Americans and British, Two Views of the Same Problem

May 25, 2013 by Leave a comment

Robert Cecil (Marquis of Salisbury)

Robert Cecil (Marquis of Salisbury) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The other day we were discussing the terrorism incident in London this week over at Jess’s Watchtower . Our normal complement there on this type of subject is about half-American and half British and we’ve become very good friends, who don’t pull punches . In other words we quite often bluntly state our minds and expect the same, it’s done with respect, and in truth there is at least as much light as smoke generated. How we sort out depends on the subject and is not very predictable, since we are all quite individualistic, sharing mostly that we love God and our countries. It’s a fun group and you should join us.

But this discussion above all broke down into national lines. Every Brit was resigned to waiting 20 minutes helplessly for the police, and every American was thunderstruck by the idea and incensed by the slow response time. Some of us thought that the policewoman should have shot better as well, although many of us thought she did OK.

At one point I was asked what in the world we were talking about when we used those contractions we are so familiar with, you know, PD, LEO, and CCW. But what left me with a rather hopeless feeling was this comment by one of the Brits, a distinguished educator, educated beyond my dreams, and an effective, not to say forceful, leader

“We are entirely dependent upon the Police”

It’s true of course, most of us have read of British subjects sentenced to life in prison for defending themselves in their home from an armed assailant. And I’m certain I speak for most American when I say, with that system, you are not free. To me and most likely to my compatriots it brings to mind a phrase that Thomas Jefferson used.

“Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.”

Which translates as, “I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude.”

Because you see, as Americans, we believe that our “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness” is for us to secure, not the government, for that way lies tyranny

And yet, Britain is amongst the most free countries in the world, and in truth we are the utopians here, we are also the reactionaries. For we are the one who tend to believe with the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury that

There is no danger which we have to contend with which is so serious as an exaggeration of the power, the useful power, of the interference of the State. It is not that the State may not or ought not to interfere when it can do so with advantage, but that the occasions on which it can so interfere are so lamentably few and the difficulties that lie in its way are so great. But I think that some of us are in danger of an opposite error. What we have to struggle against is the unnecessary interference of the State, and still more when that interference involves any injustice to any people, especially to any minority. All those who defend freedom are bound as their first duty to be the champions of minorities, and the danger of allowing the majority, which holds the power of the State, to interfere at its will is that the interests of the minority will be disregarded and crushed out under the omnipotent force of a popular vote.

Still many of us also believe along with Gladstone

But let the working man be on his guard against another danger. We live at a time when there is a disposition to think that the Government ought to do this and that and that the Government ought to do everything. There are things which the Government ought to do, I have no doubt. In former periods the Government have neglected much, and possibly even now they neglect something; but there is a danger on the other side. If the Government takes into its hands that which the man ought to do for himself it will inflict upon him greater mischiefs than all the benefits he will have received or all the advantages that would accrue from them. The essence of the whole thing is that the spirit of self-reliance, the spirit of true and genuine manly independence, should be preserved in the minds of the people, in the minds of the masses of the people, in the mind of every member of the class. If he loses his self-denial, if he learns to live in a craven dependence upon wealthier people rather than upon himself, you may depend upon it he incurs mischief for which no compensation can be made.

And in practical terms, there is something else. In a free country, the police are a reactive force, it cannot be otherwise. It is not their function to prevent crime, except possibly by deterrence. The prevention of crime is the responsibility of the citizen, to be aware, to report, and to be able to survive. As we here are so fond of saying

When you need the police in seconds, they are only minutes away

It’s true and it can not be otherwise, unless you would like a policeman stationed in your living room, personally I’ll pass, and take of myself.

And a hint for all of you Politically Correct people out there (on both sides of the Atlantic) until we talk honestly about the problem it continues,

Once we recognize it, like here on The Five then we can begin to solve it. But first we have to define the problem and lack of definitions is one of the problems.

Know thy enemy

Related articles

Filed under Conservatism, Foreign Policy, Gun Rights, History, Islam, Military, Politics, Terrorism, The Leaders Tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Religion of Peace? Really?

