Noted in Passing

SPENGLER ON WHY THE WEST WILL ATTACK IRAN:".... if Washington waits another year to deliver an ultimatum to Iran, the results will be civil war to the death in Iraq, the direct engagement of Israel in a regional war through Hezbollah and Hamas, and extensive terrorist action throughout the West, with extensive loss of American life. There are no good outcomes, only less terrible ones. The West will attack Iran, but only when such an attack will do the least good and the most harm. "

MEANWHILE BACK IN 1662: "This day I read the King’s speech to the Parliament yesterday; which is very short, and not very obliging; but only telling them his desire to have a power of indulging tender consciences, not that he will yield to have any mixture in the uniformity of the Church’s discipline; and says the same for the Papists, but declares against their ever being admitted to have any offices or places of trust in the kingdom; but, God knows, too many have."
-- Samuel Pepys' Diary: Thursday 19 February 1662/63

DAVID WARREN: "We cling to things that cannot last, out of our curious panic; to things like Porsches, and the nanny state. We ignore, in this panic, anything that isn’t hard to the touch -- the verities of God, nature, and our nature. Yet in so doing we select what is transient, over what is eternal."

DAVID STOWE ASKS So You Think You Are a Darwinian? "Most educated people nowadays, I believe, think of themselves as Darwinians. If they do, however, it can only be from ignorance: from not knowing enough about what Darwinism says. For Darwinism says many things, especially about our species, which are too obviously false to be believed by any educated person; or at least by an educated person who retains any capacity at all for critical thought on the subject of Darwinism."

TIME FOR SOME ANGER MANAGEMENT in our politics:"....there is abundant evidence that extreme political opinions lead to the personal demonization of fellow citizens."

BUT SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH The Logic of the Paranoid:"KILL THE JEWS!" "BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM" --these slogans are merely the expressions of inescapable and contorted logic of the paranoid."

WHICH CAN LEAD TO SEVERE ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES: "We will not accept less than severing the heads of those responsible."
VICTOR HANSON LOOKS AT: What Will Europe Really Do?in response to Islamic Paranoia: "First will come a radical departure from past immigration practices. Islam will be praised; the Middle East assured that Europe is tolerant—but very few newcomers from across the Mediterranean let in."

Posted by Vanderleun at February 20, 2006 8:56 PM