Beware of More 'Tookie-ism' and Tokenism

by Rabbi Aryeh Spero
Human Events

Gang Founder Claimed Innocence Until the End

We are finally rid of this monster and the liberals can only think about how brutal, unfair and monstrous the State of California, its justice system and its governor are. What is the price of innocent lives unjustly and brutally taken? Children's books? These liberals and other confused individuals such as Sister Helen Prejean can't see that there is a humongous error in their thinking, a huge hole in their worldview.

And then there are the Europeans....
With each thoughtless outcry and emotionally charged but morally corrupt assertion they make, the Europeans are dying. The people who decried the punishment of a cold-blooded murderer are the same ones who gave rise to the culture of death. On the ouside, they claim to uphold human rights and the value of life, but on the inside, their souls are dying if not dead. They cry for Tookie but are silent for the aborted babies -- even jubilant for the triumph of women's "right to choose". No one turns on the golden light upon the Roman Colosseum whenever an innocent child is terminated. How many of these unnamed lives for every Tookie?

Europe is dying.

Nobel Laureate Pinter Assails Bush, Blair

This is why the Nobel Prize is a joke. How silly would Pinter look if he had delivered his speech against FDR & Churchill during WWII? He can't tolerate the fact that we're winning in a war against a much inferior foe. In his silly mind, this amounts to nothing more than Western imperialism and bullying. He ignores the fact that although inferior, the terrorists of Iraq (& all over the world) are no less evil, brutal, and criminal than Hitler or Stalin was.

The Real Saint Nick: We Need You Today

by Warren Throckmorton
Human Events

Hurt pride shows as France sees world report riots (and a message to Sacramento)

Call it what they want but their country, specifically Paris and its suburbs are in shambles and are rampant with lawlessness because of their own fault and nobody else's. But, once again (and not unexpectedly), the French manage to blame America for the world's negative sentiment towards them over the riot. Go figure. Stupid Frenchies. They can't stand the thought that the world views their policy and behavior negatively. How very left-wing of them to really care so much about others' opinion of them. Then again, being the left-wing that they are, this is all they care about. They couldn't care less about doing the right thing because to them there is no such thing -- there is only public opinion to dictate what is right and wrong.

The French newspapers have not hesitated making the comparison of the war in Iraq to Vietnam, but they were hurt when what happens in Paris is being compared to events in Baghdad. And God forbid that the pictures of Paris burning down would have the Eiffel Tower in them. Of course, this is a shot the New York Times dare not use, for it must defend France and Paris at all cost. As would be expected of the Times, it has already reported that Paris tourism should not be affected by the riot. I wonder if any tourist would support this view after seeing the fires and witnessing the violence from atop the Eiffel.

And lastly, I hope this will provide as an example to the liberals in Sacramento that integration is a good policy and makes for a good citizenship. Let's stop the craziness of requiring school teachers and administrators to speak Spanish and providing Spanish language education to those who can't speak English in order not to offend the non-English speakers and leave them too far behind in the classrooms. This is plain foolishness. This kind of liberal policy is a ticking time bomb. It is undeniable that the lack of integration is a major cause of the riot in France. We don't want that in California or anywhere else in this great and beautiful country.

When Would George Washington Have Quit?

by Christopher Flickinger
Human Events

Is China a Threat?

by Robert Novak
Human Events
Posted Oct 27, 2005

* In general, I cheer for Bob Novak... but not this time.

BEIJING -- The message from officials in this huge, shiny, booming capital is that China's military buildup does not connote desire to kick the Americans out of East Asia. Their assertion is buttressed by the clear impression that people here are interested in making money, not war. Yet, that members of the U.S. Congress see China's Communist regime as a threat is felt here to be endangering the relationship between the two powers.

* It is not the desire to "kick Americans out of East Asia" that the U.S. Congress has a problem with. We know that China isn't stupid enough to do that. Americans are not easy to kick out. The problem is that China is attempting to offset the balance of power by undermining America economically and politically by its alliances and military build up. How Novak misses this is beyond me.

* Perhaps the people's interests are in making money (because they have been deprived of the ability to do so for a long time) but not the regime's.

The Chinese position was laid out unequivocally for me by Assistant Foreign Minister Guofeng Sheng, the highest official made available to me on my first visit to China in 12 years: "China has no intention to restrict or limit United States influence. We do not have the capability. Nor would we have such need [to attain that capability]." He added: "We are not a threat to anybody."

* Novak's notion that Minister Sheng would disclose China's military capability to him is plain absurd. They've been hiding their military spending from the international community. Is Novak so ignorant as to believe everything the Chinese tell him? Does he think that if China is attempting to be subversive, they would disclose their intention to the outside, especially to the target of their subversion?

* "'We do not have the capability.'" Oh, yes, they do. They stole it from us. We know it. They know it. We know they won't admit it. Those sneaky Chinese. Apparently, Bob Novak is the only one who doesn't know.

* "'We are not a threat to anybody.'" Try telling that to Taiwan.

But difficulty in Sino-American relations is no mere paranoia among hard-line congressmen in Washington. Chinese officials and U.S. diplomats admit that the love affair with America by ordinary Chinese ended more than a decade ago, replaced by a worrisome anti-Americanism. The United States is not much better loved in Beijing than it is in Paris.

* Does anyone doubt this when American media, economic, and political influences are judged dangerous by the Chinese government? The socialist China hates America, its ideals and its freedom.

On the surface it is difficult to see militarism here. The dusty old city I encountered for the first time in 1978 is now a glittering giant of 11 million dedicated to commerce. Patriotic posters have been replaced by corporate ads. Once omnipresent soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, nowhere to be seen, are either demobilized or back in barracks.

* Same people but with more money. Stop being so naive, Mr. Novak. Unless you're the Cindy Sheehan type, we all know that they're "in the barracks". I'll tell you this, too. They're outside the barracks in places you can't see and don't know about, Bob. They're not out waging subversive wars in the glittering cities. That's not their modus operandi. That's ours. The democratic capitalistic Americans (especially the Reagan Republican-type) wage wars in such manners that have led China to drop the red curtain. They know we were winning. This is no reason to think that they have stopped waging ideological wars agaist the West. On the contrary, they have begun to mount an assault because of their recent economic success made possible by the good ol' USA. This success has enabled them to build up their military coffers. In the past, this would absolutely starve and kill their subjects. Now they can have their cake and eat it, too.

Assistant Foreign Minister Sheng expressed exasperation at anybody imagining that the Chinese military could crowd U.S. forces out of Asia. "We are not that strong. There is not a military buildup," he told me, because Chinese spending is at only one-eighth of the U.S. level.

* That's what they tell the world.... But are we stupid? When they're building an ungodly amount of military equipment, we know that they're spending money; money they said they didn't spend. When so much money is unaccounted for and their military factories are burning the midnight oil and their military purchase orders are stacked up, they're spending money. It's interesting that they are projected to report only about a fourth to an eighth of their actual spending.

The Chinese regime wants to reassure Washington, giving Donald Rumsfeld remarkable access here last week even though the secretary of Defense had been demonized in the Chinese press as instigator of the Iraq intervention. Sources close to Communist leaders say they are not really that concerned with nuclear weapons in North Korean hands but are aggressively engaging in the six-power process to please the Americans.

* Does anybody really believe this -- that the Chinese are cooperating and are bending over backwards to please the Americans? Communists can't be trusted. They have no problem lying (or murdering, stealing, etc.)

The issue cited by Sheng and other Chinese officials most dangerous to Sino-American amity is the Taiwan question. But sources say the regime actually is not eager to incorporate Taiwan now so long as it does not move to independence. With the Kuomintang party apparently poised to regain power in Taiwan, the independence threat would be gone for now.

* I wonder if President Jintao's Administration has anything to do with that. Hmm.... Oh, and what about the forces you're amassing at the coast opposite of Taiwan? Peace Corp. are they?

Bad blood was spawned in the streets in the early '90s when the U.S. Congress opposed the 2000 Olympics for Beijing. The bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo War was not regarded as an accident by either the people or the authorities and is still talked about here. Displeasure with Iraq followed these special irritants.

Beyond the streets, however, is one prominent Chinese businessman who feels he was treated unfairly by U.S. politicians: Chengyu Fu, chairman of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). A little over 70 percent of CNOOC is owned by the state (the rest by private investors). But Fu told me the Communist regime had nothing to do with his decision to buy California-based Unocal oil company or his decision to back off when a firestorm developed in Congress.

