What are we?

We are a society that takes the depravity of its enemies as a reason to stop making them mad. If they Nazi's had reacted to occupation by going around and randomly killling passersby in markets and blowing up churches on Sunday would that have caused us to question our conquest of them? And yet when the Islamic Facists reach ever greater depths of depravity we take it as evidence that we should never have taken the country from thier control in the first place.

Afghanistan

To my many fans around the world, posting may be light as I will be in Afthanistan for the next week. I figured I should get a look at it before the tourists have it all commercialized.

You know, you can never count out commercialization. I was in Khazakstan and the most popular resturaunt was a communist theme bar, complete with pictures of Lenin and happy farm workers marching around with pitch forks and shovels. Someday the Taliban will be a punch line.

Of course they are doing some serious damage now. I haven't told the Embassy since they would tell me not to go. They think it looks bad for the Fulbright program when its grantees are taken hostage, especially around appropriations time.

Still, I have taken precautions. I have learned how to say, "I am a trained Sumo Wrestler" in Afghan. That way if, God forbid, I do have to hurt someone my conscience will be clear.

the head hacker general

I had a moment in which I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. at the press conference explaining the autopsey results for Zarquawi a reporter solemnly asked how the remains were being treated, and the general (military guy running the whole thing) just as solemnly assured the audience at length that the remains were being treated just with full "cultural sensitivity", that is just as a good Muslim's remains should be. Given that the deceased's idea of being a good Muslim was hacking off the heads of infidel aid workers while singing the praises of Allah one is not quite sure what that standard would entail. but what kind of society are we? Did the reporters that made the press conference announcing Hitler's death ask if his remains had been treated properly?

I just wrote it off as an obligatory question when I heard it at the press conference, but then I saw the news report on CNN where the general's (?) answser was replayed in full. In the judgement of the professional journalists at CNN the most important thing about the feind's death, the thing that would matter most to the news watching public, was whether his remains had been treated with sufficient sensitivity.

This is a society so full of self-loathing doubt that it's main concern is that we don't offend people that use homemade videos of women getting their heads sliced off as a recruiting tool.