Archives 2007

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=95 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Vrinda" ><B>the</B><I><B><U>right</U></B></I><B>slant.com</B></FONT><B>.......... </B><B>never afraid to be </B><I><B><U>right</U></B></I><B>!</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#009900" FACE="Arial" ><B>  </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#009900" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><B>|     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="therightslant.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B>Archives 2007</B>   |   <A HREF="id171.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Archives 2006"><U>Archives 2006</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> Back to the home page...<A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="therightslant.com"><U>therightslant.com</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Comment by email:</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:respond@therightslant.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:respond@therightslant.com"><U>respond@therightslant.com</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Your opinions:</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id99.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Readers Voice"><U>Reader's Voice</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id171.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Archives 2006"><U>Archives 2006</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Published Credits"><U>Published Credits</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U>Archives 2007</U></B></div> <div> <A HREF="#is_prosecuting_juiced_ballplayers_the" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is prosecuting juiced ballplayers the</U></A> answer? Baseball hasn't a leg to stand on in prosecuting juiced players. (643)</div> <div> <A HREF="#what_if_there_was_a_civil_rights" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">What if there was a civil rights</U></A><A HREF="#what_if_there_was_a_civil_rights" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>violation and nobody cared? Civil rights outrage depends on who's rights are violated. (642)</div> <div> <A HREF="#what_s_hate_got_to_do_with_it_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">What's hate got to do with it?</U></A> Hate crimes prosecutions divide the races and serve injustice. (634)</div> <div> <A HREF="#hi_yo_silver_bill_clinton_lies_again" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hi-Yo Silver Bill Clinton lies again</U></A>: The former president returns to form. (643)</div> <div> <A HREF="#more_tolerance_from_the__religion_of" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">More tolerance from the “religion of</U></A> peace": A teddy bear ignites Muslim righteousness. (641)</div> <div> <A HREF="#putting_a_positive_spin_on_the_latest" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Putting a positive spin on the latest</U></A> disaster: There's a short-term benefit to the universe's accelerating demise.(637)</div> <div> <A HREF="#to_liberals_free_speech_is_a_one_way" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">To liberals free speech is a one-way</U></A> street: Liberals love free speech, but only when it's theirs. (633)</div> <div> <A HREF="#we_re_being_gouged_where_s_the_outrage_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We're being gouged Where's the outrage?</U></A> Price-gouging activists are silent when tuition rates rise. (626)</div> <div> <A HREF="#hillary_clinton_tops_all_candidates_in" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hillary Clinton tops all candidates in</U></A><A HREF="#hillary_clinton_tops_all_candidates_in" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>arrogance and deceit: The world's smartest woman looks weak and ill-informed. (631)</div> <div> <A HREF="#will_the_real_xenophobe_please_stand_up_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will the real xenophobe please stand up?</U></A>: Would Pres. Calderon be happy if we adopt Mexico's immigration practices? (639)</div> <div> <A HREF="#the_church_can_be_christianity_s_worst" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Church can be Christianity's worst</U></A> enemy: Westboro Baptist Church's antics obfuscate the Gospel message. (620)</div> <div> <A HREF="#a_look_at_life_and_other_oddities" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A look at life and other oddities</U></A>: Thoughts on the world around us. (630)</div> <div> <A HREF="#are_schools_becoming_common_sense_free" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Are schools becoming common sense-free</U></A><A HREF="#are_schools_becoming_common_sense_free" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>zones?: Edu-crats idiocy bodes poor for our future. (634)</div> <div> <A HREF="#air_america_loses_cash_listeners_and" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Air America loses cash, listeners and</U></A> its grip on reality: The liberal radio network goes completely off the deep end. (629)</div> <div> <A HREF="#republicans_again_sound_like" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Republicans again sound like</U></A> Republicans. But will it last?: GOP conservatism awakes following a six-year hibernation. (616)</div> <div> <A HREF="#america_is_losing_its_identity_one" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">America is losing its identity one</U></A> tolerance at a time: Our culture is again sacrificed on the altar of tolerance. (600)</div> <div> <A HREF="#what_should_we_make_of_columbus_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">What should we make of Columbus?</U></A>: Famed explorer should be judged on standards of his day. (654)</div> <div> <A HREF="#carter_plays_albatross_to_edwards_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Carter plays albatross to Edwards'</U></A><A HREF="#carter_plays_albatross_to_edwards_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>Ancient Mariner: Too much Carter will sink what's left of John Edwards. (592)</div> <div> <A HREF="#limbaugh_s_comments_represent_a_small" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Limbaugh's comments represent a small</U></A> skirmish in a larger battle: Conservatism and socialism are at war for America's future. (648)</div> <div> <A HREF="#ahmadinejad_accomplishes_his_goal" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Ahmadinejad accomplishes his goal</U></A> thanks to Columbia's "useful idiots": Iran's president plays Columbia staff and students for saps. (617)</div> <div> <A HREF="#americans_march_for_injustice_in_jena" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Americans march for injustice in Jena</U></A>, LA: Two wrongs don't make a right in racial equality. (637)</div> <div> <A HREF="#liberal_blogger_is_long_on_rhetoric_but" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Liberal blogger is long on rhetoric but</U></A><A HREF="#liberal_blogger_is_long_on_rhetoric_but" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>short on facts: Bash Pres. Bush if you like, but get your facts straight first. (846)</div> <div> <A HREF="#britney_spears__career_as_a_virtual" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Britney Spears' career as a virtual</U></A><A HREF="#britney_spears__career_as_a_virtual" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>prostitute: Pop diva sells sex, not music. (632)</div> <div> <A HREF="#first_we_expelled_god_now_the_american" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">First we expelled God now the American</U></A> flag: Hobbton High School indicates academia's failure. (632)</div> <div> <A HREF="#kyla_ebbert_s_miniskirt_highlights_a" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Kyla Ebbert's miniskirt highlights a</U></A> societal flaw: Civil rights and private property isn't a one-way street. (650)</div> <div> <A HREF="#if_911_conspiracies_are_right_it_s" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">If 9/11 conspiracies are right, it's</U></A> time for a revolution: 9/11 conpiracies are politically-driven propaganda. (632)</div> <div> <A HREF="#several_factors_contribute_to_killing" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Several factors contribute to killing</U></A> the big screen experience: Hollywood's problems are deeper than technological gadgets. (625)</div> <div> <A HREF="#the_bureaucratic_oath_say_one_thing" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Bureaucratic Oath: say one thing</U></A>, do another: Government officials failed to honor their word. (643)</div> <div> <A HREF="#single_payer_healthcare_promises" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Single-payer healthcare promises</U></A> bureaucratic failure and socialism: Central healthcare means less freedom, worse health, and more government. (652)</div> <div> <A HREF="#don_t_blame_marketers_for_the_results" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Don't blame marketers for the results</U></A> of poor parenting: Parents, not advertisers, are responsible for what their kids eat. (630)</div> <div> <A HREF="#when_is_it_time_to_get_serious_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">When is it time to get serious?</U></A>: Forecast: both liberty and security will take a back seat in the '08 Election. (671)</div> <div> <A HREF="#_drinking_parties__are_the_wrong" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">“Drinking parties” are the wrong</U></A> solution to a worse problem: "Safe" environments for teen drinking sends the wrong message. (674)</div> <div> <A HREF="#consistently_on_the_side_of_life" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Consistently on the side of life</U></A>: Explaining my pro-life positions. (635)</div> <div> <A HREF="#a_dark_day_for_life_and_liberty" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A dark day for life and liberty</U></A>: Judicial decree gives government ownership of your life. (626)</div> <div> <A HREF="#is_it_art__no_it_s_xxx" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is it art? No It's XXX</U></A>!: Is London planning the porn-Olympics? (634)</div> <div> <A HREF="#a_culinary_revelation_spam_is_made" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A culinary revelation SPAM is made</U></A><A HREF="#a_culinary_revelation_spam_is_made" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>from "phish": Today's "phishermen" bait there hooks with spam. (623)</div> <div> <A HREF="#vick_protesters_indicate_society_has" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Vick protesters indicate society has</U></A> gone to the dogs: Public response shows our priorities are out of order. (637)</div> <div> <A HREF="#if_fox_news_is_biased_it_s_far_from" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">If Fox News is biased it's far from</U></A> alone: Liberal tyrants try to censor Fox News. (667)</div> <div> <A HREF="#coy_privette_s_failures_presents_an" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Coy Privette's failures presents an</U></A> opportunity for Christians: Christians can forgive a sinner even while denouncing the sin. (642)</div> <div> <A HREF="#are_all_cultures_created_equal_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Are all cultures created equal?</U></A><A HREF="#are_all_cultures_created_equal_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>:</U></A> Comparing the West to the world in the age of moral relativism. (651)</div> <div> <A HREF="#the_concept_of_charity_has_changed_for" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The concept of charity has changed for</U></A> the worse: An examination of charity and coercion. (609)</div> <div> <A HREF="#u_n__s_actions_speak_louder_than_words" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">U.N.'s actions speak louder than words</U></A>: The United Nations proves its worth yet again. (658)</div> <div> <A HREF="#inspiration_from_an_unusual_source" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Inspiration from an unusual source</U></A>: "Rev." Tori Spelling leads me to a new career. (629)</div> <div> <A HREF="#a_trust_violated_is_a_trust_lost" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A trust violated is a trust lost</U></A>: We need not apologize when Muslims destroy their credibility. (652)</div> <div> <A HREF="#the_spirit_of_appeasement_lives_in" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The spirit of appeasement lives in</U></A> Gordon Brown: Neville Chamberlain is back from the grave. (647)</div> <div> <A HREF="#democrats_don_t_like_walking_the_trail" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Democrats don't like walking the trail</U></A> they blazed: Senate Republicans play by the rules Democrats established. (631)</div> <div> <A HREF="#democratic_hypocrisy_runs_rampant" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Democratic hypocrisy runs rampant</U></A> following Libby commutation: Bush's critics ignore legality and precedent to gain political advantage. (647)</div> <div> <A HREF="#elizabeth_edwards_runs_interference_for" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Elizabeth Edwards runs interference for</U></A><A HREF="#elizabeth_edwards_runs_interference_for" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>her husband's weak campaign: John Edwards surges only when his wife is in the spotlight. (665)</div> <div> <A HREF="#dumb_crooks_and_lawsuits_combine_for" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dumb crooks and lawsuits combine for</U></A> laughable frustration: Dumb crooks are funny, but their lawsuits prevent laughter. (661)</div> <div> <A HREF="#muslim_radicals_should_get_a_life" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Muslim radicals should get a life</U></A>: Salman Rushdie's knighting is the latest excuse for Muslim intolerance. (623)</div> <div> <A HREF="#courage_and_honesty_are_required_to" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Courage and honesty are required to</U></A> learn a lesson: An honest though painful analysis of Ohio mom's death. (684)</div> <div> <A HREF="#_peace_peace__they_say_when_there_is" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">“Peace peace” they say when there is </U></A>no peace: It pays to keep an enemy close and a friend closer in Palestine. (668)</div> <div> <A HREF="#the_price_may_be_the_only_thing_right" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Price may be the only thing right</U></A> at CBS: CBS