* When over 70% of the company's interests are state owned, the state cares how and what the company does. We can know with certainty that the company is state controlled. Cry me a river, Mr. Fu. I celebrated when the Unocal deal went south for you. It was like a breath of fresh air. By the way, you didn't back off. Congress forced you off by making the deal unfavorable to you. Yeah, I suppose we could believe your comment that the Communist regime had nothing to do with the decision to buy Unocal. After all the Communist regime isn't petty and controlling, right? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this the same regime that "silences" the little people who disagree with it? Yes, I suppose the regime has no influence in this decision.

In CNOOC's gleaming Beijing office building, Fu said he thought the Unocal deal would not only have benefited his shareholders but also fit the U.S. ideal of unimpeded investment across national borders. Instead, China was accused of trying to corner the international oil market. "We thought we were doing a good thing," Fu told me. "I was naive. But this is the world we live in."

* In the world that we live in, China still regulates the internet and its use. China's government controls the media and the popular opinion in the country. The regime regulates private family matters, such as its size and other private matters, such as religious practices. No, you weren't naive, Mr. Fu. You're a liar. When China removes its restrictions on US (and foreign) businesses in China, we shall let you purchase our oil companies. Until then, you can kiss my a**.

CNOOC, he said, is a good global citizen. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the company's employees voluntarily contributed $100,000 for relief of the victims, which was matched by the company for a total $200,000 contribution. That unpublicized charity, he said, reflects a China that members of Congress don't know about. "China has changed," he said. "Even the Communist Party has changed. But the world does not know it."

* And the world will not know it when you say one thing but do another. Cry me a river, Mr. Fu. Novak might belive you but I don't buy your posturing. The Ku Klux Klan raised money and donated to white victims of Katrina. If they made the same comment, I would laugh at them as I am at your comment, Mr. Fu. Mayor Giuliani rejected the Prince of Saudi's donation for 9/11 victims on the grounds that he wasn't a good global citizen. Your measly gift of $200k doesn't make you a good global citizen. By the way, Mr. Fu, how much of that $100k came outside of the top 1% of your company? I would bet none. When you straighten out your human rights and economic abuses, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

* The Chinese disclosed to the world of a $200k donation. They are proud of it and want to be recognized as a good world citizen for it. How about those billions of military spending you're hiding? Something doesn't add up.

* By the way, I have no doubt whatsoever that if I were living in China while writing this that I would be imprisoned for it. Mr. Fu can claim ignorance, but the Chinese prisons are filled with "dissidents" who simply disagree with the ideology of the regime. So much for good global citizen.

* Lastly, I'm disappointed with Bob Novak. It seems he all of the sudden feels the need to sympathize with the Chinese. Is he blinded by China and its shin[e], boom, gleam and glitter?

World is a safer place despite people's fears

By Francis Harris
Telegraph News

ACLU Wins Bid for Sex in Public in Oregon

by Bill O'Reilly
Human Events

Think locally, act locally

I agree on all counts except for the author's comment on "'world economy'". Free trade is part of conservatism. Free trade brings in cheap foreign products without excessive and unnecessary tariffs. It drives the economy. It does not kill local traditions necessarily. Local traditions should not be free from outside influences. What Alexander the Great did in infusing the Greek culture in the places he conquered did much to civilize the uncivilized "barbarians". What many Christian missionaries have done to the cultures and traditions of the primitives should be considered noble and good. Local cultures and traditions should not be sheltered from outside influences including ones from TV. In fact, they should be subjected to them -- preserved when necessary and discarded when they become a hindrance to social development and morality. How can you compete effectively in the world economy if you don't know what you're competing against? TV as a means of communication and information dissemination has done wonders to civilization. This is of course not to speak of the ills it has created. Again, aside from this, I agree with the author on his commentary.

If the Democrats had their way...

Al Qaeda would be winning the war on terror. Osama bin Laden would have a field day and declare victory. This is of course absent from the empty and delusional minds of the likes of Sen. Nancy Pelosi and Cindy Sheehan.

Poor loser

If it's a welfare state Schroeder wants, that is in fact what he has. The reason why Germany is down in the dumps with a lackluster economy during his tenure is because of his ultra liberal policies that promote the welfare state he desires. Poor Schroeder. We Americans like being a Superpower. Our economy is much stronger and more resilient and our people's morality better. What have you got to show for yourself, Mr. Schroeder? Let's see what Germany would be like if a Katrina-like hurricane hits it. I'd say it'd be begging for an aid from the US.

If it walks like a duck...

I smell a rat in Belgium. If it were coming from Israel or Italy, I would reserve my judgement. But, this one just has Iraq and Afghanistan written all over it. Nice try UNICEF. You can always count on the UN for their liberal, anti-American, anti-Zionist humanistic bias.

We're Engaged!

This is perhaps the biggest news and my most important blog entry to date.

I proposed to my girlfriend, Chrissy after a 13 1/2-month courtship at the beautiful Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, CA on Saturday, October 8. She said yes -- even while knowing what she could in for! God bless her. What a joyous occasion it was.

Where were the Pakistanis...

and their donations when 9/11, Katrina, Rita, etc., etc. happened? Oh, that's right; I remember now. They were rejoicing in their madrasas for allah's crushing vengeance upon the great Satan.

Behind An Anti-War Activism

Nasty hurricane season is merely part of a cycle

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

But wait a minute!!! That's not what Barbra Streisand says! Who, just who actually knows more about this sort of thing? I can't decide. I heard Barb's an expert in life and everything there is to know about it.

A Win for the Terrorists

by Deborah Weiss
Human Events

Tony Blair Pulls the Plug on Kyoto at Clinton Summit

While Shameless Bill broke tradition when he railed against Bush on the handling of the Katrina disaster, on the other side of the pond, PM Blair, who was often compared with Clinton, made a smart decision today. Unlike Playboy Bill who time and time again fails to realize that he has outlived his relevance and therefore usefulness, Blair actually learns something new and acts on the new information to make a change. If anything, it is an indication that a liberal can recognize the logic and advantage of conservatism. While I was sad that the Tory lost the last election to the Labour Party, I am encouraged by Blair's sensibility.

Kudos Blair and forever shame on Bill.

CNN Producers Told On-Air Guests: Get Angry

This is the kind of cheap trick to which the MSM is resorting these days. I don't think inciting emotions of the audience through anger should be considered unbiased reporting.

Oh, how do I count the ways....? -- Part 7

In a continuing saga of liberal hypocrisy, here is an article from Human Events.

So You're a Conservative . . . You Must Be a Nazi!
by Rabbi Aryeh Spero

Humans Are Ones on Display at London Zoo

The Brits are making a monkey of themselves. Dumb Brits.

More Abortions Than Births in Russia

All the while, Putin insists that his "democracy" is well and perhaps better than the American version. In reality what Russia experiences is a return to the old albeit modified version of socialist Russia of yesteryears wrought by the communists who abolished the vibrant Christian culture that existed for hundreds of years prior. The outcome? Fewer goods than bads -- the number of abortions surpassing that of births being a bad -- very, very bad. Is this what you call "progress", Mr. Putin?

Irrational Ms. Sheehan

This developing story on Druge Report validates my opinion here and here of this raving mad mother from Vacaville. Cindy Sheehan manages to be increasingly louder and more outspoken while becoming less rational at the same time with her opposition of Pres. Bush. Her outrage sounds less and less like a grieving mother and more like an ranting ideologue with an axe to grind. While the death of her son, Casey, is to be taken seriously, it does not warrant tax exemption. This makes no sense and has no precedence that I know of. What does the death of Casey Sheehan have to do with Israel pulling out of Palestinian territories? Neither non payment of your 2004 income taxes nor the impeachment of Pres. Bush will bring your son back from the grave, Ms. Sheehan. This war is waged with the blood of your son and that of the many beloved American sons so that 9/11 will never be repeated. We mourn the loss of these brave souls who fought for our freedom and way of life. You're making a mockery of this noble cause by taunting the IRS. Please, Ms. Sheehan, do us all a favor and go home. Mourn the loss of your beloved son and move on with your life.

Liberal Elitists Block Victory Against Terrorism

Human Events
by Rabbi Aryeh Spero

Oh, how do I count the ways....? -- Part 6

Democrats Raiding Homeland Security Grants, Turning 9-11 Money into Party Slush Fund
by Michelle Malkin

Oh, how do I count the ways....? -- Part 5

This may be the best example of the liberal hypocrisy in my running count so far.

