It is human nature that they hate and fear

"I anticipate that the views of the Commander-in-Chief will prevail . . . That it's in our interest to pursue this action," Sen. Armed Services Committee Chair John Warner is telling John Gibson of Fox News this evening re the Administration's support of the sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. Some of our best friends in the blogosphere went off the deep end, presumably going with their gut before learning the facts. We hope C-Span -- if not the cables, which will no doubt be consumed by the missing/murdered pregnant-mom story of the moment -- will carry Warner's briefing tomorrow.

"A lot of complicated processes occur without our being aware of it," says Daniel Kahneman, an "authority on decision making" at Princeton University cited in a news@nature item [was available free, but now they've thrown up a subscription barrier] about a Norwegian study that concludes "unconscious consideration yields most satisfying decisions." Update: Boston Globe link here. There are a gazillion things we could say pro and con their conclusion, but of most interest at the moment are our own recent initial gut reactions to two causettes célèbres -- Birdshotgate and United-Arab-Emiratesgate -- both of which made us gasp at first blush that all was lost but upon reflection and research in the blogosphere and on cable TV have yielded a mellowed-out response. We're buying Dr. Sanity's take until further notice:

I'm not sure what is really going on here, but I am sure that something important is behind the apparent intransigience of the President on this issue.

He could have done the easy thing and said that there would be a delay until everyone was satisfied that it was the correct decision. He could have rejected the decision entirely. From a political standpoint either one would have worked for him. So, I must conclude that we do not have all the facts about what this is really about.

We naturally adored the New York Sun's take on Hillary & Company's shock, shock that there might be terrorists gambling in the back room at Rick's:

One has to wonder, what makes this group, not particularly known for its hawkishness -- in some cases known for abject dovishness -- suddenly more hawkish than President Bush? It turns out their objections look to be less and less about American national security and more about plain old politics and political money and a labor union notorious for its ties to organized crime on the waterfront.

Even so, "The truth is, Brit, nobody saw it coming," reports Fox News WH reporter Carl Cameron." Same old, same old? No doubt our fellow Americans are far more worried about national security than the security of the Vice President's shooting companion, and demagogues will play UAEgate to the hilt. Still, we're with chuck of YARGB, who notes the so-called MSM is -- as ever -- asleep at the switch:

The big story today is the attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra. The situation is ripe with danger and possibility and, like the wedding bomb in Jordan, I think it may have repercussions in the Islamic world at large. Iraq the Model and The BBC have more. IMHO, this is the major news event. As I understand it, it is like al Qaeda's flying an airplane into the Sistine Chapel. Perhaps it is even more inflammatory, given the current religious tensions and unsettled government in Iraq. Let's not get distracted by the P&O purchase and the perfidy of academics.

"As I understand it, it is like al Queda's flying an airplane into the Sistine Chapel," writes chuck of YARB re the latest egregiousness perpetrated by those who would behead us for publishing cartoons of YKW (PBUH). In the way of festering ancient tribal wounds, the dawn bomb attack that devastated the dome of one of the world's holiest Shiite shrines, sparked "reprisal attacks against 90 Sunni mosques that left at least eight dead" and sent "thousands of Shiites to the streets in protests." Don't you love it when attacks leave people dead. Not murderers, but attacks "leave" people dead.

The obscene destruction of the Askariya shrine in Samarra reminded us of the Taliban's mind-dead splodey-doping of the giant Buddha statues just before 9/11 and made us wonder whether we were witnessing a signal between al Queda types of worse things to come on our own shores. Fear societies are always the same. As we wrote a couple of years back about our gut feelings just before 9/11:

We remember the visceral feeling of repulsion at the images of the Buddha statues being blown up. Okay. We think we have some clue as to why these insecure men hate and fear and then project their hatred and fear onto women. But hatred and fear of buildings? Dennis Prager's comment re erasing the past is the answer, of course. That is how the totalitarian mind works. It is human nature -- and its cultural products celebrating human nature -- that they hate and fear.

The same goes for the Harvard Harpies who hounded Lawrence Summers out of office.

Comments

[goomp]

Adopting the "all cultures have the same value" promoted by the clueless liberals of academia will find them dead when the murderous dictatorial left takes over. High IQ has little to do with common sense and an understanding of human nature.