sacrificed the news to political ideology. Will they sacrifice their popular game show to a blowhard? (686)</div> <div> <A HREF="#popular_vote_bill_is_an_attack_on" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Popular vote bill is an attack on</U></A><A HREF="#popular_vote_bill_is_an_attack_on" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>representative government: Subverting Electoral College subverts freedom in favor of mob rules mentality. (653)</div> <div> <A HREF="#immigration_reform_rides_again_you" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Immigration reform rides again, you</U></A> stupid American: Government, business groups, and alien advocates think we're pretty dumb. (820)</div> <div> <A HREF="#editorials_and_editorialists_belong" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Editorials and editorialists belong</U></A><A HREF="#editorials_and_editorialists_belong" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>on the editorial page: Journalists should report the news and spare us the opinions. (655)</div> <div> <A HREF="#false__rights__lead_to_many_wrongs" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">False “rights” lead to many wrongs</U></A>: Identifying a right, a need, and a privilege. (691)</div> <div> <A HREF="#it_s_back_to_the_future_with_gas" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It's back to the future with gas</U></A><A HREF="#it_s_back_to_the_future_with_gas" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>gouging bill: H.R. 1252 can take us back to the 70s. (718)</div> <div> <A HREF="#pro_choice_activists_are_long_on" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pro-choice activists are long on</U></A><A HREF="#pro_choice_activists_are_long_on" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>hysterics, short on reality: Supreme Court ruling on Partial Birth Abortion is only a small step in the right direction. (588)</div> <div> <A HREF="#to_the_graduating_class_of_2007" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">To the Graduating Class of 2007</U></A>: Goals, not dreams, will lead you to success. (662)</div> <div> <A HREF="#tolerance_becomes_a_matter_of" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Tolerance becomes a matter of</U></A> perspective: To those who preach tolerance, tolerance is optional. (508)</div> <div> <A HREF="#praise_for_sen__kennedy_is_a_bitter" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Praise for Sen. Kennedy is a bitter</U></A> pill to swallow: Hearing Republicans praise Ted Kennedy  makes immigration reform worse than ever. (625)</div> <div> <A HREF="#changing_the_law_can_make_illegal" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Changing the law can make illegal</U></A> immigration legal. Does that make it beneficial?: Immigration reform bill misses the mark. (718)</div> <div> <A HREF="#wrongful_life_lawsuits_aren_t" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wrongful life lawsuits aren't</U></A> frivolous, they're frightening: Ramifications from wrongful life lawsuits would make the Nazis cringe. (842)</div> <div> <A HREF="#will_you_elect_this_leader_as_our_next" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will you elect this leader as our next</U></A>  president?: Liberty depends on listening to a candidate's words. (618)</div> <div> <A HREF="#msnbc_s_presidential_debate_was_a_model" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">MSNBC's presidential debate was a model</U></A> in idiocy: I answer the questions posed during MSNBC's Republican presidential debate. (2916)</div> <div> <A HREF="#fort_dix_plot_is_a_blatant_act_of_war" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Fort Dix plot is a blatant act of war</U></A>: No criminal charges required... treat the "Fort Dix Six" like the enemy they are. (655)</div> <div> <A HREF="#blue_angels_make_the_impossible_look" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Blue Angels make the impossible look</U></A> easy: This elite squadron represents what's right about Americans. (658)</div> <div> <A HREF="#to_preserve_the_republic_make_voting" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">To preserve the republic make voting</U></A> harder: Lazy, uninformed and apathetic voters weaken our republic and our freedom. (646)</div> <div> <A HREF="#liar_or_ignorant_will_the_real" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Liar or ignorant: Will the real</U></A><A HREF="#liar_or_ignorant_will_the_real" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>Lawrence O'Donnell please stand up?: Be wary of the "expert" panelist on the cable news shows. (676)</div> <div> <A HREF="#ethanol_isn_t_all_it_s_brewed_up_to_be" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Ethanol isn't all it's brewed up to be</U></A>: Ethanol isn't the panacea many experts lead us to believe. (688)</div> <div> <A HREF="#ceding_liberty_isn_t_the_answer_to" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Ceding liberty isn't the answer to</U></A> senseless violence: We should resist the calls to surrender our liberty for a false sense of security. (694)</div> <div> <A HREF="#it_pays_to_watch_your_words" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It pays to watch your words</U></A>: Blame goes beyond Don Imus. (683)</div> <div> <A HREF="#let_the_market_determine_the_benefit" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Let the market determine the benefit</U></A>: Alternative fuels aren't a silver bullet; they face the same market forces as oil. (714)</div> <div> <A HREF="#_the_day__of_creation" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">“The Day” of Creation</U></A>: What is time to God? Can the Big Bang and evolution fit within Creation? (1699)</div> <div> <A HREF="#sports_statistics_and_racial" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sports statistics and racial</U></A> bean-counting: Race-baiting exists even in sports statistics. (639)</div> <div> <A HREF="#capturing_brits_was_a_no_lose_situation" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Capturing Brits was a no-lose situation</U></A> for Iran: Iran takes a victory in British hostage situation. (631)</div> <div> <A HREF="#politicians_shouldn_t_expect_privacy" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Politicians shouldn't expect privacy</U></A>: Every aspect of a political candidate's life is our business, including a spouse's illness. (610)</div> <div> <A HREF="#yes_i_will_question_the_peace" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Yes I will question the peace</U></A><A HREF="#yes_i_will_question_the_peace" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> activist's patriotism</U></A>: Peace marchers display great patriotism... but to the wrong side. (671)</div> <div> <A HREF="#hunting_and_wildlife_conservation_are" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hunting and wildlife conservation are</U></A> synonymous: California's mountain lion attacks increased after hunting was banned. (661)</div> <div> <A HREF="#walter_reed_the_shot_heard__round_the" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Walter Reed the shot heard `round the</U></A> world: Our soldiers are sacrificing their bodies again. This time the enemy is socialized medicine. (655)</div> <div> <A HREF="#what_does_the_lost_tomb_of_jesus_mean" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">What does The Lost Tomb of Jesus mean</U></A> to Christians?: The possible effects of the controversial movie on Christian beliefs. (1725) </div> <div> <A HREF="#britney_spears_puts_a_face_on_a_deeper" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Britney Spears puts a face on a deeper</U></A> problem: Wild celebrity antics are the tip of a large iceberg. (640)</div> <div> <A HREF="#the_formula_for_peace_unconditional" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The formula for peace: unconditional</U></A> surrender: My plan for settling a dispute with you. How does it sound? (597)</div> <div> <A HREF="#is_there_an_environmentalist_in_the" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is there an environmentalist in the</U></A> house?: Climate activism is based more on political agendas than environmental concerns. (688)</div> <div> <A HREF="#a_lesson_from_mitt_romney_s_family_tree" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A lesson from Mitt Romney's family tree</U></A>: Polygamy "news" story is a media attempt to discredit a GOP presidential candidate. (581)</div> <div> <A HREF="#dissent_in_the_consensus_on_global" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dissent in the consensus on global</U></A> warming: There are two sides to the global warming debate. Why do we hear only one? (672)</div> <div> <A HREF="#an_easy_way_to_understand_the_proposed" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An easy way to understand the proposed</U></A> federal budget: Converting dollars into seconds tells us how vast the federal budget has become (716)</div> <div> <A HREF="#where_are_our_war_heroes_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Where are our war heroes?</U></A> Our military is producing decorated but unheralded war heroes of whom we should all be proud. (728)</div> <div> <A HREF="#misguided_priorities_fuel_death_penalty" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Misguided priorities fuel death penalty</U></A> debate: Playing politics with capital punishment subverts justice. (596)</div> <div> <A HREF="#on_what_authority_do_i_speak_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">On what authority do I spe</U></A><A HREF="#on_what_authority_do_i_speak_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>ak</U></A>? An honest answer to a reader's questions. (1953)</div> <div> <A HREF="#oprah_beats_50_cent_by_more_than_a" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Oprah beats 50 Cent by more than a</U></A><A HREF="#oprah_beats_50_cent_by_more_than_a" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U> </U></A>dollar. Liberal or not, Winfrey is a far better example of successful Black Americans than are rap stars. (672)</div> <div> <A HREF="#aap_policy_proposal_on_advertising" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">AAP policy proposal on advertising</U></A> ignores key player. The American Academy of Pediatrics blames advertisers for the problems kids face. Why is there no blame for parents? (713)</div> <div> <A HREF="#a_tale_of_two_letters" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A tale of two letters</U></A><A HREF="#a_tale_of_two_letters" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>:</U></A> Debating the role of government, capital punishment, and abortion with the First Amendment. (671)</div> <div> <A HREF="#warning_labels_lawsuits_and_america_s" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Warning labels </U></A><A HREF="#warning_labels_lawsuits_and_america_s" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>,</U></A><A HREF="#warning_labels_lawsuits_and_america_s" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>lawsuits, and America's</U></A> intelligence: Insulting warning labels result from overzealous litigation. (768)</div> <div> <A HREF="#property_rights_are_going_up_in_smoke" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Property rights are going up in smoke</U></A>: When government bans smoking in "public" places they ban property rights, too. (756)</div> <div> <A HREF="#who_is_being_cheated_on_gas_taxes_" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Who is being cheated on gas taxes?</U></A> The N.C. Department of Revenue's pursuit of fuel tax cheats should begin at government's front door. (631)</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="is_prosecuting_juiced_ballplayers_the"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Is prosecuting juiced ballplayers the answer?</FONT></div> <div> December 19, 2007</div> <bR> <div> This time of year the baseball devotee seeks solace in the Hot Stove League. The chatter around the stove this winter should be the Detroit Tigers. Their off-season acquisitions position them to capture their first World Series title since 1984. Or, the Red Sox could remain the team to beat. It doesn't matter. The talk is about steroids, cheating, an investigation, and what to make of all three.</div> <div> One columnist noted that former Senator George Mitchell's report itself looked like it was on steroids, bulked to a snooze-inducing 409 pages, which seems extensive until you remember that a politician led the investigation. In that light, it's plausible that Mitchell's report drones from start to finish without saying a thing.</div> <div> But, you have to give credit to Mr. Mitchell for not shying away from naming names. His list of gassed-up athletes reads like a Who's Who of the national pastime. Or, in some cases, a “who's that?”</div> <div> There were the known or highly suspected: the Giambi brothers, Gary Sheffield, and Barry Bonds. Most fans were at least somewhat surprised to find Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte on the list of offenders. There were also instances that make you wonder if, in fact, steroids work as advertised. Take the slugging Wally Joyner--who hit more than 20 homers only three times in 16 seasons--for instance, or the flame-throwing Paul Byrd.</div> <div> Last season's comeback kid, Rick Ankiel, has seen his heart-warming reemergence sullied by allegations of steroid use. Still other wrongdoers make you scratch your head and reach for the “who's that” file mentioned earlier. Of what benefit were steroids to Ricky Stone, or Tim Laker, or Phil Hiatt?</div> <div> Performance enhancers may have caused a few more Barry Bonds “big flies” to splashdown in McCovey Cove or added a mile per hour to a Clemens fastball. But they didn't help Bonds recognize pitches and make contact nor did they make Clemens throw the right pitch in the correct count to the proper location. Those skills result from practice alone, meaning that steroid use was altogether unnecessary.</div> <div> It's interesting that neither Bonds nor Clemens have failed a drug test, which is the case for nearly everyone on the abuser list. The same can be said for the black-hatted Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who weren't on Mitchell's list at all.</div> <div> It makes you question the Mitchell report's worth and what course baseball should pursue in its wake. What action can and should Bud Selig take to repair the game's image, especially when the report itself favors letting bygones be bygones?