Castro Lovers Bash Bush as 'Tyrant'
by Humberto Fontova

London-based Group Seeks One-World Islamic State

Human Events

At A Minimum, The Most Costly Food Cop Idea

The Center For Consumer Freedom

Talk about absurd. This is liberalism run amok.

Man Dies After 49 Hours of Computer Games

Man leaving the dangerous and scary world of reality and escaping into the safety of the world of virtual reality.... Ironically, it isn't so safe there either. What might drive such a person to abandon what is real to what he knows to be fantasy? If only he would dedicate his life and energy to things of greater substance, what impact could he have made? Alas, it is too late. He paid a high price for something so meaningless.

CNN Agrees To Air Bloody Abortion Ad On Judge Roberts

This is developing on Drudge Report.

It's okay for NARAL to lie and manipulate facts but God forbid, Pres. Bush and VP Dick Cheney got their facts wrong. That's unforgivable. They ought to be removed from office. On the other hand, the sanctity of abortion and the institution of NARAL as well as the virtuousness of CNN must be preserved at all costs. These are brave soldiers and defenders of the freedom of pregnant women everywhere.

Coldplay's Martin Refuses To Be Photographed With Blair

Mr. Martin, being photographed with someone doesn't mean you have an allegiance to that person. If that were the case, the Middle East would be peaceful and friendly these days. After all, you can find plenty of photos of Israeli and Palestinian leaders shaking hands. Let your feeble minded fans deal with the photograph. What are you going to do if your fans don't approve of your friends who might be leaning a little too close to the center? Fans first, is it? I suppose that might be what you would call "coldplay."

Flip-Flopping Mother

I wrote about this Vacaville, CA mother here when her story surfaced in June 2005. Apparently, there is an earlier account of a meeting with Pres. Bush that was reported by THE REPORTER of Vacaville, CA that contradicts Ms. Cindy Sheehan's current view of the President and his administration. Her change of posture puzzles me. It does, however, substantiates her irrationality.

Oh, how do I count the ways....? -- Part 4

In a continuing tally of left-wing liberal hypocrisy, I bring you...

Liberal Media Blackout of Air America Scandal
by Michelle Malkin

How U.S. Media Help the Terrorists

Human Events

America Was Always the Best Hope for Peace

Human Events

Oh, how do I count the ways....? -- Part 3

Kennedy Flip-Flops on Quizzing High Court Nominees
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer

Oh, how do I count the ways....? -- Part 2

Talk about tolerance and understanding.... The liberals know of neither.

Oh, how do I count the ways....?

To continue the tally of liberal/left-wing hypocrisy, here is another one.

"Light For All?" I Don't Think So

WBAL Radio

I should start a running tally of the number of ways the liberals commit hypocrisy and contradict themselves. To be realistic, though, I realize that this may very well be an impossible task.

Oh, how do I count the ways....?

Unocal backs sweetened $17 bln Chevron bid

Indeed good news to Americans!

Of Heroes and Hatred: There Is Good and Evil in This World

The Prophet Who Saw 'Rivers of Blood' Flow in London's Subways and Streets

PM Enoch Powell would have said, "'I told you so.'"

I like this gentleman. How could you not like a man named Enoch? ;-)

"The Stuff They Teach At USC: A Trojan Dean's View of Fascism"

From Hugh Hewitt's blog.

Earlier today I posted an excerpt from an article in the current issue of Los Angeles Weekly, "The New Blacklist," which deals in part with some Christians refusal to buy products from companies sponsoring gay-themed entertainment. The University of Southern California has an Annenberg School of Communications, the associate dean of which is Martin Kaplan, a way left talking head. Kaplan's appearance in the piece is this:

"Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center at the Annenberg School of Communication at USC, calls the new Christer offensive a drive toward 'theocratic oligopoly. The drumbeat of religious fascism has never been as troubling as it is now in this country,' adding that 'e-mails to the FCC are more worrisome to me than boycotts' in terms of their chilling effect ."
This inane and repulsive quote and the post in which was contained was erased during site maintenance today, but I don't want you to miss it. Or the best context for understanding Kaplan's smear as the latest manifestation of secular fundamentalism in the U.S., which would be last week's speech to the OCSE in Cordoba, Spain by Denver Archbishop Chaput, in which he said in part:


"An equally dangerous trend now dominates other OSCE states, where public expressions of religious faith often seem to be ridiculed as fundamentalism. In the name of respecting all religions, a new form of secular intolerance is sometimes imposed. Out of fear of religious fundamentalism, a new kind of secular fundamentalism may be coerced on public institutions and political discourse.
At the same time, various media in the OSCE area now often allow symbols of Christian identity, Christian believers and their faith to be publicly abused. Programs like "How to cook a crucifix" and sacramental confessions recorded without the confessor's knowledge are deeply contemptuous of Catholic believers. This is unworthy of Europe's moral dignity and religious heritage. Furthermore, it stands in stark contrast to OSCE commitments to promote religious freedom.
Europe has given the whole world the seeds of democracy. Today's growing anti-religious and often anti-Christian spirit undermines that witness."

Kaplan's attempt to gag and condemn a vast cross-section of Americans because he doesn't like their point of view and to try and do so by labeling them "fascists" is not only inane, but impossible to reconcile with the left's assault last campaign season on Sinclair Broadcasting's sponsors and with yesterday's announcement by the UFW of a renewed boycott against Gallo. Consumer boycotts seem to be fine in the eyes of the left, except when undertaken by religious believers, in which case they become tools of fascists.

No, it doesn't make any sense. We offered Kaplan a chance to come on the radio show today to discuss and explain his comments. He declined. The Ward Churchill of the West Coast isn't in a hurry to debate, just proclaim.

Our Wars Over the War

National Review

BBC edits out the word terrorist

This is not a time for political correctness for the Brits. BBC is committing a liberal hooey. Who do they think they're dealing with if not terrorists? These weren't mere thugs. They're evil people who are part of an organized group bent on the destruction of the UK and all of western civilization if they had their way. These people are declaring war against you. Wake up BBC! Stand up, fight, and stop making excuses. Imagine what your beloved country would be like if PM Churchill had said, "Please tone down your rhetoric against the Nazi. It sends the wrong message and isn't helping our cause." Here is a hint. You'd be speaking German and singing the Horst Wessel song. Hooey!

What Do the Terrorists Want from Us? Mass Suicide, Nothing Less

HUMAN EVENTS

Foreign Aid Is the Worst Thing We Could Do for Africa

This is about economic liberty.

Wolves in Berlin: Europe’s Demographic Crisis

BreakPoint

Don't play with fire or you'll get burned

Britain payed the price for its mockery of justice.

Pure and True Islam A Religion of Peace?

You Decide.

On Jailing Journalists: No Absolute Press Right to Protect Sources

HUMAN EVENTS

Political Correctness Eats Itself

Yet another example from a long list of liberal hypocrisy.

"Both groups [GLAAD and National Fair Housing Alliance] were allowed to pre-screen episodes before the series aired, and yet the TV writers, so eager to denounce 'censors' and their 'chilling effect' on 'artistic expression' before a TV show even airs, said nothing about these potential critics doing precisely that....

Some Christian conservatives complained as well, based on the promotional spots. The Family Research Council snuck into a few news stories, concerned with the Christian-bigot portrayals. But within a day of its expert Charmaine Yoest speaking to the Associated Press, ABC pulled the plug. (It should be noted that the FRC wasn't welcomed in by ABC to screen the episodes for any evidence of defamation of evangelicals.)

More irony, with a dollop of hypocrisy for good measure: The same newspapers that decry the dangerous tide of parental intolerance that might curb the 'creativity' of Hollywood had no problem dumping this show overboard. For example, New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley cheered: 'ABC was right to pull the show. There already is plenty of bigotry on reality television, let alone in real life.'"

"King David and the Edomites"

Talk about a support for the historical veracity of the Bible.

"America Needs Conservatives to Make Inroads into Pop Culture"

I wish I were there among the two thousand.

