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January 13, 2006

Of disposable cells phones and priorities

Last night ABC news carried the startling story of large quantities of disposable cell phones being purchased by Middle Eastern individuals.

In one New Year's Eve transaction at a Target store in Hemet, Calif., 150 disposable tracfones were purchased. Suspicious store employees notified police, who called in the FBI, law enforcement sources said.

In an earlier incident, at a Wal-mart store in Midland, Texas, on December 18, six individuals attempted to buy about 60 of the phones until store clerks became suspicious and notified the police. A Wal-mart spokesperson confirmed the incident.

Look at those dates again. Is it coincidence that these large purchases were made shortly after the New York Times unconscionable article (12/15/05) crippling the effectiveness of the NSA intelligence gathering? Domestic terrorist cells shuttling their communications to much more difficult to trap and trace disposable cell phones?

Is is coincidence that neither the NYTimes nor Washington Post are covering this story?

Also checking DailyKos, Atrios and DemocraticUnderground's "Latest Breaking News" finds nary a word. Too busy spinning paranoid fantasies about evil Alito or Republican penis size*. That's the measure of seriousness by which the far Left takes Islamism.

Mark Steyn touches upon how Western civilization mis-prioritizes.

Much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive this century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most Western European countries. There'll probably still be a geographical area on the map marked as Italy or the Netherlands--probably--just as in Istanbul there's still a building called St. Sophia's Cathedral. But it's not a cathedral; it's merely a designation for a piece of real estate. Likewise, Italy and the Netherlands will merely be designations for real estate. The challenge for those who reckon Western civilization is on balance better than the alternatives is to figure out a way to save at least some parts of the West.

One obstacle to doing that is that, in the typical election campaign in your advanced industrial democracy, the political platforms of at least one party in the United States and pretty much all parties in the rest of the West are largely about what one would call the secondary impulses of society--government health care, government day care (which Canada's thinking of introducing), government paternity leave (which Britain's just introduced). We've prioritized the secondary impulse over the primary ones: national defense, family, faith and, most basic of all, reproductive activity--"Go forth and multiply," because if you don't you won't be able to afford all those secondary-impulse issues, like cradle-to-grave welfare.

The "journalists" and editors at the NYTimes and WaPo prioritized "the gotcha scoop" over national security. Leftists slandering Sam Alito prioritize a clear fealty to laissez-faire abortion over having an eminently-qualified, non-ideological jurist.

Much of the Left is in the grip of an ideological "Puritanism." Or, a Joan Crawford No More Wire Coathangers style of approaching ideas. The wire coathangers are Bush, conservatives, US military and Israel. Nothing, nowhere, nohow done by wire coathangers is to be tolerated. Get the wire coathangers out out OUT!

And anyone who also feels the same way about wire coathangers as you do, well give 'em a pass. Even if they are upfront about not only cleaning your closet but taking it from you someday.

Yes, I think I've tortured that analogy quite enough. However, it goes a long way to explaining the mindset of people who look at the events of 9/11 and try to downplay it as a "fluke" blown all out of proportion and then refuse to acknowledge evidence that Islamist terrorist are quite serious about Islamizing the world.

The media doesn't look much beyond the next big story or the next quarter. Western nihilists don't look much beyond their next coffee-shop gathering to make snide comments about un-hip middleclass families. The survival of Western civilization rests with the rest of us great unwashed, un-hip, baby-making, duty-honoring, value-holding, family-oriented, unabashedly patriotic, justice-minded, charity-giving, shop-keeper mentality bourgeoisie. We'll just have to save our neofeudal brethren inspite of themselves.

Great roundup of links on the cell phone issue at Michelle Malkin

Posted by Darleen at January 13, 2006 11:14 AM

Comments

Too much gloom and doom talk Ms Darleen.

Personally I think Western Civilization is doing pretty well.

Ordered liberty under law. Works fine for me. Which is all Western Civilization is all about anyway.

The gloomers talk like everyone in Europe and North America is getting ready to chuck it all in favor of some kind of I-don't-know-what.

Don't think so.

Posted by: Carl W. Goss at January 14, 2006 10:26 AM

Heh, heh, heh. . . just keep telling yourself that, Carl, heh, heh, heh. Everything's swell, ayup, ayup, ayup! 9/11 never happened. Neither did 7/7. Or, if they did, it doesn't really matter. Or Bush did it. Or the CIA. And that crazy Iranian guy, who thinks he's the mahdi, and all those Islamofacists who want to restore the Caliphate---why, they're just kidding! Iranian nukes? Nothing to worry about!

And if anything does happen, the ACLU will sue the bad guys, and make everything all nice and happy again!

Keep whistling in the dark, Carl.

Posted by: TalkinKamel at January 16, 2006 04:49 AM

Oh, and Carl, didja check out Darleen's thread about the explosives found in the water next to the naval station in Seal Beach? Or is that just too "doomy and gloomy" for ya?

Posted by: TalkinKamel at January 16, 2006 04:50 AM

All I'm saying Kamel, is that the idea most people are going to chuck the Western liberal canon just isn't true.

Doesn't mean you ignore terrorists; you don't. You work to defeat them.

Democracy is pretty strong in Western Europe and North America and is apt to stay that way.

Ordered liberty under law; that's what we have and few people are willing to get rid of it in favor of anything else.

So far as I can see.

Gloom and doom talk gets us nowhere.

Posted by: Carl W. Goss at January 16, 2006 07:59 AM

Nope, let's have some more happy talk, and not think about terrorism---so depressing! And don't forget, our southern borders are still wide open, to illegal immigrants---and would-be terrorists. DID you read Darleen's post about the explosives at Seal Beach? Have you been following the story of Iran working on getting nukes, and defying the EU?

America is strong---for the moment; but suppose some American cities get nuked, or some financial centers, like the Twin Towers, are destroyed, throwing the economy into a tailspin? We've got ordered liberty under law, alright---but how is that going to help us if, say, Iran bombs Washington, New York and L.A.? Are we going to sue them? Arrest the president of Iran?

Frankly, I don't think there's enough doom-and-gloom talk going on. I think we all ought to be a bit more worried.

Posted by: TalkinKamel at January 16, 2006 09:51 AM