More Secrets of European Superiority Revealed!

With great fanfare, the European powers took over responsibility for the Gaza border crossing with Egypt under a compromise agreement brokered in large part by Secretary of State Rice. Sticklers, conservatives and other cranks might point out that Gaza is part of Egypt, leading to some puzzlement over why, exactly, there is a "border" crossing there. It might even lead some crazy people to ponder why the burning question of "Palestinian" identity and self-determination of the people who live in Gaza was not so much of a suicide-bomb inducing issue when the Gaza was under Egyptian rule. But I digress.

Over the past few years a consensus has arisen with regard to how Americans view Europeans and how Europeans view Americans. The Europeans find us too reliant on military force and not sufficiently impressed with the intricacies of issues like the complicated Arab-Isreali dispute to understand the need for mutual dialog in crafting an effective long term solutions. Americans, on the other hand, think that the Europeans are a bunch of [expletive deleted].

[NOTE: The above deleted expletive was meant to be a joke. Here's how I saw it. The European point of view would be explained with a bunch of long words, with detail. The American point of view would be a crude one-word put-down. Well, it didn't work and people took offense. All I can say in my defense is that I write a lot and, well, they can't all be winners!]

As they say: we report, you decide. From the AP...(Cue "The Ballad of Sir Robin"):

European monitors said they were reopening the Rafah border crossing Friday afternoon, hours after a group of angry Palestinian police forced them to close the border and flee.

Julio De La Guardia, spokesman for the European monitors, said the situation at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing was under control and the border would be opened for two hours. It was to reopen at 3:15 p.m.

Palestinian policemen angry over the killing of a fellow police officer stormed the Gaza-Egypt crossing Friday, firing in the air and forcing European monitors to close the border and flee, Palestinian and European officials said.

About 100 policemen entered the Rafah compound and took up positions alongside border patrol officers at the customs section of the crossing, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.

The European observers - responsible for monitoring the crossing and ensuring the terms of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement are upheld - fled to an IDF base near the Gaza-Israel border, fearing the situation was spinning out of control, the officials said.

When danger reared its ugly head, they bravely turned their tails and fled.

The brave Europeans ran away.

And where did they flee to?

Why, they fled to the arms of the IDF, vicious oppressors that they are! I mean, be reasonable. They may support the Palestinians politically, but they're not crazy. They may cry in their wine about the rights of the Palestinian people, but when push comes to shove their actions show who they really know is worthy of trust and respect.

What a craven, contemptible lot these modern Europeans are.

Irish Republic Mourned the Death of Hitler

It's been known for years--well, actually, now that I think about it--it's been known since 1945: the government of the Irish Republic officially mourned the death of Adolph Hitler.

That's right. You read that right. Remember that the next St. Patrick's Day when some Irish-American gets all weepy about Ireland.

While our allies in Northern Ireland, good Ulstermen, both Protestant and Catholic (like my own grandfather), were volunteering to fight side-by-side with us Americans in WWII, the leaders of "Eire" were officially neutral, hiding behind John Bull and Uncle Sam while biting at both their ankles and secretly rooting for the Germans. Remember that the next time you read that the Irish don't much care for the U.S. Government, our foreign policy or President Bush; nothing new there. Remember that the next time former Irish President Mary Robinson lectures you.

Over the years, good (that is to say, liberal) Irishmen and women have denied that this ever took place. Their story usually is something like: "okay, we were neutral, but it's more complicated than that and, in reality, we actually aided the U.K. and the U.S. by providing intelligence and holding any Germans that we got hold of, but this 'condolences on the death of Hitler' thing is just Unionist propaganda, making a mountain out of a simple diplomatic protocol molehill."

Like most liberal history re-writing, it simply isn't true. Contemporary reports are beginning to butress the truth of the matter, as illustrated by this report from this morning by the AP:

Irish President Offered Nazis Condolences
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer

Ireland's president during World War II offered condolences to Nazi Germany's representative in Dublin over the death of Adolf Hitler, newly declassified government records show.

Until now, historians had believed that Ireland's prime minister at the time, Eamon de Valera, was the only government leader to convey official condolences to Eduard Hempel, director of the German diplomatic corps in Ireland. De Valera's gesture — unique among leaders of neutral nations in the final weeks of World War II — was criticized worldwide.

The presidential protocol record for 1938-1957, made public this week within a trove of previously secret government documents, shed new light on one of the most embarrassing chapters in the history of independent Ireland — its decision to maintain cordial relations with the Nazis even after news of the Holocaust emerged.

