Democracy has no inherent value.

Jonah Goldberg has previously written at some length that elections, even democratic and unrigged elections (unlike Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Palestinian Authority), are not inherently good civic events ("Elections aren't any more inherently moral or useful than a hammer. I can use a hammer to build a house or to smack you in the forehead [which could also be moral if you're doing something very bad to provoke me].").

I agree that there is no "good" that inheres in or is a by-product of a free election just because a country holds that election. Instead, the most visible act of democratic exercise can be a tool for great evil. The proof: (1) in 1946, Czechoslovakia elected a Communist government by plurality; that government proceeded to Stalinize the country; Hungary had a similar situation, but with more direct Soviet interference; (2) in 1933, Hitler won a plurality in the German general election, the aftereffects are self-explanatory; (3) Turkey voted, by plurality, for an Islamist government but it was a "demonstration" by the Turkish military that reinforced that country's secular tradition and preserved its democracy.

The point? The June 30 deadline for handing over Iraq to its provisional government and holding elections is an artificial construct. First, build rule of law, property rights, contract rights and democratic institutions that will withstand anti-democratic challenges, then worry about elections.

Middle East issues

I'm new on the blogging block, so my reactions won't carry the weight that Andrew Sullivan's statements do. Nonetheless, he's barking up the wrong tree on the manpower issue in the Iraq occupation. There seemed to be a lack of vigilance, exemplified last week, more than a lack of manpower. The answer = more active rooting-out of insurgents and less happy garbage about how Islamist insurgents are not our primary enemy.

This inability to decry Islamist extremism is the same failure to recognize the real enemy of civilization, democracy, freedom, rule of law that is inherent in the worst of the Western press, the anti-Semitic BBC. Thanks to Mr. Sullivan for pointing me to the Natan Sharansky comments here.

Liberal face of Islamic World?

This is trouble waiting to happen: Morocco is an increasingly popular tourist spot for Americans and Western Europeans. But it seems that the country, or at least parts of it, is becoming an outpost for the Islamist fundamentalism that led to 9-11, the Madrid attack and all those anti-American terrorist actions that President Clinton failed to act against [WTC attack in '93, Khobar Towers, USS Cole, Nairobi/Dar Es Salaam embassy attacks]. Hat tip to Andrew Stuttaford on National Review.

Drinkin' the Kool-Aid

Five of ESPN's 18 "experts" have the same baseball dream: a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. Won't happen; and not just because I've been a Yankee fan my whole life. The Cubs will blow too many games late -- Joe Borowski worked out okay last year, but closers with 90-mph fastballs tend not to last long -- and Clement will not repeat his 2003 results. Combine that with Maddux's questionable ability at this point, Prior's injury and the Cubs will do well to win 90. Last year, that was sufficient to win the NL Central; this year, it won't be. Moreover, the Cubs won their division by one game last year over the Astros; on paper, the 'Stros have improved by a lot more than one game vis-a-vis the Cubs going into '04.

As for the hated Red Sox, it will be very interesting to see if Terry Francona (who looks just like Bruno Kirby, but with lighter hair) can keep that team together. The Red Sox hitters are unlikely to meet their 2003 collective marks that included career years from Nixon, Ortiz, Millar, and Mueller but Foulke and Schilling will eliminate any fall-off. No drop-off for the Red Sox means another 95 wins; that should not be enough to win the AL East but could get them into the AL playoffs. Early bet here, it'll be easier for the Red Sox to make the ALCS than it will for the Cubs to make the playoffs.

Tournament fever?

From a neutral standpoint, yesterday's men's Final Four doubleheader was a LOT better than any of the last four season's games. In 2000, Michigan State-Wisconsin was ugly, Florida-UNC was barely a contest; in 2001, Arizona-Michigan State was a blowout, Duke-Maryland was a classic; in 2002, Indiana-Oklahoma was sloppy, Maryland-Kansas was a decent game once KU got up off the mat; last year, Marquette-Kansas was an unmitigated disaster, Syracuse-Texas was a very good game. Yesterday = two "Instant Classics" if ESPN could get immediate re-broadcast rights from CBS. So now, some quick thoughts.

Duke's Mike Krzyzewski went through the same happy dance he always does on the all-too-rare occasions that Duke loses in the NCAA Tournament. First, he ripped on a newsie who suggested his team collapsed. Then he delivered his usual song-and-dance about how he loves his kids, etc., etc. All this after he yelled at the refs after the game "you killed us, you killed us, you killed us". But in the real world, going from 75-67 up with just more than three minutes left to down 79-75 with 3.2 seconds left, hoisting bad shots early in the shot clock while nursing a lead, and committing poor fouls is what Duke's opponents do when they collapse. Coach K needs to deal with it.

