Anti-war Protestors

[Vince Pinto]

I wonder how many of the current anti-war protestors, particularly those in Europe and Asia, appreciate that the only reason they have the right to protest freely and with impunity today is because their parents and grand-parents, who were under the control of dictatorial regimes and repressive invaders during previous wars, were liberated by the very same people who are currently liberating the Iraqi people?

I also wonder how many members of the media understand that Iraq could have fallen in 7-10 days if coalition troops resorted to indiscriminate "carpet-bombing" as was witnessed in previous wars?

The slow, methodical and selective targeting being used by coalition forces, albeit with the tragic yet unavoidable loss of some civilian lives, has been adopted to minimise overall losses of innocent lives.

I'm astonished, truly astonished, that so many people just don't get it.

[Steve Anderson]

Most are driven by a fundamental HATRED of George W. Bush. If their guy was doing it, many of the protesters would be all for it.

Clinton did a few military operations and was NEVER protested that I know of...

The thing I can't fathom is that the ultra-liberal elite is always talking about ending (real or imagined) oppression. How can they turn a blind eye to the people of Iraq?

Why do they (the liberal elite) get to decide which people deserve freedom? God gives freedom to all men at birth.

These days, I'm so truly proud to be an American I can scarcely express it.

(stars and stripes forever plays in the background, camera pans to a flag waving...)

SA

[BrianH]

Why do they (the liberal elite) get to decide which people deserve freedom?

This is the cornerstone of the Liberal perspective....THEY want to decide everything, not only for themselves, but for everone else....what is RIGHT, what is MORAL, what is LEGAL.....and I've never been able to understand that irrational concept of the world. All I can say is, must be all the pot they smoked in college or something....acid they took.....I don't know, because it's insane to think that YOU know everything better than the rest of the world....

Can they really have ANY idea what it is like to be the President? Yeah, maybe J.W.B. isn't the brightest cookie on the plate, but he has the capacity to function as the President, something that I truely doubt most of the protesters could even come close to.

[TBF]

I don't think they ( liberal elite ) can't understand, they REFUSE to understand.

They think they are the only qualified source of what is best for the unwashed masses ( you and me )

They live in a fantasy world where every person thinks as they do and those who don't are defective.

I HATE LIBERALS.

Travis F.

[lynn jones]

vince,

do you think it's really that unexpected?

thanks for the thoughts.

lynn

[EricW]

Not only does the Left have a very short memory, it is also highly selective. When I was in college, as a social experiment, I decided to go to a meeting of a bunch of peace activists. It was illuminating to say the least. They actually thought that WWII could have been won by passive resistance alone. One story cited as "proof" was how when the Nazis required the Jews to wear yellow stars, the King of Denmark sewed a star on his clothes and the rest of Denmark followed suit - as an act of defiance to the Nazis. (It's unclear how much of the story is factual and how much is urban legend.) But, that's how WWII was won: by people wearing little stars -- not with blood, guts, courage and sacrifice on the part of the Allies.

What's particularly annoying is that the Left doesn't seem to have any compunction about fabricating "facts" so they can live in their little bubbles of ignorance. "Inspections Work." You bet they do - at gunpoint. "Saddam isn't anything like Hitler." (According one of my history profs - who was German incidentally.) Gee, he only patterned his entire regime from the blueprints left in Mein Kampf and Stalin's later work. Golly, you think he might be planning on regional/global domination sometime in the future?

Want to have some fun? Head to the library and browse through the environmental literature. Virtually every recent work on how to "save" the environment extensively cites Rachael Carlson's "Silent Spring" as a source - which would all be well and good, if Silent Spring wasn't a work of fiction. And none of them care. Not Al Gore, not the Sierra Club, nobody.

That's my gripe with the Left: The facts don't matter. Not one bit. As long as they get to live in their little fantasy world, nothing else is really important. History. Science. Logic. Reality. All are easily dispensed with by the Left in the pursuit of their agenda, furtherance of which trumps all else.

What scares me is that's the same philosophy that allowed Nazism and Communism to flourish.

[Vince Pinto]

Brian,

My take on Dubya is that he's probably an excellent President, and he obviously doesn't take any shit (Mr. Hussein, you bozo, please note!), but he's lacking in public oratory skills when he has to answer questions "off the cuff". Then again, nobody is as bad as Dan Quayle!