'Close Guantanamo'? -- Our Politics Fiddles While London Burns

WSJ OpinionJournal

Stupid, stupid, stupid

Has Italy not learned from Spain? It is retreating in the face of terror. Stick with the winning side, Bozo! It's too bad that the Pope who is enjoying an increase in political clout in Italy isn't supporting the war in Iraq. I hope he'll see the light soon. Interesting turning point is happening in Europe. Some good, some bad. This is one of the bad ones.

America IS winning in these absurd Kyoto Protocol dialogues

And the US will win again when Russia takes over the G8 presidency next year. All these clowns want to see is if the US would take the plunge before they'll act. They're only pressuring the US as a typical rah-rah bandwagon jumping rhetoric. Certainly, China, Mexico, Brazil, and India would not be able to survive the economic impact if they were to buy into the Kyoto Protocol. They don't have the slightest chance. So, all they can say is, "Yeah, you first." Good thing it isn't Pres. Clinton who is being pressured right now or else we'd be utterly screwed. Bush will not succumb to this half-baked strategy. He's too smart to know that it won't work and there are other ways that are more viable. We shall win again next year when Putin is putting on his rah-rah facade.

Mr. Putin, let's see you go first. We promise to follow if your half-baked Kyoto Protocol propaganda is making any significant environmental change and isn't killing your economy.

"Who Started the Supreme Court Circus?"

Yet more liberal political and MSM bias. The terms dirty rotten scoundrels and sore losers come to mind.

From Mark Steyn of SteynOnline...

... on the possible response of yesterday's terror attacks in London.

"The choice for the British people today is whether to be the Spaniards post-Madrid or the Australians post-Bali. Anyone who knows Britain knows the citizenry don't incline naturally to appeasement, but anyone who knows their political elites knows the same cannot be said quite so clearly for their governing class."

Let's hope the Brits will take the hardline approach of engaging the terrorists in war.

Excerpted From Hugh Hewitt's blog

By Tom Clarkson
Gulf Region Division
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

It is one of the nicest gestures I have ever observed. My Iraqi friends indicate that it has no name. But it is the traditional, Arabic, slight bow, accompanied by the hand being placed over the center of one’s chest, when greeting a friend. It, generally, is reserved for those one cares for and wishes to show themselves as “humbly appreciative for the honor of their familiarity.” It’s a greeting well worthy of consideration by others.

A peaceful, soft voiced and extremely intelligent Iraqi gentleman, with whom I have had the honor to become acquainted, recently shared several insightful thoughts with me. At the core of his comments was the Arabic saying, “People of Mecca know its mountains better than the others.” What that means, he explained, is that each of us knows what is best for ourselves significantly better than do others, no matter how well intentioned they may be. This is wise counsel – for people and countries alike.

When asked the nature of the insurgents and how they should best be handled, this same individual thought for some time and said, “Iraqis do not understand why those who are caught in murderous acts of insurgency and killing innocent civilians, are not being dealt with immediately and decisively. Such is the Islamic way. Allowing them, all too often, to escape justice or to get off lightly, though they have killed many, only emboldens them and makes a mockery of the legal process.” It seems that the Old Testament “eye for an eye” closely parallels Islamic thought regarding basic, simple justice.

Now based on forty-five days of observation here, I feel the necessity to assert some personal beliefs/concerns, as follows:

How easy it is for those comfortably ensconced in the security of their air conditioned living rooms, with TV controls upon their laps and a laugh track sit-com blaring before them, to haughtily proclaim, “Let the Iraqis do it for themselves. It’s their problem not ours.” If those who enjoy the fruits of freedom are not ready to help those who seek it, then who?

The many Iraqis who bravely are standing up for their beliefs face uncertainties unimagined by those snack munching, video playing multitudes back home who are several generations removed from our country’s own struggles to attain democracy.

Too often, too many of us give cursory indication of appreciation to phrases such as that one poignantly etched upon the Korean Monument on the Mall in Washington, D.C., “Freedom is not Free.” Here in Iraq, one is daily reminded, that this is much more than mere words.

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing which for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his person safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873

"McDermott makes list of author's 100 worst Americans"

Read the article first.

Aah, but I think he does know why. It is because Seattle is full of loons who are sick enough to elect McDermott to office. Of course, from McDermott's perspective, it is his genius and foresight that created the Starbucks empire in Seattle.

"Judges: The Law Is the Law"

An LA Times Op-Ed piece.

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim

An essay by Robert Spencer, "Taking Truth about Jihad Terrorism to the People." And a related post.

It's Time for Change in the Supreme Court

Our nation's High Court needs a change badly. Ann Coulter writes "Thou Shalt Not Commit Religion" on this.

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in Spain

Europe is getting ever darker and filthier. I think President Zapatero is right when he said, "We were not the first but I am sure we will not be the last." Others will follow and the degeneration of Europe will continue because of this precedence. Spain is heading towards its own destruction. First, its people dispatched its conservative leader and elected Zapatero. As if that wasn't enough of a blunder, it withdrew from the Coalition from Iraq because of the strong liberal push from within. Meanwhile, the nation is falling apart for its inability to deal with Al Qaeda and the Basque Separatist Movement, exacerbated by its own conflicting liberal ideology. Now this. I only hope that a similar domino effect will not take place in the US from outside influence of its errant neighbor, Canada and the degenerate liberals within. May we look to Spain as a disturbing example of what to avoid.

A Patriotic Widow

Here is an honorable widow. Despite losing her husband in the war in Iraq, she understands what needs to be done. She understands the meaning of honor and sacrifice. Mrs. Owen understands that the just cause of this war and the goal of freedom are greater the loss of her husband and 1700+ others. What an honorable and brave woman she is.

In contrast to this, I posted an article here about an irrational mother.

What's Wrong with the People in Our Government?

It's a brilliant and pointed article by Peggy Noonan. "Conceit of Government: Why are our politicians so full of themselves?" She is right again.

"Oh Say Can You See"

From The Belmont Club Blog

Michael Ignatieff writes in the New York Times about a mission whose outcome is not yet known. It is the American mission to spread the Jeffersonian dream of freedom to the world. He asks two questions: first, whether any set of flawed human beings can set out upon a such a missionary enterprise without being guilty of self-righteousness; second, whether the Americans are willing to pay the high price for this endeavor. (Hat tip: MW)

John F. Kennedy echoed Jefferson when, in a speech in 1961, he said that the spread of freedom abroad was powered by ''the force of right and reason''; but, he went on, in a sober and pragmatic vein, ''reason does not always appeal to unreasonable men.'' The contrast between Kennedy and the current incumbent of the White House is striking. Until George W. Bush, no American president -- not even Franklin Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson -- actually risked his presidency on the premise that Jefferson might be right. But this gambler from Texas has bet his place in history on the proposition ... If democracy plants itself in Iraq and spreads throughout the Middle East, Bush will be remembered as a plain-speaking visionary. If Iraq fails, it will be his Vietnam, and nothing else will matter much about his time in office.

Although Ignatieff plainly wants to see freedom spread, one of the sources of his unease is the role of God, or something like it, in the missionary endeavor. How much better it would be, he seems to ask, if any claims to universality or transcendence could be kept out it. Then we could bring the Europeans and the Canadians in on it.

From the era of F.D.R. to the era of John Kennedy, liberal and progressive foreigners used to look to America for inspiration. ... For a complex set of reasons, American democracy has ceased to be the inspiration it was. This is partly because of the religious turn in American conservatism, which awakens incomprehension in the largely secular politics of America's democratic allies. ... Ask the Canadians why they aren't joining the American crusade to spread democracy, and you get this from their government's recent foreign-policy review: ''Canadians hold their values dear, but are not keen to see them imposed on others. This is not the Canadian way.'' One reason it is not the Canadian way is that when American presidents speak of liberty as God's plan for mankind, even God-fearing Canadians wonder when God began disclosing his plan to presidents. ...

Yet for all of that, Ignatieff recognizes the power of the idea that Liberals have ceded to the Conservatives. But he fails to ask himself what precisely it was about the Conservative embrace of the Jeffersonian proclamation that sets it apart from the Liberal acceptance at arms-length as exemplified by John Kennedy. He doesn't convincingly explain why Reagan should discover in liberty something which John Kennedy had missed; why George W. Bush should find in it something which Bill Clinton did not.

