Words of Wisdom from Kim du Toit’s forum:

If I could only have one gun it would be aimed at the guy who said I can only have one gun.

via Say Uncle

Winds of Changes posts an incredible essay by Danusha Goska titled Your Deeds Matter – Believe It!:

Sometimes we convince ourselves that the “unnoticed” gestures of “insignificant” people mean nothing. It’s not enough to recycle our soda cans; we must Stop Global Warming Now. Since we can’t Stop Global Warming Now, we may as well not recycle our soda cans. It’s not enough to be our best selves; we have to be Gandhi. And yet when we study the biographies of our heroes, we learn that they spent years in preparation doing tiny, decent things before one historical moment propelled them to center stage.

Do yourself a favor and at least take a look. Perhaps it will affect you as much as it did me.

In one of history’s fine little ironies, the “Arab street,” long considered our mortal enemy, now threatens Muslim tyrants, and yearns for support from us.

Michael Ledeen in Watersheds: We live in a time of democratic revolution.

From Disintegrator:

To me, liberalism in it’s truest sense is the notion that we owe something to more than ourselves; the idea that a certain degree of sacrifice for the benefit of others is not only moral and just, but necessary for the survival of a moral and just state. This is not the sort of ethos that reasonable people can disagree with unless they’ve read too much Ayn Rand.

From John Stossel, concerning farm subsidies:

Subsidies are like a heroin fix. They feel good, but they lead to more subsidies.

Read it all.

From The Brutality of Reason:

I’m trying to juxtapose video of Iraqis dancing in the street (purple fingers in the air*) with the still fresh images of vandalized and destroyed Bush campaign offices. I can see why Kerry wouldn’t be too happy about democracy in Iraq. He and his supporters didn’t like it when we were doing it here either. They especially didn’t like the results.

From TFS Magnum:

Justice is supposed to be blind, not lazy.

From Dr. Condoleezza Rice:

There cannot be an absence of moral content in American foreign policy. And furthermore, the American people would not accept such an absence. Europeans giggle at this and say we are naive, but we are not European, we are American and we have different principles.

Nice! But there’s more:

On European allies who opposed the Iraq war: “Punish France, ignore Germany and forgive Russia”

On using American power: “There is nothing wrong with doing something that benefits all humanity”

On international treaties: “Multilateral agreements and institutions should not be ends in themselves . . . Foreign policy in a Republican administration will almost certainly be internationalist — but it will also proceed from the firm ground of the national interest, not from the interests of an illusory international community”

On Iran, Iraq and North Korea: “The US must approach regimes like North Korea resolutely and decisively. The first line of defence should be a clear and classical statement of deterrence — if they do acquire WMD their weapons will be unusable because any attempt to use them will bring national obliteration”

On China: “Co-operation should be pursued, but we should never be afraid to confront Beijing when our interests collide”

On Palestine: “A reformed, democratic Palestine would not only meet the aspirations of the Palestinian people, its first and most important task, but it would also inspire confidence by Israel that a true partner for peace had emerged”

On advising the President: “I don’t talk the President into almost anything, all right? You can’t do that with the President. What you can do with the President is make your arguments”

Moral clarity and the world of diplomacy don’t usually mix. It will be a very interesting four years.

Query: is Condi being groomed for a run at the presidency in ’08?

A fascinating article about the remarkable John Quincy Adams:

John Quincy Adams possessed a remarkably clear, uncompromised understanding of the permanent Islamic institutions of jihad war and dhimmitude. Regarding jihad, Adams states in his essay series,

“…he [Muhammad] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind…The precept of the Koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God.”

…And Adams captured the essential condition imposed upon the non-Muslim dhimmi “tributaries” subjugated by jihad, with this laconic statement,

“The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute.”

Read it all.

Nice commentary titled Surrealism by David Warren:

If the U.S. presidential election were held in Canada, John Kerry would win a landslide, with at least three-quarters of the vote, perhaps taking even Alberta. But they don’t hold it here. (My reader will immediately grasp why no Republican administration could ever wish to annex Canada. Conquer and enslave us perhaps, but no plan that involved an extension of the franchise could fail to subvert the invaders.)

The world at large, and even the arguably-allied West, might well vote differently from the Americans, given their druthers. But they aren’t Americans, and no matter how similar or dissimilar their societies, they do not carry the responsibilities which our southern neighbours bear. The U.S. simply IS the world’s uncontested superpower — the adult in the planetary kindergarten — and with that comes an outlook no one else can fully share.