Friday Face-off

FACE-OFF:n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between opposing players. 2. A confrontation.

Dear reader, Redstater is on a plane headed to Baltimore. From there it is over to Harper's Ferry, WV for a weekend of biking and kayaking.

We will ride from Harper's Ferry to Antietam - from the site of one of the first terrorist acts in American history (We'll check to see if John Brown's body is still mouldering!) to the site of the bloodiest day of the Civil War. On September 17, 1862, 12,410 Union soldiers died in the process of killing 10,700 Confederates. Lee was forced to retreat back across the Potomac, but more significantly, England decided to not recognize the fledgling Confederacy. Lincoln, sensing the tide was turning, issued the Emancipation Proclomation three months later. Wierd thought about this history drenched trip: if John Kerry had been around back then, John Brown would have lived to be an old man and you might need a passport today to travel from Maryland to Virginia.

Because I'm already in a vacation mindset, I only have one item for the face-off today for you to consider.

I. What's the real story in Darfur? Obviously the UN won't do anything but blow air at the problem...but why? It's uniquely suited for them: ill-equipped and poorly trained army, lot's of Brownie points. Hell, even the French might be able to handle this one...like they did Bosnia...wait, the French didn't handle Bosnia.

But dammit, we're approaching 1 million dead or soon to be dead and Brer Kofi and pals are too busy undermining US efforts in Iraq to say a word? Wait, what was that you just whispered? OIL??!! From the Wall Street Journal: “The picture wouldn't be complete without mentioning the most promising oil field. Block 5 is situated in the south, where Khartoum just agreed on a peace deal after a 21-year campaign against the local Christian and animist Africans that left 2 million dead. Because of the fighting, TotalFinaElf, the FRENCH OIL GIANT that owns the concession to this field, suspended operations there in the 1980's. It can only tap those reserves if the peace holds.”Hmmmm, French oil interests versus a despotic government? Maybe Kofi can set his son up in another oil for food scam!


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