</div> <div> The steroid problem rests as much on baseball's management as it does the players. Until recently there were no hard rules regarding performance enhancing drugs, and no enforcement policy for whatever lame directive did exist. Therefore, it's arguable that juiced players were gaining an advantage permitted within the rules. That's no more cheating than a base runner who takes an extra step lead against a pitcher with a poor move. Fans bear some blame, too. Moving runners over just isn't as “SportsCenter” as the three-run homer.</div> <div> “But steroids are illegal,” you say.</div> <div> Fine; then it's a law enforcement problem. Charge the offending players in criminal court. If they're found guilty; send them to jail. Instead of the Gas House Gang they can form the Big House Gang. But, if you aren't willing to take that step you shouldn't preen and crow over the Mitchell report's seriousness.</div> <div> Don't misunderstand, steroids should be banned. They cheapen the players, their accomplishments, and the game itself. More important, their use teaches young players that the road to “the Show” is paved with a syringe. However, baseball's hierarchy ignored doping for years. They have no moral authority to sanction players and little practical alternative to wiping the slate clean and starting over.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="what_if_there_was_a_civil_rights"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >What if there was a civil rights violation and nobody cared?</FONT></div> <div> December 11, 2007</div> <bR> <div> In late September the small town of Jena, LA turned the nation upside down. Activists and media flocked to the Deep South for what was billed as the launch of a new civil rights crusade.</div> <div> The initial reports from Jena were startling. We were told that it was a racist town with a racist school and a racist hierarchy. The District Attorney was panned as a small town Klansman, singling out black kids to satisfy his supremacist leanings. Nooses hung from a “whites only” tree, placed there to resurrect yesterday's injustices.</div> <div> Such attitudes and happenings, if true, are unacceptable to most people. The problem arose when the initial reports from Jena turned out to be, at best, half-true.</div> <div> The “white tree” was a myth; both black and white kids routinely gathered under its branches. The nooses were there, but not for the reason we were given. Teachers at Jena High had witnessed both black and white kids playing with the nooses on more than one occasion. Other people claimed the nooses were aimed at a rival school prior to a football game.</div> <div> Whether Mychal Bell and the Jena 6 deserved to be charged as adults for the beating of Justin Barker is debatable. However, Bell's criminal history of assaults and damage to public property is undeniable. What's also undeniable is that Mychal Bell was used, but not by a racist DA and a good-old-boy system.</div> <div> Just as soon as the national media was through painting Jena as the birthplace of Jim Crow and the race-hustlers had drained every second of publicity from Mychal Bell's legal troubles, they packed their cameras, bullhorns, and outrage and beat feet for the state line. Bell--for good, bad, guilt or innocence--was left behind. It made me wonder what would happen if a civil rights violation occurred and nobody paid attention. I didn't have to wait long to find out.</div> <div> Barely two months after the Jena marches, nine teenagers beat a young woman and dragged her from a Baltimore city bus. Her friend was also assaulted, as well as an elderly passenger and the bus driver. Funny thing, there's been only scant coverage of the attack and no civil rights attention whatsoever. The victims were white, except for the bus driver, and the suspects were black.</div> <div> Should we assume that the beaten woman's civil rights weren't violated? Shouldn't she, her friend, the elderly passenger and the bus driver have the right to go about their business without being beaten and harassed by a gang of punks?</div> <div> The broadcast media had a field day with the Jena 6, and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were everywhere. Why aren't they in Baltimore? Why are they so unconcerned with the civil rights of the Baltimore Four? The answer is quite clear.</div> <div> Broadcast media outlets are driven by sensationalism. Whatever the motives for the Baltimore attack, they will never approach the emotional connection of perceived racial injustice in a southern town. Therefore, this situation isn't worth their time.</div> <div> As for Jesse and Al, they are self-consumed. The only civil rights that concern them are the ones from which they can gain attention. They care nothing for the Baltimore Four or the fact that nine black teenagers are throwing their lives away. They cared nothing for Mychal Bell, as evidenced by how quickly they tossed him aside when the cameras stopped rolling.</div> <div> We don't yet know the full facts from the Baltimore Four assault. But when the outrage broke in Louisiana we didn't have the facts either. One fact we do know is that most people will get along fine privately until self-promoting third parties become involved. Reality is revealed slowly. Maybe if we'll await facts instead of reacting to initial generalizations we'll get along even better.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="what_s_hate_got_to_do_with_it_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >What's hate got to do with it?</FONT></div> <div> December 11, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Love is said to be the strongest human emotion. It can drive us to do things we wouldn't otherwise do. Love can compel a person to make great sacrifices for the benefit of another. People will throw themselves in front of a moving vehicle to save their child's life or donate a kidney to a relative or friend, both for the sake of love.</div> <div> If love is the most powerful human emotion, then hatred runs a close second. Hate can also lead people to commit acts they otherwise wouldn't consider. Hate can be blamed for driving Adolph Hitler to systematically eradicate 6 million European Jews and ignite a world war that consumed 55 million lives. A hatred for societal standards, or an overall hatred for human life, can fuel a serial killer. Ultimately, it can be said that hate drives all manner of vile and despicable treatment of our neighbor.</div> <div> Love can be a beautiful and noble emotion. Since hate is love's antonym we know it will produce ugly and selfish behavior. Yet, they share the common denominator of being truly powerful human emotions. Therefore, neither should be a driving force behind the rule of law.</div> <div> If a law is to be effective and universally applicable it must be free of emotion. We've already addressed how emotion, whether good or bad, can cloud human judgment and alter our behavior. It just stands to reason that man's laws, if coupled with man's emotions, will also reflect our biases and prejudices.</div> <div> When that is the case, a criminal defendant may receive a more severe sentence when hate is determined to be an aggravating factor. Conversely, a second defendant may receive a lesser sentence when hate is said not to have contributed to the crime, even when the exact same crime has been committed.</div> <div> Under these circumstances the victim has suffered to the same degree regardless of their race, sex, creed, or national origin. Hate crimes laws call attention to the racial component of a crime rather to than the crime itself. Therefore, they can only exacerbate the situation, inciting further outrage rather that soothing racial tensions, as their proponents claim.</div> <div> Hate crimes laws thus allow charlatans to manipulate criminal acts for political advantage. As long as this continues there will remain racial tension and divisiveness. It is the intended result, for charlatans require a divided populace to maintain their prominence and power.</div> <div> Friends, never is a violent crime an act of love. Even when there is a so-called crime of passion it is anger that fuels a momentary hatred and produces a violent act. Therefore, every violent crime--regardless of race--is a hate crime and should be treated accordingly.</div> <div> It's doubtful that Mychal Bell and his pals beat Justin Baker as a token of esteem. Nine black teenagers didn't assault Sarah Kreager, who is white, out of loving kindness. And I doubt that the white goons who dragged James Byrd, Jr. down a Texas back road behind a pickup truck did so because of their deep respect for his value to the community. The victim in each case suffered to the same degree regardless of the violator's motivation. Why shouldn't the criminal be punished to the same degree of his victim's suffering, regardless of any racial components?</div> <div> Hate crimes laws don't serve the cause of justice regardless of who is charged. They only serve to foster discord, with their sole value being to people who benefit from acrimony.</div> <div> Before you jump on board with hate crimes prosecutions, ask your self this question: Would I rather be left alone by a bigot, or beaten senseless by someone who doesn't care if my ancestors came from Mars?</div> <div> I'll take option one, and I'll bet you do, too.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="hi_yo_silver_bill_clinton_lies_again"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Hi-Yo Silver! Bill Clinton lies again!</FONT></div> <div> December 4, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Do you miss the Clinton presidency? Don't fret. A gravely voice with a ready lie, a cloud of lust and hearty Hi-Yo Silver! Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Bill Clinton rides again.</div> <div> According to the lead paragraph of a New York Times article, Mr. Clinton claims that he opposed the Iraq War prior to the invasion. The article's next paragraph points out that he never actually declared his opposition. Why the contradiction? Well, perhaps it's because Clinton wasn't opposed to the war at all, at least not then.</div> <div> In fairness to Mr. Clinton, he didn't support the timing of the invasion. However, he consistently defended President Bush's position. In fact, in interviews cited by CNN, Clinton rejected the Left's argument that oil and imperialism prompted the Iraq War. He affirmed that Pres. Bush's top responsibility following 9/11 was to prevent Al-Qaeda and its allies from obtaining WMDs. “That's why I supported the Iraq thing,” Clinton said then. “There was a lot of stuff unaccounted for.”</div> <div> Mr. Clinton's public assertions that Iraq and Al-Qaeda posed a threat to the United States can be traced back to his presidency. The administration clearly believed that Iraq had provided technical assistance to Al-Qaeda's quest for WMDs during the 1990s. Indeed Clinton so trusted his administration's intelligence that he ordered a Tomahawk missile strike against a Sudanese factory.</div> <div> The plant was suspected of producing Empta, an acid used to manufacture VX nerve gas. When asked which countries used Empta to make VX an administration intelligence official responded, “Iraq is the only country we're aware of.”</div> <div> If that's not enough, consider that several top Clinton administration figures acknowledged Iraq's involvement with Sudan's suspected chemical weapons facility and an Iraq-Sudan connection with Al-Qaeda on WMD development.</div> <div> The historical evidence is clear; Pres. Clinton and his administration believed that Iraq assisted Sudan and Al-Qaeda on weapons projects, a fact confirmed by the missile strike against the Sudanese plant. He openly expressed support for President Bush's stance before the Iraq War began. How, then, can he now claim to have opposed the war from the outset, and why would he make such an easily refutable statement?</div> <div> Let's remember who were dealing with. Clinton is the man that a sympathetic media once praised for his lying ability. That talent surfaces whenever needed, and it's needed now to facilitate his return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.</div> <div> Hillary's coronation as America's first queen hasn't been the formality the Clinton's expected. Polling data, if accurate, changes with the wind. But there is one certainty; the polarizing Hillary Clinton isn't the presidential shoo-in she was supposed to be. She, like her husband, either can't make up her mind or is fast and loose with the truth.</div> <div> Sen. Clinton voted for the war resolution in 2002. Now she claims she was misled by Bush. That's quite a revelation for the world's smartest woman, to admit being duped by a man her supporters consider a dumb Texas cowboy. She has image, likeability and credibility problems not only with opponents and undecided voters but with pacifists within her party. Bill's flip-flop is a diversionary tactic launched to disguise Hillary's war voting record.</div> <div> When Bill Clinton supported Bush five years ago his wife wasn't running for the Democratic nomination. Now that she needs the pacifist's vote, he is re-writing history to hide embarrassment and appease the base. For the Clintons, life revolves around personal image and political advantage. If the truth becomes collateral damage, well, it's a necessary sacrifice.</div> <div> Prior to the Iraq War, Bill said what he needed to say to enhance his legacy as a forceful and dynamic leader. He's doing the same now to attain political power, betting that you'll again marvel at his unique ability to spin reality rather than focusing on reality itself.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="more_tolerance_from_the__religion_of"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >More tolerance from the “religion of peace”</FONT></div> <div> November 30, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Whenever we think we've seen it all from the world of the Islamic fundamentalists, like a Saudi rape victim being sentenced to a year in jail for her part in the crime, they up the ante again. Let's turn our attention to Sudan--a genocidal country that has declared a de facto hunting season on anyone who isn't an Arab Muslim--where a British schoolteacher has offended Islam.</div> <div> The situation indicates neither holiness nor decency within Islam, only the religion's frailty. How else can we explain the Muslim's perpetual offense from otherwise mundane events?