Muslims attend Eid-al-Fitr prayers on a street in Mumbai, India. Muslims across the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.Punit Paranjpe, Reuters

Most people assume that bigotry and prejudice are born of ignorance. Of a lack of education. This is true. But I think it is also based upon an overabundance of “slanted” knowledge.

Like many FA readers, after 9/11, I steeped myself in literature of the Robert Spencer-variety, warning me of the dangers of (radical/political ) Islam. Anyone who wanted to define Islam as “a religion of peace” was ridiculed as being asleep and ignorant; of having drunk the political correctness kool-aid and multiculturalist nonsense. And they were right.

But now, I think we have become so “educated” on Islam, that as mostly outsiders looking in, we have only educated ourselves to the opposite extreme, in our views. And that is just as damaging to fighting and winning the war against Islamic terror as it is to deny that we are engaged in a real war with a radical movement. Yes, radical. Not normative, but extremist, radicalism.
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Children greet a U.S. soldier of Alpha Troop, 3-89 CAV while on patrol in central Baghdad’s Fadhil district, April 16, 2008.
REUTERS/Erik De Castro

This is a long post, as I’ve combined 3 items together which I feel have a related theme in them; namely, why we need to persevere and “stay the course” in Iraq; why it is the right thing to do. As Arthur Herman writes in the WSJ (a shorter version of a piece he wrote for Commentary Magazine, Who Owns the Vietnam War?), after drawing the correct lessons from Vietnam (which 2 of the 3 presidential candidates have failed to do),

The judgment of history, as Raymond Aron once remarked, is without pity. History will judge how America and its leaders handle global responsibility in Iraq and the Middle East in the next decade.

As Winston Churchill said of the appeasement of Hitler at Munich, in 1975 Americans were “weighed in the balance and found wanting.”

We have a responsibility to the Iraqis – and to the memory of those we left behind – not to let that happen again.

Please take the time to read the following three stories. One is from an Iraqi blog, the 2nd is Hugh Hewitt’s interview with Michael Yon this past week, and the third is from a NYTimes Baghdad Bureau employee who escaped to Syria, but has since returned to Baghdad, not quite sure whether to believe the stories he heard, that the situation there has improved…
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Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, has released its annual global survey of political rights and civil liberties (selected data Freedom in the World 2007). The eight countries judged to have the most repressive regimes are Cuba, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Press release:

Sudan, North Korea and Uzbekistan are prominent among the most repressive regimes in the world, according to a report released by Freedom House.

The study, “The Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2007,” named seventeen countries with the worst records for political rights and civil liberties, and pointed to thirteen countries which have been on the list for five years or more.

“Repressive regimes can be incredibly resilient, as this year’s list demonstrates,” said Arch Puddington, Director of Research at Freedom House. “Some of the countries on this list are global bullies; others are responsible for unspeakable humanitarian crises. In practically every case, these regimes are resistant to change and are indifferent to their citizens’ political rights, civil liberties and basic human needs.”

The report includes detailed summaries of political and human rights conditions in Belarus, Burma, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe. Also included are three territories: Chechnya, Tibet and Western Sahara. Except for Cote d’Ivoire, which is new to the list this year, and Belarus, Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe, all have been rated the “worst of the worst” since 2002 or earlier.

You know, with all the hyperbolic demagoguery and hyperventilating fearmongering about “unprecedented expansion of presidential authority”, “erosion of civil liberties” due to the advent of such things as the Patriot Act, NSA surveillance programs, data-mining; and also torture/waterboarding (total of 3 cases- the worst of the worst), Guantanamo, rendition, etc., you’d think that the Bush Regime would rank as one of the “worst of the worst”.

But no. Reality sings a different tune from the shrill chorus of the conspiratorial nuts and BDS sufferers.

Oh, and another news flash to The World Can’t Wait crowd: The Bush Administration will be out of office in several months from now, and you’ll be irrelevant and proven nothing more than an ineffective sideshow. But you were allowed to exist during the Bush years; and had the freedom to spew your moronic hatespeak, despite (or thanks to?) the “repressive” totalitarian police-state known as the “evil” Bush Regime. It took amazing guts and courage for you to have stood up against Bushitler.  Congratulations on your accomplishments!

This is too funny not to spread around:

There are no free lunches in politics. Barack Obama may have learned that about breakfasts as well when he stopped by the Four Seasons Family Restaurant on Tuesday for some last-minute politicking.

On the day of primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina, Obama trolled for last-minute undecided votes in this Indianapolis suburb.