Former Presidents like Kennedy, Reagan and, yes, even Clinton were excellent orators and, sadly, people too often judge leaders on their public oratory skills, not their behind-the-scenes leadership. Of course you've gotta love Donny Rumsfeld, who eats media for breakfast, and Colin Powell is no slouch.

I'm not a great fan of my Prime Minister John Howard or British PM Tony Blair, because their Governments took guns away from their people, but I must admit both of them are good orators, especially Blair.

At times like these, half the battle is public opinion, and this is where public speaking skills really help.

[EricW]

GWB - certainly won't be in the running for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but he should get a Nobel prize for putting the best governmental management teams together in decades. That's what people don't get. You're not just voting for the President - you're voting for his team. The U.S. has been in desperate need of solid management after 8 years of neglect and I'm pretty sure we've got one of the best teams in decades - and - I don't think I'm overstating the case here - probably one of the best in the history of the Union. They have been amazingly effective, and people recognize that.

[38supPat]

Seen in Baghdad central square...

"Go home

Humanshield

US wankers"

Kinda says it all. Gotta laugh at the Human shield chicky that was yelling at the Marines who just surrounded the square. Shes yelling at them to go home and calling them murderers...meanwhile the Iraqi population is celebrating and welcoming the Marines with open arms and flowers. Moron.

[Ron Ankeny]

The problem is with those folks who are at the extreme end, be it left or right. I have no use for the ultra liberal and the conservative backlash extremist redneck isn't any better. The truth and sanity always land somewhere in the middle.

Frankly, I would have preferred it if we wouldn't have needed to send anyone to Iraq. Now that we are there, my biggest fear is that we will stop short, not get the job, finished, and have to go back. As long as we have a can of whoop ass out, we better apply a liberal dose to those who desperately need it.

[Sam]

I'm pretty liberal too. I like liberal speed limits and very liberal gun laws. Oh yeah, I'm with you Ron, liberal use of "whoop ass" too. Why be stingy? If a bunker is prematurely patched, the Air Force gets a re-shoot. Rule 9.1.3 Saddams Palaces are scored "Comstock".

[SiG Lady]

Pat, that's "Moran."

[38supPat]

Sorry I'm from Can. we spell different

[George D]

I'm not a great fan of my Prime Minister John Howard or British PM Tony Blair, because their Governments took guns away from their people, but I must admit both of them are good orators, especially Blair.

Vince,

Spend some time in Oz ,mate.

Little Johny, who is now most noted for his resemblance to The Wise Old Yoda ( except for the wise part), has recently unleashed his latest punishment on Shooters of Oz with bans on handguns based on barrel lengths and calibres which will decimate many IPSC classes. His orations on this subject have been presented in a fashion resembling an impersonation of a constipated duck. Oration has nothing to do with it. He holds the purse strings and, for that reason alone, he is permitted to indulge his personal obsessive self-confessed hatred of guns. He wants to dis-arm Australia as well as Saddam.

As for Iraq, I think Ron's comments are right on the mark.

[Vince Pinto]

George,

Thanks, but "No thanks". The gun laws in Hong Kong (landlord Communist China) are far more reasonable than those in the pretend, lip-service Democracy in Australia.

No magazine capacity, calibre or barrel length restrictions, and I have 20 guns on my license. Moreover we only have 3 simple licensing rules:

1) Be a fit & proper person (i.e. no criminal record, with background check conducted);

2) Have a legitimate reason to own a gun (the only one is "competitive shooting" because we have 28,000 beat cops actually walking the street catching bad guys, hence crime rates are incredibly low, so nobody needs to carry for self-defense);

3) Be a member of a gun club (you're supposed to be a competitor, right, so prove it by joining matches - trouble is this wicked requirement helps to boost our IPSC membership).

Moreover, the Commissioner of Police regularly makes public statements saying the only "gun problem" here are illegal ones smuggled over the border from China. The licensed guys are apparently decent people who enjoy competitive shooting. Go figure.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. The last change to the gun laws was to make it an offence for idiots with "Airsoft" guns to shoot dogs, cats and slow moving old ladies.

To add insult to injury, our tax rates are 15% personal, 16% corporate, but no capital gains tax or GST, and the only things which attract Customs Duty are cigarettes, tobacco and petroleum.

God I hate this place

[George D]

Thanks Vince. I really needed that.

Would you mind if I emailed your comments to the nincompoop that keeps our local seat of parliament from hitting the ceiling?

I thought I ask first. I dont want you visited by ASIO in the early hours (for ASIO's sake).