British Commodore Nick Lambert was in charge not only of the British vessels (his flag ship is the Cornwallis), but also in charge of the entire task force which included several well armed U.S. ships.

The Commodore had only to order the Americans to stop the hostage taking and they would have done so. This “new” information is creating waves of shock in both British and American military circles.

The reason that most modern liberals do not criticize the mullahs is that they do not perceive the difference between the mullahs and the west. They have lost the ability to discriminate. There is a nice video presentation by Evan Sayet explaining this. I never heard of this guy, but he lives /works in Hollyweird, so Roger probably knows him. See

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c

Doesn’t standing up to a bully always work this way? Confrontation, instead of ducking, necessarily involves, well, confrontation, and the possibility of a fight.

However, it may be the only way to survive and to leave our children a free world to live in.”

Reminds me of G K Chesterton:
“War is not ‘the best way of settling differences; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you.”

Men smart, women smarter….

I grew up in a family where the intellect and character of my both my parents is unquestionable. My Dad is someone I can only hope to be.

My Mom, my older sister and twin sister are exceedingly bright, well read and articulate. My older sister is a PhD. My Mom probably sees the danger the most.

My professor sister wants to believe that her Muslim students (of which there are several) are moderate.

I asked her to politely (which me must be in our multi-culti world) confront her students with the question why is there no outrage amongst Muslims (leaders or otherwise) about the barbarism relfected in suicide bombings, blowing up children, the killing of innocent civilians, the inhumane subjugation of women and so on.

To date, I have no answer. My sister intuitively understands the threat, but does not want to acknowledge it IMO.

The women of America are the backbone of our society. We need the women of this country to stand up and face the difficult choices in front of us. If they do, many more men will have the courage to do what is necessary.

As Steven Mitchell observes, to act now is to make things worse in the short run. However, it may be the only way to survive and to leave our children a free world to live in.

The price of freedom has alway been great for those with any sense of history.

Also — Buddy, I can’t agree on any feminist urge in that woman who liked covering herself to force men to hear her words. That’s way too much like battered wives who develop all kinds of enabling and co-dependent mechanisms to prevent battering as much as possible. “If I just don’t say or do anything that makes him angry with me…”

Also, keep in mind it’s the women of Islam who enforce female genital mutilation. I don’t hear any of our vaunted feminists taking umbrage with that (not so that we’d notice, anyway).

There is a concerted effort underway by Islamists and nutjob mullahs in Minnesota to get Sharia law instituted there one outrage and lawsuit at a time. Do Western women have a clue what Sharia law means for women? Do they care?

I’ve longed for the day when the first squadron flying in to bomb Iranian targets includes women aviators. I’m for making it sooner, rather than later.

To repeat myself, the C.S. Lewis quote is relevant again–paraphrasing: “We build men without chests, and are surprised that they have no courage.”

Iran is one of those nasty problems that can’t be fixed without making a big mess. That is, in the short term, anything we do will make things worse than they are now. Unfortunately, Iran is also one of those problems that probably won’t go away without someone fixing it. The big problem with some of our populace is the refusal to face up to facts when the choices range from bad to worse.

If Iran was given thought proportionate to global warming (compared to the threat), we’d have worldwide mobilization to pull out the mullahs root and branch. But getting excited about global warming is another way people have of avoiding more serious issues.

Now’s not the time to rehash the full debate on whether she should have been there but I suspect that a great deal of the reason that NOW et al are keeping their heads low is because if they show up, they inevitably will launch that debate full throat. For one, I’m glad they have the good sense to shut up at the present moment and we shouldn’t hope for a change of behavior. It will only go worse.

Some time last year, she gave me a copy of William Safire piece about a word she had never heard: “Islamofascism.”

She reads the NYT cover to cover whenever she can. Yet we are years into WW 4 before she has heard the term that half the country is using to describe the enemy.

I doubt very much that the NYT has done much to educate her further. And she will accept no other input.

This is why I hate the Times. They have a death grip on the liberals of my parents’ generation.