Duke: Seligmann And Finnerty are Welcomed Back

Well, now… this oughta close the deal…..

RALEIGH, N.C. —AP- Duke University has invited two former lacrosse players accused of sexual assault to return to school as students in good standing, a defense lawyer said Wednesday.

Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann had been barred from attending class last semester while their case made its way through court. The third player charged in the case, Dave Evans, graduated from Duke in May, the day before he was charged with raping a stripper at a team party in March.

And yet, we see the charges have not yet been dropped. Apparently, the DA, Democrat Mike Nifong, is still trying to save face, here. If I’m the boys, and their mouthpeices, I’m cooking up a multi-million dollar suit.

Amazing, is the kindest thing I can say.

Word from Iraq, today, that people weren’t respectful at Saddam’s necktie party, has the denizens of the left all up in arms. Places like The Raw Story, The Huffington Post, LiberalOasis, AMERICAblog, Attytood, Eschaton, Brilliant at Breakfast Rising Hegemon,  Hot Air, Booman Tribune, and of course Talking Points Memo, ad nausium, are crying foul.

Makes you wonder about their mindset. Here’s someone who is directly responsble for the deaths of millions, and the maiming and torture of millions more,  and they’re all worried his executioners were less than polite?

I mean… what’s wrong with this picture, people?

?

From The New York Observer, this morning, comes word that Bill Keller, of the NY York Times is considering pulling a Hugo Chavez, and silence a voice he views as a problem:

 

The New York Times will soon decide whether it will do away with its public editor.

The two-year term of the current public editor, Byron (Barney) Calame, will conclude in May. There may, or may not, be another.

“Over the next couple of months, as Barney’s term enters the home stretch, I’ll be taking soundings from the staff, talking it over with the masthead, and consulting with Arthur,” meaning publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., wrote Bill Keller, The Times‘ executive editor, in an e-mail to The Observer.

Chavez, you’ll recall, denied the number 2 TV station in town a permit to operate because they were opposing him.  This seems a typical move. The rattle I’m hearing suggests that this is not being talked about in terms of ‘should we or shouldn’t we’, but ‘we should, but hiow can we get away with it’.  The subject is being brought to the discussion stage, I’m hearing, by Keller himself.

 Gee. How ordinary.

Hume, last night:

One of the Iranian president’s top advisers claims Adolf Hitler was a Jew who co-founded the state of Israel. The Middle East Media Research Institute reports Mohammad Ali Ramin told an Iranian Web site that Hitler — who orchestrated the murder of millions of Jews — was the son of a Jewish prostitute… and that while the Nazi leader identified with the Jewish faith, he was also disgusted by it in part because of his mother’s promiscuous ways. Ramin said Hitler was driven to create a Jewish state by his Jewish relatives — and out of a desire to push the Jews out of Europe.

Is there any doubt that the bats are out and about?

Worse, there are actually some people who believe this rot.

This, too, is one of the things I was speaking about anger last night. It doesn’t hae to make any sense,… in fact it generally does not. All it needs be is loud and aggressive. THe similarity in attitude between this moron and those here at home I spoke of last night, is striking.

Let’s talk about anger.

First, perhaps it’s useful to get a working definition, from the above link at Dictionary.com:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) – Cite This Source

an·ger /?æ?g?r/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[ang-ger] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation  

-noun  

1.	a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong; wrath; ire.

2.	Chiefly British Dialect. pain or smart, as of a sore.

3.	Obsolete. grief; trouble.

-verb (used with object)

4.	to arouse anger or wrath in.

5.	Chiefly British Dialect. to cause to smart; inflame.

-verb (used without object)

6.	to become angry: He angers with little provocation.

---

 

[Origin: 1150-1200; ME < Scand; cf. ON angr sorrow, grief, akin to OHG angust (G Angst fear), L angor anguish]

—Related forms

an·ger·less, adjective

—Synonyms 1. resentment, exasperation; choler, bile, spleen. Anger, fury, indignation, rage imply deep and strong feelings aroused by injury, injustice, wrong, etc. Anger is the general term for a sudden violent displeasure: a burst of anger. Indignation implies deep and justified anger: indignation at cruelty or against corruption. Rage is vehement anger: rage at being frustrated. Fury is rage so great that it resembles insanity: the fury of an outraged lover. 4. displease, vex, irritate, exasperate, infuriate, enrage, incense, madden.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

There seems to be an awful lot of talk about political anger these last few months, and years, but, is such anger limited to politics? I have stated in these spaces often enough that someone’s politics is, in the end, nothing more a reflection of that someone’s values. Their inner desires, if you will. So, it is this anger we’re seeing reflected in the politics of today, running deeper?