May 24, 2013 by 1 Comment

First Siege of Vienna in 1529

First Siege of Vienna in 1529 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday we looked at the bloody history of Islam roughly through the Siege of Vienna, that article is here. What we found in short is an aggressive, imperialist, excuse to use the sword. The attempted expansion didn’t subside until Renaissance Europe became strong enough to hold Islam at arm’s length. This worked fairly well until about the middle of the 19th century. From a very cursory look, it appears to me that the rise of Prussia forming the German Empire which replaced the Austrian (or at least Hapsburg) dominated holy Roman (or Austrian) Empire weakened eastern Europe enough for Islam to start the imperialism all over, although with some help from Christians this time.

Much of this article is based on an excellent article by Enza Ferreri which is titled The Christian Genocide by Ottoman Muslims that Was Praised by Hitler.

Interesting article on the website of Middle East and Islam scholar Raymond Ibrahim, written by Ralph H. Sidway, Orthodox Christian researcher and writer, author of the book Facing Islam: What the Ancient Church has to say about the Religion of Muhammad.

The piece is important because it examines, among other things, the Orthodox Church clergy’s little-discussed role in the liberation of Greece from Ottoman rule, and because it may help to reduce the gap among the different Christian Churches and denominations that can be an obstacle to a unified Christian response to persecution and common enemies. [...]

Blood-Stained Cassocks and 1821

Without the Orthodox clergy the great national campaign of 1821 would not have succeeded. Some propagandists of outdated ideologies deny the role of the Bishops and speak only of the “lower clergy”. They are wrong both in terms of terminology and in their historical perspective.

In the Orthodox Church the higher clergy are the Bishops, the Presbyters (priests) and the Deacons. To the lower clergy belong the Subdeacon and the Reader, who are laymen. The French Consul François Pouqueville writes that 100 Patriarchs and Bishops were killed during the Turkish Occupation and the Struggle [of 1821]. Before 1821 there were 80 movements made by Greeks, and most were led by Bishops. Remember that from 1680 to 1700 Eastern Central Greece was free after two Bishops revolted, Hierotheos of Thebes and Philotheos of Salona.

1821 is stained with the blood of Patriarch Gregory V and Patriarch Cyril VI, from Andrionople. Besides Bishop Germanos of Patras, who blessed the banner at Holy Lavra Monastery and in Patras, Isaiah of Salona declared Revolution in Fokida and was sacrificed in Alamana. The Patmian Patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilos Pagkostas, went to Patmos and raised the banner of revolution. From then he never returned to his throne.

Most Bishops of Peloponnesos were imprisoned by the Pasha of Tripoli from the beginning of March 1821, and only two were found alive when the Greeks entered after 6.5 months. Let us not forget this sacrifice of the shepherds.

In Cyprus, Archbishop Kyprianos had joined the Filiki Etairia (Society of Friends). The Turks were informed and on 9 July 1821 there was a great slaughter in Nicosia. Kyprianos together with all the Bishops and Archimandrites were killed together with the elders.

Many other Bishops played a significant role in the Struggle, such as Anthimos of Elos, Theodoritos of Vresthena, Joseph of Androusa, and Neophytos of Talantio (Livadeia). And in the Grand Exodus of Messolonghi, Bishop Joseph of Rogon, aid to Metropolitan Porphyrios of Arta, was sacrificed while blowing the windmill.

All who lived at that time were confessors: Bishops, priests, simple monastics, all proclaimed their “presence”. Our [Greek] Freedom is owed primarily to the Blood-stained Cassocks. [...]

 

Eventually, the Serbs and Bulgarians threw off the Muslim yoke as well.[3] It was this series of humiliating defeats during the nineteenth century, and losses in the Balkan Wars of the early twentieth century, which enraged the Turkish Muslims, who turned on the weakest elements of their Christian population, precipitating their infamous genocide against the Christians of Armenia, Greece, Pontus, and Syria, massacring over 3.6 million men women and children (some dying from starvation, disease and the forced deportations) from 1894 to 1922. Sporadic persecutions against remaining Christians extended well into the 1950s, perhaps the worst example being the Istanbul Pogroms of 1955, which dealt a crushing blow to the Orthodox Christian community in Turkey. The Greek population of Turkey had already been reduced to about 120,000 in 1927 (following the main period of the Orthodox Christian Genocide); by 1978 it had collapsed to only 7,000. According to the Human Rights Watch, by 2006 there were only 2500 Greeks in Turkey.

