Monday, May 12, 2014
From: Gary L. Bauer
Our Hashtag Foreign Policy
The tragedy of the kidnapped Nigerian girls continues. From the past acts of Boko Haram, we can assume that by now most of the girls have been sexually abused. Now their jihadist captors have forcibly converted them to Islam. A video has been released showing them reciting Koranic verses in Arabic. It’s not clear whether that was before or after they were raped.
The video has renewed the world’s outrage, but there should have been outrage about Boko Haram long before this mass kidnapping. The families of the girls and millions of other people who have little power to do anything are experiencing some solace by joining the Twitter campaign to highlight the plight of these girls. I’m sure that must be of some comfort to the poor mothers of Nigeria.
But it is absolutely clear that the men who routinely murder, rape and forcibly convert children to Islam will not be stopped by millions of hashtags. They aren’t checking their tweets. The only thing that stops these thugs is the legitimate use of power and the brave men willing to protect us all from barbarians.
As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton did nothing of consequence about Boko Haram. She actually resisted attempts to label Boko Haram as a terrorist group. Michelle Obama could have made the treatment of women and young girls under Sharia law one of her cause celebs. Instead, she went after Twinkies — a softer target to be sure.
We could have threatened the withdrawal of foreign aid from countries in Africa that were insufficiently committed to fighting radical Islam. Instead we’ve threatened to cut off foreign aid from countries that are insufficiently committed to the “lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered” agenda.
As Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Face The Nation” yesterday, “You can’t base your policy on what’s trending on Twitter. It has to be more than hashtags and selfies.”
The Battle Of Benghazi
Friday afternoon, Speaker John Boehner announced the names of the Republican House members who will serve on the select committee investigating the September 11, 2012 attacks on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. So far, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has refused to name the Democrats who will serve on the committee.
In fact, House Democrats are reportedly divided over whether to participate in or to boycott the hearings. Those arguing for a complete boycott have been the most vocal.
They have accused House Republicans of turning the investigation into a witch hunt, of not paying attention to the issues the American people really care about and of only wanting to hurt Hillary Clinton. They have blasted the GOP for trying to raise money off the Benghazi attacks.
On Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace grilled Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who will lead the select committee, about some of these accusations. Here are some excerpts of their exchange:
WALLACE: Congressman Gowdy … how do you answer charges that one of the major goals of this committee is to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances for 2016?
GOWDY: Chris, I have no friends to reward and no foes to punish. We’re going to go wherever the facts take us. Facts are neither Republican nor Democrat. They are facts. And if we overplay our hand or if we engage in a process that is not fair, according to the American people, we will be punished as we should be for that. …
WALLACE: You say this is not political, that this is just about fact-finding. … This is a fund-raiser coming out from the NRCC. Congressman Gowdy, isn’t this exactly the problem, the danger, the risk that you overstep your bounds? …
GOWDY: Yes, which is exactly why I said I will never and have never sent out any fund-raising literature trying to raise money on the grief and tragedy of four dead Americans. I have asked my colleagues to follow suit. But my friend and colleague Tommy Cotton from Arkansas did a magnificent job on the House floor of pointing out the duplicity and hypocrisy of Democrats all of a sudden concluding that certain things are above politics. They raise money on Sandy Hook. They raise money on Katrina. They raise money on Iraq and Afghanistan. …it would be helpful if our colleagues on other side of the aisle did not have selective amnesia when it comes to what’s appropriate to raise money off of and what is not.
The Devil And Harvard
I remember the good old days when the biggest complaint conservatives had about Harvard was that students graduated knowing less about American history than when they arrived as freshmen. It’s pretty hard to spend four years and roughly $200,000 to make people forget what they knew. Alas, mere incompetence and hostility to America’s past are yesterday’s news at Harvard.
The Cultural Studies Club of Harvard University’s Extension School is hosting a “black mass” tonight in the basement of the university’s Memorial Hall. This is not a joke by theatrical performers. It is a satanic ritual that historically involves the desecration of consecrated communion wafers, which Catholics believe to be the actual body of Christ.
Harvard officials assure us that tonight’s “black mass” is purely for “educational purposes.” We’re told that no real consecrated communion hosts will be used in the ritual. Moreover, a professor from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government will also speak at the satanic mass to stress the event’s importance for “religious liberty and tolerance.” Right. And Condoleezza Rice can’t speak at Rutgers.
Political correctness is running rampant on our college campuses, silencing conservative expression, because we’re told that no one should be made to feel “uncomfortable.” The double standard here is disgusting. It is no more acceptable to allow this satanic ritual than it would be to simulate a lynching of a black student for “educational purposes.”
The Archdiocese of Boston condemned the event, saying, “This activity separates people from God and the human community, it is contrary to charity and goodness, and it places participants dangerously close to destructive works of evil.” The archdiocese and other ministries are holding prayer events during the “black mass.”
Harvard alumni are threatening to cutoff the university and direct their giving elsewhere. I hope they do. Tonight’s disgusting display shows how far the university has fallen since its founding. Harvard was named after a Christian pastor, Reverend John Harvard, who left his library of hundreds of books to the university. Its original motto was “Veritas Christo et ecclesiae,” which means “Truth for Christ and the church.”
You can share your thoughts with Harvard’s Extension school by sending an email to extension@dcemail.harvard.edu or by calling 617-495-4024.
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