Osama's Recruiting Sergeant

Britain’s ambassador to Italy called President Bush “the best recruiting sergeant” for al Qaeda. “If anyone is ready to celebrate the eventual re-election of Bush, it’s al Qaeda,” he explained.

Our American president does seem to have done wonders for the al Qaeda brand. Only a few years ago, it had only a few fanatical members armed with box cutters, hiding out in caves in Afghanistan. Now it is known around the world…and is picking up rocket launchers and automatic weapons, as well as thousands of new recruits, in the deserts of Iraq, a country where it previously had no presence at all.

“Lying rides upon debt’s back,” said Ben Franklin. The higher the debt level, the more people seem to want to believe what isn’t true.

We noted on Friday that a “gay” marriage was not the same as a “traditional” marriage. They may have many things in common; they differ only in the essentials. But the point was not widely appreciated among readers. Our little essay must have drawn blood. We spent much of yesterday wiping it off the carpet.

Of course, the complainers may be right. We may be heartless and hopelessly old-fashioned. But on the other hand, neither are we ready to pretend that a monkey with a blue derriere is the same as a blue dolphin just to avoid offending the apes. That doesn’t mean we have anything against monkeys. Nor does it have anything to do with the monkeys’ rights to enter the fish market.

Gays may call their unions whatever they like. For all we know, their partnerships may be more divine in some way that those between men and women. God does not clue us in on every detail of His Own Plan.

‘Twas not us who made them, nor us who judge them; we just can’t help but notice the difference.

From the Readers

“It is only because of your diatribe against gay marriages that I would seek to contradict and to counsel you. If the institution of marriage serves its purpose in the promulgation of family life, then that means that every union of a man and woman without children is null and void.

“And that means the union of my two male friends Jim and Sai (who is from Laos), who have adopted three brothers that no one else in Las Vegas would adopt because they had attention deficit disorder, is valid because it nurtures a family.

“It means that Jay and Jayson, who have adopted a child born to a mother who was using crack cocaine, and who are raising this child, have a valid union.

“It means that Lisa and Ann, who adopted children from a substance-abusing mother who had children who are HIV positive and who were abandoned until they found a home with two loving mothers, have a valid marriage.

“I am sure that there are intellectual arguments that you can use that denigrate the validity of what gay people offer the world, but the truth is that there are wonderful gay people in this world who are rearing children with chronic illnesses that their biological (and heterosexual) parents are not capable of raising. And the world is a blessed place for this, because the union of Jim and Sai and of Jay and Jayson was not about benefits, but to be afforded recognition for their commitment and respect for each other.

“That sounds like the institution of marriage is strengthened by having such men and women of virtue partaking in it.

“So I disagree with your diatribe on gays and marriage. If it were so anathema to society, Jesus might have said something about it, but you know, the more I read his book, the more I see that he saved his criticism for hypocrites, and not for those who lived his message and attended to the needs of children.”

“In response to the article about gay marriage…What rock did you crawl from under in France? Have you not heard of Canada? It is a country in North America, on Earth and yes, they DO have gay marriage! So do a couple other countries.”

Bill Bonner [send him mail] is the author, with Addison Wiggin, of Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving the Soft Depression of The 21st Century.