</div> <div> Draw a caricature of Mohammed and Islam is offended. Make a video and Islam is offended. Note that Muslims are the perpetrators of the overwhelming majority of suicide bomb attacks and Islam in offended. Let a woman reveal one cubic centimeter of skin and Islam is offended. Refuse to live in the 7<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> Century and Islam is offended. If you're a Westerner, draw your next breath and Islam is offended. I could go on, but you get the idea.</div> <div> Funny, though. Blow up a railway station, hi-jack an airliner, or detonate a suicide bomb on the evening bus and Islam celebrates.</div> <div> Gillian Gibbons taught 7-year-olds at a private school in Sudan. She became the latest to offend Islam's delicate sensitivities when her class teddy bear was named Mohammed. Under Islamic Law, this grave insult demands 40 lashes, jail and a fine. Fortunately, she received the “lenient” sentence of 15 days in jail and deportation. That's not enough for the righteous defenders of the religion of peace; Islamic justice demands much more.</div> <div> The pious, devout Muslims say Gibbons must die for her “flagrant aggression” against Mohammed. Inflamed Sudanese Muslims, properly stoked with the “tolerant” kindling of Friday services, streamed from the mosques like fire ants from a flattened hill. They flooded Khartoum's streets proclaiming their message of peace. “No tolerance: Execution,” they demanded. “Kill her, kill her by firing squad,” they shouted, berating the “arrogant” Gibbons for teaching Sudanese children to hate Mohammed.</div> <div> Perhaps the prophet should've dedicated a few lines of his writing to the bearing of false witness, for the charges against Gibbons are pure lies.</div> <div> A student named Mohammed, not Gibbons, initiated this blasphemous atrocity, wanting to name the teddy bear after himself. Mohammed's classmates voted overwhelmingly in favor of his proposal and the bear was thus named. From this simple matter an entire city--nay, make that the radical Muslim world--is ready to kill a 54-year-old British schoolteacher.</div> <div> You don't see adherents of other religions react so atrociously when their icons are insulted, which happens frequently and to a much higher degree.</div> <div> Chris Ofili concocted The Holy Virgin Mary, a juvenile depiction of Christ's mother spattered with elephant dung. A photo titled <I>Wrecked</I> depicts the Last Supper with a topless woman in the place of Jesus, arms spread to imitate crucifixion. <I>Yo Mama's Last Supper </I>did likewise, with the fully-nude “artist”, Renee Cox, in the position of Christ. And who could forget Andres Serrano's photo of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine, the artistic profundity of which was so eloquently reflected in the title, <I>Piss Christ</I>.</div> <div> Christians never denied the offence these artworks generated. However, there was no arrest, trial, jail, or flogging. No Christian lynch mob demanded the alleged artist's execution. In other words, Christians didn't practice the “tolerance” we find within the “religion of peace.”</div> <div> British diplomats have tiptoed around this situation as if they were crossing a minefield. Sure, Britain pressured the Sudanese government. They were also quite careful to affirm their respect for Islam lest it again be offended. But respect is an honor earned, not given. Judging from the latest example of Muslim belligerence Islam is doing precious little to prove itself worthy of the honor.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="putting_a_positive_spin_on_the_latest"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Putting a positive spin on the latest disaster</FONT></div> <div> November 27, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Live long enough and you'll experience a moment of confirmation. Maybe you've wondered if you should've married your high school sweetheart instead of your actual spouse. Then a chance meeting with the old sweetie confirms the superiority of your current state and you realize the wisdom of your decision. I recently lived this experience, although it had nothing to do with my wife or a by-gone girlfriend.</div> <div> I read an article on quantum theory and it convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that I made a wise choice in never studying astrophysics. With that said a little background is in order along with the following disclaimer. The summation you're about to read is probably inaccurate.</div> <div> Two renowned university professors have asserted that our universe is likely to die at a younger age because astronomers have viewed dark energy in space. This observance caused the cosmos to regress to a prior state in which its demise is likely to accelerate.</div> <div> The key phrase is dark energy, and you may be wondering what the heck it is. I did too, so I looked it up. Einstein, a pretty sharp guy, introduced the concept of dark energy 90 years ago, representing it with a symbol that I can neither understand nor reproduce on a keyboard. Experts could form no consensus on the idea and it lay dormant until the 1990s. Even now scientist can't accurately explain dark energy, except that it's a repulsive force credited with expanding the universe.</div> <div> The combination of this exhaustive research and my warped mind spawned a few equally exhausting and warped questions.</div> <div> If the universe's life is shortened by man's observance how long would it have survived without observation? How can we know how long it would've lived without our observation unless we observed it previously, which by this theory would've also shortened its life? Can we accept the initial proposition without having answers to these latter two? Confused yet? Don't fret, so am I.</div> <div> Professor Lawrence Krauss, one of the two noted scientists mentioned earlier, says his theory depends on what determines the universe's rate of decay and whether our observations can reset that determiner. However, not everyone agrees with Prof. Krauss' theory because it's dependent on the need for humans to do the observing, which itself is a bone of contention within the sphere of quantum theory. It's akin to the question we asked as kids: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one's there to hear it, does it make a sound?”</div> <div> Regardless, I'm sure that Prof. Krauss can substantiate his position with an impressive and incomprehensible maze of mathematical calculations that resemble something Albert Einstein would've produced after a dose of ipecac syrup. That sort of equation may as well be the script for Saturn's evening news to someone for whom high school algebra was a foreign language, like me.</div> <div> Thanks to Prof. Krauss, not only must we worry about global destruction but also the universe's demise, both of which are man's fault. While we're offering SUVs and fossil fuels on the altar of environmental responsibility perhaps we should sacrifice a few observatories and telescopes to cosmic preservation. And while climatologists and cosmologists confidently forecast terrestrial and celestial apocalypse, their cousins in meteorology can't predict a thunderstorm brewing just beyond the horizon.</div> <div> I have no idea what to make of Krauss' doomsday theory. But if man can hasten matter's demise simply by viewing it there may be an upside, at least in the short term. To test this theory I plan to take a long, hard look at Hillary Clinton, as nauseating a prospect as that may be. A few minutes spent staring at the Islamic Republic of Iran might not be a bad idea either.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="to_liberals_free_speech_is_a_one_way"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >To liberals, free speech is a one-way street</FONT></div> <div> November 20, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Suppose we were to conduct a survey asking average citizens to pick one freedom America enjoys that most nations don't. We'd likely receive some varied answers. Some people would declare the right to bear arms. Others might mention the ability to worship freely, an uncensored press, peaceable assemblage, or the protection against self-incrimination.</div> <div> Some respondents would go beyond the obvious. They might mention the right to travel freely between the states, to own property, or to pursue their educational goals. Still others may cite the right to choose their profession and, thus, pursue their idea of happiness. All of these rights we still enjoy, by and large, unimpeded.</div> <div> However, suppose we asked those Americans to name three freedoms instead of one. I'll bet the right to free speech would make 90-percent of the lists. What a shame that such an important and inalienable right is so misunderstood.</div> <div> The First Amendment is a two-way street. For free speech to exist each side of a debate must recognize their opponent's ability to state their opinions. That doesn't mean that either side has a right to be believed--that right must be earned--but only the right to speak. Yet there's a faction in American politics that can't wrap their minds around this simple precept. It may surprise you to learn that it isn't the ideology routinely accused of stifling dissent.</div> <div> Liberals are genuinely opposed to free speech, at least for anyone other than themselves. The Iraq War serves as a fine example. People who demand an immediate troop withdrawal are simply exercising their free speech. Conversely, when conservatives question the peace-at-any-cost position they're accused of repressing contrasting views. War protesters profess support for our troops while calling them Nazis and war criminals. If conservatives question the protester's accusations they're demonized for censorship.</div> <div> Liberals maintain their right to express any opinion they please regardless of their accuracy. If you don't accept their views completely you're silencing their voice. The fact that you have a different view is inconsequential. Unfortunately, it's a tactic that works on the unobservant mind.</div> <div> What would happen if liberals were blackballed within their profession for expressing political views on their own time? Evil business interests would be charged with thwarting free speech. Yet that doesn't hold true in liberal dominated industries, like entertainment.</div> <div> Liberal celebrities host extravagant fundraisers for their political candidates. But let a star contribute to a Republican and he or she has committed Hollywood's version of hara-kiri. Actors and actresses must deny conservative or GOP leanings, or at the least decline comment.</div> <div> In Tinsel Town homosexuality and bi-sexuality are embraced. Adultery, promiscuity, partying and leaking homemade sex videos is celebrated. But celebrities who experiment with political conservatism better stay in the closet. Otherwise they'll be relegated to hawking cleaning products on late night infomercials.</div> <div> Free conservative speech isn't to be tolerated even at the Republican convention. Liberals are already planning their protest marches, human roadblocks and pubic disruptions. Sure, they can protest Republican policies. But the planned tactics aren't about exchanging ideas. The protests are about silencing conservative voices, intimidating convention participants and inhibiting debate. Otherwise liberal protesters wouldn't employ tactics the sole purpose of which it to deny conservatives access to the convention hall.</div> <div> Then there are the words of Jordan Kushner, a protest sympathizer, who said of the convention, “People have as much right to the streets as the Republicans who are coming here. . . .” So, Republicans aren't people? Small wonder liberals don't acknowledge a conservative's right to unfettered dialogue.</div> <div> Pay attention to the political discourse this election year. Note which side tries to debate ideas and which attempts to shout-down their opposition. You'll find that it's liberalism that sees free speech as a one-way street.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="we_re_being_gouged_where_s_the_outrage_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >We're being gouged! Where's the outrage?</FONT></div> <div> November 12, 2007</div> <bR> <div> When the price of crude oil approached $100 per barrel you just knew the price of gasoline would soon follow suit. Gas prices held their ground for a time. But I wasn't surprised to find regular unleaded hovering just north of the magical $3 per gallon barometer at my last fill-up. The next step is the price-gouging charges, for when gasoline prices spike criticism of Big Oil is never far behind.</div> <div> We heard similar complaints last summer following the iPhone's debut. People lined up by the thousands outside electronics retailers--forever proving P.T. Barnum's theory concerning the birth rate of suckers--to buy the latest electronic gizmo. Predictably, due to the great demand and the limited supply, over-eager consumers paid far more for their iPhones than the device was actually worth.</div> <div> Wouldn't you just know it? Two months after the iPhone's unveiling the price dropped from $599 to $399. The initial buyers, Barnum's favorite sons, carped and whined about price-gouging. But the gadget-hungry consumers who complained about the inflated launch price should've been kicking themselves in the rear. They indeed paid the market price of $399 for their iPhones, plus an extra $200 for the fleeting prestige of being first on the block to own the latest techno-goodie. The same thing happened when the Playstation3 debuted last December, and it'll happen when the next “can't-live-without-it” device hits the shelves.</div> <div> However, the price-gouging crusader's condemnations ring hollow. There is another commodity that far outpaces inflation and is fast becoming unaffordable for many Americans--higher education. Average college tuition increased more than 6.5-percent this year, and higher tuition is common at both subsidized and private four-year institutions.</div> <div> Parents who sent their kids to private universities this year will pay an average of $30,000 including room and board. The price will exceed $50,000 at some schools. Just a few years ago, 2005, Richmond University's tuition rose more than 31-percent in a single year.</div> <div> Public colleges and universities will predictably cost less, with an average outlay around $13,000 per year. But, as has long been the case, that discount holds true only if a student attends school in-state. A non-resident attending a publicly-subsidized school can expect costs on par with private institutions.