Tuesdays with Paulie 08/28/07

Soccer Ball Offends Afghans
What idiot thought kicking Allah around would please Muslims?

Good intentions are not an excuse for ignorance or a disastrous outcome. The United States military has had to apologize for dropping soccer balls by helicopter to Afghan children in eastern Khost province. The sporting goods had Allah written on it and at least one ball had the Saudi Arabia flag, which contains Arabic script the Islamic declaration of faith and the words Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.

The ball drop was designed to be a public relations move, but obviously the genius that came up with this idea understood his target audience about as well as Bill Clinton understands Monogamy.

Like so many cultures in the world, soccer is a popular sport. However, Muslims cherish all printed verses from the Koran as well as any use of names Allah or his prophet Muhammad. The concept of kicking around a ball or any item for that matter that contains these holy words is appalling to Muslims.

What part of "Duh" doesn't the military public relations machine understand? A spokesman claims they bought the balls from a market in Kabul and they were made in China. However, even if that is the case and I doubt it, wouldn't you examine the item minimally just to make sure they had proper air and weren't torn at all? When doing so wouldn't you notice any writing and verify what it said? Heck, if the balls were believed to made in China wouldn't you take an extra step and make sure they ball cover wasn't made with lead. Let's wake up here!

As I said before, good intentions are no excuse for a bad outcome. However that is the American way. At home we spend record amounts of money on education and our schools progressively get worse. We create bigger and more expensive social programs to help people, but end up creating generations of welfare recipients and more Americans living in poverty.

After learning about the soccer ball fiasco in Afghanistan, your brilliant blogger wasn't surprised. As much as I support our efforts there and support our troops abroad, the fact is that they are all part of government and the bureaucrats who run them. Years ago columnist George Will wrote that the last successful venture by the federal government was World War II. Those words are more true today than ever and truth be told, WWII has more failures than Iraq ever did.

Unfortunately we live in a post 9/11 world. We also are still recovering from eight years of President Clinton dismantling our military and are in the 7Th year of President Bush and his inability to communicate. Military failures are part of life and since the primary job of government is to protect it's citizens from enemies, foreign and domestic, we have to deal with government ineptitude and it's effects on protecting the country.

We can take comfort in knowing that as long as government incompetence is not expanded. Our military will eventually prevail, our economy will be strong or recover from recessions and we can lives our lives and raise our families under the banner of freedom.

Unfortunately the bureaucratic morons who thought kicking Allah around in Afghanistan was a good idea are currently running our schools and want to control the health care system. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Michael Vick Finds Jesus
He was referring to Jesus Lopez his Gardner

It's nice to know that former Atlanta Falcons Quarterback, Dog murderer and sponsor of dogfighting events, Michael Vick has found God. Isn't that always the case. Didn't Paris Hilton recently talk about her new relationship with the Lord?

Vick is going to jail and I'm sure whatever time he serves won't be nearly enough. As media headlines regarding Vick appear daily, the true horror of his crime is lost in the shuffle.

I want you to think about your pet or an animal you are close too or had been during your life. Now imagine that animal placed in a cramped cage, purposely tortured to make them mean, starved to make them insane and eventually placed in ring with another tortured animal and having to fight to the death or near death, which means after the match the loser you would be hung, drowned or electrocuted. The winner would have to live with excruciating painful wounds and within a few days have to fight to the death again. Meanwhile people (that is a stretch) are watching and betting on these fights for amusement and financial gain.

Now multiply the above scenario a few dozen or hundred times.

Do think 12-18 months in prison enough for Vick? Should he ever play in the NFL again? The answer is NO to both.

When this story broke we heard about dogfighting being part of the Hip Hop culture. I can't speak for that because I simply don't know enough about that scene. However it has been recently revealed that dead and buried dogs have been found on the property of rapper DMX. If the Hip Hop community, which is very influential on African American youth as well as children in urban areas in general, is glorifying dogfighting, then a national epidemic may be brewing and we have to stop it now.

Political correctness tells us that those speak out against Hip Hop are labeled racists. One of the real tragedies of modern day American society is that the well-being of our children takes a back seat to fear of consequences of revealing the truth. Like always, silence will be the norm and our kids won't learn right from wrong.

In your own home tell your kids about treating animals humanely and that Hollywood stars, athletes and musicians are not necessarily right or should be admired just because they have fame and money. In fact I have always prided myself on knowing that if the pop culture icons are spewing an opinion or view, usually political, I know that if I disagree with their position, I'm undoubtedly in the right.

Paulie