Approaching Moral Consciousness

Blogger Mencius notices something extraordinary:

We find among the most perspicacious American commentators something extraordinary, an awareness of reality which approaches actual moral consciousness. The power conservatives at Powerline, for instance, write:

My guess is that Arab dictatorships, like autocracies elsewhere, will prove surprisingly brittle once they are challenged. What the current unrest will lead to is anyone's guess, but there is no reason to think that more popular input will lead to friendlier regimes. Instead, we may see more Irans and Gazas. Be that as it may, there is a certain relief in seeing the dam finally break and the ossified, archaic, anti-free enterprise ruling elites of the Arab world come tumbling down.

Here is the true arsonist's logic, approaching real mens rea - almost, but not quite, a conscience.

Hillary Clinton "knifed Mubarrak in the back" (sic), agreed, but is she an arsonist? Or is she a Nietzschean heroine kicking down a dying man and embracing inevitable change?

Mens rea is awareness that an action would result in death. The dancing star quote is from Friedrich Nietzsche.

PS: I didnt find Mencius's quote in Powerline, maybe they deleted it. Instead, I found intelligent political comment:

An Egyptian government in which the key players are the Muslim Brotherhood and El Baradei would be a terrible development for us; for Egypt, perhaps a catastrophic one. Some are now arguing that the MB is a relatively benign force to which we should not be opposed. Andy McCarthy explains in detail why we should fear the Muslim Brotherhood--the organization that has spawned most of today's terrorist groups--but really, all you need to know is the Brotherhood's motto:

Allah is our objective, the Prophet is our leader, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu akbar!

That pretty well sums it up.

El Baradei, meanwhile, has a long history of anti-American activism. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which is often repeated in the press as though it were a good thing. As is so often the case in recent years, El Baradei's prize was a reward for sticking his finger in America's eye... the Norwegian Parlament's Nobel Peace Prize has become a badge of infamy...

To end and start my working day, a quote from the local press:

התגובה האמריקנית למהומות במצרים הוכיחה כי לוושינגטון אין בעיה להתנער גם מבת ברית ותיקה כמו קהיר. בקרוב אצלנו?

Translation: The American reaction to the riots in Egypt proves that Washington has no difficulty in shaking off a longtime ally like Cairo. Are we the next in line?