</div> <div> Activists and politicians rant and rave when the price of gasoline rises a quarter per gallon. They then score public points with legislative proposals to combat Big Oil's greed. The same thing happens when there's an increase in the price of heating oil, beef, power tools, you name it.</div> <div> Yet I've heard nary a consumer activist criticize colleges and universities over tuition rates that rise disproportionately to inflation. Where are the charges of tuition-gouging and the condemnation of Big Education?</div> <div> There are a few reasons why universities get a free pass for their skyrocketing costs. Grants, scholarships and low-interest loans soften the buyer's out-of-pocket expenses somewhat, and publicly subsidized community colleges remain an affordable option. But a far more compelling reason is that anti-gouging activists and pandering politicians share an overwhelmingly liberal ideology with the majority of university administrators and faculty. Quite simply, the activists aren't going to censure their allies.</div> <div> Price controls and other legislative remedies are no more the answer to rising tuition costs than they are to rising prices in other industries and services. Tuition price controls will only compound the problem, ensuring a lower quality educational product with less availability. Still, a little consistency on the part of price-gouging crusaders would be refreshing.</div> <div> The next time activists and politicians carp over a spike in the price of a dozen eggs or a gallon of gas, remember that their outrage is either inflamed or quenched according to the politics of those whose bread is being buttered.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="hillary_clinton_tops_all_candidates_in"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Hillary Clinton tops all candidates in arrogance and deceit</FONT></div> <div> November 7, 2007</div> <bR> <div> How many times have we heard that Hillary Clinton is the smartest, strongest woman in the world? Ad nauseam, and for the life of me I can't fathom that conclusion. The more the Democratic Senator from New York speaks the less sense she makes and the weaker she appears.</div> <div> Being the poll leader for a party's presidential nomination makes a person an instant target. Yet when Sen. Clinton's rivals take her to task over her debate answers, or lack thereof, she positions herself as the pitiful target of male bullies. If she's as strong and smart as she would have us to believe, why complain that her opponents are picking on the girl?</div> <div> Hillary Clinton is strong and smart only until she must explain her views. Then she sidesteps the discussion like a recovering alcoholic avoids the Jack Daniels distillery. Even Kate Michelman of NARAL Pro-Choice America has commented on how Clinton ducks legitimate questions and complains when she's challenged.</div> <div> Both opposing and neutral observers have noticed Clinton's bob and weave tactics for years. But, for a pro-abortion feminist like Michelman, who should be Hillary's staunchest supporter, to call attention to her lack of commitment is telling indeed.</div> <div> Clinton's inability to specify her positions is disconcerting. But her willingness to cry foul when asked to clarify her stance is even more frightening. If she can't handle the heat of a debate within her own party, among her peers, what chance would she have when it really counts? If she's to negotiate Iran's nuclear program, an escalation of the Pakistani situation, Chinese trade, or Russia's alliances with Iran and Syria, will she complain of personal attacks like she did following the most recent debate?</div> <div> Making a career of avoiding tough situations prepares you for nothing. Yet, when few people are watching Mrs. Clinton will reveal her true colors with a quasi-Freudian slip.</div> <div> When discussing her universal healthcare crusade with the Associated Press Mrs. Clinton acknowledged that the only way her plan can work is to require every American to purchase insurance. Yet she rejected the idea of forcing Americans to opt in . . . for now. Sen. Clinton said, “At this point, we don't have anything punitive that we have proposed.”</div> <div> “At this point” are the key words that allow her to dodge an honest answer. She has denied forcing Americans into her system while leaving the door open to do just that after the election. Is that smart? No, it's conniving! And healthcare isn't the only issue Clinton obfuscates.</div> <div> It's no secret that Sen. Clinton voted for the Iraq War and that she believed Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs and harbored Al-Qaeda. What is unknown is her position on Iraq today, if one indeed exists.</div> <div> In 2005 she rejected an immediate troop withdrawal. Since then she has called for a 90-day timeframe for troop withdrawal and a withdrawal of troops while leaving troops in Iraq to combat terrorists. Most recently, in a September debate at Dartmouth, she wouldn't promise to withdraw the troops before 2013. How's that for confusing? And her statements concerning profits and private companies are eerily similar to the words and deeds of Hugo Chavez.</div> <div> Everyone has the right to change their mind on an issue. I've done so myself. But Hillary's positions change according to the audience she's addressing. Even if you support her brand of socialism how can you believe she'll implement the parts you favor?</div> <div> Sen. Clinton considers any request for clarification to be a vicious attack and dismisses unwanted questions with a wild, cackling laugh. She's not the world's smartest woman, and certainly not it's strongest. However, when it comes to arrogance and deceit she's riding at the front of the herd.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="will_the_real_xenophobe_please_stand_up_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Will the real xenophobe please stand up?</FONT></div> <div> November 1, 2007</div> <bR> <div> When the DREAM Act, S. 2205, failed to gain cloture it meant that amnesty for illegal aliens was defeated for the third time this year. In its wake there are two things of which we can be certain. First, the defeat doesn't mean that some form of amnesty won't resurface soon. Second, those of us who oppose amnesty will again be subject to unfounded charges of bigotry and xenophobia.</div> <div> The entire immigration debate has produced nothing but contradiction. Politicians promise more border agents, yet we jail existing border agents when they actually defend the border. Meanwhile, illegal aliens sue state and local law enforcement when those departments dare arrest aliens for breaking the law. The lunacy extends to the highest levels, where Mexico's President Felipe Calderon shouts, “Jump!” and President Bush responds, “How high?”</div> <div> Pres. Calderon has been a vocal critic of any attempt to enforce our immigration laws. He views the most innocuous effort to secure the border as a degrading persecution of “undocumented workers.” Calderon has vowed to defend the rights of illegal aliens stating, “Mexico does not end at the border, that wherever there is a Mexican Mexico is there.”</div> <div> Perhaps it an antiquated notion, but I thought an immigrant's purpose for coming to America was to become an American, not to remain a part of the country they left behind. But, I suppose that's a simplistic idea, certainly nationalistic and possibly xenophobic.</div> <div> Frankly, I'm all for immigration and I'm confident that our immigration laws are a bureaucratic maze of red tape that begs for reform. Why would anyone think those regulations would differ from the others Washington administers? It is the blanket legalization of aliens who've proven their disdain for our laws, our language and our culture that bothers me.</div> <div> I wonder, what kind of immigration reform America could undertake that would gain Pres. Calderon's approval? Perhaps we should offer the same benevolence toward foreigners and immigrants as does Calderon's magnanimous government.</div> <div> According to Article 11 of the Mexican Constitution anyone has the right to enter, leave and travel freely inside Mexico. If you're thinking there's a catch, take a gold star. The right to travel freely is subordinate to government oversight when it applies to immigrants and “undesirable aliens resident in the country.” Furthermore, Article 33 grants Pres. Calderon carte blanche to compel any foreigner to leave Mexico without regard to legal status or due process of law.</div> <div> Article 33 also prohibits foreigners from participating in Mexico's political affairs. In America, illegal aliens march through American streets to protest American policies and influence American politics. Aliens can unite with activist networks, like the National Council of La Raza, to influence American politics. Activists and their Congressional accomplices demand that illegal aliens be allowed to vote. If you complain you're a racist. Isn't that convenient?</div> <div> That's not all; not by a long shot. Article 32 grants Mexicans priority over foreigners for all employment and government commissions. Non-natives cannot become commissioned military officers, crew a Mexican ship or aircraft, or take charge of any port or customs agency. If you aren't a native-born Mexican citizen you can forget about becoming a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Article 55), filling a cabinet post (Article 91) or being a Supreme Court Justice (Article 95). Article 51 states that only Mexican citizens can vote in elections. </div> <div> Finally, according to Article 130, “To practice the ministry of any denomination in the United Mexican States it is necessary to be Mexican by birth.”</div> <div> Now we know how Pres. Felipe Calderon's government deals with foreigners and immigrants, notwithstanding the physical and sexual abuses alleged to have occurred on Mexico's southern border. I'll bet that Pres. Calderon wouldn't be so hot-to-trot for immigration reform if the reforms resembled his government's constitutional practices.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="the_church_can_be_christianity_s_worst"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >The Church can be Christianity's worst enemy</FONT></div> <div> October 31, 2007</div> <bR> <div> It seems that those who proclaim Christianity the loudest are becoming the faith's poorest representatives. People who are publicly the most pious are often the first caught with their pants down, so to speak. From priestly sex scandals to the ordination of homosexual ministers to Larry Craig, people claiming the moral high ground continually bring a black eye to the faith.</div> <div> This is often attributable to political or social charlatans who parlay the Christian message into votes or power. Others deny or hide embarrassing circumstances in the hope that the controversies will just fade away. In still other situations the message is compromised so the Church can fit in with worldly values. Perhaps the worst example is a church that pursues outlandishness simply to draw attention.</div> <div> The latter is exemplified at Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS. Apparently, members have taken Paul's admonition that the Church “be not conformed to this world” to mean becoming arrogant antagonists.</div> <div> You may be familiar with Westboro; it's the church whose members protest at soldier's funerals claiming that military deaths are God's judgment for America's tolerance of homosexuality. They've protested military funerals from Boston, MA to Bismarck, ND, and numerous points in between. Westboro's Shirley Phelps-Roper explained that they weren't protesting any soldier individually but the nation's sin as a whole, which happens to include the soldiers in question.</div> <div> True enough, those soldiers sinned in one way or another, as has Mrs. Phelps-Roper, you, and I. However, gathering at a military funeral with signs that read “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “Thank God for 9/11” do little to promote the message of Christ, which is the purpose of the Christian Church.</div> <div> There is no question that America has undergone a cultural metamorphosis, and not for the moral betterment. We now accept as normal the things that would've made our great-grandparents cut flips, all in the name of tolerance.</div> <div> Babies are sacrificed on the altar of “choice” while the fallacious notion that animals have rights on par with humans is gaining acceptance. We have declared that nearly any mention of Jesus Christ in a public setting is unconstitutional, and yet we fawn over radical environmentalists who worship the earth. And that's not all.</div> <div> Thanks in no small part to the liberal doctrine that humans aren't responsible for their actions we have relegated sexual intimacy to the status of a mere bodily function. Homosexuality is considered an alternative lifestyle. Adultery is praised for its open-mindedness and pornography for its artistic expression. There's even an organization, the North American Man Boy Love Association, dedicated to legalizing “consensual” pedophilia.</div> <div> Worse still, offenders on all fronts are found inside the organized church. It's not beyond imagination that Westboro's vision of Divine Judgment will come to pass. But, Westboro's prophecies center on proclaiming God's judgment after the fact. It's not hard to predict what's already happened or to assign responsibility afterwards.</div> <div> Christianity expresses a choice, either salvation through repentance or judgment for rebellion. It's a choice each person will make. Westboro's flamboyant practices have taken that Gospel message, already foolishness to most men, and twisted it into unrecognizable and incomprehensible nonsense.</div> <div> Certainly Westboro's members have every right to express their ideas and they've done so without violence. Furthermore, the recent $10 million jury verdict against them, stemming from their protest at Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral, opens a Pandora's Box for trial lawyers intent on silencing less controversial congregations. Even so, for Westboro to promote their position by upstaging a funeral service is an exercise in self-promotion that drives people away from Christ's message.</div> <div> Unfortunately, it appears that the church is again proving to be Jesus Christ's worst enemy.