The “Blame America” crowd is at it again

This time, they’re telling us all about how the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, are in fact the fault of America. You see, the reason Muslim fanatics commit these acts is because we, the US, have failed in our solemn duty to educate them all, give them all jobs, and combat their totally irrational propaganda about us.

Fortunately, Dorothy Rabinowitz has a piece up in the WSJ exposing this nonsense, and bemoaning the fact that it’s become so commonplace that we are no longer surprised by it:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122809544395968075.html

Victim? I think not.

One of the more sordid news stories last week involved a couple that got caught having sex in the restroom at a college football game. In addition to the violation of public decency, the “couple” wasn’t really a couple at all – in fact, they didn’t even know each other. Worse yet, the woman is married.

Still, none of this would be blogworthy were it not for the recent revelation that the woman is now claiming she was somehow drugged in order to get her to engage in the above-mentioned conduct:

“I would never ever do that,” Feldman said. “My kids are my life. I go to church every Sunday.”

Um…methinks the lady doth protest too much. By all accounts, Mrs. Feldman had consumed a heavy amount of wine before the game – to the point that her husband suggested she stay home. Instead, they went to the game, she got up from her seat to use the restroom, and the rest is history. There was no indication from witnesses, police, or Mrs. Feldman herself at the time of her arrest that the activity was anything less than consensual, though I believe Mrs. Feldman when she says she was so blitzed she doesn’t remember it. As far as we can tell her “partner in crime” was blitzed also. So how come all of a sudden several days later he’s a predator and she’s an innocent churchgoing mom?

Isn’t it more likely that Mrs. Feldman, having been caught red-handed in the midst of a drunken extra-marital public sex romp, is grasping at straws to find some way to restore her marriage, let alone her reputation? So why not play the victim card? Never mind that alcohol, while lowering inhibitions, doesn’t make you do anything you don’t actually want to do. Never mind that there are women who really are the victims of sexual predators, whose stories Mrs. Feldman cheapens and smears with her attempt to co-opt the mantle of victimhood. Never mind that every false accusation of sexual assault ruins the life of the accused and endangers the well being of real future victims who will be that much less likely to be believed.

Instead of obviating her shame, I would argue that Mrs. Feldman has multiplied it with this disgraceful attempt to avoid taking responsibility for her own actions.

A new low for Cleveland

Rude and embarrassing behavior by sports fans is certainly nothing new. While the majority of fans at any sporting event are well behaved, there are always a few who disgrace their city and their team.

For example, when a player on the opposing team gets injured, the classy thing to do is to applaud politely as they are taken off the field, in recognition of their effort and as a sign of respect. Or at least maintain a respectful silence. Unfortunately, sometimes fans boo or cheer an injured player in an excess of partisanship. No one should ever be glad that a player has been hurt.

Yesterday in Cleveland, however, some fans at the Browns game hit a new low: They cheered when their *own* quarterback, Derek Anderson, got hurt. Now, I realize that it’s been a very frustrating season for Cleveland and their team has performed below expectations. But that is no excuse. Anderson was the savior of the Browns just one year ago and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl. This year, he hasn’t performed as well, and was benched in favor of the young Brady Quinn, a fan favorite. Quinn got hurt earlier, which led to Anderson being back on the field. With Anderson out after the injury, Cleveland was left with their third-string QB to finish out the game.

The fact that Anderson has disappointed, or that fans prefer Quinn as their QB, is absolutely no excuse to celebrate a player being injured. Cleveland fans should be embarrassed by this classless and disgraceful display. No team spirit can flourish if nurtured in such petty and spiteful venom. Clearly some folks in Cleveland are overdue for a Sanity Injection.

Questioning the AIDS advocacy conspiracy

I was very pleased to see this piece in the Associated Press questioning whether too great a percentage of international humanitarian assistance is being devoted to AIDS and not enough to other serious illnesses:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iPxuWgKJF4fy58hpf7YYJHQq_k6wD94PCE880

I never thought I would see the day when AP would, without sneering, quote an analyst criticizing the entrenched AIDS advocacy industry. The simple truth is that there are people who earn their living by making sure the funding stream for AIDS never diminishes, and they do it by deliberately exaggerating the extent of the threat. This has been going on since the 1980s.

That’s not to say that AIDS isn’t a major health concern in some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. But the level of resources being devoted to the disease is that of a major worldwide pandemic, and that simply isn’t the situation. As the article notes, even in African countries where AIDS remains a major problem, more children die of pneumonia and other diseases caused by a lack of clean water. I don’t presume to know what is the appropriate allocation of resources to all of these health issues, but I do think it is about time that such allocation be made according to factual information rather than slick PR campaigns designed to frighten and manipulate rather than inform.