“Take this, we’ll seal the deal,” a man in a booth eating breakfast with three male companions told the Illinois senator as they chatted about the election. He held up their breakfast check. Agreeing, Obama snatched the bill quickly.

“I’ve got your check,” Obama said.

The man, Steve Czajkowski, 39, tried to grab it back, telling Obama he was only joking and that he didn’t expect the presidential candidate to pay for their breakfasts. But Obama persisted and walked off grasping the check firmly.

Czajkowski, who told reporters the check totaled about $25, said, “I like his message. I like the way he’s running his campaign.”

But had Obama won his vote? Well, not exactly, said Czajkowski, who said he was working as a pastor at the Greenwood Community Church,

“I’m Canadian,” he said.

A Canadian who, perhaps, understands that there is no such thing as “a free lunch”.

I can’t help but think a number 37 jersey would look more appropriate on him than the USMC t-shirt…

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) defends against a shot by Devin Randle (L) as Obama plays in a 3 on 3 basketball game during a campaign stop in Kokomo, Indiana April 25, 2008.

REUTERS/Frank Polich

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) competes for a loose ball with Ja’Rob McCallum (L) and Kory McKay (R) as he plays in a 3 on 3 basketball game during a campaign stop in Kokomo, Indiana April 25, 2008.

REUTERS/Frank Polich

Senator and democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama (C) beats Ja’Rob McCallum (L) and Kory McKay to a loose ball during a 3 on 3 basketball game during a campaign stop in Kokomo, Indiana April 25, 2008.

REUTERS/Frank Polich

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) competes for a loose ball as he plays in a 3 on 3 basketball game with Ja’Rob McCallum (L) and Kory McKay (R) during a campaign stop in Kokomo, Indiana, April 25, 2008.

REUTERS/Frank Polich

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It’s that time of the year again, folks:

Republican John McCain said President Bush should not be held responsible for the much-criticized “Mission Accomplished” banner five years ago, but he should be blamed for bungling the early months of the war.

On Thursday, the fifth anniversary of Bush’s dramatic landing on an aircraft carrier where the banner hung, McCain said, “I thought it was wrong at the time.”

“So all I can tell you was that I was the strongest advocate, or one of the strongest advocates, for changing to adopt the surge,” McCain told reporters. “And I think that history will judge me by the fact that I thought it was wrong.”

McCain said he can’t blame Bush for the banner. After shifting explanations, the White House eventually said the “Mission Accomplished” phrase referred to the carrier’s crew completing its 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

I’ve blogged on this almost every year. It was a great speech, whose contents are overshadowed by the “Mission Accomplished” banner, spun by the derision of political opponents and war critics.

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So, is the good Senator from Illinois taking the ranting Reverend from ill and annoy, out of context? Or is he merely speaking out, as a politician?

This looks to be the beginning of the end of an ugly 20 year relationship:

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Who arranged Reverend Wright’s speaking engagement at the National Press Club?

Our World As We See It:

Barbara Reynolds, a former USA Today editorial journalist who just happens to be
1. A Minister
2. A Hillary Clinton Supporter
3. A Woman who has her own Personal Blog

According to DD2, Reynold’s blog was taken down at 9:30am this morning (link to her website; also, while checking cached posts, this link to her blog works). He copied down one paragraph from her blog, before it happened:

“Like many African American women, I have struggled with the dilemma of selecting a black man or a white woman to go against warmonger Sen. John McCain. My problem was that both Senators Obama and Clinton are darn good. Finally I voted for Senator Clinton. My first reason was that as seductive as Obama’s mantra of hope, the Clintons legacy of help is more substantive and stronger. Hope by definition is not based on facts. It is an emotional expectation. Things hoped for may or may not come. But help based on experience trumps hope every time. How do you abandon someone like Hillary Clinton, who at every opportunity worked for causes benefiting the poor, especially children? Her work began in her early days with her mentor Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’’s Defense Fund and at Yale Law School, where she pursued children’’s studies. Early on her stated life’s goal was to be a “voice for America’s children.”

*UPDATE* The blogspot link appears to work now; but the last entry shown is dated April 2nd.  Did anything get deleted?

Blogging:
Bookworm Room
Our World as We See It
The Anchoress
The Strata-Sphere
Wizbang

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When I began immersing myself into politics and shedding the liberal indoctrination of my college years, one of the books I read that shaped some of my current perception, early on, was Anti-Americanism by Jean-Francois Revel. I first heard about him on the Dennis Prager Show, as he gave an interview, from France.

While researching for a post to cover this and this, I discovered that I had completely missed the news that the French intellectual had passed away almost 2 years to the date, on April 30, 2006:
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