Morning Coffee (77)

Yesterday’s Morning Coffee was terrible. See, the first half was brewed with success, but then the Coffee filter developed a gaping hole, and all the incoherent grounds spilled forth into the pot. My apologies. Try as I may, one should not expect Pulitzer Prize worthy brew every day.

Ahmadine-Blog:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a fellow blogger, as reports the New York Times. This is rife with irony. The President of Iran blogging in a country where most people cannot blog at all; censorship is so widespread in Iran that Mahmoud’s own blog was actually blocked for a whole day. Interestingly, his blog allows for the posting of comments, all of which are first reviewed before being posted. Obviously. If you were to read this blog, you would notice that comments by Westerners are generally more biting than those from Iranians, which generally praise Mahmoud and his government. You’d think, “Wow, they do allow some free thought and criticism.” Then you’d think, “Wow, Iranians love this guy.” Then you’d take a sip of Morning Coffee and realize that that is exactly what Mahmoud had in mind when he started this little propaganda device. Allowing angry tirades by (inarticulate) Americans merely illustrates Mahmoud’s point that we are belligerent war-mongers, and it shows that Mahmoud is capable of standing dissent. Allowing loving Persian praise, by people that live in Iran with a firsthand perspective, shows that he’s not as bad as we make him out to be. Nothing that goes on his blog is posted without being massaged, and that is the beauty of this sort of propaganda. Frankly, all of the comments posted could have been written by Iranian officials; there’s no way to know for sure.

One of Mahmoud’s posts refers to the prodigious freedoms that average Iranians have, such as the right of students to protest. He says, “It was a joyous feeling to see a small group insult the elected president of people fearlessly amid a majority.” Look closely at that sentence. The verbiage is very interesting. “Small group; insult; elected; of people; amid a majority.” I get the idea that the protesters’ opinions are on the fringe, and that they were allowed to insult the elected leader, despite incurring the ridicule of the majority, is a great thing. These students may very well have protested fearlessly, but if that was the case it was more the result of naiveté than a genuine right to dissent. Mahmoud has an odd way of showing joy over dissent in his country; most of the students involved are now in prison.

I found one comment mildly amusing though. Ibrahim Sadegh-al thanked the president for creating more jobs with his visionary economic policies. Before these policies, there were only two gas stations in Ibrahim’s town, and only one was open at any given time. Now Ibrahim says there are 3,000 people selling fuel. Can anyone say, “black market?”

Political Nausea:

I’m really to the point where I become physically and psychologically ill when I read about politics. No, scratch that. It’s not politics with which I have a problem, since that is an abstract. It’s the practitioners of politics that make me ill. Below are a few issues, none of which I’ll bloviate about for long.

Is it me, or has the election cycle become so dragged out that it seems to have actually started before any of the candidates were born? It’s becoming analogous to Christmas: it starts earlier and earlier every year. This leaves politicians plenty of time to actually do their jobs, since they have to begin running for the next election immediately after being elected.

I read an article that stated that most of Hillary Clinton’s supporters are with her simply because of Bill Clinton. Then I thought, “Boy, I’d really feel crappy if people were voting for me because of their adulation for my spouse.” But you know what? I’ll bet it doesn’t even matter to Hillary, or anyone else seeking power, er, public office. She, for example, doesn’t seem to have an original idea in her head. She was oh-so-close to power, and now wants to experience it for herself. Whatever happened to those reluctant leaders, leaders who assumed the mantle not because they wanted power, but because they were needed? The colonies would have made Washington a virtual king, but he retired. Then you have the famous Cincinnatus, called to Roman service to save the city, he was given absolute power and could have ruled as a dictator for life, but he returned to his life as a farmer. Now we’re left with power drunk morons who will do nearly anything to gain and keep power; who would rather die in office than relinquish that power and who long ago became void of any desire or ability to effect positive change. They feel as if they’re the shepherds and we are but the flock, and it is their duty to grip and wield the power we gave them because we haven’t the ability or comprehension to do it ourselves. We have, in essence, an aristocracy. Why do you think term limits will never exist for our Congress? Fields become unproductive if crops are not rotated and the earth tilled and turned over from time to time. Leadership is no different.

The Drudge Report cites internal DNC officials who state that Mike Huckabee shall not be subject to attack ads until after he secures the nomination for President. They view him as being easily defeated in the general election, and are waiting until he is nominated to unleash their assault. They also claim to have a lot more on him than pardons and HIV faux pas. The leak could be that they’re scared of him though, and are merely bluffing. Either way, I retch.

Mitt Romney says that attacking someone’s religion is “really going too far.” Okay, maybe attacking a religion is going too far, but why is questioning someone’s religion a taboo? The majority of Americans don’t the first thing about Mormonism, and what they do know is not likely to be very objective, so it’s entirely reasonable that he get, and answer, questions posed to him about it. But we all know that beliefs are unquestionable. Same with feelings. “I know that (X), but this is the way I feel (Y)…and I believe this.” This pretty much automatically makes any challenge impossible. People must be allowed to have their beliefs and feeling no matter how illogical and/or stupid they may be. Americans have a right to know what sort of beliefs are espoused by Mormonism, and the man who aspires to be the first Mormon President has a duty to supply those answers; to articulate how his faith will “inform” his leadership.

Shooting Spree Update:

It appears that Jeanne Assam, the security guard whose pistol hand was steadied by God, might not have actually killed Matthew Murray. The coroner has ruled Murray’s death was the result of suicide, despite him being struck multiple times by Assam. It turns out Murray shot himself in the head. I am curious as to the location of the bullet wounds from Assam’s pistol. I guess God wasn’t too steadying after all. Well, perhaps steadying was God’s effort, but imparting accuracy just wasn’t his bag.

Also of note, Assam was fired from her job as a police officer in 1997 for lying during an investigation into whether or not she swore at a bus driver. Tsk, tsk.

Prior to the shooting, Murray had left messages on an internet forum stating that he wanted to kill Christians. Apparently, the language he used was almost identical to that used by the late Eric Harris. Interesting…

Word of the Day: Dishabille (dis-uh-BEEL) (noun): 1. The state of being careless or partially dressed. 2. Casual or lounging attire. 3. An intentionally careless or casual manner.

On This Day in History: Crusaders lay siege to and breech the walls of Ma’arrat al-Numan and kill about 20,000 inhabitants. Then, observing their lack of sufficient food, they decide to dine on the inhabitants flesh to ward off that pesky hunger (1098).

"But I think attacking someone's religion is really going too far. It's just not the American way, and I think people will reject that." – Mitt Romney on the “Today Show.” Said while thinking to himself that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church and that everyone in the room, and most Americans, will be unable to reach the highest levels of heaven.