Rest In Peace, Heath Ledger (and American Sensibility, too)

More of the same from both of my bloggers. While Meryl Yourish comments on and exposes the anti-Semitic content of the worldwide press, TAPPED continues to bereave the bickering within the Democratic Party while assailing the incompetent Republican candidates. I will have no more of this, at least not tonight. Something else lies on my mind... or should I say someone.

Heath Ledger.

Now before you assume anything and quickly skip to another issue, hold on a few seconds and let me speak (type).

Today, the leading story on the Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and undoubtedly hundreds of other homepages was the death of American actor Heath Ledger. Today, on January 22, 2008, Ledger was found in a Manhattan apartment with sleeping pills near his body. Shocking to so many is how such a young life was ended with no obvious indications that this might happen.

Wake up, America! As we weep for the death of one actor who was little more than a publicity magnet, there are thousands of people dying worldwide, and we don't even care. The average life expectancy of Swaziland, according to the CIA Factbook, is 32.23 years, with fourteen other nations whose average life expectancy does not exceed 45 years. When is the last time Yahoo! or AOL featured something about the masses dying daily there? I wouldn't be too surprised if the answer is never.

"But that's all the way across the globe, and Heath Ledger was close to home, an Australian working in the United States who died in the Big Apple. This news hits close to home." Does it?

Today, the United States military lost its first soldier in the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored trucks that the Army has been outfitting itself with for heightened protection against roadside bombs, RPGs and other IEDs. Sure, this story was widely reported, but I quickly noticed that the death of this one soldier, who bravely served his country with his life and, chances are, died at a younger age than did Ledger.

"All right, all right. So we messed up once."

Once? Data recorded up to the middle of January 2008 put the US military casualties in Iraq at 3,940. Truth be told, I haven't seen much mourning in the media about them, unless it's for some political motives. A few months ago I saw a picture from an American outpost in Iraq that perfectly illustrates my frustration:

and in the tabloids."

Election 2008, According to Starr

TAPPED, "Could the Democrats Blow It Again?"

Today, TAPPED's editors weigh in on the Election '08 discussion that has essentially taken over more than half of the blog. Paul Starr, a co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, the magazine with which the blog is associated, shares his latest analysis about the upcoming elections.

Starr leads off his article, "Until recently, like most liberals, I was convinced that 2008 was going to be a Democratic year." He explains that prior to the primary season, Democrats seemed to hold the higher ground in the upcoming election, with a passionate attitude towards both their candidates and change and against low White House approval ratings, an unpopular war, etc., ad nauseum. Clearly, Starr now thinks differently.

Immediately, he points to the cause of this apparent dissolution and discord within the Democratic Party - the beginning of primaries and caucuses. Starr notes that as the Republican Party seems closer and closer to zeroing in on a final candidate (in his opinion John McCain, who he fears would be a formidable opponent for the Democrats) and are thus gaining the edge in the election season, the Democratic Party is still plagued by a number of particularly troublesome obstacles when it comes to the two front-runner: Obama and Clinton.

Through this campaign, my immunity to pundit analysis has grown immensely, especially as I plunged into the blogosphere, where instant opinions abound everywhere from the left, to the right, and everywhere in between. Honestly, I see Starr's analysis as another honest attempt to understand the particularly confusing campaign that is leaving people of all political persuasions and allegiances wishing for some kind of certainty as November 4th approaches.

Blast from the Past: Propaganda on the March

Neither of my blogs updated today, so I just figured I'd post a link from a blog posting on Angry Conservative, dated August 09, 2006. It is very fitting for the topic of both propaganda and media manipulation. I personally was outraged by the story when I first read it shortly after its 2006 posting, but unfortunately, I could not say I was shocked at the time. I guess there's a little more of Meryl Yourish in me than I suspected.

The Fighter Controversy

TAPPED, “Iraqi Air Force Revisited”

Today, Robert Farley of TAPPED addresses the issue of the Iraqi Air Force. In his posting, Farley rebukes Noah Shachtman, another blogger, on his posting criticizing U.S. Air Force’s top commander for Iraqi operations, Lt. Gen. Gary North.

On January 15, 2008, North made a statement proposing that the Iraqi military have fighter planes by the year 2011. Shachtman contests that this idea is foolish, maintaining that while the Iraqi Air Force should be expanded to include more viable modern aircraft, fighter planes are absolutely unnecessary for fighting the insurgency against which the Air Force is currently employed: “Is winning dogfights really the priority here?”

Farley rebuts that doubtlessly, the United States cannot leave Iraq until the nation has a viable Air Force. He illustrates two excellent though concise arguments for the realization of North’s vision:
I. Jet fighters are symbols of modern, self-sufficient states.
II. Modern nations in conflict zones such as the Middle East require fighters where their potential enemies have fighter planes.

Essentially, Farley argues, notwithstanding his admitted skepticism that Iraq will receive fighter warplanes as long as their political situation remains unstable and their attitudes toward the United States’ other Middle Eastern allies, “as long as Iraq can't field a military capable of defending its borders (a project to which fighter aircraft are critical), it will always be a basket case and a quasi-colony.”

