Huffing Down the House
April 8th, 2007Should’ve mentioned it sooner. Iran released the British sailors as a “diplomatic gesture,” which translates to: “The British told us in private that they’d bomb us into the Stone Age.” I’m glad to see that the situation resolved itself peacefully. I’m less glad to see people like Arianna Huffington use it as a chance to hate America first.
You know it’s been a strange week when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the most reasonable guy in the room. But while the president of Iran was preaching forgiveness and making the diplomatic gesture of releasing the 15 British sailors, the president of the United States was childishly, churlishly, and undiplomatically giving Congress, the Constitution, and the concept of advice and consent the finger with his recess appointments of Andrew Biggs, Susan Dudley, and Swift Boat donor Sam Fox.
You know that the President has the right to make “recess appointments” when he can’t get them confirmed by regular means. It’s sleazy, sure, but it’s nothing immoral and everybody does it in the White House for good reason. Sometimes, the President has to appoint them by recess. What bothers me about this is — the Iranians released hostages they’d been holding with no cause, and Huffington claims that Bush’s appointments — his appointments — are on the same level as Mahmoud Ahmaniac’s!?
She’s grasping at straws. But she was, after all, a Republican. Until it became chic to oppose Bush and make money by doing so.
Time to look at the Pope now.
Pope Benedict XVI decried suffering in much of the world in his Easter Sunday message, lamenting that “nothing positive” is happening in Iraq and voicing worry over unrest and instability in Afghanistan and bloodshed in parts of Africa and Asia.
“How many wounds, how much suffering there is in the world,” the pontiff said, delivering his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” Easter address from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists listened in the square. Benedict read out a litany of troubling current events, saying he was thinking of the “terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, of the violation of human rights and the exploitation of persons.”
“Afghanistan is marked by growing unrest and instability,” Benedict said. “In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees.” He singled out what he called the “catastrophic, and sad to say, underestimated, humanitarian situation” in Darfur as well as other African places of suffering, including violence and looting in Congo, fighting in Somalia — which, he said, drove away the prospect of peace — and the “grievous crisis” in Zimbabwe, marked by crackdowns on dissidents, a disastrous economy and severe corruption.
Is it just me or is that first paragraph awkward as a Bush misspeak?
Listen. I appreciate a good moralistic view of the world as much as anyone and moreso than most of my peers. Makes me wonder when Easter became a launching pad for political commentary, though. I’m going to Sox Park today and I’m taking a cousin for Kid’s Day. I’ve heard that the Easter Bunny will be there — am I going to have to endure a speech about the World Bank from him/her?!?!?!?!?!?
But on a less sarcastic note, what would the Church say, do you imagine, if one of the major powers went into Darfur and simply forced a peace? Probably nothing good, and it’s the same with all of these other situations. What would the Church do? Complain about violence, which they should, I suppose, considering that God != War (whatever George Bush says).
Overall, though, I agree with his words with regard to the suffering of man today.