Nobel Peace Prize Prez: Thumbs up on Child Soldiers

Bational Catholic Register Blog ^ | November 22, 2010 | Mark Shea

[Mrs. Don-o]

Our Nobel Peace Prize Winning President Barack Obama (“Winner: 2009 Prize for Being the Darling of the Euro Left”) has, yet again betrayed the suckers who took him seriously as some sort of Messianic Bringer of Peace.

First, it was the move (on the heels of the Nobel Prize) to increase troop levels in order to prop up a failed third world narco state with no clear plan of what to do besides get Americans killed in pointless battles. [snip]

Sec’y of Defense Robert Gates... plainly stated, “We’re not leaving Afghanistan prematurely. In fact, we’re not ever leaving at all.”

Then... Obama voted himself the power to murder anybody on planet Earth, civilian or foreign, whom he deemed (by his all-knowing power) to be an “enemy combatant”.

[snip]

But no worries, because Obama says his power to murder citizens he deems undesirable is a “state secret” and therefore cannot be investigated by prying subjects who want to know if Caesar is entirely motivated by the desire to, as he always puts it, “keep us safe.”

...In yet another breathtaking betrayal, Obama has declared that the US will support nations which make a habit of kidnapping children and forcing them to fight in some of the bloodiest battleground in the world—just so long as they are doing it to support our Grand War on Terror.

The administration stunned human rights groups last month by sidestepping a commitment to help countries curb the military exploitation of children. Josh Rogin at Foreign Policy reported that President Obama issued a presidential memorandum granting waivers from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act to four countries: Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen...despite their failure to comply with the rules Congress passed and George W. Bush signed in 2008.

[more]

[cripplecreek]

Yet still completely meaningless.

[lastchance]

I am stunned and saddened and very, very angry over this. Has this gotten any MSM play? No? What a surprise they are all too busy misrepresenting what the Pope said about condoms.

[Mrs. Don-o]

First of all, "bushwah" is not a slam on George Bush: it's a slang euphemism for "bullshit" coined in the 1930's.

Second of all, Mark Shea is not a far left loon. A closer reading will dispel this rash judgment. He can be accused of hot and sometimes erratic temper (yes, and he's been guilty of rash judgment, himself, which often causes those who love him to wince) but he's more accurately perceived as

• exasperated by political parties and the political process,
• intolerant of people who irritate him (and he struggles in public with himself on this), and
• located near the broad intersection of Chesterton Boulevard and Anscombe Avenue, in a reliably Catholic neighborhood.

I live in that neighborood, too, and enjoy his company.

And yours, too, by the way.

[Chode]

just like the health care waivers... wonderful

[smokingfrog]

We all knew his Nobel prize was a joke, and this is just one more thing that proves it.

Obama exempts Sudan, Yemen from Child Soldiers Prevention Act

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I don't care if they impeach him or not, but I hope they have the nads to start serious investigations into each and every major bit of treasonous crap that Obama and his RAT minions have promulgated on the American people.

"A bomb a week...that's all we ask!"

A new one every Monday morning, right up to the next election. That'll give the RAT chattering class a whole week to deal with it.

[markomalley]

First of all, "bushwah" is not a slam on George Bush: it's a slang euphemism for "bullshit" coined in the 1930's.

See post #20. It is clearly a double-entendre.

Second of all, Mark Shea is not a far left loon.

You and I disagree on that. Prior to 2005, I would agree with you; however, since that point, he has gone off the deep end and contracted a full-blown case of BDS.

located near the broad intersection of Chesterton Boulevard and Anscombe Avenue, in a reliably Catholic neighborhood.

I am not questioning his Catholic orthodoxy on matters of exegesis. And on purely doctrinal issues, I also wouldn't have an issue with him. However, since 2005, his politics have shifted to the far left.

You may not agree. And I early look forward to reading criticisms of Obama on the basis of violations of the principle of subsidiarity. Or on attempts to establish socialism as our economic theory. Etc. Because I would actually love to be proven wrong.

[The Comedian]

Well, let's cut him some slack.

By American standards, he's the anti-Christ.

But by Kenyan standards, he's an above average achiever.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[denydenydeny]

“Waivers” = corruption.

[Chode]

yup, waivers = indulgences...

