A Tempest in a Teapot: Faux controversey over Stanley Statue

In the history of colonial exploration and adventure, the most quoted man is likely Henry Morgan Stanley. Any educated person who isn't familiar with Stanley's famous "Dr. Livingston, I presume" should take-up skydiving without a parachute or drag racing in the fog without a seat-belt.  The Daily Telegraph has an excellent piece highlighting how the corrupt agents of skewed political correctness have hamstrung a Welsh town's ability to celebrate its' favorite son. The self-righteous, no-fun, limited, and myopic people who are hell-bent on obstructing the commissioning of this statue are a laughable testament to how bankrupt and shameless slaves to political correctness have become. Get a freakin' life, folks. Do you propose we tear down every statue to Woodrow Wilson, since he re-segregated the U.S. Civil Service, or most of the founding fathers, since they were active slave-owners? Let us not forget that Nelson Mandela was once a violent terrorist. We can devote our time to tearing apart most of history's heroes and noted characters, but sometimes saving our collective doubts and scorn for those villains who merit it, like Fidel Castro, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hilter. Few things are as loathsome as selective outrage.

Stanley may have been a racist, opportunist, and shameless self-promoter. Not my place to judge (I save that for when it counts, like terrorism or genocide), and these are certainly not the traits that give cause to honor him. Undoubtedly, he was also incredibly bold, intrepid, and dynamic in terms of the risk and endeavors he pursued. Those are qualities that merit recognition and give cause for just remembrance and why he is likely one of the most quoted men in history. Here is to hoping the statue gets completed, and the vow that if the werewolf should ever find himself in the Welsh town of Denbigh, you can wager he'll be sporting a big smile next to the statue of Henry Morgan Stanley.

When Human Rights activists enable Human Rights violators.

Amnesty International is taking some much deserved heat in the British press. Richard Kerbaj of the Times of London, penned this rather damning piece raising some important questions about the double standards and lack of ethical consistency within the organization. It's both welcome and overdue.

Back in his more activist days, the werewolf would frequently spar with self-identified "human rights activists" and liberal champions on his college campus. The theme he noticed from his youthful encounters and from this article(and many others) is the near universal assumption of innocence of those detained by the United States in places like Gitmo, and the universal application of malicious motives to entities like the United States. It's akin to blaming the wealthy white woman who was rapped raped by a poor black urban hoodlum because she doesn't conform to a nation of victim-hood by virtue of being white and wealthy and that being poor and black excused the behavior of the perpetrator. There is a severe lack of perspective and scale. Being a level-headed and staunch believer in human dignity and freedom, their rather overt biases has always baffled the werewolf because, while imperfect, the west, even at its worst, is light-years ahead of Afghanistan and the Taliban on anything relating to human dignity.  The werewolf is glad to see that stories like this are beginning to take a toll on organizations like Amnesty International. He would love to see a non-partisan global Human Rights organization that focuses on epicenters of real political blight like Iran, Zimbabwe, China, Burma, and Equatorial Guinea. Dare to dream.

Hawaii deep sixes same-sex civil union bill. Where's the outrage?

Hawaii, one of the bluest of the blue states, and birthplace of our current president, recently refused to vote on a measure that would legalize same-sex civil unions. This successfully aborted the bill. A major problem looms, there are no Mormons in sight for liberal lynch mobs to string up or blame. In fact, Hawaii is virtually a one-party state with Democrats outnumbering Republicans by 45-6 in the state house and 23-2 in the state senate. Given the national liberal outrage over Prop 8 in California and the rejection of marriage equality in Maine, the werewolf finds their collective silence over this development in Hawaii deafening. It looks like marriage equality is nothing more than a vehicle for the liberal elites to shamelessly lambaste faith-driven voters or culturally rural folks. When a progressive island fortress loaded with Kahunas, native peoples, and pot-smoking hippie surfers reject marriage equality there is no outrage. Something is truly amiss.