Real Thought

Ahh, yes, everyone seems to be in a huge uproar about the translation of the United States National anthem into Spanish.  The release of “Nuestro Himno” was timed to coincide with the ongoing debate over illegal immigration to the United States.  Well after having listened to the translation and read the lyrics all I have to say is that it is even more unsingable than the English version and is about as stirring as a wet dishrag.  It is clear that this was purely a political stunt by some artists who favor amnesty for illegal aliens.  I believe that this “act of solidarity” will backfire.  Most people prefer their national anthem in their native language.  That is why Canada has both an English and a French version of “Oh, Canada!”  I see this Spanish version of the National Anthem as nothing more than a juvenile prank which adds nothing to the immigration debate.  It is merely a minor hiccup on the political landscape and will wind up as a joke, much like former Vice-president Al Gore’s claims concerning the internet or Dennis Kucinich’s presidential campaign.

So, Kentucky Girl and I went to see the Sharks take on the Nashville Predators in game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. It was a GREAT game! After an early short handed goal by Nashville the Sharks dominated the game. The Sharks lead the best of 7 series 2-1 and won last night by a score of 4-1! The Shark Tank was rocking! You would have thought that the Sharks had won the bloody Cup! I didn’t realize how noisy it was until we left after the game, when we got outside everything seemed really, really quiet. Game 4 is tomorrow night and the Sharks have a good chance of going up 3-1 in the series.

GO SHARKS!

for Iran to halt it’s nuclear program is about to expire.  I am sure that the mullahs are quaking in their boots.  I can see the UN’s reaction now, “You guys had better stop your nuclear program by the end of April or we will have to discuss it some more and extend the deadline.”  As Iran continues, “C’mon guys, we are not kidding!  If you don’t stop, we will have to recommend sanctions which we will not enforce.”  “Really, we mean it this time!”  Of course, any action which the UN takes will have to be approved by such countries as the Sudan, the PRC, Syria, and Somalia.  Yep, if I were an Iranian government official I’d be worried.

When will we rid ourselves of this useless organization?

So, Kentucky Girl and I head down to San Jose to the last regualar season game for the Sharks. It is “fan appreciation night” and usually the team gives away some pretty cool stuff. Not this time. Ugly hats. Yep, that was the gift. Not only that but the Sharks lose 4-0 to the LA Kings, a team that didn’t even make the playoffs. We left before the end of the third period. Hopefully they will get their shit together before the playoffs start or this will be a very short post season. On a brighter note, Jonathan Cheechoo of the Sharks won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy for the leading goal scorer in the NHL and Joe Thornton, also of the Sharks, late of the Boston Bruins, won the Art Ross trophy for the leading scorer overall in the NHL (goals and assists)! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!! Now if Joe can only win the league MVP trophy.

I know that most of my writing has been political. Well, one thing I haven’t written about is my love affair with hockey. Being half-Canadian, my Father tells me that I inherited the hockey gene from my Mother. Yesterday, Kentucky Girl and I picked up our Stanley Cup play off tickets in the way down to watch the San Jose Sharks beat up on the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 6-3. Tomorrow night we head back down for the last game of the season against the LA Kings. Then the play offs start. If you have never been to a hockey play off game, there is simply no way to describe it. Imagine being with 18,000 rabid and loyal sports fans as they scream and yell for their team. Imagine an entire stadium rocking as if there is an earthquake. Unlike baseball or foot ball or basketball, hockey fans are among the most loyal and fervent in sports. I watch college, junior and professional hockey. How many baseball fans can say that they watch college, AA. AAA, Babe Ruth and Little League ball? Basketball? Football? Hockey is literally in a league by itself in this regard.

Anyway, here is to my Sharks for clinching the fifth seed in the Western Conference play offs for this year and here is hoping that this is the year they get to kiss Lord Stanley’s Cup!

No, I don’t mean your brother in law, the guy down the street or those little pieces of paper that caused such a problem in Florida in 2000.  I am referring to the African country to the south of Libya and the west of the Sudan.  You see, Chad is rich in oil and uranium but because it is a former French colony with artificial boundries, it has been plagued with violence and political instability since its independence from France.  Currently a rebel group, the United Front for Change has attempted to take Chad’s capital and evidently failed.  Now Chad has broken diplomatic relations with Sudan claiming Sudan has been backing the rebels.

Here is the problem, eastern Chad has been a refuge for the people of Darfur who are ethnically related to the people of eastern Chad.  Now Chad is a very poor country, its GDP is only around US$250 per capita a year and infrastructure is almost non-existent.  Taking in refugees from Darfur is placing additional strain on an already weak economy and scant government recources.  The Chadian government is accusing Sudan of backing the UFC and Sudan is accusing Chad of backing rebels in Darfur.  When the European powers carved Africa into colonies they ignored ethnic groups altogether.  Today we are left with countries which have artificial borders and contain ethnic groups which hate one another.  Eventually there will be a war between Sudan and Chad as neither side seems to be interested in a negotiated settlement of their differences, thousands will die and the Western world will sit by and do nothing.