I frankly am not sure what to make of this entire situation. To be perfectly honest, I had not thought of the prospect of the Iraqi nation having a powerful Air Force, not even mentioning fighter jets. Have you see Osama bin Laden latest video warning “the great Satan and the treacherous Iraqi collaborators” about Al-Qaida’s powerful jet fighters? Neither have I. For that reason, I would initially fully oppose even the suggestion of giving the Iraqis jet fighters. Farley’s arguments, however, have definitely forced me to reflection and reconsideration. One thing remains certain in my mind, the United States should be very weary and cautious in providing any powerful weaponry to any foreign states until we can be certain to some degree that they will not simply turn around a few years later to use that weaponry against the ones who gave it to them.

Torah, Torah, Torah!

Meryl Yourish, “More Proof of Torah”

Today, Yourish tackles the topic of biblical archaeology. She focuses on the discovery of a 2,500-year-old stone seal that commemorates the ministry of one of the families that first served at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Yourish glories in this discovery for two reasons:

I. She sees the discovery of the seal as solid evidence for the accuracy of the Biblical record. The seal, which bears the name "Temech," confirms the account of both Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7, which speak, among other things, of the family’s captivity in Babylon (see the article for more in-depth details, and if you’re looking up “Temech” in the Bible, you might want to try some different spellings, such as “Tamah” or “Temah”).

II. She sees this unearthing as evidence against the popular modern Palestinian argument that the Jews are “Judaizing” Jerusalem. With such pieces of the evidence as the seal, Yourish claims that the Palestinian accusations are but empty words. Archeological findings like this one confirm the Jewish historical right to the City of David.

I am personally amazed by biblical archaeology, and each finding I hear about fills me with wonder and amazement at the accuracy of the Holy Scriptures in which I place my trust. Such discoveries reinforce my belief that the Bible is not just a book of useful moral directions, but an accurate guide to history, culture, and a myriad of other facets of life.

Rumbling Romney and Mubarak’s "Cool" Ties

TAPPED, “Might Mitt”

Robert Farley poses an excellent question in today’s posting: “Why isn't Mitt Romney being treated as the overwhelming frontrunner in the Republican race?” As I read the posting, I realized that there is no reason, given Romney’s current primary record, why this is so.

In the interest of simplifying this case, I figured I’d make a little chart to show Romney’s dominance over the other Republican candidates.

_____________

Republican Primary Records, as of January 16, 2008

Candidates	First Place	Second Place	Third Place	Point Tally*	Est. Delegates**
Rudy Giuliani	–	–	–	0	1
Mike Huckabee	IO	–	NH, MI	5	22
Duncan Hunter	–	–	WY	1	1
Alan Keyes	–	–	–	0	0
John McCain	NH	MI	IO (tie)	6	15
Ron Paul	–	–	–	0	2
Mitt Romney	WY, MI	IO, NH	–	10	52
Fred Thompson	–	WY	IO (tie)	3	6

* For the “Total Point Tally,” I’m using a system similar to that of the Olympic scoring, where a first placing receives three points, a second two points, and a third one point.

** Estimated delegates from counts made by CNN.

_____________

Considering the data I tried to show here, in addition to the money Romney has raised, I really cannot discern why Romney isn’t being recognized, as Farley said it, as the overwhelming Republican frontrunner.

Meryl Yourish, “Cooler Ties in the Middle East”

Yourish gives her readers an entertaining blog entry about Egypt, Middle Eastern fashion, and US diplomacy. I appreciate a bit of humor from my bloggers every once in a while, though I suppose this is the first (intentionally) entertaining blog I’ve read from either Meryl or TAPPED.

Humanitarian Shield

Meryl Yourish, "'Humanitarian Aid' to the PA: Two Tons of Explosive Material"

In this posting, Yourish reports yet another attempt by Palestinian terrorists to smuggle explosive materials into the Gaza Strip, territory that Israel gave returned to the power of the Palestinian Authority in late 2005. The seizure of two tons on Monday, January 14, 2008, by security personnel of the Israel Airport Authority comes after a similar incident this week and only a few weeks after Israeli security discovered six and a half tons of explosive potassium nitrate.

Both of the major attempts to smuggle the crucial ingredient to Qassam rockets, which are among the choice weapons Palestinian terrorists use to attack the Israeli populace (more than 1600 Qassams were fired at Israel in 2007), were masked as humanitarian shipments. The two-ton shipment was hidden within a shipment of alleged humanitarian equipment and goods, while the six-and-a-half-ton shipment was concealed in an EU shipment, in bags marked as sugar.

In her typical fashion, Yourish once again voices her skepticism about the media’s objectivity, as she concludes, “Hands up, those of you who think this news will make the wire services. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?”

Of course, this is a difficult situation for those among the Israelis and the Palestinians that genuinely desire peace. The Israelis on one hand need to defend themselves against terrorist aggressions, but on the other hand need to protect their own international image (envision this New York Times headline: “Israelis Delay Humanitarian Aid to Gaza Strip, Hundreds of Palestinians Starve”). For the Palestinians, this presents another kind of problem. I think a terrible thing happens when a people are held as political hostages by the militants who claim to represent them. Many of them in their current state and have to rely on the humanitarian aid coming through Israel largely due to the militant activity that forces Israel to take appropriate defensive measures.

As to Yourish’s media distrust, after reading her posting, I searched Google to see if even one of the major media sources dared mention this incident. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you guessing. I’ll just tell you straight off, not one of them mentioned it.