Stanley Kurtz, in reviewing Peter Wood’s new book, A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now, says that…

…America has entered an enduring age of anger, and Peter Wood is the able (and unruffled) chronicler of that epoch.

I doubt that even Barack Obama can save us from our anger now. That’s because the anger that lately pervades our politics is more than just an aftereffect of six years of Democratic setbacks (although the strikingly angry Democratic response to their six bad years does call for an explanation). Our political anger is only the most impressive expression of a much wider cultural transformation. In politics, in music, in sports, on the web, in our families, and in the relations between the sexes, American anger has come into its own. Wood says we’re living in an era of “New Anger,” and regardless of who becomes our next president, New Anger isn’t going away anytime soon.

He goes on to define old anger as the anti-hero. We’re talking about the strong silent individual such as a sergeant York for example, as played by John Wayne, Gary Cooper. Or, perhaps the Clint Eastwood type. We are talking here about someone who is slow to anger, and even when he gets angry to the point of being forced into action, doesn’t show it very much. Says Kurtz:

That was then. America’s New Anger exchanges the modest heroism of Gary Cooper’s Sargent York for something much closer to the Incredible Hulk. New Anger is everything that Old Anger was not: flamboyant, self-righteous, and proud. As a way to “empowerment” for ethnic groups, women, political parties, and children, New Anger serves as a mark of identity and a badge of authenticity. The Civil War, and America’s past political campaigns, may have witnessed plenty of anger, yet not until recently, says Wood, have Americans actually congratulated themselves for getting angry. Anger has turned into a coping mechanism, something to get in touch with, a prize to exhibit in public, and a proof of righteous sincerity.

But this is where things take a left turn:

New Anger is nowhere more at home than in the blogosphere, where so far from being held in check, look-at-me performance anger is the path to quick success. Wood’s section on the “proud maliciousness” of bloggers (titled “Insta-Anger”) will stir debate, yet it’s far from a blanket indictment. The Insta-Pundit himself is off the hook, for example. “[Glenn] Reynolds’ comments are often sardonic but seldom angry,” says Wood. On the other hand, Atrios explaining “Why We Say ‘F***’ a Lot” (expurgation most definitely not in the original) fares far less well at Wood’s hands.

In a fascinating interview with Wood, Noah Millman (of Gideon’s Blog) Wood says, “Yes, I think bloggers are overly contemptuous of political opponents.” That is the question. Is the affected contempt that characterizes New Anger a good thing? It is not, thinks Wood. Yet blogger contempt is a novel and fascinating cultural phenomenon, and Wood dissects it with flair. Here’s a bit of Wood on blogs: “Perhaps the dominant form of political blogging in general (Left and Right) is a sassy, hyperarticulate belittling of one’s opponents. The blogger’s rhetorical stance is one of self-confident control over the facts and sneering disregard for the intelligence and honesty of those he criticizes.”

Certainly, the situation described is prevalent on leftist sites, but not so much on the sites populated by those on the right. Granted, that that situation is changing, but it’s going to be some time before the right catches up to the anger that the left has been showing in the ‘sphere.

Mind you, this anger doesn’t necessarily have to make sense ; in fact… it generally doesn’t. Which, it can be said to be the sole point at which the right delves into derision of the writings of their leftist counterparts. But they still have and raise themselves to the level of anger; and they seem rather to be amused and bemused.

Well, perhaps that’s why the readership of this blog never quite got to the level of some of the more rabid far left sites. For the largest part of the authorship of this site has never gotten that deeply into such ‘angry’ behavior. Then again, neither has the authorship of such sites as Glenn Reynolds’ place, or places like OTB, Q&O and so on. And those seem to be doing all right… so, perhaps that’s not the key, here. But enough about Blogs; I’m looking across the whole of society here, and finding a lot more anger than I care to.

