DOCTRINE OF THE LAST SHOT FIRED

I haven't posted here about the recent mass murder committed by James E. Holmes in Aurora, Colorado.

Instead of writing about similar events and scientific theories related to the mass murder committed by James E. Holmes in Aurora, Colorado, I have been pondering THIS ESSAY by Tammy Swofford.

Right now, all sorts of people – experts and otherwise all along the medical and political spectrum – are tying themselves into knots and asking, "Why did this happen?" and "What can we do to prevent this kind of thing?"

Please watch the following short statement from Charles Krauthammer, a doctor of psychiatry:



Of course, as a doctor of psychiatry, Dr. Krauthammer is naturally curious about the workings of the brain of James E. Holmes. But will doctors and scientists really learn something of value so as to prevent another similar attack by another individual?  Not likely at all!

I think back to when my mother unexpectedly died in 1987 in the coronary care unit. [continued below the fold]

This Way Lies Madness

The Left's grasping at opportunism is mind-boggling (first example) and disgusting (second example).

From Jonathan Alter's essay in Newsweek (hat tip to Weasel Zippers):

Can Obama Turn Tragedy Into Triumph?

Saturday’s shooting spree could prove a turning point in the Obama presidency. How the White House should talk about the tragedy.

...This horrific event offers the president a chance to show leadership qualities that he’s inexplicably hidden away in some blind trust. The shootings and the resulting debate over the climate of incivility play to his strengths as a calm and rational leader. Just as Bill Clinton’s response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings helped him recover from his defeat in the 1994 midterms, so this episode may help Obama change—at least in the short term--the trajectory of American politics.

[...]

Whether or not he attends the funerals for the Tucson victims, Obama’s big chance to lead will come in his State of the Union address on January 25. He can both to speak to the moment thematically and confront the substantive concerns raised by the tragedy....

Some biographical information about Jonathan Alter, author of the above-cited essay, is HERE.

And more lunacy — or downright evil, if you prefer that term! Westboro Baptist Church (so-called church but really a hate group led by Democrat Fred Phelps) plans to picket the funeral of Christina Taylor Green, the youngest shooting victim of Saturday's murderous shooting spree in Tucson:

Christina Taylor Greene
September 11, 2001 - January 8, 2011

Yes, the Right can be shrill. I won't deny that fact.

But for downright insanity and meanness, the Left cannot be outdone.

GERMANY ALLOWING DEALS WITH IRAN

I'm not really surprised by this:

The Foreign Ministry will express its concerns and seek clarification from the highest levels of the German government about a decision by Germany's Export Control Office (BAFA) to approve a €100 million deal for building plants to liquefy natural gas in Iran, the ministry said Thursday in a statement. The story was first reported exclusively in Wednesday's Jerusalem Post.

"The ministry has expressed its disappointment at reports that the German government gave its approval to a German company to sign on the deal with the Iranian gas company," the statement said.

"The German government's decision is against the spirit of sanctions that the UN Security Council has placed on Iran," the statement continued.

"It is worrying that precisely Germany, which is a member of the EU 3 - that includes France, Britain and Germany - is presenting a position that harms international attempts for significantly strengthening sanction against Iran's nuclear program."

Government sources said they expected more of Germany because of that country's unique relationship with Israel.

Meanwhile, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights group, has called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to block the deal between German energy company Steiner (SPG Steiner-Prematechnik-Gastec GmbH) and the Iranian government, wherein Steiner would construct three gas liquefaction plants in Iran.

According to the Wiesenthal Center, Steiner's construction of the plants - which would have a capacity of 10,000 barrels a day - would place an obstacle in front of the sanctions Germany imposed on Iran earlier this month.

"This deal helps Iran in this sensitive sector and makes a mockery of the international community's efforts to isolate a nuclearizing Iranian regime," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an associate dean of the center.

"Unless the Chancellor overrules the Export Control Office's decision, Germany will strengthen Teheran and further embolden a regime whose president repeatedly calls for the destruction of the Jewish State."

The German government contends that the deal does not violate the sanctions, as it is a legal agreement as opposed to a political one. The deal passed a twelve-month inspection process by the Export Control Office before being approved.

Cooper added that the government's approval of the deal stood in contrast to Merkel's speech to the Knesset in March, when she said that "Germany will push for further sanctions" on Iran and that "this historic responsibility is part of my country's fundamental policy. It means that for me, as a German chancellor, Israel's security is non-negotiable."