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="a_look_at_life_and_other_oddities"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >A look at life and other oddities</FONT></div> <div> October 29, 2007</div> <bR> <div> The following are thoughts on the world around us.</div> <div> Businesses conduct routine audits to ensure their operations are efficient. Likewise it's good practice for us to conduct a personal audit now and again. We may find a correctible discrepancy, or that we've strayed from a desired path.</div> <div> Whenever a private property owner restricts someone's activities it's called a civil rights violation, and the activists howl. Yet when government restricts activities on private property it's called smart growth or open space, and the activists worship.</div> <div> If we learn nothing else from the Larry Craig saga we should learn this: it is dangerous to listen to any type of personal music device while in a men's room stall. If you're enjoying the tune, you might tap your foot.</div> <div> The United Nations is a government organization that benefits from expanding regulation. Oil companies are private organizations that benefit from shrinking regulation. Yet, if a scientist who questions global warming has received one dime from energy interests he is dismissed as a shill for Big Oil while the U.N.'s pro-global warming studies are accepted as irrefutable fact. Shouldn't U.N. studies be considered biased, too?</div> <div> Wars aren't won by surrendering or refusing to acknowledge the enemy's existence. That's worth remembering when deciding the best way to deal with Muslim jihadists.</div> <div> According to Britannica, Rev. Al Sharpton began preaching when he was four-years-old and became an ordained minister at the ripe old age of ten. That makes Rev. Sharpton quite a man. Jesus himself didn't address religious matters publicly until age 12, and didn't begin his ministry until he was 30.</div> <div> When Jake Delhomme underwent season-ending surgery, the Carolina Panthers wanted a veteran quarterback to back-up David Carr. Since they signed Vinny Testeverde we can assume that neither Bart Starr nor Y.A. Tittle were available.</div> <div> America needs a contemporary Samson to deliver us from the clutches of socialism. He can arm himself at any Democratic presidential debate, where he'll find enough jawbones to slay 10,000 men.</div> <div> It is more beneficial, and more difficult, to focus on what is or can be rather than on what was or could've been. Generally speaking, successful and happy people have mastered the task.</div> <div> There was a time when bums and vagabonds flocked to flophouses. Today the homeless and disenfranchised congregate at shelters. The changing terminology doesn't alter their circumstances, but they can claim greater self-esteem.</div> <div> If the race card was a member of the playing deck it would be the joker. It has no intrinsic value, no place in a serious game, and its meaning is defined by the person playing it.</div> <div> During national campaigns conservative candidates are routinely accused of wanting to poison the air and water. If it's true, it's a good reason to vote for conservatives. Anyone smart enough to survive without clean air and pure water is smart enough to lead the nation.</div> <div> From the misplaced priorities department: a “please spay and neuter” magnet and an “I Care” animal welfare license plate on the same vehicle with a “keep abortion legal” sticker.</div> <div> Maxim magazine erred in naming Sarah Jessica Parker the world's “unsexiest” woman. This is impossible as long as Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg are alive. On second thought, I may be wrong. To be “unsexy” implies that a person may have been sexy at some time. Neither Rosie nor Whoopi qualify.</div> <div> Many of life's ill feelings could be averted if drivers would learn to park straight and within a single parking space.</div> <div> The world is full of war, disease, tyranny, natural disasters and death, all of which try man's spirit. But to ask a Yankees fan to endure two Red Sox World Series championships in a single lifetime pushes the limit of human endurance.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="are_schools_becoming_common_sense_free"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Are schools becoming common sense-free zones?</FONT></div> <div> October 23, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Every so often something happens that you'd like to ignore, hoping it will go away, but you can't. That was my reaction to Kyle Walker, a Dennis Township New Jersey second-grader who was suspended from school. His offense was drawing a picture of a stickman holding a gun, which violated his school's zero-tolerance policy concerning guns on school grounds.</div> <div> School officials declined to comment, and who can blame them? If I made such a decision I'd hide my face, too. And don't think that Kyle's case is the peak of foolishness; it's not.</div> <div> Perhaps Kyle's suspension is born of contemporary psycho-analytical excess, wherein even the most innocuous act is considered a Freudian slip. But Kyle's drawing of a gun no more makes him a potential Dylan Kleibold than his other drawings of King Tut, ghosts and trees make him an Egyptian Pharaoh, a spiritual medium, or a lumberjack.</div> <div> When I was that age, my friends and I routinely drew war scenes complete with sinking ships, exploding bombs, bazookas, mortars, grenades and machine guns. We suffered no adverse affects, other than a missed assignment or two, from depicting such weapons of mass destruction on school property. Not one of us killed our classmates, grew into a Hitler, or initiated World War III. In fact, the more artistic kids received praise for their drawings.</div> <div> If Kyle's situation were unique it wouldn't be a big deal. But, as earlier stated, such lunacy isn't uncommon.</div> <div> Several years ago four New Jersey kindergartners were suspended for playing cops and robbers. Presumably, school safety was compromised when the kids pointed their fingers at each other and shouted, “Bang, bang!” With such judgment as a barometer, I'm surprised that the kids who played the robbers weren't charged with a hate crime, since real robbers are victims of our unjust society and therefore not responsible for their criminality.</div> <div> In Seattle, a 10-year-old was suspended for bringing a plastic, inch-long G.I. Joe gun to school. And Bemiss Elementary in Spokane suspended three boys for playing with similar G.I. Joe guns during their lunch period. Bemiss officials said the school didn't need “anything that's going to make kids feel unsafe.”</div> <div> It seems to me that a kid who's frightened of a dinky plastic gun has far more problems than can be solved by school administrators, especially those at Bemiss. However, don't make the mistake of thinking such instances are unique to the more liberal, anti-gun areas of the country.</div> <div> Maine's Joshua Enos is an accomplished trap shooter. Thus he submitted a picture of himself with an unloaded, open shotgun for his high school yearbook's alternative sports section. School officials rejected the picture but said he could pose with his trophies. The second offer was rescinded when officials noticed Joshua's awards had little guns on them.</div> <div> Finally, but not exhaustively, a nine-year-old honor student from Bayboro, NC, was suspended for five days for having a shotgun shell in his pocket. The boy wore his duck hunting clothes to school on Camouflage Day and had overlooked the shell after his last hunt. No, he didn't bring his shotgun, and no one would have known about the shell had the boy not felt something in his pocket and pulled it out to see what it was.</div> <div> The zero-tolerance theory has spawned a zero-common sense reality. Schools will suspend kids for drawing crude pictures of guns. Yet, schools can't expel foul-mouthed thugs who assault teachers, curse principals and disrupt classes because of the thug's “right” to an education. It's senseless!</div> <div> School shootings are a frightening prospect for any parent. However, in light of the previous examples, scarier still is the lack of rational thought on the part of the educational bureaucrats charged with teaching the next generation of Americans.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="air_america_loses_cash_listeners_and"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Air America loses cash, listeners and its grip on reality</FONT></div> <div> October 23, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Randi Rhodes is a rather pretty, forty-something woman living the single life in New York City. She is the host of the Randi Rhodes Show on the inconsequential but somehow acclaimed liberal radio network, Air America. In fact, it's a relationship that calls into question what little may remain of Air America's credibility.</div> <div> Miss Rhodes was injured recently while walking her dog along Park Avenue in Manhattan. Jon Elliott--her contemporary at Air America--took to his microphone and pronounced her injuries the result of “the right wing hate machine.” Mr. Elliott reported that Miss Rhodes was the victim of a violent mugging carried out by conservative thugs bent on silencing a liberal voice. His raving churned up the liberal blogs, which then ran with the story as if it were John's Gospel.</div> <div> However, there was a problem. Elliott's story was far from anyone's gospel, John's or otherwise. Rhodes never filed a police report and never claimed to have been mugged. It turns out that she fell down and hit her head.</div> <div> Despite Elliott's shrill charge of hate crimes, right-wing conspiracies, and threats meant to intimidate liberal voices, Miss Rhodes simply experienced a Gerald Ford moment. Air America issued a statement saying the hate crimes reports were unfounded and Elliott was forced to admit that he drew a conclusion without bothering to learn the facts.</div> <div> This is par for the course, and not the first time Air America has eaten crow. In fact, crow has been a staple of the network's diet since its infancy.</div> <div> Air America took flight in March, 2004 when investors believed the company had $30 million in reserve funds. Then reality struck. The network had only $6 million on hand and was over $2 million in debt within six weeks of its launch. Rex Sorenson, a founding partner, claimed the shortfall was due to investors who backed out at the last minute. What a convenient coincidence!</div> <div> The network announced huge increases in listeners following the spring 2005 ratings period. However, the Christian Science Monitor reported that Air America was experiencing weak ratings even in liberal cities such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Perhaps the proof of which ratings spin is most accurate can be found on accounting's bottom line.</div> <div> By the fall of 2006, Air America, which had touted their growing market share, was busy denying rumors of an impending bankruptcy. One month later the network filed for the bankruptcy protection it had earlier denied, citing only $4 million in assets and over $20 million in debts.</div> <div> It seems that if Air America's ratings growth was as strong as they claimed it to be, they could've commanded enough advertising revenue to avoid a $15.9 million debt. And let's not even get into the maze of suspect loans the network received through the now-defunct Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club.</div> <div> Since Air America has experienced a tough time getting its story straight on past issues, it's not at all surprising that Mr. Elliott would jump to wrong conclusions based on an emotional reaction. In fact, the emotional response is indicative of the primary criteria by which prominent liberals make their decisions and form policy positions. In that light, Mr. Elliott's uninformed tirade may be the first consistency Air America can claim.</div> <div> Let's look at the score. Air America was born when its founders claimed to have cash they didn't have. The network claimed listeners that weren't listening and financial solvency while on the verge of bankruptcy. Now, in addition to being out of touch with these essential elements, they've lost touch with reality, too.</div> <div> Just who was Al Franken writing about when he penned <I>Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them</I>?</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="republicans_again_sound_like"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Republicans again sound like Republicans. But will it last?</FONT></div> <div> October 18, 2007</div> <bR> <div> It seems like everything is driven by a chip these days, even politics. Of course, the political chip has nothing to do with Intel or Silicon Valley. The political chip is the SCHIP, or State Children's Health Insurance Program. What's more, it's a powerful chip that has driven a political party back to its roots, at least temporarily.</div> <div> The SCHIP is a state-operated system that provides health coverage to uninsured children. While it's true that each state can design its own program, it must do so within federal guidelines to receive federal funding. You may wonder how a state program can remain a state program when it must dance to the federal government's fiddle. Well, it can't, which means SCHIP is a federal program concealed behind the legitimacy of a state system.</div> <div> Today, thanks to the SCHIP, we have Republican legislators again questioning the federal government's reach, scope and authority. GOP congressmen are circling the wagons, drawing lines in the sand and discovering a courage and purpose not seen since 1994. They're forming ranks to protect a president who, perhaps for the first time, sounds like a Reagan disciple.</div> <div> President Bush warned lawmakers--meaning Democrats--to trim their spending or face a veto, promising a fiscal showdown in Washington. George W. Bush, who never vetoed the ever-increasing budgets passed by the GOP Congress, has become an Oval Office Wyatt Earp and challenged Democrats to the budget fight at the D.C corral.</div> <div> Speaking in Rogers, Ark, the president said Congress must be responsible with the taxpayer's money and propose spending that makes fiscal sense. The Associated Press reports that the White House now sees fiscal responsibility as a winning issue and a chance to label Democrats as the tax-and-spend party.