Back to the reflection part; one cannot listen to most urban radio stations, any more, without hearing an awful lot of anger growing in the music played on them. This is not the practiced cynicism of, say, Jethro Tull, nor is it the slightly internalized aggression offered by Steppenwolf. This is naked aggression, aimed at ANY authority. A classic example:

 

I got my black shirt on.
I got my black gloves on.
I got my ski mask on.
This shit’s been too long.
I got my twelve gauge sawed off.
I got my headlights turned off.
I’m ’bout to bust some shots off.
I’m ’bout to dust some cops off.
Cop killer, better you than me.
Cop killer, f**k police brutality!
Cop killer, I know your family’s grievin’
(f**k ’em)
Cop killer, but tonight we get even.
I got my brain on hype.
Tonight’ll be your night.
I got this long-assed knife,
and your neck looks just right.
My adrenaline’s pumpin’.
I got my stereo bumpin’.
I’m ’bout to kill me somethin’
A pig stopped me for nuthin’!
Cop killer, better you than me.
Cop killer, f**k police brutality!
Cop killer, I know your mama’s grievin’
(f**k her)
Cop killer, but tonight we get even.
Die, die, die pig, die!
F**k the police!
F**k the police!
F**k the police!
F**k the police!
F**k the police!
F**k the police!
F**k the police yeah!

 

Now the album this was pulled from, by most accounts, wasn’t all that good, even by rap music standards. The attempt, supposedly, was to create some kind of all black heavy metal band, the trouble was they have the foggiest idea what they were doing with it, the musicianship, in short, wasn’t… the lyrics while bold and incendiary were certainly not up to the standards of anyone else that was working in the field at that time. The songs were unquestionably talked about, and sold a lot of copies, but in the end they were not very good.

Yet, the album sells millions. Why? Because of the attitude reflected. I’m not picking on rap music, particularly, here. There’s certainly quite a bit in the rock world that goes alongside it, these days , the grandfather of which was punk rock. Consider the lyrics from a popular movie’s soundtrack:

Just where is our future, the things we’ve done and said!Let’s just push the button, we’d be better off dead!

‘Cause I hate you!

And I berate you!

And I can’t wait to get to you!

The sins of all our fathers, being dumped on us — the sons.

The only choice we’re given is how many megatons?

And I eschew you!

And I say, screw you!

And I hope you’re blue, too.

We’re all bloody worthless, just greedy human scum.

The numbers all add up to a negative sum.

And I hate you!

And I hate you!

And I hate you…too!

OK, OK, I know that this song was supposed to lighten the mood in the movie.(Can you guess which movie?)

Yes, I know… It’s a caricature, for God’s sake….. But hold the phone a minute. Caricatures, are based on the reality.There is no comedy at least in the spoken word that, if it works, that doesn’t paint a picture of reality. Caricatures are reality, amplified in every direction. The reason that that’s scene worked, was because the caricature was so accurate, in many uncomfortable details.

But the music isn’t the source of the anger either. Here’s a hint: For all that it is, music cannot create. It can only amplify the existing moods and feelings. It is, in fact, like politics, a reflection of the values of the artists and listeners. There is some deep seated need within the people producing and buying this garbage, to have those feelings legitimized. It gives each an identity. makes them a member of what they see as a club if you will. Membership in that club, is paramount. Like the tribes of old, its members protect their own. This would be the only logical reason behind the comment from LaShawn Barber, that David linked to earlier today.

Why did certain blacks in Durham, North Carolina, rally around a black stripper claiming to have been gang raped by three white men but virtually ignore the more destructive trend of black-on-black crime in their midst? (Duke blogger KC Johnson elaborates on blacks’ deafening silence about the latest developments in the so-called rape case.)

The reason is a simple one, if an uncomfortable one; tribal membership. You don’t go ballistic on members of your own tribe. Even if, as LaShawn points out, they’re dead wrong. Even if not doing so is by every logic known to man, self destructive. That LaShawn doesn’t understand it speaks well of her, but in asking such questions, she’s painted a circle on her back for the ‘angry’ crowd… in much the same way as Doctor Thomas Sowell has been labeled “uncle Tom” by the angries.

That anger, is being seen in the politics of today, as it is being seen in every other part of society. Just like the music, it doesn’t necessarily have to make sense, all it has to be his loud, and angry and, aggressive. I have summarized elsewhere:

Think about this seriously for a moment. Have you ever seen a hip hop CD or for that matter, any kind of rap literature, where the pictures on them have smiling people in them? I’ll tell you point blank, I haven’t. The reasons are simple enough. The kind of music we’re dealing with is all about anger, and power and the grabbing of it. . Anger against everyone and everything that stands in the way of instant and total gratification, be it sex money, whatever. It all represents POWER.

