Bravo

Debra Burlingame, sister of a victim of 9/11 makes a commonsense call to end the partisan stupidity of the hate-America fifth-column:

"Yes, let's have a debate, but let's stop this self-battering, which is weakening us in the only place where al Qaeda can never penetrate, the core of who we are. Instead of pulling together at such a crucial time to prevent even more lethal attacks in the future, we are displaying a divisiveness that energizes our adversaries. They know us better than we know them. Their strategic kills in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and beyond are aimed at breaking our resolve to root them out at home and hunt them down abroad before they can do us more harm. We will not win every battle, but we will only prevail in the war on terror when we unite, not as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans."

Perspective

Bret Stevens thoughtfully addresses the absence of thought (knowledge, history, wisdom ... I could go on) displayed by the Bush=Hitler crowd:

"The absence of proportion stems, in turn, from a problem of perspective. If you have no idea where you stand in relation to certain objects, then an elephant may seem as small as a fly and a fly may seem as large as an elephant. Similarly, Mr. Blumenthal can compare the American detention infrastructure to the Gulag archipelago only if he has no concept of the actual size of things. And he can have no concept of the size of things because he neither knows enough about them nor where he stands in relation to them. What is the vantage point from which Mr. Blumenthal observes the world? It is one where Fallujah is 'Stalingrad-like.' How does one manage to see the world this way? By standing too close to Fallujah and too far from Stalingrad. By being consumed by the present. By losing not just the sense, but the possibility, of judgment."

It has been my experience that many on the left are either totally ignorant of history, or - and this is by far the worst - selective about history. Ask them to lay out a case for Bush = Hitler and they won't be able to do it (except possibly some ridiculous comparisons - Bush invaded a country and so did Hitler QED). They have a passion for their politics, a passion that many believe is a justification for their cause. Unfortunately, the majority of them are too intellectually lazy to actually explore the foundations and dogma of their beliefs. The few that do end up being pilloried as neo-conservatives.

The next time a left winger criticises his country ...

James Taranto of WSJ OpinionJournal : has made a good rejoinder to those who constantly deride their country:
"Punitive liberals are often defensive about their patriotism--understandably enough, since their relentless complaining about America often is hard to distinguish from out-and-out anti-Americanism. Their defense is that 'true' patriotism consists in acknowledging your own country's faults and exhorting it to improve.
Well, maybe. Certainly there's nothing unpatriotic about criticizing your government or its policies. And since love of country is a matter of the heart, it's presumptuous to question anyone's patriotism. But imagine a man who treats his wife the way the punitive liberals treat America: constantly belittling her, pointing out her faults and never showing her any kindness. He may love her, but most people would agree he has a twisted way of expressing it."

UN Bias Exposed ... Again

Is the UN anti-Semitic? Is the Pope Catholic? Anne Bayefsky delivers a speech to an anti-Semitism conference sponsored by the UN:

At the U.N., the language of human rights is hijacked not only to discriminate but to demonize the Jewish target. More than one quarter of the resolutions condemning a state's human rights violations adopted by the commission over 40 years have been directed at Israel. But there has never been a single resolution about the decades-long repression of the civil and political rights of 1.3 billion people in China, or the million female migrant workers in Saudi Arabia kept as virtual slaves, or the virulent racism which has brought 600,000 people to the brink of starvation in Zimbabwe. Every year, U.N. bodies are required to produce at least 25 reports on alleged human rights violations by Israel, but not one on an Iranian criminal justice system which mandates punishments like crucifixion, stoning and cross-amputation of right hand and left foot. This is not legitimate critique of states with equal or worse human rights records. It is demonization of the Jewish state.

It is a small sign of hope that this blatantly dysfunctional establishment is allowing itself to be criticised.