Article Roundup

After my long absence, your humble WordBearer has returned to the shores of blogdom to minister to the sick and faint of heart.

Couple of tidbits:

1. See Spiderman 3. It is really good despite all the complaints. As a true blue Spiderman fan, I got what I expected from the movie. All the complaints are coming from Comic Book Guy "Worst Movie Ever" types who basically want a complete retelling of the comic book frame by frame. While I am sympathetic with that point of view, I understand that you must make changes to make the story accessible to the general public.

2. Law school is damn hard.


Now to some of my patented opinions.

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Afghans might be starting to get it.

It seems that many Afghans are starting to place the blame for civilian deaths from NATO strikes on the fact that the Taliban are using civilians are shields. All I can say is: About Damn Time.

Of course there still is a disconnect between what the Afghans want and what NATO is willing to do. Local Afghans are attacking Taliban positions in their area and are not afraid to ask them not to lay mines near their villages. Meanwhile NATO forces are engaging in "public relations."

NATO hopes to win over the local farmers that support the Taliban by contrasting the life lived under the Taliban with that lived under the new Afghan government. This will fail.

This strategy will fail because it misses the mark on what the Afghans want. NATO promises these second tier Taliban development. What they should promise them is security. If they were interested in development they would have turned to the West long ago. The Taliban can provided them with what they want: security. NATO can militarily offer them security, but we are not able to because of politics. In the West we must agonize over every civilian casualty and we constantly ask "Is the price too high?" Our enemies never ask this question. We need to show them that lawlessness will be punished.

NATO seems to think that people will forget the roving death squads in their village if they have a flush toilet and running water. That thinking is absurd. Development must follow peace...not the other way around.

The simple fact is this: The Islamofacists love killing infidels and waging jihad more than we love our civilization and heritage. The West must either renew itself spiritually or be prepared for ossification and Islamization.

Here in the West we think that flashy commercials and promises of Coke and smiles will win over the world's poor and downtrodden. This is untrue. We need to offer them them security, ordered liberty, and reject our own "do as you please/get rich get high get off" mentality. Our enemies are the opposite side of the same coin.

We can win this war, but it will not be done with words. The sword must accompany the word.