Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Canada, the country that wants to be like the US, but not really, reports Bush’s policies are bearing fruit abroad.

According to the Stockholm Institute, which measures the number of conflicts that produce greater than 1,000 deaths in a year, 19 major wars were in progress in 2003 compared to 33 in 1991.

Okay. Some people will quibble with a report from a single report. So, here’s another:

Project Ploughshares, which measures the number of wars that accumulate 1,000 deaths from the beginning of a conflict, reports a drop to 33 conflicts in 2003 from 44 in 1995.

Maybe there’s hope for this old world after all.

Liberal Larry covers the capitulations of Paris throughout history on this 60th anniversary of Americans replacing Germans in the City of Lights.

There has been much debate as to whether the 2001 arrival of a small troop of Boy Scouts along the Champs-

I have to visit HAMASONLINE from time to time to be sure they still exist.

NEW: Info on Iraqi Genocide and Pictures of Iraqi Mujahidin and Iraqi Victims of Anglo / Zionist warcrimes

Announcement: Regarding reply to e-mails, it is not possible for us at the moment to reply, we do read most of the friendly mails, but replying to e-mails is not possible at the moment.

Almost like the Kerry website.

P. J. O’Rourke has a conversation with Colin Powell in The Atlantic Online regarding zero-sum. To many of our enemies in this world, zero-sum is a way of life, a certainty in their way of thinking. What it means is that if I gain in some way, someone else had to lose. I think our friends in the Democratic Party feel that way, which is why there is often a disconnect in conversation with them. Consider the attitude that if someone is rich, they got their money by exploiting someone else.

P. J. O’ROURKE: In terms of non-zero-sum thinking, is our country in the unique historical position of wanting other nations to be as powerful as we are?

Powell looked at me over the top of his glasses.

SECRETARY POWELL: Wanting other nations to be as powerful? No, I wouldn’t say that. I think our historical position is we are a superpower that cannot be touched in this generation by anyone in terms of military power, economic power, the strength of our political system and our values system. What we would like to see is a greater understanding of power, of the democratic system, the open market economic system, the rights of men and women to achieve their destiny as God has directed them to do if they are willing to work for it. And we really do not wish to go to war with people. But, by God, we will have the strongest military around. And that’s not a bad thing to have. It encourages and champions our friends that are weak and it chills the ambitions of the evil.

A deputy secretary interrupted. “That’s good,” she said. “Did you just make that up?”

SECRETARY POWELL: Yeah. Not bad, eh?

Extremely entertaining and informative. If you aren’t a Powell fan already, you will be once you finish reading it. Slatts saw it first!

Sherry at Bittersweet has an interesting post on the former Kuwaiti communications minister’s rejection of Islamic fundamentalism.

“The words ‘assassination’ and ‘political violence’ are Arabic words, lent to all the languages of the world. I say this as an academic linguist. The root of the word ‘assassination’ is the word ‘hashashiyoun,’ the name of Hassan Al-Sabah’s group that came from Isfahan in the 13th century.

This is the first I’ve seen on this.

Chrenkoff, who pulled together our “Best of Homespun Bloggers this weekend, has extensive coverage of the doings in Afghanistan. You remember, it was the place we liberated before Iraq.

Birdie was one of the forces on the ground there, and his big brother, Slice, is now on his way home from his tour. Birdie killed bad guys. Slice got citizens registered to vote. All in a two-year period.

We, as a country are pretty impressive. Our troops have done great things. Who will be this generation’s John Kerry to slander them?

Sarah has posted something of interest at trying to grok. She is comparing the essence of the book Dark Star Safari to the situation in Iraq. The question posed is whether we can change a culture, or even want to.

Setting up the conditions for people to be free won’t work if the people don’t yearn for freedom. Similarly, setting up the conditions for progress won’t work if people can’t see the big picture.

I’ve pondered the same question.

I guess this is the factor in politics that interests me. I don’t like the political process. I don’t care much for career politicians. But the political process has absorbed much of what is our society and culture. Or, our culture and society have surrendered. The latter is far more likely. Too many people want the government involved in some small thing, and that expands daily once the government has its foot in the door.

I want to see our society and our culture separate from politics. That is the libertarian in me. I had a long discussion with a friend yesterday about the place of the Boy Scouts in this country. They are being shoved aside by people like the ACLU who see their reverence as a threat to the government.

But reverence is a sense of calm and acceptance of moral standards. It doesn’t have to be on-the-knees worship of a deity. Those values must exist in some form. My friend was adamant that the government could not force people to be subjected to any religious thought. I asked him what the Constitution said. “Well, it says no religion is allowed.” I asked him to quote it. He couldn’t, so I did. He walked away a little stunned.

And this is a man whose son is an Eagle Scout, and sees the value in scouting. Where has our culture gone in two generations?

The help-yourself mentality is losing ground in our society. Boy Scouts used to do all kinds of community projects. No longer allowed in many places. Might be a “separation of church and state” issue. Funny how people can quote this phrase written by Thomas Jefferson, yet ignore things like his words at the top of my site. Same man. Same sentiment. Misinterpreted.

Are we ready to be like the countries in Africa?