[Mr Rogers]

Agree on the left loon. One can debate the effectiveness of the war in Afghanistan, and if we have the will to stay and fight long enough to change that hideous land, but it isn’t immoral. If we really WOULD make a long term commitment like we made in Korea, we could succeed in Afghanistan.

I’ve been there, and my son leaves for there soon, but a more evil or Godless society can’t be imagined. I don’t think it is worth ‘winning’ there, since it would take a minimum of a generation, but there are reasons to seriously consider it as a matter of defense against the evil of Islam.

I don’t think you’ll be surprised to know I also question his ‘Biblical exegesis’...

;>)

[Mrs. Don-o]

The U.S. alliance with Afghan-style narcotraficantes and Pashtun boy-rapers (Link) has tended to take some of the moral sparkle off, in my opinion. That impression has not been inproved by thug Karzai's Iran-loving kleptocracy.

Nor by the impending Russia-to-the Rescue strategic tilt.

Sorry.

I'm real glad my Marine son, back from Iraq, isn't going to Afghanistan.

[mlizzy]

OK, fine, so Mark Shea took a shot at Obummer. Pretty big target.

Although you might not like this article either, Mark, because it supports Huckabee (I'm not sure what your stance is in that regard), you might agree on a couple points in the piece ...

Missing the “Mark”—Oh, Shea can't you see (that Huckabee has heart)

[Mr Rogers]

Many of those raising opium do so because the alternative is for their families to starve to death. If you go aggressively after the opium, many Afghans would die - as in many thousands. That is why it is tough to solve.

Pashtun boy rapers is just a subset of Islam. T.E. Lawrence wrote briefly about it after WW1: the segregation of women and allowing multiple wives inevitably leads to homosexuality.

Do we deal with them? Yep. Have to - that is what exists in Afghanistan.

The morality would come from trying to change that evil society, ultimately by exposure to the Gospel, but that is a project that requires a minimum of a generation (and probably more) just to open up the society enough so someone can talk about Jesus without being murdered that night.

Afghanistan is the most thoroughly Muslim country I know of, and changing it would be a deep dagger strike into the evil that is Islam. It can be debated if it is worth the cost, but anything we do against Islam is moral.

[mlizzy]

By the way, Mark, Tom (the writer of the article I sent) and I are no longer Huckabee supporters so much, but huge supporters of Jindal, and we hope he throws his hat into the ring. We would however, still vote for Huckabee, if no one else qualified more “heavily.”

[A Strict Constructionist]

His real war is against his own people. He cares nothing for anything or anyone but himself. He is a walking psychiatric disorder. This manmsees himself as the American Julius Caesar. He wants to transform us from a Republic to an Empire.

[AuH2ORepublican]

If Obama can’t explain the difference betwen a 17-year-old who enlists voluntarily in the military and a 10-year-old who is kidnapped and forced to fight in a guerrilla war, then he’s an even bigger idiot than I thought.

[SumProVita]

“However, since 2005, his politics have shifted to the far left.”

Indeed! Perhaps the Holy Spirit is beginning to heal his tendency to not see the BIG picture the area of politics. I believe Shea to be a good man....but he is certainly far from perfect when discussing politics.

[SamuraiScot]

I am not questioning his Catholic orthodoxy on matters of exegesis.

I question Shea's orthodoxy. He went off to the socialist-pacifist-anti-capital-punishment-anti-capitalist dark side several years ago. He's become an anti-anti-terrorist, the way conventional Lefties in the '80s became anti-anti-Communists when they had trouble directly praising the Soviets.

I wouldn't say Mark's writing shows bad intent, but it's vain and intellectually lazy. He writes like one poorly educated in the faith (and in history), and I find the exercise of reading him really tedious. He gets hold of an interesting idea once in a while, but in my opinion, he generally takes it somewhere silly.

Being a pacifist (or merely finding an excuse to oppose every single measure against Moslem terrorists) means standing in solidarity with the people murdering your neighbors. It's participating in the terrorists' sin by silence or assent.

[BiggieLittle]

I believe that a 17 year old can’t enlist without his/her parents permission. 17 year olds can’t sign valid contracts. They’re too young. I believe that was an issue during the Bush Administration and the reason they had issues with a different child soldier treaty.