It was Reagan who began the realignment of American politics, making the Republicans into internationalist Jeffersonians ... Faced with the Republican embrace of Jeffersonian ambitions for America abroad, liberals chose retreat or scorn. Bill Clinton -- who took reluctant risks to defend freedom in Bosnia and Kosovo -- partly arrested this retreat, yet since his administration, the withdrawal of American liberalism from the defense and promotion of freedom overseas has been startling. The Michael Moore-style left conquered the Democratic Party's heart; now the view was that America's only guiding interest overseas was furthering the interests of Halliburton and Exxon. The relentless emphasis on the hidden role of oil makes the promotion of democracy seem like a devious cover or lame excuse. The unseen cost of this pseudo-Marxist realism is that it disconnected the Democratic Party from the patriotic idealism of the very electorate it sought to persuade.

One possibility is that Reagan and Bush possessed a faith in the universality of human liberty that Kennedy and Clinton did not. It was one thing to coldly deduce that China could be reached by sailing westward from Europe, but it took Columbus to stake one's fate on it. Ignatieff sees this, but cannot bring himself to admit it. Missionary endeavors require a kind of faith. A kind of action in advance of the result. The Canadians and Europeans would not come on those terms and so we should not be surprised that they have not come at all.

John Kerry's presidential campaign could not overcome liberal America's fatal incapacity to connect to the common faith of the American electorate in the Jeffersonian ideal. Instead he ran as the prudent, risk-avoiding realist in 2004 -- despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that he had fought in Vietnam. Kerry's caution was bred in the Mekong. The danger and death he encountered gave him some good reasons to prefer realism to idealism, and risk avoidance to hubris. Faced with a rival who proclaimed that freedom was not just America's gift to mankind but God's gift to the world, it was understandable that Kerry would seek to emphasize how complex reality was, how resistant to American purposes it might be and how high the price of American dreams could prove. As it turned out, the American electorate seemed to know only too well how high the price was in Iraq, and it still chose the gambler over the realist. In 2004, the Jefferson dream won decisively over American prudence.

Ignatieff's oddest choice of words is to characterize Kerry as a realist and George Bush as a gambler, as if there were any certainty to be derived from sitting back passively, as he accuses the Liberals of doing; as if there were any recklessness to warring on enemies who had warred on you. "The real truth about Iraq is that we just don't know -- yet -- whether the dream will do its work this time. This is the somber question that hangs unanswered as Americans approach this Fourth of July." But that's what freedom is: the ability to ask a question and not be afraid of the answer.

Sign of A Downfall

Canada is heading down the wrong direction that will lead to its downfall.

Religious Artifacts in Government Buildings

These should stand as a testimony of this country's religious foundation as reflected by its Founding Fathers. May neither Supreme Court Justices nor the ACLU ever take that away from it.

A Reason to Engage Democrats

Here is one reason why engaging Democrats is becoming more important. The Democratic constituents are fed by power-hungry political machine who cares not for integrity. They resort to lies just to win votes. They cannot let their ideology stand on its own in the marketplace of ideas for they know it will not stand. So, they use lies in order to paint an ugly picture of the opposition instead of paint a more desireable picture of themselves. That's downright shameful.

Chinese dragon awakens

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Conservatives Are Winning!

And worldwide, too! I am very encouraged by this. I hope that this isn't simply a swing to an opposite direction out of discontentment or desire for change no matter what the change may be. I really hope that this is a sign of people waking up to reality after tasting the bitterness and hypocrisy of liberalism. Fight on conservatives! It's working.

Madonna Gone Mad?

It doesn't take a genius to see that this is nonsensical. Then again, it doesn't take a genius to realize that Kaballah is nothing but a mystic cult. It does, however, make Madonna a nonsensical cultist.

Saddam Hussein's New Novel

Islam is not a peaceful religion. Good Muslims read the Quran and believe it. Those who do, behave as Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden do and possess their worldview and opinion of non-Muslims. They spout hate, incite war, and murder innocent people.

The Genius of Woody Allen

What a tragic title. And so is the title of this article in Der Spiegel, "'Nothing Pleases Me More than Being Thought of as a European Filmmaker.'" It seems that Woodly Allen is joining an increasing number of American actors and filmmakers who are ashamed of being Americans but not too ashamed of the fame and fortune they've acquired and made possible by the freedom and free market capitalism that America provides.

Here is a brilliant quote from Allen. "There is nothing really redeeming about tragedy. Tragedy is tragic...."

Oh, really? How's that?

Life maybe sad and full of tragedy, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's meaningless.

Lilek's comment.

"TO: Our Chinese monitor"

An article in WORLD magazine by Gene Edward Veith. What a beautiful piece.

Kranish Makes a Concession

Yes, I consider this a concession because of Kranish's tie to John Kerry and his opinion of him and Pres. Bush. Kerry should've been less quick to call Bush an "idiot." He isn't the genious he and his supporters think he is.

Sen. Pelosi to the Rescue -- Not!

I can see it in my mind. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, with her face red, stomps in rage of the insensitivity of Karl Rove's accusation of her ilks. Apparently, she is still bitter of the success of the throngs of brave American people who demanded apology from the Sen. Dick "I want to hug all the terrorists" Durbin. Pelosi refused to denounce Sen. Durbin for his comment equating the treatment of the prisoners in Gitmo to that of Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. We all know what Sen. Pelosi is saying. It's nothing but rhetoric. She has nothing to offer but her deep hatred and bitterness towards the Bush Administration.

And others jumped in the bandwagon. Ooh. Are you (raving mad liberals) reeling with emotional hurt stemming from Mr. Rove's comment? Do you need psychological therapy, too?

Karl Rove Said It Best

Karl Rove said the following last night at a fundraiser for the Conservative Party of New York State in Manhattan regarding the decline in liberalism in politics.

"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers."

and

"Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year?" Mr. Rove asked. "Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."

And no more need I say.

"Prophet of Decline"

As a Christian, I find it difficult to give props to an atheist. More often than not, their philosophy and epistemology which shape their worldview are skewed and contradictory. Every once in a while, I encounter or read about an atheist who possesses admirable wisdom and knowledge -- someone who makes me wonder why he or she chooses to reject God and who challenges me to engage atheists with more grace, savvy, and diplomacy. Oriana Fallaci is such a person.

"A nation of deists"

"The dominant American religion is a far cry from Christianity | by Gene Edward Veith

Sometimes recognizing a problem requires finding the right words to name it. Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton have coined a phrase that describes perfectly the dominant American religion: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Those authors are researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and have written up their findings in a new book: Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press).

After interviewing over 3,000 teenagers, the social scientists summed up their beliefs:

(1) 'A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.'

(2) 'God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.'

(3) 'The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.'

(4) 'God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.'

(5) 'Good people go to heaven when they die.'

Even these secular researchers recognized that this creed is a far cry from Christianity, with no place for sin, judgment, salvation, or Christ. Instead, most teenagers believe in a combination of works righteousness, religion as psychological well-being, and a distant non-interfering god. Or, to use a technical term, 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.'

Ironically, many of these young deists are active in their churches. 'Most religious teenagers either do not really comprehend what their own religious traditions say they are supposed to believe,' conclude Mr. Smith and Ms. Denton, 'or they do understand it and simply do not care to believe it.'

Another possibility is that they have learned what their churches are teaching all too well. It is not just teenagers who are moralistic therapeutic deists. This describes the beliefs of many adults too, and even what is taught in many supposedly evangelical churches.

Mr. Smith and Ms. Denton recognize this. MTD has become the 'dominant civil religion.' And it is 'colonizing' American Christianity. To the point, these secular scholars conclude, 'a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but is rather substantially morphed into Christianity's misbegotten step-cousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.'

Consider how many Christian publications, sermons, and teachings are nothing but moralism. Sometimes morality is reduced to the simplistic MTD commandment 'be nice,' though often real morals are inculcated. But the common assumption is that being good is easy, just a matter of knowing what one should do and trying harder. The biblical truth that bad behavior is a manifestation of sin, a depravity that inheres in our fallen nature, is skimmed over. And so is the solution to sin: a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ.

Consider how many Christian publications, sermons, and teachings are primarily therapeutic. It is true that Christ can solve many of our problems. But much that passes for Christian teaching says nothing about Christ. Instead, it consists of pop psychology, self-help platitudes, and the power of positive thinking.

Consider how many Christian publications, sermons, and teachings talk about God in a generic way, but say nothing about the Father, who created and still sustains the world; the Son, who became Incarnate in this world to win our salvation; and the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word of God to bring us to faith.