My point here is not a racial one; Black music certainly isn’t the only to have fallen under this spell of anger. I would point to what passes for today’s heavy metal, speed metal, etc. acts, for examples of the problem on the white side of the aisle. Just a few years ago now bands like Boston, Deep Purple, Yes, Zepp, or before them Uriah Heep, and that crowd, etc., were considered out on the edge of the metal scene. A comparison of musical content and lyrical content between that generation of bands and this, is downright startlingâ… even for those who have followed or been part of the music scene for the last 30 some odd years. When’s the last time you heard a metal band playing an uplifting tune of the stature of Triumph doing “Hold On”, for example?

Mind you, in either case, I don’t see the music as an instigator so much as a carrier of this anger. Rather like germs, it has the ability to infect the listener, to the point where the listener and eventually believes the nonsense he’s being fed in the music.

However, the music wouldn’t exist without the anger. And the music is not the root problem. The music is but a symptom of the anger. The anger is, as I have said previously, cultural in nature, and that anger culture advances as it is able to break down our existing American culture.

And that part is crucial, I think. I don’t think that there are many who partake of this anger who are about changing culture for the better, rather, they’re simply changing it because they can; It is merely an exercise in raw power. The damage being done to everyone involved including themselves matters little, if at all.
So, with all this anger out there, why should we be surprised that it shows up in politics and the music, and in our interactions with each other?
So, now we have a working definition of what we’re talking about. This is a phenomenon that has been a couple decades in coming, but now it is here and needs to be dealt with…

…If we can. 

Therein, lies the problem. How does one deal with such a problem? How does one turn that situation around? Frankly, I wonder if it can be turned around. And the reason for my doubt is the apparent lack of reasoning.

There is an old saying, of which there are several variations I’ve heard, but the gist of it is that of all the emotions, only love is unreasonable. By that, it is meant that only love is illogical and its applications. There is no logical reason for John to fall in love with Mary, for example. Yet happily, it happens many times a day.

Now, also consider; It is also said of old, that hate is love turned in on itself. Is the anger that we are seeing in the society of today, hate? It most certainly has all the earmarks of it. Some of it includes self hatred along with the hatred being directed of everybody else.

 What we have in front of us, under discussion, is a reason- less also. The arguments presented in support of the kind of anger we see do not make sense. Never have. Which to my mind, raises the likelihood that the “reasons” that are offered are merely excuses ; they are operating on sheer emotionalism, without reason, without logic.

So, we are faced with the same question asked by King Theodin in Lord of the Rings, in a different context; “How do we deal with such mindless hate?”

That, I think is going to be the question of our time. One possible answer to that question, is that the un-angry majority, finally gets angry themselves and quietly, like the anti-heros of old, stands up and says “that’s enough” and displays a little anger of their own. I suspect the resulting display is going to be terrible to behold. It will also undoubtedly take on a cultural context the likes of which has not been seen since the American civil war. This is going to be a happening, that not many of even the anti heroes are going to walk away from, into the sunset.
But, there’s a backlash building against all this nonsense, already. there will be a great number ostensibly open minded people, finally realizing the nature of the attack that they’re under. When that happens, and they respond, it will be ugly.

I will quietly tell you that I hope I’m not alive to see it.

Nifong’s actions are inexplicable only if you assume that his purpose was to get at the truth about what actually happened at the party where the stripper claimed to have been raped.

That assumption has never been made in this column. From day one, I have never believed that this case was about rape, about the Duke lacrosse players or about the “exotic dancers” or strippers.

District Attorney Nifong’s actions are perfectly consistent and logical from start to finish, once you see that this case is about Nifong’s own career.

That’s Doctor Thomas Sowell who has graduated to the obvious. This is exactly what this blog, and a few zillion others, said on day one of this nonsense.

It’s time for Nifong to see jail time, my freinds… and for his employer to be seeking an out of court settlement with the young men involved, so as not to have the taxpayers paying even more money, trying to defend itself against it’s own DA’s actions.

I think it may be a while before residents of that county elect another Democrat.

 A tale of two homocides, which left two black men dead.    Ten of thousand protested the death of Sean Bell.   Wheras his fellow citizens seemed rather unmoved by the death of  Kevin West.

