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 Copyright ©2003-2008 Anthony Canales |
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 Anthony Canales is the President of the San Fernando Valley NRA Member’s Council. He works as a Quality Control Manager in Glendale, California. He is married with one son. The opinions expressed in 'News Briefs' belong soley to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Rifle Association of America or the NRA Members' Councils of California. |
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03-20-2008
12-31-2007 |
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May 24, 2004
"...Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.
But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
It's National
Everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear.
Be grateful that it doesn't last all
year!..."
-Partial
lyrics from the song
"National Brotherhood
Week",
by Tom Lehrer, 1965
To All,
It seems that one can only feel the "love"
eminating from college commencement speeches of late:
Tell Me Another Story:
Various reports were in the media yesterday
regarding commencement day criticisms against the Bush Administration's war on
terrorism, which sadly includes making the world safe for Left Wing
Multiculturalism.
In a Newsday article by Bart Jones, it is
reported that "Ragtime" author E.L. Doctorow spent 20 minutes at the Hofstra
University Commencement "...lambasting President George W. Bush and
effectively calling him a liar...".
The Newsday story at least reports that
Doctorow was booed by students and the audience, though it is also reported
that certain faculty members were upset with those family members who were
largely responsible for keeping those tuition checks coming in on time.
An interesting aspect to the Doctorow address
revolves around Doctorow's criticism regarding the lack of discovery of WMD's
in Iraq. Given the recent use by Iraqi insurrectionists of chemical weapons
artillery rounds for their improvised explosive devices, one would have
thought that Doctorow would have subjected his own speech to a "rewrite". Or
at least that Doctorow would have been more circumspect in his claims, given
that the Iraqi Survey Group is still digging up relatively modern Mig-27's in
the Iraqi desert (Captain Dale Dye reported, in his Sunday talk show on
KFI-640 AM Los Angeles, that certain contacts in Iraq have told him that 3 of
the Migs have been found just recently. This find would augment the previous
discovery of Mig-25 Foxbats and the odd assortment of older Mig-21's
previously noted in the press.).
Another incident of the politicization of a
commencement ceremonies was again reported by Newsday, this in an article by
Diane Scarponi.
In it she notes that filmmaker Ken Burns, of
PBS fame, criticized where things appeared to be headed as a consequence of
the war on terrorism.
She quotes Burns as saying-
"...We have begun to reduce the
complexities of modern
life into the facile judgments of good
and evil, and now
found ourselves brought up short when
we see that we
have, too, some times and moments, become what we despise.." If Burns considers it a facile judgment to take war to the enemy in it's own hiding places, rather than here in the United States, then one can only wonder as to Burns' own understanding of history as to the price in blood that it took to get this far. What is more, it is an indication of the development of our own society that we would hold military personnel to a higher standard than most other societies would during wartime (After all, it was not the Americans who have coined the phrase " se la guerre ".). One has yet to see any hint of prosecutions by certain Arab nation states of their proxy combatants-cum-terrorists, while at the same time the American Military Justice system is proceeding at full speed to bring to justice the various miscreants involved at Abu Ghraib.
Much has been made of the left wing
orientation of academics in the United States. David Horowitz has written
extensively on the pervasive bias in Ivory Tower Land (No, this is not the
latest addition to the Magic Kindom, despite the "Micky Mouse" orientation of
it's castmembers), not to mention the latest observations of recent graduates.
Doctorow is a special case in point, given that his play "Ragtime" was an ode
to the grandparents of Horowitz's Red Diaper Babies. As such, it should
surprise no one that despite being in a fight with those whose errant
interpretation of Islam threatens to reduce society to an Islamo-fascist
caliphate, the Left is more afraid of the continued existence of the United
States "as is". One's suspicions thus remain that the Left wants
to "deconstruct" American society by any means necessary, including a
temporary alliance with groups who will be more than ready to "put the chop"
to any political philosophy (and its supporters) developed during or after the
days of Thomas Aquinas.
