Morning Coffee (79)

Welcome to another weekend edition of the Morning Coffee. Weekend editions of the MC are like that coffee made from the beans that have gone through the digestive track of the palm civet: rare, expensive, and delicious. Also, it's not bad for something that you have to wade through the mental feces of other media in order to get it.

The Mitchell Report – Fingered by McNamee:

I had no real intention of discussing the Mitchell Report on the Morning Coffee, despite baseball being the only sport I watch. For those who don’t know, the Mitchell Report was commissioned by Major League Baseball to investigate the use of performance enhancing drugs by players, former and present. You can read the entire thing HERE. It’s actually somewhat interesting.

I love baseball, and I was a little worried about how I would feel about it after reading the report. I likened it somewhat to the strike of 1994 when fans abandoned the sport in droves. Luckily, after reading it, I still consider myself an avid fan. The sport has a problem, and hopefully the leadership and players are able to come to grips with that and make an effort to fix it.

Anyway, my point is not to get into a huge, long discussion about the Mitchell Report. I could, but I won’t. The Morning Coffee is not the place; maybe the City of Dis, but not our beloved MC. But I wanted to point out to you something that if found supremely hilarious: the main witness and/or informant that Mitchell used is a man by the name of Brian McNamee. The man who “named names” is named McNamee. Does anyone else think that is ironic?

More Political Politicking by Pencil-Necked Politicians:

I know I said I’d try to keep politics out of the MC for a time, but this one is simply too good to pass up. Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal wrote an article recently called “The Pulpit and the Potemkin Village.” You can read it HERE. I recommend it. She talks about how religion has become something of a defining factor in today’s Presidential politics and some other interesting things (if you do not know what a Potemkin village is…find out). Anyway, one passage struck me, as I touched on it in previous editions. In it, she talks about illegal immigration, specifically, but I think the gist can easily be applied to any issue.

“Hillary Clinton is not up at night worrying about the national-security implications of open borders in the age of terror. She's up at night worrying about whether to use Mr. Obama's position on driver's licenses for illegals against him in ads or push polls.”

This is precisely the point. Not one of these Presidential “hopefuls” actually worries about much of anything other than how to spin someone else’s “opinion/beliefs/ideas” and use them against them. I wonder if any of them, save perhaps Ron Paul and maybe Mike Huckabee (the former, crazy; the latter one shade shy of being a fundamentalist Christian), have any beliefs/opinions/ideas at all that aren’t provided to them by the latest polls or political strategists; Hillary may just be the worst offender.

You may point out the aforementioned Paul and Huckabee as having beliefs, and this is true. But beliefs alone do not make policies, and in both their cases, I think they are dangerous to that for which our country stands.

There are 300 million Americans in this country, and maybe 50 million illegal immigrants, and the best we can muster is the group of troglodytes that make up the Presidential Hopeful Class of 2008?

Here’s a side tidbit of information for you: Huckabee says that “American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out.” Probably true to a large extent. But then he goes on to say, “My administration will recognize that the United States’ main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists.” Has he never heard of the People’s Republic of China? What about a newly wealthy Russia re-equipped with long-range nuclear aviation patrols and a carrier battle group tour of the Mediterranean? India perhaps? What about Iran? The European Union? Africa? Saudi Arabia and Syria and Venezuela? All of these nations and entities would prefer American power be eroded and our influence marginalized. While I agree with Huckabee that the application of American power and influence (what little we have anymore) would be more effective if used in other ways, it really does sound like it’s, well, us pitted against the world. Thus is geopolitics, which Huck may or may not actually comprehend. I understand his point; that being playing to the fears of Americans, but it would be nice if someone spoke with some candor for once about the real threat to American power and our way of life: virtually everyone that isn’t us…okay, and us too.

The Surreptitious Success of the Surge:

With glacial speed, mainstream media outlets have begun to report on the successes of the American fighting man and President Bush and General Petreaus’ Surge in Iraq. It sort of snuck up on us. Bad news upon bad news, and then, BAM, the news became kind of good; real good, in fact. Violence all throughout Iraq has plummeted. Imagine that the numbers are so staggeringly good that it’s become almost impossible for the media or liberals to refute it. Indeed, they say that it cannot last or is a fluke or is only etc, etc. But almost none of them actually have the gumption to suggest that the 30,000 troop increase has not been effective.

Many people might, however, think that this success is merely the nefarious efforts of al-Qaida; a sly way of undermining American politics and policies. However, al-Qaida, as indicated by their statements preceding the 2004 election, would prefer a Democrat as President. This is not to say that a Democrat would necessarily abandon the ridiculously named “War on Terror” once he (or she) was privy to the realities of the office of President, but al-Qaida would still prefer to not see a Republican in the White House in 2009. It is in al-Qaida in Iraq’s (AQI) interest to continue to inflict deaths upon our military, lest they appear weak. I will tell you what many are afraid to: AQI and their ilk are being broken. Iraqis are tired of them, and they’re being reported. Fallujah, once a haven, is now a very bad place to be an insurgent. They may or may not make a surge for themselves in the future, but right now they’re being slapped around pretty good. This is why it is imperative that the Iraqis have a strong military and police force of their own, or our efforts will have been for naught. Eventually, we will have to leave and they will stand or fall on their own.

Even Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), who has been one of Congress’ most vocal critics of the war, has said of the Surge, “it’s working”; said after he made a visit to Iraq in November. This comment has been latched upon by Republicans who are overjoyed that the Surge has won over such a critic. Murtha addressed the press after he returned from Iraq, and those two words are the only bit from the whole thing that Republicans cite. He said much more. He was still critical of the Bush administration and said that the Iraqis must begin to take care of themselves, no matter how well the Surge works. Converted to the Surge, yes, but he’s still adamant that we need to be out of there as soon as possible.

I am not privy to the inner workings of the Bush mind, but I don’t think that he believed that the Surge would work as well as it has. I think he was just throwing some numbers at the problem and got lucky. His luck might have been to the detriment of our Armed Forces, but that’s an issue for another time…and for another President.

Word of the Day: Draconian (adjective): 1. Pertaining to Draco, a lawgiver of Athens, 621 BCE. 2. Excessively harsh; severe. One of my favorite words.

On This Day in History: The infamous Nero was born (37 CE). One of the greatest Byzantine Emperors, Basil II “The Bulgar Slayer” died (1025 CE) (imagine a US President with a moniker like that.) The US Bill of Rights becomes law after being ratified by the Virginia legislature (1791). General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan (1945). Abolished. Can you imagine? The US has actually abolished a state religion of another nation (admittedly, a defeated one).

The Roman festival Consuales Ludi was held, which honored the god Consus, the god of counsel and the protector of the harvest which is being stored. Additionally, the Rape of the Sabine Women took place on this day. Romulus, seeing the need to increase the population of Rome, authorized each Roman male to forcibly abduct and take as his wife a woman from the visiting Sabine tribe. This story is likely apocryphal. The Book of Judges has a similar story.

“There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.” – General Douglas MacArthur