Christianity is about grace, not moralism; changing lives, not making people feel better about themselves; the God made flesh, not an uninvolved deity. And that is better news than Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. •"

Copyright 2005 © WORLD Magazine
June 25, 2005, Vol. 20, No. 25

Interview with Michael Medved by Marvin Olasky

Turning right.

Meanwhile, the Episcopalian leaders choose to live in the dark

In relation to my previous posting on Pope Benedict's chastisement of Europe, the US Episcopal church leaders on the other hand have followed the ways of secular Europe. I am surprised that the worldwide Anglican Church has not split. It would do the conservative wing of the Anglican Church much good to separate itself from the US Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada if they want their faithful to continue to fill and pews. These shameful and regrettable decisions and behaviors of the above said church leaders are hurting the Church in general.

Church can never accept abortion - Pope's book

Pope Benedict gets it.

Democracy in Iran

No matter what the presidential candidates and the Mullah say about the democracy in Iran, it is a sham. Until the people are really allowed to elect their leaders then it isn't a democracy. The Iranian youths certainly understand that and that is a good thing for the country, not to mention the US. At some point, all the current leaders will expire. What we should do is continue to pump money in Iran to support the current pro-democratic movements, institutions, and leaders. The young people of Iran want to see the day when democracy is a reality.

"An H.O.T. Tax Would Let the Liberals Pay Until They Stop Hurting"

Yet another liberal inconsistency.

***

by Deroy Murdock

President Bush’s bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform should propose a measure to assist a neglected segment of society: the avowedly under-taxed. The H.O.T. Tax would give those who think their levies are too low the ability to pay the steeper tax bills they say they deserve. This is the truly compassionate thing to do.

The H.O.T., or Higher-rate Optional Tax, would offer relief to powerful Democrats and wealthy liberals who cannot stand it when Republicans cut their taxes. Look how lowering taxes has raised the blood pressure of these Americans:

*“I don’t need a tax cut,” Senator Frank Lautenberg (D – N.J.) announced last October 8 on the Senate floor. “It will not do me any more good. I can’t buy more. I can’t eat any more. I can’t do more, and I want it distributed among the ordinary people who work every day.”

*“If you think it’s good policy to pay for my tax cut with the Social Security checks of working men and women, and borrowed money from China, vote for them [the GOP],” President Bill Clinton told the Democratic Convention last July 26.

*“I am a traitor to my class,” actor Paul Newman said July 8. “I think that tax cuts for wealthy thugs like me are borderline criminal. I live very high off the hog.”

*“I want no tax cuts, and want to pay MY FULL SHARE of taxes to support the public good,” Oregonian Harry Demarest stated on the website of United for a Fair Economy, an anti-tax-cut group co-founded by Chuck Collins, heir to the Oscar Meyer wiener fortune.

The H.O.T. Tax would ease these statists’ pain. The IRS simply would add a small box to the 1040 tax form beside these words:

“If you believe you should be taxed at a rate above that assigned to your income bracket, please indicate here the higher rate you prefer. Kindly calculate your tax liability, and send it in.”

With that easy step, congressional liberals and residents of Malibu and Martha’s Vineyard no longer would have to keep the tax cuts conservatives keep throwing their way. Instead, they could send 50, 75, or even 99 percent of their incomes to Washington so the GOP Congress and President Bush can spend it even better than they can.

While this reform would increase taxpayer choice, it might generate little revenue. Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Virginia taxpayers already may pay above and beyond their usual top rates, though few do this.

When Massachusetts cut its top tax rate to 5.3 percent in 2001, it let guilty liberals pay the old 5.85 percent rate. According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, as of June 15, only 930 taxpayers opted to do so on their 2004 returns, generating an extra $246,505. In 2002, 2,215 taxpayers paid the higher rate, yielding $341,829. Among 3,218,572 returns filed in 2003, only 1,488 (or 0.046 percent) paid the voluntary higher rate, adding $209,216 to state coffers.

Pro-tax U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D – Mass.) spurned the higher rate that year. “No, I won’t” pay some $800 extra, Frank told Boston radio host Howie Carr in April 2003.

“I don’t trust the legislative leadership and Gov. [Mitt] Romney to make the right decisions, so I’ll donate the money myself.” How inspiring to see a confirmed progressive like Barney Frank choose private charity over public assistance.

“Americans recognize, as Congressman Frank also figured out, that government doesn’t spend its money wisely as is and already takes too much of what we earn,” National Taxpayers Union president John Berthoud observes.

Senator John Kerry (D – Mass.) sailed into hot water last year when tax returns revealed that he also paid the Bay State’s lower tax rate. Kerry thus enjoyed state tax cuts akin to the federal tax reductions he excoriated on the campaign trail. Then again, perhaps he intended to pay Massachusetts’ higher rate, but his calculator slid off his yacht.

Beneficent supply-siders should introduce the H.O.T. Tax in Congress even before the tax-reform commission’s July 31 reporting deadline. American liberals should be given the earliest opportunity to stop resisting tax relief and send the Treasury as much of their own money as their bleeding hearts desire.

Lion in Winter

Graham Says NYC Revival Probably His Last.

Liberal Losers Conduct a Fool's Hearing

Liberals keep contradicting themselves.

"Losing Their Heads Over Gitmo"

Ann Coulter manages to be funny and poignant at the same time.

"Psychotherapy for Art"

These folks get it.

***

And, on a related note, here is an excerpt from Thomas E. Woods Jr.'s article on the influence of the Catholic Church in the formation of Western Civilization:

"Instead of the Gothic cathedral and the Pieta, consider what modern Europe -- too sophisticated for Christianity, you understand -- has to show for itself. In 1917, the French artist Marcel Duchamp shocked the art world when he signed a man's urinal and placed it on display as a work of art. A poll of 500 art experts in 2004 yielded Duchamp's Fountain as the single most influential work of modern art. (All too often, art experts spend their time laughing at the rest of us for not being sophisticated enough to appreciate the likes of Duchamp.)

Duchamp was a formative influence on London-based artist Tracey Emin (b. 1963). Emin's My Bed, which was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize, consisted of an unmade bed complete with bottles of vodka, used prophylactics, and bloodied undergarments. While on display at the Tate Gallery in 1999, the bed was vandalized by two nude men who proceeded to jump on it and drink the vodka. The world of modern art being what it is, everyone at the gallery applauded, assuming that the vandalism was part of the show.

Emin's more notorious work, called Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-95, consists of a tent on which are sewn the names of everyone she has slept with over the course of her life. (She includes not only her sexual partners but also family members from her childhood, as well as her two aborted children.) Emin is now employed as a professor at the European Graduate School.

Europe can also boast a cultural milieu that has brought forth a generation too self-absorbed even to be bothered to reproduce itself at replacement level. There, in the most literal sense of the term, is a dying civilization."

Oh, how sophisticated have we become.

Democrats Just Can't Stop Embarrassing Themselves

The Democrats must be getting desperate. It's not enough that Howard Dean has been embarrassing the Party, now Sen. Durbin is helping him. I'm not complaining. In the process of doing so, they inadvertently are increasing the Republican base. Lacking any substantial political stance, they become attack dogs who growl at everything the Bush Administration is doing -- well or not.

Earlier, I wrote about Sean Penn's journalistic visit to Iran. Well, Mr. Penn, here is a target audience for your "It's unproductive" speech. You can inform Sen. Durbin that what he and many other Democratic Congressmen are doing are not productive. I don't have any proof right now, but we shall see in the next election whose Party is going to win the votes. Say "no" to Gitmo. Say "no" to judiciary candidates. Say "no" to UN representative candidate. But say "yes" to filibuster. That's just too bad and shameful, not to mention unproductive.

Sean Penn in Iran

I read an article on Editor and Publisher about Sean Penn's interview with one of the 8 candidates of the upcoming Irani presidential election. There was nothing really interesting about the article or anything compelling about what Sean Penn is doing in Iran. The election itself is a joke. Unlike what the above said candidate said re: the Irani election being more democratic than an American election based on the number of candidates on the ballot, those candidates are actually hand picked and approved by the government. No matter who wins, the Mullah will be happy. It doesn't sound democratic to me. Anyway, back to the article. I found these paragraphs to be a bit of a farce.

"The actor caused a stir when he attended Friday prayers last week and heard the 'Death to America' chants. But on a visit to Iran's Film Museum in Tehran this week he told a student that those oft-heard chants hurt Iran-U.S. relations.

