Good, Bad, and Downright Ugly

So Lileks makes this offhand remark today after a lengthy rumination on Minneapolis’ urban renewal plan:

Anyway, I see lots of planters and old-timey signs, I calculate the likelihood of getting sapped from behind just doubled. But here’s what really amused me about the plan: greenery will be installed not just to make things green and lively, but to prevent “climate change.”

You could raze the entire downtown core and plant trees, and it wouldn’t effect climate change. I swear, it’s become the secular equivalent of “peace be upon him.”

He’s right, ya know. Environmentalism as religion. It’s not just an issue, it’s a cause theology! And, in so becoming, it’s yet another way to separate the “good” among us from the evil, offering up endless opportunities to praise the former and to disparage the latter. But, all y’all know how I feel about this subject…I’ll not belabor the point.

So over the weekend it was revealed Charlie Rangel will use his newfound position of authority to introduce legislation to reinstitute the draft. I agree with Confederate Yankee:

What doubtlessly disappoints Mr. Rangel is that though Americans do not support the direction of the War in Iraq (as was evidenced in the recent election), they have refused to engage in the massive protests and demonstrations that were key to the anti-war campaign during the Vietnam era. Rangel's primary goal in his call to reinstate the draft is to gin up protests like those of 30 years ago.

Rangel's tactics are particularly loathsome in that he seeks to use our all-volunteer military as the whipping boy for his anti-war politics. He would attempt to pit draft-age Americans and their family members against those who honorably joined the military of their own volition.

I have nothing but contempt for Rangel's transparent demagoguery. He does not wish to strengthen America's proud all-volunteer military, but instead seeks to lessen its will, against its wishes, and against its needs.

Rangel has a history here, trying periodically and repeatedly to revive an institution we have no use for. It’s all too transparent—an anti-war ploy that, thankfully, looks like it has zero chance of success. Thank God for the Blue Dog Dems. Even Nancy knows Rangel’s ploy is a non-starter, which comes as a mild surprise.

Captain Ed adds the following:

If anything, the draft created the kind of disparities that Rangel deplores, through college deferments for people with enough money to go to college. Rangel's new plan removes that loophole by stripping the choice for service from every man and woman in America. He plans on turning the military from the most effective fighting force in world history to the government's biggest social engineering program.

If one wants to see the difference between Republicans and Democrats, this gives a clear example. Rangel wants to solve a social ill that really doesn't exist, caused by too much choice, and use the government to eliminate all of the options available to Americans. Republicans have used a market approach to define the choices available and built the mightiest armed force in the world, by making sure the people who enter want to be there. We can expect to see this same template for health-care "reform", entitlement "reform", and a number of other "reforms" that the Democrats will now pursue.

What he said. It’s an interesting (and above all, true) observation that the Dems are constantly trying to solve (or invent) non-existent problems. More "solutions" to follow, of course. {sigh} “Our long national nightmare has just begun…”

Today’s Preaching to the Choir sermon (“Will the West Stumble?”) comes from the illustrious Victor Davis Hanson, via Real Clear Politics. From very near the end:

So we are at a crossroads of all places in Iraq. The war there has metamorphosized from a successful effort to remove a mass-murdering dictator into the frontlines of the entire struggle between Islamic radicalism and Western liberality. If we withdraw before the elected government stabilizes, the consequences won't just be the loss of the perceptions of power, but perhaps the loss of real power. What follows won't be the impression that we are weak, but the fact that we are--as we convince ourselves we cannot win against such horrific enemies, and so should never again try.

That stumble will send a shudder throughout the so-called West that will be felt worldwide. It will insidiously show that the premodern world proved the master of the postmodern, as al Qaeda's Alfred Rosenberg, the pudgy Dr. Zawahiri, boasted all along--whose followers will not be happy with a successful defense when they think they can go back on an even more successful offense.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. The evidence continues to mount, yet seemingly intelligent people (read: Progressives/Liberals/Democrats) either choose to ignore the evidence or, more plausibly, wish that it would simply go away. The threat will not go away. The threat is real and becoming ever more dangerous as each day passes. And yet…and yet…we have Nancy Pelosi saying things like “Bringing the War to an End is my Highest Priority as Speaker.” If you go to that link, browse some of the comments. And be afraid. Be very afraid.

Let’s end on a positive note. Here’s Michael Fumento's “Return to Ramadi,” in the Weekly Standard. Excerpt:

For this very reason, Ramadi is both a litmus test for the counterinsurgency effort in Iraq and a laboratory. If we can defeat the insurgent and terrorist forces here, there is no place we cannot defeat them. And from what I found, we are defeating them. It's painfully slow, and our men there are still dying in inordinate numbers from a broad variety of attacks. But a multitude of factors, including tribal cooperation, the continual introduction of more Iraqi army and police, the beginning of public works projects, the building of more Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), the installation of more small operational posts (OPs), and plunking down company-sized Combat Operation Posts (COPs) smack in the middle of hostile territory are destroying both the size and the mobility of the enemy. This time the rats are dying in place.

Mr. Fumento writes a lengthy article that names names, includes both the good and the bad, but comes to an interesting—and positive—conclusion:

Put it all together--the Forward Observation Bases, new Combat Operation Posts, new Observation Posts, tribal cooperation, ever more Iraqi army and police, better intelligence, and public works projects. There's no "stay the course" strategy here; the course changes as necessary and it's continually changed for the better. I believe we are winning the Battle of Ramadi. And if the enemy can be beaten here, he can be beaten anywhere.

As I said: positive. You don’t see a lot of that, these days.