore he is bound to draw a lot of negative attention especially from our left leaning press and a lot of our politicians. Mr. Bolton does not try to curry favor or be politically correct or call a spade an ace. He looks out there in the world, sees reality and responds truthfully. But isn’t that what living is about? At every minute of the day a person needs to look at reality, ergo, the truth and make decisions. These decisions can be life threatening. After all what is truth? Truth is the recognition of reality and man recognizes reality by use of his reason. Therefore, what good is it for man to possess reason if he refuses to use it honestly?
The people attacking Mr. Bolton cry shame on him! They would prefer he try to change reality into fantasy and make believe that the UN is an institution that is doing a good job. They prefer the charade that UN members are all equally good and moral ambassadors from freedom loving nations, such as Cuba, Sudan, Iran and North Korea.
Remember the naked emperor who thought he was wearing glorious clothing and his subjects who gasped when a little boy dared reveal the truth according to what his eyes were telling him? That little boy is John Bolton, the emperor is the United Nations and the Emperor’s cheering subjects all who defend the UN as a useful institution. The truth needs to be spoken out loud and John Bolton is the man with cojones to do it.
“While he (North Korea’s leader) lives like royalty in Pyongyang, he keeps hundreds of thousands of his people locked in prison camps with millions more mired in abject poverty. For many in North Korea, life is a hellish nightmare.”
“I don’t do carrots.”
John Bolton, the President’s nominee to be ambassador to the United States suffers from a rare affliction in our modern times. He speaks the truth and he’s not afraid, timid or remorseful about it. The truth is such a rare commodity in our political world that when we hear “it” we are stunned into a kind of silent horror as our minds grapple with the unexpected sequence of words and try to make sense of them.
John Bolton is out of step with the times and therefore he is bound to draw a lot of negative attention especially from our left leaning press and a lot of our politicians. Mr. Bolton does not try to curry favor or be politically correct or call a spade an ace. He looks out there in the world, sees reality and responds truthfully. But isn’t that what living is about? At every minute of the day a person needs to look at reality, ergo, the truth and make decisions. These decisions can be life threatening. After all what is truth? Truth is the recognition of reality and man recognizes reality by use of his reason. Therefore, what good is it for man to possess reason if he refuses to use it honestly?
The people attacking Mr. Bolton cry shame on him! They would prefer he try to change reality into fantasy and make believe that the UN is an institution that is doing a good job. They prefer the charade that UN members are all equally good and moral ambassadors from freedom loving nations, such as Cuba, Sudan, Iran and North Korea.
Remember the naked emperor who thought he was wearing glorious clothing and his subjects who gasped when a little boy dared reveal the truth according to what his eyes were telling him? That little boy is John Bolton, the emperor is the United Nations and the Emperor’s cheering subjects all who defend the UN as a useful institution. The truth needs to be spoken out loud and John Bolton is the man with cojones to do it.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Is Your Body Yours? Executive Body Snatchers
The Terri Schiavo case is a microcosm of today's America. Within the confines of this single affair there plays out the struggle between the executive and judicial branches of government, the struggle between the religious and the secular, and the struggle between those who know best for others and those who want to be left alone.
The fact that President Bush and Governor Bush tried to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case is very telling as to how the religious rights wants to proceed. Clearly everyone knows that this is a court matter – a dispute between the husband and the parents regarding the existence of Mrs. Schiavo. The religious right, however, has another view. To these people God demands the maintenance of life at all cost – regardless of whether that person is really alive in any sense of the word. But since God does not talk to ordinary people like me I assume that the religious right really wants to have power over a person’s right to decide how to end their life. Look what happened to Dr. Kevorkian in Michigan – he’s still rotting away in a jail for answering the cries of people in agony who wanted help with dying.
The problem with this mentality is that if there is no right to your own body then there is no right to own your life either. A right is a moral concept that defines and sanctions “a man’s freedom of action in a social context” and the one fundamental right is a man’s right to his own life. That does not mean only the part of his life where he is acting to maintain his life it also means the part where he no longer wants to maintain his life.
Human beings have rights because of the nature of our species. Since we have to think every second of the day in order to figure out how to live (versus an animal who acts on instincts) we have to have the right to own our life and our bodies.
So it appears to me that the Schiavo case is a first step for the religious right toward earlier control of our lives. If we cannot control the ending of our lives why should we be able to control when and if we want to make a new life. The religious right believes that a bunch of cells is a human being just because it has the correct configuration of chromosomes. They would willingly condemn a woman to 20 years of hard labor raising a child she does not want. That is the real agenda of these people.
And that my friend is what we have to stand up and fight for: the freedom to determine how each person decides to use her body. This fight of course is a philosophical battle, that is, it is a battle of ideas and the battle lines are drawn: On the one side there is tyranny (the executive body snatchers) on the other side there is freedom. But isn’t that the battle individuals have been fighting for centuries? It’s just in a new form.
The fact that President Bush and Governor Bush tried to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case is very telling as to how the religious rights wants to proceed. Clearly everyone knows that this is a court matter – a dispute between the husband and the parents regarding the existence of Mrs. Schiavo. The religious right, however, has another view. To these people God demands the maintenance of life at all cost – regardless of whether that person is really alive in any sense of the word. But since God does not talk to ordinary people like me I assume that the religious right really wants to have power over a person’s right to decide how to end their life. Look what happened to Dr. Kevorkian in Michigan – he’s still rotting away in a jail for answering the cries of people in agony who wanted help with dying.
The problem with this mentality is that if there is no right to your own body then there is no right to own your life either. A right is a moral concept that defines and sanctions “a man’s freedom of action in a social context” and the one fundamental right is a man’s right to his own life. That does not mean only the part of his life where he is acting to maintain his life it also means the part where he no longer wants to maintain his life.
Human beings have rights because of the nature of our species. Since we have to think every second of the day in order to figure out how to live (versus an animal who acts on instincts) we have to have the right to own our life and our bodies.
So it appears to me that the Schiavo case is a first step for the religious right toward earlier control of our lives. If we cannot control the ending of our lives why should we be able to control when and if we want to make a new life. The religious right believes that a bunch of cells is a human being just because it has the correct configuration of chromosomes. They would willingly condemn a woman to 20 years of hard labor raising a child she does not want. That is the real agenda of these people.
And that my friend is what we have to stand up and fight for: the freedom to determine how each person decides to use her body. This fight of course is a philosophical battle, that is, it is a battle of ideas and the battle lines are drawn: On the one side there is tyranny (the executive body snatchers) on the other side there is freedom. But isn’t that the battle individuals have been fighting for centuries? It’s just in a new form.
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