'I understand the nature of where it comes from and what its intention is,' he said. 'But I don't think it's productive because I think the message goes to the American people and it is interpreted very literally.'"

"But I don't think it's productive?" What does that mean? I think it depends on what one thinks being productive means. In a country whose government does not want democracy and rejects the western value of freedom, I'm not so sure it's unproductive to chant "Death to America." After all, they mean it. Anyone aware of the history of relationship between Iran and America understands that they would annihilate us if they could. We are satan to them. To interpret the chant as anything less than literal would be foolish. Even if one isn't familiar with the relationship I mentioned, how else should one interpret the statement? So, what does Mr. Penn prefer these Iranis do that would be more productive? I think I know the answer to this. Start coddling up with the American liberals and the media. The chants aren't helping the Left with their liberal cause. If this continues, the media would have to edit most of the stuff they capture in Iran and would have nothing to report that would further their bias. Stop the chanting and start courting the American Left who are ready to welcome them with open arms. Mr. Penn just can't stand the thought that the Bush Administration might be right about Iran or anything and may be doing good things to protect the American people from those who desire nothing more than to annihilate them.

"How Liberals Misuse Class -- Part III"

by Thomas Sowell

Posted Jun 15, 2005

"Sometimes it seems as if liberals have a genius for producing an unending stream of ideas that are counterproductive for the poor, whom they claim to be helping. Few of these notions are more counterproductive than the idea of 'menial work' or 'dead-end jobs.'

Think about it: Why do employers pay people to do 'menial' work? Because the work has to be done. What useful purpose is served by stigmatizing work that someone is going to have to do anyway?

Is emptying bed pans in a hospital menial work? What would happen if bed pans didn't get emptied? Let people stop emptying bed pans for a month and there would be bigger problems than if sociologists stopped working for a year.

Having someone who can come into a home to clean and cook and do minor chores around the house can be a godsend to someone who is an invalid or who is suffering the infirmities of age -- and who does not want to be put into an institution. Someone who can be trusted to take care of small children is likewise a treasure.

Many people who do these kinds of jobs do not have the education, skills or experience to do more complex kinds of work. Yet they can make a real contribution to society while earning money that keeps them off welfare.

Many low-level jobs are called 'dead-end jobs' by liberal intellectuals because these jobs have no promotions ladder. But it is superficial beyond words to say that this means that people in such jobs have no prospect of rising economically.

Many people at all levels of society, including the richest, have at some point or other worked at jobs that had no promotions ladder, so-called 'dead-end jobs.' The founder of the NBC network began work as a teenager hawking newspapers on the streets. Billionaire Ross Perot began with a paper route.

You don't get promoted from such jobs. You use the experience, initiative, and discipline that you develop in such work to move on to something else that may be wholly different. People who start out flipping hamburgers at McDonald's seldom stay there for a full year, much less for life.

Dead-end jobs are the kinds of jobs I have had all my life. But, even though I started out delivering groceries in Harlem, I don't deliver groceries there any more. I moved on to other jobs -- most of which have not had any promotions ladders.

My only official promotion in more than half a century of working was from associate professor to full professor at UCLA. But that was really just a pay increase, rather than a real promotion, because associate professors and full professors do the same work.

Notions of menial jobs and dead-end jobs may be just shallow misconceptions among the intelligentsia but they are a deadly counterproductive message to the poor. Refusing to get on the bottom rung of the ladder usually means losing your chance to move up the ladder.

Welfare can give you money but it cannot give you job experience that will move you ahead economically. Selling drugs on the streets can get you more money than welfare but it cannot give you experience that you can put on a job application. And if you decide to sell drugs all your life, that life can be very short.

Back around the time of the First World War, a young black man named Paul Williams studied architecture and then accepted a job as an office boy at an architectural firm. He agreed to work for no pay, though after he showed up the company decided to pay him something, after all.

What they paid him would probably be dismissed today as 'chump change.' But what Paul Williams wanted from that company was knowledge and experience, more so than money.

He went on to create his own architectural company, designing everything from churches and banks to mansions for movie stars -- and contributing to the design of the theme building at Los Angeles International Airport.

The real chumps are those who refuse to start at the bottom for 'chump change.' Liberals who encourage such attitudes may think of themselves as friends of the poor but they do more harm than enemies."

Hillary A Liar?

One would have to be extremely deceived or in denial to make the claim that the MSM are leaning in favor of the conservatives and the Republicans these days. Which one is Hillary?

She can make the claim that the Media are bowing to the Republicans, which in itself is a ridiculous claim, but when given the opportunity, she shuts the Media out. What gives?

This falls under the Outright Despicable category

Why wasn't this covered by MSM?

***

And here is an article by Elizabeth Kantor of Human Events Conservative Booknotes.

You Can Take the Abortionist Out of the Back Alley . . .

Posted Thursday, June 16, 2005 12:51:43 PM

You can take the abortionist out of the back alley, but can you take the back alley out of the abortionist?

Legalization of abortion in America was promoted in the 1960s and '70s with the argument that bringing it into reputable doctors' offices would keep women safe from the unprofessional "abortion butchers" plying their trade in back alleys. And legal abortion continues to be defended the same way today. The theory is that women need to be protected from the unscrupulous predators who would victimize them in their desperation, if abortion were outlawed. Conservative columnist Suzanne Fields summed up this strain of pro-choice argumentation thus:

". . . abortion is legal, and likely to remain that way in the first trimester because the majority of Americans want it that way. That doesn't make it right, but it does observe the reality. Many in this majority, probably most, would never have an abortion themselves, but they know about the back-alley abortions in the bad old days when women, such as a married aunt of mine, died at the hands of abortion butchers who prospered outside the law in the way bootleggers did during Prohibition."

Modern manufacturers and distributors of alcohol are a real improvement on Prohibition-era bootleggers like Al Capone. But there are some businesses that, no matter how you try to mainstream them, don't seem to clean up all that well. They never really become respectable. Instead, they tend to drag the mainstream culture down toward their own level.

Pornography is one of those industries. It's legal, it's everywhere, and it's overwhelming our whole culture's standards, as Ben Shapiro handily demonstrates in Porn Generation. But it still isn't the kind of career you want to talk about with your neighbors -- or even your own children. (See, for example, this Wired story about the how "the porn webmaster community" grapples with balancing career and family life.)

And abortion is another. Legalizing abortion didn't magically turn regular doctors into abortionists, or abortionists into regular doctors. Of course, many doctors were corrupted -- some in small ways, some spectacularly -- by the opportunities opened up to them by legal abortion. That kind of corruption is bound to happen in any situation where atrocities are suddenly no longer forbidden, and suddenly profitable. But while, thank heavens, the whole medical profession didn't sink to the level of the "abortion butcher," neither did the doctors now legally performing abortions really rise to the standards of the rest of the medical profession. The fact is, the kind of surgeon who wants to make his living killing babies (or who resorts to abortion because he can't succeed in any more reputable field) is not your average kind of doctor.

The bizarre case of Kansas City abortionist Krishna Rajanna, which you can read about -- but ONLY if you have a strong stomach -- on World Net Daily this week, is, it has to be admitted, not typical even of abortionists who get in legal trouble -- of whom there are significant numbers. (Click here to get to a page with links to news stories about "Abortionists in Trouble." As those links and this NewsMax story suggest, sexual assault seems to be the more usual kind of sleazy behavior they're involved in.)

Dr. Rajanna appears not to have been a fan of personal or clinic hygiene, and his ideas about how to dispose of the "medical waste" into which he had turned the babies he aborted were eccentric, to say the least. Gruesome details and links ONLY for folks who want to see what his clinic (and the inside of its refrigerator) looked like appear in this World Net Daily piece. The doctor's refrigerator was a portrait of the banality of evil: plastic bags, disposable cups, and cut-off milk cartons full of tiny body parts in one side of the fridge, a cake and a bottle of Dr. Pepper in the other.

The Kansas state board that regulates the practice of medicine has revoked Dr. Rajanna's license for not keeping his clinic clean. But even if he'd used a sterilizer instead of a dishwasher, and medical waste disposal containers instead of a toilet and garbage bags, he'd still have been in a very dirty business.

New word meant to demean Christians

Christers and here also. Will comment later.

Weldon Challenges CIA Handling of Source

Villepin named new French PM

My comments in italics.

