On the Front

Some people don't know which side their bread is buttered.

These South Korean protesters demand the removal of US troops which have been stationed there since the "end" of the Korean War (please read this). South Koreans have enjoyed a love/hate relationship with Americans. The Americans are big and brash but bring in English-speaking skills (which- believe me- the South Koreans will pay handsomely for) money and, more importantly, security. The second the Americans leave and the overwhelming exodus of South Koreans to anywhere but the Korean peninsula comes to a chaotic and cacophonic crescendo, the Chinese and Russian-backed North Koreans will steamroll over. There will be a united Korea, just not the one many envisioned.

My advice- keep the Americans there. They bring Doritos and heavy tanks.

There is also word that new president Obama- whom North Korea (whoever is running it these days) is eager to deal with- will keep North Korea as a low priority. I suppose the incoming socialist has bigger fish to fry with public dollars.

Chinese parents of children poisoned by milk products reject the government's attempt to ward off an uprising. I find it funny that people living in a totalitarian regime think they can make their government accountable. Not the ill children, though. That's horrible.

Surprise, surprise. Sixty-one ex-detainees at Guantanamo have resumed terrorist activities. I guess someone owes Mr. Bush an apology.

In yet another surprise, Israeli troops find one huge gun at a mosque. Human life isn't sacred, promises aren't sacred and houses of worship aren't sacred. How is anyone to deal with someone who would hide a rather large weapon in a place where God supposedly is? If this had been a Catholic church and the IRA was hiding weapons, CNN would be all over it and we would hear how Catholics- in all their backward and demented fervour- are ruining the world.

Upset that Pope Benedict XVI's decision to include a prayer for conversion during Easter week Masses, Italian rabbis are pulling out of a celebration of Judaism. This is a mistake. Discussion cannot continue without the necessary parties. The olive branch has been extended by the Church to the "offended" parties. It would be wrong to refuse it over what may be to an outsider a "procedural matter". Furthermore, no external or internal party should re-define or change the Mass. I can live without Tridentine Masses or Latin (not that I have a problem with either, per se) but the language and the form of the Mass should stay the same and not be altered because of some trend or discomfort rooted in political correctness. There is no hatred or hostility, only a need to keep tradition.

Just my thoughts.