The difference?   Bell died at the hands of the police.  West by unidentified member of his community.  Yet both are equally dead. 

In the USA Today, DeWayne Wickham asks, “Where’s the outrage over black-on-black killings? ”

Let me put this another way: The number of blacks killed in 2005 in this one homicide category alone approaches the total of all the blacks lynched in this country from 1882 to 1968, according to records maintained by Tuskegee University.

So why aren’t black leaders taking up this fight? Why do so many turn out to decry the death of one black man at the hands of some cops, but no mass rallies take on the deaths of thousands of blacks who are slaughtered by other blacks?

More:  Baltimore Crime.

Appendum:  La Shawn Barber is mad:

Why did certain blacks in Durham, North Carolina, rally around a black stripper claiming to have been gang raped by three white men but virtually ignore the more destructive trend of black-on-black crime in their midst? (Duke blogger KC Johnson elaborates on blacks’ deafening silence about the latest developments in the so-called rape case.)

First Jamil Hussein and now Eason Jordan.   What gives?

Yesterday Bit wrote:

If we’re to take the reports from AP at face value, it would appear that Jamil Hussein, That mysterious, erstwhile “informed source” over in Iraq …. the one who fed the Associated Press (by their claim, at least) a long series of highly questionable reports, has resurfaced

Now Rusty Shacklord, Jawa Report, writes “Eason Jordan (!) Demands Panel Investigate AP:”

We’ll see how long it lasts, but the stonewalling of the AP regarding the Jamil Hussein scandal has gotten so bad that Eason Jordan (yes, that Eason Jordan) is even demanding that the AP appoint an independent panel to investigate and uncover the truth here,

I have conflicting reactions here.  First, who is Eason Jordan to criticize anybody for refusing to uncover the truth?   Jordan’s journalist reputation, such as it is, is based on a stubborn refusal to report the news.

Second, apparently the Associated Press’ reputation has sunk so low that even Eason Jordan feel qualified to lecture AP on how to run her business.

Some of you may recall that we had a discussion in these spaces as regards to the violence in France, particularly that which was concentrated in the Muslim areas surrounding Paris.  Apparently, not much has changed, except for the idea that the mainstream news media hasn’t bothered reporting on it.

By way of Mercury, in Tasmania, comes the report:

VANDALS set fire to about 400 cars overnight and police said they arrested more than 250 people, as violence marred France’s New Year celebrations.  However, a police spokesman said there were fewer problems than in 2005, when youths attacked trains in the Paris region and southeast of the country.

Well, I guess that’s an improvement, then.  (chuckle) There are few places on earth that can rival Paris in terms of the amount of denial going on.

The Washington Post is saying, this morning:

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

So much for openness, and bipartisanship.  Is anybody surprised, really?

go and read this.

And if that isn’t the impression they were trying to leave, the error that ABC made in this case is reprehensible.

If we’re to take the reports from AP at face value, it would appear that Jamil Hussein, That mysterious, erstwhile “informed source” over in Iraq …. the one who fed the Associated Press (by their claim, at least) a long series of highly questionable reports, has resurfaced. Curt at Flopping Aces picks up the tale:

Here we go again with the AP.  Coalition forces had a firefight today in Baghdad in which they killed six of the enemy.  During the fight two buildings caught fire:

Coalition Forces killed six terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during a fierce firefight Monday morning in Baghdad.Intelligence reports indicated the targeted location was used as a possible safe house for al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists to conduct operational planning.

While approaching the targeted area, Coalition Forces received heavy automatic weapons fire and hand grenades from the top of several nearby buildings.  Coalition Forces returned fire killing two terrorists.  Several armed men fled to a third building.

Coalition Forces received fire from the top of the third building and they returned fire.  Coalition Forces were able to establish a foothold in one of the adjacent buildings.

Due to the heavy amount of enemy fire received two buildings caught on fire.

While receiving heavy automatic weapons fire from many directions, Coalition Forces managed to kill four more terrorists and detain one.

One of the buildings from which Coalition Forces received heavy enemy fire, including grenade launches, was later identified as belonging to Dr. Salih al-Mutlaq al-Dulaymi, the Chairman for the Iraqi National Dialogue Council.

