Updated: Clinton To The Rescue In N. Korea (Will He Pack For Iran?)

America, Foreign Policy, Gender, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Journalism, Pop-Culture

Lisa Ling of the National Geographic Channel can usually be found running around the world transmitting the propaganda du jour about “dying,” forests, “melting” icecaps, and “exploited” peoples. For some time, however, this annoying female has been preoccupied getting her sister Laura Ling released, after the woman was caught nosing around in North Korea with another “journalist,” Euna Lee.

How American! You land on foreign soil with a distinctly American approach to everything—you ignore borders, dangers, and differences. You demand in Yankee drawl, “Let’s have a show of hands for American values.” And you proceed to stomp about “exposing” the ills of the world. When some hostile primitives enforce their jurisdiction and show no appreciation for your patronizing good intentions, you cry foul. Oh please!

An extension of this mindset is the habit of stupendously naïve American parents sending their precious progeny, during their most stupid years—the teens—to dangerous spots around the world for a “growth experience.” My comments here.

(The CNN version: “Lee and Ling were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.”)

I don’t wish these silly girls ill—although Mr. J-Il obviously did—and I’m glad Bill Clinton rode to the rescue. Bill was, in all likelihood, asked to assist by Al Gore, who employs these broads in his California-based Current TV media venture.

Bill ate humble pie for the women, apologized for their idiotic indiscretions, and has brought them back home. One less topic for Larry King to stagger through on his nightly scintillating hour (He’s currently stuck on M. Jackson).

It’s not over for Bill; he had better pack his bags again. This time for Iran. A couple of American hikers wondered into … Iran, after backpacking across … Iraq. You heard right. Their greeno friends stateside say they’re just amaaazing human beings, thirsty to embrace the world. (Here’s a pic of one Californian adult blowing bubbles into the ether; she’s a “teacher-activist-writer from California currently based in the Middle East.” ) Apparently the feeling was not mutual.

Is natural selection at work?

Update (August 6): One ought to separate heartfelt sympathy for these young women from what I have done above: taken a close look at the hubristic arrogance and self-righteousness often undergirding their actions. Every bit of cynical approbation is warranted, that is if you’re not Oprah, and few on this site, thankfully, wish to emulate Oprah’s weak minded, anti-intellectual mushiness. Someone has to say the politically unpalatable: these broads are levitating in la-la land.

Immigration/Islamization

IMMIGRATION, Islam, Neoconservatism, The West

Immigration is the reason the Islamization of our societies is underway and is a serious issue. I wrote about it in “MUSLIM IMMIGRATION TIME BOMB IGNORED BY AMERICAN JEWS,” among other essays in the Immigration Archive. Larry Auster comments on Islamization and immigration, two sides of the same coin:

“Immigration is of course the sine qua non of the Islam threat in the West, the central fact that Mark Steyn, the ‘brilliant’ hero of vast legions of brainless ‘conservatives,’ has remained absolutely silent about in his own writings on the growing power of Islam in Europe. It would be as though Steyn had written a best-selling book and dozens of articles about obesity, without once mentioning food–and as though the entire conservative world had ecstatically praised the book without once mentioning the fact that Steyn had not once mentioned food. And we thought Orwellianism was a phenomenon of the left.”

The complete post is here. My “Meta (Perspective) on Mark (Steyn)” may be of interest too.

Alien In More Than One Way (Part II)

Ann Coulter, Barack Obama, Conspiracy, Constitution, Media, Propaganda, Reason

In Part I of this post, I ventured that the president was an alien on so many levels, and that I failed to see why the formality of his birth was more central than the insanity and un-American nature of his thinking.
The saga continued today, with Orly Taitz, leader and lead attorney for the “Birthers,” being “grilled”—or shall I say shouted down—by David Shyster and the brassy, breast-bearing Tamron Hall—two dye-hard, MSNBC Obama heads.

Taitz tried to state her case, but was bellowed at by these blowhards. Now, as I stated, I am uninterested in this initiative. However, two issues caught my attention:

With my knack for detecting bogus arguments, it appeared to me that Taitz—who for all I know may well be lying—did at least present arguments. An argument can be logically sound while being untrue. Her attack dogs did not; they just shouted and offered arguments from authority. This raises alarm bells for me; tweaks my interest.

The Birthers’ lawyer claimed that the Obama birth certificate was a culmination of a report to the press by parents or relatives, and was not stamped by a hospital. If this is true, then Taitz is correct: it is possible that the certificate was a misrepresentation of Obama’s place of birth. Of course, her contention may be untrue. But she presents a case that could be investigated.

Her other, perfectly coherent, contention can easily be verified by a constitutional scholar. Taitz claims that to confer presidential eligibility on their child, both Obama’s parents would have to be American. Obama’s father was neither a citizen nor was he born in the US.

And who would object to a request for the release of the following heavily guarded documents, unless Obama’s scholarly articles were devoted to an application of Critical Race Theory?:

Obama’s Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago.

I’d sure like to read his legal articles, if any.

Tamron and Shyster offered Ann Coulter in defense of their positions: the Queen Bee had called Birthers “crackpots.” Argument from authority is no argument at all. See what I’m saying?

To their taunts to Taitz that Coulter was surely not a member of “mainstream media,” Dr. Taitz ought to have replied: “Oh yes she is.” Whatever one thinks of the “Birthers,” and I don’t think about them much at all, one thing is indisputable: Ann Coulter is a mainstream Republican.

“The secret to becoming a successful right-wing columnist,” quipped Canadian conservative Kevin Michael Grace, “is to echo the mob while complimenting yourself on your daring. That’s all there is to Ann Coulter’s craft, the rest is exploitation of the sexual masochism of the American male—he just can’t get enough of the kitten with claws.”

Updated: Israel Is Doing Just Fine Financially (& On Illegal Immigration)

Business, Israel, Technology

“The Med’s Best Kept Secret”: “Israel today has become a vibrant, functioning jewel of a nation tucked into the eastern flank of the Mediterranean. Tel Aviv looks more like San Diego or Barcelona than Baghdad or Kabul.” … it maintains “a stable macroeconomic structure and a strong high-tech sector.” …

“What’s the secret? Ayelet Nir, chief economist at IBI, an Israeli investment firm, lists six major reasons Israel’s economy has done well of late:

A very conservative banking system–without most of the complex and problematic financial instruments found in the United States.

No mortgage crisis in a country where putting 50 percent down isn’t unusual, and banks often ask for guarantors.

A current account surplus since 2003.

Negligible inflation.

Prudent governmental fiscal policy.

Healthy integration into the world economy.

“Israeli technology has certainly been a big part of the Internet age. The cell phone? Developed in Israel. Ditto for most of the Windows NT operating system and for voice mail technology. Pentium MMX Chip technology? Designed in Israel. AOL Instant Messenger? Developed in Israel. The list goes on. Firewall security software originated in Israel. The latest breakthrough is the “PillCam,” a video camera that can be swallowed and aids physicians in diagnosing intestinal cancer.”…

How has Israel managed to do so well in high-tech? Every Israeli high-tech player can recite the national data like a bleacher bum spitting out baseball statistics:

Israel produces more science papers per capita than any other country.

Israel lags behind only the United States in number of companies listed on NASDAQ.

Twenty-four percent of Israel’s workforce has a university degree; only the United States and Holland have a higher number.

Israel leads the world in scientists and technicians per capita.”

Read the complete article.

Update: Israel is doing something else right: deporting illegal immigrants without much fuss.