Read more: http://enzaferreri.blogspot.com/2013/05/christian-genocide-praised-by-hitler.html#ixzz2UBcXijNB

 

 

This is, of  course, a very sketchy outline of a conflict that has gone on for nearly 1400 years. There have been, I suppose, periods of peace as well, although as near as I can tell, they only happen when the west is strong, and willing to use that strength, often ruthlessly.

 

Islam: Cult of Death and Imperialism

of course only against the weak.

 

 

Related articles

Filed under Foreign Policy, History, Islam, Politics, Religion Tagged with , , , , , , ,

London, Terrorism, and Crusading History

May 23, 2013 by 4 Comments

The "black flag of jihad" as used by...

The “black flag of jihad” as used by various Islamic terrorist organizations (since the late 1990s) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, a British soldier was butchered and beheaded yesterday, in London near to the Woolwich Armory, home of the Royal Artillery. After they dragged his body out in the middle of the street they urged people to call the police and made statements about how good it is for an Islamist to do such barbaric things. I got the impression that the wanted to do a policeman or two as well. That didn’t work out so well, one of the first responding officers was an armed policewomen who calmly shot them both, one seriously, one not. Good on her. Presumably our cousins have a suitable pigsty for this filth to spend the rest of its natural life in.

In other news, the Islamist riots continue around Stockholm. Seems to me the Europeans would be getting a bit tired of this nonsense by now, and at least dropping the PC long enough to talk about solutions.

Dan McLaughlin at RedState has put together a pretty good timeline of Islam, and I’m going to borrow a bit of it here, but you should read the whole thing.

  • Muhammad died in 632
  • A decisive Muslim victory at the Battle of Ajnadayn in 634 spread Muslim control into modern Israel
  • Between 634 and 689, Muslim forces conquered Christian, Byzantine-held Syria and North Africa.
  • Sporadic attacks on Constantinople from the middle of the 7th century on
  • 650-54: Muslim conquest of Cyprus.
  • 652: Muslim Invasion of Sicily begins.
  • 674-78: First Siege of Constantinople, repelled with the invention and deployment of “Greek Fire.”
  • 711-18: Muslim Conquest of Spain, which would not be reconquered completely by the Christians until 1492.
  • 717-18: Second Siege of Constantinople.
  • 719: Muslim invasion of France begins, establishing Muslim control of the Septimania region of southeastern France.
  • 732: Battle of Poitiers (Tours); Charles Martel halts Muslim northward march into central France.
  • 736: Muslim Conquest of Georgia, where the Emirate of Tbilisi would hold sway until 1122.
  • 820: Muslim Conquest of Crete, which would be held until 961.
  • 827: Muslim Conquest of Syracuse in Sicily.
  • 846: The Muslim Sack of Rome by troops landing at the port of Ostia, including the sack of St. Peter’s Basilica while Pope Leo III and the helpless Roman garrison retreated behind the city walls.

And so on.

And please do note that we are still a couple of hundred years from the First Crusade, nor does this take any notice of the expansion east which would in time nearly eradicate the Church of the East.

It’s probably worth noting, as Victor Davis Hanson has, that western Europe, weak as it was, still had because of the legacy of Greece and Rome better capabilities for power projection and logistics. But it was in no sense the mighty Christendom we think of in later times. It was a bunch of petty princelings who could barely, occasionally cooperate a bit with each other. The British Isles had little contact with the rest of Europe and Scandinavia had yet to mount the Viking raids until late in this period and was not yet Christianized.

These were the glory years of Islam, and you’ll note they expanded against the weak, and the exposed.

But note that since the end of the Western Empire, Europe had been on the defensive, the offense, the imperialistic power was Islam.