The new document confirmed that President Douglas Hyde visited Hempel on May 3, 1945, a day after Ireland received reports of Hitler's death.

The newly released document says Hyde — who served as Ireland's symbolic head of state from 1938 to 1945 and died in 1949 — visited Hempel at the diplomat's home in Dun Laoghaire, a Dublin suburb. It says the president did not send an official letter of condolence to German government headquarters because "the capital of Germany, Berlin, was under siege and no successor had been appointed."

The Republic of Ireland, then called Eire, remained neutral throughout World War II, which in local parlance was called "The Emergency."

Tens of thousands of Irishmen volunteered to serve in British military units, but many others rooted for Germany against their old imperial master Britain. The outlawed Irish Republican Army built contacts with the Nazis in an ultimately fruitless effort to receive weapons and money for insurrection in neighboring Northern Ireland, a British territory.

De Valera's government brutally suppressed the IRA but also rebuffed requests to allow Jews fleeing Nazi persecution to receive asylum in Ireland. De Valera also refused to allow Britain or the United States to use strategic Irish ports for protecting Atlantic convoys from attacks by German U-boat submarines, a policy that cost thousands of Allied seamen's lives.

In his May 1945 victory speech, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemned de Valera's neutrality. Churchill said Britain had considered laying "a violent hand" on neutral Ireland to seize its ports, but avoided this thanks to the crucial support of Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom when the island was partitioned in 1921.

But de Valera argued that to refuse condolences "would have been an act of unpardonable discourtesy to the German nation and to Dr. Hempel himself. During the whole of the war, Dr. Hempel's conduct was irreproachable. ... I certainly was not going to add to his humiliation in the hour of defeat."

I'm sure it's also news to American "progressives" that the IRA allied itself to the Nazi cause, just as its allied itself to radical Islam today.

Remember all this the next time some smug Irish person lords it all over you as an unwashed American. You might say something like, "Yes, we do have the death penalty in the U.S., but you'll excuse me if I don't take moral lessons from a citizen of a country that regretted the passing of Hitler while mine was fighting tooth and nail for the free Europe you enjoy today and somehow think that you built."

Or something like that.

Imperial Grunts

Welcome, HughHewitt.com readers!

Well, when Mr. Hewitt recommends that you post on a topic, you bloody well post on a topic.

And post I shall. The next New Sisyphus post will deal with Plan Colombia and my experiences there. However, at the end of the tax year, this is one tax lawyer who is currently up to his eyeballs....

Please check back tomorrow! See you then...

Quick Notes for a Fine Wednesday Morning

Was that Tuesday that just passed me by? We're a little busy here at the firm, and I apologize for the lack of blogging yesterday. You see, I'm into a very specialized field of law that involves a heavy dose of tax issues and the end of the year is particularly hectic for types like me. I'd tell you more about it, except that after that you would never, ever visit New Sisyphus again.

Instead, let's do Quick Notes:

-- The number one comment I received in my reporting and commentating on the National Security Agency wiretap issue (see numerous posts below) is that conservative bloggers like me are simply shills for the President and that we'd support anything that W does or will do. I leave it to fair-minded readers to determine for themselves if that is in fact true, but it seems to me that this charge is wildly off base. It's not very hard for me to run off a list of issues over the past year in which I differed strongly with the Administration. For example:

Hurricane Katrina: I took strong exception to the Administration's horrible response to this tragedy and its ridiculous "state's rights" response.

Nomination of Harriet Myers: I think it's fair to say that I went ballistic on this one.

Social Security Reform: While I'm in favor of reform, any plan that does not anticipate that some people will not save despite themselves will end up forcing people to pay for these n'er-do-wells at double cost later. If you doubt this, check out Chile's recent experience on point. This is one area where direct government involvement is unavoidable, as much as I'd like to see a market component.

Public Diplomacy: To say that I am underwhelmed by the Administration's handling of diplomatic affairs would be an understatement.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. If you're looking for uniform agreement and slavish devotion to a political platform, check out the liberal bloggers. Here in the conservative Blogosphere, there is a healthy debate going on. That said, when W is right (and he was right on the point in question), he is right and I will say so.

-- Watching the Canadian press after the horrific Boxing Day shooting at the popular Yonge Street shopping area in Toronto, in which seven people were wounded and a 15-year old girl killed, a few things leap out. First, is the absolutely predictable and laughably pathetic Canadian knee-jerk instinct to blame the United States, because, you know, we're so horrifically violent and our gun-worship has corrupted fine, upstanding Canadian kids. This is the beauty of being Canadian, the perfect post-modern country: you can be socially progressive and say or do whatever you want, because, hey, you're not responsible for anything, not even law enforcement in your own country!