</div> <div> Well, hallelujah. But an explanation of where this fiscal restraint has been for the last six years is certainly appropriate. There was a day when Republicans didn't have to work so hard to paint a tax-and-spend picture of Democrats.</div> <div> The Republican Party once proposed de-federalizing education. Republicans believed that schools were best funded and managed through state and local authority, giving parents more influence over their children's education. Instead we received the No Child Left Behind Act, which promotes some worthwhile goals but has also increased federal educational grants by an estimated 66-percent. Who is so naïve as to believe those increasing funds mean a decreasing federal involvement?</div> <div> Republicans once warned of Medicare's impending doom and opposed a Clinton plan to incorporate prescription drugs for seniors into Medicare. Then, a few years later, they passed a Bush plan that did the same thing. If that's not enough, we heard President Bush preach the need to combat Islamic militants in the name of national security, with which I agree. He then gave his all to a bill that would've legitimized 12 million illegal aliens and compromised what's left of our national borders.</div> <div> The first political statesman to catch my attention was Ronald Reagan. At the time I knew little of politics, some might say that's still the case today, but I liked his message that America needn't grovel at the Soviet Union's feet and that happiness and prosperity were better sought through private means than through government programs. I came to believe that a Republican president with a Republican Congress would reduce government. When those stars finally aligned Republicans were too willing to compromise the message that brought them to power.</div> <div> For the first time in six years Republicans appear conservative. How long it will last is anybody's guess. But had Republicans governed like conservatives while they held Congress they might not have lost the majority.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="america_is_losing_its_identity_one"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >America is losing its identity one tolerance at a time</FONT></div> <div> October 18, 2007</div> <bR> <div> America's school system has observed Christmas for as long as any of us can recall. That recognition changed when the spiritual meaning of Christmas came to violate the so-called separation of church and state. Still, the educational system recognizes Christmas as Christmas. That nearly changed in Oak Lawn, Illinois.</div> <div> According to a Chicago television station, a Muslim mother--Elizabeth Zahdan--requested that her children be separated from their classmates during Ramadan. You can imagine what would be said to parents who demanded similar treatment for their children during Lent.</div> <div> At any rate, rather than saying no and encouraging Ms. Zahdan to get over it, Ridgeland School District 122 opted to change the Christmas holiday to the winter festival. Thankfully, parents protested this foolish attack on American culture and tradition (although the true meaning of Christmas transcends all cultures and traditions). However, the situation goes much deeper than simply recognizing a holiday.</div> <div> The Oak Lawn situation needn't revolve around Christmas; it could be any custom. Contemporary tolerance now considers anything associated with American or Western culture to be exclusionary, and therefore evil. Conversely, any other culture or belief is considered inclusive, and therefore pure. Little by little our uniquely American way of life, which should be revered, is disappearing under a multi-cultural assault.</div> <div> I'm quite aware that not all Arabs and Muslims share Zahdan's position. If you're a Muslim or a Hindu or whatever, feel free to observe your holidays. But keep in mind that practices common to Western Civilization are dominant in our society and don't have to change to suit the world.</div> <div> I will give Zahdan credit for one thing; she didn't compromise her beliefs for fear of offending someone. Americans are, by and large, too timid to defend our culture for fear of hurting someone's feelings. If that continues, don't be surprised if we wake up some morning with no society to defend.</div> <div> Thanks to the aforementioned parental outrage the winter festival nonsense is gone and Christmas is back in Oak Lawn. However, before you breathe a sigh of relief consider that even this is a hollow victory. In order to observe Christmas, Ramadan must be celebrated too. Why is that a problem? Well, what would happen if Ramadan, a religious holy month, were secularized to the same extent as Christmas?</div> <div> Santa Claus and Rudolph are the primary Christmas décor in most public schools. Yet neither Santa nor Rudolph is religious, although Santa is drawn from the legend of St. Nicholas. Ramadan decorations, such as stars and crescents, are Islamic religious symbols. If those symbols adorn classrooms and hallways during Ramadan, shouldn't nativities, angel choirs and crosses be present at public schools this December? Rest assured that ACLU lawyers would froth like mad dogs at the first sight of a Baby Jesus in the classroom.</div> <div> Muslims can practice their religion freely in America, for our nation is unique in protecting the minority from the tyranny of the majority. Sadly, that has been twisted until the majority must surrender its rights so as not to offend the minority. If Islamic symbols or Koranic quotations grace Oak Lawn's schools during Ramadan then manger scenes and Luke Chapter Two should be standard fare for Christmas.</div> <div> I have no desire to transform the school system into the Baptist Church. With that said, it's entirely accurate to deem the Ridgeland School District's decision, or lack thereof, as yet another assault on Western Civilization. At the very least, it represents a double standard on whatever constitutional separation of church and state actually exists.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="what_should_we_make_of_columbus_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >What should we make of Columbus?</FONT></div> <div> October 10, 2007</div> <bR> <div> On October the 8th government employees paused in honor of Christopher Columbus. The rest of us continued on business as usual, except for the banks of course. I took the occasion to reflect on what Columbus was, and I use “what” purposely because his legacy is more than a single man.</div> <div> I recall some of my grade-school history concerning Columbus. He grew up poor and spent his youth sailing and studying what little was known about geography. Columbus didn't develop the idea of a spherical earth or of sailing west to reach the East. He did, however, desire to prove each theory and gain some fame and fortune for himself.</div> <div> Columbus didn't gain the fortune he sought and died in poverty within 15 years of a discovery he never realized he had made. He certainly gained fame, but he didn't prove the idea of sailing west to reach India. In fact, he thought the New World was India. By modern standards Columbus would be an ignorant failure. However, he didn't live in modern times.</div> <div> For his day he was certainly a great navigator and a pioneer explorer. He discovered an area unknown in his world and found his way back home. How many of us can't find our way out of the two-acre forest behind our homes? He made his voyage with sailors who believed the sea serpent-filled Atlantic Ocean had no end and the equator was so hot that the ocean boiled. Considering the circumstances, Columbus' achievement was remarkable.</div> <div> Yet there's another side to Columbus, and each anniversary of his landing brings renewed scorn to his memory. Not only do his critics point out his failures, as if that were a new discovery, they charge him with raping the Utopian paradise that was the Caribbean.</div> <div> Antagonists charge Columbus with establishing a genocidal pattern of murder and slavery that quickly exterminated the Arawak tribesmen. Columbus' critics maintain that the entire era of European exploration and settlement exploded into a slaughterous inquisition and that Genoa's famed mariner lit the fuse.</div> <div> However, the idea that the New World lived in peace and harmony before Columbus is somewhat naïve. Yes, the Spanish abused the Taino Arawak tribe. But Columbus' critics accentuate his violence only, never mentioning that the New World had a native brand of brutality.</div> <div> The Taino were rather peaceful. But the Caribs were a warrior tribe that was pushing Tainos from their land before Columbus arrived. They made wives of captured Taino women (slavery, anyone?), made necklaces from a vanquished enemy's teeth, and may have practiced cannibalism. Perhaps Caribs had decimated the Ciboneys, said to have populated the Caribbean 5000 years ago, before the Spanish arrived to finish off both tribes.</div> <div> The Ciboneys apparently descended from a prior culture that was nearly exterminated by yet another people. Brazil's Tupinamba Indians practiced a warrior form of cannibalism whether the Caribs did or not. And each of these tribes came from the mainland meaning that they themselves were explorers and not indigenous to the Caribbean.</div> <div> I'll neither praise nor scorn Columbus and his successors. But keep in mind that most known civilizations came from somewhere and displaced someone else along the way, likely by force. Mankind has explored, fought, conquered and lost since Adam and Eve were booted from the Garden of Eden, and it will continue as long as man survives. Is that preferable to living in peace and mutual respect? Certainly not, but it's reality nonetheless.</div> <div> One commenter summarized Columbus thusly, “It is not history that is good or bad--history merely is. It is human nature that is good or bad; and we are all a part of it. Let's celebrate it whenever we can, each in our own ways.”</div> <div> We must judge Columbus' contribution, both good and evil, on the standards of his time. To condemn him in retrospect, by modern standards, is an injustice.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="carter_plays_albatross_to_edwards_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Carter plays albatross to Edwards' Ancient Mariner</FONT></div> <div> October 10, 2007</div> <bR> <div> In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner an old seafarer kills the bird of good omen, an albatross. His finicky shipmates--who condemned, exonerated and condemned him again--hung the dead bird about his neck. From Coleridge's poem comes the notion of likening shameful or disgraceful events to carrying an albatross. That image sprang to mind when John Edwards and Jimmy Carter got together to feign and fawn in southern Georgia.</div> <div> During President Carter's administration the prime interest rate bounced wildly. That rate was around 7-percent when Mr. Carter took office in January, 1977. By the time the 1980 presidential election came around interest rates were over 20-percent. Inflation more than doubled during the Carter administration, reaching a high of nearly 15-percent in March, 1980.</div> <div> President Carter appeared to his country as unsure and non-committal concerning his domestic policies. Time Magazine reported in March of 1980 that Mr. Carter, in a single interview, described the U.S. economy as being at a crisis stage and later declared total satisfaction with his administration's economic policies.</div> <div> On President Carter's watch non-defense spending outpaced defense spending nearly five to one and entitlements alone were twice the outlay for national defense. This poor prioritizing occurred during the Cold War when the mere mention of the Soviet Union prompted nationwide fear. In general, a four-year malaise settled over America.</div> <div> Of greater importance than economic news and foreign threats is the public's sense of a leader's purpose and confidence. Neither was manifest in Carter's presidency, and the result was Ronald Reagan's comfortable popular and electoral victory in 1980.</div> <div> Considering the public approval of the current Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bush could become the albatross for current and future Republican candidates. If so, there's no doubt that Carter's performance earned him that distinction for Democrats. It makes you wonder why John Edwards would willingly hang Carter's legacy around his neck. At least the Ancient Mariner had this distinguishing Mark of Cain thrust upon him.</div> <div> Why wouldn't Edwards run for the tall grass when Carter referred to him as a kindred spirit on poverty and “a candidate whom I really admire?” Edwards would be better off jumping into the briny depths than draping the dead bird of the Carter presidency over his shoulders.</div> <div> Yet, I suppose Edwards can no more separate himself from the idea that government can end poverty than the Ancient Mariner could've shed the rotting albatross and leapt into the Pacific Ocean. It is that shared vision of a redistributionist solution to poverty that makes Edwards and Carter inseparable. The “two Americas” mantra could as easily belong to Carter as to Edwards.</div> <div> Their joint condemnation of a Republican administration over the Katrina aftermath ignores two Democrat administrations (the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana) that did even less. Also ignored is the fact that poverty rates fell much faster between World War II and the Great Society than they have since government stepped in to solve the poverty problem. And with their shared ideologies and used-car salesman smiles, Edwards and Carter look like they could be kin.</div> <div> Only upon repentance did the albatross finally fall from the Ancient Mariner's neck. Likewise only can John Edwards shake Jimmy Carter from his shoulders. That's not likely, since repentance means a turn from past wrongs to pursue a new direction.</div> <div> Meanwhile, John Edwards' chance of winning the White House while carrying the Carter albatross is roughly the same as Barry Bonds entering Cooperstown on the endorsement of Pete Rose.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="limbaugh_s_comments_represent_a_small"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Limbaugh's comments represent a small skirmish in a larger battle</FONT></div> <div> October 3, 2007</div> <bR> <div> To enter a public debate requires a thick skin. Anything less means you'll be eaten alive. Thus Rush Limbaugh's in familiar territory with the phony soldier flap, as is Gen. David Petraeus with <I>MoveOn.org</I>. They're grown men and likely accustomed to both fair and unfair criticism. But there's a difference in the two situations that highlights the political divide in America.