As Europe got itself somewhat organized, it began to dream of recapturing the Holy Land and the result was the First Crusade starting in 1096. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city, and captured it in July 1099, massacring many of the city’s Muslim, Christian, and Jewish inhabitants. They also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa.¹

There were nine Crusades in all, some serious, some not, and some that seem at this remove as downright silly.

In truth, what they did accomplish was set the high water mark of Islam through the middle ages. But warfare was sporadic but continuous long after

  • Constantinople fell in 1451

  • The naval incursions ended at Lepanto in 1571

  • And the incredible siege of Vienna was in 1683

And that was pretty much it for Islam in the west. Why? Because while Islam had stagnated in the seventh century, and Christianity didn’t progress much either, for a while, by the turn of the 16th century men were experimenting, learning, and exploring again. This is the period of the Renaissance, when suddenly learning in what we tend to call Christendom (which is now a proper term) starts on the logarithmic curve which leads straight to the modern world. Part of that is the first revolution in communication, Gutenberg’s printing press.

We have noted before that Columbus’s voyages were an effort to find a trade route to Asia without going through the middle east, he failed in that but his discoveries were proved more important anyway.

And as we have seen in this nickel tour, the one thing Islamism can smell a half a world away is a

Lack of Self Confidence

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade

Related articles

Filed under History, Islam, Politics, Religion, Terrorism Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Recessionals, Swivel Eyed Loons, Tea Parties, and Summer Soldiers

May 22, 2013 by 3 Comments

The white man's burden – The Journal, Detroit,...

The white man’s burden – The Journal, Detroit, 1898. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My friend, and Jessica’s co-author Chalcedon451 posted this morning in somber mood. I suspect I know the proximate cause, and have no reason to disagree. His post is titled Recessional? I find it a very good post, and suspect I understand the reason it appeared this morning. Nor do I disagree with him. He says that it is the first of a series, which I look forward to.

He quotes Kipling’s Recessional in his post

Far-called, our navies melt away;

   On dune and headland sinks the fire:   
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
   Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!   
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,   
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Nemesis lay here, as he saw it:

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose   
   Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,   
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
   Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
It is of, course the reverse of the coin.
The obverse of which was the welcome we Americans received in The White Man’s Burden
And yet that is not the poem that comes to my mind. This one does.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
I think they are not far away, and approaching quickly.
But you know the Anglo-Saxon powers have been in dire straits before, if we were to look to 1588 for example, just a few days ago the Armada sailed on its Crusade. In 1942 today our countries were on the defensive around the world, the Pacific Fleet’s battleships in the mud of Pearl Harbor, the Repulse and the Prince of Wales sunk, Britain enduring the bombing of the air war, Doolittle had just made his ineffective but morale building raid. But in a couple of days the Imperial Japanese fleet will be stopped at the Coral Sea and soon the tide will turn at Midway, a battle won by taking long odds and playing to win. In less than three years Nazi Germany will be on the scrap heap of history, with Japan soon to join it.
And that may be the problem, those men (and women) were the generation that raised Chalcedon and I. When they said something you could take it to the bank, I have seen men go into very sketchy verbal agreements on million dollar deals. But we have become societies of chiselers, cheats and liars, and as long as we are we will accomplish little. If a man’s word is not his bond, he can never be trusted in any matter, great or small, and therefore he is useless, merely another mouth to feed without benefit.
But our folk wisdom insists that it is darkest before the dawn (so does experience) so maybe a different writer would be better.
After our election, on my post entitled Recessional, Representative Rebecca Hamilton, of Oklahoma said in my comments stream “Don’t be defeated. The fight has just begun.” And she is, of course, entirely correct, we are not defeated until we admit we are defeated. Which brings to mind as a guide for us all

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. [...]

I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he.

And that is as good a guide as we are going to get, British or American as we attempt to salvage the good from our countries.

And lest you Americans think this is only for my Brit friends, you think maybe we got a problem when we’re sitting here looking at Chicago-on-the-Potomac wondering if there is an honest man in the city? Cause you know what? If there isn’t

It’s Nobody’s Fault but Ours.

Related articles

Filed under Conservatism, History, Politics Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Götterdämmerung

May 18, 2013 by 7 Comments

English: President Barack Obama's signature on...