Give Jim Calhoun tons of credit. No panic; sticking to his philosophy of sitting his players who get two fouls in the first half until halftime even when it's the best player in the country, and getting Ben Gordon to go to the basket in the second half.

I'm happy for Paul Hewitt and Georgia Tech. I like Hewitt, he seems a decent guy and he is unquestionably a good coach. Nice job to get his team to the NCAA final game with his best player hobbled throughout the whole tournament. Considering that Hewitt led the Yellow Jackets to the final game -- something that Bobby Cremins never did -- and that Hewitt has cleaned up the mess Cremins left when he resigned, I'm thinking GT was a little premature to name the court at Alexander Memorial Colisseum after the white-haired wonder.

Scary thought

The last thing any person who values free speech wants to see is the incompetent, anti-democratic U.N. take control of the Internet. If anything even close to an ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) partnership with the U.N. arises, the profound negative impact on free speech throughout the world will be huge. No country has a tradition nor a view of free speech that is anywhere near as expansive as that of the United States. To give the regulation of the Internet over to the U.N. is a frightening concept as Neal Boortz explains.

Shiny Happy People?

If I'm paid $14 Mil a year to play a kid's game AND get a free trip to Japan in the deal, I'm less grumpy than Mike Mussina. Here's how Mr. Happy spent his week-long road trip when the Yanks went to play the D'Rays in Tokyo, according to the NY Daily News:

Mussina, meanwhile, seemed as if he would've preferred to not come. Apart from going to the ballpark, he left his hotel room only three times. Each time it was to eat. He was unhappy with his performance in taking the loss in the opener, though he said he could pitch Wednesday, when the Yankees resume the season. The Yankees are undecided on who will start, Mussina or Javier Vazquez, who didn't go to Japan.

Contrast that with Derek Jeter -- who wandered around Tokyo, enjoyed the sights and wants to return when he doesn't have to worry about the season. Why is it that Jeter gets all those endorsements? Perhaps it's the good-ambassador-for-the-sport factor, not just his face.

EUrocurious

Somehow, only the EU could spin a report that unambiguously shows that racially based attacks on Jews in EU countries are primarily committed by Muslims into a claim that "whites" are the primary culprits of anti-Semitic violence in EU nations. The Daily Telegraph headline says it all.

Bad News for the 'Hoos

I'm a University of Virginia graduate, so this is bad news from my standpoint: Pete Gillen is retaining his position as head coach. What's worse is the lame justification that Athletic Director Craig Littlepage (former UVa assistant basketball coach and former Rutgers head coach) gave for retaining Gillen: "The team did turn the corner competitively -- with a young team, practicing and playing without one of its best players, playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the country.''

Littlepage's statement cannot withstand scrutiny. Virginia's usual starting lineup consisted of two juniors, a senior and two freshmen; the 2003 Syracuse team that won the NCAA Tournament and went 30-5 (disclosure: I've been a Syracuse fan since childhood) had two sophomores, two freshmen and a senior in its starting lineup and its top bench players were a junior, sophomore and a freshman. Granted, one of those frosh was Carmelo Anthony, but Gillen has had his share of big-reputation recruits (Elton Brown, Travis Watson; the oft-injured Majestic Mapp should not count against Gillen) and has one NCAA appearance in six years. Gillen has rebuilt UVa to NIT level, someone else needs to build it to NCAA level.

Appeasement Works!

Not really. After Munich, Winston Churchill told British PM Neville Chamberlain that Chamberlain had a choice -- dishonor or war. "You chose dishonor, now you shall have war," Churchill said. Such is the nonexistent value of appeasement. And so it is in Spain, as this story attests.

WELCOME

Welcome one and all (and at this point, I may be the one and all of my readers). This is my new blog, The Key Monk. Name derivation explanation is not forthcoming because you need to "keep 'em wanting more."
What's the point? Instead of pinging my friends (now an ever-decreasing number) and family (same number) with random thoughts, articles, jokes and commentary, I decided to set this up to allow me to be productive and useful and potentially both at once. The start will be relatively slow as I figure out both how to post and how to link. More importantly, I'll try to set up my near-famous Travelogues in the Archives or set a link for them so they remain accessible (they'll always be entertaining ;-)).