Good morning and welcome to the fifth Carnival of the Magnolias, the carnival of the Southern Blog Federation, a group of bloggers residing in the Southern U.S. The purpose of the carnival is pretty simple:
The purpose of this carnival is to highlight the best and brightest posts of the week written by southern bloggers from around the blogosphere.
Its been several weeks since there’s been a Carnival of the Magnolias, the last one being several weeks ago, so we’ve got plenty of great material to present this week.
We start out at INSIGHT on Freedom, Longstreet writes about the coming and seemingly inevitable confrontation between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran:
Do not be surprised one morning, soon, when you turn on your radio, or TV, to catch the news as you have your breakfast, to hear frantic reports on unexplained underground explosions detected in the area of Iran. Or, reports from Iran that unmarked aircraft, or low flying cruise missles, attacked some non descript pharmaceutical plant or some Iranian government installation. The attack will be, of course, unprovoked.
Unprovoked only in the sense that Iran will not have attacked first, of course. Personally, I suspect that when this happens the attack will come not from the United States, but from Israel, and the Middle East will erupt in flames.
Our next selection is also from Longstreet, who this time writes about the move by some to bring an end to “birthright citizenship” and prevent the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States from becoming citizens.
Over at Wayne’s World, Wayne’s Mom passes along a moving message from a soldier who has been stationed in Iraq since January of this year.
Diaz at Western Resistance takes a look at a new book on human nature and explains why this is a subject we need to be paying more attention to.
Next, Jack Cluth at The People’s Republic of Seabrook takes a look at the tenth anniversary of the Dayton Accords and talks about what the resolution of the Bosnian conflict can teach us about ethnic strife in other parts of the world.
One of the things I learned during my time in the former Yugoslavia is that ethnic hatred and distrust is a river that runs very deep. That hatred and distrust has been handed down from generation to generation and has flourished in a part of the world that above all else knows how to hold a grudge. This is a cycle that can be broken, if all three communities can agree to look forward instead of living in the past. Given what has happened since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, however, it?s understandable that leaving the past behind can be exceedingly difficult. My experience there, and the stories I heard, would chill the blood of any reasonable, thoughtful person. Forgiveness is not a quality that can be found in abundance in Bosnia or indeed in just about any part of the former Yugoslavia. To paraphrase the late Yitzhak Rabin, there has been too much blood and too many tears shed to think that Bosnians will simply let bygones be bygones?and yet, that is exactly what will need to happen if Bosnia is to have any hope for it?s future.
Given that the passions that led to the Bosnian Civil War exist in many other parts of the world, this is a lesson we would do well to learn.
Over at Tidbits and Treasures, and just in time for Christmas, Barbara takes a look at the reason for the season.
I?ve decided, whether the world recognizes the reason for the season or not, Christ is the reason we are here. I can choose to keep my focus on Him during the holidays, or I can get caught up in all the hullabaloo that goes along with the shopping at this time of year.
Good for you Barbara. I think we should all do the same this year. It bothers me alot when I see that the lesson we teach children about Christmas is not how much they can give, but how much will they get.
Next, Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality takes a look at the advantages that consumers might have in a world where cable television offered channels on an a la care basis. Like Josh, I agree that a la carte programming would be convenient to me; hopefully, the market will justify the cost-effectiveness of cable companies offering such a package someday.
Up next, and continuing in our consumer/business theme, we have my contribution about the anti Wal-Mart crusaders and their war against the poor.
Do a Google search for “anti Walmart” and you get your choice of about 6,880,000 links. The search term “walmart hurts america” returns 537,000 results. Clearly, there are plenty of folks out there who don’t like Wal-Mart. It hurts small business, they claim. It reduces wages, they assert. It contributes to suburban sprawl, claim others. As Sebastian Mallaby points out in today’s Washington Post, however, Wal-Mart has been a positive force in the economy and those who attempt to use the political arena to slow its expansion are, in reality, hurting the poor.
Next, Adam Gurri at Sophistpundit offers a survey of the gun control laws of four different countries and asks the question of whether banning guns actually reduces gun crime.
Back at The People’s Republic of Seabrook, Jack Cluth presents a story of human stupidity displaying itself in the context of a the Texas-Texas A&M college footbal rivalry.
Next, its back to Longstreet, who weighs in on the issue of the use of torture in the War on Terror:
We cannot disengage with this enemy. It cannot be done. If we withdraw, the bloodletting will only follow our troops home to the shopping malls, the hotel ballrooms, the schools of our children, the sports arenas, the transportation hubs, the largest cities, and on and on. No, understand folks, this is a war in which the last man standing wins !
From there, we move on to Brad Warbianny at The Unrepentant Individual who relates his encounter earlier this month with Congressman Tom Price.
Next, Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality relates some of his recent experiences travelling to and from Miami International Airport.
I appreciate that not everyone who lives in America speaks perfect English. Most Americans don?t, and even more of them can?t write it worth a damn. But you should at least be able to be functional in English, especially if you?re working in an airport! And functional doesn?t mean picking out one or two words and reciting a rote phrase; it means being able to speak the language with enough fluency ? and without an accent you have to swim through ? that native English speakers who know no Spanish can understand you.
Then we move to ROFASix, where we learn the story of yet another person misrepresenting their military service.
Then its back to The People’s Republic of Seabrook where Jack Cluth takes a look at the latest Republican counterattack in the Iraq war controversy.
Next, Adam Gurri at Sophistpundit takes a look at the state of modern journalism and asks what it would take to fix the sorry state of the old media.
So the traditional model of the newspaper or news station as a place to go to for information is rapidly becoming obsolete–we don’t need information given to us anymore, because we can seek it out elsewhere. What we could use are places that give us the perspectives of educated and experienced voices from various fields.
Sounds a heck of alot like the blog world to me, and there are some traditional media outlets embracing this new world, while others shun it to their detriment.
Back at Multiple Mentality, Josh talks about the latest assault on property rights coming out of Atlanta.
Up next, Don Surber offers his latest podcast on last week’s Iraqi elections.
Barbara Sanders at Tidbits and Treasures presents There Is Life After Middle Age. I, for one, am glad to hear it.
Finally, we end with two posts about the holidays. First, Reb Chaim HaQoton at Reb Chaim HaQoton presents From Maccabean Warriors to Hasmonean Kings to Roman Slaves, relating part of the story of Hanukah. And, finally, ack Cluth at The People’s Republic of Seabrook presents his take on the so-called war on Christmas.
And, that closes the door on this week’s edition of the Carnival of the Magnolias. The next scheduled Carnival is set for January 9th and will be hosted by The Unrepentant Individual.
Linked with TTLB’s Ubercarnival.