So they're defending the deal so far? Ick. I'm sorry, but this does violate sanctions against Iran, and shows that Germany is no better today than before. This of course is the same country that still criminalizes homeschooling, and are even willing to take away parents' custody of their children if they refuse to obey this foul law. They have not improved at all.

LEFTISTS IN EUROPE DESECRATE ANNE FRANK'S MEMORY

British anti-semitism continues, with a horror story taking place in Oxford Union (via IRIS Blog). And in Holland, another atrocity is making me lose faith more and more in the Dutch (via Michelle Malkin). A girl whose memory should be honored is being desecrated by the lowliest of Euroscum.

FASCISTS IN OUR MIDST

But why should it be surprising? It figures that there could come a day when neo-nazis would turn up in Israel:

JERUSALEM (AP) - In a case that would seem unthinkable in the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drug addicts and gays.

Eight immigrants from the former Soviet Union have been arrested in recent days in connection with at least 15 attacks, and a ninth fled the country, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, in the first such known cell to be discovered in Israel.

All the suspects are in their late teens or early 20s and have Israeli citizenship, Rosenfeld said. A court decided Sunday to keep them in custody.

"The level of violence was outrageous," Maj. Revital Almog, who investigated the case, told Israel's Army Radio.

I don't think this makes clear, but none of the gang members were Jewish, let alone citizens:

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli Police have busted a group of Israeli neo-Nazis in the Tel Aviv region and found a gun and explosives. The youths are non-Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union.

Although the nine arrests were made a month ago, a gag order on the case was in place until Saturday night. Police had been investigating over 20 people involved with the group ever since the vandalizing of a large synagogue in Petach Tikvah over a year ago. The neo-Nazis had painted the walls, as well as the insides of prayer books, with Nazi graffiti.

The teenagers are from Holon, Petach Tikvah and even the Samaria town of Karnei Shomron. They reportedly have ties with neo-Nazi groups overseas via the Internet and some boast Nazi tattoos.

Proof that the problem with neo-nazism is still alive. But it's disgraceful if the AP isn't making clear what the background of the thugs is, even though it's true that people of Jewish backgrounds could stoop this low if they're crazy enough.

The sickest thing about this is that the BBC must've been having a field day with their gloating propaganda:

Ms Almog said of the accused, "their connection to Judaism is distant, through grandparents or distant family connections".

They must've really enjoyed putting words in her mouth! Frankly, I don't buy it for a second.

These repugnant youths should now rot in an islolated cell in prison for as long as possible before being deported back to the gutter that spawned them in the former USSR.

CANNIBALS WITH JETPACKS ARE NOT FUNNY

As a comic book reader for many years, I also do my best to pay attention to what goes on in this all but under-the-radar industry, and if you ask me, there are quite a few things going on there today that conservatives would do well to take a closer look at (chomskyism, anti-war sentiments, misogyny, blame-the-victim messages and even sympathy for terrorists are among the most disturbing things you can find there now). That's one of the reasons why I also maintain a blog called The Four Color Media Monitor, where I've ripped into comics-related mainstream media many times for its dishonesty (and from where I cross-posted this entry). And the following entry I'm posting here is about something that I think does warrant some serious consideration too.

Let's say that there was a story in which Osama bin Laden were depicted flying around on a jetpack. Would you find that funny or even entertaining in any way? If the answer to that is no, then you'll understand what my problem is with All-New Atom #14.

Some people seem to think that All-New Atom #14 is some kind of classic. I don't and here's why.

I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later that any favorite writer of mine was going to do something that I'd find offensive, and I'm sorry to say, but Gail Simone now joins that list.

On this page here are the pages and panels from All-New Atom #14. The plot involves three heroes going to the afterlife in their search for Ray Palmer, the Silver Age Atom (well, so it seems that way). They meet quite a few heroes and villains using jetpacks, and it turns out that Hitler is using a jetpack in the afterlife too as he tries to attack the heroes.

Here's my problem with it: It's not that this new Atom Ryan Choi kicks the shit out of the fuhrer. That's what's appropriate. The problem is that the whole idea of seeing the fuhrer with a jetpack to begin with, in and of itself, seems to be depicted here as funny, and some of the people I've seen talking about this certainly seem to think so. ("Fun panel of the week"? I'll try to explain more about why I think not.)

