The Friday Furo Questus

Questus Furore - Musical Interlude
I would be remiss if I failed to point this out - today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Questus Furore - Boomerang
It's been an interesting week in international politics. In Canada, a Conservative government was elected for the first time in a decade, a dramatic turnaround for a party that was smashed down to bedrock in the early 1990s. Hopefully this will presage a warming of relations with our northern neighbor.

Earlier this week, reports of a Mexican incursion into Texas circulated. While policymakers have done their best to pretend it didn't happen, it lends credence to those who want a dramatic increase in border security. It also brings back bad memories.

And in Palestine, they had a free election - and elected Hamas, a group dedicated to the end of Israel. That puts us in a bind - we have to honor the results of the election, but then what? Hamas is not interested in any peace process, unless it leaves Israel in pieces. Some peace.

We are in between a rock and a hard place - to give someone the freedom to succeed, you have to allow him the frredom to fail. And so Palestine has.

The question is where do they go from here. Will they, now thrust into power, change as they realize the responsibility of a young and struggling state rests on their shoulders? Sinn Fein has undergone such a transormation, at least somewhat, in the years of the peace process in Northern Ireland. The group that was once th political face of the IRA has had to become one of the IRA's foes, in order to preserve what they have gained. Or will Hamas instead drive Palestine to war with Israel, and commit national suicide? Palestinian political leaders have tended to be good at self-preservation but poor at movement perpetuation - study the history of the Black September movement sometime.

Of course, that may be moot, given Iran's pretensions. At any rate, we will be involved in the Middle East for a long time to come, and it will get harder before it gets easier.

Recommended Reading
VDH, "Amoral Euphemism."

Deroy Murdock, "Patriot Protections."

And John O'Sullivan discusses the latest controversy ensnaring Munich.

And there is this on Upton Sinclair and the Saco and Vanzetti case.

Patrolling the Front
Jamo offers this guide on how to know you are in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, and went to a Sundance film.

I've been pretty quiet as of late, although I am getting some work going on The Pacific Slope Extension.

The rest of the Front is a bunch of hosers.

Thought of the Week
"We must never forget that no government schemes are going to perfect man. We know that living in this world means dealing with what philosophers would call the phenomenology of evil or, as theologians would put it, the doctrine of sin. There is sin and evil in the world, and we're enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might."
Ronald Reagan

Churchill Quote of the Week
Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is - the strong horse that pulls the whole cart.
Winston Churchill