</div> <div> <I>MoveOn.org's </I>members don't have to agree with Gen. Petraeus on the Iraq War. However, their “Gen. Betray-us” ad appeared prior to Petraeus' testimony, meaning <I>MoveOn.org</I> made up its collective mind before hearing the report. Whether or not their ad warranted Congressional condemnation is debatable, but its ignorance is unquestionable. Was Limbaugh's “phony soldier” comment comparable? Let's look at it.</div> <div> Rush hasn't questioned a veteran's right to criticize the war; not that I've heard. He may not agree with them, but those veterans aren't the phony soldiers of whom he spoke.</div> <div> Phony soldiers do exist, enough so that Operation Stolen Valor is now investigating at least a dozen cases in the Pacific Northwest alone. These alleged veterans go back as far as World War II and have defrauded the VA of $1.4 million. Then there's Jesse MacBeth, toward whom Rush's comment was primarily directed.</div> <div> MacBeth was an Army Ranger in Iraq. He was a corporal and a Purple Heart recipient who blew the whistle on U.S atrocities in theatre. He saw--and at the order of superiors, participated in--the wholesale slaughter and desecration of Iraqi civilians. His revelations found a receptive audience in the anti-war movement and at PepperSpray Productions, which taped MacBeth's story, translated it into Arabic and distributed it via the Internet.</div> <div> Oh, did I mention that Jesse MacBeth is a proven liar, a phony soldier, who's on his way to jail?</div> <div> MacBeth served only 44 days in the U.S Army before being discharged for “issues related to entry-level performance and conduct.” That means he was a goldbrick who washed out. His Ranger status, rank, commendations and genocidal revelations were as phony as a three-dollar bill.</div> <div> A little Internet searching will produce the MacBeth video, although its original producers and sympathizers abandoned it once MacBeth was exposed. But it's a safe bet that Muslim militants haven't abandoned that video. It's a safe bet that Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and other jihad recruits see this phony soldier's lies. Thank you, Jesse MacBeth and PepperSpray Productions, for recruiting our enemies. Not only are you frauds, you're also traitors.</div> <div> Limbaugh was correct. However, the fact that MacBeth is a phony soldier makes no difference to Limbaugh's critics. Democratic leaders know the comment wasn't directed at true veterans who oppose the war. Yet they've ignored the truth in hopes of gaining political advantage, which raises an even greater issue.</div> <div> America's at war not only with Islamic fanatics but with itself. There's a quasi-civil war raging that renders legitimate compromise impossible and open debate improbable. Bi-partisanship now means absolute agreement with liberalism.</div> <div> Bi-partisanship means shielding our foreign enemies behind the U.S. Constitution, subjecting national sovereignty to the whims of world opinion and embracing cradle-to-grave socialism. If you disagree with liberals you're stifling dissent and reality takes a back seat to party doctrine. If you don't believe it, ask Zell Miller or Joe Lieberman.</div> <div> Anyone who believes that limited government, personal liberty, religious freedom and responsibility will preserve America's future has a poor ally in the Republican Party. However, the now-socialist Democratic Party is a downright enemy to America's founding principles. Don't expect to find common ground, for there's no reconciliation with an adversary that defines compromise as you abandoning your basic principles.</div> <div> Conservatism and socialism are fighting over America's future. If the next generation is to inherit a representative government based on individual liberty, conservatives better get serious about winning. The reaction to the Limbaugh situation has made that perfectly clear.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="ahmadinejad_accomplishes_his_goal"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Ahmadinejad accomplishes his goal thanks to Columbia's “useful idiots”</FONT></div> <div> September 26, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Imagine that it's autumn, 1944. We are about three years removed from Pearl Harbor and involved in a global war. How would we react if Adolf Hitler--allied, even if not directly involved, with Pearl Harbor's attackers--came to America to place a wreath at Battleship Row? How would our grandparents have reacted?</div> <div> Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the Greatest Generation would've arrested Schiklgruber the minute he stepped from the plane, given him a trial and executed him. He certainly wouldn't have been welcome at Pearl Harbor or invited to speak at an elite university. Maybe Hitler was born 70 years too soon. Today, not only he but also Hirohito, Tojo, Yamamoto, and Mussolini would be welcome to speak at American universities. What the heck; why not invite Stalin, too? Yes, he was an ally back then, but out of necessity not ideology.</div> <div> I must be accurate because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University. Thankfully, we had the good sense to deny Ahmadinejad his photo-op at Ground Zero. Now we're left to decide if his address was offensive or free speech, which won't take very long.</div> <div> New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn said the thought of honoring Ahmadinejad anywhere in the city is “offensive to all New Yorkers.” I agree, and will go Ms. Quinn one better. I think his appearing anywhere in America is disgraceful and should offend all Americans, regardless of race, creed, religion, or political affiliation. But disgrace didn't stop Columbia University from bringing Ahmadinejad to its World Leaders Forum. In fact, Columbia's president Lee Bollinger said the appearance served as a “major forum for robust debate.”</div> <div> Who'll speak next at the World Leaders Forum? Perhaps Robert Mugabe can address the importance of private property. Sudan's Ahmad al-Bashir can lecture on religious and ethnic tolerance in Darfur. Hugo Chavez can expound on the virtues of free markets. And as for a “forum for robust debate,” why not invite the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan? Shouldn't we hear from him, too?</div> <div> Yes, Mr. Bollinger did rake Ahmadinejad over the coals during the introduction. But you have to wonder if the criticism he received beforehand motivated his harsh though accurate statements. If Bollinger believes what he said about Iran's president, why give voice to such a vitriolic tyrant? After all, our own ROTC hasn't been welcome at Columbia University since 1969.</div> <div> Anyone with as much as their big toe on the plain of reality recognizes Ahmadinejad's speech as a propaganda appearance. Here's a leader form a terror-supporting state standing on U.S. soil telling the world that America is wrong about his humble and peaceful nation. He said that Iranians, especially women, enjoy the highest level of freedom. At times he received applause from Columbia's students, which would be frightening if not for the prospect that most of them will come to grips with reality after graduation.</div> <div> Had Hitler addressed Columbia University in 1944 his purpose wouldn't have been to debate issues or open a dialogue. Hitler would've spoken to sympathetic minds. Despite Bollinger's condemnations and Ahmadinejad's feigned offense, the Iranian president accomplished the same goal. He wasn't speaking to America but to like-minded Islamic zealots around the world. Ahmadinejad stood at the throne of his Satan and spit in the devil's face.</div> <div> The term “useful idiot” is attributed to Vladimir Lenin, whether he used it or not, and refers to someone easily duped into serving another's purpose. Maybe Columbia should drop Lions and adopt Useful Idiots as its nickname, for Ahmadinejad played their staff and students for suckers and will laugh all the way back to the jihad.</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="americans_march_for_injustice_in_jena"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Americans march for injustice in Jena, LA</FONT></div> <div> September 26, 2007</div> <bR> <div> Ben Franklin said it well, “Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.” This is sound advice in all situations, but perhaps best applied when forming an opinion. Seldom is the initial information enough to draw an accurate conclusion.</div> <div> Remember the Duke University rape fiasco? Sure you do! The defendants were pronounced guilty before the ink dried on the accusation. The Duke students were suspended, the lacrosse team's season was cancelled and Coach Mike Pressler was sacked. Civil rights leaders and Duke University professors, the infamous Group of 88, leaped to premature verdicts. The initial reaction was to damn the accused. Then a miracle happened; the truth came out.</div> <div> Reality contradicted the short-sighted and sanctimonious accusers, who then scattered like roaches at first light. Not one of the outraged activists--those so ready to cast the first stone--remained to defend their false conclusions save for the Group of 88, who piously claimed that their rash and arrogant statements were “misinterpreted.”</div> <div> By contrast, the facts in Jena, Louisiana appeared crystal clear. White students congregated beneath the “white tree.” When black students sat under the tree three nooses, said to signify a KKK presence, were hung in its branches. Racial strife ensued leading to six black kids assaulting a white kid, which led to judicial discrepancies. This was the gospel truth--for a few days.</div> <div> Once the bullhorns were put away, the chants fell silent, and the marchers had returned home, another side of the story surfaced.</div> <div> There were two nooses in the tree, not three, nullifying the Klan symbolism. According to teachers and administrators, Jena High School students, both white and black, sat under the “white tree” at various times and students, both white and black, were seen swinging on the nooses and placing their heads through the loops. The three noose-hangers did receive a three-day suspension, as widely reported. But they also received a two-week in-school suspension and a month at an alternative school and were recommended for expulsion.</div> <div> What about the all-white jury that convicted Mychal Bell? True, that jury was as white as a sheet, if you'll pardon the expression. Could that be because none of the black residents summoned for jury duty bothered to show up?</div> <div> What's accurate and what isn't in Jena can be difficult to determine. It's likely there's some truth and error in both accounts. Still, regardless of the number of nooses in the tree or why they were put there, I can understand why a black person would be taken aback by the sight of a noose hanging from a tree in the Deep South. Had the marchers demanded a stiffer penalty for the white noose-hangers--fine. But that's not what the marchers demanded. You see, “Free the Jena 6” makes a much better sound bite than does “Expel the noose-hangers.”</div> <div> Marchers demanded “Free the Jena 6” with slogans, chants, speeches, banners, T-shirts, and hats. What was billed as a call for justice was, in fact, the direct opposite. The protests were a demand for injustice. “Free the Jena 6” doesn't demand a just punishment for any crime the white kids committed. Instead it calls for the judicial system to overlook a crime the black kids committed. How is justice--and race relations, for that matter--advanced by excusing six kids of any race for beating unconscious one kid of another race?</div> <div> No doubt that many sincere people gathered in Jena, LA. No doubt also that many of the “leaders” who organized the marches were demanding that justice suit a racial purpose, which is immoral no matter what race it serves.</div> <div> This article began with a quote from Ben Franklin and it'll end with one I first heard from my grandmother, “Two wrongs don't make a right.”</div> <div> <A HREF="id186_m.htm" TITLE="Archives 2007"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="liberal_blogger_is_long_on_rhetoric_but"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Liberal blogger is long on rhetoric but short on facts</FONT></div> <div> September 19, 2007</div> <bR> <div> I don't know who Berni McCoy might be. I only know that Berni is a blogger at the liberal website <I>DemocraticUnderground.com</I>, and I assume that he's a man. I also know that he doesn't think MoveOn.org's semi-slanderous campaign against Gen. David Petraeus was despicable. He does, however, find many other things despicable. Let's look at them.</div> <div> Berni says that President Bush's lying and falsifying of intelligence to justify the Iraq War was despicable. Most prominent democrats will agree with Berni today. But that wasn't always the case.</div> <div> President Clinton, Madeline Albright, Senators Carl Levin and John Kerry, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, among others acknowledged that Iraq possessed banned weapons and posed a threat to the United States. That was the late 1990's. Following 9/11, Al Gore along with Senators Ted Kennedy, Bob Graham, and Jay Rockefeller stated that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling biological and chemical weapons and seeking nuclear weapons. Sen. Clinton took this belief a step farther. During a speech on the Senate floor she expressed not only similar thoughts regarding WMDs but said Hussein “has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al-Qaeda members.” Not every democratic leader saw this intelligence as justification for war, but its accuracy was widely accepted.</div> <div> Don't try to claim that Bush conned the Democrats. All we've heard since the 2000 campaign is that George Bush is an ignorant stooge. If that's the case, how did this dim-witted cowboy manage to dupe the most learned of liberal leaders? You can't have it both ways.</div> <div> Berni says Bush started this war for Exxon's sake, and that is “despicable”. Again, reality opposes Berni.</div> <div> Oil company profits have reached record highs. That's not debatable. However, oil company profit margins are less than 10-percent, which is compatible with other U.S. manufacturing businesses. What's more, if