What's the problem with how this is done? Simple. Real life cannibals are not a laughing matter and to depict them as this book does, flying around on jetpacks in what's apparently meant to look hilarious, is walking a very tricky tightrope, because it can minimize the evil. There are quite a few other savages throughout history that, to depict them wearing jetpacks in what's meant to be a funny light, would be inappropriate too. For example, Rameses, the sick little pharaeoh of Egypt, Mohammed, the leaders of the Islamic Caliphate and the Arabic conquests during the seventh century, the Turkish leaders who slaughtered more than a million Armenians in Turkey in 1915 during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin, the Japanese army generals who conducted the Rape of Nanking and the attack on Pearl Harbor, Franco, the dictator of Spain during WW2, the Vichys, Saddam Hussein, Yasir Arafat, Che Guevara, Mao, and even current tyrants like Ahmedinejad, the Janjaweed militia in the Sudan, Hugo Chavez and Kim Jong-Il. We could probably even add King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who were whitewashed to some extent at times, but in truth were both autocratic leaders of France in the 18th century who later got beheaded for the crimes they committed against the people of France.

In fact, should Hitler even be shown having a jetpack at all, any more than bin Laden?

There's also another problem I have with this: when All-New Atom kicks the fuhrer, he says "stupid jetpack Hitler". The problem is that the line is meant to be funny, and like I said, things like this are no laughing matter, and shouldn't be dealt with that way. It's actually an understatement to say something like that, because the real exclamation would have to be "filthy, crawling piece of shit Hitler". Putting it as a funny line waters down the seriousness of what's involved. It also makes Choi look ridiculous; like an idiot. Is that how to portray a hero in a situation involving seriousness?

The answer is no. Furthermore, it just underscores at least one accusation that was made that the way Ryan Choi is written is stereotypical. Even if his adventures are meant to be tongue-in-cheek, that doesn't mean that he should be depicted as a sort of befuddled 12-year old with an even more questionable accent. In fact, the accent alone may be the biggest problem about him: aren't most college profs usually well educated in English pronunciations according to where they'll be working? It's hard to believe he could be taken seriously by the faculty with the pidgin accent he sports here.

I'm guessing that this approach was inspired by The Producers, which was also a colossally overrated movie that made a joke out of savagery. How is it that some people haven't learned from just how bad that movie was? I certainly don't want it among my video collection. Similarly, I'm not going to support this book from DC if that's how they're going to write a story involving real life cannibals.

It's one thing if you're going to depict say, Mohammed as the subject of political cartoons like those published in Jyllands Posten two years ago, but then again, did the cartoonists who worked on those depict the founder of the Religion of Peace sailing around on a jetpack as if that were meant to be funny even to those who find his cannibalism obscene? Of course not. What they were doing was sending a message to the worshipers of the RoP that if they're going to worship and advocate cannibalism themselves, then they're going to be rewarded by having their "prophet" mocked. But as even those who uphold the caricatures of Mohammed may agree someday, the founder of Islam and jihad is not a laughing matter.

I realize that Mrs. Simone obviously didn't mean to be offensive to the wrong crowds, or didn't realize this whole premise was offensive. But if not, then that's why, if she's smart, she'll apologize and learn from her mistakes. I understand that it's not something that's been in serious discussion before, but depicting real life savages as comedy is simply in bad taste, and those who're doing it now should consider.

Lastly, I want to say one more thing. There's a lot more to the problems surrounding comics like these today than meets the eye, that understandably would be very hard for anyone who's not an expert on comic books to get the hang of. That's why I'd like to suggest to anyone concerned, including all conservatives here, to take a look at the history of comic books and their heroes from the Golden Age till now to get some insight on what's gone wrong with them in recent years. Like I noted above, there's anti-Americanism, misogyny, anti-war and subtle pro-terrorist propaganda going on out there that does warrant attention no matter how under-the-radar comic books are today. Even an industry as marginalized as comics have sadly become does deserve some deeper studies than what it gets.

FRED PHELPS' CULT OF HATE

Fred Phelps' cult, The Westboro Baptist Church had planned on protesting at The Virginia Tech victims' funerals. This prompted me to do an in-depth post on just how evil Fred Phelps really is and how his "church" is in fact a cult as even described by some of his own estranged children.

I have now learned that Phelps has called off his planned protest because Talk Show Host Mike Gallagher has agreed to give him air time. Gallagher also did this after Westboro threatened to protest at the Amish school shooting victims' funerals. While I am glad that Gallagher is preventing further pain for the Virginia Tech victims' families this sounds a little like giving into the demands of terrorists.