Second, is the equally predictable and similarly pathetic attempt to shield the public from the identity of the bad guys. Check out the headlines and see if you notice anything, well, missing:

National Post: "15 Youths Sought in Shooting"

Globe and Mail: "We Will Do More," Miller Vows. Days After Shootings on Toronto Streets, Mayor Pledges Action on Programs, Jobs for Youths.

CBC: Police Search for Youths

The Province: "15 Youths Sought in Shootout"

For those six people who haven't yet decoded the MSM's terminology on issues of race, let me clear it up for you. In MSM-Speak "youths" means any young person of an ethnic minority. For example, the Middle Eastern and African Muslims who recently rioted in Paris were "youths." And the Lebanese gangs who rampaged through Sydney were also "youths."

However, the white surfers who started bashing Lebanese and Lebanese-appearing people in Sydney were "White youths," who may have been under the influence of "supremacists." (Surprisingly, just plain "youths" are never motivated by leaders or organizations that condone or urge the elimination of the inferior infidel. It's a fact. Look it up.)

In other words, Canadian police are looking for black gang members and the press is too scared of "causing hatred" to state that plain fact. Kind of like how the MSM decided on its own to withhold images of 9.11 after the attacks. You have to be careful with us plain, common folk, because we're all out-of-control racists and all it could take is a tiny provocation and we wouldn't want to be responsible for that. Let's lie and cover-up instead.

It's the socially responsible thing to do.

-- The oh-so-morally superior Germans--who have become almost as obnoxious in their pacifist socialism as their grandparents were in their militant national socialism--released a Hezbollah killer as ransom to get a German moonbat released in Iraq. Now said German moonbat is returning to Iraq, her home for many years. A report in the Times states that this decision has made "pro-American" Chancellor Merkel "furious."

And the Germans say we're dumb. Ohhh-kay, Helmut....

-- Speaking of which, is there any reason the President should not be ordering our troops into combat with Hezbollah, with the specific goal of taking the released prisoner out? Are we serious, or just playing?

-- With the resignation of Andrei Illarionov from the Russian government, it appears that the last liberal light in the Kremlin has been extinguished. The direction of the Russian Federation is highly worrisome and, frankly, depressing. Yet, at the same time, it's not too surprising. Time will tell, of course, and I think the Russian people's contacts with the wider world cannot be shut off now, but that sad people have never had a liberal government for more than a matter of months.

-- Toronto mayor David Miller has now confirmed what I suspected would be the Canadian Government's line in response to the shootings mentioned above. Says the mayor:

"The U.S. is exporting its problem of violence to the streets of Toronto."

Man, I wish I was Canadian. All that prosperity, no responsibility. The entire country is like one big university campus.

-- All kinds of kidnapping all over the Muslim world today. Britons in the Gaza, French water worker in Iraq, German ex-diplomat in Yemen.

Thanks Germany! Way to go!

-- Portland is mostly empty right now, except for the poor lawyers and other financial types working to get matters settled prior to the end of the tax year. It's all lit up at night (and early morning) with Xmas lights and other pretty things. As you well know, Portland and I have our differences, but she is still a beautiful city. Better, she is a beautiful city with good beer.

-- That said, the bookstores really tick me off. Every one of them, from the big-name independents to the bigger-name chain stores, are staffed by rosy-cheeked, earnest Portland State student types (this includes the manager in her late 30's) who stock the store accordingly. Looking for a history of the Royal Navy? Sorry. Want to buy Robert Conquest's latest? Nope. "Have you ever read a professor by the name of Noam Chomsky?"

Amazon, here I come.

-- Sometimes things are just perfect. Like when my little girl smiles at me and says "thank you" when I give her a cookie. Or when this happens:

I'm walking down a suburban street from the train station to my home. About three houses ahead, a woman is walking to the curb from an open garage to retrieve the emptied trash can. Seconds after she reaches the curb, an old bulldog runs out of the garage to the sidewalk. It stops, turns and sees me approaching. It trots towards me, its smashed bulldog face turning up to mine, its tongue hanging out slightly. Looks like a pure-bred honest-to-goodness bulldog. "John Bull," I think to myself.

The owner notices the dog has approached me, smiles at me, says "sorry" and calls the dog to her side.

"Winston!"

Winston. Perfect.

Merry Christmas

I want to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas and a truly happy Hanukkah!

(Y especialmente, yo quiero decir "Feliz Navidad" a mis amigos a nuestra embajada en el Exterior Circano).

I'll see you all Tuesday where, it appears, we'll have lots to talk about.