France, Food, Scooters and More: #25 - BACON

BACON
So now we're told that bacon causes cancer. Remember when apples were going to kill us? Bananas?

Pfui! The only harm that comes from eating bacon is to the pig that produced it...and it was a noble death.

The women who are at the perfume counter looking for a scent that will drive men wild are in the wrong place. The smell of bacon cooking drives men wild. Reduce that aroma to its essence, bottle it, and spray it on your wrists and behind your ears, ladies. Even vegans will secretly want a lick of that.

CALIPHATE
Speaking of bacon, I have been told by friends who claim to know, some who have roots in the region, that the Arab street in the Middle East is not ready for Western democracy. I have been told that strong men, even men like Saddam and Assad, are needed to keep order until enlightenment comes. And that enlightenment, I am told, cannot be imposed from without. It must bubble up from within.

These same people excoriate Western governments for their handling of the refugee crisis that the rise of the Caliphate has caused. Hundreds of thousands, millions, are on the move to escape violence and death. We must be true to our values, we are told. We must be Christian. We must accept the refugees.

Well, there's a saying that bears repeating about American democracy, expressed initially by Jefferson, sometimes attributed to Lincoln, but certainly refined to its current form by Justice Jackson. "The Constitution is not a suicide pact." Jefferson tells us that the laws of self-preservation trump strict adherence to written law when the country is in danger. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in response to rebellion without the consent of Congress, saying that he refused to risk the Union through adherence to a single law. And Jackson encapsulated the sentiment into those seven quoted words when writing in regards of incitement to riot.

My point? If those who know and sympathize with Arabs who are on the road in Europe believe that those Arabs are incapable of understanding and instituting democratic rule in their home countries, how welcome should those Arabs be in our countries? Could it be that the Islamophobes, at least when it comes to immigration and assimilation, have a valid point?

It's a new concept for me, one that I would never have considered if some of my Progressive friends hadn't characterized the Arab street as they have. Having done so, though, have they not made the case for preserving the values of the West by denying access to its safety and benefits to those who cannot be trusted to understand and live peacefully under the system that created the relative comfort and largess that they seek?