English: President Barack Obama’s signature on the health insurance reform bill at the White House, March 23, 2010. The President signed the bill with 22 different pens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

OK, so the IRS lame duck was testifying yesterday. I didn’t watch the whole thing because, to be honest,I like keeping my blood pressure someplace near normal, and I knew I’d be able to catch up. What seems clear is that the IRS has played politics, either on their own, or under direction from Treasury and/or the White House. Either way it is very damaging to Americans trust in the government. The IRS is, of course, the governmental equivalent of the boogeyman, equally disliked by everyone. The targets appear to be Conservatives and Christians, which probably surprises nobody. Probably the best comment I’ve seen comes from Peggy Noonan, Hattip to HDR

PEGGY NOONAN: This Is No Ordinary Scandal: Political abuse of the IRS threatens the basic integrity of our government.

“Everyone involved in this abuse of power should pay a price, because if they don’t, the politicization of the IRS will continue—forever. If it is not stopped now, it will never stop. And if it isn’t stopped, no one will ever respect or have even minimal faith in the revenue-gathering arm of the U.S. government again.”

You all know that I’m one of those people who insists on personal responsibility, good and bad. The reason for that should be apparent now as you watch everybody in the executive departments running around making excuses and blaming each other. But you know, Rep. Mike Kelly (R, PA) doesn’t by it either. He is sort of an old-timer like me and had a pretty good life, champion fullback in western Pennsylvania high school football, good enough for a Notre Dame scholarship (till an injury ended his career), worked in his dad’s business till 1995 when he bought the business, and ended up in Congress. Just what the founders had in mind, a successful man serving the people towards the end of his career. He’s been a good Congressman too, and he had a few things to tell  IRS Commissioner Steven Miller today at the hearing, having to do with the situation. Watch

My takeaway from this is the difference between a man who has earned a living in the private sector where he had responsibility for his results, and I’d bet my last dollar that he was good at it, and a fourth grader who is totally unprepared, and trying to claim that the dog ate his homework. Frankly I would be just as horrified if they were targeting liberals, it doesn’t matter.

Executive departments and agencies must do their very best to be as objective as possible.

Actual competence would be a good thing also, of course, and the IG didn’t look too bad today. But the civil service and the politicians running the departments that are involved, or involved in shifting the blame around in this (and the other scandals running) are beneath contempt. In the poorest run company I’ve ever been involved with in the private sector they would be fired within in a week, as they should be.

And just to make everybody sleep better, they have decided that the woman who ran the witch hunt in the IRS would be the proper person to oversee the implementation of Obamacare in the IRS.

I suppose that’s what we get when we hire a chief executive who has never run anything as big as a lemonade stand before.

If this keeps up, it can only mean one thing…

Götterdämmerung, and no Valhalla, either

Related articles

 

Filed under Corruption, IRS, Politics Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Obama's Banana Republic

May 17, 2013 by 14 Comments

Reblogged from LibertyTrail:

Click to visit the original post

The IRS just issued a statement regarding the harassment of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.  From that statement:

“Joseph Grant, Commissioner of Tax Exempt/Government Entities Division, has announced his plans to retire on June 3rd. “

Well good for them!  The guy in charge is getting the boot.  Heads are rolling, so to speak.

Not quite.  Mr. Grant only got this job last week. 

Read more… 310 more words

Best I''ve seen so far on the IRS, and I love this:  
I wonder how this will all work. Will having a voter registration card that says you’re a democrat get you in to see that specialist? If you’re a registered republican will you go to the back of the line if you need to see an oncologist? Should I be concerned? After all, I write a conservative blog and have been opposed to Obamacare all along. What if I need surgery? Will I have to wait 3 years and fill out endless forms, provide access to my Facebook page and report on any books I’ve read in the past 36 months? What about my private medical records? Who might they be illegally shared with? You cannot make this stuff up. No one would believe you. I shook my head as I read the story about this from ABC News and glanced to the top of the screen at the advertising banner. The ad was from Banana Republic.  

Enjoy, then weep.

Filed under Benghazi, Corruption, IRS, Politics, Uncategorized

← Older posts