Why?  Because these people happen to be black and most of the Western world does not care.  There will be no intervention as there is in the Balkans or the Middle East ansthe blood of those who die will be on our hands.  We in the West have a long history of ignoring mass murder in Africa and Asia simply because if the victims are not caucasian we don’t care and that is something for which we will all have to atone.

SUCK! Why is it so hard to send 10% of your income to the Federal government? How about a tax code that reads, “What was your income last year? Subtract $20,000. Divide the remainder by 10. Send us that amount. If you made under $40,000 jointly or $20,000 individually send $0. Thank you.”

Yet again, another employee of the Department of Homeland Insecurity has been arrested and charged with a major crime. This time it is a Transportation Security Agency officer allegedly named Robert Joe Henderson Jr. and he is charged with attempted kidnap. I say allegedly named because police found social security numbers and personal identification papers for five different persons in his possession. Unless the TSA has a super secret James Bondish type unit that we all don’t know about, what is this guy doing with five different identities? More importantly, why are alleged pedophiles and child snatchers put in charge of our security?

I have been against the DHS since the very beginning on idealogical and practical grounds. I believe that the DHS has the potential to be very harmful to our civil liberties and our rights. When several disparate agencies were combined into a single massive security agency I thought that there was a great danger of corruption and abuse of power. Sure, the TSA and the DHS look like the Keystone Cops right now but weed out the incompetents and find a determined leader and the potential is there to make the DHS a powerful internal police force which will make the KGB or the Gestapo look like amateurs.

More importantly, I believe the DHS was going to be what it has become, a massive, unwieldy, behemoth of a federal agency with no clear direction and no real focused mission. I believe that the DHS has done precious little to improve our security and yet has managed to create thousands of new federal employees and eat a large hole into the federal budget. It was and is an ill conceived idea and should be scrapped. We already had federal departments which could have fulfilled the role which the DHS is now so inadequately filling. Yet, this administration was led down the primrose path of Federal expansion which is anathema to real libertarian conservatives who understand that the greatest threat to personal liberty is not terrorism but is the expansion of governmental power.

I have been thinking about this for some time.  It is quite clear that the War on Terror us unlike any conflict in which the United States has ever been involved.  While the US and its allies seem to be makeing considerable progress in Afghanistan, Iraq is more problematical.  Unlike Vietnam, which had little domestic support, or Korea in which there was clear support from the United Nations, the United States has entered Iraq with the support of some countries, primarily the United Kingdom, but not all of our traditional allies.  We have gone into this war, to use Robert E. Lee’s memorable phrase, “with one boot on.”

Also the war in Iraq has become a classic counter insurgency.  We are fighting small groups of highly motiviated partisans, not all Iraqi by any means, who have no agenda other than murder, anarchy and terror.  To root out these thugs will take considerable time effort and resources.  We need to build a civil society and rule of law where one has never really existed.  We need to make sure that the vast majority of Iraqis have their basic needs met.  We need to train an Iraqi military which sees its proper roll not as a kingmaker or private militia of some strongman, but instead as a servant of the Iraqi people and the political leadership of the country.  All of this takes time.  After all, it took our country one failed attempt at national government and a bloody civil war to come to an uneasy at best national consensus.  Can we expect any more from the people of Iraq?

One thing is clear.  We MUST win this war.  We must convince the dispossesed people of the Middle East that nihilistic self destruction is not the answer and that the only way to true stability and freedom is through an open democratic society.  We must do this in order to preserve our society.  If we fail, the consequence will be a new dark age in which all of us will live in fear and terror.  Given the advances in communication and transportation technology none of us are isolated.  If we fail and a new age of fear and terror is unleashed, none of us will be safe.  This very missive will soon be available world wide after being typed on a portable computer linked to a wireless network.  This same technology makes it possible for terrorists to communicate and organize almost at will.  The freedom of and hope for the human race is worth fighting and dying for.

Rears it’s ugly head. Department of Vaterland Homeland Security’s deputy press secretary Brian Doyle was arrested in his home today for trying to solicit sex from an alleged 14 year old girl over the internet. The only problem is that the girl in question was a Deputy Sheriff in the Polk County, Florida Sheriff’s Department. Yep, this is the kind of guy we have in the department which is supposed to keep us “secure”. Creation of the American version of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt has resulted in a governmental agency which has done precious little to improve security but instead has copied the culture of its Nazi predecessor not to mention gobbling up a fair share of the Federal budget. Since the Democratic Party is so concerned about the national deficit how about doing away with the DHS? That would be a start. We could then move on to the Department of Education and then Health and Human Services. How about it Ms Pelosi? Senator Clinton? Senators Feingold or Boxer? Anyone?