***


PARIS, France (CNN) -- French President Jacques Chirac has appointed loyalist Dominique de Villepin as prime minister after French voters rejected the European Union Constitution -- throwing the future direction of the 25-nation organization into doubt.

As France's foreign minister from 2002 to 2004, Villepin gained a worldwide reputation for his impassioned defense of the French stance against a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

* Hmm.... This is how Chirac won his last election -- by bad-mouthing the US. He knows he has no chance at winning the next election b/c of his blunders unless he can resurrect his anti American rhetoric. Who better to help him than Villepin. Still no substance, but rhetorics might just swing the votes his way.

Villepin, 51, replaces Jean-Pierre Raffarin -- the first government casualty after France said no to adopting the constitution in Sunday's referendum. The document lays out a new framework for the union, which added 10 members a year ago, and creates the permanent positions of president and foreign minister.

On Tuesday, Villepin arrived at the presidential Elysee Palace just minutes after Chirac bid farewell to Raffarin with a handshake on the palace steps.

* What? Not even a pat on the back?

In a short statement, Raffarin, who was prime minister for three years, denied his departure was connected to the referendum.

* Does anyone believe this? Even the French knew this would happen if the "Non" vote wins.

Villepin is a long-standing Chirac loyalist and was once his top adviser. Critics point to his never having held elective office.

* In other words, a liberal "yes" man.

Later Tuesday, Chirac said in a televised address that he was bringing Nicolas Sarkozy, a two-time minister and potential rival, back into the new government "in a spirit of coming together.

* Chirac wants to win the next election but has no chance in hell. Let's bring in the opposition to appease the angry French mob. Do the French see the double talk? The sad thing is that this strategy often works.

Villepin had been widely tipped to replace the unpopular Raffarin, whose economic reforms and poor record on jobs were blamed for the scale of Sunday's referendum defeat.

* Again w/ the liberal fingerpointing. It's Chirac's liberal Administration that fails. Chirac needs to take stock of his poor performance instead of blaming it on Raffarin.

With votes counted in all of France and its overseas territories, the "No" camp had 54.87 percent, with only 45.13 percent voting "Yes," according to figures released by France's Interior Ministry.

Analysts say the defeat was humiliating for Chirac, who had campaigned heavily for a "Yes" vote. France, a founding member of the European Union, was the first country to reject the charter.

Chirac is the second French leader, after Gen. Charles de Gaulle, to lose a referendum since the founding of the French Fifth Republic in 1958.

* And de Gaulle got the airport named after him. Maybe Chirac will still have hope of a lasting tribute by having the Parliment house named after him.

Chirac and other backers had argued that establishing the framework for the union would streamline the organization, let Europe speak with one voice on global issues and strengthen the Euro.

But opponents argued that it would diminish French national identity and sovereignty and lead to an influx of cheap labor just as France struggles to reduce unemployment.

* Liberal economics doesn't work. It's almost anti capitalistic. Is it any wonder that the French bureaucracy is unable to deal w/ this globalization and failed the people? The capitalist-minded can't work over 35-hrs. a week and the socialist-minded don't want to have to work over that. Is it any wonder why this system has caused increased unemployment? This is the very reason they feel the need to subsidize Airbus. In the meantime, they keep voting for bigger gov't that insists on blaming the US for the problem. And, across the pond, the American Democrats still want big gov't to legislate everything, too.

That unemployment rate -- along with EU polices, slow economic growth, conflict between France's pledge to reduce its public deficit and Chirac's pledge to cut income taxes and other reform plans -- all offer challenges for de Villepin as he tries to steer France for the final two years of Chirac's term in office.

Chirac says he intends to meet with EU leaders in Brussels on June 16 and "defend the position of our country."

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said leaders "need to do more to explain the true dimension of what is at stake, and the nature of the solutions which only Europe can bring."

* Sounds like a socialist talk to me.

"There will be time for that debate, of course, but I think one thing is sure: we should, together, try to put Europe back on track again," Barroso said.

* I can't agree more. Return to your traditional roots, Europe! Here is your chance. Somehow, I don't see this happening though.

Several European countries said they would proceed with their own referendums on the EU constitution despite France's rejection.

Polls in the Netherlands, which holds its own referendum on the constitution on Wednesday, suggest the "No" camp there is leading by 60-40 percent, and the momentum is likely to gain with the defeat in France.

* And just a few weeks ago, the Dutch would've voted Yes. You can predict the liberals would jump on whatever bandwagon is rolling.

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the EU needed time to reflect on the French result and that it was too soon to say if Britain would press ahead with a referendum.
"What is important now is to have time for reflection, with the Dutch referendum in a couple of days' time and the European Council in the middle of June, where all the leaders can discuss the implications of the vote that has taken place," he told reporters.

* Passe. "No" it is for the Dutch.

Regardless of the votes in France and the Netherlands, a European Commission spokesman said the ratification process for the constitution would go ahead.

"The procedures have been completed in nine countries representing over 220 million citizens. That is almost 49 percent of EU population. The Commission thinks this is a very important reason why the ratification procedures should go forward," Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told The Associated Press.

* Most of the French opposition to the Constitution is doing so out of discontentment w/ Chirac's Administration and not a vote for sovereignty or traditionalism. The Constitution originates from France's ex-President and would probably have been supported were the French not unhappy w/ the current Administration. One of Chirac's most vigorous opposition is the Socialist faction. Yes, the Socialists. How ironic?

"How Liberals Misuse Class -- Part II"

by Thomas Sowell

Posted Jun 14, 2005

"Someone once defined a social problem as a situation in which the real world differs from the theories of intellectuals. To the intelligentsia, it follows, as the night follows the day, that it is the real world that is wrong and which needs to change.

Having imagined a world in which each individual has the same probability of success as anyone else, intellectuals have been shocked and outraged that the real world is nowhere close to that ideal. Vast amounts of time and resources have been devoted to trying to figure out what is stopping this ideal from being realized -- as if there was ever any reason to expect it to be.

Despite all the words and numbers thrown around when discussing this situation, the terms used are so sloppy that it is hard even to know what the issues are, much less how to resolve them.

Back in mid-May, both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal had front-page stories about class differences and class mobility. The Times' article was the first in a long series that is still going on a month later. Both papers reached similar conclusions, based on a similar sloppy use of the word 'mobility.'

The Times referred to 'the chance of moving up from one class to another' and the Wall Street Journal referred to 'the odds that a child born in poverty will climb to wealth.' But the odds or probabilities against something happening are no measure of whether opportunity exists.

Anyone who saw me play basketball and saw Michael Jordan play basketball when we were youngsters would have given odds of a zillion to one that he was more likely to make the NBA than I was. Does that mean I was denied opportunity or access, that there were barriers put up against me, that the playing field was not level?

Or did it mean that Michael Jordan -- and virtually everyone else -- played basketball a lot better than I did?

A huge literature on social mobility often pays little or no attention to the fact that different individuals and groups have different skills, desires, attitudes and numerous other factors, including luck. If mobility is defined as being free to move, then we can all have the same mobility, even if some end up moving faster than others and some of the others do not move at all.

A car capable of going 100 miles an hour can sit in a garage all year long without moving. But that does not mean that it has no mobility.

When each individual and each group trails the long shadow of their cultural history, they are unlikely even to want to do the same things, much less be willing to put out the same efforts and make the same sacrifices to achieve the same goals. Many are like the car that is sitting still in the garage, even though it is capable of going 100 mph.

So long as each generation raises its own children, people from different backgrounds are going to be raised with different values and habits. Even in a world with zero barriers to upward mobility, they would move at different speeds and in different directions.

If there is less upward movement today than in the past, that is by no means proof that external barriers are responsible. The welfare state and multiculturalism both reduce the incentives of the poor to adopt new ways of life that would help them rise up the economic ladder. The last thing the poor need is another dose of such counterproductive liberal medicine.

Many comparisons of 'classes' are in fact comparisons of people in different income brackets -- but most Americans move up from the lowest 20 percent to the highest 20 percent over time.

Yet those who are obsessed with classes treat people in different brackets as if they were classes permanently stuck in those brackets.

The New York Times series even makes a big deal about disparities in income and lifestyle between the rich and the super-rich. But it is hard to get worked up over the fact that some poor devil has to make do flying his old propeller-driven plane, while someone further up the income scale flies around a mile or two higher in his twin-engine luxury jet.

Only if you have overdosed on disparities are you likely to wax indignant over things like that."