Month: November 2009

Mayor Saves Damsel in Distress From Violent Femmes by Waving His Iron Bar Around

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Think I’m pulling your leg? Think again! Put this down as solid proof to the saying “Truth is stranger than fiction”.

A climate change filmmaker and lobbyist is accosted by a gang of ne’er-do-well girls, one of which is carrying an iron bar. The victim is physically handled, shoved up against a car, and threatened. Then Boris Johnson, the Mayor of old London town, just happens to pedal on by. He stops to lend a hand, even going so far as picking up the iron bar and using it to help convince the gang to clear off.

I’m a fully accredited self defense instructor with close to two decades experience in the trade. What do you think would happen to me if I had been the one to stop and help? Johnson is damn lucky that he is the Mayor!

The old saying would have you believe that a Conservative is a Liberal who has been mugged by reality. The filmmaker certainly would fit the bill, but don’t expect her to change her political stripe any time soon.

(Hat top to Milo, and cross posted at Hell in a Handbasket.)

New Series on Islamist Terrorism

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A new series on Islamist terrorism at Zenpundit.

Charles Cameron, former Senior Analyst with The Arlington Institute and Principal Researcher with the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. He specializes in forensic theology, with a deep interest in millennial, eschatological and apocalyptic religious sects of all stripes.

Charles will be doing a series of guest posts at Zenpundit that will drill down into the important but often elusive religious-cultural connections that impact American national security and foreign policy issues.

First post:

Guest Post: Speak the Languages, Know the Modes of Thought

…..A couple of other recent items in the news about languages and translation at home and abroad should concern us.A report from the US Department of Justice on the FBI’s Translation Project was less than enthusiastic, not only finding that significant quantities of material collected in the Bureau’s highest-priority counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence collection categories were never evaluated, but that the number of translators inn the FBI pool had diminished since a 2005 audit, that in 2008 the FBI met its hiring goals for linguists in only 2 of its 14 critical languages, that security clearance and language proficiency training for a new linguist took 19 months before hiring could take place, and that 70 percent of the FBI’s own linguists in the field offices tested did not attend the FBIs required training course.
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The “Wacky Sitcom Mixup” School of Foreign Policy

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The very first episode of the “I Love Lucy” show established a template for all of the sitcoms to follow. The episode, titled, “Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her” has the archetypal sitcom plot:

Lucy is absorbed in her mystery/suspense novel…Later on, Lucy over hears a conversation Ricky is having with his agent and misunderstands the phone call, as she is only able to hear Ricky’s end of the line. She then comes to the mistaken conclusion that Ricky is going to kill her, based on the novel’s plot and Ethel’s card reading. [emp added]

Much wackiness ensues. The device is as old as comedy itself. See Shakespeare and the Greek comedies. Character A misunderstands something Character B did or said and then takes action based on that misunderstanding, with comedic consequences. Most importantly, the resolution of the plot occurs when the misunderstanding is cleared up by explicit and honest communication. Everyone hugs and all is forgiven.

Bryon York asks:

A lot of observers are having trouble figuring out the philosophical underpinnings of Barack Obama’s foreign policy. How does the president see America’s place in the world? How will he use American power? How much does he care about such things?

I think Obama et al believe that all of life’s problems are ultimately just the result of miscommunications and misunderstandings like those that drive a sitcom plot. Obama views himself in the role of the wise character in the sitcom who puzzles out the misunderstanding and brings all of the characters together for hugs at the end.

Let’s call this the “Wacky Sitcom Mixup” school of foreign policy.

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No Class, No Judgment

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Here’s Hillary Clinton, speaking in Pakistan:

I think that, look, we all know that the Israeli-Palestinian issue is one that is a very serious and difficult problem that we are working hard also to try to resolve. We inherited a lot of problems. If you remember, when my husband left office, we were very close to an agreement because he worked on it all the time. The next administration did not make it a priority and did not really do much until toward the end. And unfortunately, we are trying to make up for some lost time, in my opinion.

The endless attempts by the Obama administration to blame everything on their predecessor are getting worn around the edges, and betray a serious lack of class and of executive strength. But even worse: Hillary’s formulation puts the blame for the Israeli-Palestinian problem in the wrong place–on the U.S. (and, by extension, on Israel) rather than on the death-cult leadership that has long controlled the Palestinian territories.

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