But the AP, using a “anonymous” police source now (cough), print how the police say it was a airstrike:

But police described the incident as an airstrike that killed four members of a family and wounded a guard outside al-Khafaji’s house. A man at the scene said a guard at al-Mutlaq’s office was also killed, but the police could not confirm his account.

AP Television News video showed rubble in the area and what appeared to be a long smear of blood from a body dragged across the floor. Walls in the buildings were pitted with marks apparently from bullets and shrapnel.

How much you want to bet this “police” official is another “Jamil Hussein”?

Yes, that would tend to make the most sense out of anything that we could come up with. Curt has quite a bit more in the story and you should go over and see what he has; apparently this kind of fraud is not limited to the Associated Press.

Then again, why should it be?  After all the kind of leftist, anti-American bias that we’ve seen here at home hasn’t been limited to the AP, either.

Perhaps, Billy.

look, this isn’t fully thought through, so if this comes out a little sideways, forgive…

But as somebody who comes from a sales background, as an adjunct to my broadcast career, (what is broadcasting, but sales, after all? ) I find this disconnection proposed, interesting, in that so much of the art of selling people things, involves the unthinking unconscious physical reaction.

Indeed, the entire idea behind putting certain items near the cash registers of your favorite grocery store, is based entirely on unthinking an unconscious physical reaction; the impulse buy.

The design of automobiles, electronics, Even the shape of bottles that such inane sundries such as hair gel, all are designed specifically to create an unconscious reaction thereby leading the prospective buyer toward impulse buy.
The only point I’m making here, is that this operation is not quite so cut and dried as Mark Humphrey would seem to suggest in his writing.

That bears on the larger issue that you point to with regards to the individual versus, one assumes, the state, in a way that exposes many of the tactics used by socialists to ply their trade; Example: “it’s for the children”… “invest in America”, etc.
There is, to my mind a serious lack of thought that goes into the response to such a phrase, amongst most people.  How could anyone consciously argue against helping “the children?” is the instinctive, unthinking response. And so programs the normal person would never support otherwise, particularly if the costs in money and freedom were listed, get popular.
That’s a few examples of many in my thought, and I propose no hard and fast rules here, with regards to measurement of such phenomena, and I don’t even know if there is in fact scientific proof that links the two. I suggest no hard and fast relationship, no direct cause and effect, as there would be in the hard sciences….But it does strike me as interesting that so many have had such good results with what could only be labeled programming to elicit unconscious responses. It seems enough to me to merit further investigation of it… Given the success rate, I don’t think it can be fully dismissed.   Or at least, consideration of the relationship in future discussions.  The cause and reactions I’ve mentioned are certainly not directly relatead a tall, but on the other hand they are not wholly disconnected either, or a lot less sales would be made… and a lot less socialists would be made, also.
(shrug)

Of course, the really obvious point I’m making is that the key is thinking.  And that some so often do so little of it, is perhaps the core of the matter.

Who owns American English?

In the morning fish wrapper, I read a version of this article suggesting the banning of several words.  I was tempted to give the LSSU professors the esteemed BB award.  Yet the perfessors at LSSU didn’t quit seem to take themselves that seriously.

I also surfed across an article by Dr. Elizabeth Kantor Monday, which included this one little gem:

Are “Christianists”—Andrew Sullivan’s newly coined word for Christians.

My point is simply this, if one person, any one person, in this case Andrew Sullivan, can coin, or invent, a word, who is anybody, including the professors at LSSU, to tell me the word is banned?

Once again, we see the only language the extremists within Islam understand: Power.

KISMAYO, Somalia -AP- Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement Monday, while hundreds of Islamic fighters — many of them Arabs and South Asians — fled the town.

To cheering and waving crowds, well-armed troops drove into Kismayo after clearing roads laced with land mines that had been left by an estimated 3,000 hard-line Islamic fighters fleeing a 13-day military onslaught by government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and MiG fighter jets.

Ummmm… wait a tick… land mines?  Didn’t the United Nations ban their use just a short time ago?  It would appear that somebody’s not abiding by U.N. resolutions. (Snicker)
And the presence of Arabs in this mix, tends to confirm something that I thought quite a while ago, in fact I predicted that by year’s end this would be happening; the Arabs involved are clearly in Somalia, because they were not able to successfully ply their trade closer to home, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In any event, the exit of these extremists, would appear to signal a way to deal with them; Kicking butt.

Oh, wait… don’t tell the Democrats.