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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
follow the signs, April 1, 2003
This review is from: Warning Signs (Paperback)
With all due deference to the author, I assure you this is meant to be wholly complimentary, we offer the following
analogy: Imagine, if you will, a young man in a penny arcade. He's had one too many Mountain Dews and the
Whack-a-Mole game is stuck in the "On" position. The vermin keep popping up endlessly and the lad is only too
happy to keep hammering them mercilessly. As we observe him, we are struck as much by his enthusiam as by his
persistence. Now, imagine him a grown man. Give him a cudgel formed of his own wit and intelligence, and turn
him loose on all of the nonsense that keeps popping up from the Left on topics like energy, the environment, animal
rights, education, the UN, and Islamicism. Alan Caruba--one time PR man, lifelong resident of the great County of
Essex in New Jersey, and now a prolific conservative columnist--is that man and this collection of essays his
weapon. He's just as much fun to observe, if not quite as manic, as our caffeine-stoked kid, as he pounds away at liberal myths, mistakes, and
outright lies, even though they just keep coming. Here, for instance, is a particulary appalling example of what he's up against, -ESSAY: Greens Attack US Military (Alan Caruba, September
2001, Conservative Monitor): "Endangered species has power to halt war training" was the headline on an article in an October 2000 edition of the Washington Times.
Written by Steve Miller and datelined Fort Irwin, California, the article began "What may be one of the most formidable threats to
national security today has a craggy face, scaly arms and, well, he likes a little grass now and then." He was referring to the desert
tortoise. Soldiers on the Army training center's battlefield were instructed to call a commander if a desert tortoise crawled out of a hole. At that
point, the entire training exercise would stop. This insanity has been repeated on every military base in the nation in one fashion or
another. The US Defense Department oversees and controls 17 million acres of US land, down from 30 million acres after World War II. It has
been losing the fight for space to train a modern military for years. When asked about the need for national security, a spokesman for the
Bureau of Land Management (the same one that shut off water to the farmers of Klamath Valley) was quoted in the article as saying,
"It is not in our purview to make a determination related to national security. Ours is to make sure the Endangered Species Act is
complied with." And, after reading that and what follows, it's hard not to agree with his conclusion: [T]he Greens have infiltrated our military establishment, just as they have done in our nation's schools, and throughout federal and state
government agencies. In every case, they have instituted and supported programs that will continue to have serious consequences for our
national security and sovereignty. It is time to identify and root out these enemies of our military. A good first step would be to rescind the DoD Office of Environmental
Security. This would help to begin restoring our nation's ability to wage war effectively against its enemies at home and abroad. Next, this nation has to rid itself of the Endangered Species Act and, ultimately, the greatest enemy of our national security, the
Environmental Protection Agency. Sure, Saddam's Fedayeen can't stop our troops from driving across the desert, but a bureaucrat and a freakin' turtle can? Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, the good auspices of web-based magazines like the excellent Enter Stage Right, and the fecundity of his own
mind, you can find many of Mr. Caruba's writings on-line (see below). This book though is an entertaining compendium of his commentaries from
the past couple years on the full range of issues he addresses week in and week out. It will, as he says, "mostly please people whose political choice
is conservatism." Of course, on finishing, you'll wonder how anyone could ignore all the warning signs and choose otherwise. But they do, so
maybe we'd all better grab mallets; here come some more moles...Grade: (B+)
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