Friday, September 08, 2006

Islamofascism, Like It's A Brand New Term

George W, in a very recent speech, referred to Islamic Fascism.  Many talking heads, and Islamic individuals, were quick to denounce this labeling, as if the term had never been bandied about previously.

I first used the term back in December 2002, in a post titled Old Orwell?, where I linked to one of Orwell’s As I Please articles from 1944.  The link is to my old Blogger blog, and the link to the Orwell article, via my old blog, still is fresh.

Anyway, Victor Davis Hansen has a few words to say on Islamofascism in a piece titled
It’s Fascism—And It’s Islamic

Hansen’s piece may be construed to have been written to defend Bush, but, even so, he is pretty spot on regarding the term Islamic Fascism being accurate.

Posted by John Venlet on 09/08 at 12:37 PM
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Symptomatic of the Continuing Decline

If you type “decline of civilization” into the Google search engine, you’ll receive just shy of ten (10) million results to review.  Based on the number of results to review, one would think that there is healthy concern for possibly stemming the decline.  Alas, I do not think that this is necessarily the case.

I mention this today because of this story, Despite Charges, Prep Football Standout Remains Tackle-Eligible which I read via the Washington Post.

The charges against the football player, Pat Lazear, are for armed robbery, and though the crime is only “alleged” to have occurred, the charges evidently have more than just a modicum of truth, as this little blurb from the article illustrates,

According to charging documents, Lazear provided a gun—his attorney claims it was a replica not capable of firing—and dropped Warren off at the smoothie shop.

The irksome aspect of this story is the free pass being handed to Lazear in the name of high school football.

Lazear just recently was transferred to a new high school in Montgomery County, Maryland, because his previous high school principal, who has some principles, desired to have him expelled.  Though the principal’s expulsion request against Lazear was overturned, Montgomery County decided to transfer Lazear to a different high school, with a struggling football team, for the reason, I would wager, poor Lazear would not have to deal with individuals with principles.

Lazear’s new high school teammates do not seem to care about Lazear’s “alleged” improprieties,

They have decided, as a team, that Pat Lazear’s troubles no longer exist. He and four friends were never arrested for the robbery of a Bethesda smoothie shop. Police never charged Lazear with two felonies. The Montgomery County school system never forced him to transfer from Whitman High School before his senior year.

None of the incidents is relevant to Lazear’s new football teammates at Wheaton High School, so they’ve instituted a simple rule: Treat Lazear as if his life began Aug. 15, when the All-Met linebacker arrived at Wheaton’s practice field and revived the school’s football team.

Nor does Lazear’s new coach,

"We’re going to keep the past in the past and let him focus on football,” said Tommy Neal, Wheaton’s first-year football coach. “I told him: ‘I don’t care what happened in the past. Let’s make this situation the best for everybody.’ “

Nor do the Division I colleges hoping for star power for their rah, rah, rah college football programs,

More than 20 Division I colleges have offered Lazear scholarships, and he will likely choose between Alabama and Ohio State.

Lazear’s parents also do not seem to consider their son’s “alleged” criminal activity as requiring any corrective measures, at least not if it concerns football,

In Lazear’s hearing last week, the judge asked Angela Lazear if she considered punishing her son by taking away football. “We don’t look at football as an extracurricular activity,” she said. “We look at it as an opportunity . . . to pay for his school. . . . We have never considered that. It would ruin his future."

So, taking away football would “ruin his future,” but evidently participating (allegedly) in armed robbery would not.

Posted by John Venlet on 09/08 at 08:28 AM
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