Of course, if this last proves to be the
case, then one may be able to count on the common sense of the American people
to sort between the windy musings of Academia's Leisure Classes and the more
down to earth viewpoints of those responsible for keeping things working and
secure. One can only wonder when the American consumer will finally exert the
same type of influence on the providers of higher education as it has exerted
in the past upon cars, medicine, and personal computing. If the same type of
practical efficiencies can be accomplished with Academia as has been had with
desk tops and pickup trucks, then perhaps the Doctorows and the Burns of the
world will be most unpleasantly surprised. Stay tuned.
Story sources may be found at:
Con, Cannes, What's The Dif?:
It was a big
weekend in the world-wide movie business.
In one case, a movie about a big, fat green
ogre dominated at the box office, and made a passel of shareholders happy
about life in general, as it surpassed the $ 100 million mark in box office
(Given that this is being done mostly with kiddy matinee tickets, it is a big
deal).
In another case, a movie written and directed
by a big, fat green ogre was awarded the "prestigious" Palme d'Or by
the Crapauds of Cannes. Michael Moore, he of the "Fast and Loose With The
Facts" School of polemical filmmaking, was feted while he waded through the
all-you-can-eat buffet in a single-handed attempt to reduce unemployment in
the French restaurant industry (He had better go back for seconds, what with
the possibility that D-Day veterans may forego this year's ceremonies
commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Day of Days). Suffice it to say that
his film, "Fahrenheit 9/11", is going to stay in art theaters for the
foreseeable future.
But despite the "explanations" of such
credible individuals as Quentin Tarantino (Whose "accurate" portrayals of
weapons use in such films as "Desparado", "Natural Born Killers", and "Kill
Bill" Parts 1 and 2 have made him one of the film community's leading
hoplophiles), one is left with the impression that the Gauls have reverted to
their usual practise of "flipping off" anyone who is either not French, or who
does not try to think like them.
A case in point on this last is in regards to
the efforts by the Bush Administration to get Iraqi debt accrued from the
Saddam Years "forgiven". Reuters announced yesterday that the French are only
willing to cut the bill due by some 50%, apparently due to the theory that
Iraqis should be forced to pay for the systems and equipment used to support a
murderous dictator who had made their lives misrable for so long. These last
include French artillery systems (yes, of the same 155mm caliber as that sarin-laced
shell found the other day), Roland missiles, and the decrepit power plant
equipment that the British troops discovered at the fall of Basra.
One is thus left to conclude a sad but simple
fact. A con is being perpetrated here, but not by an Administration who takes
defense of the Republic as seriously as it does. Rather, the con here is the
claim to moral and ethical superiority being made by a film community which
lies to the left of Noam Chomsky and a France that tries to disguise it's
foreign policy in the cloak of moral relativism.
But surely there is hope yet, as indicated
again by the preferences of the movie-going public in America. After all, it
is clear that they would rather pay to see the antics of an animated cartoon
ogre than swallow the spoiled foie gras that is the house specialty
of Moore.
Perhaps Moore should remain in
Not-So-Belle-France and produce the French version of "Roger and Me". So far
no filmmaker has done a "documentary" (and the term is used loosely) on the
whys and wherefores of French unemployment. It would be efficacious to see
Moore could follow Jacques Chirac around from conference to conference, in
a vain attempt to discover the reasons why France's unemployment is above
8%, with unemployment of Muslim immigrants is above 40% in some cases. Then
perhaps the world will be better off, for surely France and Moore deserve each
other as no other pair in World History has before them. One can only wait for
baited breath to see the results of such a union- Unlike the case of the poor
woman in "Roger and Me", rabbit is considered to be a more acceptable fair for
the dinner table in the land of Haughty Cuisine. Stay tuned.
Story basis may be found at:
Respectfully,
Anthony Canales
SFVMC-NRA
Copyright 2004 Anthony Canales
All rights reserved
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